Vintage Game: Blockbusters

A game based on the popular UK television show from the 80's. Adorned with a picture of Bob Holness in a blazing, and I must say very sharp white suit, what is this game actually like?

Made by Waddingtons and designed for three players. The white team has only one player, but has less spaces to travel across the board and goes first. Blue team has two people, and has to travel one more space. I think most people will know how this plays. You choose a letter, and have to answer a question where the answer begins with the letter you chose. Answer correctly, and a block of your colour goes on the board and you choose another letter. Link across the board and you win.

The game pieces are very nice in this game. You get a nice 3d blockbuster board, similer to the tv show. There are a lot of questions, and a nifty holder that blocks all the answers on the card apart from the one you need, so there is no need for a dedicated question master.

This can be played with two people, just one on each side quite easily. A variation that we played was rolling a d12 to select the question that you got from the card, as sometimes you can get a run of really easy questions, and a run of really hard questions if you just read from the cards.

The only main problem with this version is that most of the questions are very dated, and will give you a mind workout, sometimes you won't even be able to answer a question due to the dating. But none the less this is a fun game with some really difficult questions, but you will surpise yourself when you know the answers.

Game Review: Cadoo

Now this is not the usual game that we review here, but we played it last night and I must say I found it enjoyable.

Part of the Cranium! Range of games, this one is aimed at the kids. The basic idea of the game is to get 4 in a row connect4 style, of your tokens on a board. To do this you must complete challenges, either solo or combo.
All the challenges come on cards, and what you have to do is decided by a die roll.

Solo challenges have a question on them, and you must answer it then look at the answer. The great thing is that the answers are hidden, and you need to use the red tinted glasses supplies with the game to see the answer. Complete the task, and you place one of your counters.

Combo challenges have you performing a task describing something, through acting, drawing or using modelling clay to make the item in question. The other players then have to guess what you are describing. If someone manages to, then you both place a token on the board.
The game plays this way until there is a 4 in a row, or no more pieces can be placed. The winner in this instance its the person with the most pieces that win.

Although aimed at children, this game is great for adults. The thought process that goes into the questions is different, and I found some of the questions difficult because my logic is different from a child's. It is easy, but with a group it is fun, and that's the main thing. A great party game for all ages.

Game Review: The Haunting House

A earlier game by Twilight Creations, along the lines of zombies, without the size or time needed to play.

The game is based on that you have a bet with your friends, to enter the haunted house, run through and out the other side.

The game is played with 38 tiles, 2 being entrance an exit tiles, the others being random corridors and trapdoors. These are dealt out on the table in a 6 by 6 square, randomly. The entrance and exits are then placed in opposing corners, and the game starts.

Now actions are dealt in this is a interesting way. You have a hand of cards, always the same cards. The first round you get 4 random cards, and play these actions in order. Actions include move one space, move to spaces, miss a turn, switch places and enter trapdoor. After these first 4 moves have been done, you then get to choose four cards that you want. This is like programming your character, you place them and then play them in order. This makes for some tense turns, especially if you are racing for the exit and you and your opponent are making all the right moves.

The game pieces are simple, but nice. The board pieces are around 2 inches square, cards are normal size with nice art on them, and the 6 character pieces are nice, of the usual standard of Twilight Creations. The instruction sheet is a small, but well thought out affair. Some of the wordings need reading twice, as they could have been written better. I found reading the whole rules twice made everything clear.

This is a fun game with two people, but really gets going with 4+ people. The programming stage gets very interesting, as you try to outwit your opponents without making a mistake yourself.

All in all a great game for parties or filling some time. A few games of this is great, but we found that any more than around 5 left us cold. There is just not enough to do, and in some games there may not be any player interaction. The upside of this game is that it does not take long to play, games usually lasting around 10 minutes, so really great for those times when you need something quick to play.

A call to you nerds out there

how many of you have seen Artemis? Its a starship bridge simulator, and I want it, I want it now

to play you need 6 people. and 6 computers one of which needs either a huge screen or better yet a projector, each of the 6 people take on a role, coms, weapons, engineering, helm, science and captain, 

Everyone apart from the captain gets a computer, you station shows the information relevant to your role, the captains job is to sit in the middle and lead with the 6th station runnig the main view and the main bulk of the game

I saw this in its planning stage a while back and though it was cool but details at the time were vague and it looked very much like a simple concept, now today i hit upon it again and the videos I have seen are  a delight.

clubbing together to get a game of this working wont cost the earth with all 6 players chipping in for the $40 price tag (or even the free demo) a lot of fun could be had for a little outlay as everyone will already have a PC to cart along or a laptop, and these days large LCD TVs are everywhere for the main screen

check out the site here

to see it in action here

or head over to our facebook page here or drop a comment below and let us know what you think

Game review: Politika

Earlier today we decided to give this a shot, we were looking for a strategy game to play, something to get our brains warm and ticking over, and this had been hanging round for a while now, always as a possible option but overlooked.

Today however it had its chance.

Long story short, it kinda blew it,

Setup

Right out the box it needed a little set up, stickers put on pieces with little in the way of instruction as to where they went. The stickers themselves were a fair margin smaller than where they needed to go, while this makes sticking them down easy it did make the playing pieces look cheap.

