Top 10 Anticipated Crowdfunding Games

10. Grimcoven

Let’s start with Awaken Realms and a game that is just about to go live by the time this article is coming out. In fact, it might have, and I can’t wait for this one. It is a boss battling game where you are hunters who tap into powers to defeat monsters. But tapping into powers can make you monstrous in nature yourself. So how do you not give into that dark side while leveling up and defeating a monster?

Now that might all sound like a campaign to you, but the fun thing is that it’s not. It is a thematic boss battler that you play a one off. You still get to level up your character in the battle, but no needing to plan on playing the game for weeks on end. Instead you can just pull it off the shelf, grab your hunter and start fighting.

Back now.

9. Avatar: The Journey of Aang

I want a fun Avatar game and this one looks like it. A cooperative game where you need to help Aang get all his powers in line because if you go too slow the comet will come and Fire Lord Ozai might be too powerful to defeat. It isn’t a give campaign game, but it is going to provide story as it goes along. Which I like that about it because it makes it more accessible for me to play with people who just like Avatar and are maybe less into board games.

8. Edgeguard

Now we’re coming to a campaign game. I got to demo this one and do a bit of coverage on it when it was on crowdfunding the first time. The game is fun, it’s a good straight forward campaign game with dice chucking, leveling, weapons, and really all that you would want. Did it stand out as something that is highly unique, not really, but it stood out because it was solid and familiar feeling. I’m not sure when this coming back to crowdfunding but I can’t wait.

7. West Story: A Town Building Game

Next up we have something smaller again. An old west game where you aren’t fighting bandits but instead you’re making your town and trying to have the best town possible. It is going to be that sort of engine building and tableau building that I definitely find interesting. And it is probably going to be one of the cheaper games on this list because it isn’t going to come with a ton of minis for it.

6. StarDriven: Gateway

Next up is StarDriven Gateway, and I’m not going to say too much about this one. Why, because I’ll be saying more about it leading into GenCon and I already talked some about it with the Feast and the GenCon events that I signed up for. So I get to demo this one and I’ll really get to know if it is a game for me.

5. Skytear Horde Campaign

This list has a few campaign games on it and a few expansions on it. This one is both. Skytear Horde is a game that I like a lot. It’s a very good solo tower defense game, or two player. And I like the energy management of the game as you try and figure out how to keep the horde from overtaking your troops and taking down your base.

This is going to offer a mini campaign. So I like that about it, maybe a game I can sit down in an evening and play all three connected games or one that I can stream over a few weeks. One I want to get back to the table soon.

4. Odalin

Next we have Odalin. It’s a dungeon crawler in a dark desert fantasy setting. That element is different, it’s not the typical European setting. But what will it offer that is different. Dragori games, though, has a good track record so I’m definitely hopeful for this one. I do need to know what price point this one is coming in at, because there  is another big game that might steal the funds from this one that we’ll talk about coming up.

3. Ascension Legends

Next up is Ascension Legends. I like Ascension a lot as a deck building game. It isn’t all that complex and Ascension Legends is just going to offer another box of stuff and another jumping in point. My main question, or the question I’m asking myself, is do I need more of Ascension. It is already a game that I own a fair amount for it. And it does hit the table still with good ease, but do I need more?

2. The 7^th Citadel

You might think, I already have that game. And y es, you are right. You can see how my Drums of Desolation play through is going. But The 7^th Citadel is coming back for those who missed it. And if you are like me, it is coming back with more threats that you can add into your game. That is going to open up even more replayability in the game. And I think even now with the Drums of Desolation there are certainly things that I could do a whole lot better. So I’m excited to see what new stuff will be added.

Back it now.

1. Lands of Evershade

And this truly is my #1. I am so excited for Lands of Evershade. This is a giant RPG and board game experience from Awaken Realms. I love their massive story games. ISS Vanguard is one that I want to get back to. And I beat everything in the original Tainted Grail. And I won’t lie, I’m very tempted to get back Etherfields to experience that one. But Evershade look amazing and I’m really curious to see what all the game is going to have. Because the RPG elements, I’m curious to see how they’ll manage to create a story  that doesn’t just seem like a choose your own adventure.

Final Thoughts

First off, no honoable mention, it’s shocking. There are some that I could put on an honorable mention, but 10 is a lot. That’s a lie, here are some of them just with no details what so ever. Also catching my attention:

• HEXPlore It: The Mountains of Godai
• Flames of Fafnir
• Agemonia Reprint/New Heroes
• Dragonbond Quest

That’s enough for now. And while I’m expecting those most of all the ones I’ve mentioned will come out this year, who knows. Some of them might be pushed back. I just expect with the Awaken Realms or any of them that were part of the Gamefound Feast, we’ll be seeing those on crowdfunding in 2024. Is there any that stands out to you as a must back? Or any crowdfunding games I missed that I should checkout?

Send an Email
Message me on X at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here
Support us on Patreon here

March Gamefound 2024 Feast Event

Go On Board: Cyberpunk 2077

A cooperative game set in the Cyberpunk 2077 world. I’m curious about this because Go On Board has made some fun games. This one definitely looks more interesting than the CMON one to me. Though, I am curious about that one as well. For me, this one that I’m going to follow. I also plan to dive into it as more information comes out. It’s an action adventure game, which I like, and, like I said, cooperative.

