Game of the Week – Dungeons & Dragons. The latest version of Dungeons & Dragons is finally available, and we’re very happy to let you know that the wait has been worth it. It must be a daunting task to update the world’s most popular roleplaying game, but Wizards of the Coast have done a great job with the new edition, streamlining and modernising rules, making D&D feel fresh again while maintaining its classic feel of grand adventure. The new Starter Set is on sale now, and places the emphasis on getting people playing rather than learning rules, with a brilliantly written multi-part adventure that will keep players busy for weeks. For those looking for more content, the full basic rules have been made freely available to download, which should keep you busy until thePlayer’s Handbook, Monster Manual and Dungeon Master’s Guide are released later this year. For more information, check out The Escapist’s first impressions of both the basic rules and the starter set. Many of us got our first taste of roleplaying through a D&D Starter Set, and we’re hopeful that this new edition will help capture the imagination of a whole new generation of adventurers.

From Board to Screen and Back Again. Tabletop games have a long history of acting as an inspiration for video games, a favour now being returned with a range of boardgames clearly inspired by digital counterparts. Recently, Eurogamer interviewed Firaxis (developers of theCivilization and X-COM series of games) who’s appreciation of boardgame mechanics has been key to the design methodology of their video games. A great read, and a reminder of that the multi-talented Ananda Gupta was heavily involved in the development of both tabletop classic Twilight Struggle and video game hit X-COM: Enemy Unknown.

The Disease is Spreading … Rapidly! Last week we reported on the very exciting news that Pandemic Legacy is in development. This joins what is becoming a very busy 12 months for Pandemic fans, with the competitive Contagion (in which you play as diseases attempting to wipe out civilisation) and dice-based The Cure both being released later this year. Lets hope Z-Man Games haven’t got carried away with the disease theme and that the new games all remain as infectiously addictive as the original!

The Dice Tower’s Top 10 Games That Have Lost Their Shine. The Dice Tower continue to make some great videos covering quirky and interesting Top 10 lists. Their slightly misleadingly-named Top 10 Turkeys video covers the games Tom, Sam and Zee used to like but have maybe been a little overplayed and no longer hold their original appeal. Also worth a watch is their Top 10 Old Games, running through games released before 1993 which still play well today.

A New Core for Magic. Its that time of year again… The 2015 core set for Magic: The Gathering will be released in just a week. For those who just can’t wait, we’ll be running pre-release events at Rules of Play this weekend, so come along and see what all the fuss is about. The core sets are always a great introduction to new players, and we’ll have all the new boosters, fat packs and intro packs on sale from Friday 18th July. If you’re looking to get into Magic, come and speak to us, or pop along to one of our friendly Thursday evening events.

Releases/Restocks/Coming Soon!

New in store from next week – Add the Putrid Players’ Guild to Blood Bowl Team Manager with the new Foul Playexpansion; bluff your way to victory in Skull (new version ofSkull & Roses); a new co-op game from Seiji Kanai (Love Letter), Say Bye To The Villains; the Forged in Fire spell tome for Mage Wars, and take on the Nazis with the new FATE-powered Atomic Robo RPG!

New Releases Available Now -Hills & Sheep, the brand new expansion forCarcassonne; the D-Day Landings expansion for Memoir ’44; Crown of Destiny,the new expansion for Descent; the cute and criminally cheap Ogre PocketEdition; Legions of Darkness and Hammer and Hold expansions for the brilliantWarhammer Diskwars; fantasy deck-building with Ascension: Realms Unravelled; Galactic roleplaying with the Age of Rebellion Core Rulebook;Munchkin gets mythical in the new Legends flavour; backstab your friends and family in Game of Thrones: Westeros Intrigue; Heroes of Normandie, the action-packed WW2 game creating a load of new fans; Galactic Strike Force, the brilliant new co-op from the creators of the super Sentinels of the Multiverse;Ticket to Ride 10th Anniversary Edition, and return of the fantasy classic Blue Moon Legends.

New Releases Available to Order From Today - Archer: Danger Zone! The Board Game; Seventh Hero, and Jane Austen’s Matchmaker.

Arriving soon -  After a very, very long absence, we have word that the 2nd edition of party classic Cas$h ‘n Guns will be released later this year; the new game for 6-25 (!!!) players, The Last Banquet; expansions for budding starship captains with Space Cadets: Resistance is Mostly Futile, Space Cadets Dice Duel: Die Fighter, and a brand-new Space Cadets game, Away Missions; Warhammer Conquest, the new card game based in the 40K universe; Civilizations, the first expansion for Clash of Cultures; dark fantasy adventure based on the massively popular series of novels and computer games in The Witcher; new ships for Star Wars: X-Wing; Seafall Legacy, from the designer of the brilliant Risk Legacy, and the return of the classic Prophecy. PRE-ORDERS FOR ALL THESE BEING TAKEN NOW!

Events

…are now over on the Events Tab. As always, if you want it and we’re not doing it, SHOUT!!