Category Archives: tabletop games

Jul 07 0 comments
PC, PS2, roleplaying, tabletop games

What I’ve been playing this summer (part I)

Frozen Synapse screenshot

Frozen Synapse

Sins Of A Solar Empire screenshot

Sins Of A Solar Empire

Dark Heresy (tabletop)

Who knows, maybe I should see some people during the summer, too. The campaign has started off strong and I’m beginning to get a good ol’ RPG buzz. Who knew playing space fascists could be so much fun?

Space Hulk (tabletop)

It’s still a great game.

Descent (tabletop)

It satisfies my dungeon delving urges. Oh and since first covering the game, I’ve come to realize that it’s not so difficult when you play by the rules. Our adventurers have been getting way too few magical treasures. You’re supposed to award everyone in the party with the magical loot when you open treasure chests, not just the guy opening the chest, illogical as that may be.

Frozen Synapse (PC)

I’ve been playing this independent PC strategy game for quite a bit. It’s the only multiplayer strategy game I like. It’s still in alpha and if they manage a proper release sometime, I’m sure to spend lots of time with it. Even if they don’t, I’ve already been entertained enough.

You are commanding a small team of guys with guns, about to assault a small area held by another, like-minded team. The goals vary from elimination to sector control and hostage rescue.

It’s built as simultaneous, turn-based tactics. You make a plan and hit execute. When your opponent has submitted his turn, the results are played back in real-time. It is compulsive stuff – usually you have half a dozen games going at the same time, and the results keep chiming into your in-game inbox as you’re planning the previous game. You can easily play several complete games in one sitting, if your opponent is online. The matches are usually just a handful of turns.

It could use more work on the user interface and benefit from some wrapper. I’m all for abstract vector graphics guys shooting at each other, but it feels so much like the planning stage of the early Rainbow Six titles (which I loved) that I can’t help but think how much better it would be with a real-world backdrop.

Sins Of A Solar Empire (PC)

What a great name for a game! This is a space strategy title from some years back. It’s by the Homeworld guys and that shows – it’s just gorgeous to look at. I generally loathe these kinds of big strategy games, especially in real-time, because I like to be able to concentrate on what I’m doing, but Sins gets it just right. Even though it’s real-time, the pace is glacial, especially in the beginning. Space fleets just don’t get around all that fast.

If you’re interested in user interface design at any level, you need to play this game. Most of why it’s so accessible is because of the UI keeping you up to date with everything that’s going on in the galaxy, giving you just the amount of information you need and enabling you to give critical commands to the other side of the known space without moving your view from wherever you are. It’s stellar stuff, really.

Sins is the only real-time strategy I know of where I don’t feel like I could do with another pair of eyes and hands.

Final Fantasy XII (PS2)

I’ve continued my conquering of Final Fantasy XII. People who think that games of past generation look too crap on your new fancy HDTVs should plug this in – it’s still divine! What a great game. Too bad about the lackluster characters (especially the lead guy), but the game system is absolutely the best package seen to date from the JRPG field.

Jan 01 0 comments
DS, PC, PS3, PSP, XBLA, Xbox 360, blog, culture, miniatures, tabletop games

The best of 2009

My 10 best games of 2009

My 10 best games of 2009

For the most of 2009 I spent my gaming time playing games from 2008 – Far Cry 2, Fable II, Rock Band 2, lots of cheap PSP & DS titles, Company Of Heroes, Dawn Of War (the first one) – but I thought it could be fun to put together a list of what was the best 2009 had to offer. For future reference, see.

I have not played many of the big hitters of 2009 so there’s bound to be holes, but these days, gaming is too big a pastime for one man to wholly take in with his free time (and income). Major omissions include Halo: ODST, Modern Warfare 2, Resident Evil 5 and Dragon Age: Origins, to name a few.

My ten best games of 2009:

  1. Space Hulk (board game)
  2. Batman: Arkham Asylum. I haven’t written about Rocksteady’s phenomenal take on Batman (because I’ve been too busy playing it), but it ranks as one of my all-time favorite games. Play it.
  3. Demon’s Souls
  4. GTA Chinatown Wars (DS)
  5. Shadow Complex
  6. Torchlight. I’ve been playing this for most of the holidays, it’s crazy good. Too bad about the lack of variety and the still missing multiplayer.
  7. Killzone 2
  8. Plants Vs Zombies. This Popcap title stole a ridiculous amount of time this year. Probably the best value for money all year.
  9. Street Fighter IV
  10. Rock Band Unplugged

I’m surprised by how many “small” games there are – mobile games and cheap PC games. Remarkably, the only one I was looking forward to before it hit was Killzone 2, the rest of these have been more or less very happy surprises.

