I totally agree with you about the micropayments issue, Frank.  It’s gouging, plain and simple.  But they’re going to get away with it unless a competitive alternative shows up.  Hopefully the entrance of the PS3 and Wii will make Msoft rethink their strategy and rein in the game companies on this one.  EA may be nigh unstoppable, though.  They are a real juggernaut.

I did actually think of one Euro game that drifted into the microtransaction model. Big Kini. It was released at Essen last year alongside the expansion.

The expansion did include tiles and bits for a 5th and 6th player, but it also included a vital card deck action option.

When you play the game without the action deck, your choices are often so very limited that the game doesn’t play very well. The expansion was clearly designed alongside the game and really needed to be there. The 5th and 6th player are also useful, as the game actually seems to play better with 5 or 6. (This is a rarity. I strongly prefer games with exactly 4 players. )

Moo,
Frank

I was a big fan of GW back when the 3rd ed. Warhammer (when ALL the rules for ALL the races were included in 2 - yes 2! - rulesbooks!), the original Space Hulk, and Blood Bowl were around. After that, the ‘updates’ and re-issues became too expensive and, in my mind, unnecessary.  The games played just fine without the tinkering and tweaks they did to justify the newest versions of the same games.

I’m really looking forward to Battlelore, but have to admit to some anxious feelings that it will turn out to be a similar money pit.  Its too bad that this type of game calls to me, and I cannot resist...at least it sounds like the rules will come WITH the mini’s, instead of purchased separately.

Oh, and I also am a proud owner of a(n) Hilinksi board - there are pictures around somewhere on their site I think - I have the Brickyard. Yours looks very nice indeed! Everyone should own one!

I had a brief paragraph on Battlelore that I added and deleted, re-added and redeleted.

Battlelore does worry me because the number of SKU’s and possible extra expansions and promotions could easily skyrocket into insane levels. It is entirely possible that scenarios could be in the main game that would require significant investment, or a special promotional piece.

And that would be pretty evil.

The problem is that I know Eric, Mark, and Richard quite well, and they are incredibly nice guys who like games and gamers and produce such nice games. (Rant #7 did diss Memoir ‘44, but I totally adore everything else about the game, I have 2.5 copies, and totally dig the Overlord thing. I even have a psychotically rare copy of Command and Colors--the prototype for Battle Cry, which I got through the usual frightening whining and begging.  )

The slightly evil bit is the lure of the
Hill Giant. They want to get people to commit to buying the game before they’ve played it. DoW has published a ton of promo material to help folks make the decision. But the actual playing is going to take a few weeks.

And the promo figures are the customizeable part of the game. The one scenario I’ve read so far allows you to add in your choice of Leaders, so they aren’t tied to scenarios. The extra bits don’t seem fundamental to the game.

And...I should be picking up my Hill Giant tomorrow. Given my love for the system, I know I’ll like it.

Frank,
October is winding down to the 11 o’clock hour and this is what we get from you?  I was hoping for some of your good Halloween writings (maybe a little session report?)

Now I’m pissed at Microsoft too (and I don’t even play computer games).

I’ve not really been making it out to do Halloween games. Instead, we’ve been shopping (bought a full earthenware skull serving set) and going to see the Dresden Dolls. (With a surreal Gong-Show worthy and impressive bit of dementia by Dames A Flame. )

And Halloween itself doesn’t actually do much for us. That usually means that stores carry occasionally cool stuff, haunted houses are filled with annoying teens running from chainsaws. In Georgia, cemeteries are restricted access at night, so cool and creepy tend not to happen.

We did make it out to the Mercer Meeples to play a couple of horror games:

Horror House by Action GT and Bandai is a simple roll and move with some wacky monsters. The game has a lot of lame miss a turn and move back to kinds of spaces. The big draw is the strange monster card descriptions and the battle system. You stick a sword into one of three holes in a giant plastic skull. You will get one of two shrill screams or a monster laugh from the internal record player--Voice of the Mummy style. The fun pales after about 30 of its 60+ minutes. But I adore the game for all its psychedelic style. The board game equivalent of a Ted V. Mikels movie.

Creature Castle: I’m becoming more and more fond of this game each time I play it. The rules (written in proper 70’s children’s game format) are written in giant type on the back of the box top. You have a hand of 5 cards. You play a card. If it matches the space in front of your pawn, you get to move forward to that space.

The track is mostly linear with a few branch paths. It sounds totally and pointlessly simple. Actually, the game has some teeth.

Each card has 3 elements. Color, suit, and rank. Each space refers to only one element. So you have to kind of plan out how to use your hand to move over the next few spaces. So a little bit of thought involved.

To play the game well, however, requires looking at the evil inherent in the board and card distribution. The Creature and Monster ranks are quite rare, followed by suit distributions, then the 1 and 2 ranks, and finally the common black and red spaces. Shortcuts often require Creature and Monster cards so you have to either have saved them for a long time.

Even the base trail will throw some nasty sequences like three snakes or three bats. If you are coming up on a sequence like that, you may want to save a snake and decide not to move even though the snake could easily be played as a red card.

It is a surprisingly clever and simple game that is in many ways a parent of Elfenroads and Marco Polo. (Alan Moon once sent me a copy of some rules he’d cooked up for adding player interaction to the game. And you can see this game’s influence on both Elfenroads and Ticket to Ride. )

I think Battlelore will only be as big a money pit as you want it to be. From the descriptions and brief talks with the designer, the base game sounds like the beginning of an entire universe of races and add-on bits, none of which are essential to play. They’re extra items which will allow users to create their own scenarios or play new scenarios included with the expansions. The base game has only 10 scenarios, if I read the promo material correctly, but that still gives you a lot of mileage from the base set.

Thanks for some play reports, Frank.  I like Creature Castle at this time of year too (I had it in the tub last night, but didn’t get to it).