X-Wing – Nerds on Earth https://nerdsonearth.com The best place on earth for nerds. Mon, 11 Jan 2021 22:53:48 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://nerdsonearth.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/cropped-nerds_head_thumb2-100x100.png X-Wing – Nerds on Earth https://nerdsonearth.com 32 32 All the podcasts from NerdsonEarth.com, under one umbrella. We create short run podcasts for nerds, covering D&D, Marvel, Starfinder, and more! You vote for your favorite shows and they just might get a second season. X-Wing – Nerds on Earth false episodic X-Wing – Nerds on Earth jason.sansbury@nerdsonearth.com podcast All the podcasts from NerdsonEarth.com, the best place on Earth for nerds. X-Wing – Nerds on Earth https://nerdsonearth.com/wp-content/uploads/powerpress/noe-podcast-logo.png https://nerdsonearth.com/blog/ The Punchlist: This Week’s News for Nerds https://nerdsonearth.com/2020/06/the-punchlist-this-weeks-news-for-nerds-6/ Wed, 03 Jun 2020 12:00:00 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=31284

Welcome to THE PUNCHLIST where Nerds on Earth rounds up this week's nerd news.

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Welcome to this week’s PUNCHLIST, where we round up the biggest news in nerd culture. Beyond this article, you’ll not see much content from Nerds on Earth for the foreseeable future.

While our nerdy hobbies can be a wonderful distraction from the stresses and anxieties around us, some moments are too important to retreat into escapism. Therefore, Nerds on Earth will be suspending our content in order to amplify the voices of the oppressed and shine a light on injustice.

We realize this is an embarrassingly small effort on our part, but we are compelled to do something, however minuscule it may be.

7. Free RPG Day 2020 Kit Contents Revealed

Free RPG Day made a move from June to July, but Gaming Days, LLC just dropped the list of publishers and products in this year’s kit for retailers. Below is the list, and you can click here to find a participating retailer near you! Show up and try (and buy!) something new and awesome!

  • 9th Level Games: Level One Anthology of Indie RPGs
  • Cubicle 7: Warhammer 40K Wrath & Glory
  • Dave Taylor Miniatures/Mantic Games/Army Painter: How to Paint a Library
  • Fantasy Flight Games: Genesys Keyforge
  • Gatekeeper Games: Dice
  • Goodman Games: Dungeon Crawl Classics
  • Hit Point Press: Humblewood 
  • Magpie Games: Root RPG 
  • Oni Games: Junior Braves
  • Paizo, Inc.: Pathfinder RPG 
  • Paizo, Inc.: Starfinder RPG
  • Q-Workshop: Dice
  • Renegade Game Studios: Kids on Bikes
  • Renegade Game Studios: Overlight
  • Roll20: Subscription Promo
  • Wizkids: Warlock Tile exclusive item

+ More here: Free RPG Day List

6. Doctor Who: Tom Baker and David Tennant Team Up for Out of Time

Out of Time is a series of audio dramas that bring the 4th and 10th Doctors together for time and space traveling adventures. The first story, due out in August, pits them against the classic villains the Daleks! The series is planned as a trilogy.

+ More here: Out of Time Doctor Who Series Announced

5. Jedi Temple Challenge is a Brand New Star Wars Gameshow

Hosted by Ahmed Best, the actor who played Jar Jar Binks, Jedi Temple Challenge is Star Wars meets Legends of the Hidden Temple and we’re here for all of it. Some of our writers even took the liberty of providing a list of names for the teams:

  • Purple Padawans
  • Yellow Younglings
  • Blue Bothans
  • Silver Sith
  • Red Rebels
  • Green Gungans

What ideas for team names do you have? Catch the trailer via the link below!

+More Here: Jedi Temple Challenge Trailer

4. Hasbro Reveals Marvel Legends Deadpool Line with Strong Guy Build-a-Figure

The newest set has two Deadpool variants, Black Tom, Warpath, Sunspot, Maverick, and Shiklah. Collect all 7 figures to build the oversized Strong Guy!

