Risk Legacy

A strategic board game that has been around since 1957, and which has been revamped many times over the years, including an online version available to play at pogo.com, is now being published yet again but with a new twist that has caused some controversy.  Risk Legacy is planned to have a permanancy factor whereby some cards will be void for successive games and stickers will be included that are meant to be afixed to territories on the board, thus changing future games being played.  There will also be sealed packets with the game that are opened from time to time during one successive game or another.  From boardgamegeek.com (as per the publisher) -

How will you shape your world? / In Risk Legacy, every game you play will change every future game. A decision you make in Game 1 could come back to haunt you in Game 10. The risks you take in Risk Legacy are not like those in any other board game. You and the other players will shape how your world evolves: its history, its cities, even its factions and how they fight. Cards and stickers will come into play. Cards will go out of play forever. You don't forget past betrayals – and neither does the game. / Unlock new rules and watch events unfold as you play more games. No two games will EVER be the same. / Play your game. Write your history

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One of the designers, Rob Daviau, of the game has this to say about the sealed packets -

They are the other new twist on the game. This is actually a game with spoilers. Actual things that will make you think on your feet. / We’re going to ask reviewers not to talk about the hidden contents. I guess I’m asking all of you to be careful with this as well. Some are small things. Some bigger. Will the game work if you know everything that is going to happen? Yes. You can certainly go back and watch The Sixth Sense again. But that first time you saw it? That was special. / So if you are a person that really likes game with complete information? Read the spoilers. / Those of you who like your games a little bit more white knuckled and adventuresome? Avoid spoilers.

It all sounds like making a much larger campaign game from a single already replayable game.  I look forward to seeing more after its release later this year.

A Sound Trouncing - Hordes of the Things Battle Report

Ouch!  I got seriously trounced in my recent battle of Hordes of the Things.  My Dwarf army was defening a territory wrested back from the invaders just last turn.  This is a pivotal region right on the doorstep of the Dwarven capitol.  It could have gone much worse but it was such a decisive victory for the opponents that it must be designated as a massacre.  My early set up felt strong but proved ineffective in the end.

I made a blunder with my Flyer in the early going, having misunderstood a rule about enemy troops being able to simply move under them, and it got worse from there.  I thought I had a pretty solid line but had my two Heroes too far left to react when he managed to get round the end of my Blades on my right with his Hero General.  Couple that with his their good command pips and me getting too few to respond efficiently, and he just chewed up my line one element after another.  The few desparate attempts I made at stemming the tide, and one shot I had at their General which might have gotten me back into the game, came to naught.  It really was as one-sided a battle of which I ever found myself losing.

I retreated my 3FP to my capitol, so that can be fairly secure for next turn, but the loss of its neighboring territory does present other problems strategically.  Fortunately, one of my allies was able to take another key territory and free up additional forces on the same front whilst threatening the capitol of a member of the opposing aliance.  Next turn could be really big for a lot of reasons!

Castle Carrying Case - Michaels Hobbies and Crafts

I saw a pretty neat carrying case and playset accessoriy at my local Michaels store last time I dropped in.  It was fashioned as a castle and was hinged so that the inside was revealed.  It included a working drawbridge, in that it opened, and numerous windows, plus a draw/box where miniature or toy figures could be stored.  This costs $19.99 but with their regularly available 40% off coupons, you could snag one for $12 plus tax.  I'll have to keep this in mind for a future project.  I'd imagine priming it in black then adding successive coats of lighter and lighter gray, begining with a dark gray of course, to make stonework.  It might even be useful to make a couple of stamps of stonework patterns using the crenulations as a guide for the size of the stones.  The interior would require a bit more work.

Multitouch Table

There are some great videos on how to build five types of multitouch table surfaces.  Check them out on YouTube -

Fold-N-Go: Castle Kit #1 from Rite Publishing

There's a really neat castle kit available from Rite Publishing that should be useful to both roleplaying gamers and wargamers alike.  It's called the Fold-N-Go: Castle Kit #1.  Here are some pictures of what you can build with this kit.

Clearcoat on Molded Dungeon Terrain

YouTube's wwwdungeonmastermark (not me!) has some thoughts on Clearcoat for his molded dungeon terrain.

Charles S. Roberts: The Father of Board Wargaming

Tomorrow marks one year since the death of Charles S. Roberts: The Father of Board Wargaming, (February 3, 1930 - August 20, 2010).  I recall with great findness getting my first board wargame in the very early Seventies.  It was Tactics II, Roberts revision of his original game Tactics.  It was a revelation.  I had played some chess and many boardgames, parlor games in gamer parlance, and the complexity involved in board wargames immediately captured my imagination and engaged me on levels I had previously not known.  I was lucky to pick up a nearly pristine copy of that original game earlier this year from Half Price Books and hope to break it out this weekend for a bit of old school wargaming fun.