I didn't run Edge of the Empire game!

I felt really guilty about this. I had promised my friends I would, I even mentioned it a few blog posts ago.

The reasons are because I've been too busy preparing for a house move. However, I'm still very keen to do it and I hope I can find enough time between now and a week on wednesday to prepare for it.

I'd like to do it before I move as I'm not sure when I'll get another chance. I think that once I've run 1 proper session I'll feel more comfortable, see where I need to improve and be better mentally prepared for running roleplay games in the future.

For me, I think roleplay gaming is something that'll become a big part of my gaming in the future. And maybe something I'll start talking about more on this blog.

Cheers.

XCOM: The Boardgame - fantastic first impressions

Played my first 2 games today and my friends and I were really impressed!

The game runs pretty much entirely through the iPad app, but it runs it so well. The mechanics of the game are so straightforward we picked them up within 30 minutes and each player was able to concentrate on their role and enjoy being part of a team effort.

The app has various difficulty settings and for our first game we chose "tutorial". This laid everything out very clearly and once we completed the game we swapped roles and jumped straight into an easy game, just to cement the rules.

There are 2 main phases in each turn; the timed phase and the resolution phase. During the timed phase everyone's on edge, preparing their next move for when the app pops up that the player needs to do something. There is sometimes just enough time to try and help each other out or use special abilities, but it's frantic and exciting! The resolution phase is not timed and is basically where the dice are rolled and research and combat results are determined.

My original concern about the app requirement seems less important now. It works so well that I'm not going to think about 10 or 20 years time. I can see this game being a firm favourite and hitting the table a lot for the next few years. So, whatever happens with the app on future devices, I'll get my moneys worth.

I do still have a minor concern though; I can't imagine playing without 4 players exactly. I'm not sure I'd want to! It works so wonderfully well with a player on each side of the board doing their allocated role, getting players to do more than 1 role would mean losing a large part of the dynamics of the game, so I can see this being quite a limiting factor.

Overall though, XCOM: The Boardgame is brilliant!

I've bought a few things

It was a birthday a week or so ago and with some of the money I was kindly given I purchased some things I'd had my eye on for a while.

Firstly, I bought the XCOM board game. I've downloaded the app onto our ipad and am really looking forward to playing it! Although, from chatting to a mate about it, there is a small bugbear about the nature of the game; no rules come with it because it depends entirely on the app...

This means, if you want to play the boardgame in 10 years time, which is not unrealistic, how easily available with the app be? Will I still have my ipad, and if not, will I be able to get the app on something else?

Right now, I think it will play brilliantly. The friends I've spoken to who've played it and the reviews are all positive, so I guess sometimes you just have to invest in the short term and make the most of it while you can. So the future can wait on that one.

Secondly, I bought a couple of the Warhammer 40k roleplay core books. I had only planned on getting Only War, but my local store didn't have it and couldn't ordered it so I weakened, acted frivolously and bought Deathwatch from him, then ordered Only War from amazon. I'm not going to regret this! The great thing about the 40k RPG books is that they are all compatible. So, even though I don't really fancy running a game with superhuman space marines, I will probably want to create some space marine characters. Also, there's different wargear and stats and info on other bad guys. And, well, I might want to run a game with space marines in the future.

I really am keen on RPGing these days and I'm going to be running an Edge of the Empire (Star Wars RPG) game on Monday, and I'm nervous! It's just the adventure from the core book, but there appears to be more work involved than I thought, so I'm kind of swatting up at the moment. I'm sure once I get use to it I'll be able to just make it up and figure it out on less info than I'd like right now.

Why don't I own Dungeon Quest yet?!

A question I ask myself nearly every few months! The main reason is because a friend of mine owns it, but we were talking today and I was thinking I really would like to get a copy of my own.

Dungeon Quest is a fantastic game, as I think I've mentioned before on this blog. There's quite a lot of luck involved, but the more we've played it the more we've learnt how to minimise the opportunities for bad luck.

One of the big things I like about the game is that it's completely self contained, so you can put it on the table and not worry about how you're going to play the game.

My girlfriend and I will be moving to another city in a few weeks, so this will probably be a good reason to acquire a copy soon(ish), maybe xmas time, depending on how soon I can find gaming minions up in Carlisle.

We happy few - survive in a dystopian post-war england

I back We Happy Few the other day on Kickstarter, just before it ended. Only went in at a low level, which would give me access to the game when released, but I've watched some gameplay videos and I found it very compelling.

The game seems to be set in '60s post-war england. I think I read that it's an alternative reality where Germany won the war and now the population is all hooked on happy pills and in denial, or something. You, as the player, are a "downer", ie, someone who is no longer taking their happy pills and the aim of the game is to escape. Whether that means escaping just the town or finding where the other downers live, I guess we'll find out more as the development progresses.

The game is being made by a small developer. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens!

Check it out on youtube. The kickstarter has now finished, so sadly you can't back it anymore.