+ More here: Deadpool Wave of Marvel Legends Figures

3. Ticket to Ride Gets a Print-and-Play Stay at Home Expansion

“Will you first try to go from your bedroom to your desk for some paperwork, or would you rather do a detour by the fridge and spend some time on the balcony?” The free expansion has you playing as a family of four following a stay at home order in one of Days of Wonders’ most accessible and widely played games.

+ More here: Ticket to Ride Stay at Home Expansion

2. Fantasy Flight Hosts Open Alpha for X-Wing Solo Play Rules

The Star Wars: X-Wing miniatures game is asking for play testers and feedback for a solo experience against automated opponents. The system looks to use components found in the Core Set. You can find the complete rules below!

+ More here: Star Wars: X-Wing Solo Play Rules

1. PaizoCon Online Announcements

PaizoCon had to shift to an online only format and just dropped a roundup of their big announcements for their Pathfinder 2e line. They include:

  • Pathfinder Advanced Player’s Guide
  • The Beginner’s Box
  • 2 three-part Adventure Paths – Abomination Vaults and Fists of the Ruby Phoenix
  • Bestiary 3
  • and the Lost Omens Ancestry Guide

+ More here: PaizoCon Announcements

Beginner’s Box contents

Check back next Wednesday for more news for nerds. Better yet, scroll down just a few more inches and sign up for our newsletter, The Cable.

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Get Hyped—Alphabet Squadron is the Real Deal https://nerdsonearth.com/2019/08/get-hyped-alphabet-squadron-is-the-real-deal/ Tue, 13 Aug 2019 12:00:33 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=25444

Star Wars: Alphabet Squadron is an invigorating new addition to the Star Wars canon of books. Nerd on Earth reviews!

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When Disney purchased Lucasfilm in 2012 casual and diehard Star Wars fans alike wondered what the House of Mouse had in mind for their new galaxy far, far away. New films were a no-brainer, and new shows in the same vein as The Clone Wars were also likely.

Other moves were more surprising but no less rad: the Marvel Star Wars comics are consistently great, Galaxy’s Edge has been a rousing success, and the “anthology films”—Rogue One, Solo, you are magnificent but lonely monuments to what might have been, and are sorely missed—opened new windows into life outside the core films.

Other steps have been more controversial with fans, including the unexpected death of the Expanded Universe (EU). When Disney announced they were pulling the plug on the EU, millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror. What about Thrawn, (who wouldn’t remain a “Legend” for very long) or the Solo twins at Luke’s Jedi Academy? What about Mara Jade? What about the awesome Tales From… anthology books

For the most part the new canon is full of fun action and high quality stories. Since its launch in 2014 these new books have landed somewhere on a scale between “pretty good” and “Vader-at-the-end-of-Rogue One.”

One of the latest, Alphabet Squadron by Alexander Freed, came out in June of this year. It’s an incredible novel, full stop.

The book tells the story of the titular crew of New Republic pilots in their hunt for the notorious Shadow Wing. Each flies a different type of starfighter, hence the unusual squadron nickname, and each carries an unseen burden. The story gets much more interesting from there, and it’s easy to find online. The story, tremendous though it is, isn’t the purpose of this article. I want to tell you why Alphabet Squadron is both a great book and an important book for Star Wars—the franchise and the fans.

Military Science Fiction At Its Best

The EU had a long, proud history of technical sci-fi. Karen Traviss’ awesome Republic Commando series and the legendary X-wing books by Michael Stackpole and Aaron Allston are packed with military jargon, tactics, and gritty details that endeared them to a generation of Star Wars fans. Alphabet Squadron carries on that great tradition. 

Freed reveals the inner life of a working New Republic fighter squadron: the daily grind of ship maintenance and droid repair, the camaraderie forged in the companionship of battle, and the shattering, momentary excitement and terror of interstellar dogfighting. 

