Available at Amazon.com

Expansions for the A Touch of Evil Board Game

I was destined to be a game geek. Back when I was but a wee Stevie, my folks introduced me to board games early. It was a fun and cheap family oriented activity we’d partake in when we could. My folks were big fans of the classics like Monopoly, Clue, Battleship and Trivial Pursuit while occasionally picking up a new “fad game” here and there like The A-Team, Pac-Man and Frogger.

As I got older and found ways of making my own coin, I started buying my own board games, the kinds that caught my interest more than the rest of the clan. These were games with more strategy and story/themes added to them, many of which you fellow board game geeks might recognize. Titles like Risk, The Omega Virus, Dragon Strike, Nightmare, oh yeah… let’s not forget a personal favorite of mine, HeroQuest and its expansion packs. My love of games in general led me to eventually discover RPG’s, which led me to start attending cons, which in turn opened my eyes to a ginormous cornucopia of gaming opportunities! And I dove in head first.

Today, as I sit and type this review before you, I’m a gaming geek in my mid 30’s, a geek who was lucky enough to marry a gal who also enjoys board games and I’ve spawned a single larva that’s already starting to join the ranks of the next generation of gamers. While they don’t quite share my joy of RPG’s, we all still enjoy pulling out the board games for some family fun. My daughter is now in her mid teens and like me, she’s started to enjoy board games that have more story and theme behind them. This made my black heart gush with excitement, for it means I was able to start adding story/theme games to my massive collection of board games again.

My return to the “story game” genre started a year ago at a local convention. I got involved in a zombie apocalypse game called “Last Night on Earth” by Flying Frog Productions. It was well designed, well crafted and was so much fun that I picked up my own set AND its expansion pack “Growing Hunger”. While glaring at all the available board games at the dealer’s booth, I spotted a new game by F.F.P. titled “A Touch of Evil”. Looking over the box, it had all the right ingredients to catch my interest. So I went home with a bunch of expensive games, immediately pleaded for mercy from my wife as I spent way more than I’d planned. Once I was out of the dog house, we all sat down to a game AToE to see how fun it is. To put it in one word… “YEEHAW!”

I won’t go into details about “A Touch of Evil” itself. Billzilla wrote a very good review about this swank game back in March. While I love flapping my digital gums all day, I’m not a fan of beating a dead horse. So please, feel free to check out B.Z.’s review for more details in you haven’t already (click here to read it). No really, go ahead and read it… I’ll wait till you get back, pwomise!

Now, onto the point of this review; two weeks ago I attended to latest local convention. And the same dealer who stung me last year had returned, and he came armed with two expansions for AToE. The large expansion is titled “Something Wicked” while the smaller box is titled “Hero Pack One” (which leads me to believe that more Hero Pack’s are on the way, but I digress.) And of course like the sucker I am, I purchased both without sets without resistance. As Billzilla mentioned, these are pricey games and no one wants to plunk down their hard earned dough on something that’s not worth it. So are these new sets worthy of their costs? Was AToE a fluke, never to be repeated? Let’s light a lantern and crack open this crypt, starting with “Something Wicked”.

First off, the quality craftsmanship of Flying Frog’s previous efforts immediately shines through again. More of the “Colonial America” setting, more heroes (and plastic miniatures for each one), more villains, more quality artwork, more thick glossy laminated cardstock, a greater variety of cards to create even more randomized actions… its all included amigo’s. With all this additional material, the expansion literally doubles the size and scope of the game!

There is also a new board that you place adjacent to the right of the original board (turning your square playing field into a rectangle). This board adds new locations like the Inn, the Monastery, the Bog, the Forgotten Island and the North & South docks to take you to and from said island. Similar to the first board, the road at the lower right goes off the end of the board and includes a note that reads “to the coast”, implying that there will be another large expansion in the future.

One of the best selling points of the expansion set is its new heroes and villains. The four new heroes include a militia captain, a monastery monk, a witch hunter and a monster hunting vampire. Like the main set, they each possess a list of stats and advantages unique to them and have their own story blurbs in the new rulebook. The new villains include The Banshee, The Bog Fiend, The Gargoyle, and my new favorite “The Unspeakable Horror” which is basically a cousin of Cthulhu. And like the original set they all have their own stats, minions to control and unleash upon the heroes and new ways of causing evil mischief.

