The Sum of Glory (A Review of Twilight Imperium 3rd Edition)

"I feel as if the galaxy is waking. As if an ancient beast stirs from slumber in a dark cave.  The day will soon come when a new empire will rise. For the sake of all, may the new emperor not only have the power to seize the throne, but the strength to conquer the peace. If not, I fear that a sea of desolation will drown us all."

These dramatic words conclude the ancient tale behind the universe of Twilight Imperium and prepare players to launch into their own epic tale. Thousands of years of darkness and chaos followed the fall of the once great Lazax, the ruling race of an ancient galactic empire that has been all but completely lost. Now, alien races who have stayed hidden and patient as they licked their wounds and repaired their own worlds are starting to expand. Some of these races were once part of the great empire, others have only recently made themselves known, but it doesn't matter where they come from. It only matters where they're going; to Mecatol Rex, the center of the ancient empire, the home to the galactic council, and the seat of power in the galaxy.  

Will anyone be strong enough to take charge, rebuild the empire, and rule the galaxy?

[Ed. Note: Some photos contained in this review show elements of expansions to the core game of Twilight Imperium. Everything mentioned in the review, however, is only from the core game.]

Still Red Dawn (A Review of Fortress America)

[Editors note: The following is a dual review, featuring opinions from our in-house war gamer @spielemitkinder, and the thematic space-loving @Futurewolfie.  Make sure to read both opinions to get a better overall picture of the game!] 

Wolverines!  It is America’s most desperate hour.  Beleaguered on three fronts, these United States struggle against an unthinkable invasion of the land of mom, apple pie, rock ‘n roll, and freedom.  Forget the TSA, high taxes, and Obamacare.  Lady Liberty’s very way of life threatens to vanish in the pages of history.  Will hordes of barbaric invaders sweep unopposed from sea to shining sea?  Or will guerrilla citizen-soldiers rise up through hill and dale to help their reeling army stem the tide until America’s massive lasers can blow the enemy back to the motherland, proving we really are the Home of the Brave?

Sign of the Times (a Review of Elder Sign)

Strange things are happening at the museum.  Signs and fearsome portents betray the stirring of some ancient evil.  Horrific creatures have been spotted roaming where they should not be.  Though many are blind to the coming darkness, a few brave and intelligent souls have spotted the clues and decided to study the madness, search for its cause, and prevent the mighty and destructive Ancient Ones from breaking back into our world to wipe out all of humanity.

In Elder Sign, you will take on the role of one of these adventurers, and attempt to work with your companions to find out what is happening and seal the coming portal to have any hope of putting an end to this legendary evil.

News Bits: 9/23/2013

Summer is gone; fall is here. The seasons change, but the NEWS stays the same:

Terra Mystica wins Deutscher Spiele Preis [Link] And surprises...no one. Other top winners are Tzolk'in, Bruges, and Bora Bora (yes, two Stefan Feld games in the top 4). Congratulations to the winners!

It's Dangerous to Go Alone (Take this!) (A Review of Cosmic Encounter: Cosmic Alliance)

Space is not a safe place to be.  It can be dangerous to go alone.

Fortunately, in this galaxy there are many alien races.  In fact, it seems as if the heavens are packed to the brim with multitudes of strange creatures just itching to get the chance for galactic domination. 

Fortunately, because some of them might just be willing to help you out.

Cosmic Alliance, the 3rd expansion pack for Cosmic Encounter, offers new races, new cards, and a few new variants to play around with.

The Time For Peace Is Over (A Review of Cosmic Conflict)

Space maybe the final frontier, but the frontier of space itself seems unending.  With nearly infinite amount of space in the universe, trillions of planets and stars to wonder about, it's no shock that space is a common and popular theme for board games.

Drawing upon these diverse and infinite multitudes, Cosmic Encounter finds itself expanding even larger in the second expansion, Cosmic Conflict, which adds a set of 20 new races to the already substantial mix, races that tend to skew thematically towards the title of the expansion - that is, heavy on the conflict.  What mysteries lie beyond the great vale?

Barnyard Stud (A Review of Black Sheep)

The stakes have never been higher in ranching.  Or should I say steaks?  Can you beat your neighbors to wrangle up the choicest livestock from the auction yards?  Diversify between horses, cows, pigs, sheep, and roosters.  Old McDonald ain't got nothing on you.  Just remember that the biggest deals may swing upon what you have up your sleeve!

Tales of Legend and Woe at Gencon 2013

Yesterday, FarmerLenny wrote up his experience at Gen Con, primarily regarding the games he played.  Now it's my turn.  I'll talk about some games, but I feel that my experiences go beyond just playing a few demos, and most of the games I played were also played by FarmerLenny, so I don't need to bore you with unnecessary details.  It was definitely a wild ride, but not all of what happened was super fantastic, even though it tried to be.

So, without further ado, here's what happened at Gen Con.

