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AICN TABLETOP: Against the Giants!! World of Warcraft Adventure Game!!!
Hola all. Massawyrm here.
Against the Giants.
To follow up the big release last month, Wizards of the Coast has slotted their latest miniatures release to appear in what should be the last D&D book-free month for a long time. This release, AGAINST THE GIANTS is one of the all too rare and all too awesome HUGE sets. The third of its kind, these always see release in the summer months and offer up the usual assortment of nasties as well as a dozen wonderfully sculpted monsters of Huge size. For anyone who has ever had to use a Dr. Pepper can to represent a huge earth elemental, you know how much of a godsend it was to finally get the 3x3 minis back in GIANTS OF LEGEND.
Against the Giants is pretty standard as far as huge sets go. Its got the requisite two dragons (a Huge Red and a Huge White.) The Red looks pretty cool but since they already put one out a few years back, us old school players will spend more time angling for the sweet White. There are, as usual, one or two duds in the mix. An undead Treant called a Blackroot Treant is kind of weird and making it undead will no doubt cause a number of 3E players to pause and try and work that out in their heads. The design is interesting, but it doesnt really look anything like a Treant. Making it look more like a rotted, withering tree rather than a bizarre 40k orc totem pole would have been cool. But the minis that rock REALLY do rock. The Fire titan is incredible, evocative and makes me want to run a fire giant filled lair with this bad boy at the end. The Shadow Hulk (which I ended up pulling from a pack) is pretty damned spiffy, and the uncommon Chain Golem and Earth Titan both are minis I want to have multiples of. But the one I cant wait to get my hands on is the Yuan Ti Anathema. Ive been a big fan of this creature for a loooooong time, and I love the Yuan Ti in general. This one will find itself the major foe of my players in short order, you can count on that.
The set released last Friday and you can check out what all the minis look like here at the Wizards of the Coast page. Each box comes with one huge mini and seven additional, normal sized minis. This is a great introduction for those who just got into (or back into) D&D with 4E. These huge sets tend to be fairly popular and only come around once every two or three years.
World of Warcraft The Adventure Game
This one is a bit different than I expected. When I first heard about this, I thought perhaps it was an expansion of FFGs massive WORLD OF WARCRAFT THE BOARD GAME a gigantic and incredibly complicated board game in which you play and track your characters progress across Azeroth, fighting monsters, looting treasure and becoming the biggest bad ass on the board. For some reason I was hoping this would be something of a dungeon crawl a DESCENT like trek into the instances of the game. Instead, WOWTAG is a fairly simple, easy to understand miniaturized version of the board game.
This one centers around quests. Your job as a player is to get 8 victory points worth of quests. Each quest is worth 1-3 points a piece, depending on its complexity or the level you need to be to complete it. These quests send you hopping all over the board picking up counters from specific locations, collecting specific types of items or monster trophies or getting into combat with other players.
Combat is simple, based upon comparing the numbers on your card versus that on a monster card and adding in a single d6 for both. This can be further augmented by using abilities or effects generated by specific rolls for various monsters (detailed on their card.) For example, the Defias Drone has the rule on his card that a roll of a 6 counts as a 1. Theres an ability of an item that makes it so attacks against the player that rolled a 5 automatically fails. And Edwin Van Cleef rerolls any attack roll of a 1 or 2, and gets a bonus to his stats when it happens. This is pretty much the extent of combat modifications. If youre looking for intensive combat like the previous edition or DESCENT, this is NOT IT. This is a much more simplified game to play with spouses or especially kids that either arent into the complexity of the other games, or arent yet ready for it.
Now I like the mechanics of this a lot. It feels much more like a standard board game than the other FFG offerings of the same type. Those often feel like D&D without the roleplaying
but with a ticking clock. This is more of a race against your friends and family. Can you complete more quests than they can before someone gets 8 victory points? It sends you all over the board using strategies to level up quickly and get good loot while knocking out the quests you have in hand.
