A first look at Star Wars Imperial Assault

I picked up Star Wars Imperial assault a couple of weeks ago and finally got to break it out last night.

As this game is pretty new and hot right now I thought it may be worth putting down some of my initial thoughts here on the blog, for people wary of the very high price point on this game.

Note: I've only played the game one night. We played through the intro mission and the first campaign mission: Ambush. We then did the work to set up the next mission as we wanted to see how the XP and shopping rules worked. We figured out what our next mission was but didn't play it. 

We also did not try the Skirmish mode. It's also worth noting that it was 3 players, myself playing the Imperials and my wife and a friend each playing one hero.

The short version: Beautiful game I really enjoyed, just not sure how often I will actually get to play it.

Feb 15th - Sunday gaming at CG Realm

A rare Sunday event for the Windsor Gaming Resource.

Sunday February 15th the CG Realm is hosting an open game night. The event runs from 5pm until 11pm.

This game night will be a normally be recurring event hitting the 2nd Saturday every month. It's being pushed off a day due to Valentines Day. So build up some good will on Saturday so you can come out and game Sunday :D

The CG Realm is located at 3147 Tecumseh Road East, right here in Windsor.

The CG Realm used to be focused on retro video games and collectible card games, but have recently expanded into carrying a lot more Board Games and RPGs. In addition to a growing collection of games they also have a great gaming area with lots of tables, lots of room and great lighting.

There will be a selection of great games on hand that you can play and we encourage you to bring some games out, whether an old favourite or something new you want to try out. If you don't have anything to bring, that's cool too. There's always lots of variety and people are always happy to teach you the games they have brought.

Feb 7th - Brimstone Board Game Night featuring Dead of Winter

It's time for Brimstone Board Game Night!

The Windsor Gaming Resource returns to Brimstone Games on Saturday February 7th.

Brimstone Board Game Night hits on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of every month. These events run from 5pm to 10pm and are open to all ages.

Reminder:
At Brimstone all board games are 30% off all the time.

You can win a board game! 

Every Board Game Night at 8pm the store will draw 1 ticket and the winner will receive a free board game! Sometimes we get extra generous and give away more than one. Heck one night we gave away 6. No matter what there will be at least 1 game given away every event.

Players earn 1 ticket for playing games, 1 ticket for purchasing a snack or drink, and 1 ticket for bringing 1 or more board games for people to play. Earn 5 more tickets for each game you purchase. First time players will receive 5 additional tickets.

You can find Brimstone at 3298 Walker Rd. Parking is available on the south side of the building and on the street around back. Note that Brimstone used to be located in McGregor. This is no longer the case, they moved into Windsor just over a year ago.

Featured Game: Dead of Winter

The featured game for this event is Dead of Winter from Plaid Hat Games.

This is the first crossroads game from Plaid Hat and it's widely considered the best zombie game out there and often called the best co-op game out there.

You've never played anything quite like it. The crossroads system turns every game into a story.

Show up Saturday and you could head home with a copy of your own.

I don't think I'm going to be able to resist Resistor_

If you are anything like me you are pretty sick of kickstarter and most things that go along with it. Kickstarter has gotten to be huge over the last few years and it seems like there are more disappointments than triumphs through it.

I get approached by people doing kickstarters regularly and over time I've chosen to be a lot more discerning on what I choose to review, promote and/or put my name on. I will admit that most pitches I get from kickstarter projects I politely turn down.

When I was contacted by Cardboard Fortress Games about their new game Resistor_, I almost did just that: turned them down. But, reading the pitch that Nicole Kline sent me, had me curious about the game. Her pitch talked about a fast paced two player game that relied on hidden information and tactical decision making that simulated hacking computers. 

The whole double sided card deal and only seeing your side of those cards sounded neat, so I dug deeper. Nicole provided a link to their Kickstarter Preview page and the more I read and watched, the cooler the game sounded. So I agreed to check it out. 

After playing a few games with my wife and other local gamers, I think Cardboard Fortress may have gotten me to back another Kickstarter when this one launches. It's a really cool game.

Update: The kickstarter is live now!

January 17th - Brimstone Board Game Night featuring Machi Koro

It's time for Brimstone Board Game Night!

The Windsor Gaming Resource returns to Brimstone Games on Saturday January 17th.

Brimstone Board Game Night hits on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of every month. These events run from 5pm to 10pm and are open to all ages.

As I'm sure most people know: At Brimstone all board games are 30% off all the time.

EDIT: Due to a Magic Release event the start time has been pushed back to 6pm

You can win a board game! 

Every Board Game Night at 8pm the store will draw 1 ticket and the winner will receive a free board game! Sometimes we get extra generous and give away more than one. Heck one night we gave away 6. No matter what there will be at least 1 game given away every event.

Players earn 1 ticket for playing games, 1 ticket for purchasing a snack or drink, and 1 ticket for bringing 1 or more board games for people to play. Earn 5 more tickets for each game you purchase. First time players will receive 5 additional tickets.

You can find Brimstone at 3298 Walker Rd. Parking is available on the south side of the building and on the street around back. Note that Brimstone used to be located in McGregor. This is no longer the case, they moved into Windsor just over a year ago.

Featured Game: Machi Koro

The featured game on the 17th will be Machi Koro. One of the hottest games of 2015.

