Cards & Boards

Finally: the long-awaited Lord of the Rings Deck Building Game, The Walking Dead Card Game and the Castle: The Detective Card Game should be clocking in here during the coming month of May.

This bunch of Cryptozoic games are long-awaited, and will finally make it here, reliable sources tell me. The LOTR game is much-awaited, and uses a modular Cerberus card game engine, meaning future related DBGs can be mixed in, further enhancing your playing experience.

Also appearing on the horizon will be the newest expansion for the Star Wars Living Card Game, by Fantasy Flight Games. The Search For Skywalker ought to arrive during May as well.

Watch this space as we get more details, soon!

Do tweet me at www.twitter.com/arcturus_mengsk or leave me feedback below.

I have to say once again that deck-building games (and card-based “boardgames”) are just too plain awesome to indulge in. There’s nothing better than a card game for a bunch of guys, played in around one hour. Yes the depth might be lacking, but I do not miss my TCGs at all, no sir!

Cryptozoic has been on a DBG-overdrive, as they seem to have scooped up a bunch of interesting franchise adaptations. Their DC Comics DBG is a simple yet solid winner in my group – the artwork’s too superb and it’s really fun – so their Lord of the Rings (LOTR) DBG had me wetting myself waiting for it.

Okay, so it’s still not here yet. Just when I had nearly forgotten about it, I caught sight of a Boardgamegeek.com news update on the game several days back. It seems that in the United States at least, the LOTR DBG has a March 28 release date. Let’s see when it actually makes it to Malaysia eh?

The gaming company is also slated to release another LOTR-based card game – this one a TCG – The Hobbit Expandable Card Game. Now, apparently it will have themed decks, and similar card backs with a bunch of games that will all come under the Middle Earth Expandable Card Game line.

No further info on this TCG at this point of time I’m afraid, though I have to admit that I’m rather curious. The last TCG proper for the LOTR franchise was Decipher Inc’s, which is still surviving in very niche gaming circles abroad (despite being completely out of production). How long will this one fare I wonder? Will it also feature loads of wonderful film footage across the various movies?

Most importantly, how long have we got to wait for this game?

So have you seen the LOTR DBG anywhere? Do tweet me at www.twitter.com/arcturus_mengsk or leave me feedback below.

I’m a huge fan of zombie movies and such, and over the past month or so, I’ve been engrossed with my handful of sessions with The Walking Dead Boardgame (the one by Z-Man Games). So much so that the print review is coming out this week!

(By the way, there is another boardgame adaptation, based on the hit TV series, and done by Cryptozoic Entertainment. Haven’t tried that though – have you?)

While I was doing some online research for the Z-Man boardgame, I found out that Cryptozoic is releasing a The Walking Dead (TWD) Card Game, this year.

Wow, I can’t wait! I have huge expectations on anything that’s Crypto, going by their slew of card and boardgames. The company’s shown that they make some quality products that is not only gorgeous looking generally, but also great fun, especially for my nascent casual gaming group.

The upcoming card game’s also geared for multiplayer. Bring it on already!

Do tweet me at www.twitter.com/arcturus_mengsk or leave me feedback below.

I’ve been going on and on about Fantasy Flight Games’ (FFG’s) Star Wars Living Card Game (SW LCG) for a bit: what can I say, it’s been an impressive game thus far.

Now, the more bloodthirsty and hardcore players will want to check out the tournament rules here, which have just been unveiled by FFG.

Quick check at the rules reveals what many have suspected already: we’ll definitely need both Light and Dark Side decks in order to play a round. One round of play is 70 minutes, for two games. This sounds about right – not too tight, and not too long either.

Since the tournament rules for SW LCG also go on a points-based system, there’s actually a lengthy exposition on how scores are tallied. Wins are two points, ties are one point, and losses give no points, but given the differing victory conditions for both Light and Dark, a number of possible player scores have been given.

So what do you think? Does this set you up to play in a tournament if one appears in your area?

Do tweet me at www.twitter.com/arcturus_mengsk or leave me feedback below.

In case you have not checked out Fantasy Flight Games’ (FFG’s) Star Wars Living Card Game (SW LCG) yet, by all means do get started right away here, at FFG’s official YouTube channel. It’s a great play by play streaming video tutorial on how the game works – much better way to learn compared to actually reading the rulebook!

Anyway, I have gotten more plays out of this game, and I am absolutely won over by how swiftly this card game can play. 30-minute games are very possible, with a maximum of 45 to 50 minutes, if things get drawn out.

In a nutshell, SW LCG is a fast-paced card game that plays up several key conflicts and battles, each time you play. I have to emphasis “fast” and “key”, as this non-collectible card game does not simulate the massive, sprawling battles you’re probably more used to, in the movies, and any of the spin-off novels, video games and other medium.

