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Off the Grid: The Witcher Adventure Game and Star Wars Imperial Assault
Like most sci-fi shows on Fox, Off the Grid is getting canceled (we're all saying goodbye, actually). In this series finale of the board and card game series I had hoped to evolve over time, we're keeping our spirits high with a look at two recent, fantastic releases from publisher Fantasy Flight Games: The Witcher Adventure Game and Star Wars: Imperial Assault.
Off the Grid: XCOM - The Board Game
You may not be aware, but a new XCOM is on the way to stores later this month! No, don't bother firing up those spiffy new consoles, this XCOM experience is for your tabletop. Board and card game publisher Fantasy Flight Games has teamed up with 2K to bring you XCOM: The Board Game, and Joystiq has survived the alien invasion. While you may expect a board game based on the XCOM strategy video game franchise would resemble more of a dungeon crawler, where you hunt and kill aliens, XCOM: The Board Game attempts something unique. Utilizing an app, XCOM: The Board Game randomizes alien movement, in-game events and keeps up to four players on their toes with strictly timed and very tense situations. In this episode of Off the Grid, Xav is joined by Jeff Cannata and Christian Spicer from the DLC Podcast, to play XCOM: The Board Game and discuss the pre-release copy of the game, the app functionality and what it's like to be in charge of the budget to save the human race. XCOM: The Board Game is expected to launch later this month from Fantasy Flight Games and designer Eric M. Lang (Marvel Dice Masters, Arcadia Quest). [Image: 2K, Fantasy Flight]
Gaming off the grid: Video game-inspired board games
If you're looking for family fun but don't want to stray too far from the video game franchises you know and love, tabletop gaming may be the perfect alternative for you this holiday season. While there are countless (and not very entertaining) licensed board games available at big box retailers – like Mario-themed Monopoly or Halo-themed Risk – there are far better options available for those looking to further explore their favorite video game worlds. Here is a collection of some of our favorite board and card games based on video game franchises. If you're looking for a fun activity for family and friends this holiday, you can't go wrong with these fantastic board and card games. >>Our favorite video game-inspired board games<<
Joystiq Giveaway: The Witcher Adventure Game
Geralt of Rivia is awesome. His friends are awesome. Whether you've partaken of CD Projekt Red's RPG pleasure in The Witcher video games or tumbled down the rabbit hole of Andrzej Sapkowski's novels, the general awesomeness of Geralt and his pals is impossible to deny. The guy's a mutated, long-lived, magic-practicing swordsman alchemist who seems like a lothario but has a heart of gold. His best friends are a bad ass sorceress and a poet who's also a spy. If you and your friends are planning to sit around a table playing board games, you could hardly ask for better characters to inhabit in the process. Thankfully, there's Fantasy Flight's The Witcher Adventure Game to scratch that itch. Fantasy Flight Games, CD Projekt and Joystiq are giving away a copy of the new board game in our latest raffle! How do you get your hands on it? Just use the Rafflecopter widget below between December 5 and December 12. Winners will be selected at random and contacted via email. Full rules and details after the break. Joystiq Giveaway: The Witcher Adventure Game [Images: Fantasy Flight Games/CD Projekt Red]
The Witcher Adventure Game's video tutorial explains the race for Victory Points
As is the case with most fantasy adventures, digital (and real-world) board game The Witcher Adventure Game gets complicated. Thankfully, series developer CD Projeket RED has put together the in-depth introduction above, which familiarizes would-be heroes with its card types, status ailments, battle system and general progression. While the tutorial is dense in useful information and examples, the simplified take is that two to four players race to finish main quests before their fellow players. Once a player's third main quest is completed, the game ends after one more turn from all other players. Glory is granted to whoever holds the most Victory Points at the end, a form of score earned by completing sidequests, investigating leads, besting monsters or performing other actions. The Witcher Adventure Game will let dice fly on PC, Mac, iOS and Android devices in 2014 and is currently available for pre-order at Good Old games for $8.99. A physical version from Fantasy Flight Games is also expected to ship later this month.
The Witcher travels to cardboard land with Fantasy Flight board game
A board game based on The Witcher property is coming courtesy of a partnership between CD Projekt RED - developers of the Witcher games - and Fantasy Flight Games. Gameplay details are light, but according to the game's official site, players will assume the role of one of four heroes: Geralt of Rivia, Dandelion, Triss Merigold and Yarpen Zigrin. Each hero has a unique set of skills and their own deck of what are called "Development Cards," though what these cards do is unknown. The site also emphasizes storytelling and adventuring, as players will have to tackle various quests which range from simple monster hunts to exposing a traitor in the royal court. Sure, The Witcher Adventure Game is a board game, which means it won't have the pretty graphics that The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings was known for, but who needs those when we have our imaginaaaations?
Scratch one grub (card)! Gears of War board game headed to retail
Remember back in April when you were enjoying the Gears of War 3 beta, chainsawing through a locust's face, and your buddy was all, "Wouldn't this be great if it were a board game instead?" We've been meaning to ask -- does your buddy work for Fantasy Flight Games? Oh, he does? That makes a lot more sense, because his company is totally making a board game based on the Gears of War series. "Gears of War: The Board Game" will arrive in August -- the 31st, claims Amazon -- for $80, but we'd be doing you a sincere injustice to go into any more detail. Instead, we'd like to refer you to the video above, which features a sandpaper-throated gentleman detailing the game in a very serious manner. Enjoy. [Thanks Josh!]
WoW and its partners at Gen Con 2009
Gen Con Indy 2009 is just around the corner (it's the weekend before BlizzCon), and if you're headed out for the "best four days in gaming," keep an eye out there for some of this Warcraft stuff. Blizzard won't actually be there, as far as we know (it's more of a convention for board games and roleplaying than video games), but lots of their partners will. Upper Deck will probably have the biggest presence -- both the WoW TCG and the WoW Minis games will have setups where you can sit down and play either one, and they'll be running the Continental Championships as well, where they'll crown some of the best players in the country. And there'll be other tournaments and gameplay for both games going on as well -- the guys from wowtcgscrub.com are organizing a tournament of their own, and Upper Deck will have other ways for you to compete at all levels all weekend long.Fantasy Flight Games, the makers of both World of Warcraft: The Board Game and World of Warcraft: The Adventure Game, will also be in attendance. They haven't announced anything special for the Warcraft games, but they'll likely have them out and playing in at least one demo space. And Warcraft will be there in attendance through the fans as well for sure.In fact, I'll be there for the first time this year -- my friend and I are going to be checking out the show on Saturday. I have no idea what to expect, but i've heard from a few readers that are going already, so if there's interest, we might try to schedule a WoW.com meetup that evening. So if you're headed for Gen Con this year, keep an eye out for the World of Warcraft there.
More Blizzard Board Games on the Way
Fantasy Flight Games, the makers of the World of Warcraft line of board games, are apparently happy enough with the franchise to announce two expansions for the game, to be released later this year. One will be a smaller add-on with some new card sets to be released in July, with a full-blown expansion to follow in the fall. A Starcraft game is also planned for release, and you can read more details about the games in the full story here at ICV2 News.I haven't played a board game since the last time I set up my nephew's Mouse Trap set just to watch it go off, but I have fond memories of playing the old TSR Dungeon board game, that was sort of a D&D lite that your parents might actually play with you. I might should check one of these out sometime...if I can find anyone else geeky enough to play with me...