Other highlights of the set included LOTS of new cards. They include cards for new items (bombs are a new favorite of mine), new locations and new events and mysteries to add onto the decks that came in the original set. The randomizing of these new cards are just as theme heavy and interesting as the originals; some of them are particularly helpful, clever or wicked and add new angles to the game play. There are new features like adding “resolve points” to the Town Elder NPC’s which help them survive longer or become more resistant to the temptations of evil. On the other hand, there is a new secret masked cult called “The Order of the Crimson Hand” who enjoys influencing the elders to work against your party amongst other things.

And speaking of newly added game play, there is a new fourteen page rule booklet included. Within it, you’ll find additional rules to spice up the game play (especially the cooperative game play) and new “Solo Play” rules for those who desire something wicked can’t round anyone up to join in. While my wife remains skeptic while she watched me give the sole play a test run, I found the mechanics worked well and was a lot of fun (although I will admit that its still more fun vanquishing evil with friends.)

Any issues to whine about? I have two worth mentioning, but they’re only minor gripes. The back of the expansion set repeats the first set concerning game time which is slated at 60-120 minutes. Don’t believe it my friends! It takes about fifteen minutes to set the board up and another fifteen to take down afterwards, and my average play time on solo play alone was between three and four hours. This works great if you’re playing at a con since most game time are slotted at these lengths, but if you’re looking for a quick game at home, I don’t see how you’ll find with AToE.

My second gripe are how the inlays are set up. Don’t get me wrong, as far as board game set trays go they are pretty well designed. But in this case, there are so many tokens and pieces to try and place throughout both boxes that it becomes a hassle. However, I found a solution that worked for me via the Hero Pack. And speaking of…

“Hero Pack One” is just that, a pack of new heroes. This box includes four new heroes to choose from (and their miniatures) a new villain and 10 new game cards to add into the various decks. I was concerned at first that these might be the heroes (and villain) that didn’t make the cut for “Something Wicked” and got dumped into this box. I hate sounding so cynical but this seems to happen all the time with expansions (I won’t point fingers, but you game companies know who you are and you know your shame!)

But I’m happier than a tornado in a trailer park to tell you that this was NOT the case! The new heroes are some of the best yet, including a foreign traveler, an inventor, a highwayman called “The Scarlet Shadow” (who’s become one of my favorites) and in a neat twist is the addition of “Lucy Hanbrook”. Lucy had merely been an “ally” when you could pull her card and didn’t offer much help (which was strange to say story wise as she’s the daughter of two of the town elders). But now, she is her own dog and a very capable hero. The new villain in this pack is “The Necromancer” who brings a “dead man’s party” with him wherever he goes. Last but not least is a new booklet that tells the story behind the new heroes & the villain and a list of FAQ’s and clarifications.

NOTE: For the issue of so many tokens taking up space in the large boxes, I found a solution. I took out the inlay from the hero pack, placed the tokens into more organized sets via Ziploc’s and then placed them in the box. Then I took the contents of the Hero Pack and placed them in the “Something Wicked” box where there was plenty of space for them. Perhaps it’s not the best way to deal with this issue, but it works for me.

In the end, I really hoped that something wicked would come this way, and it did! Both sets are worthy additions to an already worthy game. AToE plays like a “lighter” version of the Arkham Horror board game, because unlike Arkham’s sweet expansion sets, AToE doesn’t really evolve the game mechanics or requires you to change the way you think about the villains. This keeps AToE more in line with family game nights and casual players than the die hard types that Arkham Horror and similar games cater too. But if you’re looking to add something wicked with a touch of evil, you’re golden with these expansions.

Review by Steven Dawes

– Available at RPGNow.com

It’s been too long since I took part in Live Action Role-Playing. It was the mid-nineties at Egyptian Campaign in Carbondale, Illinois. The Southern Illinois University’s Student Center was the perfect setting for a session of the Masquerade. There were outdoor and indoor sets.

Hectic Narrators bounced all around in attempt to keep the action controlled. It was a great night, but I’m reasonably sure there wasn’t a story to speak of. Yeah, I recall a handful of werewolves being found dead outside the building. There was also something about the Prince being mad. To be honest, the game was an excuse for the largest number of gamers at the convention to cut loose and have fun. After reading City in the Sand, I have to wonder how much better that night would have been with a story underlying everything. I guess I should say a “good story that people were interested in” underlying everything. City in the Sand takes an interesting bit of cinema’s history and applies a little Vampire bite to it. It’s a wee bit more successful than the Sci Fi Channel’s attempt to do the same thing (minus vampires) with Sands of Oblivion.

