Game Review: Lords of Waterdeep

Any game with a Drow on the cover is win.

Lords of Waterdeep is a super fun board game for two to five players that brings the elegant worker placement mechanic of an excellent Euro game to the fantastical setting of The Forgotten Realms in the Dungeons & Dragons universe. The game is as rewarding to play as it is fun and promises for a great evening of gaming with your friends. 

With this game, Wizards of the Coasts really flexes its considerable gaming muscle by producing such an engaging and fun game. The box alone is very unique and the quality of the components is top notch. Through out, the immersion of being a D&D game is evident, right down to the chits used as gold coinage. There are plenty of D&D hallmarks. From the art of the quest cards to the map like game board depicting the city of Waterdeep, there is no doubt that this game takes place in the Forgotten Realms. And this is one of the games main strengths to me. Unlike many worker placement games where you may be farming for grain or corn, or gathering wood or food, your resources are hearty adventurers that you send forth on valiant quests to further your particular Lord of Waterdeep's agenda. From a role-play standpoint, players take on the roles of quest givers. I made the joke that an entire thirteen week Encounters season is completed with just one Quest card! :)

Jason intently considers his next turn

But it also very much has the look and feel of the quality Euro game that is is. There are wooden Meeples representing Agents and colored dice cubes standing in for the adventurers: Warriors, Rogues, Clerics, and Mages (the rarest to acquire). There are play mats for each player to track their resources that really harken back to games like Puerto Rico and Agricola. The game is also similar to the game Caylus. The mechanics are simple. Each player is dealt a Lord of Waterdeep card and that identity is kept secret from the other players. Each Lord has an agenda that players try to forward during the game that earn them additional points at the end. Each turn, the players place Agents on different locations on the game board. Each location can only be chosen once (mostly), and each location yields different benefits. Players may also elect to build additional locations for players to occupy. For example, I place an agent at The Plinth and receive one Cleric. As players accumulate adventurers and gold, they can then "spend" these resources to complete quests (of which there are different types, such as Warfare or Skulldugery), which in turn grants the player points on the tracker or some other benefit. The trick is players have limited Agent access (in a five player game we had only two) so where you place your worker becomes very strategic. The turn order can change each turn (by someone occupying Waterdeep Castle) so someone may take a location you need to complete a quest before you have a turn. Add to this the ability to play Intrigue cards that either help you or hinder your opponents, and you have a very strategic and dynamic game. At the end of the 8th turn, players reveal their Lord cards and tally up their points. The player with the highest point total wins. 

The scheming begins!

We got to play two games and each game was different. However, each game we began to see more and more how the mechanics worked and the multiple ways one can earn points. Jason looked to be the clear winner in our first game, he was scoring quests that had huge point values early on, but through some savvy game play Chip came from behind and won by just two points. Our second game saw Jason coming in second again, but Seth won by building additional locations and earning huge bonuses for them due to his Lord of Waterdeep card. 

All in all, Lords of Waterdeep is a great worker placement game wrapped in the finery of a fantasy D&D setting. If you are a fan of one or the other genre, or both, you will definitely enjoy giving this game a try. 

Lords of Waterdeep has an MSRP of $49.99 and is produced by Wizards of the Coast. 

You CAN do what I said you could do!

Guild Wars 2 Trailer

Just thought I'd post this as a follow up. It's an old trailer, but it gives a very good impression of that "painterly" style I mentioned they will be using for this game.

Enjoy!

-Wicked

Avengers Assemble!

If you have not seen the genius that is Joss Whedon's "The Avengers", stop what you are doing. Stop. Just stop. Car. Get into your car. Drive to the theater and go see this movie. Twice. Back to back. Go. Now. Stop reading this and go. Go. Now. You will thank me later.

Excelsior!

-Wicked

Beta, Beta, Beta!!!

Hey Folks!

So much gaming goodness has been afoot over the past few months! Recently, I have had the opportunity to play in a few Beta tests of some upcoming games. The result is I have not had enough time to properly test them all, but I did play enough of each to get a very good snapshot of how the games will be, and I must say, I am excited for all of them. So, what I have I been testing?

