News from Warhammer 40k: Conquest – the Warhammer LCG

Since we are avid LCG players who own and play all LCGs (“Living Card Games”) by Fantasy Flight Games (like Call of Cthulhu, Game of Thrones, or Lord of the Rings) AND fierce Warhammer 40k fans, the announcement of a Warhammer 40k LCG was long overdue! Warhammer Invasion was nice, but we simply prefer Chaos, Space Marines, and Orcs over Dwarves and Elves, so Warhammer 40k: Conquest sounds like the game we have been waiting for!

After a period of silence, FFG published a new preview about the upcoming WH40k game, introducing the combat system of the game. On first sight, from all LCGs, the mechanics resemble the Call of Cthulhu LCG most.

An interesting difference to the other LCGs is the fact that all factions can cooperate with “neighboring” factions within a kind of faction wheel, named “Alliance Chart” and build a strike force with them.

The “Alliance chart” allows interesting combinations between factions

We are still wondering whether the game will be different and innovative enough to set itself apart from the other LCGs, but we are optimistic. The game description looks interesting enough to fuel our curiosity and impatience!

Alas, the publishing date is still unknown.

Review: Horus Heresy (FFG)

Publisher: Fantasy Flight Games
Published in: 2010
Designers: Jeff Tidball, John Goodenough
Game Type: Board Game / Miniatures / Card-driven
Topic: The Horus Heresy / Battle for Terra
Era:  31st century (back story of the Warhammer 40k universe)
Contents: Game Board, 3D plastic terrain (3 factories, 6 fortresses, 1 Imperial Palace), Playing Pieces (12 Space Marines, 24 Imperial Army, 12 Imperial Tank Divisions, 3 Adeptus Custodes, 3 Adeptus Arbites, 3 Adeptus Mechanicus, 3 Imperial Titans, 16 Chaos Space Marines, 4 Chaos Titans, 8 Chaos Thunderhawks, 8 Chaos Cultists, 8 Chaos Warbands, 8 Demon Hordes), 60 Imperial Bases, Combat Iteration Tokens, 6 Defense Lasers, 2 Reference Sheets, 32 Bombardment Cards, 30 Event Cards, 40 Imperial Order Cards, 64 Traitor Bases, 40 Traitor Order Cards, 32 Imperial Combat Cards, 32 Traitor Combat Cards, 8 Imperial Hero Combat Cards, 10 Special Tokens, 8 Traitor Hero Combat Cards, 10 Hero Markers and Bases, 10 Hero Damage Markers, 28 Legion Designators, 2 Initiative Markers, 36 Damage Tokens, 57 Activation Markers, 5 Fortification Markers, 12 Breach Markers, Rulebook (44 pages), Scenario Book (20 pages)
Number of Players: 2

HFC Game-O-Meter: E 

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Our Rating (1-10):

Graphic Presentation: 6
Rules: 9
Playability: 7
Replay Value: 7

Overall Rating: 8

PRO	Very thematic, interesting and astonishingly deep combat system, innovative initiative system
CONTRA	Map too small, ugly miniatures, crowded 3D plastic terrain, there could be more variety in combat cards, very expensive

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Introduction: What is the “Horus Heresy”?

Warmaster Horus, Primarch of the Lunar Wolves (Sons of Horus, Black Legion)

Warhammer 40k takes place in a dystopic science-fantasy universe in the early 41st century. In this universe, “There Is Only War” (the 40k catchphrase). The Imperium of Man, ruled by an autocratic God-Emperor, is at constant war with various alien (“xenos”) races and the forces of Chaos which consist of corrupted former Imperial troops and Chaos demons, ruled by the four Gods of Chaos Khorne, Nurgle, Slaneesh, and Tzeench.

The “Horus Heresy” was the key event and is the back story of the Warhammer 40k universe. It took place 10,000 years before the events portrayed in the Warhammer 40k system. In this time, mankind was still united and on the Great Crusade with the ultimate goal of conquering and “illuminating” the entire galaxy. With a vast Imperial Army and 20 Legions of genetically enhanced trans-human warrior-monks called Adeptus Astartes (better known as Space Marines), the Empire of Mankind sought to subjugate and unite all inhabited words, purging them of their own “heathen” beliefs, and converting them to the Imperial Truth. Worlds which failed or refused to comply were eradicated, including their often human inhabitants.