He doesn’t skimp on the details of those combat encounters, either. The Star Wars films lay a thick layer of movie magic sheen on the X-wing and its less famous cousins, but Freed’s sweaty descriptions of flying a T-65 (and trying to stay alive while doing so) convey the hard work and intuition that separate aces like young Wyl Lark and the neurotic Yrica Quell from cannon fodder.  

Not Your Average Nerfherders

The enigmatic and lethal Kairos.

None of these practical minutiae would matter without characters that matter. Freed fills Alphabet Squadron with fascinating characters and tons of details. Wyl and Yrica are joined by Kairos (a deadly, masked mystery of a woman), Nath Tansent (a manipulative, wannabe Han Solo), and Chass na Chadic (a volatile and proud B-wing pilot).

Supporting characters like the faintly menacing torture/therapy droid IT-0 and a major turn from General Hera Syndulla herself round out the cast of characters.

Each member of Alphabet Squadron packs a spotty past, and all are distinctly unlikeable at various points in the story. These flawed pilots don’t mirror the black-and-white heroics of the core films; their failings fall much closer to the damaged, morally diverse characters of Rogue One.

This is one of the book’s greatest strengths, and Freed does a great job of conveying their inner conflicts—and the larger complications facing the Rebel Alliance as it transforms into the shiny, toe-the-line New Republic—without spiraling into a quagmire of despair.

Speaking of Rogue One, Freed lays down lots of connective issue between the various spheres of Star Wars activity (the episodic films, the anthology films, The Clone WarsRebels) and Alphabet Squadron. Whether it’s unexpected stories of Jyn Erso or a mystical experience at a Jedi temple turned Rebel supply cache, the hints and fleeting mentions fly thick and heavy. Well-versed readers will need to keep their heads on a swivel to catch all the references.

Alphabet Squadron: Invigorating and Vital

There’s a Marvel tie-in series too!

Alphabet Squadron comes out at a crossroads for the entire franchise. Star Wars fans are experiencing some growing pains—well, more specifically, Star Wars fans are going through an identity crisis. Every day there seems to be a new story about the backlash to the The Last Jedi, the growing belief that the new films “aren’t our Star Wars”, or the conspiracy theory that Disney is purposely ruining the franchise. 

Who is Star Wars for? Some fans would say that including people who range across the spectrums of race, sexuality, and gender is needless pandering, a bone thrown to a politically correct culture of SJWs and “the libs.” Alexander Freed answers that question with an emphatic, “Everybody,” and the book is much stronger for it. 

Emily Todd VanDerWerff dissects this beautifully in a 2017 article she wrote for Vox titled, “The ‘backlash’ against Star Wars: The Last Jedi, explained”. In writing about the divisiveness of TLJ she approaches a concept embodied in Alphabet Squadron, too (emphasis added is mine): 

Whether you love Rey or Luke best, whether you think Jar Jar Binks is hilarious or not, whether you think Han shot first or not — Star Wars is for you, and for everybody who disagrees with you too.

But having that big of a tent (and Star Wars just might be our last big-tent American pop culture thing) means you inevitably have to rub elbows with people who’ve entered the tent thinking something very different from what you think…

The people we were aren’t always the people we become, and that’s both a necessary lesson and a bitter disappointment, but you can’t become yourself without learning to live alongside that discomfort.

That is a near-perfect description of the imperfect cast of Alphabet Squadron, and they have as much right to pursue their dreams in that galaxy far, far away as any other character—or any of us. Freed fleshes out his characters to reflect the diversity of real life and does it with enough skill for it to come off organically. The approach is realistic and refreshing. Star Wars needs that energy as we enter the final countdown for Episode IX. 

I can’t stop talking about Alphabet Squadron. I’m recommending it to everybody of nerdish bent in my life and gush about it constantly in our writers’ Slack channel. Do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of this truly excellent novel ASAP!

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The Physicality of Board Games: Highlighting Some of the Very Best Components https://nerdsonearth.com/2018/07/board-game-components/ Wed, 11 Jul 2018 12:00:24 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=15768

Board games are great because they are physical, tactile. Nerds on Earth looks at some of the best components in board gaming.