News Bits: 8/12/2013

This is the week many of us are waiting for: GEN CON. Futurewolfie and I will be there Friday and Saturday. Be sure to say hi if you see us. And now, this week's NEWS:

Sentinels of the Multiverse board game to debut at Gen Con [Link] There were hints of this news earlier in the week on Twitter, but a post on designer Kevin Nunn's (Rolling Freight) Facebook page have confirmed it. Very few details are known at this point, but you can be sure we'll be stopping by the Greater Than Games booth at Gen Con to find out more.

Release the Kraken! (A Review of Red November)

You are a proud crew member in the Gnome Republic’s crowning naval achievement: the sleek and menacing nuclear powered submarine, Red November.  With the latest advances in design and construction, precision propulsion, state-of-the-art technology, a deadly arsenal of modern weaponry, and previously unheard of sea-going amenities such as a grog-dispensing vending machine, your mission is to cruise the world’s waterways projecting the Motherland’s prowess, capabilities, and glory.  This will be the highlight of your naval career.  I mean, in such a sophisticated and highly-developed vessel, what could possibly go wrong?

Break the Ice! (A Review of Android: Netrunner)

Many years ago, a fellow named Richard Garfield created a card game that found its way into the homes of millions of people and has since continued to grow and expand and thrive.  It is the game that keeps many a game store afloat, it has tournaments worldwide, and it has kept a huge following of players since its inception.

Netrunner is not that game.  But, shortly after Magic: the Gathering, Mr. Garfield went on to create a number of other games, and one of those games was most definitely Netrunner. Alas, it did not achieve the popularity of Magic.

Fast forward a few decades later.  Fantasy Flight Games, seeking to expand its complex and incredibly geek-friendly Android universe, acquired the rights to Netrunner and published it as a revamped, re-themed "LCG" called Android: Netrunner. 

Here is my review.

The Legends Have Returned! (A Review of Legends of Andor)

"We demand to be taken se..." okay I"m done

"The King's ambassadors can hardly believe their eyes. Prince Thorald has finally returned and has managed to gather the bravest heroes in all of Andor."

So begins your first legend in the cooperative fantasy adventure epic game that is Legends of Andor. Your quests will take you far across the countryside, into territories unknown and mysterious realms, bringing you face-to-face with monsters, mystics, and treasure, all in the hopes that you will succeed and go down in history as one of the Legends... of Andor.  

Your quest begins here.

News Bits: 5/13/2013

Another week packed with NEWS:

IELLO hosts King of Tokyo championship [Link] This is your chance to prove if you are, in fact, the King of Tokyo. Regional qualifiers with a final tournament at this year's GenCon. I'm not enamored of this game, but @Futurewolfie likes it quite a bit.

So Say We All (A Review of Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game)

Everybody look to your left. Now look to your right. One of you is probably a Cylon. It might even be you.

At least, that's the way of things in Fantasy Flight's Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game. Players will take on the roles of characters from the (modern) show as they face dangers, tense political situations, dwindling supplies, and of course the fact that some of the players are secretly Cylons working against them.

He Who Controls the Spice (A Review of Rex)

REX! Starring: Lions

The final days of the Lazax began in the seventy-third year of the war. 

These words can be found buried in the introductory chapters of Fantasy Flight Games' flagship title Twilight Imperium.  The words continue: Without warning, an alliance of Sol, N'oor, and Hacan attacked Mecatol Rex itself.  Of all the planets in the galaxy, no planet was more war-torn than Mecatol Rex.  Over the course of only a few years, the planet's ecology was ravaged by bombardments, its population decimated, and its green fields blasted into a toxic wasteland.

It is in this scenario which players find themselves during the course of Rex: Fall of an Empire, the prequel game to Twilight Imperium. Storyline-wise, TI takes place after a long period of galactic disarray and a vacancy in the seat of power; Rex occurs thousands of years before this, during the fall of the Lazax, the once-great empire that ruled the galaxy for untold ages. But does it capture the feeling of chaos and destruction described in the paragraph above? And more importantly, is the game fun to play?

News Bits: 11/26/2012

Thanksgiving is over. Here is this week's news to feast on.

Golden Geek winners announced [Link] The only surprising thing here is that so few games won. King of Tokyo took three awards? Eclipse took two? Netrunner took two? Anyway, congratulations to the winners.

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.

Once Upon the Burg (A Review of Kingsburg)

It's a very lovely burg...

Sometimes you're competing to be king.  Sometimes you are the king, trying to subdue your neighbors.  And sometimes you're just trying to rule as much of the king's land as possible.

But in Kingsburg, you're out to expand the King's land, power, and prosperity.  You are one of the King's chosen leaders, sent out to tame the lands, build civilization, and destroy evil monsters.  In this case, though, you're not alone - the King and his advisors mean to help you as much as they can along the way.  Does this game have a glorious bounty, or will the kingdom crumble to dust?

News Bits: 9/17/2012

Well, dragon slayers, it's another week. And as the weeks roll on, so does the news...

Another "Preis" for Village
The Deutscher Spiele Preis winners were announced, with Village claiming the top spot. It doesn't seem to be too much of an anomaly for a Spiel des Jahres- (or now Kennerspiel des Jahres-) winning game to win the Deutscher Spiele Preis, but congratulations to Village's designers nonetheless. The full games list is pretty impressive, so any winner among that pack deserves hearty congratulations.