Big News For Wizard World St. Louis | David Tennant & Billie Piper

Some of you may have heard of a little show called Dr. Who. If not it's great and I have been a recent convert into the "Whovian" nation thanks in large part to this man, David Tennant. The big news is that both David Tennant and Billie Piper will be special guests here April 2016 at Wizard World St. Louis!

Not many shows have drawn me in as hard and as fast as Dr. Who has. I found myself leaning on my Instagram friends when I caught myself crying when the Doctor lost Rose. Or when the 10th Dr said "I don't want to go" heavens sake its been a tear jerker. Also, I want to thank all my InstaFriends who helped me get through those episodes! lol So needless to say I am really excited to meet David Tennant but even more excited to meet Billie Piper. My wife loves her some Daryl Dixon from the Walking Dead for me its Rose Tyler dear goodness she is not ugly!

Are you planning to go to next years Wizard World St. Louis to meet David or Billie?

If so let us know!

We will make sure to keep you up to date if we hear more out of Wizard World St. Louis!

Well Hello Nerds!

What's going on everybody it's me Joe, thee.social.nerd from Instagram or you can find me on the tweet machine @iamjoebrooks 

Some of you are prolly wondering where in the hell have you all been? I was literally asked that question and its a very good question! Still been nerdy just busy with life. But as the year is coming to an end and 2016 looming around the corner, seriously its almost 2016 already, we will be bringing you what you are used to seeing! Reviews, News, Trailers, Gaming... all the same! 

Ryan has been creating some great games like Pillow Fighter for the awesome company Throwboy! Plus developing other projects that I'm sure he will be telling us about!

Levi has been working on his very own card game, Creepiest Pet Shop, which is only a couple hundred dollars away from a successful KickStarter Campaign! Click here to check out and support the Creepiest Pet Shop!

Lorne turned the big 3-0 and has had to remodel his room to accommodate all of his Funko POP! figures! On top of that this guy got to spend a week in Hawaii to celebrate his birthday!

As for myself you know I've been watching the Walking Dead, Netflix and of course going to the movie theater. Also, I've had some retro game finds that i'll post about that I was stoked to pickup. The Mrs. and I also returned to Jamaica to celebrate the union of my sister-in-law and her husband where you know I had to take Jason David Frank along with me! I also ran into a fellow nerd Dustin, that will help contribute to the site with a few posts. So be on the lookout for that and definitely show him some love!

So now that you all are caught up on our lives I hope you all have a great day and we will see you soon!

Pass The Buck | Kickstarter

I had the amazing opportunity to check out Pass The Buck and let me tell you I had the time of my life! Pass The Buck is really simple, fun and interactive. It was only a matter of seconds before we were all laughing and Passing off our tasks to one another. 

Pass The Buck is a light game good for casual gamers or hard core gamers looking for a break and something fresh. The best thing about Pass The Buck is that it mimics corporate life to a T! Its super fun trying to get your friends to complete your tasks while trying to throw them off about the departments your in. 

The kickstarter is only 350$ away from being funded. The crazy thing is you can get Pass The Buck for only 15$ no I'm not kidding you! It is time you had this game in your life! Check out the kickstater now and back this game! 

The Angry Birds Movie | Trailer

Avengers Age of Ultron | Funko POP Review

Hello all you Funko Fanatics! Lorne here to bring you another review on your favorite collectible since the Beanie Baby………. Except these are more awesome. Today we’re reviewing the Avengers: Age of Ultron pop vinyls. I’m an absolutely HUGE Marvel lover. I’ve been Team Iron Man for as long as I can remember, so you can imagine how quickly I was brought back to my nerdy side, and childhood for that matter, when they started making Marvel movies. Avengers: AOU is definitely my favorite of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to date. I’m sure there will be naysayers to that, but we aren’t here to debate movies, we’re here to talk about these awesome Pops!

