Bad Beets

Hello there, all you gaming friends out there in gamer-land! Seems for the moment that it's actually going to be a bit winter-like here in Atlanta. At least for a couple days. No, it's not like the winters I remember in Chicago, but if we had a winter like that down here, this place would never dig out of that. The whole state would shut down until June. It would be a nightmare.

However, a blizzard's-worth of reviews here today is just fine. (Because transitions!)

Today we've got articles on: X-Wing Miniatures Game, Star Wars Armada, Imperial Assault, Conflict of Heroes - The Eastern Front Solo Expansion, Queen's Necklace, Terrakami Games Sci-Fi Containers, Crusader A15 by Rubicon Models, Bountytown, Between Two Cities, Bad Beets, Ultimate Warriorz, Jamaica, The Gallerist, Mombasa, Ninja Camp, Shakespeare, Cthulhu Realms, Eternal Dynasty, Outer Earth, Fool's Gold, and Dark Age Z.



Ars Technica:

A Combined Review of X-Wing Miniatures Game, Star Wars Armada, and Imperial Assault

This week Ars Cardboard dives into miniatures wargaming—but forget stereotypes of tiny Napoleonic soldiers walking across home-crafted terrain. We’re talking about Star Wars miniatures here, from capital ships to TIE fighters to Darth Vader himself. If you’ve ever wanted to command a squad of X-Wings, take control of an Imperial Star Destroyer, or experience a shootout with stormtroopers, the current trio of licensed Star Wars miniatures games from Fantasy Flight have you covered. And with the Force Awakens mere days away, there's never been a better time to dive in.

Play Board Games:

Conflict of Heroes - The Eastern Front Solo Expansion Review

Conflict of Heroes is a war game, the Eastern Front expansion lets you play it solo. It changes the flow of the game and adds a formidable AI opponent.

Queen's Necklace Review

Queen’s Necklace is a card game in which you take on the role of a jeweler in Paris before the French Revolution. You want to buy gems that are in fashion for as little as possible and make a big profit when it comes time to sell. The person with the most pounds wins the game.

Graven Games:

Terrakami Games Sci-Fi Containers Review

Welcome to the beginning of a multiple part review of the laser cut terrain available from Terrakami, a company specialising in laser-cut MDF and acrylic accessories for tabletop wargames. In this review we’re going to be building a selection of Terakami’s Sci-Fi 28mm Containers, and then moving onto to some of their larger kits including their Container Crane in the near future. We picked these up with the plan of using them in our games of Warhammer 40k and Infinity, but they’ll work equally well in any game using a sci-fi setting.

Chaosbunker:

Crusader A15 by Rubicon Models Review

Part of the Third Quarter 2015 releases is the A15 Crusader, including 6 different variants from Mk I to MK III, as well as the AA and CS versions.

iSlaytheDragon:

Fist Full of Cards (A Review of Bountytown)

In Bountytown you’re a bounty hunter shooting (literally) to clean up the boisterous frontier town so that the railroad can come through and, with it, a little respectability. Of course, you’re not the only gun-for-hire aiming to bag some crooks. While you might think more equals better, that just means some other quick draw artists are crowding in on your reward money. A duel or two to steal a bounty from some other gun just might prove the old adage that this town ain’t big enough…

In the Peace Thereof Shall Ye Have Peace (a review of Between Two Cities)

Between Two Cities is a tile-drafting/city-building game for three to seven players (playable with one or two players with variants). Each player works with the player on the right and the player on the left to craft two cities that are a perfect 4×4 grid. At the end of the game, the player whose lower-scoring city is highest on the scoretrack wins.

Board Game Quest:

Bad Beets Review

In Bad Beets, players attempts to get rid of all of the beet tokens in front of them. This may involve feeding them to the dog, sharing them with another player, or eating them (ewww!). The main mechanic will be familiar to anyone who has played Coup, you can take any action, even if you don’t have the card that allows you to take that action. However, other players can call you out and you are penalized if you were bluffing.

