Remy Moore

Shadows Of Brimstone is one of my favorite boardgames. The components are the usual Flying Frog mega pieces with thick cardstock and awesome figures. I am a miniature enthusiast (I mean I love minis, not that I am tiny) so assembling them and painting them is a labor of love.

The game plays 1-4 (or 1-6 if you have both base sets) and is overly large without being overly complex. There are a ton of tokens and rules, but they are very straight forward and easy to implement. It is a little like D&D in the sense that you can add the rules you like and make the game as immersive as you and your group wish. There are so many environments and monsters and possibilities that I love expanding the world of our group and really plumbing the depths of this Horror/Western!

Specific to Swamps of Death:

Contents:

Rulebook, Adventure Book
16 Small Dice
1 Eight-sided Die
1 Peril Die
Interlocking, double-sided Map Tiles, featuring the Old West Mines on one side and overgrown, murky Swamps of Jargono on the other.
1 Depth Track
Die-cut Counters
CD Soundtrack
4 Double-sided Hero Character Sheets
6 Double-sided Enemy Record Sheets
9 Double-sided Extra Large Cards
4 Plastic Hero Figures
6 Plastic Tentacles
6 Plastic*bats
12 Plastic Hungry Dead
3 Large Plastic Slashers
1 Extra Large Plastic Harbinger
18-card Mine Map Deck
36-card Gear Deck
15-card Mine Artifact Deck
20-card Mine Encounter Deck
35 Threat Cards
11 Sermon Cards
7-card Growing Dread Deck
15-card Darkness Deck
10-card Personal Items Deck
12-card Loot Deck
12-card Scavenge Deck
15-card Jargono Encounter Deck
10-card Jargono Artifact Deck
18-card Jargono Map Deck
5-card Jargono Otherworld Threat Deck
8 Staring Gear Cards
12 Hero Starting Upgrade Cards
2 World Cards
4 Side Bag Cards
5 Reference Cards

Ages: 12+
Players: 1-4
Game Length: 90-180 minutes

Summary:
One of my favorites, but I love Horror/Westerns and painting minis. If these turn you off, avoid this one. There is a ton of theme here and I don’t see the reason for the game if you don’t assemble and paint the minis! We try to get this one out for our major get-togethers and play with 8 people. The game says up to 6, but we haven’t had any issues with it dragging. I also like to play this one solo but only when I have a lot of spare time!! 🙂

I hope you try it.

Roll For It! by Calliope Games is a dice game where players take turns rolling dice and matching them to cards showing combinations and points. The more dice showing, the more points the card is worth. When a player matches a card he/she gets that card and its points and any dice belonging to other players trying to match go back to their hands. The first to 40 points wins.

Contents are 30 cards and 24 dice (6 in each of 4 colors) and their are two sets available (red box and a purple box each with its own dice color scheme). This allows 2-8 players when using both sets. We used a single set and added three sets of our own dice to play with 7 players and there was no loss of playability. I love a game that allows for scalability by its very nature and doesn’t stop being fun!

You just roll, match, score if possible, and play passes to the next player. It is tiny, easily learned and perfect for light, mindless fun with a heavy dose of luck. My whole group had a great time and each game lasted about 30 minutes. After the group left, my wife and I had a blast just playing each other. Cant ask for more than that!

Ok, not really – I had a blast!!

Walk The Plank! by Mayday Games is a tiny game for 3-5 players (maybe 2, but I wouldn’t recommend it). You represent the worst pirates in a ship’s crew and the captain has decided he wants you gone! Only 2 get to remain. Will you be worthy? Can you shove the others to their watery doom? 🙂

Contents:
1 ship tile, 3 plank tiles
1 monster tile (Davy Jones’s locker)
1 Captain’s favor (1st player token)
3 pawns of each of the 5 colors
10 cards (represent pawns actions) of each of the 5 colors

You look through your cards and select the 3 actions you want your pirates to perform in a sort of robot rally type thing and mayhem ensues. The first player turns over his/her top card and one of his pirates perform this action. Then the second player goes and so on until everyone has revealed each of their cards in turn. The captain’s favor passes counter clockwise and the players return their cards to their hands unless the cards state otherwise and the next 3 cards are chosen.

