The 10 Best Games of 2013 (that I’ve actually played)

And so we reach the end of another great year in tabletop gaming and 2013 has been a great year. About halfway through I was concerned that the number of great games was lacking but the second has created some real corkers.

News Collider: Balance of the Force and two Talisman Expansions

 It’s so very close to Christmas and you’d think that with just a few days away that the game new would stop, but nobody told Fantasy Flight Games as we have not one but three expansions announced.

News Collider: Smash Up Sci-Fi, The Witcher board game and Russian CCGs

You would think with the run up to Christmas that the world of board game news would slow down, that after the US is stuffed full of thanksgiving turkey and the British are eyeing up their own that everyone would take a break. But no! The world of tabletop games does not stop, so take a break from wrapping presents and worrying that you still haven’t bought a present for Aunty Mable and delve into our current round up of gaming news.

12 Realms Review

The forces of darkness are invading the realms of fables and fairy tales and it’s your job to keep those invaders back and vanquish the Dark Lord behind the attack. In 12 Realms you, and up to five friends, take the roles of fairy tale favourites such as Snow White, D’Artagnan, the Sugar Plum Fairy and Robin Hood and attempt to repel the incoming invaders and defeat the Dark Lord. To save the day all the heroes have to do is collect the three pieces of the magical artefact and then vanquish the Dark Lord before time runs out and the realm is overwhelmed.

News Collider: Shadowrun Crossfire, Valley of the Kings, Marvel Dice Masters & Storm of Vengeance

 

 Yay, its Friday! A whole weekend of gaming opportunities and none of that pesky work getting in the way! But before you jump headlong into a weekend of cardboard excess how about a quick bite of game news? This week we have a bit of a card game round up with two lots of deck building, some dice building and yet another random video game coming from the Warhammer 40,000 licence.

Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures Game Review

Lock S-Foils in attack position. It’s hard not to get giddy about Star War X-Wing Miniatures game; a tabletop miniatures system based on a cross between the World War I dogfighting game Wings of War and one of the most iconic space operas in the history of cinema. It’s a game that promises a lot and I’m happy to say it does not fail to deliver on those promises.

Kickstarter Collision December 2013

This month’s Kickstarter roundup was going to start off with a big thing about Heroquest, but the Heroquest Kickstarter is currently on hold due to an IP dispute. That doesn’t stop the rest of Kickstarter going strong. It is Christmas however, and I’ve been reluctant to spend as much backing projects this month. Are you feeling the holiday pinch? Is it affecting your Kickstarter spending?

As per usual it’s not fair to look at the exciting new projects without first catching up on some old friends.

• Journey: Wrath of Demons raised a whopping $425,000 managing to achieve many of its stretch goals. 
• Unfortunately Firewall didn’t make its funding which is a real shame as I think this looked like a really good little game. Sarcastic Robot has promised to re-launch the project next year and believe they have learnt what went wrong. Firewall raised only $7875 of its $25,000 total but it’s difficult to use that value as many people cancel their funding if they think a project will fail. 
• Shadow of Brimstone hasn’t long finished and made over $1.3 million unlocking all manner of weird west miniatures. 
• RARRR!!! Almost doubled its funding goal and I’m hoping this game does well enough that we’ll see it in shops. 
• Worker Placement was cancelled mere days into its project. Publisher Dyskami issued a statement stating that the by analysing the first 48 hours of the project they could determine that it wasn’t going to be a success and are going to re-launch in the new year. If you’re interested you can still check out our Worker Placement Review.

News Collider: Heroquest Cancelled Due to IP Dispute

 
Update 3: The curtain has finally fallen on the Heroquest 25th Anniversary Kickstarter. When we originally reported the news I used the word cancelled, instead of suspended as was factually correct. Now in a statement to it's backers and publicly on their website, Gamezone have informed the world that they will be cancelling the project.

But this isn't the end. Gamezone never stopped working on the development of the project and are planning to restart a crowd funding campaign on an, as yet unknown, platform. When the latest project goes live any news will be posted on www.heroquestclassic.com

HearthStone Preview

We love a bit of trading card game action here on Polyhedron Collider and we also love it when people build on board game and card games ideas and integrate them into video games. Because of this we were very excited when Blizzard announced an online collectible card game based on the World of Warcraft universe and rightly so, Blizzard have a track record of producing well-polished and extremely high quality games. Hearthstone is that game and is currently available in beta, it’s taken a while for the beta to make its way to UK shores and now it’s here we’ve had the opportunity to give it a go.

