Boardgame review: The Target

Every Tuesday, the local gaming store has boardgame night. Usually, this means a bunch of three and four player games happening at the same time, but sometimes it's fun to get everyone together into one big game. So, we're always on the lookout for good games that accommodate large numbers of players. The Target by Closet Nerd Games looks like it would fill that niche. Anywhere from 4 to 12 take the roles of spies secretly working for either the CIA or the KGB (Or maybe even working for themselves as double agents). Each turn, one player is the "Target", and every player plays a card that targets them. The ultimate goal for each team is for enough intel cards to be played on their HQ to win.

I really wanted to like this game. The theme is perfect for this sort of secret agenda game. A first glance of the rules and contents made me imagine the players trying to work out each others loyalties, tracking the path of intel so they can either help it to its destination or steal it for their own side. Unfortunately, it just doesn't work out that way. I'll be blunt: this not a good game. There's some good ideas in there, but nothing is implemented very well. It all comes out as a jumbled, confusing, awkward mess.

Boardgame review- Ascension:Chronicle of the Godslayer

Ever since Dominion has come out, there have been a number of entries in the deck-building game arena trying to dethrone it. I already reviewed Thunderstone, which didn't quite manage the task. Can the new entrant, Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer by Gary Games step up and do the job?

The List: 16-18

16: Girls with Slingshots Another of those slice of life comics I love so much. Actually, the evolution of the art for this comic is interesting. Corsetto's gone from a more elaborate style, with softer curved lines, to a simpler, more angular style over the course of the comic. I kind of miss the old style, but I bet the new method's easier to get out on time. And this comic is definitely worth keeping up with, so anything that keeps the strips coming is fine by me!

17: Lackadaisy 1920's mobster kitty cats. It's exactly as adorable and wonderful as it sounds. Don't really have anything else to say, other than that it's a must read.

18: Punch an' Pie
More slice of life stuff! This one follows a tiny tiny woman trying to sort out life and love and all that. Written by Aeire, who previously did Queen of Wands(where Angela first appeared), and drawn by Chris Daily, who also does Striptease, which I already mentioned. It's pretty good, all in all, but right now it's stuck in one of those holding patterns that SoL comics tend to get caught in, where the plot just sort of idles a bit until everyone's lined up for the next big event.

The List: 13-15

13: VG Cats Not much to say about this, it's a one-shot gaming humor comic. Chances are, you've already got your own opinion. If you don't, go take a look and form one. Sometimes he runs a side comic; the current one is Super Effective, which is kind of a parody telling of first-gen Pokemon. It's amusing, but at the rate it's updating it'll never get past the first game.

14: Shortpacked! This is David Willis's newest entry in the Walkyverse and... it's nothing like the original comics, really. Except when it is. Originally, this comic was just a gag comic about toys, with no story at all, just the author talking to the audience. When It's Walky! ended, Willis ended up turning Shortpacked! into a story comic, but he still seemed to want it to just be a joke comic with no drama ever. He lasted all of 12 minutes before giving up on THAT. I might have to give the Walkyverse comics their own post at some point, there's way more than a paragraph worth of stuff to say about them.

15: San: Three Kingdoms Comic A parody of Romance of the Three Kingdoms. It's about a story that Americans typically aren't familiar with, written by a non-native English speaker, and makes no effort at making the jokes and references actually accessible. And I love it. I couldn't even tell you why.

The List: 10-12

10: Sore Thumbs One of the giant heap of Crosby comics. It originally claimed to be a political-slash-gaming comic, but pretty soon degenerated into insanity. Unfortunately, the insanity of Superosity is more interesting, but at least Sore Thumbs has good fanservice.

11: Superosity Considering its historical importance to the world of webcomics, it seems like this would be a little more dignified, wouldn't it? Just as crudely drawn as when it started, and the humor hasn't matured much, either. And it's still just so offbeat and random that I still look forward to reading it every day. This was the flagship that helmed the Keenspot comic collective, back in the days when no one thought you could make any money off webcomics. And they were pretty much right, but Keenspot's still around, sort of, and that counts for something.

12: Striptease Good artwork, but the spotty updating schedule and occasionally facedesk-worthy writing makes this hard to recommend. It's on hiatus right now, anyway. Maybe I'll have something nicer to say when it comes back.

The List: 7-9

7: Joyce and Walky! The denouement of It's Walky! I've been reading David Willis's stuff since the Roomies! days (geez, the man loves exclamation points even more than I do). J&W is actually a subscription comic with the occasional free sample that doesn't seem to have much to do with the storyline. I haven't been assed to buy a subscription yet. If I ever do, I'll have more to say about it, I'm sure. Meanwhile, it's mostly just on my list out of inertia.

8: MoonDog This would be a great comic if it would just update once in a while! Yeah, yeah, sense of entitlement and all that, but still. Well, it's a good read, anyway, and I keep it on my list hoping against hope that it will update again in the vague and distant future.

9: Sabrina Online Honestly, not sure why I keep this on my list. The art is great, but it's a comic that's paced for a daily schedule, but released on a monthly schedule. Never mind that the overflow of fandom references and nerdier-than-thou jokes. It's more work to delete it from my list than to check it once a month, I guess, but it's not on my must-read list.

The List: 4-6

4: Dresden Codak I swing back and forth on this one. The artwork is nice, and when he's on the writing is quite clever. Problem is, most of the time the writing seems to a thick coating of overeducation pasted across... nothing in particular. Lots of namedrops of writers and philosophers that don't actually provide anything to the strip. The comic is strongest when doing one-shots and poster-style strips, where the lack of any actual depth doesn't hurt it.

