The Weekly AT Snapshot--November 9th, 2007

FINALLY!

A HYBRID YOU CAN SINK YOUR TEETH INTO!

Today's image was submitted by "The Monkey Man" himself, Mike Chapel. Thanks, Chappy!

______________________________

If you've got a great image that just screams Ameritrash, email us the image or a URL. It can be an image you created or an image you found on the web. We don't care!

If it meets our strict quality standards, we'll publish it in The Weekly AT Snapshot, instantly making you an undeniable global celebrity.

We'll even pimp your website if you send us the URL for that. Send all submissions to fortressat@gmail.com with the word "Snapshot" in the subject line.

A Case of the Mondays

Human Sacrifice, Dogs and Cats Living Together, Mass Hysteria

In case you haven't heard, yes, it's true--Fortress: Ameritrash's own Mr. Skeletor is currently Boardgamegeek's resident "Geek of the Week".

You can see the thread here:


Mr. Skeletor's GOTW Thread



Here's a rare opportunity to find out everything you've ever wanted to learn about Mr. Skeletor--such as his favorite games (hint: some were published by Fantasy Flight Games) and also his favorite Golden Girl (hint: it's the slutty one.)

The Weekly AT Snapshot--October 19th, 2007

Little Timmy has just received a Candyland set for his third birthday! He and his buddies tear open the box and sit down to play.

What game could be more appropriate for these overexcited, sugar-filled little scamps?It is a long, long journey, but Timmy has successfully navigated the lollypop woods, escaped from the molasses swamp, evaded the gooey gumdrops, and reached the final purple space. He draws his very last card...

(Unbeknownst to Timmy and his parents, the evil Michael Barnes has recently infiltrated Milton Bradley's printers, furthering his dastardly plot to insert the Horrible Black Void into each and every board game known to man.)

Today's photo and write-up come to us again from Mark "NeonPeon" Wrynn. Thanks, Mark!

___________________________________

If you've got a great image that just screams Ameritrash, email us the image or a URL.

It can be an image you created or an image you found on the web. We don't care! If it meets our strict quality standards, we'll publish it in The Weekly AT Snapshot, instantly making you an undeniable global celebrity.

We'll even pimp your website if you send us the URL for that. Send all submissions to fortressat@gmail.com with the word "Snapshot" in the subject line.

Impromptu Mailbag--Filling in for Skeletor

There's a good letter in the bag still left for Skeletor, but I had to take this one, BEFORE IT WAS TOO LATE...


__________________________________

Good Day, Please Read.My name is Mr.Song Lile i am the director of operation in Hang Seng Bank Hong Kong.

I have a business proposal in the tune of $19.5m. After the successful transfer, we shall share in ratio of 30% for you and 70% for me.

Should you be interested, please contact me through my private email (LIKE I'M GOING TO SHARE THIS WITH YOU GUYS! --Ken) so we can commence all arrangements and I will give you more information on how we would handle this project.

Please treat this business with utmost confidentiality and send me the following.

Full names:
Private phone number:
Current residential address:
Occupation:
Age:


Kind Regards, Mr. Song Lile.


______________________________________


Well, Mr. Song....you've just made my dreams come true! 19 MILLION?! Dude, that's a lot of coffin-sized FFG games right there! With those proceeds, I can buy the FFG crew some serious "Thank You" gifts....for Jeremy, a Slave Leia costume....for Thaadd, a "Game Designers Journal" to help her keep her myriad design projects safe...for Kevin Wilson, an autographed picture of me...the list goes on and on and on. I can even buy Mike Chapel a giant codpiece for his monkey genetalia. My altruism shall know no bounds! MY LEDGERDOMAIN SHALL BE KINDNESS AND LOVE!

I mean, I'm not sure how you got my email address Mr. Song, I'm assuming it's because you read my "Geek of the Week" posts on BGG and were so impressed you had to contact me right away. Believe me dude, I totally understand.


Here are the details you need:


Full Names: Michael Hunt
Private Phone Number: (555) 555-1212
Current Residential Address: 420 Paper Street, Wilmington, DE, 19886
Occupation: Male Stripper
Age: A lady never tells



Anyway, it's been fun writing for you guys, but now that I'm rich, y'all can bite me.

The Weekly AT Snapshot--October 12, 2007

"Gee Brain, what do you want to do tonight?"

"The same thing we do every night, Pinky - try to do...uh...whatever the hell it is that's supposed to be going on in this game."

Man, I hate abstracts.

Today's image was brought to us by Simon Mueller. Thanks, Simon!

__________________________________

If you've got a great image that just screams Ameritrash, email us the image or a URL.
It can be an image you created or an image you found on the web. We don't care! If it meets our strict quality standards, we'll publish it in The Weekly AT Snapshot, instantly making you an undeniable global celebrity.

We'll even pimp your website if you send us the URL for that. Send all submissions to fortressat@gmail.com with the word "Snapshot" in the subject line.

Burnout: Taken Down Edition

I've been debating writing this for the past several weeks or so. First of all, why should you care? Secondly, is this what the blog is about?

But then again...we've been posting here for six months, and most of us have babbled about whatever seemed important to us at the moment, and you guys (and gals) have kept reading. So...here goes.


What do you do with boardgame burnout?


Right now, I've got it wickedly bad. Not to the degree where I don't want to play, but to the point where I do feel like I'm going through the motions. A few weeks ago we had a get-together to game; we ended up playing half a game of Original Trilogy Star Wars Risk before abandoning it to watch football and play Bioshock.

I thought that maybe it was just a bad session, but a couple of weeks later we tried Siege of the Citadel one of my favorite games. The energy just wasn't there. Somehow one of the best shoot-em-up boardgames ever designed didn't even inspire the type of excitement it should have.


Maybe it was to be expected. For the past two-and-a-half years I've done nothing but eat, breathe, and sleep boardgames. Time not spent playing them was spent reading about them. Time not spend buying them was planning on what I was going to buy. Time not spend trading them was spent meticulously figuring out what and when I could trade.


Problem #1 is that I'm one of the primary enablers of my boardgaming friends. For the most part, if it is going to get played, I have to buy it. I have to teach it. I have to help schedule it. Rules pile up in my brain like a freeway crash as I try to keep rulesets for a 100 games in my head. This of course fails miserably and our sessions grind to a halt as pages are flipped, rules are consulted, and the pace of our games slow to a crawl.

Problem #2 is the inertia of a larger board game collection. This poses a problem on many levels. First, you start to look at your collection as having certain areas "covered". You think, "I already have a game based on global conquest, one based on dungeoneering/adventuring, one on sci-fi shoot-em-ups, etc."

Also, and this is more maddening, you end up with the backlog. Gaming time just can't keep up with the acquisitions so you end up with a laundry list of games you were excited to get but just can't seem to get table time with all the heavy competition. Getting burned like that makes you hesitant to look into getting new games. You start to see them as "One more to add to the backlog."


Problem #3 is the demon temptress of video games. Like most board gamers, I'm a multi-hobby geek. I may own 170+ boardgames and CCGs but I own 13 consoles and nearly 350 games for them. In years past I'd always cycle between my hobbies; I'd be heavily into video games for a few months before drifting back into CCGs and after that it'd be back to buying movies and DVDs. Somehow I managed to avoid that during the past two+ years, even though I'd dabble again in dead CCGs or more games my primary interest was boardgaming. We'd game at lunch, we'd game at work, we'd plan monthly gaming sessions, we'd excitedly list off 10-20 games we'd like to squeeze in "sometime soon", the list goes on and on and on.

This has been reflected by the fact that I don't own a next generation console yet. Since having an Atari 2600 as a child, I have owned a new console that I wanted within a year of its release. Now, I'm starting to feel that as I play my brother's new Nintendo Wii or my cousin's XBox 360. If I took the money from the last few boardgames I'd purchased, I'd have one of these systems already.


Some of you have noticed that my contributions have diminished, and have rightfully called me out on having lower quality posts than in the past. The bit I wrote on theme vs. mechanics wasn't terribly inspired and something I cobbled together so I could contribute something. I was invited to write for Boardgamenews.com to bring some Ameritrash flavor to the place, and what have I done with that? Nothing. I just...can't...think of what to write about that's of any interest.


(Unless they want a review of Bioshock. That's a hell of a game.)


The scariest part of all was looking at my closet last night and thinking what else I could be doing with all that space. And the sudden urge to flag half the games I have for trade on BGG (though what would I trade them for? More games?)



I'm hoping things will pass, and I think they will. There have truly been some great Ameritrash stuff released this year. Whereas Euro games seem to be stuck in even more of a rut than I do, a lot of energy is going into bringing us better Ameritrash games with clean rules (though still complex enough for flavor!), insane production values, and great themes. Look at Last Night on Earth--a game I do need to get, as it might be just the ticket to light the fire again.



Anyway, I just thought I'd put that out there. What do you guys do when you experience burnout? Can this gamer be saved? And are boobies on Boardgamegeek a bad thing?

The AT Weekly Snapshot--October 5th, 2007

Setting: 15th Century. The principality of Wallachia employs unique processes that serve the dual function of deterring outside invaders as well as entertaining the royalty.

The prince has personally contracted the players to maximize process efficiency, through acquisition and utilization of resources. Among these resources are food, peasants, pikes and Turks. The prince will hold unexpected feasts at random processing sites - the players who can quickly lay out food and the proper atmosphere will receive the prince's utmost admiration. Players who fail will instead feel his piercing disappointment.

