Palladium Problems

Palladium Books have unfortunately been the victim of embezzlement, they have posted details on how individuals can help out in an attempt save the company from going under.

Please take a look at the details and help out in any way you can.

Thanks to vestinious for the heads up. :-)

iguk.co.uk Site Redesign

Time for a change on the iguk.co.uk retail site! We've redesigned certain elements to hopefully make using and viewing the site easier.

Please take a look and if you have any feedback please drop us a line. :-)

Best Regards and Happy Gaming,

IGUK Webteam

http://iguk.co.uk/

Atlanteon Review

Atlanteon is a game by Reiner Knizia, previously released as 'Revolution' – but it is rethemed here as a game of undersea conquest. Having a soft spot for myths and sea creatures in general, Atlanteon was hard to resist. Sadly, as is not really too surprising considering that this is a Knizia design, the theme is wafer thin - so it probably won't come as too much of a shock to learn that the feeling of being involved in a deep sea conflict doesn't really come across. The visual aesthetic does try hard to push the undersea ambience, and as usual for a Fantasy Flight game it looks fantastic.

The problem with the theme not really fitting lies in the core of the gameplay: Atlanteon is an obviously abstract game of territorial conquest for two players, with the main mechanic being very mathematical and analytical. Simply put, each player has a stack of tiles numbered from zero to nine, as well as a King (marked with a symbol instead of a number) and eleven control markers. Before play starts, each player takes turns to place one of the three towers (one black, two white) anywhere on the 5x5 grid that they choose. Once this is done, play then begins - each turn consists of placing one tile on the board and then checking for scoring.

Scoring happens when a tile is surrounded - in order to place a control marker on a tile, that tile must be completely orthogonally surrounded, either by other tiles or a combination of the tiles and the edges of the board. Once a tile is surrounded, players add up the totals of the immediately surrounding tiles, and whoever has the highest total places a control marker on the surrounded tile. If a tower is surrounded, scoring can be slightly different: if surrounding a white tower with the highest total of tiles, the player takes the white tower marker but does not place a control marker; if surrounding the black tower, the player with the lowest total wins the tower.

Winning the game can be achieved in one of three ways: by capturing all three towers, capturing the opponent's king or having all eleven control markers on the board at the end of your turn.

As you can probably tell, Atlanteon is one of those games that is incredibly simple to learn, but very tough to master - each turn, despite consisting of simply placing a tile and then checking for scoring, is full of important decisions about which tile to place and where to place it, due to the numerous strategic considerations that come into play when a tile is placed.

Atlanteon can be pretty enjoyable, which is the case with many Reiner Knizia designs – but it is definitely not amongst his best work. It is a game where repeated play reveals previously unseen or unconsidered strategies and options, but the problem is that the very abstract nature of the game makes it seem like a dry exercise in mathematics and forward planning. Atlanteon has no luck or randomness and relies only on the skill of the players involved, which means that, coupled with the mechanics as mentioned above, it is a very Chess-like battle of wits between players. Like Chess, Atlanteon may be a little too much like hard work for the average gamer – it quickly becomes apparent that it is a rather uninteresting game with a blatantly irrelevant theme.

Summary

Presentation: Nicely packaged with very appealing art and wooden components. 8.5/10

Clarity of Rules: The usual high standards we’ve come to expect from Fantasy Flight are all present and correct, with the rules being very clear and easy to understand. 9.2/10

Game Length: Each game lasts around 15-20 minutes, which is fine for a game of this type. Any longer and your brain may suffer permanent meltdown! 8.4/10

Value: Not too expensive, but as the game itself suffers from being fairly dry and uninteresting (and the underwater warfare theme is a thinly veiled attempt to make the game more appealing), replay value is not very high. 6.7/10

Overall: A reasonably engaging game for a short while, but the very abstract nature of the game and the poorly integrated theme mean that Atlanteon’s appeal wears off very quickly. Don’t be fooled by the designer’s reputation – whilst an interesting enough concept, this is certainly nowhere near the quality of Reiner Knizia’s more compelling products. 6.1/10 (not an average)

Review by Jason M. Brown

Assault on 13th Labour

Crack that code! Assault on 13th Labour are looking for people to collaboratively run a code cracking program to decipher the code on the infamous Perplexcity 13th Labour card. Check it out, there are also prizes for the lucky computer that can shift all the 1's and 0's into the right place, these prizes can also be enjoyed by a human ;-)

Battleground: Elves of Ravenwood Preview

It’s no secret that we’re big fans of Battleground: Fantasy Warfare here at IGUK. Our review of the first three starters and expansions was very positive, and we gave it a very respectable 9.2/10 overall. Fans of the first three races have been eagerly awaiting further expansions, and the great news is that the first new race since the release of the system is almost here, having shipped this week from Your Move Games.