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This article is going to get physical, Olivia Newton-John fans. No offense to any Steam gift-code givers out there, but things have to get physical. They just do.

When it comes to gifts, something needs to be wrapped. Something physical needs to be handed over. The recipient has to unwrap the thing. There is a whole tradition of thing-ness that goes with gift giving.

For all the wonderful good that technological media has done us, they’ve also really wrecked gift-giving. It wasn’t that long ago that a couple CDs were a solid gift, pun certainly intended. Although it must sound (again, the puns) nutty to the youngsters, the idea of physically giving someone a chunk of polycarbonate plastic with music on it was a thing. (It gets even weirder, whippersnappers: That chunk of plastic had its own durable plastic case with a little paper pamphlet inside where all the metadata was printed!)

Such Christmases probably seem as distant to Kids These Days® as those physical days of yesteryear when Laura Ingalls got her corn cob doll and fresh orange, then sincerely and voraciously thanked her Pa for it.

But music, movies, books — these were go-to gift categories, and they served humanity well.

Now what? Your dad picks a book out for you and you just notice it already on your Kindle or some such nonsense. Nothing to unwrap. The machines failed to make our offices paperless, so they came for our gift exchanges! It’s some bull malarkey, is what that is! Then again, would you rather he gave it to you physically printed out on paper and bound, like how the neanderthals used to read?

Here’s how we fix this: It’s boardgames.

Below are some boardgames with the best physical components. Wrapping paper not included.

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Flick ’em Up!

Flick ’em Up!

Not only does Flick ’em Up have great components but you get physical with them. Flick ’em Up is a dexterity game set in the Old West where players stage shootouts.

There is a deluxe wooden edition but I have the less expensive plastic edition, and darned is that not nice. Highly recommended, especially if you have older elementary kids in the house.

Colt Express

Colt Express (via Board Game Quest)

Mentioning Laura Ingalls a couple paragraphs up has got me thinking about the Old West, so here is the second Western-themed game. Colt Express is great because you actually build a train and stage coach! My job is done here; this requires no more explanation.

Cash ‘n Guns

Cash ‘n Guns (via Shut Up and Sit Down)

Cash ‘n Guns is a party game whose components know how to party as well. Each box is filled with a bunch of foam guns that allow players to feel like they are gangsters on a heist.

They aren’t fancy; they’re a perfect expression of the theme.

X-Wing

X-Wing 2.0 (via Fantasy Flight Games)

Miniatures games are often the first thing folks think about when it comes to components, but X-Wing is the only minis game on this list. In fact–although the Star Wars ship minis are amazing–I want to talk about boring things like range markers and movement dials.

The movement dials of X-Wing are the key to the game system and a great example of how components can be more than simple cubes that could just as well be pawns that could just as well be cardboard chits. No, the dials are physical components that are integral to the gameplay and designed as such. These will get even better when X-Wing Second Edition drops at GenCon.

Onitama

Onitama (via Pub Meeple)

First of all, Onitama is an under-appreciated game. I encourage everyone to give it a look.

Onitama is also a game with simple components, a few cards, some pawns, and a board. The pawns aren’t super detailed, but they are solid. Same with the cards. It’s the board that is great, as it’s a high-quality neoprene foam. Then it all comes together in how it rolls up and is tucked into a box that wraps around on itself. It’s a masterful presentation for a simple, yet deeply thoughtful game.

Pandemic (Expansion)

Pandemic (via Board Game Geek)

Pandemic has become one of the cornerstone games in modern board gaming. As a result, the base set is a little mass-market. The components are nice, but nothing to write an article about.

But Pandemic has several expansions and the components of those add-ons do a wonderful job of leaning into the viral theme. The Petri dish storage solution of the On the Brink expansion is a home run example of how you can use components to make your theme come alive.

Anything from Stonemaier Games

Euphoria

Companies are getting better overall about thinking through their components, but perhaps none are better than Stonemaier games, who make Sythe, Charterstone, Euphoria, and Viticulture.