Hopefully, if you’re anything like me, you have the entire set by now, including the Hulk Buster. If you don’t have the Hulk Buster from the Marvel Collector Corps, sign up ASAP and get him into the collection! The details on the Avengers are amazing. I feel Funko is starting to out-do themselves in the details. From the pictures you might not be able to tell much, but if you own them, go take a closer look. One detail I really enjoyed a lot, that I think must’ve taken some time to design, is Visions Cape. If you catch a close up look of it, it almost likes like a circuit board from a computer. I liked that effect considering how he’s an android. They definitely played into the details on this one. Even the standards, such as not forgetting Captain America’s Shield, Hawkeye’s bow and of course, Mjolnir (Thor’s Hammer). Since I’ve been an Iron Man fan for many years, I’m a bit biased to think they showed him a little more attention. They didn’t just give him closed fights and a pose. Funko gave him FLIGHT! Very awesome addition to the figure itself.

Now who wants to start complaining with me? Anyone else a bit perturbed it took months to see the ladies of The Avengers get their own Pops! It felt like it took forever. I wanted the whole lineup! Luckily, we got them. Black widow wielding her batons and Scarlet Witch (no telekinetic powers included).  All the Avengers outfits are movie accurate in my eyes, even being stripped down to the minimalist details. I couldn’t be more excited how these came out.

Here’s one issue…………. WHERE IS QUIKSILVER?!?! Yes, if you collect and have been waiting, you can stop holding your breath. Quiksilver will NOT be made into a pop. If you’ve been wondering why, let me tell you this…… there is no answer as to why. Funko confirmed on their Twitter account they aren’t making one for him. WHY?! If someone has knowledge that Funko is messing with us, please let Living The Nerd Life know about this!!! There’s no reason behind it. Is it because he’s the only Avenger killed off currently? Maybe in the MCU, Quiksilver will be brought back to life with the power of the Infinity Stones and he’ll get a Pop 4 years from now? Either way, Funko, this is the first time I can say you’ve let your fans down!

Aside from the negative, all things considered, the Marvel Avengers: Age of Ultron Funkos are well worth the addition to your collection. Don’t forget the movie is already out on Digital HD. It will be available on Blu Ray and DVD October 2nd. Pre-order so you don’t miss out!

Campaign Trail Review | Kickstarter

Cosmic Wombat games has grown to become one of my favorite small publishers this year. After getting a chance to play Stones of Fate and Expedite they gained my interest as a maker of solid strategy games that require a bit of intelligence to play. Their newest game, Campaign Trail, looks to continue their trend of creating easy to learn games with surprising depth of strategy. Let's see if they succeed yet again in this review!

In Campaign Trail you and up to 5 other players take on the roles of Presidential hopefuls in a battle to win the most electoral votes up for grabs in a highly competitive race. The game has an interesting team concept that depends on the amount of players. The winning strategies can vary wildly based on how players are grouped. For instance in a 2 or 3 player game players take on the roles of Presidential candidates in the Democratic, Independant, or Republican parties and the game play is a fairly straightforward campaign where there is no teamwork involved and players are free to tackle whatever concern presses them at that moment. In higher player counts, however, a Vice Presidential candidate is added to the teams, a change that requires a lot more open communication of strategy and adds a way deeper level to the game where there are fewer surprises to steal electoral votes away and decisions need to be much more shrewd and calculated to be successful.

What’s surprising is how well this type of play scales. There is never a party that has too much of an advantage over another at any of these player counts, which is very unusual. In fact in many of the playthroughs the Independent Party, a party that is put at a serious disadvantage in many other political games, managed to secure the election.

This is a testament to what I feel is the games strongest feature, balance. It is very rare that I ever get to play a perfectly balanced game, especially from a kickstarter project. In each playthrough every game was a very closely contested race with many changes in the lead. There was not a single moment where anyone felt left out and if someone seemed like they were running away with the lead they would quickly learn just how simply that lead could be taken away by a smart move in a key state. Just about every game we played was decided by a tense and hard fought last turn that had everyone at the table excited by the outcome, win or lose. Moments like this are a stunning success in game design and show how much hard work went into making this game not only a good time to play but an excellent experience that can be the source of lively discussion even after all the pieces are cleaned up.

The gameplay of Campaign Trail was also surprisingly easy to learn. Most times I need to read through a rulebook at least twice to fully internalize everything that’s going on so that I can teach it to others. This game just needed one go through to get it all down. Everything was organized very clearly and concisely in a simple to read manual along with a nice reference guide for all of the special abilities in the game. For a game with this much complexity that is no small feat and is another feather in the cap for this game.

