-+@ Blood of Giants @+-

Whoa, gory, just for the VTES-themed blog...



That's 3 cards from Legacies of Blood, the 9th VTES set and the 4th one that will go online this 15th. I won't be surprised if Martin has finished adapting all 350 cards by now and is only waiting for time before it goes up. I wonder if Ed will be back by then from his holiday to see the 4th set going live. That's an interesting thought.

I've also prepared an ad for the main engine for the expansion... not that it's great or anything, but I got bored of the gunpoint ad that we've been using for VTES announcements for a while so I thought I'd create a new one specially for Legacies.

I hung out at the VTESO forums earlier reading a few posts here and there. It seems a bit... gloomy there, but that's just me. At least gloomy is better than the ghosttown feeling one gets at the CCGW main forum these days, unless of course, it's the Rage forum, which seems to be happening these days. At least it's still getting posts now and again...

I haven't announced it anywhere else yet, but I've already begun designing the EF cards. Well, not just me but also the regular gang of card designers who did such great work on TW. There are a few new faces as well this time around, and I hope they can fit in with the rest of the team. I created a hidden forum specially just for the task so that now I don't have to bother with PM or emails, but instead, it can be posted at one place and everyone can have a look at it. Well, everyone that has access to the forum that is.

Talking about TW, it seems to be quite a hit. The addition of the 100 cards seems to have brought out the pool of players who are beginning to explore the other custom cards. I saw a game with the Aurora Xyx today and Mitch was rather pleased to see someone playing a casual game with a Puddle Arboll. Small tiny baby steps as Mitch would say, but that's a good thing. Hopefully this will open the avenue for more people to play with the custom cards.

The one bad thing about the engine recently is that the MND room is ... well, not down, but extremely laggy. I have no idea what's causing it, but I suspect it's one of the three new tabs - the game wall, the wanna learn tab and the tournament tab. Probably the latter since that's been the buggiest of the lot.

I've been playing quite a bit more of TtR recently, although I'm beginning to tire of it. Well, too much of a good thing, as the saying goes, might not be good or some such. I plopped into the LotRO room to find Chris Tubman in a game. Apparently he just got a bunch of online cards in a "clearance" sale and was busy making decks. There was a fun hobbit deck too which I definately enjoyed watching him play with it. Otherwise though the game seems dead and there are no new announcements as to when we'll get to see Rise of Saruman online.

Talking about LotR, I recently ordered some cards from CCGArmory.com. Martin found the site and asked me if I have purchased anything from there to which I answered in the negative then. Well, Martin, if you are reading this, I did buy some cards from there now, so I hope it'll arrive. I think I bought a booster box each of Bloodlines and Black Hunters which were on sale with 65% off or something stupid like that. I guess the game is dying if there are no demand for the next to last expansion of cards. I didn't see the latest expansion there though.

I also purchased the A Game of Thrones boardgame while I was there. I have no idea why, but I really, really like the Westeros map used there. It was a definate improvement over the LotR Risk map of Middle Earth. I was also reading the rules for the boardgame and was surprised to find out that it seems almost like a CCG to me... well, with the 2 expansions in the offering, I'm sure it can be customisable and collectible as well. I'm rather looking forward to it.

And while I was looking, I found a website that used to offer a beta version of the boardgame. It's put on hold apparently and is no longer available. I wonder if FFG got to them and closed down the site. We'll never know.

The other online site I found was for a game of Killer Bunnies by Playroom. It is free, but you have to like teach 3 new games a week or something to play, pretty much like the Shepherd system or something like that. Well, the Shepherd system doesn't really work so I have no idea how they are getting that to work on their site. I didn't bother downloading the client for the game though, but I did post in the forum in response to some guy who were requesting for it.

The same guy also complained that "Dungeon Dice" wasn't adapted yet. As far as I know, that Yu-Gi-Oh dice game isn't in the list of games to be adapted, and neither does CCG Workshop has permission for it. Perhaps he got it confused with "Dragon Dice" which is a totally other game. Who knows?

Tomi did a quick James Bond update recently, but I've also noticed a marked increased in the number of people playing the 2nd newest game on the engine. I hope that is a good sign and that they will stay around to play more of the game.

I'm enjoying the "calm" in the meantime though - sorta waiting for 2 other games to materialise. I'll probably start on one of those sometime next month. I still have to put in some effort on Urland and YNDT to get them up to scratch, and modifications to B5 and AvP. Well, this is more to remind me to do something. Perhaps I'll do some AvP for the remainder of this month... who knows what might happen...?

-+@ Superior Tactics @+-

won me a game today, more on that later...



That's 2 of the promos that Logan got for me and one that I wish I asked him to get. But I didn't so Oh Well. From left to right - Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica CCG, a mecha from Robotech TCG, and We Must Find Jack from The Nightmare Before Christmas TCG.

Just two quick things to write here.