The new expansion features The Elves of Ravenwood, who, according to Chad Ellis at Your Move Games, “bring many traditional infantry and archer units to battle, but they are also joined by fantastic forest allies.”

Classic Battleground unit types such as Spearmen and Bowmasters feature alongside stunning new units like Treants, Centaur Cavalry and Packs of Wolves. The special power that the elves possess allows them to invoke forest spirits which guide their weapons, enabling the elves to hit almost any foe.

Not wishing to simply introduce new units to the game, Your Move have not rested on their laurels with regards to the rules, which have been updated and streamlined to further improve the overall experience. Says Ellis, “The 2.0 rules streamline some movement and routing issues and expand upon the ‘stay with the line’ standing order, which is now an official part of the advanced rules rather than optional. The updated rules also divide each faction’s units into core, standard and elite – armies must contain a minimum number of core units and have a maximum number of each elite unit, based on total points available.”

Players aren't forced to buy the new expansion in order to use the improved rules though, as Ellis has confirmed that “the updated rules are available for free download on the Your Move Games website.”

So there you have it: from now on you can download free, updated rules for Battleground from here, and soon all of you Battleground fanatics can add a further fantastical race to your armies! To ensure that you receive your decks during the week of release you can pre-order your Elves of Ravenwood decks here.

By Jason M. Brown

Ticket to Ride Review

Trains seem to be incredibly popular amongst board gamers. Many examples of train games can be found, although there is some slightly odd discussion as to what can be called a train game and what can’t be called a train game. Many gamers believe that to be called a train game, a game must feature some sort of economic simulation as well as the ability to create railway lines from scratch. Others think that if a game simply features trains, then it is obviously a train game.

As far as I’m concerned, I fall into the latter camp. Ticket to Ride has trains, therefore it’s a train game. I do think it’s a silly argument to have, but gamers are a strange bunch sometimes. Not only is it confusing for non-gamers to see Ticket to Ride and be told it isn’t a train game, it also makes those arguing against its fairly obvious standing as a train game (i.e. a game with a train theme) look a little silly to outsiders. The reason that this is pretty important is because Ticket to Ride is an excellent game to introduce new players to, featuring pleasing aesthetics, easy to learn gameplay and brilliant mechanics.

To summarise, players are dealt ticket cards at the beginning of the game, and these each feature a route across the board – which is basically a large map of train lines across North America – and a point value. The idea of the game is basically to score more points than any other player, which is achieved by claiming routes across the map: points are scored by laying trains on routes as well as by completing routes featured on tickets. When tickets are revealed at the end of the game, players score points for routes they have completed, or deduct points from their total for incomplete routes. In addition, at the end of the game the player with the longest continuous route across the board is given 10 bonus points at the end of the game.

Ticket to Ride is very easy to get into, and players soon find themselves agonising over what to do every turn – as only one action can be taken from several options (drawing more train cards, claiming a route, drawing more destination tickets), it becomes increasingly tough to balance greed against necessity. Do you hang on to claim a route and try and draw more cards to ensure that you can complete even more of your route later on? Do you draw more tickets even though it is the end of the game is drawing near and you may not be able to finish it? These questions and more will be racing through your head during every turn, which creates a tense and enjoyable atmosphere to the game.

It can be frustrating though – as most routes can be owned by only one player, it can be very annoying to see your plans of completing a route be thwarted by a player claiming a route that you need, with no chance to go around it. Some routes do have another path next to them, but these double routes are few and far between, and only used in games with 4+ players. This frustration is also one thing that can be a turn-off for new players – despite the fact that sometimes other players don’t know that they’re messing up your elaborate, clandestine plans, it still feels quite personal!

As Ticket to Ride is one of those games that forces players to choose something to do from what appear to be several viable and equally important options, it means that there never seems to be enough time to do everything that you want to do before the game ends. This means that play progresses quickly and games always seem incredibly eventful, even when play has finished and scoring is calculated. With tickets revealed at the end of the game and points added or deducted according to what the players have achieved, it’s exciting to watch scores inflate and deflate, with the outcome never fully certain until the last ticket is scored.

As a game that can be learned and enjoyed in minutes by even reluctant relatives who are adamantly not interested in gaming, Ticket to Ride is a fantastic choice for family gatherings. What is also great about Ticket to Ride is that it stands up to repeated plays with gamers who have played it dozens of times, and the swift, tension-filled gameplay just never seem to grow tiresome. Highly recommended, but be careful who is listening in if you’re planning on referring to it as a train game.