Oct 29 6 comments
tabletop games

Space Hulk

Space Hulk - Space Marine Terminator with heavy flamer

Space Hulk - Space Marine Terminator with heavy flamer

I got the gorgeous 20th anniversary release of the Games Workshop classic Space Hulk. The first edition was a huge influence on my life-long interest in gaming, along with the one book I miss more than any other – Rogue Trader. I have now played five games of it and have to wonder why GW ever let it go out of print.

The rules are reset to their original format, although with the addition of the extra rules for new weapons and units (librarians, assault cannons, and so forth). Also from the first edition returns the hourglass, used to measure how much time the Space Marine player has to make his moves. I was worried whether the rules would hold up after all this time and plenty of evolution in board gaming. They hold up, going as far as making me wonder why did we let our games get as complex as they are these days. It may be a simple game, but it has plenty of depth and just the right amount of tactical thinking and risk. Games tend to be full of very close calls and epic moments of heroism and desperation, often just a single turn apart.

The rules are a curious mix of survival horror themed action gaming and unforgiving tactical thinking. The models can’t bypass each other on the tight corridors of the Space Hulk and the Terminators are so clumsy that turning around takes up half of their turn. Often you’ll need to knowingly leave your side or rear open to receive a bigger threat, or willingly sacrifice a Terminator to make way for the more important members of the squad. On the alien Genestealer player’s side, time is not a factor aside from usually playing into his claws. The Genestealer tactics are straightforward, but no less exciting for it. Playing as the Marines could be seen as the “hard” or “veteran” mode compared to the relatively easygoing Stealers, who have both numbers and time on their side.

The components are the best quality I’ve seen to date, absolutely wiping the floor with the competition. The cardboard is very heavy, debossed in a cool way to highlight details. The miniatures are some of the best I’ve seen in any context, although their artistic ambition sometimes gets in the way of actually playing the game, when the miniatures fall over each other in the heat of battle, with the Space Marine player sweating under his time limit. A few counters (which there are plenty of spares of, mind) have lost their topmost layer, being the actual printed information. It’s nothing a dab of glue won’t fix.

It’s still some of the most intense, short games (under an hour) you can find. The two-player setup can get old – at the office it would be nice to be able to play three or four way games – but on the other hand it really keeps things pure and simple, heightening the tension. It was an expensive game at 80€/$100, but a game purchase I am more happy with than anything else I can think of. Especially considering that the same amount of Space Marine Terminators alone would set you back more than the cover price for the whole box, if bought separately.

May 28 1 comments
PS3, Xbox 360, miniatures, tabletop games

Warhammer 40’000: Space Marine

Warhammer 40'000: Space Marine

Warhammer 40'000: Space Marine

Warhammer 40’000 is all about violent action and it’s something of a wonder that its rich universe hasn’t spawned any decent action games. I haven’t played the 2003 title Fire Warrior, but the word is not in its favor. Relic has been very good to the licence with its Dawn Of War series and I greet the news of them doing an action-RPG about the Space Marines with fanboyish excitement. The trailer is really very good.

I am still left wanting for a modern strategy game take on the franchise – Dawn Of War is too wrapped in RTS tropes to really scratch that Total War itch I have. I’d settle for a turn-based version, I think.

I dream about getting to make a great Warhammer 40’000 videogame.

May 06 0 comments
culture, roleplaying, tabletop games

Why we game?

A Life Well Wasted, episode three is up and asking the question “why we game?” It’s all good, of course, have a listen.

I’ve thought about my motivation for playing not just videogames, but games in general, for a great many times. Often it’s because I’ve spent a whole day gaming and feel maybe a bit shameful afterwards. Was that a good use of time? Did I accomplish anything? What did I actually get out of that? (Achievements.)

Because for me, “fun” doesn’t quite cut it, not anymore, not when all I do is games. Especially now that I’m working at a videogame developer, reviewing games as a gig on the side and playing games both alone and with friends, even most of my social gatherings being built around gaming – it’s pretty much all games, all the time.

