“What is the greatest Marvel story never told?” was a common question asked around the Marvel offices. Each fan of the Marvel Universe has their own favorite character or team which they’d like to know more about, but Marvel for decades kept one specific story close to the vest and only revealed it a few years back in 2001. Now I know I’m a little late to the party, and if put on the spot I’d be hard pressed to come up with the story I want to hear, but Wolverine was never a character that I connected with and I wouldn’t consider the origins of Wolverine to be it. Thanos and his plans for complete domination is more my guy and I want to hear the story of him gaining dominance over the universe!

The artwork in the book was penciled by Andy Kubert and colored by Richard Isanove, who was the same team that did the artwork for one of my favorite comic arcs Marvel 1602. The duo manages to put on paper a visually appealing work that creates sweeping landscapes with vivid colors and does a top notch job telling their part of the story. If you’ve ready 1602 you can expect the exact same style here.

My problem is the writing of the story starts off at a high pace and is very engaging but about halfway through it derails. The main climax happens in the first part with a major twist and the first half deals with topics which I felt fit in very with the controversial nature of Wolverine. If left at that, it would have told a snippet of the origins of Wolverine but still kept enough untold and maintained the aura of mystique. The second half of the book started to feel very cliché, trite and forced and in my opinion doesn’t do much to further Wolverine’s story.

Origins is interesting but sadly reaches it’s storytelling peak too early with the later half leaving me uninspired. For any major Wolverine fan this of course is a must buy, but for the casual Wolverine reader like myself just borrow the book. Overall the story is good but if left with just the first part of the book would be amazing and very memorable, but with what feels like a forced second half the work as a whole takes a hit.

‘Til Next Time - Happy Reading
LvT

Filed under: Comics, Origin by LordVonTush
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Runebound is a game that I have mixed feelings on. The game contains a certain level of charm not often found in current releases and is quite refreshing where things like simulation and elegance (I despise that term for games by the way) are criteria which games are judged on today. To me the game is clunky and is no where near perfect, but it keeps drawing me back in.

Runebound is an adventure game where players take the role of a character and explore the lands around them seeking treasure and enemies to combat. The core game has the players seeking out an evil wizard looking to raise the dragon lords from their slumber to destroy the lands. So the story isn’t that deep and has that “been there, done that” type feel. Players use a set of movement dice that display various terrain elements and move by rolling those dice and assigning the results to the landscapes around them to move. Combat is a simple process of rolling a pair of ten-sided dice and comparing numbers. The experience system is simple and everything about this game screams accessibility.

As I mentioned, this game has a level of charm. The charm I’m referring to is akin to feelings I had in my youth playing games like HeroQuest and BattleMasters where at the time I wasn’t looking for realism or how streamlined mechanics were…I was just looking for something to get together with friends and have fun adventuring. This to me is what Runebound is about. Like many games by Fantasy Flight Runebound isn’t about who wins or loses, but the adventure between starting the game and packing it up.

But like I said above there are a few things with this game that turn me off to it. First off is the playtime. Though the game is easy and events are resolved quickly, the game takes a long time (a few hours) to complete which to me is just too long especially when the depth of the game doesn’t provide a rich gaming experience, but just a fun one. It’s like meeting someone with an electric personality where at first you’re having a great time but after a while of sitting there the act starts to get old. Part of this I feel is due to the clunky mechanic of the movement dice. Granted it does add an interesting element where for example, if your character is in the mountains it is tough to get out, but for the amount of time that it takes to roll the dice, analyze the dice and plan your move just takes up too much time. The way I see it the benefit gained compared to other potential movement systems isn’t worth it.

Runebound is a fun game though. Despite some of its short falls the game does provide a nice, laid-back adventure which is accessible to many people (especially young people expressing interest in gaming) and contains a depth which makes it interesting but not overwhelming. It is clunky at times but as I mention the clunkiness, though distracting at times, provides a game experience which often isn’t contained in current releases. A deep gaming experience isn’t really present here, but this is a game which I’ll be keeping in my collection for a long time to come.

Rating: 3.25 out of 5

‘Til Next Time - Happy Gaming
LvT

Filed under: Games - Board Games, Runebound by LordVonTush
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So, if you can’t tell by this point, it has been a slow last half of the week at work here. A week or so back I posted a review of a game from one Frans-Benno Delonge and I didn’t have many nice things to say about the game (see Ramblings on: TransAmerica). As I mentioned in the article F-BD has made a couple of my favorite games so I thought I’d highlight one here.

Hellas takes place in ancient Greece and is set in a period where two factions are struggling for control over the many islands Greece. The game consists of hex map tiles that depict the land and water masses as well as various cities and temples. In addition there are fifteen plastic army men representing Hoplites per side (or are those Roman…Anyway I’m too lazy to fact check this) and ten war galleys a side. There are also three decks of cards representing the favor of the gods (Ares, Zeus and Poseidon) - and this is where I feel the real heart and soul of the game is located.