Machi Koro is a fast-paced game for 2-4 players. Each player wants to develop the city on his own terms in order to complete all of the landmarks under construction faster than his rivals. On his turn, each player rolls one or two dice. If the sum of the dice rolled matches the number of a building that a player owns, he gets the effect of that building; in some cases opponents will also benefit from your die (just as you can benefit from theirs). Then, with money in hand a player can build a landmark or a new building, ideally adding to the wealth of his city on future turns. The first player to construct all of his landmarks first wins!

We will be giving away a copy of this great game as part of the board game give away.

My most played games of 2014

It's that time of year again: the time of the 'looking back' blog post. This is going to be a post like my holiday wish list post or my best 15 new games of 2014 post, it's going to be another list of great games.

This time I'm going to list the 10 games that I played the most in 2014. These don't include any expansions and also don't include iOS games, just physical board games. If I did include iOS plays Star Realms and Ascension would top the list by far.

Starting with number 10, the least of the most:

Hive - My wife and I love Hive. To me it's one of the best designs out there. It also helps that I have a rediculously good win/loss ratio in the game. For me Hive just clicks and I don't loose often.

Besides being a great game, Hive is very compact which means you can bring it anywhere. My wife tosses our copy in her purse and we play at coffee shops, pubs, restaurants, parks, wherever.

The CG Realm CGame Night - January 10th

The first CG Realm event of 2015

Saturday January 10th the CG Realm is hosting their first game night of 2015. The event runs from 5pm until 11pm.

This game night will be a recurring event hitting the 2nd Saturday every month. 

The CG Realm is located at 3147 Tecumseh Road East, right here in Windsor.

The CG Realm used to be focused on retro video games and collectible card games, but have recently expanded into carrying a lot more Board Games and RPGs. In addition to a growing collection of games they also have a great gaming area with lots of tables, lots of room and great lighting.

We had a great time at the CG Realm for the WYC'd game night where people played games of Star Realms, Space Hulk, Castles of Mad King Ludwig, Settlers of Catan and lots more. We encourage you to bring some games out, whether an old favourite or something new you want to try out. If you don't have anything to bring, that's cool too. There's always lots of variety and people are always happy to teach you the games they have brought.

10 games off of my 2014 holiday wishlist

My last post listed the 15 best new games of 2014. These were the best games I tried for the first time last year. Today I thought it would be worth looking at some of the games on my 2014 holiday wishlist.

These aren't in any particular order and include a mix of brand new games and older stuff I've been wanting to pick up for some time.

Star Trek: Fleet Captains - I've never really gotten into the Wizkids Heroclix games. I tried out the first Marvel game when it came out and decided it's not for me. That alone kept me away from this Trek game for a long time.

Over the years though I've been hearing really good things about this game. A variety of podcasts from reviewers I respect have said enough good things that this one got added to my wishlist this year. Added to that my wife is a big Trek fan and I think I won't have to twist her arm to play it with me.

Brimstone Game Night - January 3rd - Featuring: Pandemic

The first Brimstone Game night of 2015!

The Windsor Gaming Resource returns to Brimstone Games on Saturday January 3rd as part of their twice monthly boardgame night which hits on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of every month. These events run from 5pm to 10pm and are open to all ages.

Brimstone is working to become Windsor's premier board game shop. They've got a great selection of the hottest games and tons of gaming space to play them. Not only that but all board games are currently 30% off!

You can win a board game! 

Every Board Game Night at 8pm the store will draw 1 ticket and the winner will receive a free board game!

Players earn 1 ticket for playing games, limit of 1 ticket per night. Earn 1 ticket for purchasing a snack or drink, limit 1 ticket per night. Earn 1 ticket for bringing 1 or more board games for people to play. Earn 5 tickets for purchasing a game. First time players will receive 5 additional tickets.

You can find Brimstone at 3298 Walker Rd. Parking is available on the south side of the building and on the street around back. Note that Brimstone used to be located in McGregor. This is no longer the case, they moved into Windsor just over a year ago.

Featured Game: Pandemic

One of the most popular co-operative board game ever made is Pandemic. This game really hit the market big when it came out back in 2007. At the time there wasn't really anything quite like it out there.

Pandemic is the only game I own that I think is actually more fun to loose. That whole "we were only one cube away!" feeling when you almost win is what keeps you coming back for more.

We will be giving away a copy of the latest printing of Pandemic from Z-Man games at the event. 

The 15 best new games (to me) of 2014

It's that time of year again, time for all the look back posts and all the wishlists. All the holidays, feasts and parties. All the gaming!

This is one of those look back posts. Here I'm going to list the best new games I played this year. Note these are games that are new to me. They may not have been released this year but I played them for the first time this year.

Lastly: these are in the order I discovered them through the year, not ranked by how good I think the games are.

Trajan - I'm cheating just a bit with this one. Technically I played it on New Years Eve 2013 as part of my annual Gaming In The New Year party. That's close enough for me and if I remember correctly the game may not have ended until after the ball dropped.

2014 was the year I discovered how much I love Stefan Feld. I picked up no fewer than four other games by him this year. Of them all though Trajan remains my favourite.

Like most Feld games it's a point salad. This one has a cool Roman theme and uses a very unique mancala based action selection system that I really dig. There are so many paths to victory and so far I've yet to find 'one true way'