There’s two things going on here. First is that I still like games for the same reasons I initially got into them: to discover and learn new things, to explore new worlds and to use my imagination. But using all of my time on this, in a sense, short-sighted recreation is not the core for me anymore. These days – and this has been going on for quite a while, probably since college – I’m more interested in games in general, as opposed to a given game. So instead of mulling over how an ability works in Fable II (which is what I’m currently playing, tonight losing a good three hours without realizing it), I’m thinking about what Fable II means in the bigger picture, what are its achievements in the genre and how I could learn from it. Why exactly am I so immersed in it? Does this affect on how I view other games?

So in a sense, I feel my love for games has matured. There’s a context, some method to the madness, something my now more demanding brain tells me is more worthy. Or, well, excusable.

And on the other hand, I find myself going back, towards the golden days of childlike, unshameful gaming of far too much, really. I made a return to pen and paper roleplaying games after an almost complete hiatus of a couple of years. It’s been fantastic and I’m really looking forward to our next game. I can feel parts of my mind waking up from a hibernation, imagination and improvisation skills kicking up again, taking four games to get back into gear and now I’m ready to really jazz it up. Roleplaying games rule, you know.

Feb 02 0 comments
PC, PS2, PS3, XBLA, Xbox 360, tabletop games

Gaming for fun, not deadline

Helghast heavy trooper from Killzone 2

Helghast heavy trooper from Killzone 2

I’ve been trying to concentrate on just a few games at a time, now that I don’t have to push reviews out the door any more. It’s been great. In a year and a half, I had almost forgotten what it feels like to really get into a game. My gaming goals had shrunk down to counting my Achievements, with no real perspective on what I was experiencing. I often went through two to four games per week. The worst feeling was when I got to play something very cool and interesting, and just could not throttle back and take it in properly.

It’s great to be able to game without analyzing. Sure I’m always taking a step back, simply because I chat about games all day at work and need to be able to discern what we should learn from, but since I don’t have to write about them and grade them anymore, it does allow me to just enjoy myself, with no thought on whether this is two-star or three-star enjoyment. I still blog about games that make me think of something I think is worthwhile. Of course, that also makes writing about the games that much more enjoyable.

So what have I been playing for the past month?

Xbox 360

Over the Christmas holidays I completed Gears Of War. It was disappointing, really. The graphics are indeed hot even to this day, but man, the level design and combat got really old by the end. It’s telling that I can’t recall how it all ended as by the time the game was done, I was too worn out to care, I just wanted it to be over with. Against this background, the fact that it failed to award me the Achievements for completing Act three and the whole game is a bit much. I’m planning to play through the sequel in co-op at the office, everyone’s saying it’s actually much better and not just because it’s very pretty. (I have played Horde already, it’s ace.)

More recently I finished up Penny Arcade Adventures Episode One. Good game, I will check out the sequel. Next I’m probably off to finishing Rez or checking out the new Tomb Raider.

I haven’t got much time on the Xbox as my wife’s been heavily into the Xbox Live Arcade board games, most recently Ticket To Ride. It’s a good version of the original.

One game we played together is Interpol. It’s a pixelhunt which tests your memory by asking you to point out given items from detail-ridden still images. It is strangely compulsive – we played it for a whole Saturday. My wife is currentlyin the top ten in the worldwide all-time leaderboard. I am so proud! The one negative I can think of is that the stupid story is worthless and manages to be on the way a bit, even though it’s mercifully skippable.

I have agreed to play through Kane & Lynch in co-op with a friend, as well. It’s something I’m looking forward to quite a bit, actually.

PS2

This weekend I’ve been sweating my way through Resident Evil 4 on the PS2, which I never completed. Naturally the arrival of the Resident Evil 5 demo prompted this comeback. After the initial shock of looking at a standard definition, last-gen 3D world (what bothers me the most? The blurry HUD), it’s still a great game. Surely no one does bosses better than Capcom – usually I’ve been within an inch of death and on my last clip of ammunition on my weakest gun when I prevail. I’m escorting the girl currently, and even that is fun gameplay, not an annoyance.