Today's snapshot and write-up comes courtesy of Mark Wrynn. Thanks, Mark!

_______________________________

If you've got a great image that just screams Ameritrash, email us the image or a URL.

It can be an image you created or an image you found on the web. We don't care! If it meets our strict quality standards, we'll publish it in The Weekly AT Snapshot, instantly making you an undeniable global celebrity.

We'll even pimp your website if you send us the URL for that. Send all submissions to fortressat@gmail.com with the word "Snapshot" in the subject line.

Ameritrash--Theme or Mechanics?

Here's today's thought...is Ameritrash defined more by theme, or mechanics?


On the one hand, it's pretty obvious that it's theme that gets you in the door. Science Fiction and Fantasy are the two main themes that you'll find in most Ameritrash games. It's also why there is debate over what fits and what doesn't--"But...but it has Terminators riding Dinosaurs!"


Think about it--games with Zombies, or Cyborgs, or Dragons, or potty-mouthed Clerics...where is your first impulse to classify these? "Pff! That can't be Euro. It's got friggin' Pirates!" That's an actual train of thought when attempting to classify Pirate's Cove.


This often bounces right into the mechanics portion, and based on how European gaming influences have bled into American-style games--"cleaning them up" if you will--this adds to the confusion. Is Shogun Ameritrash? It has cubes and a highly abstracted combat resolution system, but it is about war, combat, and conflict, about duking it out on a Risk-style map.


What about individual elements of Ameritrash games? Dice? The first thing people hit you with is, "well, Settlers has dice." Yes, yes it does. Randomness in general? I've determined that Lost Cities is about as random as it gets, so much so that even if I played 200 games of it I still wouldn't feel comfortable putting money on any individual game. Plastic figures? Game manufacturers have figured out that plastic figs have a genuine appeal to a segment of gamers so it's not uncommon to see plastic figures in games that are not essentially Ameritrash. This adds to the confusion in games such as Bootleggers or Age of Empires III, which at a glance have all the plastic eye candy you could ever hope for but feature game mechanics that are not immediately at home in your typical Ameritrash game.


Mr. Skeletor doesn't like the term, but I can't help but think that the lines will further be blurred as each camp borrows heavily from the other. Euros seem to want to get out of their "pasted on theme" box and are trying very hard to give us games with crossover appeal, such as Arkadia or Pillars of the Earth. We're seeing American-style games incorporating more in the way of threaded turns, simultaneous actions, role selections, and auctions. We're seeing ambitious American-style designs coming from game makers the world over, including things like Duel in the Dark and Tannhauser.


Theme is going to continue to be important. I mean, imagine Risk, just like it is, but change the theme to ameobas battling it out in a petri dish or something. Imagine that Cave Troll is actually about a cave-in (oh wait, it almost was).


Just ask yourself--"would it seem out of place if this game included sharks with laser beams mounted on their heads?"

The "Ever Increasingly Misnamed" Weekly Snapshot: 09/21/07

"Including a total of over 180 mini booze bottles and dozens of drunk types, Barcraft: The Board Game features an innovative modular bar of varying sizes which guarantees a new experience each and every binge. An exciting card driven puking system allows drinkers to modify and upgrade their belt notches with a wealth of powerful whores. Players can unleash a Yuengling rush, use powerful Prairie Fire shots to halt an sober enemy, or even send cloaked Zombies out to guide uncontrollable piss missiles to the fake plant in the corner."

Today's image and write-up comes to us courtesy of the ever-mysterious "Powdered Toast Man." Thanks, Toast!

_________________________________________

If you've got a great image that just screams Ameritrash, email us the image or a URL.

It can be an image you created or an image you found on the web. We don't care! If it meets our strict quality standards, we'll publish it in The Weekly AT Snapshot, instantly making you an undeniable global celebrity.

We'll even pimp your website if you send us the URL for that. Send all submissions to fortressat@gmail.com with the word "Snapshot" in the subject line.

Boardgamers' Love/Hate Relationship with "The Mass Market"

"Sound advice, except for the 'giving money to the (evil) Wal-Mart part...."


Does this seem familiar? If it doesn't, you haven't been spending enough time in the boardgaming forums. For whatever reason, gamers seem to have a tangible hatred for "The Mass Market".

Why is this? I have no idea. It probably has something to do with that "us against the man" vibe that runs through many hobby communities (though I don't see this as much from video game communities--and even if I did, it would be laughable...what, don't buy from Wal-Mart but Amazon.com or Gamestop instead? Yeah, Gamestop only owns *every videogame store outlet* there is...buy from them, that will show "The Man!")

Personally I've always gotten the warm fuzzies when any game that could be deemed "geek-worthy" finds its way onto mass-market store shelves. And if people really cared about the hobby as much as they claimed, they'd cheer too.

I can't tell you how many times I've been browsing the boardgame section (such as it is) at the local Wal-Mart when I'll see someone--maybe a young couple, or maybe just an older guy--hobble through the aisle. You can see it in their eyes; a listless but at the same time relentless, hopeful search that SOMETHING is out there that will catch their eye. You see them pick up game after game, showing it to one another, but maybe with a slight shake of the head put it down again. And who can blame them? I don't doubt for an instance that these folks have bought a game blindly in the past from these very same shelves, only to be wildly disappointed.

Still, that something...that urge...brings them back. There has to be more, right? Maybe they've heard or seen some of our "geek" games out there and are puzzled when they can't find such things on Wal-Mart or Target shelves. And very likely they don't have an online resource such as BGG...they probably haven't the foggiest clue that such a thing exists!

How do I know this? I used to be that guy. Of course, I'd seen great games like Space Hulk in the past, but still I would browse the store shelves looking for something like that. And part of me still does that. I still catch myself looking over those tired shelves hoping that something "geeky" has punched its way through.


That's probably why I celebrate games that do make that breakthrough. I sing the praises of games with a geek pedigree such as Battleball or Epic Duels or Heroscape...probably disproportionally so. Sure, they're good games, but you cut them a little slack because they rise above the muck such as Spongebob Monopoly or High School Musical: The Game or even Failed Party Game Where People Shout Words at Each Other #3718. Seeing a game like Crossbows and Catapults or Laser Challenge mixed in with that lot of rubbish is cause for celebration.


For a lot of people, that's the only hook into our hobby that they'll ever have. They've seen the "Game Store" but shy away because of (mostly wrong) stereotypes of mouth-breathing CCGers and bespectacled D&D nerds and old men carrying big tackleboxes full of Warhammer figures painted with frightening detail. (I said mostly). They just don't think that such a place holds anything for them. And to turn the tables, the same would apply to you if you weren't into a particular hobby; imagine not being much of an outdoorsman and having to entertain thoughts of going into a Hunting hobbyist store filled with live bait, expensive gear you couldn't possibly tell one apart from another, and orange-clad "Good Ol' Boys" chewing tobacco and talking about getting up at 3 am and covering themselves in Deer essence just to get the drop on an unwitting Buck. Stereotypes RULE!

So where does that leave our potential "normal" would-be gamers? Shuffling the aisles of Wal-Mart. Or Target. Or whatever. Looking, endlessly looking.

I don't usually take it upon myself to be an evangelist, but I can't help myself in such situations. One time when doing my own Wal-Mart shuffle, I noticed a man and his young son pick up the Heroscape box. It was obvious that the man was interested--his son doubly so--but the price tag of $40 was certainly scary on an unknown entity. Still, Heroscape grabbed them, peering out with its attention-getting large shelf profile, indicating its dominance over the weaksauce titles that surrounded it.

"It's a great game," I said to him. He turned to me. "Is it really?" he said. "Yep. Your kid is going to love that."


And that was enough, that gentle nudge, that assurance from someone who seemed to know what they were talking about. Now, I would've never talked this guy into going to a hardcore hobbyist store, but the bait was there in a place where he would find it...and ultimately, he took it. Did he and his son become boardgamers for life? Eh, not so sure about that. But this was the only shot for that to ever happen.


So I'll keep on shopping those big store shelves, looking for new champions of worthiness among the drek that's out there. And yeah, I'll cut it a bit of slack...and more importantly, I'll buy it from a big store too. Even though I'm just a datapoint, hopefully I'm one that says, "More, please". So I'll buy Heroscape stuff at Wal-Mart. So I'll buy Travel Blokus from Target. I'm probably naive, but maybe we can shape "Mass Market" into our own image, or at least enough to hook in another father and his son into a lifetime of memories.

Yeah, but the commute to Mordor is still a real bitch

Thanks to isirotin for providing today's image.


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If you've got a great image that just screams Ameritrash, email us the image or a URL. It can be an image you created or an image you found on the web. We don't care! If it meets our strict quality standards, we'll publish it in The Weekly AT Snapshot, instantly making you an undeniable global celebrity. We'll even pimp your website if you send us the URL for that. Send all submissions to fortressat@gmail.com with the word "Snapshot" in the subject line.

"The Next Epic Duels"

Blah blah blah, due to the holiday and con season the blog has stalled, so let's put some content out there....


