Shut Up & Sit Down

Games News! 07/04/14

the x-men vs. shipping fulfillment, expanding winter, dice dimensions, card cocktails

Quinns: What a weekend! Tabletop Day, then a Netrunner tournament. I feel a sense of… union with the cardboardverse. Hang on, I’m having the strangest thoughts… Could it be? Is the games news coming to me?

I see a man… I see Ted Alspach, designer of the incredible Suburbia and One Night Werewolf. He’s announcing his new game! Castles of Mad King Ludwig will still have players laying tiles, but now sleepy suburbs are swapped for the colourful castles for real-life king Ludwig II.

I can also see that this very second, Ted is eating a burger with a knife and fork. Really, dude? C’mon. Cut that out.

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Review: Arctic Scavengers

quinns' netrunner tips, reference pears, reference refugees, snowballs

It’s the end of the world. Survivors huddle together, sheltering in rags and silence. There are bad men outside. And you’re one of them.

Arctic Scavengers is a card game for 2-5 players, and this week the updated edition first fell into our laps, then entered our hearts, like cardboard frostbite. Better yet, it’s Quinns’ favourite of all the games we’ve reviewed this year!

Oh dear. Wallets at the ready, people.

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U.S.A. Tabletop Day Update!

road house, celebrities, i hope they don't find out we're all terrible at games

Quinns: As I understand it, America has three main locations. New York City, Dallas and Jasper, Missouri, setting of Patrick Swayze’s 1989 classic Road House.

Those of you in New York should know that our own Mike will be at Myriad Games from 2:00-6:00 PM. He says he’s keen to teach Neuroshima Hex! to everybody, which is an experience I recommend! I don’t recommend you actually take him on, though, as I still have the bruises from that particular beatdown.

Anyone around Dallas should know that SU&SD besties Board With Life will be at Common Ground Games. And if you live in Jasper, Missouri? You should take a moment to reflect on how god-damn lucky you are, you son of a bitch.

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Tabletop Day is April 5th! Come meet Quinns!

no touching allowed, alright some touching, not too much though, or too little

Quinns: Of course, every day is International Tabletop Day here at SU&SD. But if you live in London and felt like dedicating a few hours hours to our giddy hobby, I’ll be spending all day at the inestimably awesome Leisure Games. Paul and Brendan might be making an appearance, too!

So come down! Meet us, play a game. make a hot new purchase and generally pay tribute to this city’s finest hobby shop. The above photo makes it look really small, but actually there are dark magicks present that let it sit upwards of 40 people. And for those of you looking for a beatdown, you’d better believe I’m bringing my Netrunner decks, if you wanted to bring yours along.

If you do live in the UK, Leisure Games are a fine online retailer too. Never be afraid to give them a call to ask when Such & Such is coming out, or if they can reserve you a copy of The New Hot Box.

And if you don’t live in the UK? Best of luck with everyone’s tabley endeavors!

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An Actual Interview: Space Cadets

master brains, the psychology of tables, stress points, loose deaths

[Following on from last month’s interview with Eric Zimmerman, we dispatched intergalactic bounty hunters to next track down Geoff Engelstein, the man behind SU&SD favourites Space Cadets and Space Cadets: Dice Duel. With two expansions and a new Space Cadets game on the horizon, we needed details on the future of this runaway brand, and how it came to be.]

Quinns: Wake up! Alright “Geoff”, you can earn your freedom by answering no less than eight questions.

Geoff: What? You wanted an interview? You could have just asked.

Quinns: Oh, you’d have liked that, wouldn’t you. NOW: The year of Space Cadets, eh? Does the prospect of continuing to work with the Space Cadets license exhaust you at all? No new and fair pastures for Mr. Engelstein?

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It’s the last day for Gold Club bag #2!

postmen on time off the shores of england, merchandise glittering in the dark

Pictured above is what we sent to SU&SD Gold Club members three months ago. Limited edition, so now every one of those precious objects and download codes are gone. Lost, like… tears in rain.

If you like the sound of supporting this site and being mailed a goodie bag full of limited edition nonsense, our second ever pledge season ends TONIGHT, March 31st, at midnight EST. As before, the contents will be mostly secret, but the micro-reveal we did can still be found over on our donations page.

Thank you so much for your generosity, everybody.

— Team SU&SD

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Games News! 31/03/14

seductive witches, fake cyclists, our lego saviour, flaming phones, vats of slime

Quinns: How is everybody? Are we all recovered from the biblical deluge that was last week’s news? I saw one of you got a token right in the eye, so I hope this week will be a little more sedate *is passed piece of paper* OH COME ON

Alright, then! Let’s get through this. Fantasy Flight has announced a new, English language edition of The Last Banquet (seen above). A feast of a game, The Last Banquet sits between 6 and 25 players, who (depending on their team and the scenario) will try and manipulate everybody’s seating positions. Like a kind of… turn-based musical chairs, with added poison?

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SU&SD Play… Wiz-War and Malefic Curses!

it was acceptable in the 80s, i will dispel the shit out of you, fake wizards

You there! Browsing the internet without a care in the world. Don’t you know there’s a war on?!

…It was a Wiz-War, technically, and it took place this week in Quinns’ flat, but still! Show some respect. This venerable old game was originally released in the 1980s, and the new, eighth edition is a cardboard monument to EVERYTHING that was wrong, and right, with game design at the time.

It’s complex, yet stupid. Competitive, yet unfair. But with the right people? There’s a very real magic to it, and that’s why we had to film this video. Plus, it was a chance to test the new expansion, Wiz-War: Malefic Curses.

WARNING: This is unquestionably the most swearing we’ve ever had in a video. Sensitive viewers? You may want to wear ear muffs.

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Review: Viticulture

a hint of sage, earthen shades, an undertone of tea, bollock carpets

Quinns: Readers with their finger on the pulse (of strategic wine-making board games) might be aware of this Kickstarter for Tuscany: Expand the World of Viticulture. Totaling $277,258 at the time of writing, it offers a copy of the much hyped Viticulture, unavailable since the first Kickstarter in 2012, as well as a new, massive Tuscany expansion.

In other words I finally have a reason to review the ludicrously heavy copy of Viticulture which Stonemaier Games sent me a year ago, before triumphantly flinging it out of my window, killing a passerby in my desperation to get it out of my life.

OR WILL I? As you’d imagine from Viticulture’s continued bobbing atop the public consciousness like chunks of cork in a bottle, this game’s really very good.

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Daft Souls is a new gaming podcast! With us!

pearstations, onlime games, really terrible digital ports of board games

Quinns: Sound the competence klaxon! Matt and myself have a quick announcement. We’ve joined forces with a few other UK games writer luminaries to create DAFT SOULS, a new weekly podcast about video games! And much like SU&SD, it has the single, lofty goal of not being shit.

So if you like SU&SD and you do play video games, give the first episode a listen. Underneath your seat you’ll find the iTunes page, SoundCloud, RSS feed, and even Youtube. Oh, and you can follow Daft Souls on Twitter here.

It’s kind of amazing how good a job Matt and I do of seeming like we’re not hurtling towards 30 when we’re talking about cool games like Luftrausers, Dark Souls 2 and Heroes of the Storm. And no, this doesn’t mean we’ll be spending any less time on this site or the SU&SD podcast. We’ll be revealing a similar refurbishment of our own podcast in just a couple of weeks.

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