The Emperor of Mankind created 20 immortal superhuman beings as his “sons”, called the “Primarchs“. Each Primarch commanded a Space Marines Legion which was enhanced with their genetic material, so each legion had the characteristics, qualities, philosophy, and nature of their respective Primarch.In the 31st century, in the midst of the Great Crusade, the Emperor suddenly declared that he intended to return to Terra. He left the Crusade in the hands of the Primarchs and promoted Primarch Horus of the Lunar Wolves Legion to the new position of “Warmaster”, thus raising him above the other Primarchs. This led to envy from some of his brothers, who thought that they deserved the position of Warmaster. Others supported Horus and took his side.

The Emperor of Mankind, accompanied by his bodyguard, the Adeptus Custodes

Sensing this momentary weakness, the Gods of Chaos, who dwelled in an alternate dimension called “the Warp” (which is also used by the Imperium as a means of fast inter-stellar travel) intervened and managed to corrupt Horus by convincing him that the Emperor had abandoned them… and that he had to be removed. They also managed to corrupt some of his brothers and their Legions. In the end, Horus lured all Primarchs and Legions that didn’t follow his new path, into a trap . He even purged all soldiers and officers, who showed reluctance to renounce the Emperor, from his own traitorous Legions . In an unprecedented attack with mass-destruct weapons – banned virus-bombs -, he killed all loyalists within his own Legions and lured the other Imperial Legions into an ambush. Simultaneously, some of his traitor Legions went after loyal Legions’ homeworlds, to eradicate them and their bases. Space Marines never before fought other Space Marines, so the loyalist Legions were completely taken by surprise and suffered fatal losses.Over the time, the Chaos Gods completely corrupted Horus and the other Primarchs and their Legions who fell under their spell. Primarchs and Astartes began to change physically and mentally, slowly transforming into the infamous Chaos Space Marine Legions.

Eventually, Horus and his allies moved their vast fleets towards Terra and the Imperial Palace, where Horus wanted to confront and challenge the Emperor himself. This Battle for Holy Terra, which was the hallmark of the Horus Heresy, and the siege of the Imperial Palace are portrayed in the strategic board game “Horus Heresy” by Fantasy Flight Games.

The Game

Unboxing: The contents of “Horus Heresy”

I love the rich lore of the detailed Warhammer 40k universe and the Horus Heresy book series belongs to my favorite Science Fiction novels. The  dystopic universe is very complex and deep, and the story is dark, cruel, and full of surprising twists and turns.

My favorite faction is the Chaos Space Marines, I’m currently building and painting a WH40k army of Emperor’s Children, led by Primarch Fulgrim and corrupted by Chaos God(dess) Slaanesh. This Chaos Space Marine Legion played a key role during the Horus Heresy. Naturally, I was very happy when I got Horus Heresy board game on Christmas – especially since the Emperor’s Children are a playable faction in this game.In addition, the game was published by Fantasy Flight Games, a company which is famous for their high overall production quality and great artworks. We own lots of FFG games, and all of them are graphically very appealing and always very thematic and true to their topics, be it the Lovecraft universe, or Middle Earth, or Game of Thrones.

Horus Heresy was one of the last “big box” games published by FFG, so the gamebox is really massive and heavy with a high heft factor (and an accordingly high price)… and looks very promising with dramatic box artwork.

But does the game deliver what it promises? And can it be played by players who have no clue about the Warhammer 40k universe? Read this review and find out!

Don’t miss this cool official introductory video by Fantasy Flight Games:

Graphic Presentation and Component Quality

Initial preparations

The gamebox contains a strong cardboard map with holes where you have to slot in the 3D plastic terrain pieces. Also, the plastic miniatures have to be put on their respective bases (black for Chaos, grey for Imperial troops). Space Marine legions from both sides are also marked with a Legion icon.Fortunately, you have to put the miniatures and Legion markers on their bases only once; during the game, only few Imperial playing pieces (army and tanks) can switch sides; Space Marines and other units will never switch sides and thus will always remain on their bases. So after playing, you simply put them back into the box without separating the bases again.

The Game Board

Star Wars – The Card Game!