I joined BGG during the height of Star Wars: Episode III madness. My brother and I had been playing the hell out of Clash of the Lightsabers and of course Star Wars: Epic Duels. It was a search for more games as good as those two that led me to find out about this other incredible Star Wars game I missed (some little game called Queen's Gambit or something like that). From there, BGG.

Epic Duels was just this crazy good game that was stupidly affordable, *completely* opposite of what you'd expect to find. You've probably heard everyone say how they picked up a copy for $5, and in the same breath wonder why Hasbro didn't follow up with an Episode III version (hint: stores don't buy things that only sell when they finally go on clearance).

In today's environment I doubt this could happen--just look at Heroscape...I think if that was released before there was a real AT renaissance and awareness on the web in any significant numbers, it would've had a base game that bombed and that would've been that. I don't think the web-aware boardgaming hobbyists would let games like Epic Duels go unnoticed again.


Funny thing, though, is the aftermarket success of Epic Duels spawned the catchphrase, "The Next Epic Duels". Gamers started talking like speculators. Sure, we're all collectors, but for any of us who lived through the speculation-mad crash n' burn of the comic book industry, that sort of thinking makes you a little wary. People were looking for that cheap game that would make them a hundred bucks after dropping only $5 on it.

Battleball for a long while was considered one such game; people mentioned buying five copies or more from Kaybee Toys. Battleball actually has a lot in common with Epic Duels; it's a mass market game that had a great bits per dollar value that went largely ignored by the gaming public. Probably for very different reasons, of course...video games have bled the notion that licensed gaming properties suck (hence Epic Duels bombing out), and Battleball has probably THE worst "game in action" photo on the back of the box I've ever seen:

...just stay the hell away from me, kid

Seriously, who could slap that thing down on the counter and expect to have any semblance of dignity? Who freakin' greenlit this thing? It's like the kid on the right just discovered his dad's Playboy stash and has been hit by a uncontrolled burst of hormones.

I like Battleball okay...we just played it yesterday in fact (I lost a humiliating 2-0, and *four* of my guys were critically injured by halftime). It has a lot of the same things in common with Epic Duels--nice bits, great price, fast and easy gameplay...it even fills a niche of super-easy to play sports boardgame, a not terribly crowded field.

However, it will never be "The Next Epic Duels".

Why is that? I'll tell you...it's just like something I heard once: "Anything that says 'Collector's Item' on it will NEVER be worth anything." If you've got people buying up cheap copies hoping to sell for a huge profit, but everyone is proclaiming a hot item sure to appreciate in price, who's going to buy it? See anybody willing to fork out $30 for Battleball? $20? $10 is more like it, if you're lucky. Not because it's a bad game, but honestly, who are the speculators going to sell it to? Each other? They were all able to pick up their fill of copies without a hassle...I could still have picked up an extra copy for many, many months after I scooped up mine, and most Toys R' Us stores had a glut of them that took awhile to work through their clearance stock.

Just like comic books, y'know? Marvel printed eleventy-billion copies of X-Men #1, and speculators gobbled them up only to find they had no one to sell copies to at inflated prices. Same deal...supply AND demand.

I had written off the "Next Epic Duels" phenomenon as being a thing not likely to be replicated. Queen's Gambit sells for a decent chunk of change but it was considerably more expensive to begin with...time may see that one increase, but unless Lucas gets his stuff together I doubt we'll see another Star Wars-induced gaming frenzy.

And yet....

The "Next Epic Duels" came and went, didn't it? That's right, it was "Betrayal at House on the Hill". There's another game where the desingers are probably due reparations from the savaging that Betrayal received--and to be fair, some of that was likely deserved thanks to the egregious misprints and rules omissions, monsters without proper stats, underground lakes on upper levels of the house, you know the drill.

Even just prior to this holiday season Betrayal was selling for $20 as Toys R Us was desperate to get rid of their "New and Improved" Avalon Hill stock. But then a crazy thing happened; all the copies in the retail channel dried up, and the price shot up (copies now close for $50-70, and a few for even more than that). And this time, we don't have movie hype to explain it away...more likely, it was a game people meant to get "someday" and when they saw that the game was getting harder to find, they finally got off their butts to get a copy...but for some of them, too late.

The speculators are there, though...there are a couple of Ebay sellers with $100+ copies, if you're interested (ah, Ebay...the home of eternal optimism). But it's possible that this one will continue to rise unless Hasbro decides it's worth reprinting--no one wants to make more copies of something that should sell for $40 but ends up on clearance shelves for $20.

So for all the hawkish claims, Betrayal slipped under the radar...how long 'till we hear, "Hey man, this might be the next Betrayal!"

The Ocassionally-Weekly AT Snapshot - 08/24/07

Ask and ye shall receive...someone asked for the return of the snapshots, and we have a few we haven't used, so here ya go.

This week's snapshot comes to us from "Muzza". Thanks, Muzza!



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Calling all photoshoppers and imagehounds! The Weekly AT Snapshot wants YOUR images!



If you've got a great image that just screams Ameritrash, email us the image or a URL. It can be an image you created or an image you found on the web. We don't care! If it meets our strict quality standards, we'll publish it in The Weekly AT Snapshot, instantly making you an undeniable global celebrity. We'll even pimp your website if you send us the URL for that. Send all submissions to fortressat@gmail.com with the word "Snapshot" in the subject line.

Cosmic Encouner, Dune To Be Reprinted By FFG

To anyone who hasn't seen the news already:


Dune and Cosmic Encounter to Be Reprinted


Interestingly enough, it appears FFG has the rights to the game's mechanics but NOT the Dune license itself.


Puts me in a bit of a funny position; I'm glad to see the reprint, even if it does have to be re-themed a bit.

I like Dune. A lot. Have the novel and both the Extended DVD and the Sci-Fi DVD, and even the original soundtrack. However, though I think it's a bummer they'll have to re-theme it, this isn't a deal-breaker to me.

I mean, it isn't like they're going to suddenly plop the players in the Middle Ages trading silk for poofy shirts or anything like that. The rumor is that we'll be seeing a Twilight Imperium setting. Let's face it; all sci-fi borrows from the greats, Dune being one of them. So even if we don't get "Dune", we'll get a knock-off version using a more generic sci-fi setting. This won't be like changing a horse-racing game into an fantasy arena combat game. The mechanics are pretty much going to demand a conflict-based game, and the expectations of the license will pretty much steer it down a sci-fi path.


But...does this go against F:AT's mantra of "Theme! Theme! Theme!" The fact that it doesn't bother me much? Does it bother you guys if they have to re-theme this? If so, why? Is this a deal-breaker for you?

Regardless, this is something a lot of AT fans have been asking for, and it finally appears that we're going to get it.


The other cool thing is that if we get Cosmic Encounter, we won't be left high and dry like the Avalon Hill version--FFG knows how to ride the expansion bone like nobody's business.

Interview: Jason Hill, Designer of "Last Night on Earth: The Zombie Game"

After going over my list of "Games on the Radar" last week, I found myself thinking, "I wish I knew more about this new Last Night on Earth: The Zombie Game."

Then, in a head-smacking moment, I realized I had something on my side--the power of the press, baby! A quick e-mail later, I was in contact with Jason Hill, co-head honcho of Flying Frog Productions. Jason graciously took the time to chat with me about his new game, despite a very hectic schedule with GenCon looming up ahead.


----------------------------------------------------------

F:AT: Jason, thanks for taking the time to chat with us. You’re something of a new face on the game design scene—what can you tell us about your gaming background?


Jason Hill: Well, on a personal level, I’ve been a hard-core gamer for as far back as I can remember. Like many other people, I started playing D&D with my older brother when I was young (actually when I was 5) and have never looked back. In my early teens I got into miniature games and more in depth board games, Warhammer, Battletech, the Game Master Series, and the like. I was the one in my gaming group who always read the rules and would run the new games and teach people how to play. I think that’s how most gaming groups work really, one individual who gets new games, devours the rules, and then sort of champions them to their friends. That’s when I first started to really play with design. Having read/played so many games, there was always a need for rules interpretations. It was then a natural progression to start changing rules here and there to fill in holes and change games to make them more fun for my group’s play style. After that it was a short road to designing games from scratch. It was a very organic process that has grown literally over the course of my entire life. I know it’s a bit of a cliché, but it’s really true - I eat, sleep, breathe games.

From a professional standpoint, I’ve been working in the games industry for about fifteen years. I worked for Games Workshop as an Outrider for over thirteen years, going to conventions and stores around the country running events and introducing people to the hobby. I wrote material for some GW magazine publications. I have also worked in some form or another with Wizards, Privateer Press, and a few others. For the last seven years or so, I’ve worked in the video game industry as an artist and designer. Most recently, I worked on the design team for FASA Interactive doing Shadowrun for the Xbox 360/PC.



F:AT: Most gamers like to think of themselves as “Jr. Designers”…sort of like everyone thinks they have the “Great American Novel” in them somewhere. What made you decide to pull the trigger and make those dreams a reality?


JH: When I was in second grade, they went around the room and asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up. I said, “Mad Scientist”. The response was, of course, “You mean a scientist… that’s great!” And I said, “No. A ‘Mad’ Scientist!”. To some extent, I think that’s what being an independent Game Designer is. You get to create all these really exciting things and you don’t have to follow anyone else’s rules.