But Cyberpunk, for me, is a game, video game, that I am not that familiar with. But it’s supposed to surpass what is in The Witcher Old World. It has a campaign, which, we know I like them. For me a concern, there is a real time element to it, I need to see what it is.

https://gamefound.com/en/projects/go-on-board/cyberpunk-2077-the-board-game?ref=search

Skytear Horde

This is a reprint of a game that I really enjoy. I already went in on the “big box”. Is this going to fit in the big box, what do I need to know about this one. I want to get my new stuff and play that. But they are introducing something that I want. It’s going to be a campaign game now. It’s a few games, so as a solo experience, it’s going to be a shorter campaign. By campaign, more it’s probably strung together games.

Yup, this is going to be a hard one for me to pass on. I like that element of having a campaign, and there is going to be levelling up, which is something that I’m always there for. It’s supposed to be a rogue-like experience, so probably like a Slay the Spire. The previous one is coming in May, this one will launch after it.

https://gamefound.com/en/projects/skytear/skytear-horde-campaigns?ref=search

Rock Manor Games: StarDriven Gateway

I enjoy what Rock Manor games does, so, great, I’m going to be interested in another one. It’s going to be a space exploration, completing missions, possibly pick-up and deliver. How it’s trying to differentiate itself from other games in that you need to really manage your crew. It is, I believe going to be competitive, but there is a solo option. There are going to be different scenarios that you can play, but it’s going to have different goals. And some of the scenarios are going to be cooperative as well, which is interesting. I think it sounds like an interesting twist, and a dangerous game for me, because I’ll want to check it out.

https://gamefound.com/en/projects/mike/stardriven-gateway?ref=search

Mindbug

It’s going to be a continuation of Mindbug, Mindbug is a game that I own, but I need to play. This is the first one where it doesn’t interest me that much. And that’s mainly because I don’t know if it’s a game for me. There are elements that sound quite intriguing, but it isn’t one that stands too intriguing to me. Mainly, will it be something that I want to keep playing as mainly a two player game. I own too many two player card games to play, several of them TCG’s, Mindbug gives me that feel.

https://gamefound.com/en/projects/marvin-hegen/mindbug-battlefruits?ref=search

Dragori Games: Odalin – Dungeons of Doom

It’s a dungeon crawler, is this whole Feast just for me or mainly for me? I need to get my Tanares Adventures and try that to see if it’s a company that I want to checkout more of their games. This one looks very cool and sounds fun. One of the elements that they talk about in the game is how you can get a lot of items. It’s going to be a campaign game, but with some random dungeons and play it as a one off. And you might want to go back and farm or go back to one to find a secret passage. It’s another big dungeon crawl campaign, so of course I want it.

https://gamefound.com/en/projects/dragori-games/odalin-dungeons-of-doom?ref=search

Moon Crab Games – Leviathan Wilds

This is a reprint and expansion of the game. It’s mainly, I think a solo game. And the game itself looks really intriguing. However, it’s not one that I believe has delivered, from the sounds of it. I think that it might be one that I really enjoy. But I’m not going to be jumping into quite yet. But as an experience of the game, I expect it to be one that I’d enjoy.

https://gamefound.com/en/projects/moon-crab-games/leviathan-wilds-second-printing?ref=search

Phalanx Games – Hannibal and Hamilcar

I know nothing about this game, but it’s not a new one. I think I’ve seen a bit about it, it’s about 25 years old. For me, this doesn’t really feel like a game that I’d enjoy. There are probably some extra fancy stuff, but not that interesting for me. It’s going to be split into two boxes after they had put in one box. And, since there are minis, it’s time to make it fancy with some metal minis.

https://gamefound.com/en/projects/phalanx/hannibal-and-hamilcar?ref=search

Quined Games – Stupor Mundi

Another historically themed game, and it’s going to be a strategy game. This is a euro game that is going to be leaning into that beige look. For me, it’d be a try before I buy, not that it might not be a good game, but it’s hard for me to judge a lot of these games without playing them. I find that I like them, but which ones get played the most, it’s tough. But it sounds like a fairly interactive game, it’s not going to be a solo, you do your own thing euro game.

https://gamefound.com/en/projects/quined-games/stupor-mundi?ref=search#/section/project-story

Metis Creative – Historica Arcanum: Cults of London

This is a company that mainly has done RPG’s, but it takes their RPG setting. This is an asymmetric deck building game. I don’t think I’d have thought it was going to be like that. The aesthetic looks very intriguing. It’s a competitive game, though, which isn’t a bad thing. But it sounds like it’s going to be a highly social game, kind of that backstabbing feel. Which, I worry, might mean that it is a take that sort of game, which isn’t what I’m really looking for. If it’s not too much backstabbing, it might work, but from the sound of it, I don’t love it. I like the setting, though.

https://gamefound.com/en/projects/metis-creative/historica-arcanum-cults-of-london?ref=search

Bad Crow – Avatar: The Journey of Aang

It’s a cooperative journey of a game, I am super excited. I love Avatar, my wife loves it more than I do. Is this going to be a game that we can really dive into, I hope so. Man alive, this is an exciting announcement for me. I also wonder it’s going to be with the story that has existed. It takes a little bit to get to how it plays. It does sound like it’s going to be the main story of the show. And the players are going to be training Aang, helping him to get ready.

