Category Table Top Gaming

Renegade Game Studios has brought a true 80s classic franchise to their deck building games with the Transformers Deck Building Card Game.

The original version of the Transformers Deck Building Card Game has been out for a while now but Renegade Game Studios has released a stand alone expansion along with an additional expansion. A Rising Darkness is the stand alone expansion where you can play as the Decepticons! Infiltration Protocol is the follow up expansion that works with both the core game and A Rising Darkness. It’s a great time to be a Transformers fan.

A Rising Darkness

This expansion works as both a standalone game or to further expand on the core game itself. When added to the core it brings two new modes- competitive and cooperative. This box allows players to exclusively play as the Decepticons but if combined with the core set then they can play Decepticons versus Autobots. For someone like myself who almost exclusively likes the Decepticons then this box is the best bet for them.

Infiltration Protocol

Infiltration Protocol is an expansion that works for both the core game or A Rising Darkness. This box allows you to play three new Autobots and three new Decepticons. It also features six new game modes to further vary gameplay, specifically a one versus many and a team versus team modes to say the least.

Each of these releases were followed by a single bonus pack that can be purchased, adding two MORE bots to the game! If you like Transformers or deck building games then these boxes are for you!

Dungeon Bowl is back with another claustrophobic match pitting two magical colleges against each other in Death Match!

Dungeon Bowl has quickly become a classic in our gaming groups with the catacombs and traps to navigate, making an already crazy game crazier. Death Match adds two new colleges to the mix and visually is the most stunning release yet!

At $170 this boxset comes with everything needed for a match but also give options to expand. Teams are divided into Colleges and it comes with teams for the Colleges of Life and Death. Map tiles allow you an almost endless number of customizations so that you never have to play the same map twice. Two teams enter the particular Dungeon and in search of the game ball and if found must survive to score a touchdown. One touchdown is all that is needed to win but just finding it and delivering the ball is enough. Players must survive traps and other players who will stop at nothing to prevent them from scoring.

Regular Blood Bowl players will have options to further customize their teams using their players and creatures to fill out the roster for their chosen College. The models look fantastic and the map tiles can be used in other games like Cursed City to keep those maps fresh as well. Without purchasing other Blood Bowl teams however will mean your kit-bashing options will be quite limited as you only have a couple models for each faction as part of the game. As a stand-alone game though I don’t see this title as a replacement for Blood Bowl, merely as a new way to play. This game is chaotic, fast paced and immensely enjoyable.

Warcry returns to Ghur with Sundered Fate where two new warbands will fight for control of the Ravening Ruin. Who will be triumphant?

Warcry Sundered Fate is the second installment of releases centered around Ghur and the area where a Seraphon temple ship has crashed. This is also the second installment to feature one warband from the Grand Alliance of Order- Chameleon Skinks under the name of the Hunters of Huanchi. The Jade Obelisk is a Tzeentch cult that centers around worshipping the voice of the Speaker in the Stone and are the Chaos warband for this starter.

The Gnarlwood is proving to be a the great location away from the Eightpoints and hope that we see more realms and other great locations with future editions. Personally I’m hoping for Aqshy next or Chamon. It seems that Age of Sigmar as a whole is following the same realm and region and once we finish the current planned releases for Warcry in Ghur I predict we will be transitioning to another realm.

This box features two of the best looking and unique warbands we’ve had yet. I have always loved the look of the Seraphon, or Lizardmen for those that are old enough to remember when they first joined the world that was. I am also an avid Chaos player. My son loves Seraphon because who doesn’t love giant lizards? Even better for me is that my youngest is now at the age my son was when I first started playing games with him and absolutely loves anything dinosaur related. That means I now have TWO people in my house I can persuade to play games with me!

Exploding Kittens brings us yet another original title where chaos reigns supreme with Hand-to-Hand Wombat!