There are a few mechanics at work in this game that make it gel very nicely and recreate the feel of a heated political race. The first is a standard of most election based games and that is a territory control aspect. To win a state for your party you need to have a majority of registered voters, represented by colored cubes, in the states you wish to win. These voters can be placed in a wide variety of ways, which brings us to the excellent action selection mechanic at work in Campaign Trail.

The method of taking actions in Campaign Trail are an interesting mixture of luck and strategy. Each turn players will draw a hand of up to five cards. Each card has a wide variety of uses and making good use of them is critical to winning the election. Cards can be used to Travel to different states, Gain more money for your war chest, Register Voters, Advertise, Campaign, or perform special effects that can potentially have lasting effects on the game. Despite a card having a variety of all of these choices on them a candidate can only choose one action to use and discard that card, never to be used again. This results in a lot of agonizing decisions since at any given moment there are multiple needs that need to be taken care of. It requires a good deal of thought to figure out what you need to do each turn in the short term to put you in good position for a victory.

The final mechanic that I also really enjoy in this game is the asymmetrical play aspect it provides. Each player gets to choose a candidate card that gives them a special strength or weakness that they can use in the game. You may end up with a Master Orator that can sway the masses in a debate, a member of a wealthy and powerful family with endless finances, or an honest candidate with no skeletons in the closet that can’t have her character assaulted but in turn can not run smear campaigns on her competitors. Each of these cards add another layer of depth and will give you strong advantages that will guide you towards an ideal avenue of victory in a game. This is very important since it is easy to spread yourself thin across all of the possible methods to win a game instead of focusing on a few methods that work well for you. The designer also made these candidate cards double sided to represent both male and female candidates. This keeps the game inclusive to males and females alike which is something that I would like to see more of in the gaming community and in politics.

The components in this game are hard to judge based on the preview copy that I received. However judging by the good quality of their prototype and the company’s commitment to making a tight well made game lead me to believe that they are not going to cheap out on this aspect of game design. I am confident that the final product will be made of good sturdy materials that will hold up to many plays. Further contact with the publishers have confirmed this. I have also been assured by them that they will have some exciting stretch goals to include some unique components that will improve the already high game quality even further.

The game board looks very sharp. It is pretty large and allows you to see each state clearly and gives you enough room to stack up all of your voters without obstructing any key information. All of the text is very clear and easy to read from any part of the table. All of these things are good and standard for a board game but what Cosmic Wombat does that is not standard board game fare really makes this game cool.

The four piece, gigantic sliding scoring track does an amazing job of immersing players into the theme of Campaign Trail. Each party has a grooved row on the scoring track that they can place cardboard chits representing the number of electoral votes for each state snugly into this track when they are acquired. These chits are easy to move and switch between players so that gameplay can remain fast paced and not bogged down by having to keep constant track of numbers. The person with the longest score track is obviously in the lead and it is very easy to determine which states you will want to take from your opponents to cripple them the most. This is by far my favorite component in this game. It is attractive, useful, convenient, and really makes you feel like you are a part of a political rally watching the ticker on a giant screen reporting results to you as you await the reporting of all the districts votes. 

Another cool part of the board is the War Chest Dial Mat. This part of the board allows players to track their finances by using an easy to turn two tiered dial system. Instead of bogging down play by having to keep track of a lot of fake money, possibly between multiple people, everyone can clearly see what funds are available to all players. It only requires a simple twist of the dial to add or remove funds and since everyone can see what’s going on the potential of having a cheating banker is strongly diminished.

The theme of this game is probably Campaign Trails only possible drawback. Playing a game with a political theme can be a scary proposition. Many people like to steer away from political discussion with friends and family mainly because of the potential for arguments. However this game does an excellent job of staying away from controversy where it can and does a great job at softening the blow of things that could stir up controversy.

For instance, even though all players are representing real United States political parties there is absolutely no reference to their stance on issues. States are marked with different icons representing topics that are important to them, while many of them are very controversial such as gun control, immigration, and reproductive rights, not once during the game does anyone have to take a stance on them. You merely have to state that you are “advertising” or “debating” about the issue, nothing more. This helps to deflect tension away from the subject and keep the focus on the game and the competition to get the most votes. Not on the issues.

