Game of the Week - Shadowrun Crossfire. Gangsters, ghouls and gritted teeth await you in this 2-4 player game that may well have you bed-wetting again. You play as a shadowrunner (obvs) that acts as the city's general dogsbody. Dragon needs slaying? You'll be there. A Matrix that needs hacking? Easy as pie. Organising all of your crazy activities so you don't overwork yourself? Noooot so much. You're the best hope for the city in this cooperative deck-building game that sees you protecting citizens' lives with your mates and defeating monsters. All in a day's work! As predicted, the interwebz has gone berserk for the game, so here are three reviews from The Dice Tower, Board Game Brawl and boardgamegeektv. Feast away on reviews, my evil minions! 

Pass the Popcorn - and the Rule Sheet! In 2012, the world played witness to a film so poor that one critic was forced to comment that the film was 'Just like the board game, assuming the board game cost $200 million and was dumb.' It is, of course, 'Battleship', starring pop star Rihanna and other less important people! Based on the classic sinking ships board game of the same name, the film's flop didn't serve as much of a warning to anyone, and people continue to attempt 'board game films' - this Halloween brings us 'Ouija', a scary movie blockbuster that's based on literally the last board game I would ever think of if someone asked me to name every board game I could think of. I'm not even sure I'd call it a board game. If they wanted scary movies - Last Night On Earth, anyone? Betrayal at the House on the Hill? This year could also see the release of 'Candy Land', starring Adam Sandler (please no) and 'Monopoly', directed by 'Alien''s Ridley Scott, so expect a tiny metal dog to burst through the stomach of a larger metal dog. 

Swipe Right to Screw Over Your Opponent. As the world of technology and online advancement continues to grow, the rest of the world is getting sucked into it like it's a massive black hole full of prank videos and pictures of cats. One particular industry and hobby that's jumped aboard the digital train, much to our delight, is board gaming! While some games, like Golem Arcana, integrate digital apps into regular real life game play, there are some that simply pop up in your online store, fully transformed into an app and ready for you to play. These games are mostly the heavyweights - the most popular with the biggest boxes, meaning a portable game of it on your tablet or phone is much appreciated. Now you can play Catan whilst sitting on the toilet! Carcassonne in the queue at the Post Office! Click here for a bigger list of Android board games.

Sorry Son, But You Suck. Did your parents let you win board games? Most people, if asked this question, don't tend to have a mixed answer - either your parents were the type to smile fondly and let you win or the type to flip the board up in your face and laugh maniacally when the final scores are counted up. For young children, both approaches could be a little tricky and it could all depend on whether you want to raise a child who believes they 'll win everything, forever, or a child whose ego shrinks to the size of a meeple playing piece. Amy Peterson, a former English teacher, has written a good article on why she doesn't let her kids win. Cooperative gaming, gracious winning and ignoring the scoring are a few of the golden rules to enjoying a night of board games without scraping the leftovers from dinner off the wall after a particularly tense game of Cube Quest.

Friday, Friday, Gotta Play Magic on Friday... Six whole weeks of Magic the Gathering goodness has already begun, and gets a second royal kick off with the Sealed League event today! There'll be prizes available along the way and the chance to target potential winners in order to try and beat them as savagely as possible - sounds fun! Click here for the official Facebook event.

Gaming @ The Gate is back this Monday, at 7pm in the Gate centre! Games, fun and even more games! Some beer, some mates and games! There'll be games, by the way - did I mention games? Click here for an event about games!

New Releases / Restocks / Coming Soon!

New In Store From Next Week - restocks aplenty with Suburbia, Suburbia Inc, Last Will and Tash-Kalar; brand new stuff kicking off with a super strategy card game with Cypher; the cutest party game ever with Bunny Bunny Moose Moose; watery war games with Silent War (reprint); play the court jester or the queen in The Last Banquet; Lord of the Rings LCG with Redhorn Gate, Road to Rivendell and Watcher in the Water; four Star Wars Dice Bags with Boba Fett, Storm Trooper, Galactic Empire and Rebel Alliance; fight for your life in Invasion - Level 7; secret fossil Pokemon with the Ancient Power Box; Ozrik the Adept and his Brother Bastian with The Red Dragon inn!

 

New Releases Available Now - Dead of Winter has turned up and it's as frightening and epic as we'd imagined; pink princess power in Adventure Time Card Wars with Princess vs Lumpy; more Adventure Time fun with Munchkin Adventure Time; Legendary Encounters Alien; Khans of Tarkir, the newest Magic the Gathering block, is now available to buy!; the Netrunner First Contact Data Pack; more cartoonish expansion fun with Smash Up - Monster Smash; Bilbo's in a battle again in Battle of the Five Armies; mourning and misery in Gloom's three newest expansions including Unhappy Homes, Unwelcome Guests and Unfortunate Expeditions; Lost Legacy 2 - Flying Garden; some RPG goodness with Cosmic Patrol - Beyond the Gravastar; The Strange RPG - The Dark Spiral and Accursed RPG - Savage Worlds; become a war hero and grab a slice of the action in Won by the Sword; Fire in the Lake and Glory's End/When Eagles Fight.

 

Arriving Soon - The final siblings of the D&D family with Rise of Tiamat and Dungeon Master's Guide; beautiful storytelling in The Witcher Adventure Game; Christmas is coming early in the form of 3 new Pandemic expansions, including dice-based quick co-op The Cure, the competitive Contagion and the hotly anticipated Pandemic: Legacy; Fantasy Flight's LCGs take on the mighty legions of Warhammer 40K in Conquest; Dungeons and Dragons shrinks to miniature in a collaboration between Wizkids and Wizards of the Coast for the new Attack Wing Starter Set; From a galaxy far far away comes new Star Wars miniatures games, fleet-based Armada and ground-based Imperial Assault; city-building and Mayor-becoming in the clever and quick Machi Koro; family-friendly bluffing and bribery in Sheriff of Nottingham, and come closer and see, see into the trees in Talisman: The Woodland.... PRE-ORDERS FOR ALL THESE BEING TAKEN NOW!