Interview with Juraj Bilic creator of Machina Arcana

Machina Arcana caused quite a stir at Essen Spiel 2013 and it has been a game I’ve been looking forward to since it was announced. Well the Machina Arcana Kickstarter has just started and I got a chance to speak to the game’s creator about the game, Lovecraftian horror and exhibiting at Essen.

News Collider: Cheaty Mages, Dead of Winter, Shadow of Nerekhall and LCG Draft Packs

 

Essen has been shut down for another year but the board game news just keeps coming. This month we’ve got a Japanese card game from the makers of Love Letter, the start of a series of games from Plaid Hat and yet another Descent expansion. And for those card game fans we have a new competition friendly way of getting cards for your favourite LCG.

Worker Placement Review

There comes a time when you feel sorry for someone working in a call centre. A whole day on the phone talking to irate customers complaining about the price of their gas bill while having to stick to a script and never deviating. You may feel sorry for them but in Worker Placement, the latest game from Dyskami Publishing, currently raising funds on Kickstarter, that pang of pity lasts only for a few seconds as at some point you’ll give someone a job in a Call Centre and you’ll take that money.

Kickstarter Collision November 2013

Remember remember to Kickstart November,
Demons, Firewalls and Lairs
But before we direct, into this month’s projects
Lets see how the previous month fairs

• Darklands the mythical miniatures war game smashed its £20,000 target with a whopping £138,533.
• Unfortunately Xi Cards, managed only to secure half of its funding goal. Project creator Chris is now looking for a ‘more gradual’ release schedule.
• Larceny scraped through its funding goal raising just $552 over its $15,000 goal.
• Ortus will be making its way to backers when it raised $16,522 dollars for a $6,000 goal.

News Collider: Essen Spiel 2013

Guten Tag! Wo ist deine lieblingsspiele? No we haven’t gone mad (well we haven’t been certified yet) we are just celebrating the biggest table top gaming convention in the world; Essen Spiel, which most people just shorten to Essen. There’s a good chance if you’re reading this that you won’t be going to Spiel so we’ve picked out some of the best looking games that are either launching, or just making themselves known at the giant German games fair.

Descent: Journeys in the Dark Second Edition Review

Why would anyone want to go dungeon crawling? Its dark, it’s going to be damp and all that mould and fungus is going to mess with your allergies. And that’s forgetting about the Dungeon’s residents, if someone broke into your home to steal money, you’d be pulling out a flame thrower to take them down but when a dragon does it he’s the villain. It may seem a stupid idea in reality but we all love a good dungeon crawler and the second edition of Descent: Journeys in the Dark may be more than just a good dungeon crawler, it may just be the best.

News Collider: Koryŏ, Seafall, Descent Lieutenants and Quantum

It seems to have been a while since we did a news round up. I’m not sure why that is, either the news has been a reluctant badger hiding from the latest cull or I’ve been a lazy web writer. Both concepts are ludicrous enough to be true so let’s have a look at some steam-punk trick taking, the latest legacy game, some lieutenant miniatures for overlords to spruce up their Descent games and dice flying, cube powered intergalactic combat.

Interview with Bill Smith of Waning Gibbous Games, creator of Larceny

Larceny is a heist themed party game from Waning Gibbuos Games currently raising fuinds on Kickstarter. In Larceny players have to create daring robberies using a a limited arsenal of equipment and their imagination to get away with the prize. I posed the games creator, Bill Smith, a few questions about the game, Kickstarter and 70's movies.

Kickstarter Collision October 2013

We know October is here because the shops are now selling mince pies and the pub we play board games in has put up their Christmas tree. Yes autumn is now upon us, the weather is getting wetter and the nights are getting darker and the only way you're going to cheer yourself up is by investing in some new and shiny boardgames.