Games have been such a focus in my life for so long that I really don’t think I could stop if I tried. When I finish a hard day at work, I go home, kick off my shoes and work on game designs – writing, refining, testing, polishing. The dream for me is being able to make a living at doing what I love (and frankly what I would be doing anyway).

To say ‘pull the trigger’ feels a little weird because it sort of is and isn’t accurate. I formed Flying Frog Productions in 1999 with my brother and long-time gaming partner Scott (Art Director for Flying Frog – Jack Scott Hill) and have been working hard for the last, what – eight years to build the company. Last Night on Earth, The Zombie Game was one of the very first game designs done under the Flying Frog banner so it’s been around for a long time. That being said, this year has finally seen some of that work pay off as 2007 is our official launch year.

A shot of the back of the box--note the very cool miniatures

F:AT: Theme seems to be important to you, if early signs from “Last Night on Earth” are any indication. What are your thoughts on how theme can add to a game?

JH: To me ‘Theme’ is king. A game is most successful when the theme permeates every aspect, not just the setting and the backdrop, but the way the game itself unfolds and how it plays turn to turn. If you have game mechanics that reinforce the theme you can take that game to a whole new level. What makes a game really fun and memorable is the story that you create as you play and being immersed into the genre.

With Last Night on Earth, we have worked hard to push the immersive aspects to give a very cinematic experience. All of the artwork is photo-based and, like all of our games, it includes a CD Soundtrack of original music to have going in the background while you play the game. This mixed with the way the game plays all come together to pull players into the story and the zombie movie genre.

F:AT: Do you find yourself trying to find a balance between theme and rules complexity? It's very tempting to throw yourself off the deep end, especially as you get deeper and deeper into the theme of a game.

JH: With any game I think balance is a key aspect; whether it’s the gameplay balance itself or finding a middle ground between the theme and complexity. It would be very easy to go crazy with detail and have a hundred little rules for a hundred specific situations, and although that would push the theme into the extreme (which many players would probably love) it would wreck the flow of the game and be a nightmare for gameplay balance. I’ve found that the ideal is to streamline the thematic elements not into more complex rules but rather into creating situations that the players find themselves in and intuitive game mechanics that lead players into making decisions that make sense in the genre. In this way you get the most ‘bang for your buck’ so to speak, without sacrificing the flow of the game or driving casual players away.

F:AT: Horror themes in particular have had a tough time being realized in board game form; after all, it's difficult to be terrified of a small two-inch piece of plastic. What have you learned from other efforts in the horror gaming genre--about what works, and what doesn't?

JH: I think that horror in a game and horror in movies are slightly different things. Many times horror in movies goes for the cheap scare. A loud sound is usually all it takes to startle people and make them jump. You can’t really do that in a board game and I’m not sure you would want to. That kind of scare feels cheap and is not what makes horror movies good. What makes a horror movie good is that feeling of intensity and anticipation, the ambiance of dark brooding environments and characters, transitioning into heart-pumping action of running, fighting, and generally doing anything you can to stay alive. This translates into a game as fast-paced turns, rules that flow well without getting in the way, and always feeling like you’re barely hanging on.

Also, like any good game/movie, Last Night on Earth has a slight tongue-in-cheek element of humor to occasionally lighten the mood.

A game that came out several years ago and is a fan favorite (for good reason) is ‘Betrayal at House on the Hill’. That game did a fantastic job of nailing the brooding exploration and mood of haunted house horror. Another game that is a bit older but a classic is Space Hulk by Games Workshop. I’m not sure most people would classify it as horror, but at its heart, that is exactly what it is. Moving through a maze-like board being hunted by deadly aliens that could jump out of the shadows at any time, with a heavy time constraint – the game creates a sense of overwhelming dread that goes above and beyond what you would normally associate with a board game.

F:AT: You've mentioned "Last Night on Earth" to be the culmination of eight years of work; there are a lot of zombie-lovin' gamers who are just itching to find out more about the game. We're looking for a "Fortress: Ameritrash" exclusive here...so now's your chance to lay the goods on us. What can you tell us about "Last Night on Earth, The Zombie Game?"

JH: Well, first off the game is head-to-head so some players take on the role of the small-town Heroes fighting to stay alive and other players get to play as the Zombies, sending waves of hungry dead to overwhelm them. The Heroes have to work together to survive which encourages careful thought and strong team strategy. Also, there isn’t just one objective to the game, but rather several scenarios you can play that change the victory conditions, feel, and pace of the game.

The Heroes play fairly differently from the Zombies in that they are pretty much always on the run (until you can find yourself a nice shotgun, chainsaw, or the like). Heroes have to search the town to find items, weapons, and events that can help them to win while the Zombies have a hand of cards that they play through, getting to draw back up each turn. This really keeps the pressure on the Heroes and forces them to carefully consider if it’s worth lingering in the old Barn to rummage around when Zombies are closing in and could be lurking in every shadow.

Like all good ‘Ameritrash’ games, Last Night on Earth is all about the theme and flavor of the genre and has a decent amount of randomness. The game uses dice, you draw cards from a deck, you have a randomly generated board. These elements don’t diminish the strategy, they just add to the excitement. There is always a chance of success, no matter the odds; this helps Heroes to be heroic and Zombies to be savage.

Last Night on Earth isn’t just a board game, it’s a starting point, a toolbox. It’s set up to be infinitely expandable officially and by the fan community. We already have several expansions planned for release over the next couple years as well as a plethora of new web content including new game scenarios, characters, and board arrangements.

And if you like Last Night on Earth, The Zombie Game, you’ll be happy to know that it is just the beginning. There are many more Flying Frog games that are waiting in the wings for their chance to go into full production. Last Night on Earth will be debuting at GenCon this year (2007) so if you make the trek to Indy, be sure to stop by the Flying Frog Productions Booth #2540 and say hello, play the game, and maybe pick up a copy early. You can find out more about the game on our Board Game Geek site and on the official site at http://www.flyingfrog.net/ over the coming weeks.

F:AT: Hey, hey, no shameless plugs--we're already on the payroll of SFR for Dragon Dice (sorry, inside joke). I think a lot of us are really curious about the combat system. Most of us have tried Zombies!!! and while it's good mindless fun, I doubt there are many of us who haven't tried sprucing up the combat system a bit. When it gets down to brass tacks, what is combat like in your game?

JH: Combat is fast and furious and can be a very dangerous affair for the Heroes unless you have a weapon of some kind or some other trick up your sleeve (usually in the form of a Hero ‘Event’ card). Also, some Heroes are better at fighting than others and have built in combat abilities. I don’t want to give too much away, but I will tell you that combat involves dice (hello,…’Ameritrash’!) and that it’s not too hard for a Hero to ‘Fend Off’ a Zombie, leaving them in your space, but killing them can be a challenge. This of course often leads to getting swarmed and potentially overwhelmed if you stay in one place too long.

One other thing that shakes up Combat and keeps players on their toes is that there are a lot of Combat-oriented ‘fast effect’ type cards that can be played after the dice are rolled to alter the outcome. Both Heroes and Zombies have these, so you can never be sure exactly what you’re getting into. This raises the tension and adds a lot of strategy as to when to play your cards, and when to hold them. Remember, Zombies get new cards every turn, but Heroes have to work for them by searching the town.

You’ll find that at face value, combat is fast and straight-forward, but a great deal of the strategy is when to fight, when to run, and how you use your cards (both weapons and Events). I don’t think players will be disappointed.

F:AT: Lots of games have a Zombie theme but fall short of actually realizing it well--take Mall of Horror, an excellent game but one that is easily re-themed (and in fact *was* rethemed from "Lifeboats"). Sounds like you're really trying to nail the zombie movie vibe. Are you a big horror buff?

JH: Oh yeah! When it comes to TV, movies, and comics, I’m a huge geek. Horror is no small part of that. I saw Friday the 13th part 2 on TV when I was like 4 or 5 and it scared the bejesus out of me. I’ve been hooked ever since. Really, all of the game designs I work on are based pretty heavily on strong pop-culture themes that most people know and can relate to. The games have as much theme and flavor as I can pack into them and are really a celebration of their genre. Last Night on Earth, The Zombie Game is no exception!

F:AT: The cheesy photo artwork seems to capture the spirit of b-level horror flicks perfectly. What can we expect from the music CD?

JH: For years we would always put music on in the background while we played games, usually movie soundtracks that fit the type of game we were playing (I think a lot of people do). It helps set the tone and get everyone into the mood of the game. Shipping with an official soundtrack takes this idea to the next step and not only encourages this notion, but also gives players music that was specifically designed for the theme of the game.

Because of the cinematic quality we were striving for, the music for Last Night on Earth is really like the soundtrack ‘movie score’ to the game. It ranges from haunting dramatic to heroic action music with somewhat of a techno sensibility. We have a really talented composer who’s part of the company (Music Lead - Mary Beth Magallanes) and heads up the music for each of the games.

Rather than try to describe the sound, you can check out some streaming samples of the music on our LNOE MySpace page at - http://www.myspace.com/thezombiegame.

A scenario from the published game

F:AT: You mentioned the game being a "toolbox"--how do you envision that expansions will be implemented in the game? Web-published scenarios? Expansions with more characters, cards, weapons, that sort of thing?

JH: We already have several expansions set for retail release over the next few years that are currently in testing (everything stays in testing until the moment it’s handed off to the printers). These range from full boxed expansions with new game boards, Heroes, cards etc, to card only or miniature expansions, and even a Scenario Book is in the works. We also have lots of Web Content planned in the form of new scenarios, strategy articles, and the like.

