Level Up! (A Review of Smash Up: Awesome Level 9000)

Smash Up, a clever little card game designed by Paul Peterson and published by AEG, turned out to be a smash hit last fall and it was no surprised when AEG announced the first expansion pack, adding 4 new factions.  This time Ghosts, Plants, Steampunk… people, and the Bear Cavalry (yes you read that right) join in the fray.  But is it worth adding these factions to the base game?

News Bits: 5/6/2013

Did anything happen in the real world last week? Because there is a ton of board game NEWS this week:

Fantasy Flight reveals X-wing wave 3 ships [Link] Star Wars: X-wing is a game I'm definitely on the outside about, but I know many of our readers care about it, so here's a link to the new ships soon to come.

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.

All of the Smashing! (A review of Smash Up)

Aliens. Ninjas.  Robots. Pirates.

These tropes have been central to the geek culture for years.  Hours upon hours have been dedicated to discussing and arguing which group would win in a fight.  They have been smashed together in fiction, and now, they've been smashed together for an all out knock-down drag-out fight to see who is the most awesome in Alderac's new card game, Smash Up.

The tagline on the box claims that Smash-Up is the "Shufflebuilding game of total awesomeness."  But does it live up to the hype?

News Bits: 10/1/2012

Sorry about the tardiness of this week's news. But here it is--at last!

Deutscher Spiele Preis Winners Announced
It's award season, and the winners of the Deutscher Spiele Preis have been announced. No surprises here: Village by Markus and Inka Brand, which also won the Kennerspiel des Jahres, took top honors, followed by Trajan and Hawaii. Unfortunately I cannot comment on the worthiness of these winners, but a hearty congratulations nonetheless!