Build Me A Kingdom Worthy Of Donald X (A Review Of Kingdom Builder)

There is vast land all around just waiting for someone to come along on horseback, look out over a scenic cliff, and build a kingdom.  As far as creative titles go, Kingdom Builder is not going to give you an overwhelming sense of what kind of Kingdom you're building or why you're building it.  But as the wise people who give out the Spiel des Jahres know, it's not the name of the game but how it plays that counts.

Don't Be a Fool (A Review of Gauntlet of Fools)

Sometimes running the gauntlet just isn't enough.  Sometimes you want to brag, to taunt your opponents, to stand up and shout that you can run this gauntlet better than anyone else even if you had one hand tied behind your back-and then actually do it.

In Gauntlet of Fools, well known game designer Donald X attempts to capture the feel of a suicidal dungeon run, complete with bragging, a multitude of monsters, and dozens of unique fantasy RPG-style Heroes in a game that takes about 30 minutes to play.

News Bits: 12/24/2012

Oh, baby it's Christmas...all over...again. But before you get trampled in last-minute shopping lines, take a look at this week's news:

Hyperbole Games begins penpal prototype program [Link] If you have a prototype that needs playtesters and is in its alpha or beta state (read: not broken), this seems like a great way to get feedback.

Time for a giveaway!

[Note: This contest is now over. (We announced the winner here.) But check out our review of Infiltration!]


'Tis the season of giving! 'Tis also the season of our approximate two-year anniversary, and also the season of our 400th twitter follower. For all these reasons, we thought it'd be a great time to... that's right, you guessed it... give away a free board game!


And what better game to give away than one of the games we've been most excited about this year, Donald X's INFILTRATION (see our review here).  Infiltration, a push-your-luck game of breaking in and stealing from a sinister megacorporation's headquarters set in the Android universe, is quite a blast to play. With its well-formulated structure, fast-paced play, and risk/reward tension all set to a delightful backdrop, I have the feeling this game will stay in my collection for a very long time. And now you're getting the chance to add it to yours, for free!

There are three ways to enter:

• Leave a comment on this post (make sure you give us some way to contact you if you post under an anonymous or guest account
• Follow us on twitter (If you're already following us on twitter, congratulations! You've already entered!)  Our account is: @iSlaytheDragon
• Join our Facebook page. (Again if you already 'like' our page, many thanks! And you already gain an entry!)

You only need to do one of the above three to enter, but each additional thing you do gains you an additional entry.

You may gain further additional entries in the following ways:

• Tweet about our contest with a link to this post and include the hashtag #islaythedragon
• Leave a meaningful comment on anything we post between now and the end of the contest (only one entry per post, but feel free to comment as much as you'd like!)
• Share our contest post on Facebook
• We may announce additional ways to gain more entries at any time during the contest period

The contest officially ends at 11:59 p.m. CST on Friday, November 30th. At that time we will gather all of the entries and put them in a big numbered list and then choose a random number. We will then contact winner, and they'll have three days to respond. If they don't respond to claim their prize, we will pick a new winner, rinse and repeat, until we find someone to claim the prize.

Now for the fine print:
This contest is in no way sponsored by Fantasy Flight Games (we are supplying the prize ourselves) or anyone associated with Infiltration (we chose this prize because we love Infiltration), so you will receive as soon as we can get it shipped to you. We will do our best to ship your prize in a timely manner, subject to availability. The contest will end on November 30 at 11:59pm (central time)  We will contact winners the following day using their method of entry (DM for Twitter, Facebook message for Facebook, e-mail for comments on FDQ—therefore, use a real name and e-mail address; it will only be used for this contest, promise). If the winner does not respond within three days, we will choose a new eligible winner, and so on, until someone claims the prize. This contest is open to anyone with an address in the continental United States, except for our family members (sorry, Mom!). (International folks: if you can find a continental US address willing to accept your prize, we'll ship it there, and they can handle the next leg of the journey to you.) We will have the prize ordered within 24 hours after the winner responds to claim their prize, again subject to availability. The winner will be chosen using random.org. We reserve the right to cancel the contest, modify the rules, or disqualify any entrants if there appears to be any tomfoolery or loopholing—please, follow the spirit of a good-natured giveaway contest.

Good luck, and happy slaying!

Breaking In, Breaking Out (A Review of Infiltration)

The day is finally here.  You've been planning this for weeks.  Well, you and your team.  Technically they're not YOUR team. You don't really trust them anyways.  But you needed them to get into the building. It's not easy breaking into the highly secure headquarters of CyberSolutions, Inc, to steal valuable data.

But now you're inside.  You just realized you don't need the other guys anymore.  You're in and you're off to do your own thing.  You have your reasons for being here, and you don't really care why anyone else is here.  Time to set off on your own, steal what you can, and get out.

Welcome to Donald X's Infiltration, a game of corporate larceny for 2-6 players, published by Fantasy Flight Games.

Bigger, Richer, Shinier (A Review of Dominion: Prosperity)

[Editors note: The following is a Nemesis Review, featuring opinions from our in-house thematic-loving @futurewolfie and his ferocious opponent, the stodgy euro-loving @Farmerlenny.  Make sure to read both opinions to get a better overall picture of the game!]

Prosperity is the fourth expansion to Dominion. Unlike Intrigue, Prosperity is not a standalone expansion; it requires Dominion or Dominion: Intrigue to play.

Build Me an Empire! No, even better! A Dominion! (A Review of Dominion)

Magic: The Gathering really is a fun game. Really. If you've tried it, you probably enjoyed it. If you haven't... take my word for it. There are a few issues with Magic, though, that prevent it from being a general-market success. First of all, the thematic nature of Magic (dueling wizards) is pretty hardcore geeky, which does not appeal to many people. It is also prohibitively complicated; so many cards, so many rules to learn. And finally, the reason that I do not own Magic cards or play the game; it takes a lot of effort, investment, time, and research to really build a good, competitive deck. They key to success in that game is having a deck whose cards work together, and knowing what is in your deck, so it doesn't even really work to simply borrow your best friend's deck - he (or she) will beat you every time, with a few lucky exceptions.

Fortunately, one man named Donald X. Vaccarino came up with Dominion.