Campaign Trail, by David Cornelius

I typically think politics belong in late-night Facebook posts and arguments with my Granddad, and certainly not in my board game sessions. There are few things more divisive than a quick chat about energy policies, or the role of government in healthcare, or the more hot-button issues that we yell about every day.

Somehow, Campaign Trail manages to avoid all of this negativity, while capturing the fun of watching the twists and turns of a Presidential campaign. Republicans have a 15% lead in Illinois? Just wait until the Independents launch their huge ad campaign and claim the state. Democrats are polling well on Environmental Issues in California? Great, but they've been overtaken by the Republican candidate with a strong message on international trade.

These swings and targeted strategies push and pull electoral votes (the score markers in the game) and create some of the most compelling drama I've felt in a game. Keep reading, and I'll go into a bit more detail about what I like in Campaign Trail.

Updated Update: Campaign Trail is now live on Kickstarter, with a lower price, free shipping in the US, and a deluxe version available that I've happily snapped up. Check it out by clicking here! 

Escape From the Aliens in Outer Space, by Mario Porpora

Spoiler alert: You probably won't. 

Darkness. Echoing, terrifying, darkness. Ten minutes ago your bridge was alive with activity, bustling with the ordered chaos that marks a ship in space. Now, only the chaos remains.

Step through the door quickly, close it silently.  

The pod you beamed in wasn't empty, despite assurances to the contrary. For a brief moment there was struggle, and you saw just enough to understand. Now, all you can do is run. 

Eight steps down the hall, step to starboard, then duck into the maintenance shaft.  

You can navigate this ship by memory easily enough, but the darkness cripples you. They seem to prefer it. 

Pass the first three doors, open the fourth, step into the escape pod. 

You could kill one with a weapon, but the rest will overwhelm you. The escape pods are your only hope. 

Slam the hatch. Strap in. Fire up the pod. 

The pods have failed. For you, there is no Escape From the Aliens in Outer Space.

Gen Con Interview - Colby Dauch from Plaid Hat Games

Colby Dauch, founder of Plaid Hat Games, took a few moments on Sunday before the dealer hall closed to talk about Dead of Winter, Mice and Mystics, Summoner Wars: Alliances, and other Plaid Hat things. Colby's a great friend of Nerd Night, and was gracious enough to step away for a nice chat. There are a couple teasers for upcoming games too!

Bonus: Colby related a beautiful story about how games helped the life of a sick child.


For a full playlist of Gen Con interviews, click here!

Gen Con Interview - The Duke from Catalyst Game Labs

We stopped in for a quick peek at The Duke - a giant version with huge wooden pieces - and asked what the heck was going on. This one's quick because the crowd around us was swarming to get a closer look. Catalyst Game Labs had an amazing booth this year!

For the full playlist of Gen Con interviews, click here!

Gen Con Interview - Rob Dougherty of Star Realms

We caught Rob Dougherty of Star Realms fame in between mobs of customers, so we asked him to give us a quick 5-minute chat about the game, future plans, and his role in development. There's some nice info about the recently released apps for iOS and Android also!

For a full playlist of interviews from Gen Con, click here! 

Gen Con Interview - Ben Harkins of Floodgate Games

Ben Harkins from Floodgate Games joined us to talk about Legacy: Gears of Time! The Floodgate booth was huge, and packed with people. I picked up a copy of L:GoT afterwards as promised in the video, so if you'd like to play it with me at game night, just leave a comment!

For a full playlist of Gen Con 2014 interviews, click here!

Gloom, by Keith Baker

“And while the tiny opera singer strolled through the swamp lands in an attempt to shake the sorrow of her recent divorce, she strayed too close to the water, and got Mauled by Manatees!”

While a sentence like that may not seem out of the ordinary to a player of games like Munchkin, Gloom diverges in that you are inflicting such cards upon your own characters!

Perchance, good sir, what is Gloom?

Gloom is a tabletop 2-4 player card game published by Atlas games in which players try to inflict the most woe upon their chosen gothic Victorian family before ending their misery with the sweet release of death.   It lasts between 45 and 75 minutes depending on your group, and can weave elements of storytelling into the competitive card game components.  It is immediately recognizable due to it’s transparent plastic cards, allowing modifiers to interact in a novel way by ‘blocking’ what can be seen from cards played earlier.