Depending on your reasons for playing this game I would caution against playing this with people who are quick to anger about even the slightest mention of political views. Try to remind people that this is just a game and that it has no impact on real life and you will have a great time. You may even find yourselves chuckling a bit if the Independants manage to win win Texas and California or the Republicans win the entire North East, that’s when you learn that the game is about having fun, not being an election simulator.

This game will launch on Kickstarter in mid September with a goal of $37,500, a reasonable expectation for a game of this size. The minimum pledge tier to get a copy of this game will be at $49 which is a pretty good deal for what you get. This game is expected to retail for $65 so I would suggest backing this product as opposed to waiting for it to potentially arrive in stores.

There will also be some enticing premium pledge tiers for those looking to get a little more out of their game. Cosmic Wombat is offering a $75 pledge level to not only get a copy of Campaign Trail but also a copy of their last game, Stones of Fate. I purchased a copy of Stones of Fate at Gen Con this year and can personally attest to it’s greatness as a quick, clever, and fun strategy game. This is a solid reward tier if you are interested in seeing what else this great young company has to offer.

They will also have some interesting tiers that will allow you to personalize the game. For $64 dollars you will be able to get the name of your own Super PAC printed on a card. If you are interested in seeing “Paid for by Citizens United for the Protection and Domestication of Interstellar Marsupials” in a board game, this is your chance.

For $125 you can create one of the candidate cards. Your idea for a name and backstory as well as an artists depiction of the candidate’s appearance will be put into the game for all to see.

I wholeheartedly recommend backing this game when it comes to Kickstarter in September! The game is great fun to play for people who enjoy highly competitive games where everyone has a chance to win. It is tremendously easy to learn since most people have at least some idea of how the election process works. The theme may seem a bit dry at first and it may cause people to balk at playing this but once play begins the game really shines and is easy to get wrapped up in. The price point is fair and is definitely worth it for acquiring an excellent game that has a lot of replay value.

To back this project on Kickstarter go to: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cosmicwombatgames/441255236?token=64c2d5d7

Thank you very much for reading this review! For more board game reviews, previews, and news follow Living The Nerd Life on all of your favorite social media services!

Also be sure to follow me on twitter @levithepirate.

Caveat: All images in this review are from a preproduction review copy of Campaign Trail and are not indicative of final production values. This copy was provided free of charge to the reviewer in exchange for an honest and unbiased review of the game. No financial recompense was offered or accepted in exchange for positive or negative reviews.

The Walking Dead Season 6: New Looks At Rick Grimes & Company

From ComicBook.com

Rick Grimes seems to be thinking about season 6 of The Walking Dead as much as the rest of us.

In new photos from season 6, Rick can be seen on his front porch in the Alexandria Safe-Zone, deep in thought about something. Perhaps Pete's execution? Perhaps Morgan's reaction? It could be any number of things.

Also featured are Michonne and her katana, Daryl and his bike, and Carol whipping up some weapons in the kitchen. Check them out in the gallery below.

We'll find out more about whatever is on Rick's mind when The Walking Dead returns October 11 at 9 PM EST on AMC.

Pixel Pop Saturday Panels

Building a Game Studio | Butterscotch

Promoting the indie market through Twitch Broadcasting

Making Music for Games

Reviewing games for fun and profit

Reviewing games for fun and profit was recorded by Tritemare make sure to check him out and give him a follow!

Netflix || What's in My List?

What's going on everyone, Joe here and I thought I would try a little something different with this post. My idea? Share with you what's in My List on Netflix! This list is going to be in the order as found on my Netflix account, they are in no particular order. So here we go! 

The 1st 5 items on my list are the League, the Interview, AHS, Arrow and Daredevil!!! Good start right?

Here I started to mix some things up and included a couple of movies I actually used to own on VHS. But Joe, what is VHS? Well young one it stands for Vertical Helical Scan and used to be the standard for movie buyers, renters and owners! Be kind rewind. Also, there are only 2 movies in this section so you should be able to find out which ones those are! :)

Some more good'ns here! The Dude, Archer and one of my new favorite shows... Comic-Book Men!

I may actually need to clear some of this stuff off the list here... lol Haunted House 2 is no where near as good as the first... I'm just saying.

Favorite one from this group is RED vs BLUE!!!

One word... SUPERNATURAL the wifey and I are on a huge Supernatural kick right now. Dare I say we want to find a Supernatural conventions!