But before we delve into the new hotness let’s recap on September’s projects:

• 404: Law not Found has a few days still to go but has passed its funding target, and is well on its way to some juicy stretch goals.
• Burning Suns also passed its funding goal with a few days spare there’s still a chance to get in on this one.
• Ashes-Dark Side of the Moon failed to meet its funding raising only £6k of the £30k asked for
• Septikon Uranium Wars almost doubled its funding goal, which wasn’t really surprising with e buzz surrounding this game.
• And last of all Wrath of Kings surprised absolutely no-one when it managed to raise nearly ¾ of a million dollars yet again Cool Mini or Not have had a storming project.

Interview with Emil Larson, creator of Burning Suns

Burning Suns is a galactic spanning empire building game currently raising funds on Kickstarter. I had the chance to chat with the game’s creator Emil Larson about the game and its future.

News Collider: Deadzone, DC deckbuilding, X-Wing and Heroquest

This week’s news roundup of board game news contains a collection of heroes and villains. We’ve got the good guys of DC Comics battling it out in the DC Deckbuilding game Heroes Unite; we’ve got the dastardly pilots of the evil empire taking to two new TIE Interceptors for Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures game and we have the brave soldiers of the Enforcers battling the plague in Deadzone. Best of all we have a rumoured return of some of the greatest heroes of gaming in the form of Heroquest.

War of the Fallen iOS Review

The concept of collectible card games, or CCGs, in a video game is becoming a bit of a thing. Big names in both the video game industry and board gaming industry, such as Blizzard, Minecraft creator Mojang and even Wizards of the Coast are developing games based along the concept of collecting and trading cards and then using them to battle each other. As with a lot of concepts, as soon as it becomes popular there is an explosion of games using the same mechanic and so it is that Zynga, a company made famous by a social farming game have released War of the Fallen, a collectible card game for iOS.

News Collider: Lords of Waterdeep iOS, Space Wolves, Dark Angels, Combat Monsters and Star Admiral

Gen Con quite rightly centred everyone’s focus on the wonderful world of tabletop gaming. This means that some of our digital distractions, the video game counterparts to our tabletop games got forgotten and there’s been some big news over the last few weeks. We’ve got yet more Games Workshop video games a couple of new style collectible card games and a digital version of one of the biggest games of 2012.

404:Law Not Found Preview

There’s an alien spaceship attacking but someone has loaded the forward missile tubes with bananas. Somehow the monkey has escaped his cage and has found its way into the cloning machine. Someone has loaded the navigation computer with the wrong charts so now you’re completely lost. Yes, it’s another day on the Lucky Break, a spaceship with some of the most advanced robot helpers that money can buy which has made the human crew rather lazy. Unfortunately the new microchips for the robots where defective and now all the robots have had their directives scrambled.

Lords of War Review

The stand out game from this year UK Games Expo was Lords of War, an interesting little card game from new company Black Box Games. At the Expo only the first set of cards where available and I said I would resist a review until there was more to explore in the game. Well now the second boxed set is available and I’m happy to say it hasn’t disappointed.

Kickstarter Collision: September 2013

It seems that summer is finally coming to an end. August is over, the kids are back at school and they’re already advertising Christmas crap on the telly (unfortunately I’m not joking). Summer may be ending but Kickstarter never stops as we come to another round-up of gaming projects for you to pledge your hard earned cash and ill-gotten gains upon.

But before we jump into the exciting new projects, let us recap on last month:

• We may have a new Kickstarter record here as The Agents nets over a $270,000! That may be the biggest board game project that didn't include miniatures. All of the original stretch goals where achieved and even those added later to compensate the over eager pledgers where gobbled up.
• Casual Game Insider is guaranteed a second season raising $26,410 of their $15,000 goal.
• IncrediBrawl achieved a very respectable $23,267 of its $15,000 goal.
• Carmarace managed to get over the finishing line by the seat of its pants, exceeding its goal by only $130. For most of the project it looked like Carmarace wasn't going to meet its goal but a last minute push put it through, in fact you may say a very big jump?!

News Collider: Eldritch Horror, Diskwars, Battlelore and Ender's Game

We’re still trying to play catch-up here at Polyhedron Collider HQ (which looks an awful lot like a cupboard under the stairs) and so there’s a lot of ground to cover. Today we’re trying to bring us all up to speed on the latest board game news. It’s not summer without Fantasy Flight Games releasing at least one new game and in the weeks in and around Gen Con the Minnesota giants of board gaming announced not one but three new games, as well as an Ender’s Game game (and if Ender buys it, is it then ‘Ender’s Ender’s Game game’?) from Cryptozoic.

