Thinking Outside the Box

For the past 6 months or maybe longer Chris and Sebastien have been trying to get me to play a game called Strange Aeons . I have a love of horror and dark fiction, and have run games of both the Call of Cthulhu LCG, and Arkham Horror at various times. Both are excellent games, but are large in scale, difficult for new players, or perhaps just too niche to get some folks into. So I was interested in the premise, but didn't look into the game any further. Having spent hundreds of dollars on Warhammer 40,000 and a only a little bit less on Hordes miniatures and books…I was reluctant to give it a try. Both of these games boast huge selections of miniatures, countless scenario and expansion books, and lots of room to exercise one's creativity when painting their figures. On the flip side however, they were expensive to acquire and build and it's time consuming to paint large armies for even a smallish battle. However, the biggest difficulty I have with both games is that ...

The Expo has grown a lot since Kandrix, Laurie and their team started things up way back when.  It's funny to think about, since I used to spend a lot of time them when they were running their artist collective many years ago.  We've since both moved into the same neighborhood, but don't maintain any real contact in recent years.  What they've done to start and grow to expo though is a feat to be lauded, not only by their friends, but by the city in general. I think the expo is a great idea, and has drawn more eyes to the city throughout North America.  Having celebrities, entertainment professionals, artists and all sorts of attendees come to Calgary for the event is not only fun and exciting, but also good for business.  Hotels, shop owners, restaurants, tourism and the city's reputation and culture are enriched simply by playing host to the ever growing event. I've been an attendee and an exhibitor at the expo, and generally it's been a good experienc...

Last week for my regular Sunday gaming night, I finally had five people who were willing to sign on for Risk: Legacy . After our customary snacks and drinks (beer...at least for some of us) William, Sebastien, Scott, Collin and I all sat down to break open the game and get things started. The components and rule book were separated and everyone helped get things set up. Each player chose a starting color randomly and selected one of the starting powers for their faction. Sebastien and Scott secretly attached extra coin markers on some of the region cards and then we rolled off to start placing our bases and initial forces. While our new world looks like Earth, that will soon change! Sebastien chose China, Collin the southern tip of South America, William western Europe, me in Eastern Australia and Scott in the southern regions of the African continent. The first few rounds were quiet, while everyone stockpiled arms and armaments, solidifying the regions around their bases. Collin w...

For the past while I've been asking about doing another fan-set to supplement to two that we've already had done. Based on verbal responses from the members individually there are enough people to warrant me putting it together and having it printed. However, I haven't really got the feeling that people are excited or interested in the set, or even continuing with the game. I'll fully admit that my schedule hasn't allowed me to be at the store for events much this year, but it's pretty discouraging for me as our group dwindles and stagnates. I'm always trying to keep things fresh and fair by doing things like sealed events, and various fun formats, but as people opt out of (or in some cases aren't able) purchasing our fan-sets, it makes the group increasingly difficult to manage. For example, if we don't all have access to a new set, it's simply not feasible to plan any kind of set-based events, like a release party, without planning around...

Deals and discounts. Everyone is looking for a great deal. They want to feel like money was saved, triumph was had, or just that something is worth more than was paid. I don't begrudge anyone these things, because I think they're inherently human drives. "What's he talking about now?" thinks the reader. Well as much as I love buying a brand new, shiny, shrink-wrapped box of board gaming goodness, I have also made the leap on occasion and picked up used or clearance games as well. The first one the I can recall buying was Age of Conan a little less than a year ago. The box was a little dinged up but when I opened it, I found that all of the contents were still sealed in their original plastic. Triumph indeed! Age of Conan is a spectacular looking game which I've sadly only tabled once, but is noteworthy as my first used game purchase. Over time I have found other games in a similar fashion...and have yet to be disappointed. Arena Maximus was the...

It's been a long time since I actually wrote an article about a VS System event, cards, or decks. This month due to scheduling conflicts I'll only be able to attend two of our weekly VS nights. The one I'm missing next week was actually something I was really looking forward to: DC Legend. Most of the players in our group know, but you might not, that I prefer the DC Comics universe over that of Marvel . While I do have some beloved characters over there (Alpha Flight anyone?), there's just something that appeals more to me about DC's denizens. How that relates to my experience with building legend decks is what I thought I'd talk about today. Going from memory I can recall four specific Legend builds of my own creation: Batman, Superman Sinestro and Darkseid. I've also tackled a Batman-Superman dual-legend which was a lot of fun to play as well. Batman lends himself too much to control/negation, which is not my favorite style of play. I enjoye...

Well it seems that in some ways I'm doomed to repeat myself. I don't mean textually, although I'm sure that I repeat myself quite often in my writing as well. However it seems I just can't leave well enough alone. Now that some of the more stressful things have passed (it's been a rocky start to 2012) I'm starting to feel more myself. That of course means that my schedule has settled into some semblance of normality, I'm not laying sick on the couch and I finally feel like a normal human being once again. Once I get typing I tend to find that I have started mid-thought. That might prove interesting for me, but then I realize I have to go back and try to explain myself, or at least lay out some context in order to provide meaning to the earlier vagueness. Here goes... By saying I was repeating myself I actually had a two-fold meaning, and neither of them is so dire or desperate as to cause doom of any kind. Yes, an inflammatory statement...I admit ...