Downtown

We've done it, we have finally got a place in downtown Indy.

Gen Con Indy 2012 Part II

Gen Con was amazing, but here are a few things that stood out. Dungeons & Dragons, the flagship of GenCon is alive and pumping. Dungeons & Dragons Next will be arriving soon, but we were able check it out. D&D Next includes simple rules that make sense. We were able to make characters and play a scenario in two hours. I made an assassin and was able to detect a trap and dodge a purple worm, if you don't know, but that is good stuff. It was fun and will be looking forward to seeing what else comes out of D&D Next.  D&D Dungeon Command was also a big draw and is rightly deserved. As I have already reviewed, Dungeon Command is amazingly fun.  We also checked out D&D Online which was pretty cool. D&D also had a unique set of dice to get for the con. You had to go to each of their events to get one, it was much harder getting into some of the events than we thought. But in the end we were victorious and got them all. Dungeons & Dragons isn't going away anytime soon and they have enough going on to have their own convention. With new and creative changes if you haven't looked at D&D in years, it is time to look again. www.wizards.com/dnd Good Red Dragon Inn, a drinking game built around fantasy role playing games. Basically you are a group just getting back from an adventure and you are gambling and drinking, spending all the money you just earned. If you get too drunk or can't pay your bar tab, you are out. Plenty of opportunity to mess with your friends and the ease in which this game can become an adult drinking game make it great for a party. After a few turns your friends will be laughing and never know how nerdy of a game this is. This game is an absolute blast, but if it wasn't so expensive I feel like more people would have it. At nearly $40, I feel like this game is a bit overpriced. Though this is a game I would own. www.slugfestgames.com Good Leviathans, basically battleship on steroids. This miniature game is played with air ships that battle each other. The minis look awesome and the game is pretty easy once you play it a little. Colored dice indicators let you know what you roll for your attacks. And easy to read armor slots let you see if you hit and what will be destroyed when you do. This game could be played with as many units as you wanted depending on what you have time for. For fleet versus fleet games, you might be talking two hours. This game just came out, playing at Gen Con you might have been able to walk out with a few ships, but the street date on the boxes was Aug 22. I was able to play this game a few times and really got a feel for it, now I can't wait to get it. I am holding out though, the current fleets French and British, are only mildly appealing to me. There are a bunch of factions in the works, including what's am waiting for, ze Germans. This game is great, the rules make sense, the minis are amazing but the price is steep. At $100 for both factions, rules, dice and game boards, it is for serious players only. Though a little looking will get it to you for $70. A smaller beginners set should be made to draw people in and get them hooked. Other than that, individual factions can be picked up for $50 each and there will be ways of buying the rules, dice and game boards separately in the future. I loved this game,  I will play more of and plan on owning this in the near future. www.catalystgamelabs.com or www.monstersinthesky.comgood God Dice, like Yahtzee only better. This game pits you as a commander of a few warriors that fight to the death a round at a time against another commander and his warriors, as you hope for favor from the Gods. You choose your heroes to battle, roll for favor then roll the attack dice. The attacker has to match up the three colors for the different attacks but you are able save the dice you want and re-roll the dice you didn't want. The trick is knowing when to press your luck and when to keep a solid attack. A fantastic and easy to learn game with enough strategy to keep a family or non nerdy friends playing. I met the creator of the game Rick Maxey, and he is a super great guy that just loves his game. And when you go to GenCon and play a cool game and it turns out you just played with the creator it makes for a magical experience.  I hope this game does well enough Rick thinks about expanding it or making different versions for different audiences. As it stands this game is super fun and quick for when you need to get your game on. Maxveld Games. Good The Everything RPG, a role playing game for any role player. Simple rules and stats, drop in and out play, no class restrictions, make any character you want, play any genre and only needs two six sided dice. This is a perfect starting point to role playing games or for the seasoned vets of any genre of role play. This game is still in development, but really has promise. This game is made by Evil Press, which does art, stories and games. www.facebook.com/evilpress Good Redneck Life, as the name suggests it is like life but rednecked out. This hilarious game has you getting most likely a single grade education, a job, a bunch of young ins, a trailer, a wife, a divorce from her bad mouthing your NASCAR driver, re-married, more young ins and a side job stealing wheelchair or a trip to Dollywood. This game is perfect as a drinking game or something the whole family can have fun with. My only complaint with this one was it took nearly two hours plus to finish a game. But they will soon be putting out a board that is 20 spaces shorter, which may help a lot. All the games from Gut Bustin' Games are so much fun and easy to learn. www.gutbustingames.com Good Trailer Park Wars, another Gut Bustin' Games classic. This game has you filling your trailer park with tenants and amenities to earn you points, which are pink flamingos. You can cause accidents, pests and bad tenants to people you are playing to screw them over. This one is again easy and hilarious  but a game can be played in just about 15-20 mins, so is better if you don't have a bunch of time. www.gutbustingames.com Good Flapjacks and Sasquatches, this independent card game pits players as lumberjacks trying to chop down trees. Along the way you can screw other players over with blisters and Sasquatch cards to scare away help. This was pretty fun and got to demo with the creator, which is always great. This game runs about 20 minutes, so it is something to whip out for a quick game. www.flapjacksandsasquatches.com Good Eaten By Zombies, the new stand alone expansion for the hit card game just came out from Max Holiday and Mayday Games. This an be played as a two player stand alone, or be added in to your Eaten By Zombies set you already have. The rules have had a great overhaul and read better and more clear than before. The small size and packaging of this game make it really portable to play pick up games on lunch or whenever. The new cards and zombies add great twists to an already awesome game. More stand alone expansions would be really great to see in the future. If you don't already have this game, first off you are dumb, but you can now get this intro style version and carry it with you making all your friends get eaten by zombies. I highly recommend this game. www.eatenbyzombies.com and www.maydaygames.com Good Last Night On Earth: Timber Peak expansion, is a stand alone board game expansion from Flying Frog. This game has players scrambling to find weapons to fend off an endless supply of zombies. This game has lots of versatility with ways to play and comes with a lot of components to change up the game. Games can be different lengths and complexities depending on which scenario  is chosen. A great game, but as with component games it is pricy. I could seriously picking this game up though. www.flyingfrog.net  Good Munchkin, who doesn't love Munchkin. And if you don't know about it, stop reading this and go out and buy a copy today. It is basically the go to card game for fun. With so many different versions out there you are sure to find one you want. www.stevejacksongames.com Good Magic The Gathering, the card game that paved the way for collectible card games everywhere. Magic is a game that is easy topics up the rules, but one can spend years, and thousands, on mastering. The object is simple, your opponent has a deck and 20 life, make it so he doesn't have one of those. But with all the creature summoning and spell wielding it is easy to get lost. This game is amazing, but requires a huge commitment of money. New sets come out twice a year and legal play requires the latest three sets to be played. That is the only reason I don't play today. www.wizards.com Good Gen Con, yeah, the convention itself. Gen Con is one of the largest conventions in the world, and the largest for gaming. If you play physical games at all this place is your mecca. There is a sensory overload when you walk around the exhibit hall and your inner nerd is frothing at the mouth. No matter what you are into, you can find a game for you. Comic Con may get all the press, but If there's a better convention than Gen Con, I haven't seen it. www.gencon.com  Good