The photo above is just a sliver of the components from Euphoria, an early Stonemaier game. Not too flashy, huh? And that’s the point. Every card with Stonemaier is the perfect thickness, all the cardboard is meticulously punched, each die is the ideal weight, and all the wood is thoughtfully crafted.

So rather than fancy pants components, Stonemaier tops the charts through thoughtfulness and intention.  As a result, you can trust than any game you get from Stonemaier has well-designed components.

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Fantasy Flight Games Announced the 2nd Edition of their Hugely Popular X-Wing Game https://nerdsonearth.com/2018/05/x-wing-2nd-edition/ Tue, 08 May 2018 12:00:15 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=17628

Star Wars X-Wing is a hugely popular miniatures game from Fantasy Flight Games. At the recent World Championships, Fantasy Flight just announced X-Wing 2nd Edition.

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In order to tell this story of the fantastic X-Wing miniatures game, we need to be clear on three things.

  1. Fantasy Flight Games–the creator of X-Wing–has a world class game shop and play space in the building adjacent to their headquarters in Minneapolis. Not only does it feature a fully stocked game store, but it has play space for 200, plus a full cafe that serves excellent burgers and beer on tap. Oh, plus it has a second huge room with play space for another 200, while still squeezing in a Twitch streaming station in the corner. It’s legit.
  2. Fantasy Flight has held the Star Wars license since 2012 and has created incredible Star Wars board games in pretty much every genre. All told they have sold over 20 million Star Wars games and their X-Wing game alone has sold over 7 million copies.
  3. The X-Wing World Championships were recently hosted at the aforementioned Fantasy Flight Game Center. Competitive X-Wing players defended upon Minneapolis from all over the world. On the day previous to the big event, Fantasy Flight hosted a special presentation and Nerds on Earth had a press pass to the event…

Andrew Navaro, head of Fantasy Flight studios, opened the event (dubbed the Hyperspace Report) with a broad announcement of the 2nd edition of X-Wing, then quickly turned everything over to a panel of game designers, license managers, and organized play managers. Here are some of the big points that Navaro shared:

  • X-Wing 2nd edition is fully backwards compatible with 1st edition, provided you buy Faction Conversion Kits, which based upon their content lists, are loaded with everything you’d need.
  • A companion app will now accompany the game. This was a huge announcement as it allows the game to be balanced in a much more flexible manner. Whereas point costs would before be printed in a card, forever locked in stone, an app allows the game to be subtly adjusted before every season of organized play. This is good and certainly the first fruits from the recently announced digital team.
  • The system will be more polished overall. Fantasy Flight has learned a ton since the game was released in August of 2012 and all of those learnings are backed into this 2nd edition of the game. An already fantastic game becomes more fantastical.
  • X-Wing 2e launches at GenCon 2018 in August.

Remember, this was an announcement made with the best X-Wing players in the world present in the room, having assembled for the World Championships. Fantasy Flight was announcing something new to a group of people who had invested heavily in the old.

But I felt overwhelming enthusiasm and excitement among the gathered nerds. All the proposed changes were nearly universally met with applause by the audience. Sadly, only one question addressed how X-Wing 2e would be geared toward new or casual players, but I got the sense that this was thoroughly addressed by the designers as well.

Here is the link to the entirely of Fantasy Flight’s marketing copy. Marketing copy has a way of over-selling things, making them appear to almost be too good to be true. But if you believe the response of professional X-Wing players, X-Wing 2nd edition is very good news indeed.

[Disclosure: Nerds on Earth received a press pass to the event and was given some free swag for attending. And, no, you may not have the Star Wars coffee mug they gave me.]

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All wings report in! An Introduction to Fantasy Flight’s Fantastic X-Wing Game https://nerdsonearth.com/2017/11/x-wing-game/ Thu, 09 Nov 2017 13:21:03 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=15212

The Star Wars X-Wing game may not be something you are familiar with, but every Star Wars fan will love it.