The Shadow Over Westminster, by Robert Huss

On a shadowy evening in London, three cloaked figured gathered in a hidden Agency to discuss their plans. The Outsider, The Watcher, and The Illuminati Shadow joined forces to discover, and ultimately defeat, an unknown Cataclysm sure to poison the world with Evil.

Given no warning, the heroes immediately found Darkness creeping into the University nearby, unbeknownst to the population of Westminster, but a sure threat all the same. Unsure how to push back the roiling wickedness, the trio sought out Cult Activity in the Underground, seeking clues as to the origins of their plight. After a few horrid hours sneaking silently through the back alleys of London, the Agents returned to the University to pour over their findings. As clear as day, the danger facing the city was the result of a Hive Mind coming to dominate the people of Westminster, then all of the Continent – then the world.

Though endowed with powers unnatural to normal humans, the Agents were ultimately incapable of holding back the darkness spreading through our great city, thanks to the media unwittingly spreading the Hive Mind’s influence. I’m only allowed to tell you this tale because I gave into the Hive Mind early – the rest of you weak, struggling humans will be consumed by its darkness!

Ghost Stories by Antoine Bauza

oooOOOoooOOOooo

"If your cooperative board game isn't hard enough, then players won't come back and play it."

This is what Antoine Bauza told The Nerd Nighters in an interview. In his Cooperative game Ghost Stories, he's definitely taken the first part of his advice to heart, as Ghost Stories is arguably one of the hardest co-op board games out there. Don't let the difficulty drive you away because, all things considered, it is one of the only pure co-op games that always seems to find its way to the table at my game nights. The challenge adds to the mystique of the game, as the game comes with a score sheet so you can record how close you've come to victory until you finally achieve it.

Dead Panic, by Justin De Witt

You’re in a Cabin in the Woods^TM and the zombies are closing in. From your living room window you can see their slow, groping strides as they emerge from the forest that surrounds you. Somewhere out there, a rescue van provides relief for those souls lucky enough to have working radios… but all you have are wits, weapons, and a wish for survival. Can you hold back the horde long enough to piece your radio back together, and call for the ride that will SAVE YOUR LIFE?

Dead Panic puts you in that cabin, destined to live another day or die as dinner for the undead. Choose your role, act quickly, and try to outlast your neighbors – but make sure you work together well enough to survive.

The Resistance, by Don Eskridge

In a world ravaged by greed, devastated by natural disasters, and conquered by corporate monsters, a small team of brave revolutionaries dare to work against powerful, terrible forces. This incredible squad of women and men seek only one thing - retribution for the damage done by those who hold power. They are The Resistance and they work to make the world safe for you and I…

…but even in this elite group, treachery lurks within the ranks. Those they trust most to carry out these missions are destined to betray them at the critical moment, and yet they still believe victory – freedom! - is just a few short days away…

Under Two Reviews #1 - Quantum, by Eric Zimmerman

"Under Two Reviews" is a video series in which we take a look at tabletop games and present them to our readers in under two minutes.

In Quantum, each player is a fleet commander from one of the four factions of humanity, struggling to conquer a sector of space" This, and a few more hundred words are in the official description of the game. But rather than tell you that it's a quick, colorful conquest game for 2-4 players using a fleet of starships represented by six-sided dice. How about we show you instead? It'll be quick. I promise.

Enjoy the video after the jump!

Guilds of Cadwallon by Gaëtan Beaujannot and Charles Chevallier

While I have always been a huge fan of expansive, complex games, sometimes you just have a little bit between family responsibilities.  Guilds of Cadwallon is one of those great games that can fill that gap with a group of friends.

The game presumes that you lead one of the numerous trade guilds in the city and are attempting to gather enough influence to become the next leader of the city.  You deploy your agents to the streets in an attempt to control the districts.

Suburbia, by Ted Alspach

Did you play SimCity 2000 in 1994, or any year thereafter? I did, and I loved it. There's something about "god mode" and managing an economy that's always held my attention and kept me coming back to the genre for more games - but I didn't expect the latest version to be a tabletop game!

Suburbia is a tile-building game of economic management and city development. It's a pretty deep game, on the level of a game like Power Grid or Concordia, and takes about 90-120 minutes to play. If you're a fan of interactions and building an economy, you should try this game!