Next there are then 50 tiny bits of card to split apart for each person playing, and by tiny I mean 3mm by 5mm tiny. Rather than pop the lot we picked our faction first to know which colours would be needed. We quickly found out the bits had a colour on only one side and were blank on the other, this caused issues as I picked the faction (at random) that was white meaning we were turning over little bits of card all the time to see if it was white all the way over or hiding a bit of green.

Across the top of the board is space for 3 sets of cards each with its own discard pile I could see little point for this other than bulking out the height of the board none of the cards once used are needed again.

After sorting out all the little bits of card across the landscape on the board and dishing out a few thousand dollars later (not rubles because they are apparently useless) we were ready to go.

Playing

Play proceeds in several rounds, each round has phases but with just 2 players two of the phases becomes defunct, one point of the game is to take over areas but you can faction with other players, there is little point to joining in a faction with your only opponent. Likewise with selling things you have or trading, either cards you hold or influence tokens so those were skipped.

You move your 2 play pieces around the board in to areas where your opponent has influence then attack by buying dice, and the defender gets 1 dice per influence point they have (the bits of card) and who ever has the higher roll wins (the combined score from the dice rolled), if you win you swap a bit of your card with a bit of your opponents and you slowly take over, its simple as that.

There are things around production and how you get your cash to play with but in essence its risk without the having to move armies about bit.

Ending

Play ends after 6 rounds (but you can decide on more rounds at the beginning of the game), who ever has the most little bits of card on the table wins though when we played it became obvious after about turn 3 that I would win. I had managed to get a lead (by luck not design) too great to be taken out in 3 turns even if I did nothing.

A game that looks this complex and has so many mechanics involved to play ends far too quickly to justify the set up time, even with the stickers on now and bits of card popped I think the set up is longer than it needs to be.

We are however going to give it another go in future with 3 or 4 people just to see if the factions add something

We both suspect however they won't.

Pros:

• lots of dice,
• quick half hour time waster

Cons:

• poor design of game peices
• very little strategy for a game that sells its self as strategic
• despite being dollars the paper money has Yeltsin's face on it
• generally dull

 

New style White Dwarf

So I walked into my local newsagents, and saw the new copy of White Dwarf sitting there, in a plastic outer bag with the words New! splashed across the top. I had vowed not to but another copy after the disappointing decline the magazine has taken over the past few years, but I picked it up and it felt, well, quality. So I purchased it, and eagerly rushed home.

The covers are of a fantastic quality, the pictures embossed on the cover. The magazine now has weight, probably due to the extra 32 pages now packed in. The magazine now has a brand new team, and it shows.

There is a in-depth look/showcase of chaos space marines, and this theme rubs through the magazine. A decent battle report, which shows off the new Chaos codex, and painting guides. Not as in depth as they used to be, but still useful for beginners to learn new techniques and advanced painters to better themselfs.

A new article, called kit bash, looks great. Focussing on the Ork Dakkajet kit, it shows some ideas on how to convert this model into some stunning pieces.

Also in this, which is quite unheard of, is a detailed look at the new Forge World Horus Heresy books, along with the models that Forge World are producing. I never though I would see the day when Forge World would get even mentioned in White Dwarf, let alone have a article about their new miniatures!

The photography has also gone up a lot. There are some really nice, well planned photographs all the way through out. Gone are the boring shots of old, the new photography really brings out the new models, and the mood set by the theme aswell.

There's loads more in this magazine that's new, and whilst being predominantly about Warhammer 40000, I suspect that it will switch between fantasy and sci fi on a monthly basis just like it used to.
It also looks like the 'Eavy Metal team are back on form, the paintjobs in this issue are definatly miles better than the rubbish that has been seen recently.

For the extra £1, this issue is defiantly worth it. If the new team can still keep up this level of quality every month, I may even re-subscribe to the magazine. Yes, it is still a glorified catalogue, but this time it appears to have some substance, with useful articles that you want to read, and fantastic photography. Keep it up guys, and you may have rescued what used to be a fine magazine.

Chronicles of Arax

This is a free solo rpg adventure that can be found over at DriveThruRPG (links at the top, and the bottom of this blog)

I was looking around for something that I could play one day when I I had some spare time. I saw this, and it caught my eye. I dont know what it was, something just drew me to it. So I downloaded it and had a look.

It details the core rules quite well, written in a way that even a newcomer could understand. All that is needed is some paper, a selection of poly dice and a pencil. I found it best to print off the file, and write in pencil, which can be erased to play again.

I wont go into detail on how to play the game, but the adventure itself is rather good. Be warned, it is very hard to get through this alive! But I found that multiple play throughs were a joy, not a chore. The big baddie at the end is one tough cookie, but great fun.

It is a basic swords and sorcery fare, barbarians and evil wizards type thing. But with a decent story to keep you held for a few plays, this is great for a free downloadable. There are other “expansions” for want of a better word. These come in the form of extra characters and adventures, but you do have to pay for these, although it is not expensive, $2 dollars at most. So for a outlay of a few dollars, you can play a game with multiple characters, through different adventures. Not bad in my book.

The other only downside that I see to this game is that it is not supported any more, so no more official content will be released for this game, which I feel is a shame as this was a good romp through a fantasy setting.

Get the free download at least, and if you like it enough, maybe buy some of the extras and support what seems to be a decent game developer and hopefully we will see some more content for this game.