5: Flaky Pastry Pretty much just as much of a junkfood comic as it sounds. No depth, no coherent themes, and no apologies for it. Goblins, elves, catgirls, mad scientists, pretty much just running around and goofing off, and trying and failing to make out with each other. Occasionally a plot tries to sneak in, but hardly anyone pays it any serious attention. There's not a lot to talk about with this comic, but it's still a lot of fun. Also, nice fanservice.

6: Freefall Sort of a lightweight, comedic counterpart to Schlock Mercenary, in that it's not exactly hard scifi, but it takes its physics seriously. A story about an engineer who happens to be a wolf, an entrepreneur space captain who happens to be a horrifying squidlike monstrosity, and robots that think they're puppies. The plot is slow moving, but it's really just a gag comic anyway.

The List: Intro, 1-3

OK, there's just way too many comics in my reading list for me to write a whole big entry about each one. So in the interest of fast, cheap content, I'm just going to go through my bookmarks from top to bottom and say a few words about each one.

1: Bob the Angry Flower A gag comic about an angry flower, a stump, and a floating fetus. Quite a bit less logical than it sounds. The humor comes from random and often insane situations. Often falls flat, but when he hits it's golden. Almost every strip is a one-off, making this great for random linkage.

2: College Roomies From Hell!!! One of the old guard, it's been around since 1999. I used to follow this strip eagerly, but in the past few years... I'm not sure, it just feels like it's collapsing under the weight of its continuity, getting more and more incomprehensible without actually getting anywhere. The characters behave in ways that I just can't figure out anymore. Still on my reading list for now, but not one I recommend to new readers right now.

3: Crimson Dark A sci-fi story somewhat in the vein of Firefly. (The creator is probably tired of that comparison, but hey. It's a motley band of misfits in a spaceship. The shoe fits.) The character art is done by drawing over 3D models of the characters, which gives the comic a distinct look. It fits the setting and feel of the comic, but does edge right up against the dangerous valley. The story and writing are strong, if nothing extraordinary. A solid read.

Boardgame review: Fire and Axe

Fire and Axe: A Viking Saga by Asmodée is pretty much exactly what it says on the box, a chance to pretend to be Vikings, marauding across Europe and beyond. Each player gets to be a band of vikings, sailing their longboat to trade with, raid, and settle the rest of the world.

Why I Read This: A Girl and Her Fed

I had a bit of an uncertain start with A Girl and Her Fed. The art was a very strange mix of crude line drawings and, well, gray blobs. But over time the art style grew on me. The very simply drawn faces, just three lines for the eyes and mouth, take on the expressiveness of emoticons, if I can wax nerdy for a moment. But it worried me that the art style never seemed to evolve or grow.

Art quality isn't necessarily a deal-breaker for me when I'm deciding if I like a webcomic. It's pretty common for an artist to start publishing their comic as soon as they have the idea, and maybe a few character sketches and storyboards ready. And that's fine. It's the nature of the internet to let anyone publish, even if they don't have the artistic skills that would get them published in the physical industry. There are comics that remain stagnant and ugly, where the artist doesn't even try to improve their skills over time. But it's the comics where the artist DOES put in the effort that I watch for. I love being able to wade through a comic's archive and watch the art quality improve over time.

So, I was a little worried that the art wasn't improving. But happily, it was all a trick. Instead of a gradual improvement of art quality, there would be sudden bursts of higher quality art. Backgrounds, facial features, and everything would suddenly appear when Sparky, the Fed, would activate the chip in his head. Good art became a visual indicator of the world of the chip. Sure, it's the Wizard of Oz trick, but I still like it.

Eventually, the comic shifted to the new art style, although with a simpler color scheme than the painted quality of the chip scenes.  It looks a lot better, there's no getting around it.

The thing is, though, is that now Otter is redoing all of the art. As I understand it, it's largely because the strips have to be redrawn to be print suitable anyway, so they're getting a facelift during the process. And it's neat to see the old strips in the new style, and to see the little changes to details as the story gets tweaked to match the new art.

Sooner or later, Otter's going to get back to the part of the story where Sparky learns how to use the chip. What's going to be the visual cue then? I'm torn. See, I really like the new art style. Having a consistent look for the whole series is a good thing when it comes time to make the dead tree version. But I really liked the impact that the contrasting art styles had.

The story recently ended its first major art, and the current updates are a mix of an interim story and remakes of the old strips. And honestly, I'm more interested in the remakes. Even though I know what's going to happen, I don't know what's going to happen. That's a pretty neat trick to pull off.

Boardgame review: Thunderstone

Thunderstone, by Mike Elliott of AEG, is basically the hack and slash version of Dominion. Both Dominion and Thunderstone revolve around starting with a small deck of weak cards, using those cards to add better cards to your deck, and gradually improving your deck until you can start collecting victory points. While Dominion took this idea and made a game with very tight mechanics and a very loose theme, Thunderstone... well, they went a different direction. It would be easy to go down the line and compare every aspect of Thunderstone to Dominion, but that wouldn't be entirely fair. More importantly, it would be kind of boring, so I'll try to resist.

Boardgame review: Dungeon Lords

I've got some more webcomics to point out soon, but I haven't worked out exactly what I want to say about them yet. So meanwhile, here's something completely different.

Dungeon Lords is the newest game by Czech game designer Vlaada Chvátil. I'm already a fan of his earlier games, especially Galaxy Truckers and Space Alert, so when I saw that he had a new game coming out about making a dungeon and staffing it with imps to work it and monsters to fight off invading heroes, the part of me that so fondly remembers Dungeon Keeper got very excited.

So, of course, the actual publication of the game got delayed.

But I did finally get ahold of it, and tricked a couple of friends into learning it with me, and we had a go of it.