News Collider: Dropzone Commander Starter Box and Big X-Wing Ships

You spend two weeks away and the entire world goes topsy turvy. Yes it’s been two weeks away from Polyhedron Collider and since then there's been a whole bunch of news and that massive Gen Con thing, so it’s about time we caught up on what’s been happening and what the “Best four days in gaming” have to offer. Just to mix things up a bit and because there's so much ground to cover we're going to have not one but four News Collider catch-ups, one for each of the four corners of gaming; board games, miniature games, card games and digital games. So get yourself comfortable as we recap what’s been happening over the few weeks in miniature gaming.

News Collider: Lords of War, Omen and Golem Arcana

This will be the last round up of board game news for a couple of weeks as I’m off on honeymoon and although I trust the in-laws to keep the plants watered I wouldn’t trust them with the gaming news. It would probably be filled with nonsense about the new Coronation Street Monopoly or the ten best tactics for Scrabble. So here’s a last ditch round up of juicy news and by the time I get back GenCon will have happened and no doubt there’ll be a banquet of tabletop gaming news waiting for us all to digest.

Kickstarter Collision: August 2013

Last month in the world of Kickstarter was mired with controversy after the high profile failure of the Doom that came to Atlantic City. This month looks like it’s going to be equally controversial with one of our selected projects already raising eyebrows but let’s not be all pessimistic there’s still loads of wonderful projects in the pipeline.

Games to take on Holiday (or Vacation)

Summer is here and the kids are out of school and you know what that means? Holidays, unless you’re American, in which case vacation! My earliest holiday memory is a camping trip in Tenby, Wales. You may never have visited the glorious Celtic valleys and if you haven’t you’re probably not aware that their most defining feature is the way in which water constantly falls from the sky. This meant I spent a week of playing dominoes and simple card games. You don’t want to be taking dominoes on your holiday; you want something a little more special. So whether you’re sunning yourself poolside on some exotic Caribbean island or sitting in a tent off the Welsh coast desperately trying to keep your underpants dry, here are a collection of five games that can fit into even the smallest suitcase.

News Collider: Chainsaw Warrior, Cave Evil, Ascension Apprentice Edition and The Doom That Came to Atlantic City.

There’s a touch of evil to this week’s selection of board game news as some of the scariest, most horrific and downright wicked things are emerging from the world of tabletop gaming. Whether it’s a scary demonic gate opening in New York city in Chainsaw Warrior, a release of the evilest board game ever; Cave Evil or the announcement of the dark gods of Ascension preying on new comers in the Ascension Apprentice edition starter set its horror all round. But scariest of all is when a Kickstarter goes wrong and we have a roundup of the latest news from the Doom that came to Atlantic City.

Warhammer Quest iOS Review

Like the passing of the seasons board games come and go. Some get rightly forgotten; poor design, roll and move and questionable TV licence tie-ins. Some however get revered, remembered for years and wanted by many to be played again. These games may be completely lost to time, forgotten about or the holder of the original rights lost so that they may never be reprinted. Others will be sat on by a games company that has streamlined its commercial enterprise and “managed its core business” and so decided that these board games are not its thing anymore. But lo, what is this, a new market has arrived, the kids these days are jabbing fingers onto the brightly coloured etch-a-sketches. And so it is that Warhammer Quest, a much revered dungeon crawling board game from the mid-nineties has made its way into your hands.

News Collider: Blood Bound, Dropzone Commander models and Games Workshop skirmish game rumours

It’s hot here in the UK this week, I mean proper hot and there’s only one way to cool down in the sun, an ice cream. You could follow Simon Pegg and Nick Frost and treat yourself to a cornetto but the connoisseur’s ice cream is the mint chocolate Feast. So feast on blood as you bluff your opponents in Fantasy Flight Games Blood Bound, feast your eyes on Hawk Wargames latest Dropzone Commander beauties and feed your curiosity on the latest rumours of a Games Workshop standalone game.