White Wolf really can’t get away with lousy layout. When you establish expectations for your projects, you can hardly undercut yourself. Each of the four files within this PDF package are treated to the Vampire: the Requiem layout. Skulls lurk in the corners. Sidebars are fenced in with iron wrought. There is a little bit of blood red fonts scattered throughout the text to get your attention. Fonts are otherwise readable, but not drab. We’ll call it stylish. The graphic artists are keeping with their successful theme. The character sheets for this LARP look really good and are plump with information.

Artwork is a rarity in these files. We see a picture of the monster. There are some graphs, but not much to distract from the details. A picture may be worth a thousand words, but it turns out that several thousand words is still worth more. I didn’t need artwork in this. As it turns out, the creative minds behind this project felt the same way.

What about the writing? If the layout is a given and artwork is a no-show, then everything must bank on the writing. First, let’s talk about what the four files are in this PDF package. The main file is the game itself, a fourteen page set-up to a story about a forgotten Hollywood set. The second file is a nine page primer for new players. Third is thirty-eight pages of character sheets. The fourth and final file is ten pages of reference sheets. Considering that the new player primer and reference sheets may have to be printed multiple times, storytellers may want to charge admission to this game to off-set printing costs. Yep, I’m still seeing no printer friendly options despite all my “helpful” suggestions with my reviews.

I find the story intriguing because it taps upon a time in Hollywood when it was still fascinating. Many of the Kindred feel the same way, ushering in the story. The thirty plus characters in this adventure (a social/mental adventure with next to no physical altercations) are a properly conceived and diverse mix of film makers, lawyers, criminals, veterans, and more. This packet is meaty in its brief span, but sticks to all the parts it requires. Too much story will never be followed by a cast of three much less thirty. Broad strokes. No railroading. No Whammies.

The new player’s primer irks me a little bit because new players may likely be overwhelmed by this intense booklet. I realize that many LARPs take place at conventions (this very PDF was born out of a SoCal GenCon convention). I also realize that, because of this, the Storytellers and Narrators don’t have time to babysit new players. Nobody would want to rehash this information multiple times. The first four pages of the booklet are things the players need to know. There may be a few too many examples of various Tests, but that would basically trim it down to three pages of hard core information. Pages five through nine are full of good information, but I’m not sure it’s required for newbies. Give the new players the younger kindred and let them learn through the game. It’ll stick with them longer that way.

The reference sheets and character sheets are required reading of course. The cheat sheets are handy little guys. The character sheets are split between the cold stats and some personality/background information about the character. I think the materials on these sheets are extremely helpful to players.

This adventure is quite different than what players would get sitting around the table for a typical RPG. I’m a social gamer, which is one reason why I’m inclined to enjoy LARPing. It’s the same theory as Halloween–come as you aren’t. What better way to meet new people than pretend that you’re somebody else? It’s a tried and true method formed in taverns centuries ago.

This social-heavy adventure is laced with a good story and plenty of entertainment for competent Storytellers to keep running for a night’s game. I’m offering these scores to City in the Sand:

Layout: Four out of Five Dice (Vampire’s layout is one of White Wolf’s best, but not its
pinnacle)
Artwork: No Score
Writing: Five out of Five Dice (Good stuff. The new player’s booklet may be guilty of
information overload, but at least it’s interesting information)
Overall: Four out of Five (Great Adventure)

Review by Todd Cash

Available at Amazon.com

In Twilight Creations’ board game Innsmouth Escape, one player takes on the role of the human trying to free her friends and flee from the accursed town infested with frog-like worshipers of Cthulhu, while the rest play the nefarious Deep Ones themselves, intent on keeping their dark secret away from the prying eyes of outsiders.

The board is a simple six-by-six grid. Some of the squares are marked with symbols indicating places to rescue human captives, obtain equipment and have encounters (all for the human player) and to spawn Deep Ones, summon a Shoggoth (more on that later) and draw cards for the Deep One player(s).

The object of the game for the Human player is to spend a full turn with her pawn in a space on either the western of southern edge of the board, while having at least eight victory points in hand. Victory points are gained by rescuing human captives and by holding any of several encounter cards that are worth victory points. The Deep One player(s) win if they kill the lone human.