The intent is to really support the game’s community and create an ongoing sort of ‘living game’.

F:AT: Now as I understand it, you'll get a chance to show off the game at Gencon. Any chance gamers will get to meet "Jenny, the Farmer's Daughter?"

Actually, the actress who plays Jenny is going to be at the Flying Frog Productions booth (in costume), signing copies of the game and meeting fans.

Howdy, y'all

F:AT: If that doesn’t draw them in, nothing will! Any more tidbits you'd like to throw our way? What's next for Flying Frog?

JH: Well, the first retail release expansion for Last Night on Earth is scheduled for this coming spring. Also, our second full game hasn’t been announced yet, but it has already gone into art production and is slated for a Summer ’08 release. All I can tell you right now is that it’s not Zombie related. You can look for more info to start hitting the official website (http://www.flyingfrog.net/) over the coming months.

F:AT: Jason, I appreciate your taking the time out to chat with us. I know things must be pretty hectic with Gencon coming up. I wish you guys the best of luck, and I'm really looking forward to "Last Night on Earth."

JH: It’s no problem. Thanks.

(Note: All images provided for this article were provided exclusively for Fortress: Ameritrash. I will publish them myself to Boardgamegeek.com at the end of the week.)

On the AT Radar

And now for something completely different....let's talk about games, shall we?

Is it just me or are boardgames becoming more like the videogame market? Anyone who is a fan of videogames knows exactly how drought-laden the summer months generally are. You spend your time looking for something, *anything* to play, but there's not much new out there. Naturally, the holiday season comes, and suddenly you are swimming in titles left and right.

Board games aren't quite there yet, but it does seem that major titles are more and more prone to slip until we see a Fall/Winter influx of all the stuff we've been looking for. That's primarily why I was suprised that Tide of Iron released when it did--I figured that sucker would just slip on towards Christmas. Then again, I think Fantasy Flight has other plans for this holiday season and probably doesn't want to compete with their own titles.

Here is a list of games that I'm looking for during the remainder of the year. I'm well aware that some of these will inevitably slip toward early 2008, but given the number of titles and the empty-wallet syndrome that will surely follow, that will just give me time to catch up.

Age of Conan

If you read the interview with the Nexus guys a while back (check it out at http://fortressameritrash.blogspot.com/2007/06/interviews-with-ameri-titans-volume-2.html if you haven't already), you'll know that we're looking at a game with the epic scale and scope of War of the Ring topped by Nexus' fantastic eye for production quality.

I was glad to hear that no one is actually playing Conan himself, but instead will be leading one of several nations. I've always disliked games that give everyone copies of the main characters (both Star Trek CCGs come to mind), as it's sort of a design cop-out. Instead of guiding Conan in his quest to crush his enemies, see them driven before him, and all that rot, you'll be trying to benefit from Conan's wildly unpredictable influences.

The only thing I'm worried about is getting a big-time "Groo" vibe when playing the game--"Conan's coming! Hide the livestock!" "Did I err?"--so I'm hoping that Conan's bursts of violence will be devastating as opposed to comical. CROM!

I'm thinking this one won't make 2007 after all, as pictures and other details have been very slim, but if it does, you'd better believe this one will be sitting underneath the "non-denominational holiday decorative item" of your choice come December.

Last Night on Earth, The Zombie Game

This is one that took me by surprise, having only heard about it within the past month or so. For whatever reasons, zombie and horror games have always had a tough time of things...I'm sure many of us have tried "Zombies!", and I'm almost just as sure that most of us have used or contemplated house rules or variants for that game immediately thereafter. Seriously, they should just rename "Zombies!" into "The Zombie Game Kit", and provide you a few pieces of paper to come up with your own rules.

When horror games are successful, they're often derivative (Horrorclix just being an extension of Wizkids' existing 'Clix lines) or at their heart, very thinly themed (Mall of Horror is a great game, but only a few steps removed from Lifeboats, the game that inspired it).

Maybe they'll get it right this time. One thing I really like is the fact that the game ships with scenarios--it's not just a zombie blast-a-thon, but your heroes are actually trying to accomplish something. Take the somewhat involved scenario that has been published--finding some gasoline for an old truck and getting it started so you can make your getaway. Top that off with characters with differing special abilities--not to mention fitting in to all the established character cliches from horror films--and hopefully we're looking at a zombie game that not only looks great but plays great, too.

The only concern I've had so far was seeing a weapon card for the revolver that instructed you to roll a die--1-3 was a "Miss", 4-6 was a "Hit". That sounds...distressingly familiar. The jury's still out on this one but it's definitely on my list of games to check out.

Starcraft: The Board Game

This one's the biggie that a lot of people are waiting for--not only are the typical FFG big-box junkies keenly watching and waiting for this one, you've also got the HUGE audience who are fans of the staggeringly popular PC game who are also anxiously expecting this title to release.

From the images released so far, it's obvious that we're in for a lavish production--those minis over there are practically whispering "come to me, my pretties..." That's something you can always count on good ol' FFG for--they know (and appreciate) the phrase plastic orgy.

There has been some consternation among fans of the license in regards to the scale that has been chosen, citing that it is much differrent than the PC game. My initial thoughts were that the game itself was going to end up too similar to Twilight Imperium to warrant the $80 purchase, a perception that FFG lately is vigorously battling (and they had to battle a similar perception about Tide of Iron and Memoir '44, so they're probably getting good at it by now).

What I'm hoping for is a game of the same epic scope as Twilight Imperium but playable in half the time and scales well. Twilight Imperium would still be the "king of gameday" but when time or gamers are in short supply a 'lighter' epic--relatively speaking--would be welcome.

I think I just read yesterday this has officially slipped into 2008, so hopefully FFG is taking their time to bring us something special.

Marvel Heroscape: The Reinforcements Arrive

Comic fanboys geeked out when Hasbro announced they were releasing a Marvel-themed version of their popular Heroscape game. Heroclix has been a successful title, but it can be difficult to get the popular characters due to many of the really desirable ones being Rare or Ultra-Rare. So naturally, the idea of getting your favorite heroes in the non-blind boosters that Heroscape features was pretty much gaming nirvana.

The initial release is out (though hard to find in many retail outlets just yet), and admittedly the seemingly small selection of heroes is limiting the excitement, if only a bit. There's only so much you can do with five heroes and five villains.

There was plenty of speculation about expansions for the game, as fans hoped to end their battles between Hulk and a horde of kung-fu monks and get on with the real comic book battles they were hoping to see. And on-cue, the expansion announcement has arrive, and it looks *sweet*. Filled with heroes and villains such as The Punisher, the Fantastic Four, Beast, Sandman, and others, a few packs of these will increase the number of team builds exponentially. No word yet on distribution, and I'm still wondering if we'll get the Common Army packs eventually (S.H.I.E.L.D., The Hand, Morlocks, the list goes on and on).

Tannhäuser

This is one that I'm surprised isn't out in the States already. I think the American release was being re-worked due to the dreaded "warping board" problem, so I'm hoping we'll see this one very soon.

Take the basic storyline from "Hellboy"--Nazis experiment with the occult and the arcane--and add in plenty of exposives and machine guns, and you've got the recipe for a action-packed two-player face-off. What I've found most intriguing about the game so far is the game's innovative "line of sight" system. Rather than have a grid-based map like most of the two-player skirmish games of this type, instead you have colored circles that the characters stand in. In short, you can fire on any other circle that shares a color with the one you're standing in. Some circles, such as those in doorways, have more than one color, indicating you can fire in multiple directions. That sounds like a great way to freshen up a game like this, and I can't wait to give it a spin. The pre-painted bits look great, the theme is rockin', and the gameplay sounds like a lot of fun.

Wars of the Roses

Shifting gears a little bit, here's a pure wargame that definitely has my attention. Here's a blurb from the publisher's official description:

"The game system employed in Wars of the Roses takes off where the award-winning Hammer of the Scots left off by greatly enriching the card deck. 'Holding your political cards close to your vest' has never meant more. With them, players can now launch or uncover political conspiracies, bring Scotland into the war, hire mercenaries for their cause, go into exile abroad, employ spies to reveal enemy plans, force neutral nobles off the fence, call up the standing army at Calais, mobilize the powerful Northern or Welsh March, lay-low the heads of powerful families, or even marshal the fickle winds of fate to undo the best laid plans of the enemy."

Does that rock or does that rock? Hammer of the Scots was a great Cinderella story in that it's a wargame that found tons of crossover appeal to several different audiences--turns out if you make a wargame with clean rules, a nice level of accessibility, and great theme (we've all seen Braveheart, right? Remember--before Mel went batshit insane?), you're going to have appeal to a lot of gamers. I personally enjoyed the "converting nobles" idea very much, just imagining the Bruce going home for the winter and finding an English garrison there--"Wot? No chaps, I was with you all along, you've got me all wrong!"

I'm interested to see how Jerry Taylor expands the political system for this, as politics in HotS were all by the point of the sword and clever maneuvering. Take the theme of bloodthirsty rivals willing to chop each other to bits and you've got all the signs of a winner here.