I'm including a Q & A with my wife, Amy, and I both answering some general questions after my review. Enjoy!

Medici, by Reiner Knizia

I was told by my friend Marcelo to buy Medici, sight-unseen, immediately after meeting him at Texicon in Fort Worth, Texas. I’d only just met Marcelo, but we bonded quickly over our mutual love of Smash Up and Lords of Waterdeep, so I took his advice and picked up this wonderful game about shipping goods in Renaissance-era Florence.

I’ve gotten this game to the table again and again, and it’s one of my 2-3 “go-to” games for a group of 5-6 players who don’t have the time to learn a long game, but want something deeper than a “party” game like Wits & Wagers or Cards Against Humanity.

If you’ve got a love for bidding games, being a trading lord, and a little math, read on!

Small World, by Phillipe Keyaerts

My apologies if the song gets stuck in your head...

Are you a wizard? Have you ever been called a troll? When you were a kid, was your nickname, “Dwarf”? Any skeletons in your closet, or rats in your walls? These are the probing questions you’ll have to carefully consider during a game of Small World.

I’m kidding, of course – Small World isn’t a game of sharing your dirt, but a fantasy-themed territory-acquisition (meaning you DON’T share your dirt) game from heavyweight publishing company Days of Wonder.  That’s a group well known for Ticket to Ride and other titles, and Small World fits right alongside those hits in a hallowed place in my game library. Come on inside, and I’ll share a few secrets of my own!

BattleLore Second Edition, by Fantasy Flight Games

Imagine yourself walking into your FLGS, box of board games under one arm, backpack full of micro-games, and you're ready to throw down some dice and cards.  As you walk to the gaming tables, you see them.  Yes, THEM.  The war gamers.  They dominate the room with their giant tables full of beautiful terrain, second only to the glory that is their armies.  Finely painted, detailed, moving about in formation, advancing across the field of battle to bring pain to the enemy.

And what do you have?  Cardboard chits?  At best, maybe paper standees?  How glorious it must be to direct hordes of troops across alien worlds or advance threateningly across the grasslands towards the demon horde assembled before you.  Have you ever wondered how to get involved without spending the equivalent of your mortgage to do so?  The answer is here, my miniatures-coveting friends, and that answer is BattleLore!  Er...Second Edition...

Devastation of Indines by Level 99 Games

Seriously, Look at it.

Have you ever spent any time in an arcade? Specifically one where there were giant glamorous arcade machines that played things like Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat? If that pictures is at all bringing back fond memories, do yourself a favor and buy Devastation of Indines. It will be 100% worth your while.

Devastation of Indines seeks to recreate the look and feel of fighting games, and it does an incredible job. When you first open up the box, Devastation can look a little daunting, but the rulebook explains, and so will I, don't worry about it. A majority of the components you won't even use during your first 40 or so games (And you will play that many games.)

Seasons, By Asmodee

A Review of Seasons; or How I Learned to Live Without Magic: The Gathering

There was once a point in my life when I was addicted to little scraps of cardboard.  They held the power to move stars, summon demons, smite my enemies, and stymie the most panic-inducing enemy advance.  They were powered by the energy of land - mountains, plains, forests, islands, swamps - and they invoked equal parts fear and wonder from my opponents.

They were beautifully illustrated and I would slide them delicately into plastic sleeves and package them reverently into hard cases.  Yes friends, there was a time when Magic: The Gathering ruled my life.  But like all addictions, I had to step away for the good of my health (and bank account!).  You may ask, "Donny, how have you been able to cope with such a dramatic change in your life?"  And I would say to you, "Reader, one word: Seasons."

Pirate Den, By Bo Radakovich

Ahoy mateys, and welcome to the Pirate Den. I'm yer captain, JRrrrrrrr, and I'll be watchin' from the mainstay while ye and yer mangy chums scrub the decks... and plunderin' treasure from ships floatin' about the vast blue sea. Yo ho! 

Pirate Den is on Kickstarter as of March 10th. The designer, Bo Radakovich, is a friend of mine and asked me to review it. We played Pirate Den on launch day for the campaign, and filmed an episode of Back It! to go with it. After one game I was hooked, and I can't wait until I'm playing this at my friendly local game store with all my buddies.