Chronicles of Arax is a free downloadable solo adventure available from DriveThruRPG.

Wamped 3!

The details have been released, so get painting for one of the biggest online painting competitions!
Details can be found over at the Wamp website, with a handy link right there ay the top of this blog. It's free to register and enter, and there are prizes for winners, runners up, an overall best in show prize, plus spot prizes and sponser prizes!
The best paint job does not always win, vision and idea play a part in the judging so really anyone can win.
Hope to see you there!

Dice

no words can describe the beauty of these dice, just look at them,

those are stainless steel thorn dice, it's certain to add something a little unique to your rolls, they come in metal or plastic, at prices that make you really want them enough to find a justification,

head over to ceramicwombat to see what else is on offer, (be sure to take a look at the botanical set) and remember, Christmas is coming and i have been ever so good this year

Hello from Tigoda

Evening all!

just a quick first post from me to say thanks for the welcome and a big hello,

as well as loving board games and willing to play anything with anyone, I'm also the one responsible for the leather work and jewelry making you can get hold of from farlands games,

right now im working on this:

it doesn't look like much right now, but it will be a leather case to hold Magic the gathering cards, expect more photos of the completed project later on,

if you have any ideas of things you want made head over to our facebook page, from the tiniest of pouches to hold a hold a D20 on a necklace to full games themselves, get in touch.

Sonic papercraft

Found this wonderful papercraft model of Sonic over at the blog run by Sabi96:

Just had to share this one! Head over to Sabi's blog HERE for all other cool papercraft items to make!

Android Games

 This is a short list of the games that I have been playing on my Android device when I find I have a few minutes to pass. You may have heard of these, you may not have, but I recommend that you give them a go!

The Impossible Game: A paid app, but a nice cheap one. I think this was 80p, but I installed it over 18 months ago. Let that be a testament to this game, 18 months and I still play it. Simple to understand, all you have to do is jump blocks and avoid spikes in a levels that last around a minute, but boy is this difficult! Live up to its name, has great music, and will challenge you for a good while. The only bad point is that there are only 2 levels, but there is a level pack available.

Line Runner: Recently installed, this is along the lines of The Impossible Game. Run, jump and duck along a seemingly endless level, trying to beat your own score. Again good music, but there is a free taster with one level. The paid app has 10 levels, but at the moment 1 is enough. Addictive and fun.

Temple Run: A great game, riffing on Indiana Jones. Wonderful graphics, you may need quite a powerful device to run this on. I think most of the modern android devices will run this, although budget devices may struggle. Grab the idol and run for your life! Levels are randomly generated, so no two plays are ever the same. Uses touch, swipe and tilt sensors, this is a workout for the brain as much as the hands! And for the cheap price of free, a wonderful time killer.

Sonic CD: A paid app, around £1.89, this is well worth it if you are a Sonic fan. Possibly the most underrated but best Sonic game (behind Sonic3) comes to Android. With both the American and Japanese sound tracks, time trial, and a host of unlockable extras, this game will have you playing for a while. Whilst the actual game can be completed in under 40 mins on the first play, this was built for speed running. Shave those seconds off, and try to run this as fast as possible is where the major fun is in in this game. Also available on Xbox live, with achievements to boot!

 

Elder Sign- Omens: Already mentioned on this blog, it gets better and better. I have beat it a few times now, but it is always different, and with the sheer amount of characters available will be playable for a long time to come.

Game Review: Ponte del Diavolo

Now any game that has a literal translation of “Bridge of the Devil” is a good game in my books. And it just so happens, that this is not only a good game, but a fantastic game.

A abstract game for 2 people, by Rio Grande games (again, is there no end of good games by these?) which can be liked to chess with less pieces.

The game board is a 10x10 board, and there are three pieces in the game, light coloured tiles, dark coloured tiles and bridge pieces.

Players take turns placing 2 of their chosen colour pieces at a time. The idea of the game is to make blocks of 4 tiles, called “islands”, and link them together using the bridge pieces. You can lay pieces that have 1, 2 or 3 blocks, but these are non scoring in the final part. Islands cannot have any of your colour blocks around them, there must be a clear space between a island and other blocks of your colour, however opponents pieces may touch these.

No blocks may be place under a bridge after it has been places, so this makes these not only scoring pieces, but also great blocking pieces.

That is pretty much all there is to the rules of this game. At first look, it seems pretty simple, place tiles until you have no more then score up. After the first play however, it quickly emerges that there is a much deeper level of strategy to this game. A experienced player should always beat a less experienced player, just like in chess. There is the chance that this may not happen, but as this game is simpler than chess, it will not take long for someone to grasp a understanding of this game.

This game is a reworking of the game Twixt, by Alex Randolph (1922 – 2004). It is a very good adaptation, and worth of your shelf space. Games take around 15-20 minutes, so a great filler game, but can also easily take up a whole evening of great gaming.

Another recommended game that can be found quite cheap here in the UK.

Welcome to the Fold!

We want to take a moment to welcome a new member of the team! Tigoda has joined the ranks of Farlands Games, and we hope to see some great content from him shortly.

He is a regular at Thursday Night Gaming, so come down for a chat about points raised, or try and beat him in a game. Be warned, he is quite good at many games, he is a worthy adversary (and don't let him get hold of the magic wand in Talisman!)