For example, in a recent game I played, a lone Y-Wing and several independent operatives or spies show up, and are promptly blasted by several Stormtroopers. Admiral Motti and several TIE Fighters follow suit, before Home One makes its appearance. The game finished with the Imperial troopers swarming the Rebellion to death!

In another game, a motley crew of young Jedi warriors get going, together with Home One. The Imperials throw some TIE Fighters and Stormtroopers in the mix, but get the Rebellion close off the win despite some accurate shooting from the notorious Boba Fett.

It becomes very apparent that the game is really geared towards plenty of customization, but the Objective set mechanics make it simpler and more complicated. Decks of at least 60 cards must be built based on six-card card pods (your Objective sets), and may not repeat more than twice per set (unless they’re labeled unique, or no more than one per deck).

There’s only a single Core Set so far: a two-player “starter” set that has everything that you’ll need to start playing. You get a more “complete” experience by buying two Core Sets and mixing doubles of selected Objective sets, but I’d hold off on buying as the first expansions – 60-card Force Packs – are already on their way.

LCGs operate on a fixed model, so no randomized cards and overpriced rares and such. This is another great reason to play this game.

Now, with monthly Force Packs coming in, you could buy one Core Set now, and wait for the expansions to come in. The first four expansions, are part of the Hoth Cycle – a vast majority of the cards come from the first story arc of the Empire Strikes Back movie. Yup, AT-ATs, Snowspeeders and then some!

The previews for these expansions are still not completely out yet, but it does seem that the sets will focus more on the Imperial and Rebel Alliance affiliations, more than anything else. The other four affiliations look to be represented too, but I’d bet my scruffy-looking nerf herder that all the key bits of the Battle of Hoth, gets their royal treatment, over the next four months.

If you’re more keen on the Smugglers & Spies and Scum & Villainy affiliations instead, there’s the Edge of Darkness (big) expansion to look forward to. Would it be possible to skip the Hoth Cycle and wait for that instead? Knowing how FFG would want to drive up sales, I highly doubt it, since I already see several Scum & Villainy/Smugglers & Spies cards appearing in the Hoth packs already.

But yes, it is very possible for us to just give the Core Set a whirl, for now. Fire away!

What are your favorite parts about the game? Do tweet me at www.twitter.com/arcturus_mengsk or leave me feedback below.

If you’ve been playing Fantasy Flight Games’ Star Wars Living Card Game (SW LCG) of late, and have been looking for a bit more depth, on top of what the boxed game has been providing, you might have heard of this website called Team Covenant.

Strategy articles on the game might not exactly be plentiful, on FFG’s official site. The other solution would be searching via the Interwebs: not an altogether elegant and efficient solution since you might need to trawl through an insane number of forums and the likes, just to land on the relevant strategy and deck-building guides and viewpoints.

Team Covenant’s an LCG connoisseur’s heaven: it’s got beginner, intermediate and expert level articles on SW LCG, and then some.

You might have noticed SW LCG’s “finesse” and nuances, which require a different sort of fiddling through and tinkering with.

What are your favorite parts about the game? Do tweet me at www.twitter.com/arcturus_mengsk or leave me feedback below.

Earlier, I reminisced about how I used to play the Star Wars Customizable Card Game (SW CCG), and how I observed that the game’s design really shows us “oldies” the progression that card gaming has gone through.

Well, card games are a lot simpler nowadays, but hey, if you’d like to hit up on some old-fashioned complexity, SW CCG is actually still “alive”!

Decipher ceased producing in 2001, but the community decided to keep it alive via the SW CCG Players Community. This website actually periodically comes up with “virtual expansions” – printable PDF files, which are updated game text to old cards that Decipher used to make.

The intent in constantly updating and refreshing the cards , is to make older, less relevant cards stronger, and more popular. These virtual expansions are free – download, and print away!

Great concept I gotta say. The Players Committee is actually officially sanctioned, having reached out to Decipher Inc in their early days, as they continued to hold independent, yet officially sanctioned competitions and events.

So, willing to give this a try? Do tweet me at www.twitter.com/arcturus_mengsk or leave me feedback below.

One of my most memorable card gaming experiences happened early in my “journey” – actually, 1996 to be precise. I was getting bored of Magic: the Gathering, and thanks to my cousin’s persuasive powers, I was lured into the Star Wars Customizable Card Game (SW CCG), made by Decipher Inc.

Decipher was cashing in on the card game craze then, and Magic was still two years old at the time, but already making massive inroads. Mind you, I actually bought a starter deck in Penang, of all places.