FFG continues to create and publish games on big licences…after Lord of the Rings – The Card Game they now announce a LCG on Star Wars! Great news for all you solitaire and coop gamers again – you will be part of the Rebel Forces and fight against the evil imperium, it’s for 1-4 players. Hard to tell anything about gameplay and whether it is similar to the LOTR LCG gameplay since we don’t know much about the game beyond the fact that it is in the making. Head over to the FFG site for the game and read yourself what we know so far.

“Operation Red Nose”: the HFC Game Meeting March 2011

"Operation Red Nose" - 4 days of eating, drinking, and non-stop gaming!

This years’ HFC & Friends Game Meeting was again held around the days that are known in Germany as ‘Karneval’ or ‘Fasnacht’ and which is a time when folks start wearing silly costumes, drinking a lot and dancing to a very weird form of music 😉

Since we don’t belong to those who take part in such strange rites, we usually use the time to prepare ourselves with beer, food, and games and then just close the door for a few days of gaming. A good friend of ours, Wolfgang,  who is living in Mainz (also a city which is ruled by the ‘fools’ during this time) then comes over to join us and so he arrived on Friday, quite early. Denny and I got some new cool games over the year which he didn’t know yet, and we were also eager to get some multiplayer games going with games we could only play with two players so far, so we were looking forward to some great game sessions.

When Wolfgang arrived, we started with a little chitchat and had a beer for starters and then we prepared the gaming table. He was very interested in trying out some LCGs about which we talked before and he had some first impressions about the core gameplay of these sort of card games when he played Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers on the Xbox 360 (it’s not a LCG, but not actually a CCG either, so it’s a game in-between with pre-built decks and limited possibilities to customize your deck). But he at least knew the basic gameplay and he liked it, so he was interested to see how a real LCG would be played face to face.

Call of Cthulhu (LCG)

The first game: Call of Cthulhu (LCG)

The first game on the table was Call of Cthulhu (FFG), which is the easiest of the three LCGs published by FFG so far. Since we all love Arkham Horror and the Lovecraft theme, this game seemed to be a good introduction to the LCG genre. We set it up, I explained the basic Sequence of Play and then we started playing right away, using the player aid sheet that we had printed out and laminated before, to make things as easy as possible.

Wolfgang chose the Miskatonic University deck and I played a Shub-Niggurath deck, all of which were mono decks. By now, we own enough Asylum Packs to play all factions of the game as mono decks, and although for some players out there this doesn’t seem to be the best way to play the game competitively, we decided to use mono for Wolfgang’s introductory games for several reasons. First, it’s easier for a new player to see how a faction in a pure format is played, how it feels, and he will soon realize the strengths and the weak points of that faction. To know the specific strengths and weaknesses of a given faction is an important prerequisite for deck customization.To give Wolfgang a very harsh and brutal impression of each fashion, we even removed the neutral cards from all decks, so that he could feel the raw characteristics of each faction without any fine tuning and balancing. The intention was to show him the options for deckbuilding and deck enhancements by chosing a certain focus, adding neutral cards, or even by building a combi deck with a second faction, which will eventually lead to a deck that works great. If you don’t know the characteristics of a certain faction, you don’t really know how to counter their weaknesses or how to maximize their strong aspects.

CoC gaming table

Apart from this, we generally don’t mix all factions wildly together because we love to play the game based more on theme than on raw competition power, so Denny and I also chose our decks based on the humans vs cultists dichotomy that is part of the Lovecraft stories. Denny is playing all cultist/Old Ones factions while I am playing the Syndicate, Miskatonic University and the Agency. In our games, we pimp these factions with neutral cards but seldom mix them with the other factions, it just feels right for us to actually play from a certain story perspective.

The first game indeed showed that the Miskatonic University (with all their professors and students, who are well-educated and learned in old scriptures dealing with arcane content) is a difficult faction to play without any neutral cards. The MU is quite strong in the arcane and investigation struggles, but really weak in terror and combat. That means if you are sending out some of these academics to investigate what’s happening, they might have the knowledge to solve the arcane and investigation struggles but they are easily frightened by anything supernatural. So before they can use their strengths to get some success tokens on a story, they often will flee the scene because of a lost terror struggle or be dead and out of the game after an attack by the monsters lurking around.