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The other day around the Nerds on Earth water cooler, we were talking about our nerd origin stories. When the subject came up, I got a very vivid picture in my mind: 7 year old me is standing in line at the Arrowhead theater to get a ticket to the spectacle. Spaceships, lasers, robots…

The year was 1977, and the spectacle was Star Wars, of course!

I was obsessed! I had all the action figures (even the exclusives you got by sending in cereal box tops), vehicles, play sets, comics, sheets, pillow cases, lunch box, shirts, posters, and even the collectible glasses sold at Burger King.

My childhood was all Star Wars.

Seeing that movie was my nerd origin story. It was my gateway into reading, gaming, fantasy, science fiction, and truth be told, even psychology.

All wings report in! An Introduction to Fantasy Flight’s Fantastic X-Wing Game

You can imagine my excitement 37 years later, when a friend of mine sent me a link to an episode of Tabletop with Wil Wheaton. Drool fell on my keyboard as I watched in amazement as he demonstrated Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures from Fantasy Flight Games.

Wait a second…you mean I can fly Slave I and shoot down those rebel scum?! I am SO IN!

My friend got a starter set and we played a quick game that weekend. I was hooked. We both had birthdays coming up so we told our families we wanted tiny spaceships.

I jumped into the X-Wing game the spring of 2014. There were two factions in the game then:

  1. you could play as the Rebel Alliance or
  2. the Galactic Empire.

Of course I chose the good guys–the side of order–and my friend chose the terrorists (that way we could have more toys to play with). And it was a glorious time. We played for a couple of hours every weekend.

After only a month or so of gaming we even went to the regional tournament in Atlanta. I went 3-3 and my buddy made the cut to top 8. I even got to play against the brand new TIE Phantom (an awesome ship in the days before they nerfed it).

But you might be asking, what is X-Wing Miniatures? You build a squad of Star Wars ships to fly against another squad of ships. There are rules for “buying” ships, pilots, and upgrades if you want to play competitively.

Of course you can also just play for fun and set your own limits to create some fun and interesting battles. Some of the bigger ships even come with scenarios you can play through, just to change things up.

Each ship has a movement dial that gives you choices for how your ship will move. You and your opponent dial in your movement in secret. Then you take turns (based on the skill rating of the pilots in your squad) revealing your dials and using movement templates you place on the table to move your ships.

After the movement phase, you take turns rolling dice to make pew-pew noises (not a requirement, but strongly encouraged) and shoot at your opponents ships.

In the years since I started, Fantasy Flight has added a Scum and Villainy faction – so you can play all your favorite bounty hunters and their ilk, and even added new ships from the Resistance and First Order factions (which can be mixed with their original trilogy counterparts). They have some amazing Epic (read: really big) ships too.

The game is solid strategically, and each new wave of ships provides new options and new challenges. And the models are absolutely stunning! The quality and detail makes for amazing game pieces, and even display worthy collectibles. They aren’t cheap, but if you know anything about miniatures games, that won’t be a surprise to you.

One more thing about the X-Wing game that can’t be overlooked. The X-Wing player community is amazing, supportive, and welcoming. Veteran players love helping rookies get into the game, to help them with rules and strategies. I know here in Atlanta where I played (I’m not on the tournament circuit anymore), I met lots of great people who taught me a lot.

And the best part was we got to share a passion for a franchise that brought us so much joy; all while playing games together, where we pushed around tiny spaceships and made pew-pew noises.

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Creator Spotlight on Game Designer Corey Konieczka https://nerdsonearth.com/2017/05/game-designer-corey-konieczka/ Mon, 15 May 2017 11:22:50 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=12855

I’ll give you $1 if you can pronounce the name Corey Konieczka. I’ll give you $2 more if you can tell me who he is. Actually, I’ll just spoil it: it’s “Koneska” and Corey is the in-house board game designer for Fantasy Flight Games. He’s also arguably the very best designer of the past decade. […]

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I’ll give you $1 if you can pronounce the name Corey Konieczka. I’ll give you $2 more if you can tell me who he is.