When only 2 pirates remain of any color and in any combination the game ends. Sometimes no one remains because ALL pirates killed themselves!! Yes, they are that dumb. 🙂

The cards say things like Shove Left, Shove Right, Extend/Retract plank, Drag to sea, Pull to ship, and ones where pirates advance or retreat, or just charge! This makes for some fairly random events, but I really enjoyed it. There is a lot of player interaction and my group enjoyed the wanton mayhem and general silliness. There is little strategy because of the randomness of card selection of the other players.

We had a great time but only see this as a bit of mindless filler that really gets us laughing!

Millennium Blades, by Level 99 Games, is a CCG simulated via boardgame. It captures trading, deckbuilding and ranking and does it really well with rich theme. This is a novel approach to a classic gaming style and a time I still view with nostalgia. To me, that alone merits trying the game!!

Contents:
5 Player Boards
2 Central Market Boards
6 Starter Decks (9 Cards Each)
1 Core Set (118 Cards)
11 Expansion Sets (12 Cards Each)
9 Premium Sets (12 Cards Each)
8 Master Sets (12 Cards Each)
4 Bronze Promo Sets (6 Cards Each)
3 Silver Promo Sets (6 Cards Each)
3 Gold Promo Sets (6 Cards Each)
6 Pro Player Card Sets (5 Cards Each)
6 Character Cards
36 Friendship Cards
2 Meta Card Sets (6 Cards Each)
10 Oversized Venue Cards
1 Punchsheet
800 Millennium Dollar Money Slips
80 Sticker Slips
1 VP Score Pad
15 Wooden Cube RP Trackers (5 Colors)

Ages: 14+
Players: 2-5
Game Length: 120 minutes

Now it takes a while to learn and even longer to master MB, but once one gets familiar with the game it really gets easier to connect with it. I enjoyed the timed deckbuilding phase ok enough, but it was the player interaction and the tournament phase that makes the game for me.

If you want to check out a game that is rich with theme and VERY innovative, if you have any nostalgia for the old CCG games or if you still play CCG games, then check this game out now – it is worth a play!!

This is the hardest game I have ever tried to learn. It is so much pain for so little payoff. But, there is something about this game that keeps calling to me. I want to come up with some house rules that streamline the game but I think it just needs a redesign!

The game seems much like mansions of madness or betrayal at the house on the hill but it is so convoluted to keep track of fires, cameras, enemies and solve the various mysteries of the game.

I am hoping a few more plays will shake something loose. If so, I’ll be back and update this review!

I recently bought this off ebay to relive my childhood and it was everything I hoped: cardboard bits fraying and brittle brown plastic set decorations as squat monsters and heroic champions work through the dungeon!!

The old-timey feel and the slapped-on campiness of the gameplay are fine for reliving a misspent youth and I encourage everyone to buy their version of “had this as a kid” and go to town on it!! But DO NOT try to drag anyone else into this morass of memories unless they share that gleam in your eye!! Great game for its time, though.

If you must play this overly silly game (and I really enjoy it), then you shouldn’t bat an eye at the odd grouping of Dragons, Superheroes, Mythic Greeks, and Sharks. The thing they have in common is their ability to be formidable and they play that way here, too.

Each set add some heat and firepower and will be sure to be favorites at the game table. I always think AEG is done and no new sets are coming, but I am pleased to be wrong and I love having the expanded choices and the new possible combinations!!

I love this game! It is so well made and the game is so easy to play. You just set everything up and get busy taking turns moving and fighting as applicable. HOWEVER, the sheer volume of stuff that in the game, from all the plastic bits to all the counters to all the cards of all the different sizes…. it looks formidable.

I had a good friend who spent a lot of time watching youtube vids to get the rules right and he showed me how to play in NO time flat. We just found a website that picks our sides based on what vehicles we have available and it showed us exactly what cards to use.

As for the rules, they are straight-forward and lend themselves to fun gameplay even for amateurs. The randomness of letting a website bot decide our teams kept the more-experienced player from stacking the ships to take advantage of a ploy only he knows!!

So, jump in but try to get a little help so the learning can all be hands on – it rocks!!

This is THE game we use to either start or end the night. It is so easy to learn and can change at the drop of a hat (or more likely a card). We use it to limber up before our more serious BSG game and it only takes about 10-20 minutes.

You start with 3 cards and then draw a card and play a card – simple enough. BUT, every card you play changes the rules. Could be a subtle change, could be a huge one!! This type of randomness may sound boring to some and the changing rules may sound complex, but just try it, the game is innocuous enough to entice so let it!!