Shubb-Niggurath vs. Miskatonic University

Shub-Niggurath, on the other hand, is quite strong in terror and combat, but lacks on the investigation side, so usually this deck doesn’t score a point in the investigation struggle, even if no one is around to stand against them. Therefore, bringing success tokens on the story is taking some time and the fastest way to achieve this is by eliminating the opponent’s characters with terror and combat, so at least you get the additional success token for being unchallenged in a story. The match MU vs. SN seemed to be a bad choice at first and very unbalanced as the first game was a complete domination of my Shub-Nigurrath faction over the MU, who never really got thru because of losing the first two struggles (terror and combat). Afterwards, we decided to play a second game with the same factions nonetheless, because Wolfgang didn’t want to base his judgement about this particular faction on his first game alone, so now feeling a bit more competent and knowing what the MU faction can do – and what not, we shuffled the cards and started again.

This time – and that’s the beauty of the game, really – things went completely different and not really well for me. I wasn’t able to bring out characters in the first turns at all and in later turns only some weak ones while Wolfgang had some great guys on the table, who were able to limit my actions and could control the game by their various character abilities. He hit me fast and hard with some spells, which limited me even further and he actually rushed me and won quite easily this time. Since I couldn’t send out some of my better characters to challenge him, he had not to deal with the terror and combat struggles as much as in our first game. Some of his abilities changed all terror or combat struggles into ones that could only be won with investigation icons and since that’s not the strength of Shub-Niggurath, I usually lost these as well as the genuine investigation struggles. So the second game ended with an easy victory for the MU and it was a good example how even such an unbalanced combination of factions in a game can be won by the faction that is considered the weaker one if things go right for them.

Still, the MU usually has a hard time alone and makes for a much better support faction in a combi deck, so a strong partner who can deal with terror and combat is able to cover their backs, while they can use their arcane and investigation icons to keep standing after being involved in a story and collect success tokens on a regular base.

Generally, Wolfgang liked the game and stated “that it demonstrates very well the strong aspect of LCGs –  very simple game mechanics, but still lots of tactical/strategic options and the possibility to play it according to your very own ideas with the customization of the decks”. This ‘easy to learn, hard to master’ nature of the game appealed to him and so he said: “Let’s try out another LCG!”.

Warhammer Invasion (LCG)

The next game: Warhammer Invasion (LCG)

So we prepared the gaming table for the next LCG, one step up in complexity and options (complexity is a relative term here, of course, because compared with a consim, all LCGs are quite simple) and that was Warhammer: Invasion.

Warhammer: Invasion is based on the Warhammer Fantasy universe, a different universe than the known Warhammer 40k universe, and we only own the core set so far. Thus, when using only the core set, you simply choose your faction from the pre-built decks in the box, spice up this basic deck with 10 random neutral cards and you are ready to go. Wolfgang stuck to a human faction as he did in the previous game, so he chose the Empire. As in CoC, Denny and I had divided the factions among us – she’s playing the Orcs, the Chaos etc. and I’m going into battle with the Dwarfs and the Empire. I didn’t have any problems with Wolfgang’s choice because this would allow me to play a faction which was completely new to me as well. I wanted to try out the Chaos, so after choosing sides and dealing out the neutral cards, we laid out the citadels and the war-horns were blowing…

The Chaos was crushed by the Empire

Using our player aid sheets and the rulebook, we got into the game easily and it didn’t take long before we were engaged with each other, thinking about our possibilities. I had some form of deja vu however, because I couldn’t really bring out many characters. What I had on my hand was expensive and so I had some troubles to defend my citadel while lacking the force to really attack his one. The game went on with some discussions about the rules and the card wordings, which is still a general problem of this whole genre. You are easily disappointed when you come to the game with a consim mind, expecting some clear and extensive rules about all details of the game. One has to adapt to a very literal understanding of the cards’ wording to not get into trouble about how some cards are used and especially when to use them.

In the mid game, I was able to bring out better characters and at least could stand against the fast Empire deck for some time, but in the end I lost. Apparently, you have to get used to the abilities and characters of the Chaos faction if you want to be successful, so we decided to shuffle the decks and used the same cards for a rematch.

This time I had some great cards in my starting hand and was able to bring out some good characters and cards that created corruption to the enemy, while my characters could gain strength thru their corruption! I had some nice little synergies in effect and prepared for some major attack… when the Empire cleared the battlefield with a card that killed all characters in play who were not in a zone with a developement! I didn’t have any developments in play because I planned to use my cards offensively and Wolfgang had only a few characters out and one developement which saved a good character.

