SPANISH BOARD GAME INQUISITION 2014?

No one ever expected the Spanish Inquisition and I don't think any one in the gaming community was expecting 2 knock out board game releases set for 2014 from 2 Spanish gaming companies.

First up is the Alien vs. Predator : The Hunt Begins board game that is building up momentum on Kickstarter right now by Prodos Games the creators of Mutant Chronicles. I think this is a dream come true for a lot of gamers and is for me being a massive fan of the AVP movies. The Boxed Game AvP – The Hunt Begins is a self-contained gaming experience, a fusion of mission and narrative driven Board Game and Table Top War Game. A family game where 1 (yes you can play on your own) or more players can sit down and play through their own narrative and develop their own characters and objectives over many inter-linked games. Or players can sit down and play a ‘free for all’ with games like ‘Survival’, ‘Last human/Alien/Predator standing’, ‘capture the objective’ etc. filling an hour or two of your evening or raining Sunday afternoon. Their is also an idea of linking this board game to a wider table top AVP game where players can control armies of Colonial Marines against whole nests of Aliens!


The miniatures are stunning which is the normal standard Prodos have set for their miniatures and fit the feel and vibe of the AVP cannon very well. This project has smashed through most of its stretch goals already and is no doubt all set for a very popular release date of 2014. Rest assured this one that will entering collection next year and as always I will be sharing my journey into this game with you all here on games-knight, providing the Weyland Corp. don't get to me first.....

For our 2nd Spanish export we move from the world of high octane Sci-fi board games to classic fantasy adventure! This news has only hit the gaming community over the last week and has unsurprisingly had a favourable reaction from gamers of my age in particular. From the minds of Gamezone Miniatures comes the 25th anniversary edition of HeroQuest. This is huge! I cant hide my excitement of this news so I am not even going to try! The original MB release in 1989 was my fist taste of gaming action and what hooked me into gaming so I have a lot if sentiment for this game and still play it today. If you had asked me if I would ever wanted this game revamped by anyone else other then GW / MB then I would have said no, but now its happened I am not worried at all and really looking forward to seeing how this project pans out. The official news on the Gamezone Miniatures website is that this is to be a 'crowd funded' project which to me means Kickstarter.

Lets take a look at what the game would offer -

-1 BOARD – ALFA Model

      Reversible, with two usable sides, Side A is with a Classic Dungeon simulation, while side B brings into play ruins and exterior scenes. The squares on the board are slightly larger than the original to provide more comfortable figure movement and scenery/element placement

- 1 MENTOR SCREEN

      The game screen is for dual use. The Mentor Side (inside) displays the tools that the Game Master will need to direct the game, creature stats, game symbol keys codes, weapon characteristics, etc.. On the Player Side (outside) there will be an illustration of a temple on which the essential rules for the adventures will be written into stone like reliefs. This way any novice player at a glance will have all the necessary information they need without having to badger the Director with continual basic questions.

-8 DICE

      The 25th model dice will have squares representing boxes instead of round dots. The 25th model battle dice will have the already known symbols but appear more consistent with the actual skills or the characters / current technology available.

-1 RULE BOOK

      Rule book, highly illustrated, to explain every rule that needs it with a corresponding clarifying   image.

- ADVENTURE VOLUME I “No Threat Unanswered”

      In this Book you will find the missions that Mentor will entrust to the adventurers. Formatted as standard stand alone adventures or missions that will continue as if chapters in a series. Others will be set up in an independent campaign structure that will evolve in parallel within a common storyline. The total overall quantity of adventures will be around 50.

-8 Adventurer Cards

      The Adventurer Cards will have the values ??and the different characteristics between the male characters and their female counterparts. Life and mind/will points are shown in wheel-cut windows in which the corresponding number is displayed and can be changed by rotating disks, added to the rear or the cards. This way you will not be writing the values ??of each character on a separate sheet, you can modify them directly in the windows that each character card offers.

-86 Cards

      Every spell element in the cards is written in Latin and the symbols used have their origins in classical antiquity

      The Chaos spells are a recourse that will only be utilized by the Evil Wizard player.