Another stellar group here... I have been actively catching up on Dr. Who along with Supernatural from the last section. Then World War Z, Rescue Me, Underworld and Leprechaun Back 2 The Hood?? Front runner for top 5 section here so far!

BATMAN nuff said!

Another Leprechaun appearance here plus Jay and Silent Bod Strike Back

BATMAN!!! Even tho its Clooney Batman its still Batman! Plus if you have ever been looking for a LARPing movie give Knights of Badassdom! Oh and just look at the cover for Jedi Junkies, you can't be mad about that.

So... what do you think of the shows and movies on my list? 

Whats on your list? 

Do you have any suggestions some something for me to watch? Let me know!

Find me on twitter @iamjoebrooks

Pixel Pop Festival | Sep 12-13

Pixel pop festival is finally here and we are crazy excited to be covering it all week end and hosting a panel on Content Creation Sunday at 3PM

Lots of our good friends are going to be at panels and showing there games of this week end here are a few of them!

Bloxels

Hive Jump

Flip Hue

Cards and Castles

Ninjevade

Master Spy

Feesh

Pass The Buck

Smuggle Craft

Super Push Adventure

For a full list of over 35 games going to be there this weekend go here!

If you can't make it this weekend no worries! we are going to be covering everything we can on twitter live and then will be posting a ton of panels from this week end on our youtube change next week!

GemPacked! Cards | Kickstarter

One of my biggest gaming surprises this year has been from Edo Baraf’s newest game, GemPacked cards. At first glance I thought the game was a cute looking app like game, something along the lines of bejewled or candy crush, a bit basic and uninteresting, a game that I would almost instantly lose interest in. I was so very wrong about that.

The game of GemPacked deceives you into thinking it is more simple than it really is. This is how it draws you into it’s lair and puts you under its charm spell. What you find when you get into playing the game is that there is a challenging, competitive, and fun mental exercise that you can enjoy with your friends! 

When you play GemPacked your mission is to end the game with the highest value of Geminos. You will start each turn by acquiring two valueless pips of various colors. During the game you will be trading these pips in for squares and diamonds that are worth more points depending on what combinations are used. The trick is being able to judiciously choose which cards to trade for off the board in order to make great combinations and create more points.

There is not a whole lot of interaction between players in this game. Mostly you will be focused on what combinations you can put your Geminos in to get the highest supply of points. The exception to this is in the rocket and action cards.

Each game will have a small set of rocket cards that are very high in value. To gain these cards players have to spend the exact combination of Geminos shown on the rocket to gain them. If you are a highly competitive player like me you will be keeping an eye on your competitors to make sure they don't get the cards they need to complete these objectives and gain them for yourself.

The game also has some fun action cards that help shake the game up a bit. The Chomet card can destroy and replace the cards around it often laying waste to all your plans and forcing you to adapt to all the new options it lays in its trail of destruction.

Asteroid cards also come along from time to time sprinkling extra Gemino pips upon other players. These cards really help ramp up the game where there is a potential for staleness and gives a swift kick in the pants to the in game economy.

One other interesting tidbit is that Gem Packed is also available as an app version that has been released concurrently with its kickstarter launch. It is currently only available on IOS and as a droid user I have yet to have an opportunity to try the app version of this game but I'm sure that it could give you a glimpse at how well you might enjoy the tabletop version of this game.

The game plays well with both older and younger players and the game balances nicely to allow everyone a chance to win. It can also double as a great learning lesson to teach children the color wheel and a bit of basic math.

The math bit can be a double edged sword though. Even though trading things in and constantly upgrading can be a fun activity some players felt like the game was just doing the same bit of "color math" over and over. As a teacher of this game it falls on you to inject some theme and story into this game of collecting cute little gem people and potentially sending them off into space. Since the game has stellar graphic design and artwork but prefers to leave it's gameplay in abstraction this can be a difficult thing to explain.

The game could also benefit from offering some player aids. There was a good deal of rulebook passing as we all needed to study the conversion chart for certain Geminos. This process created a bit of a slowdown in a game that shines best when play is quick.