Ultimate Warriorz Review

Ultimate Warriorz is a reimplementation of 2009’s Mad Arena. The object of the game is to be the last warrior standing. If more than one warrior is alive after seven rounds, then the warrior with the most popularity will be declared the winner.

BoardGameKing:

Jamaica Review

Captain Henry Morgan becomes the Governor of Jamaica with order to take out the Caribbean pirates and buccaneers! Though, he hires all of his former crew to join him in his quest to enjoy the fruits of the piracy without being punished!

Jamaica was published in 2007 by Asmodee and designed by Malcolm Braff, Bruno Cathala and Sébastien Pauchon who are well-known for such projects as Mr. Jack Extension, Shadows over Camelot, Corto and etc.

The main artist is Mathieu Leyssenne. He took part in such colorful games like Animalia, Bonbons and many others.

Drive Thru Review:


The Gallerist Review

The Gallerist Review

Intro (00:00); game overview (01:55); final thoughts and review (25:44)

Mombasa Review

Mombasa Review

Intro (00:00); game overview (01:03); final thoughts and review (16:57)

Ninja Camp Review

Ninja Camp Review

Intro (00:00); game overview (01:02); final thoughts and review (06:13)

Shakespeare Review

Shakespeare Review

Intro (00:00); game overview (01:01); final thoughts and review (14:19)

Board To Death TV:

Cthulhu Realms Review

In Cthulhu Realms, each player tries to reduce their opponents to insanity or have more sanity than their opponents when the deck runs out.

Eternal Dynasty Review

Eternal Dynasty is a game for 2-5 players with elements of territory control, worker placement, and political maneuvering.

Outer Earth Review

In the near future, both rapid space exploration and terraforming technology have opened a new science field allowing mankind to explore, discover and terraform planets for habitation.

Players manage a planetary development company and compete in the planet auction market for the developing rights of these newly explored planets.

Fool's Gold Review

Fool’s Gold takes place during the gold rush of 1849. Players are investors who send prospectors on a quest to find gold at various locations — in the mountains, in a forest, at a river, etc. — with each location having perils, gems, quantities of gold and bountiful supplies of silt. As players remove valuable gold cards from the location decks, silt becomes more prominent and gold harder to find.

Dark Age Z Review

Dark Age Z is a strategic board game for 2 to 5 players. You are one of the kings in the Dark Age. All players strive to gain as many victory points (VP) as possible by killing the zombies that attack the Frontiers of the Kingdom Cities. At the end of the game, the player with the highest VPs wins the game.

Yesterday I went over to my friend Gene's place. I've known him for quite a long time. My ex and his wife used to work together. Now Gene and I are in the same D&D group. When we're not pretending we're dwarves or half-orcs, we also enjoy playing Ascension. And, in fact, yesterday we played many hands. Several were won/lost by only a single point. Anyway, Stone Blade Entertainment is having a sale on not just Ascension, but also their other games this weekend.


Sale items include: Ascension sets at 50% off. Then, Bad Beets is available for only $10. Finally, for you digital-gamer types, all items over on SolForge are 50% off (except for gold).
These deals won't last forever. That's why I went ahead and ordered some more Ascension for myself just now.

Ascension site.
SolForge site.
Bad Beets site.

When I was growing up, every year we’d plant a vegetable garden back behind the garage. There would be some herbs, tomatoes, carrots, and several other items. One of those other items was beets. So when they were ready, we would always have fresh beets as a side dish for dinner. I grew up loving beets. However, having since had canned beets, I can see how others might not have such a fond memory of this clothes-staining root. Let’s face it, a lot of people don’t like eating their vegetables, and so I can see why a game could end up with a premise such as Bad Beets has.



Well, the fellows over at Stone Blade Entertainment gave us a copy and so it’s time to dig into another TGN Review. This time it’s Bad Beets by Stone Blade Entertainment.




Last month at Gen Con, I had a chance to sit down with Mr. Gary and talk about everything that Stone Blade was working on. After the interview we went over and played a quick demo game of Bad Beets. I must say, I was a bit wary before getting started. Sure, I loved Ascension, also by SBE, but Bad Beets was quite a departure from the hero-buying and monster-slashing I was used to. However, after the quick game, I was swayed. But that could very easily have just been that day and the excitement of playing a demo of a game right there with the creator. With a longer chance to study the game, would I still enjoy it? Let's find out, but first, a recap of how the game works.

