Adepticon 2018 more stuff I played

Relic Blade

A smaller, yet still wildly familiar feeling skirmish and fantasy miniature adventure game.  Relic    is played either as a campaign or as a skirmish game. It is a D6 system. You pick a faction. You build your force which is only a handful of models. You purchase upgrades based on the number of points you are playing. You grab a 2’x2’ gaming space. Then you battle.

The forces come boxed with all they need. You can play competitively or in a narrative campaign. The models are good for a small start-up group. The game mechanics are easy to grasp and learn. It has a great RPG feel in a tabletop miniature game. There was really nothing I hated about it. How could I hate a fantasy tabletop game that feels and looks like a standard RPG? I couldn’t!

If I had unlimited money and time to play and paint; I would have grabbed this game. It was really fun, easy and had multiple forces I would want to use. If you ever see it try to play it!

And what faction would I play?
Yeah this one!

Relic Blade  go check them out!

Star Wars Legion

A Star Wars tabletop mini wargame? Well it is about time right?!

Wait...this is a Fantasy Flight game?

We played the demo and......I was wildly underwhelmed.

First, this is your standard Fantasy Flight game. That means multi-symbol dice, cards of various sizes, nonstandard measuring devices and too many tokens.

Second, it was nothing special out of the gate. This feels like a rehash/ reboot of Imperial Assault. A game I enjoy a lot more than the demo of Legion. I just wish they would have put more effort into  that game instead of changing a few dice, rules and repackaging Imperial Assault as Legion.

We basically just shot one turn and then ran Luke at Vader. This is what we wanted to see. How the big heroes would interact. It was devastatingly really just you know.....lame. Luke rolled up and smacked down Vader. It was like the Sith Lord was no better than anyone else in melee. There were no cool abilities to toss about. His defense was no better than the common troopers in the game. It was really uninspiring and kind of sad for us.

Now I know there is probably upgrades ( tiny cards ) and extra rules they weren't using in the demo due to time constraints. However, if you are going to toss out two Jedi you best showcase the crap out of them. They should rule the battlefield right. They should be nigh unstoppable. Instead they played as dudes with more health and swords. I mean how do you balance Jedi in a game based in a world where they can wreck so much face in combat? I guess you price them high and tone them down?

The models look good. They are unpainted and I would hate to paint all those Storm Troopers. Sooooooo much white. Ugh!

Every booth selling this game sold out quickly. People nabbed this up but was it due to game paly or that it was Star Wars?

It is a Fantasy Flight game and I have played so many of those that this was just too similar to others but on an open table with a Star Wars skin.

No matter my feelings, it is Star Wars and it will  ( and did sell ) well as gamers love some Star Wars.

I was disappointed with Legion and would not recommend it.

Wanderer

Do you like fantasy adventure games like say Heroquest?

Do you like tiles and cards?

Do you like anthropomorphic animals in typical RPG classes?

Does the phrase Bearshark intrigue you?

Then Wanderer is the game for you!

A fantasy tile exploration not quite RPG set in a high  fantasy world where animals are like people. You gather a party and run through locations battling evil. Evil in the form of amalgamations of land and aquatic animals, like the deadly Bearshark!

Wanderer is a very familiar game. I ran the a wolf ranger along with; a ibex mage, a turtle warrior, and a fox rouge. We had to find a way into the sewers and fight a herd of critters along the way; rabbits with tentacles, cat-fish mages and the beefy bearshark! You move from tile to tile searching and battling. Combat is a standard dice mechanic with melee, ranged, criticals and defense facing on dice. Critical rolls gain an additional re-rolls. This gives it a potential exploding out damage or defense mechanic. Players gain experience points as they play and this gives them extra abilities or actions. It also adds to the danger as the higher the level of the party, the tougher the enemy becomes.

I thought the best part of the game was the initiative mechanic. It is tracker where the players and enemies move up and down the track. Seeing who goes next gives the game a bit of tactical play that I was not expecting. A great idea and made me miss Final Fantasy X.  

The non-combat encounter we had.
Love that the town weirdo is a pigeon!
Stupid birds!

Wanderer is pretty fun, easy to learn, has a descent sized playable campaign and is very cute. The cuteness will drive away the gaming hardcores. However, the cuteness can ease of play is great for getting kids into table top games or as a gateway to fantasy RPGs. It could even draw in people who are skeptical of RPG games, but maybe they love animated animal shows, movies, anime, etc. This is a perfect game for them to play an possibly introduce them to the dark world of table top gaming! (insert diabolical laugh)