Magic the Gathering and other CCG's and boardgames discussion

[Der_Lex]

As for Magic, I have to admit I don't mind the rules changes much, and actually like the additional main phase after the combat phase, since it allows for mechanics like bloodthirst and adds an additional element of bluffing to the combat phase (will he play another critter after his and mine have wiped each other out if I block or won't he?).
As for players, I know our local game store has an active Magic scene, but I've yet to really check it out. I'm a bit hesitant, since every time I've seen people play Magic there so far, it's been teenagers, and I wouldn't want to be the only person my age joining in. That'd just be sad. I'll have to ask the store owner if there are more old farts playing.

As for Warhammer, the brief rundown I promised:

Human armies
Generally speaking, Humans are completely average stat-wise, but also tend to be pretty cheap, which allows you to go for an advantage in numbers, which in Warhammer can be just as important as having good stats for your troops. There are two human armies:

-Empire
Take one half early Renaissance troops, one quarter steampunk artillery and one quarter religious zealots, and you have the Empire. The nicest thing about Empire is their sheer flexibility: doesn't matter if you like to put an emphasis on infantry, cavalry, ranged combat or magic, with Empire, it's all possible while retaining a decent chance of winning. However, this also means they don't really excel at anything, other than long-range combat, which due to their riflemen and war machines is quite good.

-Bretonnia
A cavalry army of mounted knights (with some peasant rabble on foot as backup, if you wish). A bit of a one-trick pony (pun intended): they're absolutely devastating on the charge, but if their initial offensive doesn't break the enemy, they're pretty much toast. The heraldry can be tons of fun for experienced painters, though.

Chaos
Chaos generally has incredibly powerful troops: their basic troops are a match for most special troops of other armies, and many of their special/rare troops are a match for hero characters. The price you pay for that is high, though, as chaos troops are so expensive points-wise that you can only field very few of them. They also lack any ranged combat troops, making them vulnerable to any opponent that can keep them at a distance. There are three Chaos armies:

- Daemons of Chaos
These are incredibly powerful and often highly maneuverable, with powerful magic to boot. Their biggest downsides are that you'll have even fewer of them than of the other Chaos armies, and that they have virtually no armor, which makes them vulnerable to ranged attacks.

- Warriors of Chaos
Strong, tough, heavily armored... you don't want to get into melee with these guys. Fortunately they're few in number and mostly consist of infantry troops, which means their assault will be very slow and vulnerable to ranged attacks and outmaneuvering.

- Beasts of Chaos
I haven't read their latest army book yet and have never played them or against them, so I couldn't tell you too much about them, unfortunately. I do know they're the cheapest points-wise of all chaos troops, though, so their armies tend to be more numerous. They also have a lot of monsters in addition to their regular beastmen troops.

Dwarfs
Dwarfs have incredibly tough, well-armored troops, and their riflemen and artillery are more than a match for the Empire, and can be quite devastating. They don't have any magic, but have enough anti-magic to often make sure their opponent doesn't either. Their biggest downside is their lack of movement range and maneuverability, which makes dwarfs a very static army that can be vulnerable to outmaneuvering or swarming.

Elves
Elves in general have a good movement range and maneuverability, high accuracy and are pretty tough to hit in melee combat. Their biggest downside, however, is that they're not very strong or tough, meaning that they often have trouble actually doing damage after a succesful hit, and are pretty much toast if the opponent gets a hit in. There are three types of elf armies:

- High Elves
Think Elrond's troops in The Two Towers. They have very good infantry troops and very powerful magic, but their troops are expensive points-wise, leaving you with only a relatively small elite force on the battlefield. Powerful on the offensive, but you can't really afford to take too many losses because there are so few of them.

- Dark Elves
The evil Elves. A bit less expensive points-wise than High Elves, so you'll usually have a bit more of them on the field. A very fast and maneuverable army with good magic and ranged combat options as well. Great if you like to play aggressively.

-Wood Elves
The Legolas-style Elves, although about half of the army consists of creatures like dryads and treants as well. A very mobile skirmishing army that excels at ranged combat and taking advantage of terrain on the battlefield, running circles around their opponent while pelting them with arrows. Just like High Elves, their relatively high points cost leaves you with a small, elite force as opposed to a horde-style army.

Lizardmen
Arguably the best all-round army in Warhammer. Strong rank and file infantry supplemented by fast skirmishers, a lot of big, nasty critters and some of the strongest spellcasters in the game. Their main weakness is their low initiative, which can really turn against you in prolonged engagements.

Ogre Kingdoms
Whereas most armies will consist of human-sized models with the occasional big monster thrown in, this army is the opposite: the bulk of your forces will consist of the rather large ogres. You won't have too many of them, but they can take quite a bit of punishment and dish it out as well. Their small numbers can be a major weakness, though.

Orcs and Goblins (Greenskins)
Strong and tough Orcs combined with fast, mobile Goblins can make for a lethal combination, especially since you can field quite a few of them due to low point costs. It's an incredibly random army to play as, though, because they're prone to infighting and have some very random magic, war machines and special units that can hit friend and foe alike. Devastating if the dice are on your side, but I've also seen a Greenskins player lose three quarters of his army on turn one... before his opponent had ever touched a single die himself.

Skaven
The ratmen are the true 'Zerg horde' of Warhammer: your basic troops may be weak, but you really do have a huge amount of them. Their special troops range from gatling guns to giant mutated monsters to ninja's, and those can all wreak havoc on enemy troops while they're bogged down in your mass of cheap rat cannon fodder.