Guild Wars 2

The races of Guild Wars 2 

Not since the days of yore (i.e. Star Wars The Old Republic) has there been such a frenzy of anticipation for a MMO release. The folks over at ArenaNet are close to releasing their highly anticipated MMO, which continues the storyline established in Guild Wars. I was impressed with so many new and innovative features of this game. It was very fun to play, and I can easily see myself trying it out once the game is live. Some of the features I liked the most were the Dynamic Event questing system, the Skills system, and how your attacks and powers are based upon which type of weapon combination you are using. But the biggest impression was simply how gorgeous the game is. The amount of detail in the game is amazing. As my buddy Roman said, it is like playing in a highly stylized and intricate painting.


Diablo III

The Witch Doctor causing some Confusion in Diablo 3

Wow. This one has a special place in my heart, as I am a huge fan of "dungeon crawl" anything, and Diablo was my first true video game on my "new" computer back in the early 1990s. This time around, Blizzard updated the graphics, added more story and new classes, including the ranged Demonhunter and the way too cool for words Witch Doctor! Like StarCraft 2, Diablo 3 does feel familiar, yet that is why I think I like it so much. New Tristram is in need of heroes! Again, really looking forward to this release, which is just next week!!! May 15, 2012!










World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria

Pandaren Monk 

Yep, the Pandaren will be making their official entrance into WoW with the next expansion. I love the changes made to WoW graphically. The starting zone for the Pandaren looks like something out of Disney's Mulan. Beautiful! Like ancient China on the back of a giant Sea Turtle. The new Monk class was fun. Despite the cluster**** that was 1,000 Pandaren trying to click on the Edict of the Unclickable, the starting zone was fun, and I got a good impression of the new Monk melee class. I did copy over a level 85 Mistweaver Monk, the melee healing spec, but I had no idea what I was doing so I stopped playing. This looks to be a "love it or hate it expansion for WoW", but I'm a fan boy and loved what I did get to play.

Much more in depth and detailed reviews will follow once these games are released. This is just my initial impression of these great games coming our way. So keep a weathered eye on the horizon for some truly fun online games.

-Wicked

Year of the Gear: Heavy Gear Blitz!

Tonight my buddy Jason and I kicked off a long awaited and prepared for event, our innagural game of Heavy Gear Blitz! Since Bayou Wars, we decided we were going to shift...ahem...gears...and play something new in 2012. After some deliberation, we decided on Dream Pod 9's mech battle game, Heavy Gear Blitz! Now, I had purchased the rulebook and a unit box back in 2009, but like many games I acquire, it made it to the back burner in lieu of the more popular games we were playing at the time, like Warmachine or Warhammer Fantasy.

Then, something strange happened.

This past Bayou Wars, there was a gentleman demoing Heavy Gear in the dealer room. He showed Jason how to play. And before long, out of nowhere, Jason had become a full fledged member of the Pod Squad demo crew for DP9. In trying to convince me to play, he later would show me the model that single handedly got me into the game full tilt: The Hussar.

I was hooked.

I didn't know who the faction was or what they did, I was playing them. Turns out, the Hussar is a specific model only available to a new faction DP9 was releasing in December, the New Coalition, or NuCoal for short. The NuCoal combined the best in Terra Novan gear technology with the remnants of the Port Arthur Korps tech to make for one new, super bad ass Heavy Gear faction.

Sadly, this was October when we began planning this, so we would have to wait till DP9 released the new faction so I could have something to play with. In the mean time, I spent many a night reading the DP9 forums, reading old HG books and watching how-to videos on YouTube.

Then, sometime after Thanksgiving, my new NuCoal faction book and General Purpose squad arrived and I was in business. I assembled the models when I got the chance and resigned to paint them up as quickly as possible. You see, I tend to acquire armies faster than I can paint them, but I was determined to play with a fully painted force in Heavy Gear, so what to do?

Enter Army Painter.