The game starts with players alternating tile placement (each player places four) to create the initial map. Players then alternate placing one ship and one army man on the map. Players also take one card from each of the god decks creating a hand of three. The object of the game is the first player to control ten cities on the map is the winner. In order to control a city there has to be an army man on a city (just being on the tile counts as being in the city). Now quickly think back to the number of army men each side starts of with…fifteen so troop management is a very integral part of this game.

During a players turn, they have three options available to them:

Surge: The phase where players are able to reinforce their army men and war galleys where needed. It also allows additional god cards to be drawn and allows movement of troops at the end of the phase.

Voyage: Which involves using your ships to explore the lands in hopes of finding more cities and temples. When voyaging players draw a new tile and if the tile fits, using the placement rules, all is good, if the tile doesn’t fit then the voyage is wasted. Voyaging is a necessary part of the game since there won’t be 10 cities to start with on the map to satisfy the victory conditions - need to control ten cities to win - but it is also a risk because you may not find anything.

Attack: Attacking is this game is simply a matter of odds. If you outnumber your opponent you win (with slight variations depending if the attack is all over land or combines land and sea…etc.). Where the variation comes in is via the use of the god cards.

Now as I mentioned, the cards are what I feel really makes this game shine but it is also the part which turns a lot of people off to this game. The cards vary in power with Ares helping on attacks, Poseidon helping on voyages and Zeus providing general fun. These card decks are relatively small when compared to other games that use decks of cards (Arkham Horror; Twilight Struggle…etc.) with only 16 per each god and cards do repeat.

The game’s strategy is developing through knowledge of the cards, their approximate ratio in the deck and combos that work well. This aspect is often missed by people playing the game for the first time which leads to longer games and draws it out to a point where the fun doesn’t seem to be there. Since actual resource management of army men is very tight due to the victory conditions knowing the cards is what allows a large offensive to take form and is what keeps the game moving.

So those things said, this game does have a longer than normal learning curve to the game and it is one of the few games where early on in the learning curve players tend to not enjoy the game. This game does take a few plays because at first players are learning the things like movement and combat and how that works and the cards are seen as secondary, almost like a bonus instead of a key part of the game. After the resource distribution mechanics start to click though and focus can be placed on the cards and how they interact, that is the point where the game really shines.

Now this game isn’t for everyone. Like I mentioned some people need games to grab them right off the bat to continue interest in the game. I know there are a lot of good or great games out there that didn’t grab me during my first play and subsequently I haven’t given them the fair shot I’m asking people to do here. Some people may not like the direct conflict that this game has as well or the tight management of meager resources. This ranks for me as an upper tier game. For the size of the box, the game offers quit a punch and with the variability in cards and the way the map forms, the game offers quite a lot of replay value. One of the major downsides to the game is players of different skill levels (read as “if one person knows the god decks better than the other”) the player with the higher skill level is going to win more often than not, which is also another contributing factor to new people having a rough time with the game.

Rating: 4 out of 5

‘Til Next Time - Happy Gaming
LvT

Filed under: Games - Board Games, Hellas by LordVonTush
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Today I’m going to hit you fans with a double header. I’m not going to talk about a comic, movie or game, but rather a publisher themselves. Valley Games lately has been plagued by a rocky production and logistic process recently. The most recent debacle is with their re-release of Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage. H:RvC was originally published by Avalon Hill and when AH was bought by Hasbro this was one of the many, many games in AH’s library which got the axe. Between that time and the time Valley Games re-released the game it became a Holy Grail of sorts for some gamers demanding prices of over $100 (US) on eBay or other retail sites for hard to find and out of print games. Valley Games has managed to do what many people thought was impossible, which is bringing this game (as well as another grail game Titan, also from the former Avalon Hill) back to the gaming masses.

During the process though, Valley Games has had been walking a very rocky and slippery slope. Since they are trying to position themselves as a company by gamers, for gamers they have ignored more traditional methods of communication with their customer base and took a very active role on sites like Board Game Geek keeping people updated on where the game was at in production to provide feedback to the people who pre-ordered the game (myself being one of those). VG offered as a bonus to people pre-ordering the game a set of very nice plastic generals to replace the printed ones that slide into those plastic stands so they stand upright. Truth be told this was the kicker for me and what made me decide to take the plunge.

Once I placed my pre-order, myself along with 500-750 more people started to patiently wait…and wait…and wait. Which I expected so no problem there. As I mentioned VG took a very hands on approach with keeping their customers informed (since patience is a virtue many people lack). Of course, being a relatively new company, they were learning the process on the fly and of course this brought about problems and animosity. Delays in manufacturing and shipping were abundant. Where Valley Games went wrong was being as open as they were. Many companies (like Fantasy Flight) keep their process close to the vest and between the time of game announcement and the time the games are ready for shipping not much is said except for vague seasonal ETA’s.

Myself, I found the process interesting and since I, like many others, fancy myself an armature game designer, I was interested to see what all was going on, where the boats were getting delayed and how manufacturers in other countries have different quality control. This of course got people all up in arms because they were hearing about this. It reminds me of the saying “Remind me never to show you how sausage is made”. The thought behind the saying is, customers do not want (or should not) know the inner workings of getting a product to market. Parts disgust people and could ultimately turn them off to the final product or the entire industry as a whole. Customers really do not care as long as the final product is tasty and enjoyable.

