Tag: board-games
This is long overdue. Official support for the version I am on ended in 2009, although I’ve managed to keep it going and secure. I have made 2 attempts, over the years, to upgrade, both vexed by the new version lacking features that are central to my website – mainly a fully integrated calendar/scheduler, allowing you to attach dates to specific topics (so people can schedule a game session, then discuss who is coming and what games to bring).
The box is better than that of TI3, which I always found to be a complete pain, due to its length. It is a normal “large box” size, but deeper, so it will be easier to keep on the shelf.
However, I’ve recently been scheduling the odd game for myself and a couple of friends on a Friday. I don’t generally work Fridays, and the two friends are similarly free. This has meant we are getting the game to the table more often, which improves how we play it, as we are not having to remember the rules from 6 months ago.
The Thing: Infection at Outpost 31 is a brand new cooperative game based on the 1982 movie (and John W. Campbell’s novella “Who Goes There”, that it was based on. An American Antarctic station runs into problems with an alien creature that can take on the form of an organism it comes across. It is one of my favourite films, and so seeing this game made me sit up. Obviously, although a cooperative game, there will be a “traitor” element in the form of whichever station crew member gets infected/imitated.
Apparently not. It is designed by Matt Leacock, designer of Pandemic, and has some similarites. It also has some wonderful Thunderbirds-shaped playing pieces, and a 7.8 ranking on BoardGameGeek. Oh, and did I mention it was by Matt Leacock?
They both look great – before they arrived, I was most looking forward to Rockband Manager, but having read the rules for 8 Minute Empire, I’m really looking forward to playing that too!
Today I had 3 boardgamers visit, so that was a job easily done, and we then christened the table. I think it looks fantastic.
Originally I signed up for the $40 contribution, which would give me a perk of the first two seasons on DVD, plus extras. However, soon after, they announced a LootCrate option at $100. This was described as an “EXCLUSIVE LOOT CRATE BOX with lots of great TableTop Gear inside! Handpicked by Wil, this is a once in a lifetime box that will ONLY BE MADE FOR THIS CAMPAIGN.” (Capitals are from the campaign text)
For this reason, I was quite pleased to trade Cowboys: The Way of a Gun – a game that looked interesting, but never made the table – for Imperial, a game I have played and enjoyed before, and expect to again.
It’s been a while since I last played, so when I found someone had written an Android app for it, I was interested. In fact, the guy has written quite a neat and usable interface, backed also by a web interface that can be used on desktop computers and non-Android tablets.