As an isolated moment of brilliance, the collectible bottle caps with the game’s character figurines on them, complete with their thin plastic toy voices (“Leon! Help me!”), were entirely unexpected. I hope to complete it shortly, then it’s on to maybe Okami. Or Final Fantasy XII. Or Transformers. Or…

PS3

On the PS3, I’ve been playing Fallout 3. I had to start over due to switching to a new PS3 and the game’s saves being corrupted in the process. Unexpectedly, it’s been better on the second way through. I haven’t had to repeat anything and even the actual scenes I’ve revisited, I have solved differently.

I hit level 13 last week and began to feel a bit bored, what with my character easily able to take down anything up to super mutant behemoths without fear of much anything. Then I upped the difficulty level and it’s like I was in my first steps again. Wholly welcome, now it’s thrilling and dangerous again and I’m getting more experience points for my trouble! Of course it would be preferable if I didn’t have to play with the difficulty settings to make it enjoyable, but I’m not really complaining. I am pretty sure I’ll complete the game.

Then it’s on to maybe Dead Space or Far Cry 2. Of course Killzone 2 is right on the horizon, as well, and Play has it on for an agreeable pre-order price. I’m looking forward to it mostly due to the fantastic art direction and the fact that apparently Guerrilla has shattered everyone’s expectations.

PC

Dawn Of War’s single player campaign on the PC as the Space Marines was a great ride, upping the intensity and options just right, all the way to the final encounter with a Chaos Daemon. I went straight into the Winter Assault expansion, eager for some grunt management with the more numerous, but weak Imperial Guard troopers. It started off strong, but I’m now halfway through and beginning to have doubts. Swapping with the Eldar back and forth and all the ferrying of troops via tunnels and warpgates (in the Eldar’s case, ferrying their buildings, as well), and throwing these huges armies of the Guard and the Orks at each other… it just gets to be a bit much, with the fighting taking a backseat to playing a glorified taxi driver. I guess I’m looking for more structure and planning, whereas it’s starting to feel like grunt rushes. At least the scenarios are interesting and hey, who doesn’t love a Baneblade? Also, I’m currently defending a fallen Titan and trying to wake it up! The stuff of legends, surely. My next PC project is perhaps Dawn Of War II, even though the multiplayer beta didn’t excite me all that much.

Customer experience, done right

How come I’ve been spending this much time on the PC, you ask? I got Dawn Of War off of Steam, and Steam on the whole has been very, very good to me. It is precisely the experience I want as a customer. Along with Steam and the excellent Good Old Games, I can’t see myself picking up boxed PC games anymore. Both stores feature ridiculous weekend deals which you basically need to check out.

If you haven’t been to Good Old Games, do yourself a favor and go see them. They have an expanding library of the better PC games of yesteryear, updated to run on modern computers, with no DRM, for a low, low price.

Microsoft has a lot of catching up to do. I did like being able to log onto Games For Windows Live with my (Xbox) Live Gold account, but I did not particularly like the way it automatically logged out my Xbox 360 account at the same time. If you want me to play on your terms and your playground, you’ve got to stop shutting the door in my face.

Jan 14 1 comments
culture, roleplaying, tabletop games

How To Host A Dungeon

A game about drawing, How To Host A Dungeon is a most delightful work, effortlessly combining days of scribbling as a child, the frustrations of becoming lost in roleplaying game systems when all you really want to do is delve into a dungeon, the simple, now forgotten joy of taking a pen to a paper and self-made, analogue fun. It’s brilliant.

The idea is that you take a piece of paper and draw a dungeon. The game tells you how to go about it, building the dungeon in sequential ages, Primordial Age to Age of Monsters and so forth, with numerous groups moving in, expanding their territory, and likely perishing, leaving a neat dungeon behind. Adventurers might explore it, disaster might strike. You use pens, beads of some sort – I have coins – and your own fingers (for measurement, silly) to draw it in all its glory.

How To Host A Dungeon is an inexpensive ebook, currently downloadable at 5 USD. (There is a printed version, if you’re so inclined, but it works neatly with your standard printer.) If you’re very cheap, there’s a limited free version to check out, as well, so if you’re at all intrigued, just get to the site already.

Check out some dungeons created with the game in this Flickr group. It’s too cool. (This is my favorite so far.)

You don’t have to regret growing up if you never stop to play.

Jan 06 0 comments
tabletop games

Descent: Journeys In The Dark

A Descent game in progress on our living room table

A Descent game in progress on our living room table

Over the holidays I’ve been playing Descent: Journeys In The Dark. We have managed four games thus far, so consider this a first impressions kind of thing.