As scary as the dark forces of Chaos: The cake, forged by orcs in the depths of Mordor, made of blood and steel

So I saw myself totally open to the enemy with all my good cards and my smart little synergy plan destroyed in one single sweep. Things went bad again for my Chaos faction from then on, I didn’t get any good cards anymore or at least not cards I could afford with my now limited resources and from my citadel I could watch Wolfgang preparing for battle with more and more troops. In the end he had out a dozen cards both for the attack and the defense while I could barely bring out a little demon then and now before everything was killed again and so that game ended also with a glorious victory of the Empire over the Chaos.

This game was even more appealing to him because of the nice touch of options you get with the three zones in play, but the cards and rules questions that came up were a bit disappointing for him. The problem is not so much the fact that a game which uses many different cards and effects and time frames to play cards and defend against cards, has some ambiguous aspects in the wordings of rules and card texts, but the unsatisfying situation that there’s not really any answer to get by the designer(s). When you look for some answers that might help you to clarify specific points, you usually only have the official FAQ and the forum over at FFG or BGG.

Space Hulk: Death Angel – The Card Game… Expansions!

Fantasy Flight Games recently announced that certain games will henceforth be supported with their new Print on Demand service. Games that normally would not have been supported with new expansions will get new game stuff called micro-expansions. The first two micro-expansions available are two card expansions for the game Space Hulk: Death Angel and here’s what the players who own this game can expect according to the FFG website:

Death Angel: Mission Pack 1 Expansion

Your mission is not over, and failure is not an option.

While you may have survived the harrowing challenges of Death Angel, the mission is far from over. The Mission Pack 1Print on Demand expansion brings twelve new Location cards to provide alternate missions for players. These cards are seamlessly incorporated into your Death Angel game – simply choose whether you want to use the standard Location cards or the ones found in this Mission Pack and build your mission as normal.

But beware! New terrors have emerged in the form of Adrenal Genestealers: deathly agile and relentless. These dangerous new foes will pop out from every dark corner, unleashing attack after attack.

Also included in Mission Pack 1 is an all-new Terrain card, that will threaten to thrust unfortunate space marines out into the cold embrace of space.

 

 

Death Angel: Space Marine Pack 1 Expansion

Rally your battle brothers with the Death Angel Space Marine Pack 1 expansion!

Space Marine Packs introduce brand new combat teams to your game, ready to blast their way into the carnage that is Death Angel.

The Space Marine Pack 1 Print on Demand expansion comes complete with two new Combat Teams and their respective Action cards. The deadly Chaplain Raziel brings his ironclad faith to the fight while Brother Adron readies his Cyclone Missile Launcher for absolute devastation. These new Combat Teams can be seamlessly incorporated into your Death Angel games to provide more versatility and more options.

Also included in the Space Marine Pack 1 are 8 Combat Team cards, which replace the original 6 Combat Team markers from the Death Angel game, making it easier to randomise and select your teams.

 

That’s an interesting idea and hopefully now good games that perhaps didn’t fulfill FFG high expectations regarding sales will now get cool new stuff for those players who own them and enjoy them. We would like to see Print on Demand expansions for example for games like Marvel Heroes – The Boardgame or Middle-earth Quest.

The Space Hulk expansions can be ordered here

 

War of the Ring (FFG/Nexus) – revision!

Roberto di Meglio, one of the designers of the boardgame ‘War of the Ring’ has announced that a rules revision and an upgrade kit for the cards is currently in the works. He made clear that for all those who already own the the game there’s no need to buy a new version but a download of a pdf with the changes will be sufficient to be up to date with the current thoughts on the design. Because there will be some changes to the wordings of specific cards and the idea is to have cards that are easier to read (i.e. larger letters) there will be an upgrade kit available for those who own the game already, which will include cards, card sleeves, and a tin box to keep all of it.

The designers also consider a change of the victory condition for the Shadow player, asking players whether 10 victory points for the Shadow is ok or that the Shadow should conquer more territories to qualify for a win.

If you want to chime in on this discussion you can either answer Roberto’s question on Facebook here or as a member of BGG you can leave a post here in the relevant post.

