Kublacon 2011 Live Blog

ianoble    Board Games    

Today I will be attending my very first board game convention. Kublacon is a 4 day convention held at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco, CA. Pretty stoked to be going, so I wanted to be able to share my experience with everyone who is unable to attend. Throughout the weekend I will be posted updates to this space, along with photos and maybe even a video or two. So bookmark this page and check back often!!

Interview with Dyad Games: designers of Kamakura

ianoble    Board Games, Interviews, Kamakura     Interview, Kamakura

Board/card game projects on Kickstarter seem to be all the rage these days. Not that I’m complaining! The more games to get published the better, in my book. But because of this, I find myself needing to browse the Board and Card Game section on Kickstarter.com rather frequently, looking for something that might catch my attention. Kamakura was one that fit into that category. I’ll let the guys over at Dyad Games describe the game for you:

Kamakura is a card game of feudal Japanese warfare in which you attempt to defeat an opponent by taking their territories before they take yours. This is done by carefully choosing combinations of weapons, soldiers, and arrow barrages to attack with while defending your own territories with a myriad of defensive techniques. Strategy, deception, and bravery will be your most valuable assets in the complex and varied game of Kamakura.

Since this was Dyad Games first venture into the analog gaming realm, I thought it might be nice to find out a little bit more about who they are and how they ended up creating a card game. Alex Montgomery was gracious enough to answer a few of my questions.
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Update: BattleCON fighter roster

ianoble    Battle Connection, Board Games     BattleCON

Many of you have heard of the Kickstarter funded game BattleCON from Level 99 Games. This incredibly popular project was funded at a staggering 255%! If you’re not aware of the game, you should definitely check out what David B Talon Jr. and his team have been up to. Just recently they settled on the final roster of fighters available in the game. The number ended up at an impressive 18 (plus a few promotional only characters). I wanted to give a little information about each of the characters they’ve come up with. I’m aware that this might be a daunting task, but I think it will be useful!
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Quick Bits: My favorite online boardgame implementations

ianoble    Featured, Quick Bits     Acquire, Quick Bits, Stone Age, Through the Ages

There are times when I don’t get many opportunities to bring any physical boardgames to the table, luckily there are many of my favorite games available on sites like Yucata.de, GameTableOnline.com and Boardgaming-Online.com. Here are three of my favorite implementations that I’ve been able to enjoy recently.
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Review: 7 Wonders – More than just a simple filler!

ianoble    7 Wonders, Board Games, Reviews     7 Wonders, review

Photo by "A Traveler"

Prologue

Even though 7 Wonders shot to the top of the hotness, I was initially uninterested. This is mostly because of the little research I did on the game didn’t make it sound like anything all that different than any other games out there. Granted, most of the stuff I was reading was just comparing 7 Wonders to Fairy Tale. And while I like Fairy Tale, I didn’t need another version that didn’t even play well with 2 players.

So then a buddy in my gaming group mentioned to me that he really wanted to try it because it has a civilization building element and that it would work with his family. He added it to an order with a few other games, one of which (Showmanager) was delayed over and over again. Itching to get the game in hand, he actually ordered another copy with a recent order that I made. What this meant for me, was that he would have an extra copy available. After a few plays with him, my fiancée and I, my better half “instructed” me to pick up this game. So, of course, I listened!

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