In this game of dungeon-delving adventure, one to five players descend into a monster-ridden dungeon to carry out a mission, kill the inhabitants and take their stuff. One player plays the dungeon’s Overlord, controlling all of the traps, events and monsters the players need to overcome. It’s a very different thing to play one of the heroes than playing as the Overlord.

Descent really scratches that basic Dungeons & Dragons itch I have. Sometimes you need to kill monsters and take their treasure, approaching each room like a chessboard, discussing tactics with your partners in crime, trying not to think too hard about the plausibility off such dungeons.

It’s good fun. While it has a lot of components and the setup can take a while (it’s a Fantasy Flight game, after all), it’s actually very quick to play. A single game can still take a good while (ours have lasted 3-6 hours), but it moves fast.

One thing I’m wondering about is the difficulty of the game. Maybe we just suck or maybe you shouldn’t try playing with just two or three heroes, but thus far we haven’t been able to pass the first dungeon.

It also feels like there should be more substantial content and rules for campaign play. I know that comes in an expansion, but what’s there in the basic rules is just flimsy.

Feb 24 0 comments
miniatures, tabletop games

Finishing stuff

Walls and fences finished

Ruined corner finished

Ruined corner finished inside

Old craters finished

Chaos bases finished

Space Marine color scheme

I’ve been painting miniatures for the whole weekend. More specifically, I’ve been basing models I’ve basically completed ages ago to finally be content and done with them. I have around fifty new models to assemble, so it’s good to get some stuff off the workshelf for good.

I’m not very good with the camera so apologies for the out of focus pictures and oh god the paintjobs don’t hold up to close-ups. I don’t think they look quite that bad in real life.

Update: This CSS crap is wearing me out! I’m finished with fixing the image layout for now. I’m sorry it’s not very spiffy on IE and about the odd row overlapping an image a bit.

You might recall the walls and fences. They look so much better with bases. I’m very pleased with these.

The ruined corner piece has also been featured before. While basically done, I do want to add some detail to it, especially color. Thinking back, I wonder why I didn’t model any battle damage to the wall propers, only the broken ends… My wife proposed graffiti, and I think that’s just what it needs. I have some ideas for that, we’ll see. I have another of these buildings in the works – it’s going to be in a much less stable condition.

These craters are over ten years in the making (thirteen, I think!). I just had to finish them, even though the underlying design is not very good. They’re basically worthless as game pieces, because the sides are not tall enough to count as cover. “Difficult terrain” may be the best they’ll ever be, but hey, they’re pretty, something to cover the plain floor with. At least they’re done now. I plan to make more craters soon.

The nine models belong to my Chaos force in Warhammer 40 000. They’re actually White Wolf’s Trinity Battleground (wow, check out the animated GIF header!) miniatures from way back. These models have been painted for a long time (there’s a bunch more in various stages) and now they’re finally based. It does make all the difference, totally worth the one day it takes to base a bunch of models.

Finally, I began thinking about my Space Marine color scheme. I wanted something grey or green and this is as far as I got. It’s got base colors, single washes and the armor has been highlighted. The accents are going to be yellow (gloves, shoulder pad liners, backpack skull). I don’t know if it will be anything tasteful, I often need to go through several iterations before I settle on something good. Why is it that the official colors never feel good enough? This time I found one scheme I liked, but I just couldn’t bring myself to simply copy it.

Feb 21 0 comments
Freeware, PC, tabletop games

Teardown

Teardown screenshot

Space Hulk is back, again, this time sanctioned by both the previous videogame licence owner EA, who has granted the use of some its old assets and Games Workshop. I find this curious, as GW has been known to be very protective over its intellectual property.

Teardown is a freeware release and it’s out now. They’ve put some effort towards the aesthetics. It’s got heart-warming 2D charms, basic sound and a considered user interface. I could not resist playing a couple of games last night even though it was well past my bedtime.

They have made precious few changes to the game, chief among them a ranking system for surviving Space Marine Terminators in a campaign, which is obviously welcome. Oh god, those pictures bring back the memories of painting my own Terminators as a teenager. I wonder where they are now?

Update on 5 March 2008: The Teardown site has been taken down due to excessive bandwidth usage. Also, Games Workshop has issued a letter on an undisclosed matter, presumably concerning their intellectual rights. All of which is too bad, I hope the guys work it out without severe financial consequences.