Welcome Tigoda!

Game Review: Elder Sign – Omens

Elder Sign – Omens is the mobile device game based on Elder Sign. I have the Android version, and it costs £2.50 in the UK. It is also available for the iPad and iPhone.

I have played Elder Sign a few times, and will be picking it up when I get the chance. I prefer Arkham Horror, but it just takes too long compared to the 45 mins of Elder Sign.

The Android version is very good. It is faithful to the board game, with just a few tweaks. It is set in a museum, all the events happening here. There are two Old ones to go up against, with a third, Cthulu himself, being a unlockable.

You have to go around completing encounters, some which give you items, some which advance the story and more difficult ones where you can get the Elder Signs used to seal the Old one, allowing you to win. There is still a time limit, and monsters appear as usual, usually right where you want to go next.

Encounters are resolved like in the board game, using glyphs that you conjure. You must match these to what the encounter requires, then you lose these for the other encounters in that part. You can get two extra glyphs, a red and a yellow if you have the correct items. Glyphs can also be locked to be used later on. It all sounds complicated, and is difficult to explain, but when you see it in action it becomes very easy.

This game however is hard. Very hard, but I feel this makes the game. There are lots of characters to choose from, and each plays differently with their abilities, so its a challenge just to find the best group for your play style. Being so hard as well, there is great re-playability. It is easy to get frustrated, but you must see where you are going wrong to improve at this game.

If you like the Arkham Horror series, or are a fan on H P Lovecraft, then I say this game is a must. Even if you have Elder Sign, then this will be great, as you will know how to play and can carry it around with you to play wherever you are.

A great mobile game, which surprised me somewhat. It is actually put out by Fantasy Flight, and I hope to see some more of their games come out on the mobile platform (multi player mobile Talisman?) For the small price, this is a great buy.

Worst movie death scene ever.. or is it?

There come a time when you see something so funny.. you have to share it. Don't worry, nothing graphic in this, would be a PG here in the UK. From the Turkish movie 'Kareteci Kız 1973', YouTube presents:

Board Game Review: Zombies!!!

I had been wanting to play this game for a good long time, so you can imagine my joy when someone took this to the last Thursday Night Gaming, I mean, what cooler than a board game with zombies?

Ill tell you. A good board game with zombies in it, and this is one of them. Weighing in with 14 expansions, this is a big game series, but you only need the first box to get slaying, and I would add the expansions in number order.

Lets get to the game. We played the first game with the full 6 people. The rules are simple, draw map tile and place, draw cards, play cards, move and fight, and then move the zombies. Some map tiles are empty streets, some have lots of zombies and health on them.

Everything is done with just a d6. To fight, you must roll a 4+. That’s it. If you don’t, you can spend a life to re roll the die, or spend a bullet to improve the score by one. This is actually quite strategic, do you spend all the bullets you have, or use a life and hope you roll better? If you lose all your lives, you lose half the zombies you have killed, and go back to the start.

The goal of the game is to be the one who gets to the center square of the helipad tile (somewhere in the bottom half of the deck) or be the first to kill 25 zombies. Both are no mean feat, but going for the 25 kills is the most fun (and deadly!)

Lets say this as well, this is not a co op game. You can help each other, but alliances are formed and shattered rapidly. In the game I played, one player said to me “lets work together!”, so I agreed and helped, only to be left in the middle of a zombie horde after he speeds off in a car. Nice.

The cards add a nice touch to the game, being cards that can help yourself, or severely hinder other peoples ability to survive. Such as a car card which allows you to move ten spaces, to the Zombie Master! card, that lets you place 5 zombies anywhere on the board, usually surrounding a hapless individual.

The game we played lasted around an hour and forty five minutes, and that was with 6 people, only one of which had played before. This is a great game, there is some strategy, but mainly this is a free for all romp through a zombie apocalypse where there can be only one. Get this, grab your mates, and see who can get to that helicopter first.

Railways of the World: The Card Game

It's very rare that I will play a card game that is based on another board game, but this one is different.
Railways of the World is one of my favorite board games of all time. Even so, sometimes it is just to big of a game to get out and play, especially so if you don't have enough time to play a full game. This is where the card game come in.
Played with one deck of cards, some trains and a table, this really gives you a cut down version of the game without losing anything. Players have a hand of cards, that will consist of track cards, city cards and engine cards. Track cards allow you to build between cities, city cards show how many goods are available and engine cards upgrade your engine.
There are different city cards, and the higher cities yield more goods, but less colours go into them. Track cards come in a variety of colours, and you must chain them to get the required number to get into a city. So a brown 3 city requires you to place brown track that equals or exceeds a value of 3, which you then place a control train on.
Deliveries are as normal, with you needing a engine of sufficient power to move along the links. This is where the engine cards come in. Play one, and the level of your train goes up. They can also be used as wild cards for track placement.
You start in a central hub, and build the map as you go. All the usual game rules apply from its bigger brother, and scoring is almost exactly the same.
Cards are drawn from the deck to your hand, but you can also take the top card of the discard pile aswell.
The games is great as a standalone, and if you have played the full version then it is very easy to pick up and play. But I use this game to teach people how to play the full game, and it takes just 45 mins to play, and deals with all the major rules.
All in all fantastic game which can be played multiple times in a session, with enough nuances to actually warrent getting both this and the full game. Again, as with the full game, don't let the theme put you off. Play and you will be hooked.

