When I’m looking for some serious tabletop enjoyment, I want to work.
Well, I don’t want to work — I want to strategically place little wooden meeples on a board, and gain the benefits from that strategic placement. In short, when I want some deeply-satisfying board game action, I often look to worker placement games.
“We’re here to kick ass and… allow you to roll a die and claim an amount of food relative to the result of said roll. Yeah.”
We approach the Ides of March, which means that the sports world is focused on basketball right, particularly the Madness of the NCAA tournament.
That’s okay. I understand. In fact, you ought to read this morning’s post from Kevin Triskett about the potential All-American selections, if you haven’t already. I’m a homer for Wisconsin sports, so you should check out his pick for player of the year. No worries, I’ll be here when you get back.
Captain Serious can wait a very long time, if necessary…
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, it’s time for hockey. With only about 15 games left this season, now is a good time to get your team heading in the right direction. If you want to know what direction that is, the New York Rangers are a good example. [Read more…]
-J. Michael Bestul is a writer for the Addison Recorder. Stephanie Ruehl is an artist who works in a comic book shop. They’re married and have a lot of discussions about comic books and graphic novels. Combine all that into a biweekly feature and you get “J. & Steph Talk About Comics.”
The snow is thawing out here in Chicago, and the season of renewal sees a lot of relaunches and new series. Even with the conspicuous absence of DC titles this month, there were a lot of issues for us to pore through. With apologies to issues we left out — like Blackcross and Southern Cross, which we swear is a coincidence — we kick off this review of new #1 issues with another tale set a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…
w
ords by Mark Waid, pencils by Terry Dodson, inks by Rachel Dodson, color by Jordie Bellaire, published by Marvel
synopsis: In the days following the Battle of Yavin, Princess Leia refuses to play the role of sheltered princess. [Read more…]
I may have misspoke last week.
Is… is that David Clarkson in a Blue Jackets sweater?
I figured the trade deadline this year would be a hum-drum affair, with teams adding depth but not making huge splashes.
I was right. But I was also very, very wrong. We’ll start with where I was spot-on: the final day of trading, March 2nd, was boring.
Maybe “boring” is a little bit strong. It was fascinating in the way a game chess grandmasters both trying to lose against each other might be fascinating. It was exciting in the way that visiting the dentist without him finding a cavity is exciting. [Read more…]
No need for a clever lead-in this week. All we need is a single image:
Well, shit.
Let’s rip the Band-Aid off right away: Patrick Kane will be out for 12 weeks, and the Blackhawks are in deep trouble. Any team who loses a league-leading scorer is going to take a hit. And while it’s unlikely that Chicago misses the playoffs, they suddenly look at lot less dangerous come playoff time. The first two rounds of the playoff will be against teams from the league’s toughest division — Nashville is obscene, St. Louis is a gritty rival, Winnipeg has been Chicago’s Achilles’ heel this season. [Read more…]
-J. Michael Bestul is a writer for the Addison Recorder. Stephanie Ruehl is an artist who works in a comic book shop. They’re married and have a lot of discussions about comic books and graphic novels. Combine all that into a biweekly feature and you get “J. & Steph Talk About Comics.”
At the end of last year, we decided to spotlight the comic book artists that make us want to pick up a comic book or graphic novel. We turn now to the wordsmiths who craft the scripts behind the comics we love. This list is abridged, as our choices started to spiral out of control, threatening to take over more than just this post.
Last month, we looked at hot cocktails in a cold season, but winter libations are about more than just temperature. When the thermostat is bottoming out, I like my drinks to have some heft to them. The flavors are bold, with darker sweet notes and warm spices, and definitely with a nice heavy dose of herbs.
Which is why I love a good drink with sweet vermouth at this time of year. Granted, it’s an all-year, all-season love, but there’s something particularly satisfying about sweet vermouth in the winter. And here’s why I think you should join me in imbibing this lovely fortified wine. [Read more…]
Kickstarter has been a mixed blessing for the tabletop gaming industry. It provides a platform for small publishers and indie designers to get their game in front of more eyes than previously possible. It can give bigger publishers and distributors a barometer of how popular a game might be. It can give creators of any background to fund a dream project.
Or it can be a platform that enables unprepared creators to crash and burn while trying to handle thousands of dollars of other people’s money.
With a recent influx of board game Kickstarters that have recently launched, funded, or fulfilled their rewards, it’s a perfect time to look at not just the games, but how they utilized this platform. [Read more…]
The big story this past week had been the healthy scratch and “sudden” injury to Winnipeg Jets star Evander Kane. I thought it would make a great jumping-off point to discuss injuries and their effects on short- and long-term planning. Maybe I’d have tongue-in-cheek awards for how teams have handled or been sunk by injuries.
Yesterday, however, the narrative changed. It was no longer about the injury, but about The Big Damn Trade.
“I’m going where?! But they’re going to get that McDavid kid, right?”
-J. Michael Bestul is a writer for the Addison Recorder. Stephanie Ruehl is an artist who works in a comic book shop. They’re married and have a lot of discussions about comic books and graphic novels. Combine all that into a biweekly feature and you get “J. & Steph Talk About Comics.”
This time around, we find a bevy of #1 issues featuring some serious sci-fi storytelling, seasoned with a hint of the supernatural. We have Counter-Earth and the New Men, we have a mystic symbols carved on asteroids, conscripted criminals fighting aliens who destroy terraforming towers, and cosmonaut who transcends humanity at the edge of the galaxy.
We also have a bunch of Marvel characters engaged in a role-playing game GM’d by Rocket Raccoon, because it was a thing we didn’t know we wanted. But we did.
[Read more…]