News

Game of the Week – Nations. Our first game of the week of 2014 is a game that although only released a few weeks ago has rapidly risen to become one of our favourites of last year. Nations is a Civilisation game in which 1-5 players attempt to steer their nations to glory from prehistoric times to the early 20th Century. Inspired by the brilliant Through The Ages, but faster and more accessible, Nations provides a deep, highly interactive and intense gaming experience, running at around 40 minutes per player. We feel that Nations is a standout title, and destined to be played a lot in 2014. For more information, the wonderful Radho has produced an excellent series of videos covering an overview,comprehensive walkthrough and review of the game.  Rahdo recently named Nations as his favourite game of 2013, an opinion we share, and comes very highly recommended for fans of Civilisation games or strategy titles.

12 Days of Christmas Quiz Competition Winners. Over Christmas, we ran a 12 Days of Christmas Quiz on Twitter. We had loads of entries, and can now reveal the (sometimes slightly cryptic) answers and also our lucky winners:

• A game with changing rules: Fluxx
• Two virus outbreaks: Pandemic
• Three bamboo pieces: Takenoko
• Four green gems: Escape: Curse of the Temple
• Five tiny trains: Ticket to Ride
• Six bricks-a-flying: Cube Quest
• Seven tiles-a-sinking: Forbidden Island
• Eight French meeples: Carcassonne
• Nine strange pictures: Dixit
• Ten levels-a-gaining: Munchkin
• Eleven bright bugs: Hive
• Twelve settlement upgrades: Settlers of Catan

The three lucky winners who each receive a £10 Rules of Play gift voucher are:Jonathan Fry, Michael Devonald and Jamie Gibbs. Congratulations to the winners and thanks to everyone who took part.

Circular Checkmate. We’ve already reported on one game’s designer’s efforts to produce a sequel to possible the world’s most famous boardgame in Chess 2: The Sequel. Polygon have recently reported on another effort to update the venerable classic in the shape of SphereChess, which wraps the traditional 8×8 board around a sphere. For those interested in trying this out, a free beta version of the game is available to download for PC now.

The Chrismas Gift of Disease(??!??). Matt Leacock and Z-Man Games have recently produced a special scenario for their smash-hit Pandemic inspired by the recent US government shutdown. Given away free for Christmas, the scenario is available to download here!

Kickstarter Update. 2013 saw us back a number of games via Kickstarter which have proved massively popular, including Dungeon Roll and the Martin Wallace designed A Study in Emerald, based on the short story by Neil Gaiman. Games we’re currently backing that we’re eagerly anticipating in 2014 include the highly rated party game Two Rooms And A Boom and the revised edition of the brilliant steampunk RPG Space 1889. Watch this space for more details as they become available!

Star Trek Attack Wing – Dominion War Event. Following a break over December, we’ll be back running the third month of the epic Dominion War event for Star Trek Attack Wing on Sunday 12th January from 11am. Bring along your finest fleet to take part in The Siege of AR-558. Special rules and instruction sheets are available to download now.

Releases/Restocks/Coming Soon!

New in store from next week – Its finally here, the new expansion for Race For The Galaxy, Alien Artifacts;Dead Panic, the zombietastic successor to Castle Panic; new allies for Red Dragon Inn – Witchdoctor Natyli andCormac the Mighty; Dementalism; India/Australia map pack for the classic Power Grid, Only War: No Surrenderand a reprint of the Pathfinder Beginner Box.

New Releases Available Now - Rampage, the monstrously smashing new game where destruction and mayhem provide a fast route to fun; game of the week Nations; Level 7 [Omega Protocol], which featured very highly in the Dice Tower’s Favourite Games of 2013; Nothing Personal the mafia game co-designed by Tom Vasel; the drink-fuelled fantasy chaos continues inRed Dragon Inn 4; tactical tabletop battles in the Old World in Warhammer: Diskwars; Battlelore, the epic fantasy war-game is back and looking better than ever; 4X space exploration in the brilliant Hegemonic; build a powerful dynasty in pre-revolution France in Legacy: The Testament of the Duke de Crecy; the latest from hit designer Vlaada Chvatil (Through the Ages, Mage Knight) in Tash-Kalar; the latest chapter pack for the wonderful Pathfinder Adventure Card Game, The Hook Mountain Massacre; the latest edition to the Carcassonne family, South Seas; bluff and backstabbing in the magnificent Coup; take on the Trans-Siberian Railway with Russian Railroads; the wonderful Eldritch Horror; the monstrous Dark, Darker Darkest, and some brilliant new strategy games in the shape of Glass Road, Amerigo and Bruxelles 1893.

Also in Stock Now - A bevy of great games from the hit webshow Tabletop, including Carcassonne; Settlers of Catan; Last Night on Earth; Zombie Dice, Get Bit and Tsuro; Takenoko; Once Upon A Time; Ticket to Ride; The Resistance;Munchkin; Fiasco and Dragon Age RPG.

Available to Order From Today – Two new war games, Lincoln’s War and Seas of Iron.

Arriving soon - new ships for Star Wars: X-Wing; monster mayhem inRampage; Seafall Legacy, from the designer of the brilliant Risk Legacy; intense underwater drama in Hunters: German U-Boats at War; the return of the classicBlue Moon Legends; a new expansion for the wonderful Wiz War, Malefic Curses. 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!!