The game comes in a single, small box. Everything fits in very easily (with room for expansions, if SBE ever goes that route). The game comes with 50 Beet Tokens and 15 Ice Cream Tokens. I was surprised to see that the cardboard tokens were already punched out and were in a little bag. Usually “Step 1” for playing a game is “punch out all the tokens.” Obviously, that wasn’t necessary here. The tokens were also very nicely punched out. I couldn’t find any tearing or peeling. Also, something I noticed that I’d not seen during the demo is that there are several different faces on the Beets. It’s a very small touch, but I love it. It makes the game more flavorful (… … … pun intended). The box also contains 5 Action Reminder cards, 15 Action Cards (3 each of 5 different cards), and the Rules Sheet.



The game starts by giving each player an Action Reminder Card and 8 Beet Tokens. Then, shuffle the 15 Action Cards and deal 1 to each player. Players can look at their card. Then randomly determine the first player. That player draws a card, then picks one of their cards to give to the next player (though that second player doesn’t look at the card yet). The first player puts the card they’re keeping face-down in front of them and declares that they’re performing one of the three different actions available. The other players have the option to either allow them to perform that action or they can call the player’s bluff. If the bluff is called, the player reveals the card that they had played. If it was the action they stated, they get to do that action and the player that called them out gains an extra Beet Token. If the player was bluffing, then the action doesn’t happen and the player who tried to play it gains a Beet Token. There is another option during your turn, and that’s to simply eat a beet, which lets you remove one of your Beet Tokens. Obviously, nobody can call your bluff if you just sit there and quietly eat your beets. After you resolve your card or the bluff, the second player picks up the card you drafted to them and their turn starts. They don’t draw a card, since they’ve already got two cards in their hand. They simply draft to the next player and then declare what action they are doing.



But what about those cards and actions? I mentioned five cards, but I said there were only three types of action you can claim you’re doing. So what’s up with that? Let’s take a closer look at the cards, themselves.

The three action cards are:

Share – Give two Beet Tokens to another player.
Feed the Dog – Discard three Beet Tokens.
Tattletale – Guess a player’s card. They must reveal it. If you guessed right, give them four of your Beet Tokens.

Then there’s two “reaction” cards. They have a gold background, as opposed to a blue background of the standard actions. You can reveal these from your hand during another player’s turn in order to gain their bonus. They are:

Copycat – If someone says they’re Feeding the Dog, you can reveal this to discard two of your Beet Tokens.
Nuh-uh! – If someone tries to Tattletale on you, you can reveal this and give that player four of your Beet Tokens.



Any time a player must reveal their card (either by someone calling their bluff or by the reveal of a reaction card), that card is discarded, face-up, into the discard pile and that player redraws. So nobody, except you, ever really knows what is in your hand (obviously a crucial thing for a bluffing game). The discard pile is reshuffled any time that two of the same card are in it. That way, there’s always a chance for one version of the card to either be in someone’s hand or left in the draw deck.



Players are trying to get rid of all their Beet Tokens. The first player to do so is the winner. The reason the game comes with so any Ice Cream tokens is that, since games are pretty fast (most hands taking about 15min or so to play), you can turn a one-off game into a “first to three” situation.

I really enjoy playing Bad Beets. After subsequent plays, that is one thing that hasn’t changed since the demo at Gen Con. I do feel that the game plays best with more than two players, though. Jared and I played a couple 2-player games and they weren’t as good. I think 3-4 is the real “sweet spot” (… … … again, pun intended) for the game. Since the game’s theme is so family-friendly, anyone can join in. So this is great not just for game night at the LGS, but also game night with the family. I recommend you give Bad Beets a try for yourself.



You can go pick up your own copy of Bad Beets over in their webshop. You can't have mine. These Bad Beets I'm keeping.

Hey there, TGN readers. It's time again for another Review Roundup.