Card Games: What to buy?

Here's a short run down of card games that we play here at Farlands Games. We recommend all these games, if you see them, give them a go!

A pack of normal cards: Portable, and can be great fun when with a group of friends. The best thing about a pack of cards is that almost everyone knows how to play games with these. Blackjack, Poker, Chase the Ace, Go Fish, and many more. Cheap and easy, and can be played when you are waiting for people to show up for the main game. Also, there are quite a few solo games out there that use a pack of cards.

Dominion: Of course, no list of card games would be complete without a mention of this game. Simple to understand, difficult to master, and expanded with so much content, there really is something for everyone. Kids can enjoy this as much as adults, and play as hard aswell. The thing I really like about this game is how much actual strategy that there is in this, and the deeper you look into it, the better the game becomes.

Elder Sign: Ok, not technically a card game, and does use dice, but uses less table space than most card games use, and is played predominately on and with cards. The younger brother of Arkham Horror, this game plays fast, and can be played solo of with a group of friends. Plays just like Arkam Horror, with all the juicy stories and theme, but with simplified rules, plays in around 30 mins. Still cannot beat the full Arkham, but with that having a playing time of 4 hours plus, this is a fantastic alternative.

Fluxx: Simple, good, honest fun with a twisted sense of humor. Two rules start the game, and more are added as you go along. Don't like the victory conditions? Play a card to change them. Want to draw 3 cards? 4? Want to collect everyone's cards together and deal them out again? Well that's exactly what you can do with this great card game from Looney Labs. There are a number of decks available, from standard Fluxx, Pirate Fluxx and Monty Python Fluxx. All the card backs are the same, so you can mix and match between sets and create a custom game. Martian Zombies anyone?

The Island of Dr. Necreaux: James bond type hero's and villain's in a James Bond type adventure. This is a little talked about game, but can be purchased quite cheaply on the internet. Easy to understand, the difficulty in this game really is brutal however. Your mission is to save some scientists from the evil Dr. Necreaux, but he has set his island to self destruct. Battle henchmen, robots and crafty traps, save the scientists and escape, all with a time limit. So good ideas in this game, if you can find it, give it a try.

Paper money in games: What do you think?

I have seen this debated many times over the internet on different forums and sites. Following is what I think, and is my own opinion.

I like paper money in games. Its tactile, and I think it makes it easier to see not only what you have yourself, but also what other people have at their disposal, at a glance. I admit that it can wear out and is prone to drink and food spillage, but that should not be a problem if you excersise a bit of care when you are gaming, after all these games can cost in excess of 40.00 each.

What are the alternatives to paper money? Well I see people arguing poker chips. They say you can buy a set of poker chips, and subtitute them in games where you use paper money. They are easier to stack, and less prone to damage. OK, I can see the benefits of not being easily damaged, especially if you game with excitable people. What I don't see is that for every game you need to give each chip a value, one that I could see people getting confused with how much each chip is valued at.

Along with poker chips, any other marker could be used, stones, beads, glass discs, you name it, it could be substituted.

Another option is what the makers of Monopoly went with, and that was to dispense with all money, and use fake plastic credit cards and a credit card machine. A nice gimmick, it can still be cheated however, and you have to use the card machine to even check how much you have. I found it got tiresome after a few games, and dislike how only one transaction at a time can be made.

Call me old fashioned, but I really like paper money. It been around in games for a long time, and fits themes nicely. I cannot imagine playing Railways of the World with poker chips, it just would not feel right to me. I can see the arguments from the side of practicality and durability, but the people that I play with are careful with games, especially if it is not their game.

What are you thoughts on this topic? Should paper money stay, or should we move with the times? Discuss in the comments below or over at our facebook page.

Choosing the perfect game

This was posted to our Facebook page, and I thought it was worth a post. Many thanks to the guys at Silver Oak Casino for this one.

Imperial Guard Chimera

Finished pics of a Imperial Guard Chimera painted for commission.

Hull weapons will be added when payload is given to me.

£39 per model from our facebook page.

Game Review: Railways of the World

The aim of this game is simple, build the biggest and best railway network, deliver goods and make money. The premise is simple, the game play however is as deep and strategic as you would like in a medium weight game.

Sitting in between Ticket to Ride and the 1830 series of railway games, do not let the theme put you off. It could be anything, they just chose trains.

Game contents

You get a lot of game in this big, heavy box. There are two game boards, Railways of the Eastern US, which is quite simply put, HUGE. You need a big table for this one, or the ability to bring in another table to the room. The other board, Railways if Mexico, is smaller and suited to 2-3 players. There is also a score board and income track board. Each board has their own set of cards assigned to them. You get a main rulebook, and two smaller rule sets for the individual maps. Also in the box you get paper money and bond cards, train cards, wooden goods cubes, lots of track tiles, and lots and lots of trains.

Set up is simple. Each city on the board has a number, this is the number of goods cubes that starts on it. Place cubes on all the city's. Each player each gets a level 1 train card, and a handful of train markers. 5 cards are dealt out, representing events that unfold throughout the game, and play begins. It could take a while for one person to set up alone, but with a group setup should not be more than 5 minutes.

