» 2009 » December
Thursday, December 24, 2009
OgreCave’s Christmas Gift Guide 2009, part 4
This is it – Christmas looms on the horizon, just one day away. But say you’ve forgotten to get a gift for someone, a fellow gamer, and there’s no time to get to the stores anymore. Fear not, for the Cave dwellers have compiled one more list of gift suggestions in our OgreCave Christmas Gift Guide 2009. This fourth and final list provides An Aetheric Guide for Christmas, our traditionally last-minute PDF/downloadable product list. Just read through the list, select a few pre-screened OgreCave recommendations, and download your gifts as needed. You don’t have to risk wading through last-minute shoppers – they’ll be like a pack of sugarplum-crazed elves by now.
Here’s wishing you a safe, happy holiday season, from the staff of OgreCave. Seasons greetings!
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
OgreCave review – Claustrophobia
In case you’re looking for a new game to dive into, Lee has provided us with a detailed look at Claustrophobia. Don’t fear this new game from Asmodée Editions – the spacious box is full of prepainted figures and skirmish combat goodness. Read on and see what Lee’s full review uncovered.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
OgreCave’s Christmas Gift Guide 2009, part 3
If you plan to give gifts this holiday season – or better yet, receive them – you’ve surely been perusing local stores and forming a list. The Cave dwellers have done the same, in the third section of our OgreCave Christmas Gift Guide 2009. This portion, the Twelve Boxes for Christmas, focuses on board games, in the hope of guiding some of your big-ticket expenses toward enjoyable gaming choices.
All that remains is our traditionally last-minute PDF/downloadable product list. We’ll be sure to drop it down your chimney when you’re least expecting it. … No, that’s not a euphemism for anything! Sheesh!
Friday, December 11, 2009
OgreCave’s Christmas Gift Guide 2009, part 2
Another weekend of holiday shopping is here, and you’ve probably formed some ideas of the larger-cost items you’ll be picking up (or requesting from others). In case your mind’s not quite made up yet, the OgreCave Christmas Gift Guide 2009 continues with its second section, Twelve Days of Roleplaying. This list of gift suggestions is entirely RPG related, and the Cave dwellers have chosen a range of roleplaying goodies that would make great gifts.
Our board game list will be up shortly (work and sickness have caused delays), followed by our traditionally last-minute downloadable product list. So listen closely each night – those bells might be a jolly Ogre… or more likely, an Ogre stepping some other jolly critter.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
AEG’s Thunderstone, Infinite City get lost in transit
Getting a product to market can be problematic in any industry, but the game industry gets more than its share of complications. Today AEG revealed that its shipper, currently in the throes of cutbacks, has misplaced Thunderstone and Infinite City, which were due to arrive last month. Todd Rowland, AEG’s Senior Brand Manager, summarized the chain of events in a forum post. Here’s the relevant bit:
The shipment of Thunderstone and Infinite City has been lost. It was due to arrive in Mid November and we have been told it was “in transit” or clearing customs for 3 weeks. Yesterday the shipper admitted they could not find it and after a long night of waking people up we have located the missing shipment. For some reason it had been diverted to Charleston SC and will not arrive until next week. To make matters worse it has been flagged for customs check and that will take an additional number of days.
Rowland goes on to admit it seems unlikely either game will reach stores before Christmas, but hopes gamers will consider them a “great way to ring in the New Year.” More precise release dates will be announced once AEG has a delivery date.
I remember when Godlike arrived in the states from being printed in China, and then the container remained locked down in customs for a month. This was extra frustrating for the publisher, as the warehouse it was to be stored at and distributed from was literally right across the street from the customs office. But darn it, those games sure look suspicious – better double and triple check them for contraband.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Beware of lurking ninja
Today is the Day of the Ninja, December 5th, and we nearly failed our Spot check. We didn’t manage to get a Games of the Ninja mini-feature put together this year (feel free to check out last year’s page, though), partly because we couldn’t think of any new ninja-related games we’re dying to play. So, here’s the question: if you were to celebrate the stealthy assassins today – and who wouldn’t? – what game(s) would you be throwing down with?
Friday, December 4, 2009
Now it feels like the holidays – Wizards layoffs again
You can almost set your watch by it at this point: Wizards of the Coast has started its annual layoffs. ENWorld is reporting that Rob Heinsoo, Logan Bonner, and Chris Sims have been laid off, which has since been confirmed by Sims. A later post added Stephen Radney-McFarland to the list of WotC’s departed. As always, OgreCave wishes the best to all who are affected by the layoffs.