So, besides the news post here, we would like to say that there’s no need at all in our opinion to change anything in the victory conditions of both sides in the game. One can argue whether the expansion ‘Battle of the Third Age’ used all the opportunities that were clearly present (e.g. siege towers just a dice roll modifier…something more interesting and innovative would have been possible here) or even if the expansion is necessary to get the most out of the game, but there’s – in our humble opinion – no reason to bugger about with a game that is just fine as it is. It works, it fits the overall story of Tolkien, it has the right atmosphere, it’s fun and gameplay is full of tension and it’s dropping with theme, in short there’s nothing wrong with it and one of the best LOTR wargames out there.

So, if you have some time on your hands dear designers, think about another, better or let’s say ‘richer’ expansion than BotTA was  – or even better …consider a revision of Marvel Heroes – The Boardgame because there is where things don’t work completely right and where expansions would be great. Do we hear the word ‘licence issues’? Yes, Francesco said that already in our little discussion about the game, but hey…we just wanted to use the opportunity to say ‘we still think about the MH game’ 😉

LOTR Living Card Game (FFG) – Rules & Video Tutorial

Well then, you heroes of Middle-earth, prepare yourself with all you need for the forthcoming journey of your life. Courageous folks gather, allies come to help, weapons are handed out while the Eye of Sauron is watching and a great evil is lurking in the shadows…

…and that you as a player might be well prepared for what to come, FFG has the rules online now for the highly anticipated Lord of the Rings – The Living Card Game.

In addition to the rules, the first part of the – again extremely well done  – video tutorial is also online now and new sections will be added over the next days to explain the game so that at the end of the week we should have the complete tutorial available.

The release of this solitaire/coop game is drawing nearer and although no concrete release date has been given by FFG so far, rumors say the game will be out in April.

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.

Warhammer Invasion LCG: New FAQ version available!

The official FAQ version 1.3 is online! You can download a printer friendly version here from the FFG support page (PDF, 788 KB).

It now includes clarifications for cards from the new battle packs as well as general clarifications and examples for various rules and games concepts. New additions are printed in a red font, so you will spot any differences between the new and the old FAQ immediately.

New Year’s Gaming

Happy New Year!

Dear fellow gamers!

Happy New Year – hopefully, a year full of new wargames (and old classics, of course!). Thanks again for keeping faith with the HFC and for your appreciation and great feedback!

Christmas provided us with new games, so we spent the prolonged weekend around New Year with unboxing, glueing, and counter-punching.

A Game of Thrones: Battles of Westeros (FFG)

However, before trying one of our gifts, I had to solve a problem I was occupied with since early December: Andreas’ House Stark armies were still undefeated in the Battle for the Kingsroad in FFG’s A Game of Thrones: Battles of Westeros board game. This Friday, my House Lannister forces challenged House Stark to a return game!

 

The Battle for the Kingsroad, as seen from the Lannister POV

The game started as bad for House Lannister as the last game had ended. My armies were crushed under Stark’s bowmen, infantry, and cavalry. In the final turn, I didn’t have anything left besides my two leaders Kevan Lannister and Adam Marbrand and one lone 3-step Casterly Rock chevalier unit. My objective was to cross the River Trident and to occupy two strategic hexes which were heavily defended by Stark’s bowmen and Richard Karstarks cavalry. We discussed whether it was possible to fulfill the victory conditions with my poor, lonely units, but decided to play it out.

And, as every experienced A Game of Thrones fan knows, things always turn out differently and with a big surprise you didn’t expect or see coming. This was also true for my game I had thought lost.

My cavalry unit managed to lure Andreas’ infantry over the Trident, so that they couldn’t reach and defend the objectives in time. Kevan Lannister (without any accompanying men) escaped an engagement at the ford and rushed into one objective hex where he stood adjacent to Stark’s archers. Since he was a sole leader, he couldn’t be killed but had to be captured, but the bowmen were incapable of achieving enough hits to capture him.

Kevan Lannister and Adam Marbrand, defending the objectives!

Simultaneously, Adam Marbrand remembered his strength – riding through any terrain, even impassable, even a river, as long as his move ended in a legal hex. And so he galloped into the Trident, followed the river until he reached the objective and occupied the hex – again, adjacent to the bowmen who couldn’t capture him either.

Richard Karstark then attacked Kevan Lannister because it would ensure his victory if he captured at least one of the two leaders, but the attack failed. In the nick of time, House Lannister won the battle (for the first time), by utilizing typical Lannister tricks and strategies 😉

War is Hell: The Hell of Stalingrad

We then tried out Andreas’ Christmas present: The Hell of Stalingrad, a card game by Clash of Arms Games.