1. I played a game of MND with Cole. He used a burrow deck and all I had was a pure (and by pure I mean 100% of one region, no universal cards even!) Bograth deck. He started off well with a 'fuf and Trygar and I was drawing like crazy with Baa. He dropped an Ormagon and I was devastated, so I just let Baa bite the dust. Wiep flipped next and although I wanted to do a flip-kill, I can't, thanks to his Tunnel Hyren burrowing his Ormagon. I had to settle for waiting a turn before Darkness struck and Trygar went away, but not before leaving a Freep.

I played out a cautious line of creatures, but when he revealed his magi, it was Trug, which, thanks to Freep had enough energy for a Cataclysm. Bye, Bye Wiep. Grahnna flipped next and played a Black Stuff from the discard pile after I had use Transform to grab that Darkness. The response was Strag with another 'fuf. Darkness + Spirit Drain = dead Strag.

That was rather unexpected though as I had only that one card which could take out the burrow creatures. I told Cole that had he been more aggressive he would have got me. Also, if he didn't boast about his Ormagons and Trug, I would have done things differently. Instead I converted my creatures to cards most of the time to be able to survive getting all my cards in played being wiped out. I never got to Ninibom - more than meets the eye! - nor did I get to play that Mist Hyren that I never got a chance to draw.

I enjoyed that game, and there were 3 observers for most part. I think near the end, especially after 2 successful comebacks after getting all my cards in play cleared away, the observers were rooting for me as the underdog. That's the great thing about MND - it's not just great cards that wins a game, it has to do with deckbuilding and skill in playing. Oh and of course, psyching up the opponent with annoying cards always help!

2. I've been playing a lot more Ticket to Ride today, mostly out of boredom, but I have to say, I'm enjoying the "kiddie" version more than the more complicated European map. There's simplicity in the rules, yet there is a whole lot of complexity with the game and that's what I've been enjoying.

There's two different type of players - grandees and annoyers as I call them. Grandees tend to build the longest lines with the longest tracks raking up a huge score in the process by getting the right cards. Annoyers though, are the opposite. They will choose 2 short routes and complete them fast, then play interference with everyone else to prevent them from reaching their goal. I don't have the patience to be a grandee, and running interference is hard because I really, really like those long intercontinental stretches.

My strategy though has been to be a speed-hog (i.e. a cross between a speed-demon and a ground-hog) - take up the most regularly used up line on the west coast and finish as quick as possible to deny everyone else from completing theirs. That usually wins me the game.

---

And in other news - I had a go at Mark for not blogging as frequent as he said he would about his week of boardgames. Consequently he's been getting more regular - there's even a picture in the last installment. Well, thanks to him I'm now playing on TtR...

I hope Martin has finally added those 350 cards to his test version of VteSO. Just over a week left before he'll have to release it. I gave him a formula in Excel to help him speed out the process instead of doing it manually, but I have not yet had a chance to talk with him to see if it works.

Ed's getting headaches these days, the server although seems rather stable is not at 100% yet. He's trying to straighten out the last kinks and he's also pondering the future of CCG Workshop. I hope there's a future.

Logan still hasn't wrote up his Origins report although he said he would a while back. I guess he's just busy. He's been dribbling out info now and again about what went on and stuff, but I can't wait to read about it in full. I hope this doesn't mean he's gonna shelf MoA until next year's Origins!

Oh and I hung out on the engine today in the usual MND timeslot and chatted with a few other people regarding the game. I seem to have demigod status or something. Sheesh! Also got my CCG Workshop email account fixed so that I can send out official emails and stuff. My first email was as Tech support to some guy in Korea.

-+@ Chain Reaction @+-

Why? Because I have just started the Chain Reaction...



Art Credits
Jore Cub by Essence
Bwisp by Vega/Holmberg/Nov, backgrounds by Strom/Whyrl
Athik Shell by Nov

Three more cards from EF... I think I only have 2 more that I haven't shown on my blog yet. After that I'll have to move on to Cure, then AoD/AE. I finally found the owner of the image I wanted to use for the last EF card, and am now waiting for permission. Hopefully, I'll be able to use it because it's an awesome image by Whyrl.

I finally added the last 2 regions for TW onto the engine. There were a number of people who went "Finally!" when I made the announcement in the chatroom. The chatroom has also been rather busy as of late with a handful of people there at all times, or so it seems. Must be because it now no longer costs to play... but probably also because people are curiously testing out TW.

Adding those last 2 regions has just set a whole series of events into motion, but that's currently hush hush sorta.

I have also updated the Summer Tourney's prizes to include adding cards to gEngine for the monthly winners and a whole new custom relic for the winner with art by myself. I wonder how many people will bite the bait. The tournament went dead as soon as the game became free to play. I've advertised it on the MND @ CCGW blog and on the FPNews so we shall have to see what's happening there.

Meanwhile Mitch has finally finalised the last DJ card... well, the next to last anyways, as the last one will be finalised in the tournament that will be held during playtesting. The card text have been up for review for a while now, but things are also going slow there. Well, I guess we will have the time for that soon enough, but I think people are even more excited about the DJ magi than the remaining TW cards.