Interview with Chris James, Editor of Casual Game Insider

Casual Game Insider is a magazine devoted to casual games. It’s easy when you’re neck deep in heavy euros and dungeon crawlers to forget about the little games and Casual Game Insider has been working hard to remind everyone that not every game needs hundreds of finely sculpted miniatures or a tree’s worth of tiny wooden cubes. Casual Game Insider is currently raising funds for its second year of print over at Kickstarter and I had a chance to chat with the magazine’s editor in chief, Chris James on the appeal of casual games, surviving Atlantis and writers who can’t be trusted.

News Collider: Planet Steam & Hordes High Command

 

After the news heavy previous issues of News Collider, this week’s is looking a little thin with only two articles. We have some more details on Fantasy Flights steam punk economic management game Planet Steam and the beasts of Hordes heading to Privateer Press’s deck building game High Command.

News Collider: Winter Tales Neuroshima Hex 3.0, Nightfall, Pnademic and Ascension

 

Things are continuing to hot up for convention season with another News Collider brimming with news on the latest board and card game releases. We’ve got a new game from Fantasy Flight Games (which may not actually be that new but never mind), Z-Man games revising our beloved Neuroshima Hex and giving away free stuff for Pandemic, yet another Nightfall Expansion and what might be the last expansion for Ascension on iOS.

Legend of Drizzt Board Game Review

For me the dungeon crawler is the spiritual core of gaming. My very first proper game was Heroquest and since then the concept of fantasy adventurers exploring goblin infested underground lairs has held something of a special place for me. It’s because of that reason that I invested in The Legends of Drizzt. I was looking forward to some co-operative dungeon crawling with friends around the table and reacquainting myself with some old friends from R A Salvatore’s novels. Unfortunately I was left disappointed with a game that just lacked any kind of substance.

Kickstarter Collision: July 2013

To me the term kickstart will always be associated with 80’s teenagers falling off motor bikes. To the rest of the world however, Kickstarter is the central place for crowd funding and (let’s be honest here) pre-ordering of board games. Make no mistake Kickstarter is a big deal, whether you love it or hate it, Kickstarter is not going away. In that mind we’ve had a flood of requests (well 2 actually but that’s a flood round here) to restart the Kickstarter of the month feature, so we’re back with the new, shiny, and ever so slightly different feature, Kickstarter Collision.

News Collider: Dungeon Twister Card Game, Amityville, Warmachine; Tactics and Assassin's Creed

 With the big conventions either just happened (Origins) or just around the corner (GenCon and Essen Speil) the game companies are gearing up with all sorts of hints and announcements of new releases. With that being the case this week’s News Collider is barely big enough to hold the biggest news of the week with sneaky peaks of the Dungeon Twister Card Game, The Amityville Project: Phobos from Mage Company, a Warmachine video game and an Assassin’s Creed board game.

UK Games Expo 2013 - Board and Card Games

Board games where the heart and soul of the UK Game Expo. No matter which direction you looked in there where groups of people huddled around boards, rolling dice, shuffling cards and re-arranging meeples of all shapes and sizes. There was also a fair balance of game styles going on all around from euro designed cube shufflers to fully pimped out dice heavy Ameritrash.

Here we outline some of the best British made board and card games on display at the UK Games Expo 2013.

News Collider: A new Days of Wonder game, A 40k MMO and yet another Descent Expansion

Things are running a little behind schedule here at Polyhedron Collider HQ but a little delay in bringing you the latest News Collider has meant we've had a chance to bring you news of a brand spanking new Days of Wonder game, finally some real life news about a 40k MMO and yet another Descent Expansion.

News Collider: Blood Bowl 2, Wrong Chemistry and Bushido rules release

It's another plate of tasty news hors d'oeuvres this week with a new, and proper, version of Blood Bowl coming to your PC screen, those crazy chemists at Mage Company outlining the future for Wrong Chemistry and the Bushido New Dawn rulebook is here! Tuck in.

I AM MT: Card Battle Review

I’m going to be honest here right from the start, I AM MT is a bizarre game and I don’t think I’ve got my head around it yet. If you’ve ever fancied mixing collectible card games, dungeon crawler s and mystical sword wielding cows then I AM MT may be right up your street but I’m not sure it’s up mine, I’m not even sure it’s got the right post code.

