Board Game News on Monday 18th August.

So in perfect timing I went on my family holidays last week whilst the rest of the board gaming world went Gen Con crazy, to make matters worse I happened to be enjoying myself in Cornwall an area of the UK with an abundance of beaches, bustles of pasties and unfortunately a WiFi network powered by a light breeze. Cue much pining for twitter feeds or any solid information. I managed to snatch a thrilling thirty minutes in a coffee bar on the Wednesday,offering a tantalizing glimpse on the wonders taking place.

So I’m back and thought I’d point out any of the news and there was plenty from Gen Con that has got me champing at the bit.

First up for us is Gale Force nine and the new Firefly expansion Blue Sun.

This one looks a doozy not only do we get an extra board to expand the footprint of this Sasquatch sized game but also some sweet new rules and characters.

The Reavers have received some serious pimping now making them a real threat out on the rim and this expansion includes two more cutters and the addition of alert tokens which the Reavers trail behind them and can trigger an instant attack when you move through that space.

As well as all of that fun this adds a heap of content from the Serenity movie including Mr Universe , whose job cards offer some huge rewards for those captains willing to gamble.

Consider us well stoked for this when it arrives officially in September.

Fantasy Flight came out of their corner swinging and battered gamers wallets into submission with the power of the force. They announced two big Star Wars licensed games, both of which unfortunately for my bank account appear must have’s.

First up was Star Wars Armada, there has been much discussion following X-wing’s launch just how big the they were going to go with the capital ships for that game, and it seemed the really cool imperial ships were unlikely to make it due to the scale they would have to be, but fear not.

Armada see’s you not as fighter pilots now but playing as the admirals and controlling the huge capital ships. It has the feel and look of the old GW battlefleet Gothic with the usual Fantasy Flight sheen we have come to expect. There are the cool miniatures and an interesting movement tool for the big ships that simulates how they would maneuver and takes their inertia into account, personally not having had the time or resources to fully embrace X-wing this looks like something I might be able to really dig into.

And then we also have Star Wars Imperial Assault. Basically this is Descent but with a Star Wars skin, the interesting thing about this set aside from the really cool miniatures and the fact its a Star Wars dungeon crawl (which are pretty damn cool things) is that the game also comes with the skirmish rules, where you can just have objective led battles against your opponent. What else is there to say, the possibilities for this line is limitless and some of the tweaks to the rules sound brilliant including the fact that most of the mission information and enemies remain secret from the rebel players, adding a cool Heroquest feel to proceedings. Plus there is already mention of the expansions of Rebel & Imperial character packs that come with mini’s and more cards to add to the base game, oh my. Consider me very stoked for this.

And lastly we had the obligatory Eldritch Horror expansion.

The Mountains Of Madness is based on HP Lovecraft’s most beloved tale of Armageddon at the hands of multi-tentacled horrors. Set in the antarctic in this expansion we get a sideboard and eight new investigators as well as two new elder gods, in addition there are even more cards expanding the original base game and some new modes of play to spice things up. Loving this game at the moment despite it consistently kicking our butts and the prospect of more goodies makes this one an instant addition to my set. Its due to hit the end of the year so should make it in time for a place under the tree.

Plaid Hat Games had a stonking time at Gen Con with Dead of Winter (where’s my copy??) once the British customs get finished sitting on mine and it gets here we’re have a full review.

But the other title that is still coming and has me interested is the Video High School game, love the show and the game looks to be a lighter fare but a lot of fun. I’ve heard it compared as a mashup between King of Tokyo & Lords Of Waterdeep so consider me interested.

Everything about this one looks like a lot of fun and if you want to get in early on this the pre-order just went up on the PHG site with some sensible European postage. Here:

http://www.plaidhatgames.com/news/404

Paizo had a bit of a hit on their hands with the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game released last year and I came very close to jumping on board that run, but since they announced this high seas version I thought I’d hold fast and wait for this. I’m a bit burnt out on dungeon run’s and so the pirate theme just seemed enough of a change to make the wait worthwhile. This received some great buzz at Gen-Con and with the addition of ships and they being a core element of the game has really peaked my interest and i’m now looking forward to giving this game a spin when it hits in September. Look for a review once I get my hands on this.

Z-Man previewed the new Pandemic Contagion that looks interesting and is probably something I’ll get around too but what I’m really stoked for is The Battle At Kembles Cascade the scrolling shooter game.

I spent much of my childhood stooped over coin ups and blasting waves of aliens and this game looks to capture that joy with the added bonus that I can shoot my friends as well. A crazy concept for a board game and something that purely for the retro arcade coolness I can’t ignore. Want it now.

I would strongly suggest pre-ordering this if you can, here’s hoping that Z-Man have learnt from the Robinson Crusoe shortages from last year, but I’d waiver on the safe side if you want this.

And finally from Upper Deck is Legendary Encounters the deck builder based on the Marvel Legendary system with an Alien movie theme.

This has been a blip on my scanner since it was announced last year and nothing has come along to change my opinion. I have a heap of deck builders already but this one looks to be a swarm of xenomorphic fun, it manages to add enough thematic flavor from the movies with some interesting variants on the Marvel game play to make it a must own.

It still appears to have the same niggles that Marvel had in tear down and set up but also looks to have a much higher feeling of cooperation during the game and you also get to control a character rather than some vague team of multiple Wolverines.

This one is certainly on the top of my must get list, gonna be an expensive few months ahead.

This is obviously in no why comprehensive there where literally hundreds more games released and even more due to hit in October at Essen, but Gen Con is great to get a feel of how the rest of this gaming year is going to pan out and what we can expect early next, and going on this years Con there is a lot of fun coming our way.

Right I need to get settled and hope to get some reviews up in the week and if you haven’t already done so check out our Birthday Podcast episode that has a sweet Rob Daviau interview contained within its swollen running time. If you made it to Gen Con I hope you had a great time and I’m incredibly envious of you (where’s my freebies?) I’m now going to wait patiently at my front door for Dead Of Winter to arrive.