So without further ado, today we have reviews of: Dark Tales, Litko Age of Sigmar Tokens review, Deadzone Contagion Expansion, LUGU, Cacao, The Burning Wheel RPG, Rhino Hero, Bad Beets, Spyfall, and Systema Gaming Base-0 Level 1 and 2 Walkways.



Board to Death TV:

Dark Tales card game video review

The card game Dark Tales is inspired by classic fairy tales, retold in a dark style. The land of Dark Tales is populated by disturbing creatures and sinister characters, and the interaction between cards and magic items is the key to success: A character, event, or sword used at the right time can determine the fate of the game! Thanks to the many setting cards, the items you collect change their power from game to game.

Widgets and Wonders:

Litko Age of Sigmar Tokens review

Litko (one of the oldest and most established gamer-gear companies out there) has produced a new line of player-aids for Warhammer: Age of Sigmar.

Play Board Games:

Deadzone Contagion Expansion review

The Contagion book starts with an explanation of the Plague and how it creates zombies. And leads right into an overview of how zombies can be added to your Deadzone game. When zombies are added to a normal two player game they are an additional faction that both players must contend with. In a solo game you try to survive four scenarios.

Polyhedron Collider:

LUGU Review

The concept of LUGU is rather straightforward; each player is furnished with a deck of cards, each one decorated by a very abstract piece of colourful art. The storyteller, basically the player whose turn it is, draws four of the cards at random and tries to craft a story based on the artwork.

Shut Up & Sit Down:

Cacao Review

While Cacao is another one of those games that’s basically about getting rich by hoarding and trading resources, it’s not another one of those complex, beige things with an old white dude pointing his arthritic finger at a ship or a customs house or a pile of corn and it’s immediately less stuffy for it. Instead of crates of silk or barges full of, I dunno, wool, Cacao is really just about chocolate. Yeah, there’s temples and gold mines and water, but mostly it’s about getting cocoa and then selling cocoa in a quick, breezy and colourful fashion that can mean a game is as short as twenty chocolately minutes. It looks fresher and brighter than so many of those heftier, sepia-toned things. That’s a good first impression. Also, there are no ants anywhere in the box, so that's fantastic.

The Burning Wheel RPG Review

Lately I’ve had Burning Wheel on my mind.

Some friends recently started up a streamed campaign with Roll20, and I tuned in to watch all 4 hours of their character creation. I joked around in chat, explained bits of the rules and mechanics to people who asked, and generally had a great time. But I haven’t been watching them actually play. I’ve stayed away partially because the timing doesn’t quite work for me, partially because one of my roommates is in the game and I can hear him talking in real time and then again 10 seconds later via Twitch’s time delay, but, most of all, because I am way too jealous.

Board Game Quest:

Rhino Hero review

Rhino Hero is a dexterity game for 2-5 players that plays in about 10 minutes. Rhino Hero plays best with 3 players, but works equally as well with 2 or 4 players. Rhino Hero can be played by players of all ages.

iSlaytheDragon:

Vegging Out (A Review of Bad Beets)

Bad Beets is all about being the first eater at the table to get rid of your serving of nasty Beta vulgaris. (I did not make that up. See, even its scientific name makes them sound gross!) You’ll do anything you can to get rid of them. Even lie! But be careful, if someone catches your bluff, you may end up having to stuff the unpalatable plants down your gullet after all!

Where Am I This Time? (a review of Spyfall)

Spyfall is a party game for three to eight players.

To begin a game of Spyfall, open one pack of cards. Each of the thirty packs of cards includes seven location cards (all the same) and one spy card. Mix one card for each player (one of the cards must be the spy card) from the pack together, and deal one card to each player. Set a timer for eight minutes. The player who looks the shadiest begins.

Graven Games:

Systema Gaming Base-0 Level 1 and 2 Walkways Review

Today we’re building the Level 1 and 2 Walkway kits from Systema Gaming in a continuation of our look at the Base-0 range of sci-fi tabletop terrain. We’ve previously built the HQ Unit and Habitat Units 1 and 2 from this range, so check out those reviews first if you’ve not seen them. These raised walkways are designed to be used with other Base-o structures to create a multilevel battlefield for games like Warhammer 40k, Necromunda, and Infinity.