Oh and I made a few more ads specifically for the FPN... mid post image coming up. The one on the left is the Naroom image for TW, the one on the right is the 2nd DJ ad that I made. The other one can be seen at the top of the FPN.


And I think that's enough MND for this blog.

I read Mark's blog about Ticket to Ride and I know Ed have been raving about it as well, so I took the opportunity to see what they were talking about. I managed to get a few games in today. On the first pass though, I went blegh, this is boring. 3 or 4 games later, I began to see the strategy involved in playing the game and my opinion of the game rose a little. This would be a good 1 hour game to play with little kids...

Mark has barely posted except that one blog about the evening of Day 1. I'm awaiting the rest of his blogs. I wonder what else they are playing. It seems to be only boardgames. I wonder if he plays A Game of Life?

Logan has just got back from Origins and has a whole lotta stuff to tell. I'm awaiting for his "report" about what he played and stuff. I think that's going to be interesting at the very least. It seems he played in a lot of demos and tournaments which sounds interesting. Apparently he said he met Kev there at Origins!

I asked Martin about those symbol things on VteSO which apparently are the clans or factions or something like that. There are about 30 of them apparently. I wonder if Ed is going to show all 30 on the website. Heh. Oh and the new expansion that will be going in in less that 2 weeks? That has 350 cards. Ouch!

I think I'm finally getting into my CCGW groove and I wonder what should I be tackling next... AvP and B5 both needs an update of sort, but with the loss of the forums, I have no idea what I promised to do on them now... YNDT and Urland also need a fresh look at a few things, but again, I have to dredge those up from memory... blegh!

-+@ Inspired @+-

New CCG for this month... last month's was from Anarchonism (I think) and the month before that was from Auto Assault OTCG.



Art Credits:
Athik Little by Nov, background by Strom/Whyrl
Spore Xyx by Nov, background by Strom/Whyrl
Glowing Korrit by Nov, background by Essence

I think I can do better than that, but it's tiring doing top-notch work. Still, I don't think these images are too shabby for a custom card set and I'm rather pleased with what has been drawn so far. All 3 are for Exodus Flight, the expansion that is after Twilight War.

I drew the Glowing Korrit just before this... it was supposed to be a Crystal Korrit, but I decided that I could do glowing better than crystal, hence the name change. That is card number 149 out of 150 for EF, the last card is a Nar magi and I'm working on that to obtain permission to use a really great image. Watch this space.

Twilight War continues to get added to the engine for playtesting, and thanks to the game going free last month, the whole thing became like a carnival on speed. People seem to can't get enough of the custom cards and have been playing with them as they get added. I guess that's a good sign. Two more regions to go to be added to the engine, and the Naroom players are already almost begging me to get them added. Well, when I get the time seems to be my mantra, although I hope to get them up before this week is out.

Double Jeopardy has also moved on apace, as I have confirmed the text and have published it for review. Not many people have said anything about it yet though, which is a pity, it does need more comments before I'm going to add it onto the engine. Perhaps a link from the CCGW forums will do the trick.

So TW (100 cards) for playtesting with all regions added in July, I'm going to guess DJ (8 cards) at about October and hopefully EF (150 cards) by about February for the draft versions of the text. And after that of course is A Cure for All Seasons (4 cards). I've still got to draft those cards out. That should keep me busy until God only knows when. I've also restarted sorting images for AoD/AE, but that will take a backseat for a while until DJ has gone to playtesting...

And of course there's Project Second Chance, a MRP custom card set that will attempt to "power up" cards from the earlier sets which are little used so that they'll see more play. It's just something special on my part to make new custom cards without actually making new Custom cards. Phew.

And in between all that there has been tournaments (one just ended last month), contests (again, one just ended last month, and that I've yet to judge the winner), website updates include the brand new calendar for July 2006 as picture below. Mid-blog picture coming up:


Finished working on WSS2 a while back to much celebration and jubilation. It got tried out a few times as well, but it's not a CCG, just a glorified war game of sorts. Still, it is cool to have a custom set for a non-CCG card game.

Martin and Ed have been busy toiling on VteS and in about a couple of weeks or so, another new expansion will join the online cards for play. That's good news for the players, and hopefully it'll draw in more players. Stability shouldn't be an issue to worry about since it seems rather stable these days and it's also gonna be free to play for 3 months, so hopefully that will draw in players.

I was waiting with bated breath for MoA or Crystal Authority to go public before Origins. It was not suppose to be. AFAIR, both had minor debugging issues which needs to be fixed before they can go public, but like all of us, there's just way too little time to do the debugging. Oh well.

Origins is here though and unlike last year, I think I got a good haul of promo freebie cards eventhough I didn't go. NECA was giving out nightmares and there were also free cards from demos of BSG. Poor Logan had to sit through a demo of that... he probably enjoyed it though. I hope he gets back soon...