What happens when you combine building with Exploding Kittens and blind folds or closed eyes? Well, you chaos, simple as that but more importantly you get one of the latest games from EK, Hand-to-Hand Wombat! By name it sounds like a fighting game. Based on the rules alone it’s not but any game with the wrong people can become one. Before playing this game I advise to look at how volatile your group can be. If it’s like my family there will at least be some yelling.

Players will either be blindfolded (if they can’t be trusted) or have their eyes closed. One player is designated the bad wombat. The good wombats will try to build three towers biggest to smallest and the bad wombat will try to screw the order up. At the end of each round players will vote on the identity of the bad wombat. Majority vote wins and just like in Among Us that player is removed from the game. This game is basically Among Us without the murder. Of course you may want to murder the bad wombat at times, comes with the territory.

Our entire family loves playing Among Us and we also love Hand-to-Hand Wombat. My only regret was not being able to participate in the Kickstarter when it was going on. The golden wombat pouch and timer would have been awesome.

Exploding Kittens claims that Happy Salmon is a 90 second game that you will play for hours. Can the claim be true?

The 90 second game is a bold claim by Exploding Kittens. Claims like this are usually reserved for crazy speed runners in video games or liars. Are the folks at EK liars? Knowing my history with their games I was inclined to believe them but was still skeptical. How can a game of Happy Salmon really only take 90 seconds to play? How simple can this game be?

Let’s answer both of those questions. First, is it really does only take about 90 seconds to play. Second, the game is by far one of their easiest to learn. It’s so simple in fact that if you can read and yell then you can play this game. The only complaint I had about this game is that my kids used the Happy Salmon card as an excuse to slap my forearms harder than necessary. That card means you and whomever has your match slap each other’s arms a few times before discarding the cards. Switch It Up means you change seats with another player. High Five means you give another player a High Five and Fish Bump means you give each other fist bumps. In you hand of cards you are calling out specific cards until you find a match and perform the action. First player to run out of cards wins.

It doesn’t get much easier than that. Seriously. The game was easy to learn and a great time by the whole family.

Exploding Kittens has released a new expansion for their hit card game- Zombie Kittens and this time the Zombies are coming!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Exploding Kittens is one of my favorite games to play as a family. It has nothing to do with the fact I usually win. That helps, sure but not the main reason. Between fantastic art and cutthroat chaos we can’t get enough of this game. Zombie Kittens takes the classic format of killing each other and brings in the ability to bring players back from the dead. Normally if they can’t defuse the bomb that is the end of the game for them but now they have the chance to be resurrection as a zombie and can still terrorize the players.

The phrasing on the resurrection card could be better because as it is written sounds like it allows you to bring back all dead players. It can also be easily interpreted that it only brings back the player that is dying at that instant. Having carefully read the rules themselves though this is explained a bit better. You can use it to save yourself if you are dying BUT you automatically bring back one dead player with you. To really take advantage of this expansion you really need a group of at least four players. Playing with two players makes this effectively a defuse card but with some added features that are impacted by other new cards. This is similar to what the Imploding Kitten did for the game.

Adding new features and cards to an already great game helps keep it from getting stale. This version was a lot of fun but would absolutely be better with a larger group. Being able to save yourself continues to lengthen the game time but overall not significantly. If you are a fan of Exploding Kittens or looking for a new game to play with your group then this is a great choice for you!

Who here likes rainbows? Who likes revenge? Who likes both? With Mantis from Exploding Kittens you get BOTH!

One thing I love about games from Exploding Kittens is their originality. Some of the games may have borrowed some mechanics from others but as a whole they look and feel entirely original. Mantis is one such game that has seemed to borrowed a basic mechanic but made it their own overall. The mechanic I’m referring to is simply trading matching cards like in Go Fish. A very simple mechanic for sure but they still made it their own. Instead of collecting numbered cards you are collecting styles of mantis shrimp. What makes this game unique, aside from what is printed on the cards, is that instead of scoring points with your shrimp you can steal cards from the other players to try to make your tank earn you points.