Undead
What both Undead armies have in common is that their basic troops are weak, but relatively plentiful and easily replaced. They also cause fear, which weakens the enemy or even sends him packing outright before a blow has even been struck. There are two Undead armies:

- Vampire Counts
Afterstasis will be able to go into more detail, but as I said above: you have incredibly powerful (and expensive) hero and lord characters that can often take on a normal enemy unit by themselves as well as some nasty beasties and cavalry. Ranged combat is virtually nonexistent for them, though, although their magic can pack quite a punch.

- Tomb Kings
These Egyptian style undead are very maneuverable, with lots of chariots and cavalry supplementing their basic skeleton troops. Their war machines also pack quite a punch. It's a very difficult army to play, though, because your units aren't that powerful individually, and you need to coordinate them well to beat your opponent.

Hope that gives you a bit of an idea... if you have any questions, please do ask away.

[Ledgo2]

Whenever I play at a magic store, I sadly view the younger people as prey/lesser experienced players. I've been proven wrong a few times, but most 16 year olds in my area are the types who play the pack decks with some edits. I actually look for older players to play with, I can usually pick up a tip or two from the older dudes who are nice enough to do so. I'm pretty sure everyone has met that ONE old old table top guru, I look for those guys to play. But I play whoever approaches me, regardless.

That's a huge list of Warhammer! I need to go through it :S

[Bulzeeb]

I never got into Magic the Gathering but I noticed plenty of students during my high school years enjoying it.

My Card Life Cycle

Pokemon - Age of collecting: 5-7
Where else could I start? Pokemon was already taking the nation by storm, and since I owned Red and Blue versions for the Game Boy at the time, this gave me a great start into card games. Never really battled; The thrill of opening the packs to see what I got was all I needed at that age.

Favorite/Rarest Card Owned: Zapdos

Yu-Gi-Oh - Age of Collecting 9-13
So, after my Pokemon phase, I shifted over to Yu-Gi-Oh, sparked by swapping to the episode of Yugi dueling Weevil in Season 1. In this game, I had plenty of spars with my brother and dueled with lots of friends. Unlike Pokemon, I actually watched the show at the same time of my collecting. A friend from 5th/6th grade loaned me his legit Slifer the Sky Dragon, which was my favorite monster thanks to Season 2 of the show. After the Battle City arc was over, I began to lose interest and eventually, retired my cards and duel disc for good.

Favorite Card: Slifer the Sky Dragon (Just owning him for a brief time felt like a fitting end to my collecting in this series.)

Zatch Bell - Age of Collecting: 14
Like with Yu-Gi-Oh, this anime also caught me by surprise. Saw a segment off of Toonami and was hooked afterwards. I really enjoyed the unique battle style of the Zatch Bell card game.

Basically, you were given a miniature spell book like in the show and you had about twenty sleeves to construct a deck organized from left to right and cards back to back to make forty cards total. Each time you attacked your opponent, they had to flip a number of "pages" in their spell book. Whoever could knock the other player to the end of their book first was the winner, so it was a game about decking your opponent.

Unfortunately, I didn't stick with the card series very long since I didn't have many other friends who would join in the series, but I still enjoyed the show.

Favorite Card - Ion Gravireis (I got the Black Spellbook starter deck, so Brago was my main, and I just loved the sound of this spell's name.)



I've got one more series I collected, but I'll save that for another day.

[Ledgo2]

I actually recall playing The Pokeman CG on Gameboy. That's right...

[kingtonyx]

Love MTG.

I used to be the #1 rated online player of the Pokemon TCG

I also once made my own online TCG based on WWE

[Der_Lex]

That home-made WWE card game reminds me of an actual card game I played once at a gaming convention because the creators were so friendly/enthusiastic/desperate to have people try their game. I think it was called 'Ultimate Fighting' or something like that, and tried to be a card game simulation of two fighters battling it out, and the cards had photos on them of martial artists performing the moves. It wasn't a particularly good game mechanically, but we did get a great laugh out of it when all of a sudden in this game full of otherwise realistic martial arts moves, cards like 'Body Odor' and 'Banana Peel' started popping up, complete with hilarious photos of their devastating effects on your opponent (I believe both were rares, even). It was such an incredibly weird design choice that it became hilarious.

[Bulzeeb]

My Card Life Cycle (conclusion)

Duel Masters - Age Of Collecting 14-15

By now, I realized that I never got into a card series unless I had seen the show, (this likely explains why I never played Magic the Gathering despite its popularity.) Anyways, Duel Masters followed this formula. Like with Zatch Bell, I didn't have many other players to duel with, so I picked up the Kaijudo Masters GBA game. It was really fun but eventually, I gave my cards to a friend after I stopped collecting.

Ironically, the same friend has me play with him and his collection today, and I will admit, DM is still fun because of its simplicity.

Well, that's about it, folks. Did I think collecting these cards was a waste of money? Of course not. They were fun and I was spending money on something I really enjoyed for a time.

[kingtonyx]

hahaha "I'll get you with the BODY ODOR!"

[Bulzeeb]

hahaha "I'll get you with the BODY ODOR!"

I wonder if their "graveyard" was "Out of the Ring."

[Der_Lex]

hahaha "I'll get you with the BODY ODOR!"

I found a (bad) scan online. Enjoy.

On a board game note, the missus and I are going to try and make the time to play our first team game of Lovecraftian co-op game Arkham Horror tonight, to see of the two of us can stop the Elder Gods and their eldritch horrors from entering the world. I've already played two solo games, but lost both horribly, mainly because I discovered that if you play solo, you really need to take the rumor mythos cards out of the game (they are pass/fail conditional cards that stay in play and at best cost you way too much time to resolve, in which too many gates open, and at worst mess up your entire game with their incredibly harsh failure punishments).