GemPacked cards is currently seeking funding on kickstarter and is moving along at a nice pace, sitting at 25% nearly a week into its campaign. The $25 dollar price tag is a bit close to what this would retail for in stores but I think it is still a very fair price tag and is worth backing to see this on store shelves. I think this game would thrive excellently in a retail environment but it needs a push from people like you and I to get it there.

I recommend backing this game. The charming artwork, quick play time, and simple yet challenging mechanisms click together well to form a great game that you can play if you want to idly kill a small amount of free time. It's cute theme will work well to introduce new and young gamers to tabletop gaming and it's small size aids in making this an ideal game to travel with for play in restaurants, flights, and hotels.

The kickstarter page can be found at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ebaraf/gempacked-cards/description

Thank you very much for reading this review! For more board game reviews, previews, and news follow Living The Nerd Life on all of your favorite social media services!

Also be sure to follow me on twitter @levithepirate.

Caveat: All images in this review are from a preproduction review copy of GemPacked cards! and are not indicative of final production values. This copy was provided free of charge to the reviewer in exchange for an honest and unbiased review of the game. No financial recompense was offered or accepted in exchange for positive or negative reviews.

Feesh | Now on Steam Greenlight

Feesh is a minimalist arcade game where you play as a tiny microorganism that resembles a fish. The mechanic is simple; eat smaller feesh to get bigger, and avoid being eaten by bigger Feesh. Survive long enough, and you'll evolve! But try not to get naturally selected.

I first played Feesh almost a year ago. It was easily one of my favorite games at last years PixelPop Festival. I was quickly drawled in by its fun multiplayer and beautiful illustration style. As me and my friend kept eating and growing we had begun the race of evolution! Cant not wait to play this again at PixelPop Festival in just a few weeks make sure to come check it out and give it an upvote on Steam Greenlight!

Make sure to follow the creator of Feesh TJ! on twitter @_Teejay5

Gen Con 2015 Part 4

Welcome back, Nerd Lifers, for the final installment of the Gen Con wrap up. There are a few more hot games from this years convention yet to look at. 

Wyrd Miniatures

Wyrd Miniatures set up some amazing displays featuring their Malifaux and Warmachine/Hordes miniatures. I am a huge fan of their giant statue of the Whiskey Golem, a fixture that has become a big draw to their booth.

Boss Monster 2

The makers of Boss Monster 2 used a cool new display to promote the sequel to last years smash hit, Boss Monster! This standalone expansion adds more ways to mess with your competitors in a game that was beginning to grow stale due to it’s lack of player involvement. A strong improvement to a very good card game!

Rattlebones

I finally got a chance to try Rio Grande’s novel roll and move game, Rattlebones. This game had very little interest for me going into it due to my dislike of roll and move games. The dice components with changeable faces seemed a bit too gimmicky to me going into playing this. I could not have been more wrong. The ability to modify your dice in this game with all kinds of different abilities added a surprising amount of strategy to a game where you basically move around in a circle and hope to land on spots that gain you points. I probably wouldn’t purchase this but it is absolutely worth playing this charming game once or twice!

Legendary Encounters: Predator

Upper Deck went all out and made an amazing jungle base of operations to celebrate the launch of their newest addition to the Legendary: Encounters game system Predator. This game has remarkable versatility. The game can play through the 1st or second movie story lines as the humans against the predators or you can turn the tables and play as the predators against the humans. If you own Legendary Encounters: Alien you can combine that with this game. When you do that options of playing as humans vs Predators and Aliens or Predators vs Aliens becomes available. No other game gives you that kind of versatility that actually works out to be a great game. One of my favorites!

Stone of Fate

Another big surprise from the convention was Stones of Fate from Cosmic Wombat games. This game won a game of the year award from the smart people over at Mensa this year and it makes sense why. This game is simple to learn but requires a good deal of brain power and strategy to play well. In this game you will have a face down tableau of tarot cards of various point values and victory conditions. You have to use your memory to play your stones of fate in the right positions on these cards in order to win the game. I was not expecting to like this game as much as I did before idly trying out while waiting for another game but it blew me away and became an insta-buy for me.