Bad Beets, it's not what old-school hip-hop listeners think of the state of music today, it's the new bluffing card game from Stone Blade Entertainment. They've been showing off the game a lot lately, including during Gen Con, where I got a chance to try it out and talk with Justin Gary all about it, and now you can pick up a copy for yourself.


In the game, you play as kids sitting around the dinner table. You've got a plateful of beets that you don't want to eat. However, it's only by getting rid of your beets that you can get some ice cream! So trade, bluff, tattle, feed the dog, and (as a last resort) eat some beets in order to be the first to get rid of all your beets.

Great for family game nights, Bad Beets is easy to learn and quick to play.

Source

Day 1 of Gen Con has been an absolute whirlwind. It feels like 3 days have already gone by. But no, it's just one. The show is a great time to sit down with some of the game companies in attendance and find out what they've been working on. One that I've been visiting a couple years in a row has been Justin Gary, the President of Stone Blade Entertainment (SBE). Ascension is on of my favorite games and one that I play most-often. So it's always great to try and pry bits of information about what's coming up for it. But it's not just Ascension this year from Stone Blade. We've got Bad Beets. Not only did I get a little info about the game, I got a full demo. Check out below to see how the game plays.


Starting out, Justin said that this is the most exciting year yet for Stone Blade Entertainment. Looking at the properties that have been SBE's bread and butter, Ascension and SolForge, both have been getting some love. For Ascension, they are on the 3rd edition of the game. There's a new base-box game. It has all-new art as well as cleaned up and clarified rules. The cards are easier than ever to read and understand how they work. This fall there will also be a "Year 2" set like they did with Year 1, where they'll put out all the cards that came out in the second year of the game's existence.

Looking forward from there, Ascension will be getting a new "Big box" expansion. Justin describes it as having "dramatic effects" that will change how the game plays. He also says it's for "hardcore gamers." Ascension has sometimes been lamented as being a bit "simple." It sounds like this new expansion will change all of that.

Here at the show is a new mini-release. This is the Location Pack. They operate in an interesting way. They are shuffled into the Center Deck like the rest of the cards. When they come out into the Center Row, they permanently alter the slot that they are placed in. This will change up how the Center Row effects cards as they're played, purchased, or fought. I picked up this copy for myself, since, as I mentioned, I'm an Ascension fanatic.



SolForge players have the actual main release of the game to look forward to soon. Currently, the game is still in Beta, but that will be coming to an end. The final tweaks to abilities, wordings, and artwork will be set and you can really get your gaming on with the official release of the game.

Me being me, I wanted to know a bit more about what Justin has in the works. With a little prying and a little arm-twisting, he let a few things slip. SBE is working on a couple new projects that he can't tell us fully about, but at least could hint at. One's a "big" project while the other is a "little" project. Justin is super-excited, and it's easy to tell. He says that they are a culmination of all his favorite parts of the various games he's worked on over the years, and that these are things he's been working on for a couple of those aforementioned years. Stay tuned for details.



Now, on to Bad Beets.



I have to admit, I was a bit dubious going into the demo. Not that I thought I wasn't going to like the game, but the catch-line of "kids trying to get rid of beets they don't want to eat" wasn't doing much for me, personally... probably mostly because I loved when we had beets as a kid! :P
But with an open mind, I headed up to the demo table to play a game.
Spoilers: I now love this game.

If you've played various bluffing/drafting games before like Love Letter or Masquerade, you might see some similarities.

As I mentioned, players are playing as kids sitting at the dinner table and they don't want to eat their beets. But you gotta get rid of them somehow, because if you do, you get ice cream (everyone always wants ice cream, otherwise you are dead inside). In order to do accomplish this, you have some options.