-46 PLASTIC RESIN FIGURES

      The figures will have the standard Gamezone® miniature size of 28mm/30mm. This way is a sure way that they will also be compatible with other popular miniature games.

      Plastic Resin is a high quality material with and extraordinarily high degree of detail, making for a clear and clean finished product. The presence of bubbles, common in all resins to a larger or smaller effect, has been practically eliminated through the modeling process. The final weight of the miniatures is lighter.

      The bases are round and transparent; being round helps with easier figure movement across the board and the transparency of the base allows players to effectively see the floor of the map their characters are standing on. The figures will be different colours the same as the miniatures in the original box set.

-48 Resin SCENE ELEMENTS

   These elements will also be made of resin as this allows us to create pieces with greater details. Some elements will come separate and will need a simple assembly.

- The wardrobe pieces are interchangeable making verity a real possibility in the 25th.

- The doors will be able to be open or closed as the door frame will have hinges.

- The treasure chests will have open able lids to see what is inside. The interior will be empty and ready to have a treasure inserted in the form of a token that will represent a bag of coins, a pile of coins, or an empty bottom with a singular coin. The interior chest tokens are also interchangeable with other elements .

- The gargoyle pedestal has a space for a treasure token when the figure is removed

- The Cell door can open or close depending on the mission guidelines

- The sarcophagus also has an area to add treasure tokens if you wish to show different contents

-35 Resin Marker Tokens

All with volume to represent scenery and not the cardboard tokens of old.

All very impressive I am sure you will agree and I will be backing this project via Kickstarter for sure.

So what do you guys think about these 2 projects? Excited? Not impressed? All opinions are welcome at Games-Knight so please get in touch - contactgamesknight@gmail.com.

Ciaran

THE WALKING DEAD HALLOWEEN SPECIAL

Greetings gamers and a Happy Halloween to you all! With the Halloween theme being present at the moment I thought I would share a board game I discovered last year that deserves some lime light and where better to show it off than right here on Games-Knight. The board game in question is The Walking Dead Board Game from Cryptozoic Entertainment which is based on the popular TV series The Walking Dead. I am a fan of the TV series so this appealed to me straight away when I discovered the game but there are points to it that would appeal if not a franchise I am a fan of which I will share with you. This game was released during the period of the 1^st and 2^nd series so you will see characters from those series who – spoiler alert! – may no longer be part of the living.

UNBOXING THE WALKING DEAD BOARD GAME

As you open the box you will instantly find that the game is very self-contained and has minimal components required to play the game, which is not a bad thing. There are no miniatures in this game just cards and tokens. The rule book is a mere 5 pages long, including a FAQ, and is explained in a very simple, no fuss manner. And my favourite touch about the layout and presentation of the game is the roll-out playing mat instead of a traditional cardboard gaming board. This is a unique touch that gives the game a real charm about it and also makes it a game you can play pretty much anywhere as it is very easy to transport. Ideal for if you like to take your board games down to your local hobby / gaming club. Presentation wise I like the look and feel to it and the minimal aspect to it is quite refreshing as some games can be a bit over powering when you have tonnes of components to use.

THE WALKING DEAD BOARD GAME RULES

There are 2 scenarios you can play with The Walking Dead board game, Survival Mode and Team Game. Both scenarios are for 2-4 players.

In survival mode each player selects a character card and its matching game piece. Players star the game at camp. Then with the corresponding game cards make an Ally pool and a Scrounge deck and place each location tile next its matching corner. The object of the game is that the first player who collects all 4 of the location tiles and returns to base camp is the winner. Of course there will be lots of flesh eating walkers to try to prevent you from doing this and subsequently mean that most players will star the games as survivors but end it as walkers! Any player who doesn’t survive becomes a walker and plays out the rest of the game as a zombie, turning on his friends and family i.e. the other survivor players. I like this as it means no one has to sit out the rest of the game when that player dies, they can come back as a walker and still be involved in the game.

A survivor turn sequence is resolved in 4 steps –

1.       Movement – roll a die and move that many spaces.

2.       Resolve the space you land on if any encounters.

3.       Resolve any encounter cards you are asked to draw.

4.       End your turn.

 

When players die they come back as walkers and the game then turns to a team zombie vs. team survivor affair. A walker’s turn sequence plays out as follows –

1.       Roll a die and move up to that many spaces.

2.       Play a walker card.

3.       End you turn in which you can discard a walker card form your hand if you wish and also draw walker cards until you have a hand of 4.