Campaign Trail

Campaign Trail, another game from my new favorite small publisher, Cosmic Wombat games, was another surprisingly enjoyable game. I’m usually not a big fan of cube pushing games with dry themes but the amazing balance and quick play of this game strongly appealed to me. Don’t turn your back on this game due to the dry theme. Never have I played a game that offered so much different strategy and methods of play in such a simple to learn game. I only had to read the manual once and I was ready to plunge into this deep game. The balance in this game is an amazing achievement by the designers! Each game had several lead changes and stayed very close between all players and each victory was achieved narrowly and by a brilliant play. I anxiously await the arrival of Campaign Trail on kickstarter and I will be releasing a full review of it along with a gameplay video soon!

Takenoko: Chibis

Asmodee released an expansion to one of their most popular games, Takenoko, at Gen Con this year! As a huge fan of the original I absolutely had to have it. This expansion adds a female panda that can mate with the panda from the existing game which creates all kinds of baby pandas which brings mass pandamonium to this fun casual game.  Takenoko: Chibis adds a few more tiles to the game. Some of which are a tile that can grow all three colors of bamboo, a new water feature that can help make irrigating your garden much easier, as well as a cabin for your poor overworked farmer. This expansion adds just enough to keep the game accessible to new players as well as add some new mechanics to freshen up the game for veteran players.

THE HAUL!

I can’t finish the Gen Con wrap up without showing off my haul from the convention! Yes that’s Mall Madness on the bottom, don’t judge.

I hope you enjoyed learning about the cool new games that were on display at the convention this year and I can’t wait to release some in depth reviews of some of them so you can get a better idea of whether or not they are right for you!

Gen Con 2015 Part 3

Welcome back, Nerd Lifers, for the final installment of the Gen Con wrap up. There are a few more hot games from this years convention yet to look at. We will start with one of the games with the biggest hype going into the weekend.

Flick Em Up

Flick Em Up had some of the largest hype going into the convention. Blending the dexterity challenge of Rampage with a fun wild west theme and an engaging story mode Flick Em Up will delight casual gamers along with the more serious crowd looking for a dexterity game with a bit more substance. The $70 price tag is a bit hefty for a game of this type but when you factor in the large amount of wood that comes with this game it is a pretty fair deal.

Mysterium

Mysterium, the paranormal mystery game, finally got it’s United States release at Gen Con this year. Sporting updated artwork of a more cartoony variety, an added screen for the ghost player, upgraded components, and a new psychic points mechanic rewarding better guess work had people racing to Asmodee Games booth each day of the convention to score one of the 100 copies they were selling each day. Having played the original Polish version this year I can attest that this is a game that is well worth all of the hype surrounding it and I cannot wait to have a copy of my own come October of this year!

Arcadia Quest

I finally got a chance to play Cool Mini or Not’s arena style dungeon crawler battle game, Arcadia Quest this year! I was absolutely enchanted by the depth of play this game offered! A wide variety of playable characters each with their own unique skills, beautiful high quality miniatures, a wide variety of avenues for victory, and the unique blend of cooperative and competitive play got this game up to the top of the list of games that I want to buy despite having a terribly awkward and distractable teacher demoing the game! It’s high MSRP of $90 will have me checking out my lovely FLGS Miniature Market for a discount copy!

Strife

Strife was one of the few games that I had almost no knowledge of going into the convention. The demo that I played was a very solid game that I enjoyed quite a bit. Strife gives each player an identical deck of cards filled with fantasy characters or varying strength and powers that you can use to conquer locations on a shared board. The winner is the player that can strategize the powers of these characters the best and outwit their opponents in a quick and clever battle of wits. A good choice for a two player game while you wait for the rest of your D&D buddies to arrive for a night of gaming!

Secrets of the Lost Tomb

By far my favorite game of the convention was a complete surprise to me. Secrets of the Lost Tomb was a kickstarter success that somehow flew under my radar this year and popped up to become one of my most anticipated games! This game takes what could be a great Indiana Jones story and adds a creepy H.P. Lovecraft theme to it. The theme enough was enough to get me excited but after playing the demo and finding that it had inspirations from some of my favorite games like Betrayal at House on the Hill, Arkham Horror, and story driven dungeon crawlers like Descent made this game an insta buy for me!

