I am really excited to announce that Kosmos, creator of Settlers of Catan , have created a Star Trek Catan. It looks really cool and I can’t wait to play it, however I can’t seem to find either a release date or who is selling it.
I also looked on the Catan website and could not find any information regarding this game, so I am hoping that it is not a hoax.
I really like Catan and it’s really fun to play! Besides, how often can you laugh at “Do you have wood for my sheep?” Just curious, watch this great clip from The Big Bang Theory playing Settlers of Catan!
I am new to the whole trading card game thing, so when the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game got to be more popular at our local game store, Wandering Havoc, I thought “what the hell! Why not!” So that was November 2011. Fast forward to now (Jan 2012) and I still love it! While I am not the best player out there, as I am still learning how it all works, I am getting better and better with each game. I am actually starting to win a few games during tournaments, which never used to happen. The biggest thing I have learned about the WOW TCG is to ask for help. I was missing a lot of easy and killer moves because I didn’t fully understand the cards. So, I ask for help.
As I am not typically one to ask for help, this was a bit daunting for me. But after I did, I learned so much! I even silly things that I would have never thought to ask, like being able to stack abilities. (Which I do like crazy now!) Learning how to build decent and OP (overpowering) decks was fun. I learned to watch my fellow players, especially when they were beating me to see what I could do differently next time.
So, while I’m still not the best player in the world, I enjoy it and I have learned a lot about the game and myself in the process. I’m 106th in the State of Washington (as of Jan 12, 2012) out of 204, so that’s not too bad since it’s the first TCG I’ve ever played!
I had the pleasure of playing in the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game (TCG): Arena Grand Melee on Saturday. Since we had such a big group of people that we ended up splitting up into two groups, led by Ryan Erickson and Brett Robbins (ou fearless WOW leaders). Each table in a free for all against all other players. My table had five players.
What made this game fun were that with each person’s draw a card phase, the Arena Master draws a card from his/her deck. Now these cards can give combat advantages, disadvantages, or just be plain silly. Case in point, at one point we had to phone a friend and the first person to get the person on the phone to say “draw a card” on speakerphone, got to draw an extra card. We also had to stand up for a large portion of the game, or you were out of the game. The other table drew a card that required the first person to touch a card to the ceiling of the room. They jumped up out of their chairs so fast, it was hilarious!
The game was a lot of fun! I ended up winning at my table, which was a total surprise to me, as I never win! So I was pretty happy! The second round was a bit more daunting, as it was a 12 person free for all. It took forever to get to each person’s turn. So, as a suggestion, I would have tables of no more than six or it gets too crazy!
Arena Grand Melee was a lot of fun and I would highly suggest any WOW TCG players to get it for a fun change of pace in your game. We definitely had lots of fun with it!
PS. Forgot one of our other fearless leaders, Ryan Miller! Sorry Ryan!!!
This year’s New Years Eve was a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun playing games at my local game store and even
Wes & Richard playing Power Grid with me at Wandering Havoc Games
learned a few new games.
Power Grid is a resource/strategy game. I normally don’t dig strategy game, because I suck at them. However Power Grid is a lot of fun. You can buy coal, garbage, oil or nuclear factory to power a city that you buy. What really gets fun is when you get to Stage 2 and you can buy power stations right next to other players. We can get a little bit competitive at times! (Okay, we get really competitive!) But it was fun and I would definitely suggest picking up a copy of Power Grid.
Penny Arcade The Game – Gamers vs. Evilwas super fun! It’s a deck building game and the cards are hilarious! Such as the Touching Wieners card, (see photo below).
Touching Wieners card
We had WAY too much fun with this card! (That’s what I get for playing with Wes & Richard!) It was the first deck building game that I have played and it was a lot of fun! I liked that the cards were funny and entertaining! I tried to play Dominion, but gave up. Dominion is a great game, if you know what you are doing. I think that now that I know how to play a deck building game, I will enjoy Dominion even more. But back to PAX – Gamers vs. Evil, the game was great and a lot of fun to play! I would suggest playing with friends who have either a great sense of humor or a twisted sense of humor, both make this game really fun to play!
So those are my two new games that I need to make it through 2012! I will be reviewing more games as I try them out, so make sure to check back!
(P.S. Thanks to Richard and Wes for unwittingly being a part of my blogosphere!)
Our local game store is having a New Year’s Eve Party and it will be fun! Our store will be closing at 6pm for
Image via Wikipedia
our private New Year’s party! It should fun, filled with gaming and lots of fun stuff!
Earlier today we will be playing the World of Warcraft Trading Card Game, Arena Grand Melee game. This sounds like fun! I am told that this has a series of cards like “phone a friend” and “you have to stand up the whole game, or take damage”. It sounds like the perfect game for some New Year’s Eve fun!
I hope that you all have a lot of fun this New Year’s Eve! What nerdy things are you all doing?
So Christmas is coming up in like, 10 days. Oh, Boy! People keep asking me what I want for Christmas, so here is goes!
Any Shadowrun book! My Saturday gaming group just switched over to playing Shadowrun and I am hooked! I have the core book, but why just have that when there are SO many others to add cool stuff with! Shadowrun is a post-apocalyptic world set in Seattle (woot! woot!) and there is technology and magic involved and it’s pretty awesome! Think Ghost in the Shell.