Mutant Chronicles Collectible Miniatures Game

Yeah, yeah, bitching about this game being collectible rather than a true successor to Siege of the Citadel is pretty much old hat and truth be told a bit out of vogue, so to speak. While we don't have a ruleset yet, bits and pieces of information on the game have trickled out since it was announced seemingly an eternity ago. Mostly, I think you can expect your typical CMG skirmish game here with enough touches of the Mutant Chronicles world to give it plenty of flavor.

The minis on this do take special notice...if they turn out as nice as their preview pics, then I doubt there are many AT gamers who will be able to resist picking up a few of these. I do wish they were the same scale as the Siege of the Citadel figs, as I had entertained thoughts of collecting a pre-painted set just for that use, but no luck.




Star Wars Miniatures

Anyone else here still surprised that this one's being made? WotC's attention for the line really waned once the final prequel hit theaters and the TCG died a quiet death not long after that, but a surprising thing happened--a year later the game kicked back into high gear and hasn't looked back since.

I'm a bit of a strange gamer in terms of "historical accuracy". For some reason, the only SWM gaming that appeals to me is scenario play. Sure, I'll play a wargame that has myriad historical inaccuracies, but if I see Darth Maul versus Boba Fett on Geonosis, I'm done.

There must be other gamers out there like me, because last year saw the release of the "Battle of Endor" pack, containing Stormtroopers, an AT-ST, and a map of Endor. I was hoping that the non-blind thing would catch on to make it even easier for scenario gamers to collect what they needed, and looks like WotC is paying attention--soon to be released is a much larger pack devoted to the Battle of Hoth.

I would like to think that Heroscape's success has also had something to do with this--gamers gobble up packs where they know what they're getting--and if the Hoth set is successful, look for this trend to continue. Trust me--nothing sucks more than buying a $15 booster pack and finding San Hill as your rare. Believe me, I've been there.

Descent: The Road to Legend

The two biggest gripes against Descent right now are that it's a.) too long and b.) has no campaign system. If I understand correctly, this expansion from FFG looks to correct both of those issues.

The heart of the expansion reportedly has to do with extensive campaign rules. I can understand the desire to have that because spending six hours with a character only to have them "reset" at the end of the game sucks. A lot of gamers who left RPGs behind are still looking for that pseudo-RPG boardgame to fill that void for them, and Descent looks to be trying quite admirably to be the definitive game to do just that.

The other major selling point--the overland map--I have no idea how this will impact play, but it's possible this will give gamers something to adventure on without having to set up the dungeon piece by piece, which admittedly is a strike against both Doom and Descent in terms of gameplay pacing ("hold on, I've got to set this up--you guys go get a drink or something.")

Other details on this have been pretty scarce, and this is another title that looks to be poised to slip into 2008 easily. I'm rooting for Descent, though...it's ambitious, it's old school at heart, and I like it.

Napoleon's Triumph

Speaking of rooting for, a game designer I'm really rooting for is Bowen Simmons. He's a guy who has vigorously provided support for his customers through frequent rules explanation and regular interaction. His Bonaparte at Marengo was another crossover hit in the same vein as Hammer of the Scots. Clean rules (except possibly for the somewhat opaque road movement rules, which due take some studying), nice production quality with a mounted board, and a innovative take on combat have all led to the game finding a solid audience. The deterministic, dice-free combat is just something that shouldn't work in a wargame, and yet it does here with flying colors. No CRTs, no terrain charts--everything you need is right there on the board.

Bowen's follow-up is available for pre-order right now and it looks as though he has taken his system to another level. Adding a much larger diversity of unit strength and types, increasing the scale of the battle, and adding commanders and corps to the action.

All that's left is for Bowen to come up with a clever name for his system a la "Commands and Colors" (it's already been suggested he use BaM = "Blocks and Maneuver"), and maybe he'll find his franchise just like Richard Borg has.

That's all I can think of for now, though I'm sure I've forgotten a few. Now is the part where I get to be lazy and let you guys do some work for me--what are YOU looking forward to the most for '07-'08?

(All images courtesty Boardgamegeek.com, with the exception of the Star Wars Miniatures photo, which is courtesy of Rebelscum.com.)

Guest Review--Twilight Struggle

{editor's note: This is a guest review from Decktech and Boardgamegeek user "Ben_Ethus". He asked if he could publish his review on multiple websites, and since both Twilight Struggle and Star Wars sort of fall under our domain*, I told him to send it by and we'd have a look. Turns out, it's pretty good--so have a look!}


{* Thanks to Clarissimus for the correction.}



INTRODUCTION

I apologize in advance for the length of this review. If you dislike reading, you might want to leave now and bop on over to Youtube, where they show videos and such. This is not to suggest I have uploaded a video of this review over there, because I have not. If you attempt to search their massive database of fine films for a video version of this review, you will be left wanting. Unless of course, some other psychopath managed to mysteriously post an exact filmic duplicate of the review you are about to read, but the chances of that are Slim to None, with the needle not quite spiked on 'None.'

(I take no responsibility if someone decides to go out of his or her way to spite me by posting a video version of this review at a later date. I pre-emptively call shenanigans on it, though. SHENANIGANS.)

At any rate, in this review I will be comparing Twilight Struggle to the Star Wars Customizable Card game.

Yes, I'm comparing a pseudo-wargame from GMT to a collectible card game from Decipher.

No, I haven't lost my mind.

No, you shouldn't throw rocks at me.

Yes, you should read on to see what the hell I'm talking about, so you can verify that I haven't lost my mind.

If you're a cruel, heartless person and intend to deride and belittle my opinions when you get to the end, please feel free to stop reading now and peruse one of the other fine reviews on this website so that you can hurt that author's feelings. (Obviously, it would be preferable if you hurt the feelings of NO ONE, but I can't very well control your impulses, can I?)

If you're the type to heap praise and mountains of GeekGold upon reviewers, feel free to skip the boring parts and start the heaping if you deem this review heap-worthy.

Or, if you're lazy, and you want to skip all the fascinating specifics I'm going to discuss, jump down to the very bottom where you get a summarized view of my thoughts on both games.

On to the fun...

GENERAL DESCRIPTIONS OF GAMEPLAY IN BOTH

I'm not going to bore you with in-depth intricate descriptions of how these games are played, and how the specific rules work. I will simply be providing a very general overview of the gameplay of both games, so if you are left wanting more after you've read my descriptions, there are a multitude of other reviews that run through the rules of the games, so if you are one of those obsessive types that has to know every little thing, you should probably check out one of those other reviews and come back to this one when you have the mental fortitude to handle the contents herein. (No, that's not a typo for heroin, you junky.)

TWILIGHT STRUGGLE
Twilight Struggle is an attempt to recreate The Cold War in the form of a board game. One player controls the USSR and the other controls the US. Players vie for control of the world by expanding their influence in individual countries. The game is card-driven, which means that the cards dictate all the actions players are allowed to take that they are holding in hand.

STAR WARS: CCG
The Star Wars Customizable Card game was Decipher's attempt to create a card game out of the Star Wars license. At its peak, it was the second most popular collectible card game in the world, under the current champ: Magic the Gathering. (If you're the pedantic type, now's the perfect opportunity to do some web-based research just so you can prove me how very wrong I am of that fact in the comments section below!) In this game, players attempted to drain each other of their Life Force (aka: their deck of cards) by dealing damage based on controlling locations and winning battles.

At first blush, there's nothing obviously similar about the two games. One's a pseudo-wargame; the other is a collectible card game. What could they possibly have in common?

My reply: Quite a bit.


SIMILARITIES


First let's examine the theme:


1) THEME
a)Players take the role of a big, lumbering, evil empire intent on galactic domination and a scrappy band of brave rebels bent on saving the galaxy from oppression.

b)Players take the role of a big, lumbering, evil empire intent on global domination and... Russia. (Oh, snap... you see what I did there?)

So, we see that in both games, the theme features similar adversaries. There are other aspects of the theme that is similar in both games as well, primarily, in the way that the theme drives both games.

2) THEME DRIVES THE DESIGN
a) Numerous exceptions exist for cards for thematic purposes.

Exceptions, you ask? SWCCG has more of them than Microsoft Vista. (Hoh hoh, computer programmer humor never gets old!) SWCCG was notorious for adding tons of new rules that were never explained and/or directly referenced on the cards themselves, requiring massive amounts of FAQ manuals and help guides.

Some fun examples:

1) Bluff rules: Your card mentions them. Do you have any idea of what they are? Hell no! Are they important as all-get-out? Not really. I never met anyone who actually used them.

2) Hoth Shield Rules: Your card mentions them. Do you have any idea of what they are? Hell no! Are they important as all-get-out? You betcha! Guess you better dig out that FAQ file!

3) Dagobah deployment restrictions: Pretty sure not many (if any) cards reference them. Hope you remember them during your game!

b) Cards are designed towards the theme, which can cause some exceptions during card play.

Fortuitously, although some exceptions exist through card play, most of them are easily figured out using the written game rules and a logical state of mind. If there's something extraordinarily quibbling, a FAQ does exist with official responses from the designer of the game, although this generally isn't required to be at your side, as it is like SWCCG. Despite that, both games generate exceptions because of the theming of the cards.


3) GAMEPLAY:

Let's move on to gameplay. How can a pseudo-wargame and a collectible card game even have remotely similar gameplay, I hear you cry. Well, I'll tell you...

a)You attempt to win by taking control of locations (battlegrounds or other) via characters and battles.

b)You attempt to win by taking control of locations (battlegrounds or other) via influence and military operations.