OgreCave Christmas Gift Guide 2009, part 1
If you haven’t noticed the holiday decorations yet, you just aren’t paying attention – around here, it started showing up Halloween morning. It seems like folks are anxious to get back to celebrating the season, and retailers are ready to receive the droves of gift givers. Don’t let the anxiety get to you, though – you’ve got the first part of our OgreCave Christmas Gift Guide 2009 on hand to help. In this first section, Twelve Stocking Stuffer Games, the Cave dwellers have selected a solid group of inexpensive gift goodies for a variety of interests, from casual gamer to hardcore.
We’ll have the rest of our ninth annual guide up in the days ahead, so be sure to check our lists, check them twice. Being naughty or nice isn’t a factor – we don’t judge.
Can Wormhole make papercraft gaming work in the box?
This might be really dumb or really smart: I honestly can’t tell. Wormhole is a complete starship-combat minis game for $25 MSRP. How has this amazing feat been accomplished, you ask? Well, the models are printed on paper, without so much as a single die cut. Gamers are to assemble and glue their fleets in the time-honored, or at least Boing Boing honored, tradition of papercraft, of which the ships they display are far from the most complex examples.
These cats are doing a bang-up job on their web presence; given the very thorough tutorial videos on the web site, assembling this stuff actually looks easier (but a lot more time-consuming) than some plastic card-model games I’ve messed with. The question is, will hobby gamers accept the “hobby” half of a papercraft game? From what little of the rules are in plain sight, it doesn’t look like Wormhole will draw the casual types, but the risk is there won’t be enough perceived table-candy payoff for hardcore minis fans… and it doesn’t seem as though people attracted to this sort of game are all that recession-conscious. (Me, I would pay $35 for something with a few die cuts.)
Thursday, December 3, 2009
OgreCave review – The Grinding Gear
Things are settling to a nice pseudo-calm around here, so we’ll start throwing some goodies up onto the site real quick before something else crops up to delay us. Gerald leads the charge with his review of The Grinding Gear by LotFP Publishing, an old school “deathtrap dungeon” of considerable quality. Read on, and see what Gerald thought of this nasty little vacation spot for adventurers, or browse through our library of previous reviews.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Free trick-taking double-feature
In case you haven’t been keeping an eye on Invisible City lately, you might want to check their free games page. They’ve just released a pair of trick-taking games for your amusement: Hidden Rules, a Mao-inspired affair in which different players know different rules to the game, but nobody knows everything; and Birthday Party, Cheesecake, Jelly Bean, Boom!, which puts a simple yet distinctive twist on the venerable form. Sometimes it’s nice to take a break from the complicated stuff and just play cards; this is a good excuse.
A periodic hour of awesome with editors Allan and Mike. Subscribe!
You are currently browsing the OgreCave weblog archives for December, 2009.
-
Recent Reviews BASH! Ultimate Edition
(Basic Action Games)
WEGS 101: Old Skool
(Gamewick Games)
Doctor Who RPG
(Cubicle 7)
Thunderstone
(Alderac)
Dragon Age: Origins
(BioWare)
Mansions of Madness
(Chaosium)
Summoner Wars
(Plaid Hat Games)
Secrets of
New Orleans
(Chaosium)
Claustrophobia
(Asmodée Editions)
The Grinding Gear
(LotFP Publishing)
Adaptoid
(nestorgames)
Ticket to Ride:
Europa 1912
(Days of Wonder)
More...
Categories
- Board Games (349)
- Card Games (266)
- Computer and Console Games (130)
- Contests (21)
- Conventions (170)
- D20 (270)
- Dungeons & Dragons (292)
- Features (30)
- Game Design (14)
- Gamebooks (38)
- Geek Culture (32)
- Industry (404)
- Interviews (29)
- LARP (16)
- Miniatures Games (270)
- OgreCave (436)
- Playtest Reports (17)
- Reviews (117)
- Roleplaying Games (669)
- Uncategorized (591)
Archives
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
- November 2005
- October 2005
- September 2005
- August 2005
- July 2005
- June 2005
- May 2005
- April 2005
- March 2005
- February 2005
- January 2005
- December 2004
- November 2004
- October 2004
- September 2004
- August 2004
- July 2004
- June 2004
- May 2004
- April 2004
- March 2004
- February 2004
- January 2004
- December 2003
- November 2003
- October 2003
- September 2003
- August 2003
- July 2003
- June 2003
- May 2003
- April 2003
- March 2003
- February 2003
- January 2003
- December 2002
- November 2002
- October 2002
- September 2002
- August 2002
- July 2002
- June 2002
- May 2002
- April 2002
- March 2002
- February 2002
- January 2002
- December 2001
- November 2001
- October 2001
- September 2001
- August 2001
- July 2001
- June 2001
- May 2001
- April 2001
- March 2001
- February 2001
- November 2000
- September 2000
Back to the