The SW CCG was, for all intents and purposes, the first Star Wars-licensed card game. It had all the trappings of a typical card game then: loads of pricey but staple “main” character cards (we just called them “mains” in short) such as Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader; engaging but otherwise lengthy playtimes by today’s standards (each player had to have both Light and Dark Side decks, 60 cards each, and you had to duel each other twice with both decks, easily taking an hour per game), and a huge amount of useless cards, if one bought the cards via packs (well, not every 36-pack booster box would have a main character).

Looking back, it’s even a wonder that the card game even did well at all. For the longest time, SW CCG ranked a close second to Magic, until the cutesy Japanese anime/manga card games starting arriving.

Seeing games such as SW CCG hit and disappear, as well as the evolution of Magic itself, really gives us a perspective on how far the card games of today have come. Deckbuilding games, and Fantasy Flight Games’ Living Card Games, extract the more successful themes and concepts from the older games, giving us thoroughly refined experiences.

One common change though, is the time factor. I honestly think that today’s card games have less of a chance to do well if it gets too complex, plays for too long, and is too expensive to collect.

Need to play a card game but don’t want to ever study tournament results and create decks? Deckbuilding games would be up your alley, as the setup and play is immediate, straight from the box.

Looking for something meatier and easy to collect and play, but not as time-consuming and involving as TCGs? Then LCGs could be it. It has fixed assortments, that is, card sets that have cards which are distributed in non-random fashion, as well as good out-of-the-box playability, with customization options for advanced players.

Well, I have to say, I won’t miss my SW CCG days too much. Though the artwork (actual screenshots of the movies) on those things, are still brilliant and flawless I have to say!

Ever played SW CCG and its ilk? Do tweet me at www.twitter.com/arcturus_mengsk or leave me feedback below.

It’s the holiday season once more, and I hope everyone’s all stocked up and set to catch up on some year-end gaming action!

The holidays so far has proven to be a mixed bag for yours truly. There’s a fair bit of gaming time to fill (yay) but unforeseen shipment delays means that I won’t be getting some spanking new games till Christmas Day itself (boo, hiss).

At least one game made it past the local freight forwarders just two days ago: the DC Comics Deck-Building Game (DBG) is in stock, and looks like Comics Corner has them in stock, phew!

A DBG is a non-collectible card game, with everything you need to play, contained in the box. Yeap, think of it as a card version of a boardgame. Players “level up” using the cards in the box, eventually building up their decks (hence the genre name) to be more competitive and hopefully, game-winning.

I am looking forward to taking this for a spin real soon, but why don’t you check out the various previews here and here, on Cryptozoic’s very own website. There’s also a fairly decent review by the Crits Happen site here  – weigh in and let me know what you guys think of the game!

Have something to say? Do tweet me at www.twitter.com/arcturus_mengsk or leave me feedback below.

Star Wars has a special place in my heart, and is a helluva monster franchise. Eons ago (in the mid-1990s to be precise), when trading card games (TCGs) were starting to be all the rage, Decipher Inc. launched the Star Wars Customizable Card Game (SWCCG), right after making a Star Trek TCG.

The game was a hit, and for years actually ranked only below Magic, in terms of popularity. But high licensing costs and slumping sales ate into Decipher Inc, and SWCCG was discontinued by the early 2000s. Decipher even made two spin-off Star Wars card games, Young Jedi (super simple, and specifically to cash in on 1999’s The Phantom Menace) and Jedi Knights (featured CG artwork exclusively), but SWCCG remains the company’s most successful Star Wars card game.

When Decipher lost the Star Wars license, Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro actually briefly commandeered the Star Wars card game franchise by making their own dumbed down and extremely die-intensive Star Wars TCG. It didn’t turn out well either, as it quietly died after several expansion sets.

I’ve always felt that licensed gaming products are tough propositions, as there hasn’t been a single franchised card game for example, that has well and truly stood the test of time. Decipher’s Star Wars effort remains a rarity, as the company’s later foray into the Lord of the Rings movie franchise was not as successful.

Fast forward to 2012, and it looks to me that Fantasy Flight Games is today’s “Decipher”, by being hugely successful with plenty of different game titles across different genres. Magic may still be the most successful game out there, but FFG’s coup of securing the rights to do a Star Wars card game (a Living Card Game, or LCG, no less).

The LCG was supposed to be out earlier this year, but FFG had announced that a delay, due to design issues that needed fixing. The game is now confirmed for a late 2012 release, with a more advanced preview of sorts just unveiled this week.

The gameplay premise seems compelling enough: the Dark Side seeks to complete the annihilation of the Rebel Alliance, while the latter aims to win the game by achieving key missions and objectives.

OK FFG, show us the next previews already. I’m darned curious!

Have something to say? Do tweet me at www.twitter.com/arcturus_mengsk or leave me feedback below.