Following Jason' s lead, I too decided to use the Army Painter method to quickly but nicely paint the models for the tabletop. I had purchased some Army Painter products for use on my Incursion! game, but after seeing how well...and fast...his models turned out, I had to try them on my NuCoal models. More on the painting process later (it went unbelievably well), but I soon had my GP Squad painted up and ready for some action.

We decided to meet on 12/30/2011 at Big Easy Comics to begin our year long gaming experience Jason has dubbed "The Year of the Gear". Meaning we will take this next year to learn, paint, and master all there is learn about Heavy Gear Blitz! We have committed to fully painted forces, incremental list building, and making terrain specifically for the HGB scale.

So the fight for Terra Nova has begun! Jason will be commanding the forces of the Northern Polar Region while I will fastidiously marshal the power of the NuCoal forces to protect our City-State from the Polar aggression.

For NuCoal!

The only question that remains is: which faction will YOU play?

Strength and Honor,

-Wicked

Game Review: Pathfinder Starter Box

Just last week, I finished running the Lost Crown of Neverwinter D&D Encounters campaign. It was very well done, we had a lot of fun, and it was a rewarding fourteen weeks of gaming. I am a big fan of 4th Edition D&D. I love the streamlined combat, the party synergy, and the class role system. I was actually kind of jealous of my players. They were having so much fun with their characters, leveling and trying new power combinations, that I had to roll a character of my own. Thus was born Vraxis Shadowkin, Tiefling Warlock Hexblade! Just in case there is a game I can jump in, I'll be prepared.

Many of us are older D&D players, and we remember fondly the days of creating a character of our design and reflecting a lot of character flaws and perks through character design. This is something the Pathfinder system does well. In an off weekend, I got together with Jason and Henry and we decided to give the Pathfinder Starter Box a go. The Pathfinder system is, essentially, D&D 3.5 under the OGL rebranded and carried on by Paizo Publishing. Once we got started, it only took a few turns for us to realize how familiar the rules were.

The box set itself is very well done. It really does assume you have never played a role playing game before. The rules are written in a very clear, concise way. This allows new players to grasp certain aspects of the game as well get handle on combat mechanics. Visually the art reminds me of a cross between high fantasy and anime. The box includes four pre-generated characters, a players handbook, a GM book, a well done double sided dry erase map, a few pages of cut out character with several 3D stands, a few blank character sheets and a set of dice. The character sheets are laid out in a very clear manner, with lots of definitions and how-to tips throughout. The beginner scenario takes place near the town of Sandpoint. The party is tasked with discovering who or what is responsible for terrorizing the local populace. It is a quick adventure into a dungeon cave not far from town. The adventure takes the party through ten rooms in the dungeon, exploring most of combat mechanics as well providing many opportunities for non-combat tests, like disarming traps, stealing treasure, and diplomatic role-play with some of the dungeon occupants. In the end, the party must face and defeat Black Fang, a young black dragon who has taken up residence in the caves interior.

From the start, I really felt the difference between the two game systems. While fundamental mechanics are still the same, there are subtle differences between the two systems. Saves and critical hits stand out here, as well as some roleplaying options. I think Pathfinder really rewards players who LOVE options and customization with their characters. The interaction of skills, feats and abilities is more intricate in Pathfinder, and that can be a good thing. I did find combat to bog down a bit, but that is something I remember 3.5 suffering from before. All in all, we had a good time playing. Jason liked the game so much I believe he will be running a Pathfinder game soon. I guess Vraxis will have to wait!

Now what should I roll for his Pathfinder game?

-Wicked

Steve Jobs, 1955-2011

The world is a lesser place today with the passing of Steve Jobs. Humanity lost a true visionary, a brilliant inventor, and an amazing human being. I consider it an honor to work for the company that he helped create, through which whose products helped define the world as we know it. His spirit is the foundation of Apple, and through the people whose lives he touched, his legacy will endure.

The following video is narrated by Steve himself. It is at the core of what sets Apple apart from any other company. A company that only Steve could have shaped.

Rest is peace, Steve. You will be missed.

-Wicked