Summary

Presentation: Days of Wonder have a highly deserved reputation for excellent components and attractive aesthetics – Ticket to Ride is no exception. 9.3/10

Clarity of Rules: The rulebook is longer than you would expect given the simplicity of the gameplay, but they are incredibly well written. The numerous clarifications on slightly awkward rules mean that if rules questions come up during play, there’s an answer that can be easily found within the rulebook. 9.5/10

Game Length: Always too short for what players need to do - which is a good thing, as it adds a great deal of tension and difficult decision making to the game. 9.4/10


Value: With literally hundreds of plastic trains included, as well as excellently produced cards and a nicely sturdy board, Ticket to Ride contains a lot of physical items that provide great value for money. Replay value is also high due to the simple, quick and addictive nature of the gameplay. Very tough to fault. 9.7/10


Overall: Despite the frustration felt when routes are lost to another player, Ticket to Ride is a game that is an incredible amount of fun, with easily digestable rules and well thought out game mechanics. A brilliantly fun experience for gamers and non-gamers alike. 9.4/10(not an average)

Review by Jason M. Brown

Games I Really Want To Play

The three IGUK review monkeys – Jason, Chris and David – are committed gamers who play games as often as their schedule allows. Unfortunately, with other commitments always looming, it’s pretty safe to say that none of us get to play as many games as we’d like.

Here, Jason Brown will regale you with tragic tales of unplayed games featuring alien politics, vampires, cyberpunks, superheroes, famous movie bad guys and…trains. We at IGUK now present you, dear reader, with the games that Jason really, really wants to play – but hasn’t had a chance to yet.

Last year I went a bit mental and tried desperately to get my hands on loads of out of print games that I was desperate to own, not to mention play. Having acquired the Call of Cthulhu CCG Premium Starter Set as a birthday gift last year, I was suddenly hit by the realisation that CCGs – a sub-genre of gaming that I’d always pretty much ignored – were actually immensely satisfying. Well, in any case, the two that I’d tried were – in completely different ways. Pokémon satisfied my hunger for more Pokémon-based product with it’s easy, quick take on pocket monster battling. The Call of Cthulhu, with its dark, vividly painted imagery and tense, involving gameplay, was another thematic winner for me – and it helps that the Lovecraftian subject matter is applied to a very good game. So I started to look for other CCGs that would interest me, and what was disappointing was that pretty much every one I looked into getting was out of print. The ones with themes that appealed to me were (in no particular order – Babylon 5, The Terminator, Aliens vs Predator and NetRunner. Even though it took a while, I managed to cobble together Starter sets and even stacks of extra cards in some cases, partially from using eBay and partially from trading away games I didn’t want with users on Board Game Geek. But have I actually played any of these CCGs? Nope – they’re all sitting on the shelf waiting to be learned and played. To be fair, I did have a proper look at the rules of Babylon 5 and NetRunner – but they’re ridiculously badly written and tough to digest. Babylon 5 has a rule book that seems to have been written back in the dark days of rulebook writing (with poorly set out, poorly written rules that are incredibly tough to digest for all but the most committed gamer) and NetRunner’s is unhelpfully written with lots of cod-future slang that is tough to marry to game mechanics even for a cyberpunk aficionado and self-confessed William Gibson disciple like myself. AvP and Terminator seem much easier to learn, but like other games detailed here I just haven’t had the time to try these yet.

Along with my sci-fi fixation, I am also a huge comic book geek. Well, not huge in the physical sense – I just really like reading comics. So what happens when I browse the internet on a lazy weekend afternoon and discover a sister game to TSR’s Dragon Dice, featuring Marvel Super Heroes characters? Well, I then become totally focused on tracking down sets of them of course. The Marvel Super Dice Game was planned to be a long running series featuring all of Marvel’s best-loved characters, but seems to have died a quick, undignified death upon introduction to the masses. Planned to be released as big started sets and smaller booster packs (known as ‘kickers’, for reasons best known to the now defunct TSR!), only one product ever made it to final release: The X-Men – Battle for New York City Starter Pack. I managed to find 4 reasonably priced, sealed boxes of these dice and purchased them immediately! The game does look fairly interesting: alongside the big super hero dice are other, smaller dice featuring lesser-known characters – and even smaller dice representing civilians, military and police officers. The dice move around a map, with players attempting to secure as many city blocks as they can. I’ve yet to have a chance to sit down and try this one, although it’s something that I can see I’ll be giving a go very soon. If you’re interested in sets of these, I’m finding it incredibly easy to find sealed boxes of them – so let me know and I’ll direct you to them.