The Human player moves using a series of three cards chosen from a deck of nine cards. As the cards are used they are set aside, limiting the Human player’s movement options until all nine cards have been used, in which case the deck is reshuffled and the player again has a full slate of movement options. In this case, options are moving one, two or three spaces. Movement is entirely at right angles – like a rook in chess — so changing direction can be tricky and requires planning. I liked this mechanic a lot; the human player often has many options, but finds herself limited from time to time as well. Except for the occasional break to rest and heal, the Human player must keep moving at all cost; once boxed in by Shoggoths, it will be difficult – if not impossible — to escape.

Shoggoths; the Cthulhoid creatures we love to love. Giant masses of protoplasm, Shoggoths are formidable and terrifying foes. In game terms they effectively block a space so the human player cannot pass through them, save with the use of special equipment cards. The Deep One player must summon as many as possible early and use them to restrict the Human player’s movement, potentially even boxing the human into a corner. There is apparently no way for the Human player to kill a Shoggoth, which follows the mythology pretty closely. This tenacity goes a long way toward counteracting the fact that the Deep Ones in Innsmouth Escape die after they attack. Deep One spawning is a critical and ongoing need for the Deep One player. The Deep One players must co-ordinate their efforts closely to have a good chance of winning; wearing the human down works well, but preventing her from moving effectively is better. Using both in concert can be a winning strategy for the foul fish-people.

Designed by Darrell Hardy, Innsmouth Escape is a heavily card-driven game, which is neither a bad thing nor good. What is important is that both sides are subject to the luck of the draw, which can have a powerful impact on the game. Even the best-laid strategy turns sour if the other side has the right cards to counter any moves you make.

Several things come to mind on playing this game. First, it reminds me of the old classic board game Scotland Yard by Ravensberger, and seems weighted towards the human player. I managed to win playing the human despite several blunders, not the least of which was miscalculating my ending space more than once! All in all, Innsmouth Escape is a fun, challenging game. Replay value is solid (particularly for Lovecraft aficionados) and the game is reasonably well balanced. It’s a game for two to five players ages 10 and up, and is playable in 60 to 90 minutes. At a $39.99 suggested retail price, Innsmouth Escape is a bit pricey, but Lovecraft fans will very likely find it well worth the money.

Review by Bill Bodden

Available at Amazon.com

With the runaway popularity of Zombies these days, it isn’t surprising that we’re seeing the shambling undead teamed with nearly every other concept imaginable, from video games to Jane Austen. Even lighthearted zombie treatments are gaining a strong foothold, like Shaun of the Dead, the upcoming film Zombieland starring Woody Harrelson, and, of course, Zombie Mosh from Bucephalus Games.

Zombie Mosh is exactly that, a game about zombies bashing each other apart in a mosh pit. Players select one of six different character cards, then shuffle the Zombie cards and deal four to each player. The dealer then draws two cards and randomly places them in the “damage” row of each player, including himself. Each card has two different results, facing the top and bottom of the card, so orientation of each card matters. The starting player then begins by playing a card, either to damage another zombie or to fend off damage to his own. Each player only has four cards per turn and starts with those two cards of damage, so it’s likely that more than one player will have damage they can’t fend off. Any zombie that has three or more limbs (including heads!) damaged beyond use is out; the winner is the last zombie standing – so to speak. Our gaming group really got into the pounding we were dishing out, even to the point of describing the dance moves we were laying on one another.

The components of Zombie Mosh are of good quality. The cards, damage tokens and character plaques are sturdy and heavily laminated for increased durability. Sadly, the box itself is also heavily laminated, which makes it tough to pull open, particularly if you’re foolish enough to nest the bottom cover inside the lid.

Each zombie card is double-sided, including a “basic” (side A) and ‘advanced’ (side B) face. The advanced side is only different in that one more dot of damage potential is added, and the dots are shuffled around. On side A, for example, each limb (two arms, two legs and the head) has three dots of damage potential for fifteen total points. On side B, some have three, some have four and some have two dots, and in each case the total number of dots is 16. Honestly, if you’re planning on developing an ongoing “campaign game” of Zombie Mosh, you might want to take a long look at the rest of your life and see just what the hell went wrong.

