Alien Frontiers Factions and More!

Greetings, dear readers. I have a whole ton of Alien Frontiers news headed your way from Clever Mojo Games today. Enjoy! First up: Artist Mark Maxwell has officially signed with Clever Mojo to produce art for the first expansion to Alien Frontiers – Factions. The Factions expansion has an expected release date of March 1, 2012, and (as of this post) will include 8 Factions boards, representing various organizations with special powers vying for control of the surface of the alien planet. Also included will be 8 new Alien Tech cards, a deck of Agenda cards which will grant points depending on certain end-game scenarios, as well as dice and... Read More

The State of Games, Episode 10 – The One About Origins

The State of Games, Episode 10 is geared up and ready for gaming – convention style! I’ll bet all you board gamers and grognards know what we’re talking about with the title of this one, and it ain’t about Darwin (although he was a clue in a game of Time’s Up this past week). So grab your dice bag and jump on board, because it’s convention time! Read More  Read More

Origins Game Fair 2011: Day 4

I’m sad to say that there was no great Banana Quest on Day 4 of Origins (in fact, we didn’t even eat until 4 p.m.), but there was plenty of good, old-fashioned boardgaming and spending quality time with some new friends. The day started late after some unexpected, but very nice sleep time, but we made the best of our last full day. And now, the day in pictures. Observing a demo of Engage, by Table Tactics. It was a fascinating diceless system that I'd like to take a closer look at soon. Marc Specter thought the prototype of Sunrise City could use more Godzilla attacks. After a long late lunch at Barley's (surprise), we hung... 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

Space For More: An Interview With Empires of the Void Designer Ryan Laukat

Space… the well-trod frontier – at least in board games. There’s good reason for that, though: Space is awesome, as are many quality, space-based games. One space epic in particular has developed quite a buzz recently online – Empires of the Void, designed and illustrated by veteran board game artist Ryan Laukat. Ryan is responsible for quite a bit of art in Dominion, as well as Alf Seegert’s trollish masterpieces, Bridge Troll and Trollhalla. Ryan’s unique art style lends a fun flair to a genre that can sometimes feel a bit staid. In order for us to know more about Empires of the Void and the inspiration to... Read More

A New Frontier for Alien Frontiers

Dice Hate Me has just received news from Clever Mojo Games regarding a new licensing agreement for future editions of Alien Frontiers. Here, directly from Clever Mojo Games owner W. David MacKenzie, is the full scoop: “Clever Mojo Games has signed licensing agreements to bring localized editions of Alien Frontiers to Eastern and Western Europe. Ystari Games will be producing French, German, Spanish, and Italian language versions of Alien Frontiers for distribution in Western Europe and LocWorks will be producing and distributing Polish and Eastern European language versions of Alien Frontiers. Both LocWorks and Ystari expect late 2011 release... Read More

Alien Frontiers Second Printing Delayed

The bad news: The second printing of Alien Frontiers will be delayed by at least two weeks, missing the March 31st shipping date originally announced. The good news: the pre-order period has been extended! Here is the note posted today by Clever Mojo Games head W. David MacKenzie: “Panda Games Mfg just emailed to say that their dice subcontractor has failed to meet their delivery deadline and will not be able to get the dice to Panda’s assembly team before the plant closes down on Jan 29th for the two-week Lunar New Year. This means that Alien Frontiers will not get shipped out of China until late February. We had expected the shipment... Read More

Clever Mojo Games Gets Steamy

It’s been a long time coming, but it looks like Steampunk fans will finally get a meaty boardgame they can call their own. Clever Mojo Games – the makers of Alien Frontiers – is currently working with New Zealand game designer Anthony Henning to produce Arkopolis Engines. No details are available for a specific release date, but the teaser art is looking pretty nifty. I’m a huge fan of Steampunk, so rest assured that there will be plenty more news and previews of Arkopolis Engines over the next year at Dice Hate Me. In other news from Clever Mojo Games, two other projects are currently in production and playtesting. The... Read More

Dice Hate Me Game of the Year Awards 2010

It has been a great year for board games! For me, personally, it has been a wonderful year as I’ve reconnected with old favorites, discovered some new favorites, and sealed the deal for a lifetime gaming partner that’s almost as geeky as me! For the boardgaming community, 2010 has blessed all of us with some great independent success stories, allowing new ideas from the “little guys” to trickle into the market. We owe a greater depth in variety and fun gameplay because of the efforts of backers on kickstarter.com and the print-on-demand wonders at The Game Crafter. No year – and, truly, no blog – would seem complete without... Read More

Alien Frontiers News: All Systems Go for Second Printing

Well, gentle readers, official news has trickled down from Clever Mojo Games – the second printing of the wildly-popular and woefully-understocked Alien Frontiers is a go! Not only will giddy gamers soon be able to grab a copy of this wonderful game, but the second printing promises to be super-deluxe, with rules clarifications and a brand new Alien Tech card available for gamers who pre-order the game! On Wednesday, December 1, Alien Frontiers will be available for pre-order on the Clever Mojo Games website for $39.99. After the pre-order phase is complete, Alien Frontiers will retail for $49.99. Retailers will also be able to pre-order... Read More