This game proved to be an absolute blast, we got the hang of it really quickly, despite the fact that the structure of the rulebook isn’t optimal and you have to do a lot of page turning.

The game certainly requires some table space...

We were immediately thrilled by the innovative and very cool mechanics, the impressing and quite explicit artworks, the historical photos, and the overall look and feel of the game.

In our first game, I played the Germans and Andreas played the Russians. In the game, you have to fight for single historical buildings and locations (for example, the Tractor Works, Red October). It’s the German objective to capture the buildings and reach the Volga and it’s the Russian job to hinder them and to fight for each building. The combat system is extremely bloody and gives a very good impression of the chaotic, bloody, and desolate battle for Stalingrad.

In the evening, we supplemented our game by watching the German 1997 movie “Stalingrad” which depicts the Battle of Stalingrad from the perspective of four German grunts and their Lieutenant. The movie is quite visceral and realistic, showing heavy fightings, tanks and overruns, fanatic Nazi officers, arbitrary executions, desertion attempts, as well as (forbidden) contacts or cease-fires with the Russians in order to retrieve the wounded, catastrophic conditions on the battlefield hospital next to the airfield within the cauldron (where, in real life, my mother’s cousin, 18 years old and from a miner’s family in the Ruhr region, died of a shot in the belly. I still got pictures and the letters to his mother from his superiors and the army chaplain.)

Heavy fighting in the Red October steel works factory

If you are interested in this movie, there is a dubbed version available, but I have read that the dubbing is terrible and completely destroys the atmosphere, so you should  do yourself a favor and watch the German version with English subtitles!

The problem is, even if you know some German, you will have a hard time understanding it  without subtitles because most soldiers speak in various local dialects from Northern German to Prussian to Bavarian or Swabian or are shouting while under heavy artillery fire. In addition, working-class slang of some soldiers in contrast to the educated speech of the officers gives valuable insights into the background of the characters.

More games, more fun!

A game I got for Christmas was the strategic board game “Zombie State: Diplomacy of the Dead“. This isn’t a wargame and you don’t shoot zombies either, it’s a strategic game where states have to deal with a zombie pandemic by sending the military, doing research to find a cure, or developing other technologies. We didn’t try it out yet, but it looks very promising and certainly is an unusual approach to the zombie topic.

Another zombie game which found its way to us was the dice game “Zombie dice” which can be played within minutes – very quick, very funny. You roll dice with symbols which symbolize close combat against attacking zombies. There are brains, there are shotguns, there is escape. If you need a game which doesn’t need table space and which can be played on the train or on a party by 2-99 players, check it out 🙂

A game you certainly won't find on the HFC website: "Monopoly Junior"... played by Denny with niece and nephew 😉

Last but not least, the brand-new “Hornet Leader: Carrier Air Operations“ by DVG  reached our HFC test lab after being delayed by German customs. The box is very impressive with cool artworks and even the customs officer was impressed and couldn’t believe that this was a board game (he thought it was a PC game because it looked so modern and stylish). Hornet Leader is a Solitaire Game like its cousin Thunderbolt / Apache Leader, but like TAL, it can also be played with two players cooperatively. Watch out for our review where we will take a special look at the cooperative aspect of the game!

We are also looking forward to the new cooperative The Lord of the Rings LCG by FFG which will (according to unconfirmed rumors) be published February / March 2011.

2011 will be a great and interesting gaming year (as was 2010), so stay tuned and visit us again for more information, reviews, and stuff!

A Sign of Life from the “Lord of the Rings” Living Card Game (FFG)!

News from Fantasy Flight Games regarding the eagerly awaited “Lord of the Rings” Living Card Game!

The game (which was initially announced for the “holiday season 2010”) appears to be published “later this winter“. In a new preview article, Fantasy Flight Games introduces the scenario driven concept of the Living Card Game and describes how the “Quest Deck” works.

In addition, FFG announces a series of previews which will deal with several aspects of the game. A large overview which explains the cooperative gameplay mechanics was published in August. Since then, news were scarce. New previews and the “later this winter” announcement aroused anticipation and new discussions among players and fans about the fourth Living Card Game.

You can read the latest preview here. We don’t think that the game will be published before Christmas, but rather in early 2011.

We will inform you as soon as there are new information regarding the release date or new previews available!