Ashes: Rise of The Pheonixborn

Plaid Hats big release this year was Ashes: Rise of The Pheonixborn. It has been a smash success and lots of people have really enjoyed it’s similarity to games like Magic and Hearthstone with the inclusion of a unique dice based resource mechanic. I found the gameplay to be a little underwhelming. The play of the game really only replicated the first few turns of the aforementioned games and each play seemed to escalate very slowly without any of the amazing payoffs that you get from those games in the later rounds. As always Fernanda Suarez’s artwork is absolutely stunning and it’s nice to see her get a permanent position in the ranks of Plaid Hat Games, it just isn’t enough to make this game exciting enough for me to suggest very highly. A disappointing step backwards for a company that had an incredible streak of fantastic games.

Discoveries: The Journals of Lewis and Clark

Asmodee’s other big hit this year was with Discoveries, a new dice based version of their popular Lewis and Clark game. This game was introduced to me at the Secret Cabal Meet Up on Saturday night and it was a great deal of fun! Luckily they got a resupply of the game in after selling out so I could get my hands on it. The game has you taking on the role of a member of the expedition to explore the Louisiana Purchase. You will have to roll dice and wisely spend resources to hire Native American guides both friendly and malicious to help guide you through the wilderness as you chart and chronicle the vast new addition to this country. Gameplay was fast, strategic, fun and had a great deal of beautiful artwork that really brought the theme to life!

The Village Crone

Another favorite of mine this year was the Village Crone from Fireside games. This game has players take on the roles of different witches trying to gain control of a small village by using their familiars to acquire the components needed to cast spells that bedevil and pester the poor villagers of Wickersby in a race to become the most feared and respected witch. This game has a lot of deep strategy coupled with a good dose of mayhem as all of the players recite silly spells to further their own agendas while throwing cogs in the plans of their competitors. Great fun!!!

Nathan Fillion the next Booster Gold?

From ComicBook.com

Nathan Fillion is no stranger to the superhero universe. Fillion has voiced Green Lantern in multiple DC Comics animated features, and he played a monstrous inmate in Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy.

While appearing at Wizard World Comic Con Chicago, Fillion was asked who he would play if he could have his pick of any character from the Marvel or DC universe.

“I think I could take a pretty good crack at Booster Gold,” said Fillion. “That’s kind of my niche… show-offy, vain. I think I could handle that… not too bright.”

However, if Booster Gold doesn’t work out, Fillion also offered up a couple of alternatives.

“I think Ambush Bug. Remember that guy? Little bit off his rocker. You’d never see my face,” added Filion. “But I think Greatest American Hero is due for a reboot.”

PODCAST: Gamers On The Go #34 | Super Smash Bros for 3DS

Gamers on the Go platinum member, Matt Giguere returns to talk about the newest big Nintendo title on the 3DS. We chat about the series’ past, how the new game compares, how we imagine Amiibo working and discuss in a very calm and civilized manner about how the cutting of Lucas is a pure unadulterated travesty (OK, maybe Chase isn’t so calm about it.)

Zoolander 2 | Teaser Trailer

PODCAST: Gamers On The Go #33 | Shovel Knight

Yacht Club Games’ Nick Wozniak and Sean Velasco join Chase to discuss their love letter to Nintendo Entertainment System/Famicom gaming, Shovel Knight. 

Hear how Yacht Club Games began, how Shovel Knight went from Kickstarter dream to award-winning reality, and how the game might’ve been different it it had just made its original $75,000 goal.

Show Notes:

Learn more about Shovel Knight and grab yourself a copy of the game at shovelknight.com

Shovel Knight is a pretty faithful NES game…except when it’s not. Read this great piece by Yacht Club’s David D'Angelo on Gamasutra about where it made sense to break from the authenticity.

Snag Shovel Knight’s awesome Jake Kaufman-composed soundtrack here. It’s pay what you want!

And keep up with Yacht Club games on their Twitter, Facebook, and Twitch pages.

PODCAST: GAMERS ON THE GO #30 | Record Run

Director of Publishing & PR @Harmonix and Project Lead on @RecordRun, John Drake comes on to talk about the newest mobile game from the music-minded developer.

John gives us a candid rundown of Harmonix’s history with handhelds, the story behind the timing of releasing Record Run during the Amplitude Kickstarter and definitively restates that no, no one is currently working on Rock Band 4 (yet).

Show Notes:

• Download Record Run on iOS or Google Play for FREE!
• VidRhythm is also FREE on iOS.
• This episode was recorded before the news of Harmonix’s restructuring. Read more about that on Polygon.