How it plays

The game uses a auction system to gain the first turn. This can be vitally important, as if there is a card that would greatly benefit you, chances are it will greatly benefit someone else also. Bidding wars can be fierce, but great fun.

You start with no money at all in this game. Once the first auction is completed, players have to take bonds from the bank to get some money and get that game going. These bonds can never be payed back, and deduct points from you final score, 1 point for each bond you have, so you have to decide if you want to go for big money and gain a big lead, or play more reserved and see if other people will get into a lot of debt.

So now you have a little bit of money and its your turn. What to do? Well, you have 5 options.

• Build track, which costs money.
• Deliver goods, which gains you money
• Urbanize a city, change a grey city to a colour and place some good on it.
• Upgrade your train to the next level
• Take a operations card

It can be overwhelming at first, but after one turn, most players will have picked up what to do.

I'm not going to go into much detail on this game, as this review could then easily turn into a small novel. I cannot speak highly enough of this game, its almost perfect. There are just a few little niggles, like it being 1 turn to long, and some of the rules are not that clear, and you need to turn to the internet to work some problems out. But on a whole, this is like monopoly on steroids, with a good dose of strategy to boot. Plenty of options, and no two games will be the same due to the randomness of the cards and goods in play.

If you like trains, this is the game for you. If you don't like trains, then forget about the train theme, and play it. Its a economy game at heart, and a very good one at that, don't pass this one by.

40k Battle Report: Necrons v Imperial Guard

Last TNG, we had a epic battle. One that shall be told for months to come, well by me at least.

My Necron force, fresh from 2 deafeats, finally pulled through. The Imperial force was large, much larger than mine, with 75+ models adorning the table compared to my 35. Did superior tactics, guile and bravery put me to victory? Maybe some, but it seems the curse of the dice also fell upon the Imperium that night.

I am not going to do a move per move report here (mainly as I forgot to take photos, and it all got a little mixed up in the excitement of it all), but here are some main points.

• From the beginning, the Necrons had a advantage of getting a objective worth 5 vp right in their deployment zone, on top of a building. A 10 man squad, lead by a lord, took and held this the whole game, surviving round after round of ordinance from a Basilisk and Leman Russ.
• The scarabs went on the rampage. Using the secret hatch special rule we came up with, they dashed right across the board and popped up infront of the Basilisk. With enrtropic touch rules, needless to say the Basilisk did not last long.
• On the other side of the battlefield, Traysin the Infinate, a lord and a 10 man squad marched their way towards another objective, one that was being held by a 25 strong IG squad. Suffering only 2 casualties on the march the warriors unleashed a volly of gauss fire, killing 12 of the IG...
• ...and then Trayzin charged. Unleashing mindshackle scrarabs, one IG turned and killed two of his own. Trayzin only scored one unsaved wound in combat, but that was enough. With 11 troops still around, the Empathic Obliterator released a blast.. and hit 6 troops, all but one saving their armour save. With that the IG turned and ran, only to be cut down by Trayzin as they attempted to escape.
• That being the fifth turn, Trayzin, the lord and the troops hold the objective.
• The Imperial Guard storm forward, and shoot a volly of 63 lasgun shots at the Necrons. (orders had been issued). All but one survived, who stood strong. Trayzin took the body over of the second lord, but that put him back in the deployment zone, much to his dismay.

The Imperials, I feel had no chance in this match. There was to many of them, and were not mobile enough. With the Necrons ability to get back up after they have been defeated, it really is like fighting a never ending wave with dwindling resources. If this had been a out and out destruction match, I think the IG would have won, but the Necrons appear to be doing very well at objectives, only losing to the Grey Knights by 2 points the week before...

Paper Art

If you are ever in the mood to make something, but do not want to take the long walk to the shops (like me on a daily basis) and have a printer, check out this blog:

papermau.blogspot.co.uk

Here you will find some of the best paper craft that I have seen in a long time. Search a little deeper, and there are some fantastic pieces that could be built for wargames. Make them from paper, or print them out and stick them to some card or plasticard, and quite soon you could have some great looking terrain, or just some outright good looking models.

 Above are just a tiny selection of cool items that you could make!

Gamer Chic Jewellery!

Our new range is here!

These are the first pics that we have (I was that excited I forgot to photograph them during the day!)

At the moment we have Scrabble, Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit, Lego, Dominoes and Jigsaw jewellery!

Priced at just £3 for a leather necklace and £4 for a silver necklace, treat the gamer geek that you know and love! Handmade locally HERE in Smethwick, by the same person who makes our wonderful leather bags (priced at £13 each!)



Head over to the Facebook page and shoot us a message if you want one!

Gaming Boards Mark II

 Over the past week we have been busy making some gaming boards. These ones are a post apocalypse wasteland, ideal for 40k!

The pictures do the little justice, in person they are much more impressive. Measuring a square 4ft by 4ft, these are perfect to go on the dining room table for battles.

Built in are the secret hatches that I mentioned in a earlier post, which give a fast track route for the canny warlord.

The boards are quite hardy, and stood up well to a intense game at Thursday Night Gaming, and they have yet to be varnished.

These actual boards are destined for ebay, so I can make space for the next project.

