The premise of Smash Up is pretty simple. Take two of the eight Faction decks (that represent iconic heroes of geek culture) and shuffle them together to create a 40 card deck. Use Minions and Actions from that deck to attack and destroy the Bases before your opponent’s do. The faster you destroy a Base, the more Victory Points you earn. The first player to accumulate 15 Victory Points wins the game. Quick. Easy. Fun. Approved! Continue reading
The family is now ready to embark on “The Shadow Rune” campaign. The first quest is an introduction to the game entitled, “First Blood”. With this being our first time playing the game, we had to refer to the rules many times to make sure we were playing correctly. Thus this introduction quest was setup to play through rather quickly in order to allow the players to become familiar with the game’s rules. Even so, it proved to be an exciting time for all! Continue reading
Each year, millions of people play fantasy football. These obsessive players spend hours pouring over stats, projections, and injury reports in hopes to put together the best possible combination of football players that can give them the highest number of fantasy points each week. What many of them don’t realize is that they are just like the millions of geeks who sit down and play games at the table. Player stats vs. character stats? They are the same! Jocks and geeks unite! Continue reading
Our goal is to have an epic adventure using one quest per week. This means it will take us roughly around 20 weeks to complete the campaign, “The Shadow Rune”. During this time, I’m going to chronicle our family’s journey as they travel through the kingdom of Arhynn. After a few gaming sessions, I’ll write a full review of the game to post on this site. Continue reading
7 Wonders is a game where players try to lead an ancient civilization from its earliest beginnings to become a world power. Players can develop their civilization as military powerhouse, establish a merchant state, or master science and technology. Over a series of three Ages, players will first develop a collection of resources that are used in later Ages to build structures, train a military, research technologies, and even build a world wonder. The player who has the most developed civilization (i.e. victory points) after the third Age wins the game. Continue reading
A fellow geek and reader asks us how she can unglue her child from video games. Hmm… If is very tough to pull children away from the TV and computer screens. In our house, we managed to do it through tabletop games that compared to the video games our children were playing. Instead of trying to drag them away from the screen, entice them with something that is familiar to what they are already doing. Continue reading
Lords of Waterdeep is a new game from Wizards of the Coast based on the harbor city of Waterdeep in the Dungeons & Dragons world of Forgotten Realms. At its core, it’s an Americanized version of popular European worker placement games such as Agricola and Stone Age. Players take on the roles of Lords and are trying to hire adventurers to complete quests and to expand the city by purchasing new buildings. Continue reading
I can’t recommend this game enough for little geeks. If they can trace a line with a token, they can play the game. They might not be able to strategize moves in advance, but that’s alright. They’ll stay in the game long enough to enjoy playing it and spending the time with family and friends. Continue reading
As a self-professed geek, my three sons might as well have been born with dice in one hand and a video game controller in the other. From a very early age, they were playing all sorts of board games and video games. They are very comfortable with the geek gaming culture and all three still embrace it. However, I also wanted to make sure they were exposed to other experiences besides gaming in order to help them be well-rounded individuals. Continue reading
As a husband of one and father of three, finding time to game can be tough. My sons are at an age where they are active in school and sports, so the wife and I stay pretty busy making sure they are all where they need to be. In addition, we are active in our local church and I even play in a local band. So time is a premium, as I’m sure it is with most families. Thus, carving out time slots here and there to game is pretty tough. Continue reading