Hey, those don't sound similar at all, right? Yeah, that's what I thought...

The primary difference is that the locations in SWCCG are placed on the table by each of the players, whereas in Twilight Struggle, the map on the board has all of the available locations ready for play at any given time.

In geek terms:
--SWCCG = Smaller, but dynamic map
--Twilight Struggle = larger, but static map

What's really interesting is that both games use similar terms to denote levels of control over the locations:

a) You can either be present at a location, or you can control a location.

b)You can either be present in a region, dominate a region, or control a region.

The only significant between the two games is that since Twilight Struggle has 'regions', there is a third form of control that SWCCG lacks since there is no regional analog in the game.

Otherwise, Twilight Struggle finds you placing influence markers at the locations on the board, whereas SWCCG has you deploying characters and ships to locations. Having enough influence earns you control of a location, or eradicating your opponent from the location so that your characters hold it alone earn you control of a location. Despite the specifics being different, there is a striking resemblance between the two concepts in both games, especially since victory in both games (at the most basic level) comes down to controlling the most locations on the table.

This leads us quite nicely into our next point, which negates my need to come up with a witty segue that would have rung through the ages due to its innate cleverness. Pity, that.



4) WIN CONDITIONS:
a)Drain the opponent of cards, or cause epic event (convert Luke or Darth Vader)

Your cards are your lifeblood in SWCCG. When you run out of them, you are toast. If you can wipe your opponent out of his cards, he is fried. The only other way to win is an insta-win based on one of the Objective cards that they published towards the end of the game. (The major storyline event of Luke converting Darth Vader [or in Bizarro-World, where Darth Vader successfully converted Luke to the Dark Side.])

b)Spike the VP track, control Europe, or cause epic event (start Nuclear War)

Victory Points are crucial in this game. If your opponent gets too many, you are toast. If you can drain the point difference back down to your favor, he is fried. Another way to win is to control Europe at the time when the Europe Scoring card hits the table, which does not have an analog in SWCCG. The third way of winning is to force your opponent into starting a Nuclear War (clearly a major event that could never be reversed.)

Although the similarities between these are not quite as exact as in prior examples, they still remain somewhat linked, especially between the two primary causes of victory: leaking your opponent dry of a critical resource, and spawning an irreversible major event. I realize that Victory Points could not really be considered 'resources', as you can't really do anything with them aside from bask in their warming glow of reassurance, but you lose if don't have enough of them, so that makes them pretty damn critical, if you ask me, and I'm the one writing this insipid report, so there you go.


5) CARD PLAY/CHOICES:
a)Where do I play my characters? Which battles do I start? What Interrupts is my opponent holding in hand?

Every turn presents hard choices, especially since you never quite know what your opponent is planning to do. Say, for instance that some Imperial Weenie like Sergeant Barich is guarding the Back Door of the Endor Bunker all by himself, dinging you for two damage each turn, and you're getting pretty pissed about it.

Do you, Dirk the Daring:

1) Deploy the only dude you have in your hand, Corporal Beezer (and, yes, I realize she's not a dude, but I'm using the parlance of the times here, people) to block the drain?

2) Leave it alone since you're doing equal damage on other areas of the table?

3) Wait until you have an army of people in hand to drop like a bomb to nuke poor Barich out of this mortal coil?

Here's the thing: there's probably not an obvious answer. There are upsides and downsides to all three of those options.

For instance:

1) Maybe your opponent is using him as a trap, so that after you deploy a weenie blocking force, you get nuked with the characters he's holding in hand the very next turn.

2) Maybe your opponent figures out some way to increase the damage at that site to 5 or 6 cards every turn. Unrequited, that'll end things real damn quick.

3) Maybe all your other characters are all on the table already (or they are similarly lame as Beezer), so you end up spinning your wheels for a bunch of turns, never getting any decent guys in hand, which allows the opponent to start negating the progress you've made in the other areas in play.

It's your call. What do you do? What DO you do...?


b)Where do I play my influence? Where do I coup? What scoring cards is my opponent holding in hand?

I've found that this game offers similar choices, with similar ambiguity between the quality of your options.

Envision this fairly common situation:

Your opponent is USA and on this turn they've suddenly started focusing on placing influence in Asia, where they had totally ignored it before.

Do you:

1) Respond by also playing your influence to negate the presence your opponent has just created down there, fearing an Asian scoring card.

2) Pray that he is faking it and continue doing whatever you were doing over in South America, assuming that an Asian scoring card won't drop later in the turn.

3) Spend one of your precious high-powered op values to stage a coup in a key location in Asia in a hope that you cripple his plans before his scoring card (maybe) gets played.

Trying to determine where to play your influence, which locations are worth risking a coup, and deducing which scoring cards your opponent is sitting on are crucial aspects of playing the game well.

Make enough bad choices, and your chances of winning will crumble faster than the Berlin Wall. (Yes, I know that thing stood up for years and years, so it really took quite some time to get rid of, but once those pesky students started whacking it with hammers... you know what happened. I don't have to explain everything to you, do I?)

As evidenced by my examples above, the non-obvious nature of many of your decisions at any given moment during your turn is another similarity between the two games. Generally, since there's not any one best decision, you just have to go with your gut, take a risk, or commit yourself to a strategic path and hope for the best.

If you end up making a string of bad decisions, you may be inclined to blame the Fickle Finger of Fate who controls that pesky fiend known as Luck; however, in both Twilight Struggle and SWCCG, there's slightly differing amounts (although relatively low) levels of luck present during the game.

6) LOW LEVEL OF LUCK PRESENT:
a) Card draws. Destiny draws. If you're good, you can track the cards in your deck, eliminating luck entirely.

Being a card game, you're restricted to playing the cards that you draw into your hand. In more recent years, though, the designers of the game decided to make more cards that 'uploaded' other cards into your hand, or even 'downloaded' them to the table directly, mitigating the amount of time you had to spend searching for specific cards that may be key to your strategy.

Another element of the game that features luck is the necessity of having 'destiny draws.' For the uninitiated, pulling a 'destiny draw' is similar to rolling a die, with one key exception: instead of rolling a die randomly, you pull a card of the top of your deck and look at the number in the upper right hand corner of the card, theoretically giving you a 'random' number for use in whatever it is required. Given that you have total control of every card that enters your deck, if you're inclined, while making your deck you can ensure that your average destiny number is higher than normal, so that you're pulling more 4s, 5s, and 6s than you otherwise might. This provides yet another way of lessening the amount of luck present in the game.

The other interesting thing is that if you're a really top level player, since the cards in your deck are constantly cycling through, chances are you'll be able to track where the high destiny cards are in your deck, so that you can pull high destiny cards whenever you need them. This can be incredibly frustrating to play against when you are a new player, since you'll be pulling 1s and 2s, and your opponent is constantly getting the same 5s and 6s every single time they need to draw. What it comes down to is that if you're a good enough deck-maker, and a good enough tracker, you can play the game with almost zero luck overall. Few, if any, other collectible card games can make this same claim.

b) Luck found in card draws and rolling die for space race/coups/realignments.

Since this game is also driven primarily by cards, there also exists luck in the card draws. If you get a hand of really janky cards, and your opponent gets a hand of really amazing cards, you're going to have a rough turn. Having said that, you have control over the order in which you play those cards, so as to lessen the damage that can be done while playing them. The game also provides a built-in outlet to get rid of the exceptionally nightmarish cards via the Space Race track, where you can dump the truly heinous out of your hand with no ill-effect, other than the chance of the card eventually finding its way back to your hand.

Die rolls are another feature in the game that provide a source of luck, although generally you won't be making too many die rolls in the course of the game. You only need to roll when ditching a card to the Space Race, making coup attempts, realignment rolls, or if a card dictates you roll a die for some reason.

As was mentioned earlier, making a poor dice roll on the Space Race track doesn't really hurt you too badly, if at all. You still get to ditch the card without activating it, but you don't get to move up on the Space Race track, which generally isn't terribly devastating. It can be a nuisance, obviously, but unless you're in really dire straits, biffing a roll won't cost you the game.

Rolling horribly on coup attempts, realignment rolls, or card-based requirements can also be annoying, if you do have a long string of failurization, although generally having one bad roll won't generally totally screw you over, unless of course your poor decision making has put you in a situation in which you cannot escape, in which case you are a victim of your own ineptitude at that point. It seems to me that there is enough other ways of enacting your strategies, that if you are relying on a single die roll to get you out of a jam, then you have pretty well failed already.

In my opinion, rolling crappy constantly can be a nuisance, but will generally just make your life tougher instead of costing you the entire game. (I suppose this is where you could chime in and say that Twilight Struggle is riddled with way too much luck, that everything depends on the card draws and dice rolls, and that I'm a fool, FOOL, for even suggesting that the amount of luck doesn't negatively effect the player's ability to play effectively, but I will smile, nod, and quietly disagree with you while you flail your arms and froth at the mouth.)

As the prior paragraph may have hinted if you were reading carefully, both games use the cards present for more than a single purpose.

7) COMPONENTS-MULTI PURPOSE:
a) Cards are used for everything.