If you would like some boards like this, I will produce them for the small sum of just £50 for a 4 by 4, or £70 for a 6 by 4ft table, to your specifications. Postage will be around £20-25 by courier, but you are more than welcome to arrange to pick them up yourself. Contact me over at Facebook.

Farlands Rules: WH40k The secret hatch

This is a rule that we have played recently, and came about as we wanted to add a few RPG elements into the main game.

The idea is simple. There are two hatches on the board, wherever you want that are linked. To enter the hatch, you must assault it, and gain 2 hits on it for it to open. I has a weapon skill of 3 and toughness 4, although you can vary this to make it more difficult to enter. When these criteria have been met, the whole squad enters the hatch, and misses a turn. After the missed turn, they re-emerge at the other hatch, just as if they had done a normal move.

If a opposing squad also enters from the other end, then resolve a assault as normal, minus the assault charge. Failed leadership tests equals a automatic sweeping advance, portraying that fighting in close quarters is hard!

This played very well. The attacking of the hatch portrays the attempt of hacking, and with a stat line, fits in well with the armies themselves. Space Marines, who have a understanding of technology will be able to access easily, even with a 5 man squad, whereas Orks, with the break everything mentality, may need to use the whole squad to get through.

Give it a try in your next game!

Warhammer 40000: The Farlands Way

Thursday Night Gaming just gone, I had a absolutely fantastic game if 40k with a friend. We played Grey Knights vs Necrons, 4 objectives, random vps, in each table quarter. During the aftermath, we discussed just why this game was so good.

Now when we usually play, we stick to the rules to the letter, in a pseudo tournament style of play. In this game, we made a few changes.

1. We forgot the tape measure. Both of us. Luckily, we has a chain that measured 24 inches, so most measurements could be worked out.
2. We made rules up on the spot. If something happened that we thought would be fun, we house ruled it and just did it.
3. Some of the army specific rules for the Necrons we took back to the previous codex rules.

All these together left us with a game where we basically goofed around and just had FUN. With friends, I believe that with any game fun is the biggest factor. I have no problems with changing some rules around to make it more enjoyable for both people. This game told much more of a story than usual, there were some truly epic scale assaults that went on, and some sneaky moves by the Necrons.

I think the biggest thing was the forgetting of the tape measure. It came down to that we stopped measuring for a lot of things, such as movement and assault distance, and just approximated the 6 inches. When shooting, if we were a half inch out, it still hit.

Give it a go yourself. Get a good friend, and just play a game, and change something around. Don't change the actual mechanics, such as to hit or leadership tests, but just play in a relaxed way and have fun with it. This is the way that I think that I will play with friends. I found the stories that came out much better than saying your squad cannot be hit because your enemy is one sixteenths of a inch out of range.

Lack of posts..

We are sorry!

The reason being, we are working on a large project that is taking up a lot of our time. We promise normal service shall resume, shortly after we amaze you all with pictures of what we have been doing!

In the meantime, why not take a look through our older posts, or join us on facebook?

First part of terrain

This is the first piece of terrain that I have scratch built for many years. I decided that I want a really cool, one of a kind game table, that I have made, full of ruined buildings. Cost wise, buying actual GW items was/is prohibitive for the scale I have in mind. So I decided to turn my hand and make my own.

Even if I say so myself, I think that looks darn good for a first attempt. I had lots of fun, and learnt some valuable lessons along the way making these.

This will sit as a corner of a ruined factory, that will be part of the board. Three more corners, and some wall sections and that will be complete.  I think the next part of this will be something like a skyskraper. I have been inspired by some things I have seen on the net, so will keep going.

I may even throw the doors open and do these on a comission basis. If you want one, contact me on Facebook and we can discuss details.

More on this project next week!

Free is the Word!: Useful Freebies

This is a new post that I am going to be doing. I will take a look at all kinds of free games and utilities, for those times when you are bored, or don't have enough money for a full blown game. Most of these will be sourced from DriveThruRPG, which, if you have not visited yet, is a great place to get all manner of downloadable game goodness.

Here goes for the first instalment!

3 really useful freebies!

10x10 Hex Grid

This is exactly what it says. Very useful for drawing maps, plotting scenarios, planning wargame strategies, the list goes on and on! I am going to be printing a stack of these, and use them to plan my 40k strategies.

Get it here

650 Fantasy City Seeds and Encounter Hooks

Ever been trying to create a event in a RPG game you are running, and just can't come up with something? Have your players completely thrown you and you need something for them to do? This is your answer. 65 pages of fantastic events for you to get started with. Some of these are one shot things, but many can be the beginning of a full blown adventure. A invaluable source of inspiration. Print it and keep it for those emergencies.

Get it here

101 City Names

A list of 101 city names that could be used in a fantasy or sci-fi setting. One page, great for when someone asks where a NPC comes from, or if the player party decides to go in the opposite direction to the way you want them to. Another one to print off and keep in your GM book!

Get it here

Warhammer 40000, solo?

I think that all of us must have tried it at somepoint. You can't find someone to play a game with, and you think it cannot be that hard to play against yourself. You set everything up, and play the first turn. Suddenly, it dawns upon you that this is a huge undertaking, and you get so confused you give up. Well, that was my findings from trying to play just 1000 points aside. There is just too much that you have to think about, and I always favoured one side over the other.