The major downside is the lack of interaction between the players. While there was some attempt to make this more of a combative, brutal game, it is far too easy to just avoid fellow players and play your own game in order to win. My wife and I barely encountered one another while we were off on our killing and collecting missions, and only a couple of times were able to hinder each other in our endeavors. And since you are almost entirely reliant upon single die rolls to do things (one roll tells you how far you can move and how much energy you have to do cool things this turn) a string of bad rolls can derail any strategy. I spent nearly a dozen turns fighting the same encounter because I could never get the combat abilities I needed to be able to hit my target. And when I did get them, I sometimes didnt have the energy to use them.
The game is filled to the brim with WoW flavor. Many of the monsters, famous instance bosses and your favorite locations are all here. And many of the quests refer to in game quests or happenings that you are most likely already familiar with. This is very much a game for people who have enjoyed living in the World of Warcraft for days on end and want some time to unplug with friends over a few beers. But more advanced gamers might find this just a tad too simple preferring to stick to the more advanced game. In fact, I think the best audience for this game is parents who have kids big into WoW but are looking for some face time with them. If thats the case with you, I definitely recommend picking this up and surprising them with it. Game play takes about 2 hours once you get going so order the pizza and take your kids to Azeroth for the night.
Overall I enjoyed it but I might only play it a few more times before going back to DESCENT (which is my current love) and keep it around to play with my friends who hate my overly complicated games. This one hit shelves this week.
Okay gang, if all goes to plan next week should be indie week. Ive got two cool independent releases that Im itching to talk about. One of which is TAILOR MADE for AICN gamers.
Until next time friends, smoke em if ya got em.
Massawyrm
Got something for the Wyrm? Mail it here.
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i collected magic the gathering when i was younger. still have a big ass folder of em somewhere but thats as far as my relationship with wizards of the coast goes
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...haven't in like 15 years but damn, them some cool miniatures.
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Wow, Blizzard gives out Paychecks to hype their boardgames now, too?
There are so many Movie related Video- and Boardgames which wait for a review.
Maybe these games suck, but would be better fitting to a movie-related website.
Try the Zombies!!! and MidEvil Boardgame Series instead.
Easy Rules, gruesome fun for everyone.
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New Set Looks Cool!
Haven't bought a box since i picked up one of the DragonLance Series ones!
So when do we get Sets of the Dieties & Demi-Gods?!?! -
Come on Massa, let's give some love to Battletech soon.
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I've been a huge fan of the mini collections so far, but I'm not that impressed with this set. I've been following the sneak peeks as they've gone along and I kept finding the revealed pieces to be ... a let down. Now that I can see the whole list, I still feel the same way. I like the Shadow Hulk, and 2 of the Dragons (dont like the adamantine one, tho), the Chain Golem, and the Fire Giant (dont like the Fire Titan). So, I only like 5 figures out of the set. The commons and rank and file figures are also less useful than the last set. If I buy a case of minis hoping to hit a few of the 5 I actually do like, I'm going to end up with a lot of duplicates I dont actually like. I think Dungeons of Dread was a better set. Ah well, I'll pick a few up but save the bulk of my cash for the next expansion, perhaps.
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Being that everybody in here is a geek of some sort to begin with, what's the deal with the geek on geek hate? Don't we have enough trouble without infighting? Because none of us will ever really be free until nerd persecution ends.
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If you're not playing Road to Legend, you should be. It turns Descent into a game that can be played in 2 - 4 hour chunks, and a single game can stretch over months like a pen-and-paper game. It feels like the "finished" version of the game.
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You realize art, that you are a Troll, by your own admission ;-)
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Have a bookcase full of original Gygax suff, ooooooh lookie the Temple of Elemental Evil!!!
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but just started playing Settlers of Catan, and I gotta say, it's a lot of fun.
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Yea, I remember the first time I played Settlers with friends and my future wife (married 5 years now) giggled every time someone said, "(Insert name) has wood" in regards to resources.
Fun times. -
There's nothing more irritating when it comes to D&D than random miniatures. Many of the minis look cool and all, and the pre-painted is a nice touch for those of us who suck at the art of mini painting but really? Collectible? Randomly packaged? My number one reason why we largely just use pieces from other games, other minis and yes "pop cans" for large minis.
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