That itself sounds fun, as you learn new things and become better as being a bender. Plus then there are going to be press your luck elements that are going to be the different challenges that you do. It has a solo mode as a 1-4 player cooperative game. But there is a competitive mode as well, which is interesting, but probably one that I wouldn’t play too much.

https://gamefound.com/en/projects/companyofheroes/avatar-the-journey-of-aang-?ref=search

Final Thoughts

And that’s all of the games. This is truly a feast from Gamefound. For me, a few of them standout. Avatar: The Journey of Aang is probably my top one. It’s an IP that I really enjoy. It isn’t my favorite, but it is up there in terms of shows that I’ve seen. Likewise, more Skytear Horde sounds fun, Cyberpunk 2077, Odalin, and StarDriven Gateway all sound like they do things that I’d very much enjoy.

Let me know if any of these sound like games that you’d love to back or find out more about?

Send an Email
Message me on X at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here
Support us on Patreon here

Avatar: The Last Airbender Plot

Let’s just talk quickly about the plot. I won’t spoil much of what happens, only what is in the first episode, and sets the context.

Aang is the Avatar, someone who can learn and master the elements of Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water. But he’s young, still learning, when the Fire Nation, those who can bend fire, declare war on the rest of the world. He goes off on the run and ends up frozen in ice for 100 years. When he comes out of the ice, war is still happening. But the Fire Nation has a much stronger foothold than before. And he still needs to figure out what it means to be the Avatar and how to stop the war.

Animated versus Live Action

Obviously, this is the main question for most people. How does the live action version hold up against the animated version. And I think, as did my wife, that it holds up well. I know there will be some people who nitpick around it and say that it doesn’t do everything identical to the animated version. In which case, I recommend that they watch the animated version again. But for the most part, it does a great job with it.

If I were to critique the live action version and find a few negatives, I’m not sure that all of the acting is as dynamic as the voice acting was. And there are a couple of times where the bending doesn’t look perfect. It looks really good, but it doesn’t look perfect. That’s mainly around Aang flying, which doesn’t matter what it is, it doesn’t look perfect even in a big budget film, Wonder Woman I’m looking at you.

What It Changes

The big thing that it changes is that it tones down the goofiness. Now, note that I didn’t say that it gets rid of the goofiness. It certainly doesn’t do that. But it does tone it down. And with that it leans into the reality of the war that the Fire Nation has brought upon the Earth, Wind, and Water nations.

This, I think, is an important change. Again, I don’t want it beat for beat. If I wanted it like that, I’d watch the animated show. But also, some of the goofiness wouldn’t translate as well to live action. It’d undercut what the show really ends up getting right about the series. And I’ll touch on that soon. Some of the silly things that Aang does or Momo’s antics, or even Sokka’s ticks wouldn’t translate as well into live action.

But It Does It Justice

And let’s focus in on this. The Netflix show does the animated series justice. Mainly because it nails getting the heart of the show down. The struggle for Aang, Sokka, Katara, and others is real in the show. And the live action version leans into that as the focus. Mainly, because it can. It’s still a show that kids can watch, just slightly older kids, because of how it handles the story.

I don’t think I can emphasize this enough. Avatar: The Last Airbender is about Aang’s struggle. But it’s not just about that. Everyone desires that the Avatar saves them and ends the war. But everyone is lost and grieving because of the war. And that dynamic of hope, or loss of hope, the scheming and planning. The violence and helping, all of that translates so well throughout the first season of the show.

Final Thoughts on Avatar: The Last Airbender

I really want to express how good this show is. Not just for people who have watched the animated series. I think that Netflix’s adaptation of it is a great opportunity for new fans to be created. And that is important to have a show continue to grow that way. And the numbers of Netflix are proving it out that people are excited for the show.

The changes that they make, and I mentioned toning down the goofiness, are good. I know that there were a lot of complaints about making Sokka less sexist. The point of that is that he changes. But the show demonstrates clearly that you can still have those arcs without making it as blatant. I see him still as sexist in how he treats and protects Katara, but it’s not a blatant way that he handles it. It’s from a protective source and he’s still learning to overcome and change and not feel like his sister can’t handle it.

I want the next season now. And I hope that Netflix can make it quickly and do it justice. There are characters I want to see show up. And there are a lot of arcs that I really want to see develop over time. We start to see the hint at them with Uncle Iroh and others, but I want to see how they can continue to grow the series.

Have you watched it? And did you enjoy it?

Send an Email
Message me on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here
Support us on Patreon here

Thanks for Listening to 10 Minute Marvel

I hope that you are enjoying the podcast. If you are, there are a few ways that I always talk about that you can support 10 Minute Marvel. Firstly, please consider sharing it with your friends. Word of mouth really is a great way to help more people find the podcast and personal recommendations are always great. As well as then subscribing or leaving a rating and review. Both of those make the podcast easier to find on the podcast services. You can find the podcast on iTunes, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and Spotify.

We also run a Patreon and that is another way you can help support. The Patreon, found here, goes to help improve the quality of the 10 Minute Marvel Podcast, pay for advertising and more. It also helps improve the Malts and Meeples YouTube Channel and Nerdologists.com website. Thank you for considering supporting us financially.

Comments or Questions – Who Do You Think Is A Skrull?

Who do you think might be a Skrull in Secret Invasion? Let us know and let us know what you thought of the trailer for Secret Invasion. Was it what you wanted it to be?