Zombie Mosh is fun. The 15 to 30 minutes playing time is spot on, and probably even six- or seven-year olds could pick up how to play this game in no time – though the game is recommended for ages nine and older. The game requires little luck, very little strategy, but does require the players to enjoy themselves and lighten up a little. What Zombie Mosh is not is a complex strategy game. It does indeed invite repeated playing, but spending too much time analyzing tactics and searching for deeper meaning is a waste of time. And when you’re dancing the night away, time is of the essence. At a $24.99 suggested retail price, Zombie Mosh is perfect, even for those down-on-their-luck hipsters with more time than money.

Review by Bill Bodden

Available at RPGNow.com

All Things Zombie comes from Two Hour Wargames. Wargaming is a very different hobby than role-playing, which I take part in most often. I’ve tried a few games over the years with minis. Some were true wargames like WarZone while others were toned-down versions like Savage Worlds or HeroClix. The deciding factor for these games to win me over was speed of play. I don’t want to check charts constantly when I’m playing a game. A character sheet and perhaps a index card-sized grouping of key rules is more than sufficient. I’ll allow for each player to work with their own screen because some games dictate that.

At the end of the day though, a game system better have something backing it up if it plans on being convoluted. I realize that some people want as much realism as possible in their miniature combat. I’m not writing this review for those people. I’m writing from the other side, the side where realism takes a backseat after a spell. I’ll elaborate more as I continue.

I have to assume that Ed Teixeira was the sole creator of this game as no credits page exists to refute the theory. The layout in the book, which is just under a hundred pages, is straightforward and clear, despite the immense number of graphs scattered throughout. Some of the graphs have uneven black bars, but all are easy to read. There is very little “wrong” with the layout; nevertheless, it fails to inspire. All the fonts are a dull standard font. There are no borders. There is no excitement. This was a textbook read for me.

The cover art enticed me. It reminded me of 80s zombie movie posters I used to see daily when I worked at a movie rental store. It’s a cool close-up of a zombie with the game’s title running along the bottom alongside a landscape of woods and escaping birds. Haunting and cool. The interior “artwork” consists of photos taken of miniatures. Some of these did make me laugh, but I don’t suspect that was the intention. One picture depicted a mini wielding a gun in one hand and a bottle of liquid courage in the other. That’s how I’d fight zombies too! These clear photos are expertly taken, but they remain close-ups of minis. Unless you’re a fan of photos of minis, I can’t imagine anyone being excited about these additions.

We now come to the writing. I mentioned earlier that this reads like a text book. I should point out that my belief is that all game books are essentially text books. Yep, even the setting heavy material qualifies. Game books may and should entertain the reader; however, the paramount goal of the book is always to educate. Education about the setting or system is simply the groundwork to these books. All Things Zombie didn’t entertain me in the least. I couldn’t figure out why someone wanting a RPG wouldn’t go with All Flesh Must Be Eaten; likewise, I had no answer to why Savage Worlds wouldn’t be explored for mini rules. There is a great adventure called Zombie Run that is much more the page turner than this.

Putting entertainment
aside though, how well did the game educate? Teixeira does a decent job of unloading a tremendous amount of game rules. There are still problems. In places, the writing says there will be two reasons for something, but only one is given. Since the book is laid out more like an ashcan than a finished product, it’s also difficult to find your place. I know bookmarks are wonderful little devices, but at a game table a book full of bookmarks is hardly helpful. There are rules like “Larger Than Life” that all but prevents “character” death. If that doesn’t make you feel safe enough, you can always use the “cheating death” rules. Neither of these really matter since most things can’t kill your characters anyway. You can’t be killed by those with a Reputation less than yours. Stars (you) have a reputation of five. Zombies have a reputation of four. What’s the point?

There are eight pages of charts in the back that players will want to print out for this game, this so-called “RPG-Lite” game. I do appreciate the fact that these are combined together for ease, although some of the space on these pages are a type of short-hand index (the book has an index. The charts just needed a smaller one).

All in all, I felt like this is an unfinished product that needs a great deal of further playtesting. I’d only suggest it for gamers who like to tinker with systems. My scores for this game are:

Layout: Two out of Five Dice (Bland)
Artwork: One out of Five Dice (The cool cover gives this one Die)
Writing: One out of Five Dice (A book three times larger than it should be)
Overall: One out of Five Dice (Trim this down, make it exciting, and make me eat my words)

Review by Todd Cash

Available at TwilightCreations.com

Twilight Creations earns the distinction of being the first board game I review. I’ve been familiar with the company since Zombies, moved through When Darkness Comes, and looked forward to their Deadlands release (I didn’t get a chance to play a demo, but I did hover for a little bit while a quartet enjoyed a brief visit to the weird west. Today, I’m reviewing Martians.