With the new release of Dark Vengeance, Games Workshop seem to have addressed this fact, even just a small amount. Two of the missions, (the first two infact) are solo missions. The first one pits the Chaos cultists against a out of control Hellbrute, and they must deactivate it before it gets them all. The second puts the Dark Angels Ravenwing squad against three waves of cultists, the aim to get the bikes off the table edge three times.

These missions have been designed to ease the new player into the game, to help them learn the rules on their own before they introduce someone else. There are instructions that control the "enemy" in each game, namely that they will move towards and attack the closest models.

This has got me thinking, that you could introduce these ideas for when you have no one to play with. Using the enemy will move and attack the closest unit, and always following them, some intereting games could be played, and will also teach you more about the game as you play.

Just some food for thought, and I expect solo missions to be popping up over the net over the next couple of weeks, maybe even some will be featured in future White Dwarfs or on the GW website if it is popular enough. I am even going to get my thinking cap on, and may post some of my own devising up here.

Project Necron...again

I have decided to start yet another Necron army for 40k. This will be my third army. I really like the Necrons, the way they look and the way they play.

My last army was a 3000 point infantry based army, backed up by two monoliths. Charging Pariahs into battle backed up by a Lord was great fun, but not as much as marching 4 20 man squads across the battlefield.

This army will be put together over time, I have enough left over bits to field some sort of kill team or small army.

The line up so far is this:

1 Lord
10 Necron Warriors
6 Destroyers
6 Scarab bases

I am probably going to add a squad of Deathmarks, a Monolith, 10 more troops, and bring the scarabs up to 10 bases.

Work in progress!

I have gone for a different colour scheme this time. Both my last two armies were the classic silver variety, this time I have decided to try something different. Here is a work in progress of some scarabs:

I think they look cool anyway. I will be painting these in my spare time, and am not to bothered about them winning any awards or anything, just to get them to a good table top standard that I am happy with.

Their first march will be at Thursday Night Gaming this week, against Chaos and Imperial Guard.

Game review: Destination

When this game was put down on the table, I was under enthused to say the least. A game based on London taxi's cannot be much fun. That was where I was wrong.

The game board is a map of London with lots of roads connecting even more famous landmarks, which are destinations for your passengers. The roads all have spaces on them, which you roll for with dice like most roll and move games.

The idea of the game is to take your destination cards that you have in your hand and plan your route. When you get there, you get the fare, and lose a fuel card. Lose all your fuel cards, and you are potentially out of the game. To combat this, there is a garage that you can buy fuel from, adding a another factor into the strategy of getting from place to place.

Also included is your driving licence. If you gain 12 points on your licence, then you lose your license, and you have to pay a fine or you are out of the game.

Scattered around the board, there are traffic lights. Land on one of these, and you must take a card. There is a 50/50 chance that you will get a good card, or a bad card. Good cards give you a extra fuel, or more money, plus some more. Bad cards put points on your license, or make you pay a hefty fine for something or other.

Player interaction in this game is great, and you really have to be on the ball. If a player lands on a destination that you have in your hand, if you call it, you move to that space, they go back to the taxi rank and have to pay the fare themselves. You still use up a fuel token, so sometimes you may just want to stay quiet about this. Also, if you land on the same space as another player, you sent them back to the taxi rank. Its fun to see someone rushing somewhere, only to send them back to the beginning!

Games last about an hour, and are really fun. We played with three players, but I think with six players, this would really become some serious fun! As a fast paced, quick game this fills the ticket. We recommend this game highly.

There are many versions of this game. It is a souvenir game, made for many towns around Europe. You can get London Olympics 2012, Paris, Norwich, Birmingham and many more, even Destination Hogwarts!

Warhammer 40k Dark Vengeance: First Look

Well it has been finally released, after months of speculation amongst pretty much every one who talks about these things, and Games Workshop have pulled off maybe their greatest masterpiece yet.

Lets get to the nitty gritty. The models in this box are amazing. Each one is packed with so much detail, you begin to forget that this is a starter set. Each model is of the snap fit variety, which means no glue, and that’s great for the people that just want to get stuck in and play with some new armies.

Dark Angels and Chaos is a great line up for a starter set, and even without knowing anything about the lore if the WH40k universe, you can see that these are sworn enemies. It looks as thought the Dark Angels are slightly over powered at the moment, but this is sure to be fixed by the upcoming new Chaos codex that is being rumoured, bringing fairness to the fight.

The rule book seems solid and sturdy, much better than the 5^th edition book that came in the starter set, and feels it will last longer. There are also reference sheets, a handy tool in the heat of battle when you just can't quite find the right book mark. Also included are dice, and range rulers (also known as whip sticks of doom..)

Along with a skew of accessories, such as the munitorium templates and dice, comes a book detailing the Dark Vengeance itself, and a audio book also released, both of which can be obtained in store or from the Black Library.

A solid set for beginners and veterans alike, this really is a great value box. 49 miniatures which can not be brought anywhere else, and the much better handy sized rule book make this a well spent £65. Games Workshop have set the bar high with this release, and if they can keep up the momentum and keep the quality coming (and fix Fine cast) then maybe, maybe they will end up top dog again. Only time will tell, but at the moment there has never been a better time to get into the world of Warhammer 40,000.