Zombicide was a blast but it had a lot of room for tweaking the components. Black Plague fixes the component issues with a sweet version of the game that slightly streamlines the play while adding card holders and pegs that my group hand made out of wood for the original game.

I love the fantasy-type figures and they take paint very well. The setting and theme work well and the gameplay is solid Zombicide. If you are familiar with Zombicide gameplay, this one sets up and plays in seconds.

I picked this game up right before the new version dropped, so bear in mind that it is for the first edition. It is my understanding the newer edition has better components!

This game is about adventuring into 5 levels of catacombs and destroying the evil catacomb lord! I love these types of games (flicking or dexterity-based) but my group hates them.

You stand around a table, measure distances, evaluate chances and flick your hero to kill monsters, all while considering using your special powers or items.

You have a lot of fun with the simple rules and funny tone. It takes about an hour and doesn’t require a pencil! I get to play against my wife and you never know who will win!! So, if you don’t need seriousness or complexity, give it a shot (or a flick)!

I am gonna limit myself to reviewing only the miniatures of this game. Dont get me wrong, I love this game and it is easy to learn (try an online video of gameplay, there are a couple good ones), but my true love is painting and these miniatures are perfect for me!

They take a primer well and paint up nicely. The details on the plastic are SHARP and really lend themselves to easy definition. Even at just an inch or so tall, they are large enough (due to their chibi nature) to allow for remarkable details.

In addition to being good at taking paint, they are so numerous and varied that I kept getting caught up in jumping from one figure to another. There are some duplicates in the monsters, but I let my creative side show by doing different marking on their bodies. There are 12 heroes in the base game and around another 20-30 with the expansions and kickstarter figures. Each one gets me excited to be painting them and hoping for even more figures in the future!

So, if you like to paint minis, get this game! Beside being full of paintable goodness, it is a great game.

Get ready to yell and laugh and all of these things, but only if you like charades! If you are like me (and if so, congratulations), these types of games are only appropriate during the right get-together and with the right group. It is for fun-loving people already looking to have fun or for trying to get people out of their shell – like a drinking party. If you pop this out on game night with a gaming crew expect them to get distracted fast, this game is too simple and just encourages socializing. There are too many easy card games that do the same for free with a poker deck!

I didn’t enjoy the game nearly as much Catan and would not recommend it to fans of the originaln. It seems too watered down and I enjoy the original much more.

That said, this version is PERFECT for kids or for quick games. I don’t need a time-saver version or a “jostle-proof” version, so it wasn’t for me, but I can easily see how it is good for an entry-level version.

All in all, not bad, just not for me!

My wife and I bought this game because it looks cute and the reviews made it sound fun. My wife quickly beat me in three straight games. BTW the pieces are durable when you throw them! 🙂

We had games where one side dominated the other – killing all but one of the opponent’s ninjas or just needing one more point – and a series of bad dice rolls allowed the other side to come from behind and win. It was exciting and quick and being at the mercy of the dice meant no one could dominate for long!!!

Anyway, I beat her in the next three games, but my wife won the tie-breaker and is the undisputed Queen Ninja! 🙂

Simple in concept, the game consists of an arena in which each player inserts and maneuvers a rod with a magnet on the end. This is to control the Sumo Hamster (my wife giggles every time I say that phrase) on the arena platform above. Simple enough, like a giant McDonald’s toy but VERY FUN!

Relax, try to not break it and have fun. It is clearly not for the serious gamer, but it is a $20 party favorite and family favorite.

Game Components:

Survival Manual (20-page rulebook)
20 map tiles
Lots of tokens!
21 goal cards
6 scenario cards
135 poker-sized cards (types include Armory, Food, Item, Scavenge, Something’s Happening, and Survivors)
1 point tracker
12 dice (8 red, 4 blue)
30 zombie miniatures (10 singles, 20 doubles)
4 squad sheets
8 player miniatures (male & female pairs) with unique base colors and German Shepherd
4 colored point tracker tokens (4 meeples)
Bunker card

Game Description:

Zpocalypse is set AFTER the zombie apocalypse. The world’s largest cities have been nuked to help slow the spread of the zombies and you start as a group of 2-4 players in a bunker. As you foray out, tiles are laid out and the world is explored.

Players gather food, guns & ammo, and other items using a squad the player controls. In addition, players must fortify their base against a relentless assault of the undead.