 

The Team game sis exactly the same only at the start players pick sided if they are to start as survivors or walkers. Team zombie only have to kill both survivor players to win! You will find with this game that it is nearly impossible to win as a survivor! This isn’t a bad thing as it makes for a very challenging game, which given its simple set up and game mechanics is very impressive.

 

GAMES-KNIGHT SURVIVOR CAMP

This really is a super little game which combine simplicity and fun to bring a great board game to the table. Avid gamers or family after some light-hearted fun will not be disappointed with this product and I thoroughly recommend it. Here at Games-Knight I will award The Walking Dead board game 4 brains out of 5, come on! It’s Halloween!

 

OTHER GREAT ZOMBIE GAMES FOR HALLOWEEN

Alongside this game also check out Last Night on earth from Flying Frog productions. I had the chance to play this a few weeks back and it plays really well and is very, very challenging! Put it this way, I killed 14 zombies and still didn’t win! Lots of different scenarios to play and some cool little miniatures to play with make this another fun game for a night’s gaming making it another 4 brains out of 5.There is also Zombies!!! By twilight Creations and the very popular Zombicide.

That’s your lot for this week, hope you have enjoyed this week’s post and have a great Halloween. Next week it is back to my coverage of Dropzone Commander as I show off my painted UCM faction. Till then have fun and be safe. Ciaran-contactgamesknight@gmail.com

 

    

 

 

 

DROPZONE COMMANDER : RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

Hello and welcome to the 2^nd week of my coverage of Dropzone Commander by Hawk Wargames. In this week’s post we look at the rules and some of the game mechanics that I feel make this game very appealing.

THE TURN SEQUENCE

The game turn is broken down into 4 phases –

·         Phase 1 : Initiation

·         Phase 2 : Activation

·         Phase 3 : Actions

·         Phase 4: Roundup

 

Every game turn always start with the initiation phase which plays as follows –

 

ROLL FOR INITIATIVE – Each player rolls a 1D6 and adds the command value of their highest ranking commander present on the table. Please note to add you command value to you 1DR roll you need the command deck of cards which you do not get with the 2 player starter set. This is not an essential you must have and can easily just roll 1D6 and go with the highest roll, dicing off if there is a tie. The winner of the initiative roll may elect to reduce his initiative score to 1 making his opponent go first which sometimes can be a good tactical play.

 

DISCARD CARDS – If command cards are being used then you may discard any unwanted command cards at this time.

 

DRAW CARDS – Again, if command cards are being used then this is an opportunity for players to replenish their command cards.

 

CLEANUP – Any special effects form special rules may now be addressed.

 

ROLL FOR RESERVES – Each player, in order of initiative, may roll 1D6 for each battlegroup they have in reserve to see if their much needed reserves can be called upon this turn.

 

We now progress in phase 2 of the turn sequence: ACTIVATION. The player with the highest initiative activates battlegroup. Activating a battlegroup means that player can now perform the action phase. Once the first player has completed his actions with his battlegroup then the 2^nd player with the 2^nd highest initiative may activate a battlegroup and so on. Phase 2 continues in this fashion until all battlegroups have been activated and completed their action phase.

 

In the action phase battlegroups can move, shoot, engage in close quarter battle, embark and disembark troops and APC’s via dropship carrier. Note that players can shoot then move or vice versa. This is a mechanic I like as it give players more offensive or defensive as the case may be, capabilities.

 

Once all actions have been completed by each battlegroup in the player’s force it is onto the roundup phase. Any special rules and effects which occur in the roundup phase now take place by order of initiative. Players should check the victory conditions of the scenario they are playing. If the conditions are met or the number of stated turns has elapsed then the game is over. If not, the turn is over.

 

AIRCRAFT IN DROPZONE COMMANDER

This is a game mechanic I really like in this game so I want to share it with you guys out there. Just like the command cards, you do not get any aircraft fighters in the starter set so this isn’t a must have section but if you anything like me you will add some aerial support to you battle groups.