Snap Dragons - Back to School

September is back to school month, and for Snap Dragons, it's no exception.

Art vs Art

Just got done painting at Art vs Art at the city market in downtown Indy. http://www.artvsart.net/index.php I'll keep you posted as to when voting begins.

Snap Dragons comic

The inspiration is like really raunchy Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. If it ever goes on tv I have a song to go with it. Expect to see more Snap Dragons in the future. 

Enjoy. 

Jeff

GenCon Part 1

Gen Con was amazing, but here are a few things that came in just less than amazing.

Wil Wheaton, what can I say, the guy was kind of a prick. First he refuses all interviews, then he only shows up half the time. I wasn't impressed. He could have been very friendly to Indiana and he just didn't come across that way. Wilwheaton.typepad.com 

Not Good.

X-Wing, the hot game at this year's convention. I didn't demo it cause it took too long to go over all the pieces and how they interacted. This game needs an overhaul, and it just came out. I hate to be a asshat and say I could make it better, but I could really make it better. All the tokens and rules just sucked the fun right out of it. Sorry Fantasy Flight, but you didn't do a good job with this one. But since it is Star Wars people have, and will buy it up. www.fantasyflightgames.com 

Not Good

High Noon Saloon, I really liked this one from Slugfest Games until I was dead in 5 minutes and had to wait 20 for the game to be over. This may not be typical for every game, but the fact that it can happen is a real flaw in the game. It is a real shame too, this game was fun. There needs to be something so that when you die you can do something, otherwise you might have to sit around while players shoot and run for cover. www.slugfestgames.com 

Barely Good.

Dystopian Wars, was a decently cool miniature game from Spartan that was based in steampunk. You controlled ships that raced toward each other cannons blazing. But sadly I feel like that is about it. The large ships simply demolish and when you are rolling 9 dice at a time you get plenty of hits. The major drawback for me is the company itself. I had heard about another game by Spartan a couple of years ago and saw it well represented at Gen Con last year, however I didn't see it at all this year and the minis were in the bargain bin. Even though the value is good, I don't know if the company will drop this line in a year. www.spartangames.co.uk 

Barely Good.

Pirates Of The Spanish Main, this game was one of my favorites and the new Wizkids has ruined it. They took the  collectible punch out ships that you move and shoot to get treasure and turned it into a card game. Why would you do this Wizkids? The guy demoing actually said "It is everything you love from the old Pirates.", well I guess he is right if you take out everything that was awesome about Pirates. I refused to stay 5 minutes. www.wizkids.com 

Not Good.

Wrath of Kings, is another miniatures game I tried out. You control an army of land based units like swordsman that fight another side. The figures were cool enough, but the guy showing off the game didn't explain the units and rules very well. The game didn't offer much sense of strategy like most minis games and seemed to be really hard to kill other units. Games like this could use tweaking, mini games done have to be multi hour epics. www.wrathofkings.com 

Not Good.

True Dungeon, ok maybe I just don't know what the fuss is about. There was an elaborate setup for this True Dungeon game. It was dark with red, blue and green lights on faux stone walls. There were tables set up and their own food area. So are the people that play this anti-social? Why not make it an open play area to any games. It would bump my rating up some notches. So, it looked cool, but was really just an exclusive club. wwwtruedungeon.com 

Not Good.

Zombies!!! The Card Game, this card game which is based on the hit board game is lame. Cards that don't do anything or require you to know every card make me feel like they just rushed this product. Avoid thinking this is really fun simply because of the board game. www.twilightcreationsinc.com 

Not Good.

Post Gen Con

I know it's been a few since I posted, there will plenty more to come. I've been busy writing reviews that cover everything we experienced at Gen Con. People liked my game, so I don't feel like I have been wasting my time.