Disneyland Adventures Kinect Game! I tried this game out at this year’s (2011) PAX Prime and it was a lot of fun! Now, this isn’t just a game for me, either, it’s for the whole family, so I like that too! This game was a ton of fun, because you got to travel around the park, meet up with characters and have a lot of fun! My 7 year old will love this game too!
Sesame Street’s Once Upon a Monster! Okay, again I know, a kid game, but it’s the only game that my 2 & 1/2 year old can really attempt to play for the Kinect and she wants to play SO badly! Sometimes, watching your kids have fun with a video game is a gift enough! This game will teach Sarah to make up stories and she can interact with her favorite characters, Elmo, Cookie Monster and Abby Cadaby! Every time she sees the commercial for this, she goes nuts!
The Hunger Games series. Okay, so I really just need the last book, but if you haven’t read them, you should! This series is the first in a long time to really captivate me, and it’s a kid/teen series too. I am not a big fan of this demographic when it comes to novels, but this series hooked me. Plus there is the movie version of the first book coming out in March. Check out the trailer!
Any Terry Prachett Discworld book. I have played the game and it was fun, so when I found out that it was based on a series of books, I got very excited!
My friends and family to be happy. (I know, it’s a little Miss America sounding!) My friends and I have had a crazy year and I just want it to end on a good note!
So whether I get any of these things or not, I hope that I helped you find a few gift ideas and I hope that most of all you enjoy Christmas or Hanukkah with your friends and family. The most important gift to me is seeing my friends and family happy!
So my kick-ass gamer friend, Jessie and I decided that we were going to put together an episode of Guide to Gamers, or whatever we really end up naming our vidcast show. So we had the great idea to go through Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Emporium book from Dungeons & Dragons 4E.
We talk about the cool stuff that we want for our characters, plus some of the funnier (named items) as well. And as per normal in any gamer environment, there are a few dick and fart jokes. (When you are a girl gamer in a predominantly boy gaming world, you learn to throw these out like crazy.)
So, we hope that you enjoy it! (And please keep in mind, this is our first episode! )
On Saturday at PAX, I headed over to the Dungeons & Dragons booth and had WAY too much fun! I had a talk with some of the D&D guys and they just launched an awesome Facebook D&D game: Heroes of Neverwinter. I had a chance to look and play with it at PAX and it looks awesome! This game follows the footsteps of the Neverwinter campaign. (Which you should play if you aren’t already! Our local game store is Wandering Havoc, if you are in the Marysville/Arlington area) The only bummer is that the beta is now closed. So I am hopeful that it will open up again really soon. I think they might have just gotten flooded from all the folks at PAX Prime.
I also looked at Dungeons and Dragons Online as well. I have played this awesome and free MMO for a couple of years now and I love it! It’s a great and cheaper way to get my D&D fix! I acquired an awesome pirate hat code for your D&D online character, if you want it, you just have to tell me what race and class of character you play, and why you like it! Don’t forget to include your email, or I can’t send you the code!
I am pretty new to the whole Dungeons & Dragons scene. I played my first game of Dungeons and Dragons a year ago at the Penny Arcade Expo. It was fun and loved it. We played another time after that, but life got in the way.
Fast forward to now. For the last few weekends, we have been gaming fiends. (When I say we, I mean my hubby, myself and my kiddos.) We are lucky enough to have one of the best gaming stores around, Wandering Havoc. What I love most about this game store is the people.
When you walk into Wandering Havoc, it’s friendly. I have been to other gaming stores where the people barely look at you let alone talk to you. In doing this, they fail to realize that they are losing customers this way. Who wants to go into a game store where nobody talks to you! Another big thing is how they treat my kiddos. My daughters Sophia & Sarah are 6 and 2. Sophia loves to play D&D, but as she is a bit younger, she has a lot of questions and needs some help. Everyone at Wandering Havoc is awesome to my kids. It’s not just the people who own and work there, it’s the gamers too! They were doing a demo of a cool World War II airplane rpg game (ok, guys and gals at Wandering Havoc, feel free to comment what the name was please!) and Sophia had a ton of questions about it. Everyone playing took the time to explain it to her and she thought it was the coolest game ever.
Wandering Havoc takes the time to teach and encourage the players, especially the noobs like me! If fact, I’m going to learn to DM (Dungeon Master) for Dungeons and Dragons on Wednesday. (I’m so excited!) They treat everyone with respect (unless we’re playing Munchkin, then all bets are off! He, he, he!) and we all have fun. It’s a place where everyone knows your name (insert Cheers reference here…). They are also involved in the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) helping out in the Dungeons & Dragons area with the games and tournaments.
So for all you fellow gamers, if you haven’t found your dream game store and are in the Snohomish County area, make sure to check out Wandering Havoc Games. You will see me there too!
Finally! A Xbox 360 Kinect game that I am really excited for! This game was talked about at this week’s E3 conference and I am really excited! This is the type of game that I have been waiting for on the Kinect and it lends itself really well for the Kinect! If you are a Star Wars fan, this game looks awesome! It’s the closest thing to actually being a Jedi! How cool is that!? Don’t believe that this game will rock? Watch for yourselves! According to IGN’s website, this game is set to release around November/December of this year. I know what I want in my stocking!
What do you think about this game? Also what games would you like to see as Kinect games (ie. Halo, Medal of Honor, Gears….?)