People were upset with Valley Games because of their openness and started to ride them for situations outside of their control. Like a person seeing pig anus and cow lips as part of sausage not wanting to eat the sausage because they know it contains pig anus and/or cow lips are in there, where before they’d just grin and be happy as tasty sausage juice squirts in the back of their throat - Does that sound as dirty as I think it does?. Sometimes the less the customer knows the better because it doesn’t provide people with ammunition to bitch about. (NOTE: I do not know if pig anus or cow lips are in sausage. I don’t want to know. Damn sausage is tasty!)

Previously I mentioned the pre-order bonus of generals. This is where I feel VG made a mistake. Not only were they learning game production on the fly, they were also learning miniature production on the fly. About a week back I finally received my generals and this was six months after I received the game. A funny story about that as well…I didn’t receive my game (even though I pre-ordered it) until after they were on some game store shelves and copies were sold at conventions, so though my money helped finance getting this game to production I didn’t see it for some weeks after people who didn’t pre-order it had copies in their hands.

Back to the generals though; the long delay was because the first batch didn’t meet VG’s standards which I commend. What makes me wonder though, is since my generals arrived with parts broken and some of them separated from their base, what did the first batch look like? I will note that Valley Games quickly recognized the problem and anyone who has problems can obtain replacement pieces; but, since I know how to work a bottle of glue so I’ll settle for what I have.

Through all the ups and downs of this process I must say that VG has provided me with a beautiful looking board game (one of which I still need to play but damn it looks good on my shelf). I hope they learn from their past and that the need to keep some things under their hat. At this point though I eagerly wait for Titan (which I didn’t pre-order this time) and anticipate the game to look as great and wonderful as H:RvC.

So Valley Games, Keep up the good work and I look forward to future releases but just make sure you apply the lessons learned and continue to grow. You are in a tough situation where people demand information, but are never happy with the information provided.

Looking at some feedback on Titan it does appear that VG has put on a little bit of a filter (and has thus become vague) because the backlash they have been receiving has unfair to someone trying to be open with their client base. I wish them the best of luck and sucess and if they are looking for other AH titles to re-publish might I recommend Gunslinger?

‘Til Next Time - Happy Gaming
LvT

Filed under: Games - Editorials, Valley Games by LordVonTush
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Lost Cities is a tough game for me to ramble on about. Out of all the games in my collection it has received the most plays in the recent years, but not for reasons of it being a great game. It is an interesting game which is accessible to most people and if it was published by a major publisher with main stream, big-box retailers, this game has a great chance of success on a large scale.

With Lost Cities, the theme means nothing to the game. The premise behind it is players take the role of archeologists exploring ruins of ancient civilizations. Deep down though the game is just hand management and has many parallels to card games such as standard solitaire or gin rummy. The game is played with a deck of over-sized cards and a board which looks good but is unnecessary.

Players take turns playing cards from their hand on their side of the board which matches the color on the board (for example a green card goes in the green section of the board). These are called “expeditions” and each player runs their expedition from their side of the board. The deck is divided up into five colors or suits with cards numbers 2-10 as well as three “handshake” cards. I’m going to bypass a rules summary here because the rules are simple enough to where a summary would just be a retyping of the rules. Basically the game comes down to knowing the scoring system (which will take a round or two for new people) and once knowing the scoring the system how to manage your hand to maximize the scoring possibilities.

As I mentioned I’m torn on LC. On one hand the game is good, light fun. It is simple and accessible to just about everyone who enjoys card games be it poker, gin, spades, bridge, solitaire…whatever. This, in my experience, has also been problematic. The simple rules and familiar mechanics really does make it a must have in any game collection yet on the other hand, those simple rules and familiar mechanics has also caused a problem for me which soured the game to some extent.

My case in point is when I was teaching some games to a friend of mine who is a poker player through and through. He is also a person that I spent many a college days and nights playing gin rummy. Since this game has familiar aspects when compared to those two games I though it would be a hit. Which it was, but the downside is he no longer had interest in anything else. That caused me to lose any sort of traction on introducing or expanding on any other game that he had interest in and this became, as he described it, “our game”.

So in the grand scheme of things, I was happy to get some gaming in, but all variety was lost and interest in anything else was gone. So that is my word of caution on the game. As I mentioned this game should be in everyone’s collection yet some caution needs to be used on deciding when to introduce this game. Personally during that time I got a little burnt out on the game (three or four games back to back three times a week will do that) but it did provide me with the social experience that games ultimately are meant to provide. For me though, the game doesn’t offer enough depth and variety to justify the amount of plays it was getting and ultimately I feel the game is slightly overrated for the depth and fun it provides, yet LC is still a game that fits very well into any game collection and should be in every game collection.

Rating: 3 out of 5

‘Tile Next Time – Happy Gaming
LvT

Filed under: Games - Card Games, Lost Cities by LordVonTush
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