Origins Game Fair 2011: Day 3
I’m happy to report that on Day 3 of Origins, The Great Banana Quest was finally fulfilled. With my system unable to sustain another morning of breakfast sandwiches, I scoured the convention center for something remotely healthy. Thankfully, I was able to bribe a smoothie attendant out of a banana, no doubt depriving some poor convention-goer of some frozen fruit goodness later that day. But I digress. First order of business for the day: Leviathans. For those not in the know, Leviathans is a miniatures game of aerial combat between huge fleets of heavily armored airships – giant, floating flotillas held aloft by giant Tesla coils.... Read More
Origins Game Fair 2011: Day 2
It’s late. Very late. Like so late that it’s almost time to get up again. That’s convention life for you, though. And thus, day 2 in pictures (I’ll elaborate later!). The day began in the dealer exhibition room. I beelined straight to Stronghold Games‘ booth, met Stephen Buonocore, and promptly purchased Confusion: Espionage and Deception in the Cold War. Yes, it is mine. Yes, it is beautiful. Next up: Meeting Cristina Ramos at the Moosetache Games booth, and getting a look at their new game, Hike. We love Rowboat; it looks like we’ll love this one, too. I’ve been promised a demo game tomorrow, so I’ll... Read More
Dice On The Road
Greetings dear readers – and listeners! Below you’ll find a link to the nifty new audio player for the Dice Hate Me mini-cast. You’ll be seeing many more posts like this one starting on Wednesday as I head to Origins Game Fair to get some good gaming and plenty of interview time with a bevy of board game builders and heads of the biz. Listen to the mini-cast below to hear about everything I’ll be up to while at the big show, and be sure to comment or email with suggestions or things you’d like me to cover on Dice Hate Me! Dice On The Road mini-cast, Episode 1 – The Grand Experiment Keep your eyes glued to Dice... Read More
The Pros and Cons of Cons: 2011 Edition
Portions of this article originally appeared on Dice Hate Me on July 22, 2010 – it has been updated to reflect 2011 convention dates and information, and reposted because the somewhat-humorous, but mostly-informative posts can still aid those seeking to attend conventions in the continental US this summer. I will be at Origins this year, so if you plan to attend, look for the guy with grumpy dice somewhere on his upper body and I’ll give you a cool pin. Look for more pre-coverage of Origins, including a sneak peek at our upcoming game prototype, on Dice Hate Me within the next week. Ah, Summer. Tis the season of spray-on tans, silicon,... Read More
Swinging Jivecat Voodoo Artist!
Last month on Dice Hate Me, I shared a sneak peek at one of the newest games being playtested in the Clever Mojo Games stable – Swinging Jivecat Voodoo Lounge, by designer Seth Roback. Since then, I’ve gotten a closer look at a new board layout and a revised rulebook that actually made me understand the mad machinations behind this offbeat and intriguing game. David MacKenzie will have the prototype in tow at Origins, so I’ll be sitting down for a few sessions, and taking copious notes and pictures, so look for that during my periodic updates during the convention. Read More Read More
The Year of Awesome
Greetings, dear readers, to a brief celebration in honor of Dice Hate Me’s anniversary! It’s been an amazing, wonderfully awesome year, and we are so thankful to our many supporters, peers, and companies for making it possible to live the Dice Hate Me dream. One year ago today, the first game review was posted – an extremely brief look at Red November from Fantasy Flight Games. Seriously, it was so succinct that many of those first few who read it wondered if it qualified as an actual review! Now, a year later, many of you are probably wishing that the reviews around here were half as short as that first one. For better or worse,... Read More
The French Revelation: A Troyes Revue
And the Freeples say: Vive la France! In the past few years, the realms of boardgaming have traditionally been broken down into two main categories: “Ameritrash” — which typically includes those games with lots of plastic sculpted miniatures used to bash the crap out your opponent, along with tons of shiny dice — and “Euro” games, which usually include a dazzling array of choices in which to stoically quell the machinations of your opponent with feathered subtleties like influence, victory points, wooden cubes and meeples. Pearl Games has chosen to walk the insane path of including flavors from both realms in one box with their first... Read More
The State of Games, Episode 8 – The One About Not Playing With Yourself
The State of Games, Episode 8 is open and ready for business! Don’t worry, the title doesn’t mean what you think it means. Or maybe it does? We have no idea what goes on inside those crazy minds of yours. But you can find out what goes on inside our crazy minds – just take a listen to our mad ramblings! Read More Read More
The State of Games, Episode 7 – The One Rated PG-13
The State of Games, Episode 7 is way in, man. It’s, like, so in that it’s far out, you know what I’m saying? No? Well, open your ears and expand your mind, because we’ve got some heavy dope to throw your way. But don’t let the title fool you, this stuff is super groovy for the whole family. Read More Read More
Throwing Stars: An Interview with Ninjato Designers Adam West and Dan Schnake
In 2008, CrossCut Games – a company known previously for independently-producing computer games – introduced Galactic Emperor to the boardgaming world, and fans of epic tabletop star sagas fell in love. Not content with resting on success, the guys behind CrossCut Games – Adam West and Dan Schnake – are bringing the art of the silent death to tables everywhere with the summer release of Ninjato. After all, when you want to top epic star sagas in coolness, your best bet is to break out the ninjas. For those not familiar with the theme or concepts of Ninjato, can you provide a brief summary of gameplay and mechanics? Ninjato... Read More
