Sunday, February 27, 2011

Blight of the Immortals


As well as playing board games I spend quite a bit of time playing on the Xbox and other web games. I was introduced to Blight of the Immortals by Jay, one of the designers of the game. Its an online strategy game that reminds me of Pandemic and Defenders of the Crown.
The world is becoming over run by zombie hoards and its up to you and your fellow players to rid the world of the zombie threat. When you log into your game you get to see the overview of the world and your troops, settlements and how the spread of the zombies has progressed. You then raise taxes once a day which is determined by some random dice rolling. Its then time to spend your coins on the different army types that you control. You can also spend your money of improving the defences of your towns or increasing the size of their markets. Markets provide coins so there is a balance of troops vs money.
The troop types are your standard fantasy fair but as everyone is against the zombies your army can consist of Orcs, Elves, Dwarves, Centaurs ..... In fact the races are constantly evolving, Harpies were released this week. Each race has its own ability that will help against the zombies. Orc sorcerers with their flaming winds are my current favorite.

Combat is decided on the size of army, fortification levels and some random dice rolling. Its pretty easy to win, just make sure you have enough troops to outnumber the enemy and activate some special abilities. If you loose however, the dead become part of the zombie hoard.

I have been playing three consecutive games of blight and am now really enjoying it. At first I though it was a little basic, but once you start expanding and making a dent on the enemy it becomes more interesting. I find myself logging in a couple of times a day to check on the progress of things and to collect taxes.

Its a cooperative game, but there is a strength rating so you can see which player is currently leading. I haven't finished a game yet but I am doing ok in all but one game so far. I have noticed that there are quite a few players dropping out. If you don't take a turn within 4 days you are removed from the game.

So if you liked Pandemic or Defenders and have 10 mins spare a day, log in and join a game.

Note : I was given a free one month premier account by Jay.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Sleeves


Do you sleeve your games? I have a few games sleeved, and it really depends on how much use the game is going to get and how many cards need sleeving. My copy of Pandemic was quickly sleeved as it was getting played time and time again. While I have only sleeved the character cards in my copy of Citadels.

Dominion is a tricky one, it gets played quite a bit but I haven't sleeved it. I should, but I know its going to hurt now I have every expansion. Also I bet the cards won't fit back in the box properly.

Thunderstone was sleeved when I bought it. Mainly as I was going to take it to the monthly POB meet in the Pub and the tables are not always the cleanest. However I went cheap on Ebay and the sleeves were a little too big. So they fit back in the box at a bit of an angle. Not great but it was ok. Now I have the Doomgate expansion I have more cards to sleeve and went for a large bundle of sleeves from Mayday games. These fit perfectly but I need to re sleeve all the cards from the base game and the Elementals expansion. I have been putting this off even though there have been a few rainy days recently.

If you need card sleeves and are based in the UK then look over at BoardGameExtras. they have Mayday sleeves for most games as well as a few other game components such as draw bags and cubes.

Appart from sleeving cards there has been a bit of gaming going on and I am now beta testing a new online game called Blight of the Immortals. Its an online cooperative game in a fantasy world. I have only scratched the surface of the game so far and will probably write up something more indepth late this month.

This weekend War of the Ring has been proposed. Never played it before but I ams ure its going to be a great game.

Friday, February 4, 2011

Thunderstone Freebies


Quick post to point that AEG are giving away some free Thunderstone cards. Just hop over to

http://www.alderac.com/thunderstone/free-thunderstone-promo-pack/

Register and hopefully there are still enough to give out. First pack is free, if you want more you have to pay.

I am really enjoying Thunderstone as an alternative to Dominion. I think that although its not as "clean" a game the theme works really. well.

Epic, part 2


After last weeks Epic game of Command and Colours : Ancients, this week we decided to try Epic Battlelore. The table was set, commanders were chosen and cards were dealt. We used the same teams as before and started to play.

As everyone was familiar with how C&C works it didn't take long to explain the differences. We took the army of the King of Portugal. We had a reasonable plan but all of our cards were for the center and right sections of the board. Consequently we were immediately attacked on our Left flank.

We made a few foolhardy rushes in but didn't do enough damage and quickly became on the end of a few vicious attacks. Failing to keep our units supported lost us the opportunity of battle backs and we were slowly being pounded on the left flank.

The right flank fared better with a few cavalry charges and we slowly started to take the lead. The winner was the first to 7 flags and we made it to 5. Mainly due to a goblin lizard rider rush in the center that was beaten back. Our next round had some of the worst dice rolls and we knew we had lost. The other team quickly attacked on all fronts and managed to defeat 3 units ending the game.

It was a great game, we didn't learn from our mistakes in ancients. Support your troops!

I have now splashed out on some Memoir 44 expansions so we can try Memoir 44 Overloard. Rounding out the 3 C&C epic games. I am really looking forward to trying some of the scenarios. Tigers in the Snow and Operation Market Garden both look really good.

I need to start reading rules over the weekend.