You can let us know all of those things down in the comment section below. Or tweet them to me @TheScando or by using #10MinMarvel.

Thank you again for listening, and I’ll see you next time.

Send an Email
Message me on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here
Support us on Patreon here

Eagle Gryphon Games Order

This one happened today. I normally wouldn’t have done it, but I got an e-mail from Eagle Gryphon game that they have their Black Friday sale going on, and there’s even extra off when you hit $50, $100 and $200 I believe.

PitchCar Expansion 8

One of two expansions that I don’t have. This one is cool in that it allows you to split your road. You can create two paths. If you think about games like Mario Kart or often Need for Speed games, there are a lot of the time shortcuts that you can take. Or the board game Downforce has tracks that split as well.

Well, now I can do that in PitchCar. And I’m probably never going to say no to even more PitchCar. PitchCar is just so much fun, and it’s in some ways easier to get to the table than Icecool, which does something similar with flicking penguins instead of cars. Racing is just a theme that people understand better than penguins in high school. And this I want to create that shortcut, or maybe a long cut.

Fleet: The Dice Game

To hit the point where I could get a bit more off I added a roll and write game to the list. For a lot of YouTube people I watch, The Brother’s Murph and Dr GloryHogg on the GloryHoundd YouTube Channel, they really like this one. It is a roll and write with a number of combos, but it is also a roll and write that it heavier. It’s one that has been on my radar for quite a while, it’s just been hard to find. So already on sale for Black Friday and pushing me to get 10% off, I’ll add it to an order.

All Systems Go Purchase

This is from a couple of times of going to ASG. The last game on the list I actually got when I finalize selling my RPG stuff that I talked about last time, which I talk about why I sold a lot of RPG stuff here. Buying stuff this last time with store credit I had left and paying for what was leftover pushed me to the point where now I can get a free $100 game with their rewards program. I just need to figure out what.

The Crew: Deep Sea Adventures

This is one that I might have talked about before, but it was a pre-order that came in. I didn’t actually realize it, but they rang it up when I was in the store even though I’d already paid for it. They caught that not me, so now I have store credit to use on my next purchase, which I’m glad they noticed. It’s something that could have easily been missed.

But onto the game, this is a trick taking game. It’s a cooperative one and that’s different. There was already another version of it that I own as well and need to get played. You’re limited in how you can communicate, and you need certain players to win certain things. I might need to win the trick with the red four in it, for example. And to go with that, you might be allowed to only win one trick. So it’s an interesting puzzle that I want to dive into.

Marvel Champions: War Machine and The Mad Titan’s Shadow

This is just more Marvel Champions. I say that like it’s not a big thing. The Mad Titan’s Shadow was delayed for ages because of the shipping crisis, at least in getting to the US. Well, it’s here now, so if you want to play through a Thanos focused campaign, you can do that now. And War Machine is another character to add into the pool to play with. I’m excited to play with them, and really, I need to play more Marvel Champions, I’m so far behind on the content.

Dinosaur Island: Rawr ‘n Write

If you’ve been watching my Top 100 Board Games (of all time) 2021 Edition, you know that there are a ton of roll and write games on the list. Well, here is another roll and write game. This is one from Pandasaurus who is known for a lot of different games but I love Sonora that they’ve done and they have games called Dinosaur Island and Dinosaur World. This one is a roll and write version of that first one.

And All Systems Go backed the Kickstarter. So this is the Kickstarter version of Dinosaur Island Rawr ‘n Write. I’m not sure what that adds in extra, but there are extra things in the box. That is just a fun bonus for me, because I’d have been fine with retail.

XenoShyft: Dreadmire

This one I picked up when I finalized my trade-in. Going back to my Top 100 Board Games (of all time) 2021 Edition, you’ll know from yesterday my #11 is XenoShyft Onslaught. It’s kind of tower defense deck building game with bugs. I call it Starship Troopers the board game because fighting bugs in space. I already know I like the system, this one adds in weather I believe to maybe make it even more difficult, and this game is already difficult. But I want to get it to the table, and it was used but NIS (new in shrink) at the same time which is fun.

Miniature Market Anniversary

Miniature Market does a good job of getting you to buy stuff. For my birthday month they gave me $10 credit to use. Anniversary month, I think for me making my first purchase but maybe theirs, $10 credit. Of course, I’m not going to let money to to waste, or since I already wanted these games, might as well make it cheaper on myself.

Land vs Sea

This is one that I blame Quackalope for telling me about, Quackalope is a board game YouTube channel, very good and highly recommend after Malts and Meeples. But they really loved this game, and to me it sounded interesting. Land vs Sea is kind of an area control game as you are building out areas of, well, land and sea. But depending on how you put stuff out, it can let you score even more points. And, this is key for me, you are building out a map, there is no set board. I have Carcassonne that does this, but I want another, well, I have one now.

The Dragon Prince: Battlecharged

I love The Dragon Prince. If you haven’t watched this show on Netflix, stop reading articles after this one on the internet, and go watch it. It’s from some of the same creators (or maybe all) as Avatar: The Last Airbender show. I personally like this one better.

The game takes the main characters from the show, both good and bad, and allows you to create teams. You draft them or pick them thematically and then fight. So it’s a skirmish style game. I don’t always love skirmish games, Super Fantasy Brawl being an exception, but the theme of this one I love. If nothing else I want to give this one a try and see if it is one that works for me. If not, it can move on from the collection, because I got it $10 off.

