Game Overboard – A Hagoth: Builder of Ships Review

Game selection can be a curious thing. Quite often I’ll spend a good half hour or so in my local game store, pulling boxes from shelves and seeing what interests me. Quite likely I’ll bring a game up to the counter that was referred by a friend, or mentioned in a recent review, or it’s just the new hotness. And then there are the quirky ones – you know, the ones that inexplicably call to you from the shelf. You have no idea what might lurk inside, but suddenly there’s a cute panda, or a zeppelin, or a buff, shirtless man hauling lumber by the seashore. Yeah, that’s Hagoth: Builder of Ships. I bought the quirk. And now you get the... Read More

Enter the Fire Dragons!

A few weeks have gone by since there have been any dragons on Dice Hate Me, so here is a quick update on Princes of the Dragon Throne from Clever Mojo Games! First off, artist Don Aguillo has been working furiously on new concept sketches for dragons of Clan Vu’ur (the Fire Dragons), as well as finished art of a very familar-looking Dwarf Lord (patterned after designer W. David MacKenzie), and some preliminary mock-ups of a very gruff troll and some kobold workers. According to W. David MacKenzie, the “The Trolls are a rough and aggressive race but civilized and with just as much diversity as the humans, elves, and dwarves. The Kobolds... Read More

Diamond in the Rough – A Jaipur Review

The winding streets of the bustling center of goods and commerce in India are filled with row upon row of merchants selling, bartering and trading untold riches, from fine cloth to glittering gold. You quickly make your way around the stalls, dodging advances from a smug rug merchant, but are soon cornered by a shifty, rather persistent man, dressed all in white. With a gleam in his eye, he produces a large, rather garish diamond from his sleeve. “Rumor has it that this stone once fell from the heavens and into the lap of a young prince; it is priceless, but it is yours for a mere 200 rupees.” You wave him off with a hasty harumph; you’ve... Read More

The Quick and the Undead: A Nightfall Review

One thing about living in Santa Carla I never could stomach; all the damn vampires. For those gamers not in the know, Nightfall is the new horror-themed,“direct conflict” deck-building game from AEG that feels a bit like the love child of Dominion, Magic: The Gathering and the old, classic Killer Instinct video game. Just as in Dominion, each player starts the game with a small collection of cards in their personal decks and can later augment those decks by drafting cards from stacks of other cards during their turn. Unlike Dominion, players are able – through the use of carefully played orders and minions – to deal direct damage... Read More

First Look at Dragon Clan Vu’ur

Yep, another week, another great update on Princes of the Dragon Throne from Clever Mojo Games. Last time, we learned that the dragons in this deck-builder are divided into four separate clans, and got some glimpses of the eight dragons of Clan Ma’ji. Now we get our first peek at another clan – Vu’ur! Clever Mojo’s W. David MacKenzie describes the new dragons, and gives a further glimpse into the mechanics of the game: “Hennig’vu’ur is an Emerald Dragon.  Normally a player can hold over two citizens in their tableau from turn to turn and these cards act as a hand extension, allowing a player to utilize... Read More

Magic: The Gathering, or How I Came to Love the Game and Leave the Addiction

As a nifty online experiment, Ben Gerber – of Troll in the Corner – and I came up with a cunning plan, a sort of blogger exchange program. Once a month, Ben and I plan to share our views and musings with the readers of Troll in the Corner and Dice Hate Me. Look for more cross-pollination each and every month, and let us know what you all would like to see in these columns. It was 1995 and I was more than halfway through my undergraduate degree. Nirvana was on the radio. I was an active participant in my college RPG club and I had just moved in to a new apartment with a new roommate. As it so happened, my roommate was not in to RPGs... Read More

Dragons of Clan Ma’Ji Get a Makeover

Yowza, yowza, Dice Hate Me has the latest scoop on Princes of the Dragon Throne from Clever Mojo Games! In the last month, artist Don Aguillo has been cranking out new card art, and the design crew at Clever Mojo has been hard at work on a card interface overhaul. You can see the culmination of both in the images below. Along with the visual redesign, the dragons have gotten a little name change, as well. There will be seven dragon clans in Princes of the Dragon Throne and the dragons we have seen so far belong to Clan Ma’ji. Each clan dragon will have a unique name fashioned from the game’s draconic tongue, inspired outside the game... Read More

Where the Games Are

It’s officially Spring Break at Dice Hate Me HQ, and that means that Monkey238 and I are taking a little mini-vacation. We plan to unwind, unplug, and spend four days in analog heaven, getting pampered and, more importantly, playing some games! Before we start our staycation, though, I thought a little preview of what’s up next on the site was probably in order. It’s going to be a busy couple of months, so stick around – we have some great things in store. Trollhalla Some of you may have spotted copies of a box covered in strange, Viking trolls popping up at your favorite local game store. Fear not – this little gem is the newest... Read More

Citizens of Princes of the Dragon Throne

But wait, there’s more Princes of the Dragon Throne! Artist Don Aguillo has been burning the midnight oil, creating card art for two human elders, Lord Mark and Lady Lillian. They look pretty realistic, and they should – they’re modelled from the relatives of a certain Clever Mojo Games compatriot! The human elders will join the ranks of the Citizen Deck, which contains several races. Players can look forward to filling their decks with humans, elves, dwarves, trolls, kobolds and goblins in addition to all the cool dragons. Keep watching Dice Hate Me for more card art and news as the game progresses through development.  Read More

Here There Be More Dragons

Last month on Dice Hate Me, we spilled the beans on the newest project over at Clever Mojo Games – Princes of the Dragon Throne. Now – even though this card-drafting game isn’t due out until the end of 2011 – we’re lucky enough to have the first peek at the new card design, as well as some of the fantastic dragon art from trading-card art afficionado Don Aguillo. Check out the sneak peeks below, as well as a special in-house guide to deciphering the dragon cards. We’re not quite sure what it all means yet, but stay tuned to Dice Hate Me for more peeks behind the scenes in the coming months. As usual, click... Read More