 Aircrafts in Dropzone Commander always start in readiness or reserve so you have to see if air support is available to be called upon at that time. This is done by rolling 1D6, on a roll of 2-6 air support may be called in to perform an attack run or make an interception. On a roll of a 1 however, the aircraft remains in readiness/reserve. I really like this as it reflects the realistic logistical side of calling in an air strike and that it cannot always be relied upon.  If the roll was successful, a fighter aircraft can enter the game from any table edge and then follows a pre-designated attack flight path laying down fire upon any enemy unit along that flight path. Your opponent has the chance to use his anti-air units to try gun you down whilst making this attack run, or even call in air support of his own on an intercept course with the attacking aircraft. Likewise, an aircraft called in to perform an interception will have to dodge the anti-air units of the opponent in question. It almost breaks down into a mini game in the game! I do not think this is a bad thing though and I think the rules for the aircraft in Dropzone Commander have been well thought out and add another level of excitement to the game.

 

THE GAMES-KNIGHT COMMAND BUNKER

I really like the rulebook you get for this game; it is one of the nicest rule books I have read for a long time. All the rules are explained in simple terms and have diagrams with them depicting in game play to help give you a good mental image on how this will look in action. I am massive fan of the rules for aircraft in this game. It gives them an important role to play in terms of the game but doesn’t lend itself to aircraft being a overpowered solution for players to dominate the game which is what has spoilt 40k 6^th edition in my opinion. Other rules I liked that I will quickly mention was the LZ rules for dropships, including ‘LZ is hot!’ special rule, and 'exceptional ground' which grants tanks and APC’s 2+ inches to their normal movement value if moving on exceptional ground i.e. road.

I am itching to start playing this game! I am still painting my UCM and will start assembling the scourge army alongside this and start painting them once my UCM army is complete.  Once I have the 2 forces from the starter set completed I will be getting some game sin and reporting back to you here on Games-Knight my gaming experience with Dropzone Commander. I have a feeling it is going to be a very, very good experience at that.

That’s going to do it for this week, we take a little break from Dropzone Commander next week as I bring you a Halloween themed post next week looking at zombie board games and in particular The Walking Dead board game. Please join me for that next week and in the meantime feel free to contact me regarding this week’s post on Dropzone Commander or anything else hobby related at – contactgamesknight@gmail.com. Till next week take care. Ciaran.

 

 

 

DROPZONE COMMANDER

Welcome to the world of Dropzone Commander by Hawk WarGames. Dropzone Commander is a sci-fi 10mm war game set in the future of the 27^th century where mankind battle to reconquer the galaxy they have been driven from by the vile alien entity known as the Scourge. Whilst these two factions battle each other, they will also fight alongside or against the Post Human Republic (PHR) and the alien tribes of the Shaltari. Armies preform rapid deployments of tanks and troops via dropships whilst fighter jets battle for air superiority and strafe their opponents with devastating attack runs.  Battles take place across terrains of all types and are often pitched in urban areas where key objectives and intel are fought over in bloody, room to room close combat inside buildings. If the buildings cannot be garrisoned, a commander will often turn the destructive fire power of his forces to destroy the building and turn it to rubble. Sound like fun? Then keep reading as I delve further into Dropzone Commander.

2 PLAYER STARTER SET UNBOXING

My journey into this new gaming system begins with the starter set for Dropzone Commander. This has to be the best start set ever released in the war games industry as far as I am concerned. For £60 you will get two 500point armies for the UCM and the Scourge in quality white plastic, road maps to make a 3 x 4 play area to fight over, 10 quick and easy to assemble cardboard buildings, all tokens and templates needed to play the game, the latest revised 1.1 rulebook, dice and if all that wasn’t enough your very own Hawk Wargames, key-ring tape measure. Real value for money in any gamer’s books I am sure you will agree.

 The rule book is one of the nicest rule books I have read in a very long time. The thing I really liked about the rule book is that all the fluff was right at the start of the rule book and after reading the 11 pages of the back story to the universe of Dropzone Commander I was raring to have a game! The rules are broken down in easy to read text and diagrams and make for fast, tactical play and the onus is very much on the player to do the work as special rules are at a minimum and invulnerable saves even rarer. Armies are very balanced with strengths and weaknesses for all the factions in the game lending itself to very tactical ‘chess like’ games.