Crowdfunding Backing

Mythwind

I won’t talk about this one much because I’ve already talked about it a lot. If you’re just looking at this post, Mythwind is like Animal Crossing or Stardew Valley but as a board game. That is, it is a game where there isn’t a win condition. You are just seeing how well you can do and how big a town you can build. It’s an interesting concept and one that I’m sure some people will love. I think that I might love it as well. But if not, I can always sell it for what I backed it for most likely.

Boy Band Builder

This is one that my wife backed a while ago and just showed up. Guess what the game is about, that’s right, building a boy band. I think it feels a little bit like Marrying Mr Darcy, where it’s almost a take that sort of game, but really you care more about building up your boy bad to complete gigs and get as many points as you can. I want to play this one because I think it’ll be good for a laugh.

Too Many Bones: Unbreakable

And this one is from Gamefound. I haven’t gotten any Too Many Bones before, even though I work within a mile of Chip Theory Games, might be a mile and a half now. Too Many Bones is kind of a tongue in cheek with weird characters little fighting game. There are no minis for the fighting, though, it’s all done with poker chips which is weird and cool.

So, why did I jump in now? This expansion wasn’t a bad price, and it’s a standalone expansion. To go with that the characters seem more interesting. One is kind of a weather manipulating character, and I forget what the other one does, but some of the earlier ones are closer to your more standard fighter, cleric, etc. that you expect to see in a fantasy game. If I really love it Chip Theory Games does a solid job of keeping stuff in stock.

Level 99 Pre-Order

Almost forgot about this one, but it’s a pre-order so will come in eventually.

Bullet [star] and Wood Pieces

From what I can tell, this feels like an app game. You are trying to blow up different patterns of stuff, and it’s just hard to explain. But it looks cool. It’s real time too, which isn’t something I always love, but if I can play it solo and real time, then I might be more interested in real time.

The idea is that you are playing down cards to destroy bullets that are coming towards you. And you are different anime style heroines, I think each with how their own powers. You are trying to do some pattern matching so that you can destroy those bullets but you only have a certain amount of time. And I got the wood pieces because they just look cooler.

Alright, that’s it. Which one of these games that’s coming in or that I already have would you want to play?

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.
Support us on Patreon here.

There is a grand-daddy of all area control games, and that’s Risk. Probably as I was describing area control, that’s what popped into a lot of peoples heads, trying to control the continent so that you can get the bonus troops. So while you might be getting the two bonus troops from Australia, how do you get out of Australia so you don’t have to try and take over Asia, because that will never work. However, if that’s what you’re thinking of for area control, you might not be a big fan of area control games. Risk has one major issue that cropped up in it and other older area control games. That being the one that I might have one troop and you might have twenty, but because I’m the defensive players and win ties, I might be able to deplete your troop if I get lucky rolling the dice.

Risk also has one more fairly large issue besides the dice, and that’s the length of game and the fact that a player can be eliminated and then might have to sit around another four hours if they want to see how the game ends. Thankfully, that’s a part of a lot of area control games that has since gone away. In every game I mention below, if you are knocked off the board, you are always able to come back, or in the case of Star Wars: Rebellion, if that was to happen, that would likely just end the game, especially if the Empire did that to the Rebels.

Modern area control games do several things to try and mitigate die rolling, though some of them still use that as the luck for the game so that doesn’t because a complete strategy game.

Star Wars: Rebellion is a game that has more going on in it than just area control, but there is that aspect where if you have more planets and certain planets you’ll be able to build more ships. The combat is based on a die pool that you build with the troops you have. There are a couple of things to make this not just a die roll to see who wins. First, you have the ability to negate hits by playing cards or add in additional hits by playing cards. You have a limited number of cards, but you can possibly get more as you go through combat. Also, the ships or troops you bring in do damage of certain types, depending on the color of dice, and same with how ships take damage. While there is some universal damage, it means you could easily out number someone, but if your troops can’t hit their troops as well, they can come in and wipe you out. This is one that is still primarily die rolling through, but it’s not longer just pure luck.

Smallworld is probably the most Risk like in terms of area control on the list, because the game is purely area control. You get points for controlling certain areas and any skills that you might have. But Smallworld removes basically all luck from the game. The luck comes from correctly using your race and special ability and being able to find one that is working well. However, when taking over an area, the rule is simple, you need one more piece of cardboard, the troops are cardboard, than is on the spot you are trying to take over. Where there is a tiny bit of luck is that you can push for a final take over at the end of your turn. So if you have one guy left and you want to take over a spot with one guy on it, you can roll a die that hope to get two or better. The downside is that this isn’t a normal six sided die so there are multiple blanks and multiple ones that are going to stop it from succeeding most of the time.

There are some games that just do away with die rolling for area control. Blood Rage and Cry Havoc are two examples of how this can work very differently. In Blood Rage you have an action point economy that is helping you put troops onto the board into areas. The areas have a certain number of spots for troops, so you can try and totally control and area, but if you out number your opponent in the area or you have good combat cards, you can try and take over an area to get the reward while it is contested. The luck in this combat comes from playing a variety of combat cards, though only one per combat. Some of the combat cards just add a large combat value, others may cancel other combat cards or steal some of their rage, which are your action points. So while winning a combat is generally the best, there are strategies where you can play without controlling too many areas.