At the start of the game, everyone is given 8 Beet tokens and a single card. The first player starts out by drawing a card from the deck and playing one of their two cards face-down in front of them, while giving their other card to the player to their left. They then declare their action. The first is that they can simply eat a beet. This is the one "safe" action, as nobody can call your bluff on just eating a beet. This lets you discard 1 Beet Token. The other 3 actions correspond to cards in the deck and let you get rid of more than just a single Beet Token. The first is Share, where you get to pass 2 Beet Tokens to another player. Or you can Feed the Dog, which lets you discard 3 Beet Tokens. Finally, there's Tattle, which allows you to try and guess which card that player has. If you get it right, you can give that player 4 Beet Tokens from your stack.

So what's with the face-down-ness of your play? Well, you can claim you're playing any one of those last 3 as your card that you keep. Obviously, since you're playing the card face-down, only you know if you're telling the truth about what card you have. That's the bluffing aspect of the game. Just because you say you're doing a certain action, it doesn't mean you really are.



Other players can call your bluff. If they do, you reveal your card. If your card matches the action you took, you go through with the action and the player that thought you were lying takes a Beet Token from the center. If you were lying about your card, you don't do the action, and the player that called you on it can get rid of a Beet Token.

Play continues as you gain and lose Beet Tokens.

I actually really enjoyed Bad Beets. I really like quick, simple, easy-to-learn, easy-to-teach, easy-to-play games. A whole game of Bad Beets takes about 15min. You then just shuffle and play again. It's great for playing in-between playing other games, or just having marathon sessions of. Justin said that this was the first game that he's walked in on his family playing, and I can see why. Even just watching the demos, there were families playing it together. It really is a game you can have your kids play, as well as involve your more "Serious Gamer" friends and everyone can have a good time.



Stone Blade has also put up a quick instructional video about the game if you'd like to check that out.

Today at the GAMA Trade Show 2015 in Las Vegas, Stone Blade Entertainment announced Bad Beets, its first physical release since the successful Ascension deck-building franchise. Whereas Ascension was very much targeted toward the established gamer, Bad Beets takes the approach of being a casual, family game designed for anyone and everyone to have fun with. Gateway games seem to be a popular trend among companies as of late (for good reason), and Stone Blade seems to have recognized the benefit of having an easy to access game for anyone to try.





Stone Blade describes the game as a "fast-paced bluffing card game where players must eat their vegetables." Players must do whatever it takes to dispose of all the terrible tasting beets in their hands, of which they start with eight. Maybe they'll pass them to other players or feed them to the non-discriminating dog, or if a player can't get away with getting rid of them, they might just have to eat the beets.

Bad Beets is set for release in the Summer of 2015 at a retail price of $14.99. Stay tuned for more information from GAMA 2015.

From the press release:

Stone Blade Entertainment Announces Bad Beets, a Fast-Paced New Card Game

San Diego - March 18, 2015 - Stone Blade Entertainment today announced the upcoming release of Bad Beets, the company's first physical game release since the award winning Ascension deck-building game. Bad Beets will be available for purchase online and at participating retailers for $14.99, beginning in Summer 2015.

Bad Beets is a fast-paced bluffing card game where players must eat their vegetables.  Designed for gamers ages eight and up, Bad Beets can be played by the entire family. Each player starts the game with eight Beet cards that they must finish before they can leave the dinner table and just like most childhood memories of a side of vegetables, these Beets are Bad.

“Stone Blade Entertainment’s goal with Bad Beets was to make a fun, fast-paced casual game that anyone can enjoy,” said Justin Gary, founder and CEO, Stone Blade Entertainment. “We’re really proud of this game and hope to create a memorable gameplay experience for all.”

Bad Beets is a race for players to get rid of their Beets in any way they can, whether by Feeding the Dog, Sharing with another player or even actually Eating them. Players can try to get rid of their Beets however they want, but if another player calls them out, they can only dispose of their Beets if they have the right card in their hand.

For more information on Bad Beets, please visit BadBeetsGame.com.

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About Stone Blade Entertainment:

Founded by gaming industry veterans in 2010, Stone Blade Entertainment is a premier developer and publisher of original board and card games.  Formerly known as Gary Games, Stone Blade Entertainment’s products include the SolForge Digital Collectible Game and the award-winning Ascension deckbuilding game, which has been turned into a top selling iOS and Android app.  For more information, visit www.stoneblade.com.