 The plastic sprues are good quality and the detail spent on the 10mm miniatures is amazing. I have assembled the UCM sprues and it took no time at all and was pretty straight forward to put together with only the Condor dropship proving to be the fiddliest but after you put 1 together the other 2 were quicker to do. I have never played 10mm before so this is a totally new experience for me as will painting 10mm scale. I have started painting my UCM army and the dropships and APC’s are coming on well with dry brushing techniques and ink washes working very well and producing quick results.  Painting 10mm scale infantry could be a challenge for me but I have based the 6 squads of Colonial Legionnaires using GW textured paints. The Scourge sprues are equally as good and I am looking forward to painting the Scourge and using some washes to cerates some very alien effects.

The quality and amount of terrain you get in this box set is impressive to say the least. A readymade 3x4 play area and 10 buildings of varying sizes gives you plenty to game with the size of armies you get in the box set. It also gives you a good basis to expand upon if you wish to increase the size of your battles and gaming area. Terrain is a very important part of Dropzone Commander and adds a real level of tactical play to the game that gives players plenty to think about as they deploy and re-deploy their forces across the battle ground. Cover is essential to your ground troops and squads caught out in the open are often heavily punished so using the terrain to cover your troops and tank units is a strong point to the game and often determines the victor.

Overall I repeat what I said at the start of this article and that is that this is the best starter set released in the war gaming industry to date. Hats off to David J. Lewis at Hawk Wargames who has put all of his soul into this product and this is just the start! I am very glad I have discovered the hobby that is Dropzone Commander and please join me next week as I continue my journey into the world of Dropzone Commander by looking into the rules in depth and how the game plays.

Has Dropship Commander peaked your interest? Do you already play Dropzone Commander? Please get in touch and let me know your thoughts – contactgamesknight@gmail.com.

 

 

GAMES-KNIGHT ANNOUCEMENT

Hello all and thank you for taking the time to read this post. For the last 4 weeks I have been working hard to bring you Games-Knight TV on You Tube. This has always been a aim of mine to enable me to bring you guys at home great video content. It is with a great amount of frustration and sadness I have to out this particular project on hold. My partner in crime Gravius has decided to part ways with the blog. First of all may I take this opportunity to thank Gravius for his great posts here on the blog and his support in setting up the blog. This very much leaves me as a legion of one and just simply cannot film, edit, produce and run Games-Knight TV on my own. It still is a aim of mine to one day bring Games-Knight TV to you loyal viewers all over the world but sadly it has to take a back seat for the time being. However, I would like to stress that the blog will very much be continuing in the mean time and I have plenty of content to bring you over the next few months.

BRAND NEW CONTENT STARTING FROM 19.10.2013

This weekend  I will delve into the world of Dropzone Commander by Hawk WarGames. This is my new hobby at present and I cant wait to share it with you guys out there. There will be plenty more Star wars Content coming to Games-Knight as we feel the full power of the force in the shape of X-Wing Miniatures and Star Wars LCG. We have products from TopTrumps to show off, board game reviews and much, much more.


GAMES-KNIGHT NEEDS YOU!


Games-Knight needs your support more than ever. The first way you can support the blog is to keep reading. I am very proud of the number of hits I get on this blog each week and very proud of the high number of overseas readers I have. Thank you so much for your support and please keep reading. There is another way you can support Games-Knight and this is an opportunity I am putting out to you. If you are local to the Cannock area, a keen hobbyist and passionate about sharing your hobby interests with the gaming community, then Games-Knight could be the place for you! I am looking for 3 gamers to join me here at Games-Knight to form a solid team and give the blog the platform to expand. If you think this is something you can do then please contact me - contactgamesknight@gmail.com. Genuine applicants only please.

Again thank you for taking the time to read this and apologies for the delay in bringing you Games-Knight TV. No one is more frustrated about this than I am. In the mean time please join me this weekend as we look into the world of Dropzone Commander. Take care and keep gaming. Ciaran.