Cry Havoc, a game about collecting gems on a crazy planet. In fact it reminds me a lot of Avatar. This is extremely unique area control. So you score based off of having the most gems at various times, but to have gems, you must control the areas with the gems. So you’re in conflict with the other players over the areas. Instead of doing a straight swap of troops or rolling to see if you kill, there is a combat board. There are three areas of the combat board, you can control the area, kill the other persons troops, or take prisoners. What’s interesting with this is that even if your troops in the control the area are killed later in combat, if you have the most there, you still control the area. So the combat has a bit of a puzzle feel because of the order of combat. Then there are cards you can play that allow you to adjust combat once you’ve seen what your enemy is doing as well. It is an extremely unique combat for area control and one that seems fairly polarizing.

Now, all of these are games where area control is a huge part of the game and you are looking to keep control of areas throughout the game. Area control does go into other games as well.

An interesting example of this is a combat game still, but is handled differently than most games like it. The game is Sword and Sorcery. It’s a pretty standard dungeon crawler, but it looks like a lot of fun. I haven’t played it yet, but it’s a game that I might track down for live streaming at some time. In the game there are a couple of different options for controlling spaces while fighting an enemy. If you have more characters than the enemy does in the area, you might get a special bonus, if you have twice as many characters, then you get an even better bonus. However, the same is true if the enemies out number the troops. This means that you have to go in with force yourself, and you may not want to divide and conquer in some situations, but you might also want to divide and conquer in others to keep the troops from all rushing to a single injured party member.

Area control is a mechanic that can show up in a number of games. Clearly I have it focused more on combat games. I think that there are some games with area control that might have more of an Euro aspect to them, but a lot of them are more the Ameri-thrash games. The reason for that is that a lot of area control does rely on luck, so it is less planned than a lot of euro games are. However, there are likely some games out there that are handling it in a Euro game, and even Cry Havoc has some Euro tendencies for a combat area control game.

What are some area control games that you like? For the most part I like all of the games I’ve talked about with the exception of Risk, and even Risk I’ve had plenty of fun times playing it. Area control games can be fun, but you have to be willing to be cut throat.

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter at @NerdologistCast
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.

If you want to read the ones I think could make good movies, you can find the article here.

So ground rule with this article, the game must have some human component or artwork. It can’t be something like Skip-Bo. That wouldn’t make any sense to do a movie about, though I’m sure someone would try.

The first is a three-fer: Catan, Splendor, and Dominion. The issue with all of these, while they might be fun games, they are generic. Dominion is as generic medieval as possible, and really is just a them that’s been pasted on. You can make your standard medieval movie, and call it Dominion if you want, but it wouldn’t be thematic to the game. The same is true with Catan and Splendor. At least with Splendor you’d make it about jewels, but it wouldn’t be thematically tied to the game. The issue with all of these games and movies is that they are generic and could really be about anything, so you’d be able to call a movie Catan, Dominion, or Splendor, but you wouldn’t have to do anything that would tie it to the game to make the movie.

Next would be Cosmic Encounter, and this one I kind of wanted to work, but I don’t it would make a good movie. First off, there are too many alien races in Cosmic Encounter, to really capture the feel you’d have to make it a menagerie of races, and the movie would feel bloated. Plus a game that is about the social interactions and a goofiness to the game, but you’re also controlling planets and taking over planets, that would be a disconnect for a movie.

Gloomhaven was a game that I actually had someone suggest would work well as a movie, and I’m up in the air, I think it could be done, but I also think that you’d lose out on part of what Gloomhaven is. One of the big parts of Gloomhaven is retiring your character, unlocking another character, and playing as them. The main story of Gloomhaven could work in a movie, but you’d lose some of the feel from it about the ever changing adventuring group, and the time that it implies is passing as you go out adventuring. Overall, I think it would work better as a TV show than a movie, but I’m not even so sold on wanting that. But giving it True Detective treatment with a new cast of characters every season, but that still keeps it on the list of ones I wouldn’t want a movie of.

Cry Havoc is a game that I got to play last weekend and have written an article/review of the game recently. The basis of the game is that you’re on a planet playing different races trying to collect and control the resources of the planet. There is one glaring issue with this idea for a movie, it’s been done before. Dances with Wolves and Avatar much? Because that’s what it would end up being again just with a couple more races thrown into the mix. We barely needed Avatar as a movie, besides the technological advancements it gave for film, we certainly don’t need it again.

Final one is the obvious one, because not that many people like the game anyways, but Monopoly. It feels like that’s something that a production company might decide to do as board games gather more main stream popularity, but that doesn’t mean Monopoly. What would the plot even be? You’d be going around buying up places and building your empire while trying to ruin others and getting second place in beauty pageants and winnings $10? Later in the game when you’re randomly staying at other peoples properties because you can’t stay at yours for no good reason you’ll be glad when you end up in jail so you don’t have to pay other people money? This would be a terrible movie, and I can see a production company trying to make some sort of funny movie based off of Monopoly, and I can see it being so horrible.

What other board games would make horrible movies? What movies might make horrible board games?

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter at @NerdologistCast
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.

And like Peder, I primarily watch TV when I want some escapist fun, and that comes in many different forms that are hard to even really compare. I mean, one day I might be in the mood for a fantastical show; another day I might want to watch sci-fi; and at another time, I might want to watch a few episodes of a drama. I enjoy all those (extremely different) things about equally; it just depends on what sort of mood I’m in.