Player’s receive points for killing zombies, finishing goals, and building defenses. Players level up as points are gained and also determine the final winner.

Final Evaluation:

FUN! But before getting into that, some background. Our group treated this game as a continuation of a larger Zombicide campaign. First, the world went to heck with Zombicide (playing up to at least Mission 8). After that, the nukes were unleashed and Zpocalypse became available to us.

Where Zombicide is a free-for-all, hack-and-slash fest, Zpocalypse is much more tactical. Care has to be put into your choices around defenses and items and your plans for them. However, both games are about killing as many zombies as you possibly can and both games have a lot of ways to do that. I love both games and they fill two different styles of play. If you like a tactical challenge Zpocalypse is worth a try!

This expansion adds 4 new characters (with figures), 90 new Adventure Cards, 26 new Spell Cards, 12 Warlock quest cards,and the Grim Reaper figure! This is more than enough to justify getting it for my Talisman world.

However, add in that the dark figure of Death is for players to manipulate against each other and you have a whole new element to game play. Purists may fear the changes, but it is like a new game from this point on. Players who were once burnt-out on the game, suddenly were back! We don’t use the Reaper every time, but we definitely keep him on stand by!

New characters:
Merchant – not one I have played yet, seems underwhelming
Knight – player starts with armor and sword and has prayer bonus
Dark Cultist – player can perform psychic combat and gains bonuses from killing enemies
Sage – another I don’t envision me playing, too weak

This expansion may not appeal to cooperative player groups that are hesitant to attack each other! We don’t have that problem. All-in-all, easily worth the cost if you want to make your Talisman a little more uncooperative! 🙂

My wife and I thought this game would rock. After all, how can you go wrong with saving the world from zombies?

Well, start with no zombies. The theme couldn’t matter less in this game. It is resource management for the sake of managing resources – yay! Add to that a steep learning curve and the depression that I wasn’t fighting zombies, but a plague outbreak and I have to warn everyone to avoid this game.

As for difficulty, this game is VERY hard to win. Most of the time we played to see who lost last. 🙂

All said, I sold mine on eBay and I feel guilty for passing it on to someone else to be honest. But it was like new.

Zombies!!! has so many expansions and so much competition that I find people either love it or hate it. I understand both points of view, but am a completist and will keep buying the sets as they make them! The cards can be funny, the game play is fast and enjoyable, and I love the genre.

That said, Zombies!!! is one of my favorite games that I don’t get to play much. I only play it with the right group – diehard fanatics. I have seen too many newbies to the game who don’t seem to take to it and want more of a Zombicide experience (another game I love).

I blame this on the huge number of cards we have in our deck (ALL of the expansions but not all of the cards are in our deck – some were pulled as we developed house rules to make the play easier). It can be overwhelming, but I have to justify my purchase! 🙂

Needless to say, we always find something everyone can enjoy, but Zombies!!! is usually not it unless they were fans before the game hit the table that night.

Scrabble is a classic game with so many possibilities and a tried-and-true game mechanic. I wont waste any time on the components (bits of a wood and a board, but easily recognizable with their trademark look). Instead, I want to take this time and use my review to encourage people to PLAY THIS GAME!

I avoided Scrabble for so long because I forgot what fun a good group can have (played a roommate for far too long in college, apparently). That changed one day when I was asked to play and there were too many people to say “no” (I had never played groups and wanted to that day for whatever reason).

I loved it! So don’t view it as just an “old” game or as a board game version of watching PBS. To me, all games are just a reflection of the people with whom you play and this game really allows a lot of personal interaction. Also, with so many tiles, no two games should ever be the same. Try a group versus group game sometime, just one bit of advice – try to keep the sides equal. No Mom and Dad team up against the kids! 🙂

I find the best benchmark for a website evaluation to be how one uses it. That said, here my experience with BoardGaming.com: I wasn’t sure what to expect here, but now I find myself coming here 4 or more times a day to just relax and read.

I start by checking the news. First, was there any new entries, if not – go to the oldest entries and work my way to the present. Within a couple of entries I am off to check out a game I haven’t read about yet. After finding out what the game has to offer, I read the user reviews and jump to the user profile of the first person that catches my eye (at this stage, everything is new and I am ALWAYS wandering off on a tangent from my intended “time-waster”).

The opinions and experiences of the users are a joy to read for me. Thank you so much BoardGaming.com and thank you BG community-at-large! Feel free to overwhelm me with content!! 🙂