Cards are used for EVERYTHING in this game. Cards constitute your total Life Force, which represents 1) how well you are doing in the game (since when your cards are gone, you are done), 2) which characters or starships or locations you can deploy or move on the table, and 3) which cards can be used to refresh your hand at the end of turn. Learning how to manage your cards effectively is critical to success.

Not only that, but as described above, each card in your deck has a Destiny value printed on it for use when drawing destiny.


b) Cards are primary method of driving the game.

Cards are also multi-function in this game as well, as they can be used in a couple of different ways: 1) Using the card for the Event printed on it, 2) using the Ops Points on it for spreading influence, 3) using the Ops Points on it for coups or realignments, or 4) trashing the card to increase your position on the Space Race track. Once again, knowing when to use which cards for what is critical to performing well within the game.

Clearly, both games use cards for an array of different purposes and the players' options are restricted to what they are able to play from their hand, as the cards are the driving force for both games.

HOORAY FOR SUPERFICIALITY

Now that all the heavy lifting is done, let's get into the flaky, superficial similarities that exist between the two games. I won't go into an amazing amount of detail on these because, frankly, it's unnecessary, and I don't want to bore anybody to tears. If you're already bored to tears, why in God's name are you still even reading at this point? You a masochist or something?

8) ONLINE PLAYABLE:
a) Can be played online via Holotable or gEngine
b) Can be played online via VASSAL or Wargameroom

You can play both online! Huzzah and happy day!

I highly recommend using the online utilities for SWCCG as it makes the game extremely playable because it eradicates the biggest hurdle for finding opponents to play against: the cards. With the online programs, you have access to every single card ever made, and you don't need to purchase a single thing. Making decks has never been easier!

I've not played Twilight Struggle online, as I much prefer playing board games face-to-face, and I have enough friends into the game that I should never need to resort to online play to get my fix.

9) SUPERFICIAL SIMILARITIES:
a) Two player only, hard-fought games can take a while (for a CCG), lots of back and forth, lends itself to tourneys.

b) Two player only, hard-fought games can take a while (for a board game), lots of back and forth, lends itself to tourneys.

Both are two player games. So, yeah...

As you can probably infer from all the above verbiage, both games lend themselves to making tough decisions in a pinch, and sometimes that requires some serious cogitation. As a result, both games, if being played by two careful players, can take some time to finish.

SWCCG was notorious in the collectible games market for taking 'too long' to play. (1 - 2 hours). I suppose people became accustomed to the length of two-player Magic games, which can take almost no time at all (if someone is playing aggressively enough) and considered that the norm for card games. The length of the game never bothered me, because both players are always actively engaged during play, and the time flies right by.

Twilight Struggle takes some time to finish as well (usually about 2 - 4 hours) depending upon the speed of the players. Granted, this is not long when compared to your average wargame, but when compared to most 'Euro' games, the length could seem interminable for players who are accustomed to games that last only an hour or so. (There's an obvious opportunity here to make a crack about ADD and/or Ritalin, but I'll take the high road, because that's the kind of guy I am.)

What's interesting to me is that both games feature a sense of momentum swinging back-and-forth between the two players during play. Twilight Struggle makes this a key component in the way that its Victory Point track is designed. Point scoring is a constant tug-of-war that may eventually end with someone spiking the counter to his or her side of the track.

SWCCG can feel similar in the sense that if both players control certain areas of the board, they can keep slapping the other player with damage that will keep alternating until someone decides to do something about it. Alternating massive battle beat downs can be common also, which also help keep the back-and-forth swing going.

In both, there's typically a sense of one player being on the 'offensive' with the other playing going 'defensive' to counter their attacks. This can shift between players at any given moment, and will often change numerous times through the course of the game.

Both games are easily played in tournaments. Twilight Struggle even has a few rules variations for when playing in that environment. I don't know what else to say about this observation other than to say that I don't care much for cheese. You may interpret that as you will.

THE 'FEEL'

In case you've missed the entire point of this article until now, my goal was to basically show how both games feel similar despite being completely different types of games. (Here's to hoping my writing ability wasn't so shoddy that this was a mystery until now. If so, I've wasted a lot of time on both our ends, which would make me sad.)

1) Both require thoughtful study of board before decision.

Rushing your decisions in either game is extremely foolhardy. You generally want to scope out the board as well as possible and get a sense of how your action will affect the overall situation on the board before you make your play. Another thing you want to keep in mind is that you never want to limit your options. If you paint yourself in a corner by a boneheaded and/or overly risky play, chances are you won't be long for the world.

2) Both require maximizing your results using your resources.

Deciding where best to deploy your forces is key to winning the game. Since both games require you to work with a limited pool of resources, maximizing the effectiveness of each of your actions is incredibly important to perform well.

3) Both require you to consider the effects of the combinations of cards.

Chances are certain cards you are holding at any given time can have interesting consequences when played back-to-back or together. Always be on the lookout for opportunities to link the results of two cards together to yield better position on the table. (Hell, finding powerful combos is just plain fun, too.)

4) Both have a strong tie to the theme driving the game.

Theme is an integral part of both these games and the cards themselves are tuned towards that end very strongly. Without the strength of the theme, both games would not nearly be as enjoyable.

As an interesting illustration of this point, Decipher tried to release a game called WARS that used the mechanics of SWCCG once they lost the Star Wars license to Wizards of the Coast. The presence of theme wasn't nearly as strong as it was in Star Wars CCG. Shortly after introducing the game, it died miserably and went out of print. There were numerous other factors that contributed to this outcome, but I believe a large part of it was the fact that people just could not get into the new theme that they had concocted for the storyline of the game. The mechanics alone weren't enough to make the game popular with the players.

DIFFERENCES

In the interest of equal time, here are some differences that exist between the two games. I won't go into massive detail, because, once again, I don't think it's necessarily required, as these should be fairly obvious. (I'm also growing weary of typing, so I intend to bring this report to a close in a little bit.)

PURCHASES
a) You have to buy a billion cards for playable deck of SWCCG.
b) TS comes with everything in the box.

NEW PLAYERS
a) Indoctrinating new people can be near impossible. (Why? See above point.)
b) Relatively easy to suck people into the game.

TRANSPORTING
a) Couldn't be easier. Put cards in a box.
b) Lug around a piece of plexi-glass.

Yes, I realize a piece of plexi-glass isn't required, but it makes playing Twilight Struggle so much easier that I can't ever imagine playing without it. I've officially been converted to the Army of the Plex. Give it a try sometime. You'll like it. I promise.

MY OPINION OF BOTH GAMES

By this point, I'd think it's pretty obvious that I am a big fan of both of these games. Playing both Twilight Struggle and SWCCG in the recent past made me realize how much they had in common with one another, which is what inspired this article.

I love how both games make you stop and consider all your available options, without ever providing an easy out. There are no obvious decisions, and everything you do has a certain level of risk involved with it. This results in an extremely intense atmosphere of play that totally sucks you into the game. The time just flies right by while playing, and I'm typically astonished by how much time has passed after the game has ended, because I've been totally oblivious to its passage.

The strong sense of theme that permeates both games also serves to increase the overall enjoyment of both games. Upon conclusion, you are able to construct a memorable story of the events that transpired, and they're typically very amusing...

"You remember that time when Yoda was flying that X-wing and helped blow up the Death Star II! That was crazy!"

"You remember that time when the USSR totally controlled all of South America until there was that successful American coup in Mexico! That was crazy!"

What's more, the games are just fun. I always have lots of fun while playing them, even when I lose. I realize that fun is a nebulous concept, but both these games work wonderfully in giving me an enjoyable time while playing. Part of it, I think, is that I always have plenty to mull over when the games are over. If I fared poorly, I can review my choices and figure out ways of improving the next time I play. I always learn something new whenever I play either game.

I firmly believe that fans of Twilight Struggle will find a lot to like if they decide to try SWCCG, and I know for a fact that players of SWCCG will practically be guaranteed to enjoy playing Twilight Struggle.

For Twilight Struggle fans, I suppose the biggest hurdle to trying SWCCG is eliminating any bias against collectible games that one may have. If you're curious to try the game, the absolute best thing you can do is hunt down the Death Star II preconstructed decks (one for Imperials, one for Rebels) and play them against one another. They are extremely balanced decks, and give you a great overview for how the game is played without getting into any ridiculous rules exceptions or any other complicated issues, as the decks adhere pretty much to only the basic rules of the game. There's always the online route, too, but you'll need someone who already knows the game to teach you before you can really give that a try. Once you know the game, it's a great way to increase your knowledge of the gameplay, and to get more out of the game.

For SWCCG fans, the only hurdle I can think of to trying Twilight Struggle is just committing yourself to trying something new. You might find out you really like the game. Owning and playing TS has really made me more interested in longer, more complex games, and I hope to try some more of the 'shorter' card-based wargames before too long. My eyes have been opened to a whole new realm of gaming that I had previously shrugged off as completely irrelevant to my interests, which I realize now was a tragic error on my part.

If you've read this far, I thank you for your interest and patience. My hope is that I've made folks aware of games that exist out there that they may ordinarily have completely ignored without giving them a fair shake.

Anyway, I hope reading this was worth your while. If not, then boo-hoo for you, this is time you'll never have back, so now you're that much closer to rotting in your grave.

Sucker.

[The Author has allowed the use of this review on multiple web sites, so nobody stole nothing, you litigious bastard!]