All that is to say that the rankings in this list are somewhat arbitrary, and might change depending on the day you ask me. Regardless, these are the five TV series that rise to the top of my list:

<

To finish things off, I have to include some honorable mentions that were *this* close to making it on the list: Pushing Daisies (an absolute delight that ended way too soon), Firefly (the best space cowboy show ever), Outlander (three words: ALL THE FEELS), Community (just stupid-hilarious), Silicon Valley (the most fun I’ve ever had being stressed out and having secondhand embarrassment), Bob’s Burgers (way better than it has any right to be), and Sherlock (smart, sexy, and absolutely legendary).

Do any of your favorites overlap with mine? What TV shows would make it into your top 5?

__________________

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter at @NerdologistCast
Message me directly on Twitter at @Kefka73
Visit us on Facebook here.

Kristen and I got a chance to see this on Tuesday, and it’s officially releasing on July 21st, 2017. So as you’re making your plans for the weekend, I get to help you answer the question: is Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets worth seeing?

The story is based on a French comic called Valerian and Laureline, which was first published in 1967 and wrapped up in 2010. Needless to say, they didn’t try and fit the whole story into the movie. The story revolves around the two main characters, Valerian and Laureline, as they try and determine what is going on in Alpha City, the City of a Thousand Planets, and why an attack is happening that is making parts of the city and station uninhabitable. This city was sent away from its decaying Earth orbit after it got too large, but that was 400 years ago. Since then, this city, which had a good number of alien inhabitants while around Earth, has picked up many, many more aliens, and everyone lives together peacefully for the most part. However, there is a zone of radiation that is growing, making parts of the station uninhabitable. So Valerian and Laureline are tasked with helping Commander Filitt, played by Clive Owen, find out who is behind it all.

Some initial thoughts about this movie — first of all, it was better than I expected. I thought it was very likely that we would see nearly all of the thousand alien races, but we probably only saw several dozen It was still a lot, but the trailers made this movie look like it was going to be shiny alien races galore and not much plot. Now, that’s not to say that there is a great plot — there are multiple plot threads and one that runs throughout the whole thing, but it isn’t a tightly constructed plot. In fact, we meet a character pretty early on in the film who seems to be a Chekhov’s gun; however, the film then forgets about him, and we’re left wondering whether there was something left on the editing room floor, or if the writers just forgot to come back to him. The best compliment that I can pay to this film is that it is very reminiscent of The Fifth Element, another Luc Besson film (albeit shinier — which wasn’t always in its favor).

Let’s talk about the acting in this film. The simplest way to put it was that it was kind of a hot mess. This film focuses heavily on the characters of Valerian and Laureline played by Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne. It seems Valerian is supposed to be very like Korben Dallas from The Fifth Element; however, in Bruce Willis’s portrayal of Dallas, the character had rough edges but ends up being generally likable. Though it’s clear that DeHaan’s Valerian is supposed to be likable, he isn’t given the same rough edges and depth that Korben Dallas has. Some of that is because the portrayals of Laureline by Cara Delevingne and Bubble by Rihanna, both whom are evidently supposed to help Valerian grow and develop as a character, do not work all that well as foils to him. Rihanna’s performance generally just seemed to take up space in the film, as it ended up adding nothing besides a dance scene and an attempt at boosting Valerian’s character growth. Cara Delevingne’s performance was better; however, her acting range seems limited, so while she was believable, for the most part, as the government agent partnered with Valerian, she wasn’t as believable as a character who was supposed to grow significantly like Valerian and also encourage him to be a better person. While DeHaan did a decent job of trying to show that growth, the fact that Delevingne’s acting style is reminiscent of Nicholas Cage’s (i.e. they seem to basically play themselves in films) meant that there wasn’t much for DeHaan to play off of. Despite these flaws, though, there were a few solid performances. For example, Sam Spruell, who plays a General on the Alpha Base/City was really enjoyable to watch, and it was compelling to see him make tough decisions.

The aliens in the world are generally well done. However, they weren’t without flaws either. There is an alien race that you meet early on, called the Pearls, that felt like a miss to me. They are generally humanoid and almost remind one of the aliens from Avatar. They were presented as a very happy and peaceful race, and this was conveyed through their flowing, almost dance-like way of moving. This didn’t make any sense to me, though, as it would be impossible to maintain without having much more muscular shoulders than these aliens had; they were generally tall and wispy looking. This was a shame, as we meet them early on, and it gives the film a bit of a rocky start. But the CGI and other special effects were generally quite well done.

One last critical note — I do want to talk a little bit about the length of this film, and some issues with the story itself that I saw, without giving away too much. This film is two and a half hours long, which I felt was a good 45 minutes too long for the material in the film. Now, some of this comes from the creators trying to jam more aliens into this film than needed, but a fair amount of it is just odd pacing, or odd additions of comedy at certain points. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets needed one more good pass-through by the editors, director, and studio to trim the fat. It also needed better direction in terms of the protagonists’ relationship — since the movie takes place in under 24 hours, it feels like the studio determined that the film needed to include a complete love story that resolved by the end. That was just a bad plan, as it felt rushed, and there was no real reason to bring it full-circle. I felt it would have been more compelling if, at the end, they’d had the girl kiss the guy and say something like, “We’ll see where this leads down the road,” to leave things more open-ended. There was no real reason to rush it and force it.