Martians is a tile-based board game similar to Zombies. The game is intended for two to six players, ages thirteen and up. I should go ahead and point out that my five-year-old son, a board game enthusiast, wanted to try out this game. After reading the rules and deciding to go with the cooperative version, I told him he could try. Except for reading the cards, he quickly grasped the fundamental concepts of the game. He places little green men and tokens accurately; furthermore, he understood the turn sequence just as well as his dad (who had to sometimes look at the rules). The artwork is probably a bit too intense for some parents, so approach this with caution. I’d personally rather him look at cartoon monsters than the Jonas Brothers (who I find really frightening).

Let’s talk artwork first. Dave Aikins artwork for the cards is perfectly demented.

Gruesome fates meet both Martians and humans on the cards. Some remain a bit neutral. Some of the cards are rather strange. “Four-sided Dice” depicts a dead alien. What killed it? D4s have been chucked into its exposed brain. That card works to prevent Martians from attacking your character. The cards and cover art possess high energy and manage to be somewhat creepy too, such as the card “This is not Happening.”

The artwork for the tiles has improved some since their first release. I personally prefer grids separating all nine segments of the board; however, I may feel differently the more I play this game. The tiles seemed a little too dark. The Crop Circle disks is way too dark. I would have liked more color contrast to make things stand out a little bit better. I did think the cinema marquee was a nice nod to both The X-Files and ET.

Bullets and Hearts return in this game. These are the same as in their other games. As long as they don’t go back to all black pieces for bullets and hearts, we are good. There are 100 Martian pieces that come in three poses. There are six player pieces that come in male and female variants. These little adjustments are a big win when these games can, on occasion, last an insane amount of time.

Writing-wise, I found no typos in either the rules, cards, or tiles. Clear details allowed me to set up the game and play in five minutes. Knowing Zombies didn’t really factor into things as my wife jumped right in too without ever having played their earlier release. The game allows for competitive or cooperative play. When our son played, we opted for cooperative. The game lasted about an hour. In co-op mode, you have to meet the winning criteria (blowing up the mother ship with three separate item disks) before all the Martians are placed on the board. In Competitive mode, you can win by the same means or be accumulating thirty kills. My wife and I played the Competitive mode later that night (it took roughly as long, but game play went
faster).

A fear some may have for this game is that it is too much like Zombies. This fear is remedied by the Martian Deck. You know all the cool things cards let you do to enhance your stats or screw over your opponents. The Martians get them too in this game. Certain tiles have an alien head watermarked into the center of them. When players hit these tiles, the Martians get a card. These cards are horrible, horrible things. For example, “This is Nothing Like the Video Game” forces players to discard down to three hearts and three bullets (In competitive mode, a single player is targeted). The Martian deck is terrible enough in co-op. In competitive, each card threatens to be a killer.

The disks also change the format of the game a little bit by forcing players to go to certain places. The disks are required to win (unless you’re feeling spry enough to off thirty Martians), so you have to traverse the board in order to collect all three types. Also, crop circle and the mother ship disks have to be investigated.

All in all, Martians ranks as my favorite game from GenCon. It demands as much strategy as players want to put into it while being rules friendly enough for a beer and pretzels night. My scores are a little different for a board game, but here goes:

Rules: Five out of Five Dice (Quick to learn/Makes sense)
Artwork: Three out of Five Dice (More color and distinction on the tiles/cards and pawns are good)
Playability: Five out of Five Dice (Engaging play/Creates good table banter)
Overall: Four out of Five Dice (Solid game)

Review by Todd Cash

Aye Dark Overlord! defies precise description. It is at once a board game, card game and has elements of a party game and role-playing games as well. The players take on roles of sniveling servants of the Dark Overlord, a vengeful chap whose patience with his inept followers grows thin…

Players begin by randomly drawing a hand of six cards – three hint and three action cards. One player is selected to play the role of Rigor Mortis; the Dark Overlord of the title. Once the players have their cards in hand, the Dark Overlord addresses one of them by saying something like “So my faithful minions; I ordered you to kidnap the princess. Has this task been accomplished?” The player indicated must then fabricate a brief story – using the elements illustrated on the cards in the player’s hand — explaining why the task was not completed, and in so doing shifting the blame for the failure to one of the other players. The player must also play an Action card – indicating the direction in which the blame shift will move – along with the Hint card. If the effort to pass the buck has been successful, the player ends her turn by drawing a replacement hint card. The new servant under the Dark Overlord’s glaring eye must now come up with a tale of his own, or suffer the Dark Overlord’s wrath!