UK Games Expo 2013 - Miniatures Games

It’s true to say that the UK Games Expo is a very board game led event. The majority of publisher, game designers and traders were concentrated on board games but that’s not to say the miniature war games weren’t also well represented. Several big names in the UK miniature games market where present and a handful of retailers where selling products, mostly second hand and bits box affairs, as well as our local miniature handling solution; KR Multicases. Not only where the latest moulded resins available but you were never far away from the smell of burnt MDF as there where a surprising number of companies selling laser cut buildings, the standout company for me at the expo was Warmill. Of course, laser cutting suggests sci-fi but there where also many fantasy dungeons and caverns on display which were mainly intended for roleplaying games but where very handsome set ups. Several tournaments where taking place and Saturday afternoon was dominated by the Warmachine and Hordes tournament. Half of the wargames room was taken up by Privateer Press’s steampunk wargame showing that Warmachine has a huge following in this country.

News Collider: Cthulhu Smashes it up, The Sharrash emerge from the wasteland and Kyle Katarn flies into X-Wing.

This weeks news titbit comes with a surprising new addition to the X-Wing Roster, a slimy new addition to the Neuroshima Hex battlefield and the least surprising addition to Smash Up you could think of, it doesn't mean we're not excited.

The UK Games Expo 2013

Over in our tiny island nation we may not have the grand convention scene that our American cousins enjoy. We don’t have the headline grabbing GenCon, the controversial Origins or the wargame focused Adepticon. What we do have is the UK Games Expo which was held last week and it was a blast.

I’ve played Cardhunter and its Amazeballs

 A while back I did a preview of some very intriguing card games coming to digital devices. These weren’t just digital conversions of existing collectible card games but new properties that took advantage of the digital medium. A few weeks back I looked at Solforge and couldn’t help but be a little disappointed. Well over the last week I’ve been playing the Cardhunter beta and, quite frankly, it’s brilliant.

Video Games that Would Make Awesome Board Games

I love video games and a couple of weeks ago we saw the news that Plaid Hat Games where producing a board game based on the lore and setting of Bioshock Infinite. It’s a shame that there's not more games based off of video game properties. Board Game Quest covered all the bases of the best video games that exist but there's a rich compendium of video games just begging to be transcribed into cardboard and dice. Here's my top picks for which video games would make brilliant board games and which already existing board games come close.

A Game of Thrones the Board Game Review

It’s the best time of the year, I don't mean Christmas with it’s over indulgence and prezzies. I don't mean the summer when it’s one of the five days in the UK calendar where it’s brave enough to sit outside without waders. I mean it’s that time again when Game of Thrones is on the telly box and we can revel in the delights of smart mouthed dwarves, incest, violence and so many northern English accents you're surprised you can’t see a flat cap and a whippet. Do you want to replicate the feel of Game of Thrones in your own living room, far away from a rainy Ireland or a freezing Norway? Of course you do and that’s why you need A Game of Thrones The board game.

News Collider: Bioshock, Trains and a bucketload of FFG expansions

The last few News Colliders have all been about video games but that’s not why we’re here. No we prefer our games cut from card and prefer to sit opposite our opponent and look them straight in the eye so this news collection has some news on actual games.

Solforge Preview

I was quite excited when the Solforge Kickstarter was announced. I consider myself a fan of the digital version of Ascension and so was quite interested to see what Stoneblade (previously Gary Games) could do with a purely digital format. Online card games aren’t something new and a slew of them coming out made me interested in the genre as a whole. The deal was sealed when Stoneblade announced that the don of the CCG genre, Richard Garfield was involved I got rather excited. Now imagine my surprise and disappointment when I discover that Solforge is a lane based card game that has already been done to death.

News Collider: Last Night on Earth, D&D boardgames on iOS, Ascension online and a World of Warcraft card game

PAX East 2013 is happening right now so news is coming out of thick and fast. As you would expect it's mostly video game related but we've managed to cobble together a News Collider PAX'ed (bu-dum tish) with tabeltop related news.

Relic Review

Do you remember when Games Workshop made board games? Space Hulk, Talisman, Doom of the Eldar (maybe that last one should be ignored)? It seems an age ago now but at one time Games Workshop where the kings of theme based board games. Time has passed and the mantle has been handed on to Fantasy Flight Games, along with many of Games Worksop’s licences and settings. Relic is the latest offering as Fantasy Flight have combined the Warhammer 40,000 universe and Talisman’s game mechanics into an epic space quest to defeat the evils of chaos.