Fury of Dracula is another game I’ve yet to play, but this is more to do with the fact that I don’t actually have it in my possession – yet. This beautifully illustrated Gothic horror game has Fantasy Flight’s usual flair for gorgeously designed games with substance to back up the style, and I’m really looking forward to getting my hands on this.

Skipping back to Babylon 5, in addition to the out of print CCG I also have the box set of Babylon 5: A Call to Arms – the Babylon 5 space combat game. It has a lovely rulebook with easy to understand concepts and simple mechanics – despite the apparent simplicity it looks to be a deep and satisfyingly engaging game. Just another one of those games that is still patiently waiting for me to have time to play…

Lastly, Railroad Tycoon is a game I’ve had for a few months but due in part to the absolutely gargantuan board I have yet to try it. Our table is about half the size of the ridiculously huge board, so we’re having problems even getting it out to learn! It looks lovely though, and this is another game I am dying to play – it should satisfy my desire for satisfying empire-building games - and without any half-hearted or unnecessary combat to drag it down (sorry, obligatory Age of Mythology rant there!), it looks like this one will be a winner.

So, quite a list isn’t it? To be honest, there are probably a few more that I have forgotten (I’m sure I have a Carcassonne expansion or two that I own but haven’t played yet), but these are the ones that I always get a little bit sad about when I see them sitting forlornly on the shelf, opened and ready to go, but sadly unplayed. Hopefully, it won’t be too long before I start battling through each one of these games – and when I do, there will be reviews appearing on the site for each one! I hope you look forward to reading about them as much as I look forward to playing the games and then writing about them.

By Jason M. Brown

And now the gates are opened to you, dear reader – what games do you have sitting in your home, unopened, unloved or just simply unplayed? Why have they not been played? Are the rules too difficult, is the game too big, will no-one play it with you? Tell us your stories in the comments section below!

Atta Ants Review

Atta Ants is a game of leaf collecting, ant reproduction and arachnid avoidance that comes in a small package but with a surprisingly nice set of components. The game sees players laying tiles to extend the network of tunnels leading from their nest (in a strange twist, the competing ant families all originate from the same nest, which makes sense from a game design standpoint but no sense whatsoever thematically!), then moving through the tunnels attempting to collect leaves and then get them back safely to the nest where they are exchanged for new ants. The object of the game is to get all six ants into play.

This is harder than it would at first seem: spiders patrol the board - each tile with a spider picture has a spider token placed upon it as soon as it is laid, and these spiders are moved by the active player after a) a tile is laid and then b) their ants have all been moved. The rule of moving spiders is that they will move towards the tile containing the most ants, along the shortest route possible (but not through the nest). Any ties for shortest route or tile with most ants on is resolved by the acting player who chooses which direction the spiders move.

Adding to this, players cannot simply keep their ants in the safety of their nest - only two ants of each colour can ever be in the nest at one time, and if an ant starts the turn in the nest it must move out of it on that turn and cannot move back in until the following turn.

Atta Ants plays pretty quickly and is very simple to explain and play. The packaging is great, as it comes in a nice little plastic box which is very compact, yet manages to nicely fit everything inside. The ants and spiders are represented by wooden, circular markers in various colours and leaves are small green glass stones. It would have been nice to have had markers that looked a little more ant like and a little less abstract, but it is totally understandable that the wooden markers have been used as the glass stones fit snugly on top of them when they are being carried around the nest.

Atta Ants is a fairly simple and light game that is nicely designed, reasonably priced, plays quickly and the subject matter is very appealing (well, mostly – i’m sure lots of players will hate the spiders!). Recommended for those players looking for something a little different in an ant-sized package!

Summary

Presentation:

The incredibly compact, transparent plastic box is superb. The wooden playing pieces are a little too abstract, however – and the map tiles are a little flimsy. 6.8/10

Clarity of Rules:

Easy to understand, fairly well written rules. A few awkward rules do make things a little hard to digest at first. 7.9/10

Game Length:

Variable – games can turn into a bit of a tug-of-war at times – but for the most part pretty short and wrapped up from setup to end within 30 minutes. 8.5/10

Value:

Considering the price and the fact that expansions are available to add to the main game, Atta Ants does represent excellent value for money. 9.1/10

Overall:

A great little game in a nice little package, Atta Ants is cheap and cheerful fun that can be taught and played very quickly indeed. Recommended. 8.8/10 (not an average)

Review by Jason M. Brown