Let’s talk about speed of play. Most titles make claims about how quick they are to play and Mantis is no different in that regard. However, it is very accurate at ten minutes. Our first game took closer to fifteen but that was more because we were learning the rules of the game. This game is really good at reminding you who may not want to play certain games with. Some members of the family are just too cutthroat. I’m looking right at both of my teenagers. I don’t understand why they always target me specifically. It’s like they coordinate these assaults together telepathically. Overall we had a great time but it simply does not hold a candle to the Exploding Kittens game itself.

Very Special Games brings Charty Party to the group card game genre- think Cards Against Humanity with charts instead.

The team at Very Special Games sent us both the All Ages and the 17+ editions of Charty Party to review. The game is quite simple to grasp, especially if you have played Cards Against Humanity. For those that haven’t played everyone gets shuffled a hand of orange cards. The judge for that round will draw a card from the chart pile. The remaining players then place the card they think the judge will choose. Depending on the judge you might go for the funniest answer or something else. For example one of my daughter’s friends will never choose the funniest card. She only picks the card that works the least and then tells everyone to “think about it”. The trick here is to play to your judges.

At first glance I thought the game would be a waste of time and an even bigger waste of shelf space. Clearly I was skeptical. That was before I read how to play. You see, I saw the charts themselves and thought this would be one of the stupidest games I ever played that wasn’t for young children. However, during my unboxing of the game I realized what the game really was and my immediate impression changed. You can check out that video here:

After filming the video and playing the game with the family I learned two things. The first is that the game is better with alcohol, like most games but still it is better when you’ve been drinking. The second is that despite the game being centered around charts it is actually quite clever and was a good amount of fun for our whole group. I think this one will be a regular addition to our gaming rotation.

Renegade Games brings the ultimate roleplaying game for 80s fanboys- GI Joe the Roleplaying Game!

Over the years GI Joe has had many iterations to the comics and cartoons. The Joes originated in comic and animation starting with Marvel Comics. They were later replaced by Devils Due and then at their current home at IDW Comics. Devils Due continued the story where Marvel left off but IDW rebooted it to take the story with the original write where it was left off at Marvel. I have always wanted to play in this world and now Renegade Games has given us the chance to do just that.

The quality of this book though is what really makes it stand out. The images and attention to detail are superb. Even better is that, with such a rich history of comics and cartoons, you are able to play any source material you want. That’s right! If you prefer the Devils Due run then you can play it. If you prefer the IDW reboot run then you can play that! You can literally play any source you want, as long as the GM/DM and players all agree.

Right off the bat (pun intended) I have a big complaint about this game- you can only play as a member of the Joes team. Other than Snake Eyes, Scarlet and Jinx, I am a fan of Cobra. I want a Cobra Roleplaying Game next or at least a supplement that does the same thing. Their D20 system is really easy to pick up and play without much experience with other roleplaying games.

The heroes of Ulfenkarn have defeated Radukar but what’s next? Cursed City: Nightwars answers that with three new vampires!

It wasn’t too long ago that we sat with famed adventurer and Black Library author CL Werner about the Cursed City novel. The novel was a precursor to the game itself, for those that don’t remember or haven’t read it yet. It was amazing, absolutely an amazing read. Nightwars continues the overall story of Cursed City as three vampires try to fill the power vacuum left by Radukar’s defeat. Of course Radukar has something to say about it too.

Should you somehow defeat the three vampires you will still need to fight Radukar one last time as The Beast. By far one of my favorite Soulblight models, thankfully we had already picked up our own models anticipating they might find use through a White Dwarf article or two. The fact that they tied them into the official expansion was a lucky win for us. Who else purchased these models in hopes of seeing rules for them? I can’t be the only one. At the time I was lucky enough to get everything required and already had all but the Fell Bats painted. The new expansion has already been announced and we are currently missing those models.

Many people complain about the lack of models but I think that is a bit premature. This is similar to White Dwarf releasing character or mission rules. I understand with this box you are paying $60 USD but you are getting components and an expanded rulebook. Both go beyond what you would have received in White Dwarf. For that and the in-depth continuation of the story I feel that this box is essential for Cursed City fans.