If at any time the Dark Overlord is unimpressed with the story, or the player is not able to deflect blame, the DO hands the player a Withering Look card. The upside to the Withering Look is that the receiving player discards her hand and draws three new hint and three new action cards. Players can only survive receiving two Withering Look cards; the third means the DO’s patience has run out, and the player’s character has been turned to ash or destroyed in some other painful and unpleasant fashion. The doomed player may beg for mercy at this point by playing an Action card with any symbol except a skull icon in the upper left corner; if the DO feels generous and grants mercy, the doomed player may draw a new action card, and play continues. If not, the player’s character is eliminated and the game ends. Players now count up the Hint cards they’ve played, and the winner is the player who has the most AND did not die at the hands of the Dark Overlord.

Aye, Dark Overlord tends to be a pretty free-form game; it works well with a group that is either familiar with each other, or is comprised of total strangers. There is much opportunity for humor and amateur theatrics here, but group newcomers might feel uncomfortable throwing themselves completely into this game. The game tends to be quick – half an hour or less seems standard. At four to six players, Aye, Dark Overlord! isn’t a tremendously versatile game, and the downside is that one person completely loses due to their character being killed, while the others only mostly lose by not having the most played cards in front of them. This could be a real bummer of an outcome of that one person…

Aye Dark Overlord! has been produced by no less than nine different publishers, including the Italian firm Stratelibri and, most recently, by Fantasy Flight Games. Its lack of overwhelming popularity might be due to the free-form nature of the game, which some die-hard gamers might find difficult to master. At the same time, it’s been in print for a number of years and stubbornly refuses to die, suggesting it’s worth a second look. Aye Dark Overlord! is an amusing game, and for the right crowd it could help foster a memorable evening’s entertainment.

Review by Bill Bodden

Available at Amazon.com

Alara, once a beautiful land mass enriched with all the colors of mana, is now a shattered remnant of its former self. It is now divided into five separate planes, each one lacking in certain mana and overly abundant in others. Each plane takes on defining characteristics from each of its mana sources, making life on the planes a fight for survival.

The five planes are Bant, Esper, Grixis, Jund and Naya. Quickly to describe each plane here is a quick summary of each plane. Bant lacks black and red mana. Its citizens follow justice and a very high standard of nobility. Esper is a plane lacking Red and Green mana. Its plane is filled with tumultuous waters, mages and beautiful Sphinxes said to rule and offer great insight and guidance to those they feel worthy of talking to amongst the plane. Grixis is the dead plane, lacking white and green mana. This planes is filled with the practitioners of death magic. Necromancers, fleshcrafters and vampires all take life from the very plane itself. Jund is the plane which lacks blue and white mana. This is a land of dragons and fire. Jungles and wild denizens rule this plane. Naya lacks blue and black mana. Its citizens include Elves, leonine and many hedonistic humans. If it were not for the giant fearful beasts sometimes worshiped as gods this plane could be a paradise.

The guide itself does a very nice job breaking up the different planes. It gives quick rundowns on all the species you would find there, some brief history as well as each plane wishes to see. It also gives a very good indication of the dangers of traveling to each plane. A traveler can get a good sense of how to understand the culture they find themselves in.

After an overview of all the planes it also gives a well rounded layout of planeswalkers that can be found on each plane. It includes their species, current residence, home, and magic specialties. There is only one plane that does not have a listed resident planeswalker and that is Grixis. It is very clearly stated that Grixis should be a place to travel to study only, and to not make your home their too long. Death and plague rule the land, so it makes sense nobody wishes to live amongst that.

There are no maps included in the guide. That means a planeswalker has to rely on either citizen directions, or their own knowledge of navigation.