So I’ve talked about how this film was better than I expected — so why was that the case? First off, I’m sure it was partly because it exceeded my expectations by a long way. I was pretty sure from seeing the trailer that while it looked like it could be interesting, it was more likely going to be mostly a slog, punctuated by lots of pretty or impressive-looking aliens with no strong plot to pull it together. However, it did have a decent overarching plot (albeit a bit weak and overdone). Second, I liked it because it has a nostalgia factor due to its simliarity to The Fifth Element. These two films very much feel like they’re essentially the same film, and that’s not a bad thing. I still prefer The Fifth Element to Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, but there was something familiar about the film that made it more enjoyable for me. Finally, once you figure out that it isn’t trying to be a serious film and that it’s meant to be a popcorn flick, it allows you to enjoy some of the more well-done characters — for example, the Shingouz, who are information brokers. The three of them go to great, comical lengths to get Laureline to like them, and feel like a cross between Alf and half Howard the Duck.

What is my final takeaway from this movie? In short, it’s a popcorn movie; there isn’t much more to it than that. It touches loosely on some deeper themes, like the pitfalls of colonialism, but that mainly felt a bit borrowed from Avatar and didn’t add a great deal to the story. Is it worth seeing in theaters? It certainly was pretty to see in 3D, and there are lot of shiny aliens and special effects, but I don’t know that I would want to pay full price to go see it. This film is not a great piece of filmmaking, but I and most of the theater found it quite enjoyable nonetheless.

Critical Grade: D

Popcorn Grade: B-

Share questions, ideas for articles, or comments with us!

Email us at nerdologists@gmail.com
Follow us on Twitter at @NerdologistCast
Message me directly on Twitter at @TheScando
Visit us on Facebook here.

So, how do you pick what you want to use in a way that doesn’t make it seem like you’re just picking from the book at random or what looks like it’s the coolest?

One helpful tool is that in the Dungeon Master’s Guide they have different monsters and creatures split out by habitat, so you can go ahead and pick out what works for the area that you are in. If you are in the jungle, you’re probably not going to see a frost giant, if you are in a freezing cold mountain and there’s a dragon, it’s probably a white dragon. That’s one way to help keep things focused in, but what if you really want to pick crazy monsters from the book?

My suggestion there would be, instead of having an obvious story reaching over everything, be a group of big game hunters who are paid to go around and find these wild and exotic creatures. You could need to bring them back alive, or maybe someone really want to have the horns of a minitaur, the shell of a flail snail and the beak of a owlbear for their collection. It would be an interesting game to play, and if you have a group where sometimes people miss, it would be easy because you don’t need everyone there to play, you just need enough people to kill the beast (hopefully) and birng it back.

But what if you’re already in a game and you’ve bounced around the world and you have a big story going, but you want to bring in something that wouldn’t make sense?

You have a few options, maybe you have the creature get loose form a cargo ship or a zoo. You can try and fit the monster into your story some way, there are a ton of different options. For example, in Dungeons and Flagons, the group has faced off against human pirates, Yuan-Ti, goblins, hobgoblins, a red dragon, elementals, devils and/or demons, and are now facing off against a beholder. They’ve been hopping somewhat all over the globe, but each of the monsters had their part to play, including the hobgoblins who were mainly there to be a distraction.

Finally, what do you do but the monster is too powerful or too weak?

Goblins are puny, if any of the characters in Dungeons and Flagons were to attack a goblin, it would either be killed a single sho or they would use their second attack on a turn ot kill it. How do you make your goblins scarier? You bring them in large numbers. When each player has four goblins attacking them, that is scary, even if they can dispatch one per turn, they’ll still get attacked a minimum of six times. Or maybe you don’t think that would be that much fun, well, maybe you have the goblins be a scouting party and signal another group of goblins who are a distance away, after the adventuring party has finished off that first group and is starting to think about looting the goblins bodies, you bring in that second group.

But sometimes you really want them to face off against that one really strong boss, and that boss is supposed to be a goblin, but the toughest goblin in the book isn’t tough enough. My first option would be to have other goblins with him, but sometimes that doens’t work or that isn’t what makes sense for your story. The second option would be to find a creature that makes more sense to face off against the characters (aka. is stronger) and call it a goblin. They have, in the back of both monster books NPC stat blocks for different types of people. There is a necromancer back there, it doesn’t say that it’s a goblin necromancer, but you’re in charge of your game, so you get to decide. Grab that harder bad guy and pu them in front of the players. Then instead of describing your necromancer as a pale human with a guant face who is wearing dark robes, describe it as a goblin who has a staff and who has raised the zombie horde that you saw in the courtyard. He has dark tattoos of demonic symbols across his body, roll initiative. And there you have two characters who would be the same stat block, have the same skills, and might even have the same evil plan, but ones a goblin.

That’s an easy conversion, but sometimes conversions make less sense. You want a really strong brawler to come up and challenge your group of adventurers and take a swing at them in a bar but you don’t like any of the options in the back of the book. Well, depending on what level they are, look at an owlbear or bugbear or some other creature. Sure an Owlbear is a bear body with an owl head and has a bite attack, but just don’t use the bite attack, use the claw attack and call it punches. Simply by reflavoring the attacks and calling them something different, you can take on creature and make it into another.