On the artistic side, the drawings and pictures offered in the book are amazing. As always Magic the Gathering has done a wonderful job in illustrating their world. There are both color as well as travel sketches of people, artifacts and monsters throughout the book. Many different artists offer a variety of styles and each plane that is depicted has a different feel as well. Each piece flows and offers a wonderful visual aid to help your imagination while reading of faraway lands.

This book a good read for many different reasons. For the geek in all of us, it is a setting for Magic the Gathering. How much geekier can you get then actually portraying dueling planeswalkers in certain lands, narrating your actions, magic and monsters? For those of us that appreciate art there is plenty of visual eye candy. For some of us that just like reading the stories that expand our imagination, roleplaying language or storytelling ability, this is a good reference for inspiration.

Some of the drawbacks are that the basic information about the mana in each plane is very hard to find. I had to flip around the book to find it. There are also no maps, not even one for how Alara is layed out. That can get kind of confusing when you think about how planeswalkers would travel around, which is one thing I questioned. Then again I am not a planeswalker, so that information may not be privy to me anyway.

The breakdown of the book, information within each chapter, and the visual aids all in this book make it definitely something worth checking out. It added more to my plain dueling decks I bought in this setting then just epic Angel vs. Demons battling it out. It gives meaning to many of the flavor texts, art and overall concepts to the deck. Another addition to this book would be the planes based decks, such as Bant on the March and Grixis Shambling Army.

Review by Crystal Mazur

It’s difficult to imagine the miniatures world without Privateer Press in it, yet this company has been in existence for less than seven years. With their breakout hit Monsterpocalypse and their solid Warmachine and Hordes skirmish-level combat lines, Privateer Press is well-situated to be a force in the industry for years to come.

The Warmachine and Hordes product lines mesh well with dark fantasy, as they have a number of factions tailor-made for people of such inclinations. A perfect example is the Gorax, a light warbeast from the Circle Orboros faction in Hordes. The Gorax, looking very troll-like – or even like an Oni from Oriental mythology – strains at the chain that holds him to a large boulder. The pose is interesting and well-executed, and the figure’s rippling musculature and tufts of scraggly hair combine to give this model a ton of character. At a $17 MSRP, this model is a smidge pricey, but a first-class sculpt never the less.

Two factions in particular caught my eye amongst the Warmachine product line: Cryx, the faction of industrial zombies, and Mercenaries. From the Cryx faction we have two representatives: a Pistol Wraith and Revenant Pirates. The Pistol Wraith is an independent model, and this pose shows the fearsome creature firing one pistol with the other held in reserve. For my money, this is a beautiful sculpt – well-proportioned and animated – you can almost feel the wind that’s making its scarf and cloak billow. The pose itself is nothing special, but the level of detail lavished on this figure is stunning. One small complaint: the head of this model seems a bit small for the body. At $8, this fellow seems a bit on the pricey side, but only a little.

The Revenant Pirates are very handsome figures. Created by the half mechanic, half necromancer Cryx necrotecs, these undead sailors crew the notorious blackships. The models I received had separate arms and heads, but no spares. This allows for a modest amount of creativity in personalizing the models by switching around heads and arms, but an extra arm or head thrown in would be nice to allow for more variety. Their swords are huge compared to their bodies – a popular design choice these days, but to me they look out of place. $10 for two is a pretty reasonable price for these guys.

Lastly we have the Mercenaries faction, represented by the Risen. Based on characters from the original Iron Kingdoms setting book and adventures, these undead served the teen-aged necromancer Alexia Ciannor in her quest for revenge. The Privateer sculptors have a true flair for undead, and these boys are no exception. The pack I received included three models, all unarmed, all wearing ragged clothing with bits and pieces of armor. The poses look natural if not too dynamic, and at a $10 MSRP for three figures, the Risen pack is the best deal among those packs I received.

Privateer is clearly doing things right; they have a devoted and growing following, and their models are first-rate quality. In the future I would love to see them give more credit to their sculptors; With Privateer Chief Creative Officer Matt Wilson as a name artist in the industry himself, I would think he’d be more keenly aware of the power of name marketing. While they do credit their sculptors in their bi-monthly magazine No Quarter, having something on the package itself might be more direct.Privateer’s sculptors are good enough that it’s worth noting who they are in order to buy more of their work. Privateer’s products are worth noting too; they bring solid craftsmanship and fun, well-designed games to the table.

Visit www.privateerpress.com for more information.

Bill Bodden