Image: Corey Konieczka on BGG

Actually, I’ll just spoil it: it’s “Koneska” and Corey is the in-house board game designer for Fantasy Flight Games. He’s also arguably the very best designer of the past decade.

The gamers of yesteryear didn’t associate a name with a game. Ask your grandma who designed Monopoly for example. She might be able to guess either Hasbro or Parker Brothers, if she could get that much. But modern board gaming is very aware of individual creators, often ascribing nerdlebrity status to them.

Still, Corey Konieczka gets overlooked, largely because he is an in-house designer. Working for Fantasy Flight Games, I think most people simply assume that their games are designed with some sort of impersonal hivemind. But that thinking really overlooks the distinct contribution that Mr. Corey K has made to the gaming industry over the last decade.

So let’s look at what makes Corey K special. First, he has a string of hits. In fact, I should’ve typed that as HITS and ended it with excessive punctuation such as this: !!!!. Here are a few of them:

  • 2008’s Battlestar GalacticaThis is a game that has held up very well, despite the popularity of the show having faded. It is known as a semi-cooperative game, something that was wild in 2008. Players are working together but they are also dealt a loyalty card at the start of the game to determine if they are a human or Cylon. Cylons are obviously working against the humans on the sly.
  • 2010’s Runewars. This is a game that puts a ton of miniatures on a board for adventure and conquest. But despite the ‘wow factor’, Mr. K absolutely nailed the game, as it’s a heck of a lot of fun.
  • 2012’s Descent. Although games like this may seem commonplace now, the idea that one person played as the “overlord” while the other players completed missions using modular game boards was a huge deal. And it’s held up incredibly: Descent is still getting expansions to this day.
  • 2012’s Star Wars: X-Wing. Released in the same year, Mr. Konieczka had another SMASH hit in X-Wing. Every Star Wars fan dreams of X-Wing and Tie Fighter dog fights and he delivered it. Most FLGS (Friendly Local Game Shops) still host X-Wing tournaments.
  • 2013’s Eldritch Horror. I’ll admit that this is the one game on this list I haven’t played, but I’m smart enough to know what a hit it is.
  • 2014’s Star Wars: Imperial Assault. An incredible game. We reviewed it.
  • 2016’s Star Wars: RebellionAn incredible game. In fact, it can be considered Corey Konieczka’s magnum opus. We reviewed it.

Second, he has shown great diversity. If the above hits aren’t enough to impress you that Corey Konieczka is vastly underrated for his contribution to tabletop gaming, I’d also like to point out the diversity of the types of games he produces. Not only is he prolific, cranking out hit after hit, but they’ll often live in different genres and exhibit wildly different mechanics.

It would be remarkable that the same person worked on only two of the above games, but the fact that it can be something like X-Wing, then something vastly different like Battlestar Galactica or Rebellion is remarkable.

Third, he can deliver under the biggest spotlights. Owning the Star Wars license carries a heck of a lot of pressure. But he delivered not just one great Star Wars game, but a whole string of them, all vastly different from one another. Mr. Konieczka eats nails for breakfast and by lunch he has spat them out into a work-of-art miniatures game.


It’s a shame that Corey Konieczka has to walk anywhere. Nerds should surround him wherever he goes and hoist him up on their shoulders, carrying him around like he’s the Queen of Sheba or something. Hopefully this article will shine a bit of a light on what a great creator he is.

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Review of Lego Set 75102: Poe Dameron’s X-wing https://nerdsonearth.com/2016/01/4947/ Sun, 24 Jan 2016 13:15:56 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=4947

The Force Awakens has taken the merchandising world by storm, and it is glorious! With a new Star Wars movie comes new Star Wars Legos. I already have Rey’s speeder, I’ve upgraded to the new Millennium Falcon, and I will likely be writing a full “building Jakku” piece at some point. However, today is my review of Lego […]

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The Force Awakens has taken the merchandising world by storm, and it is glorious! With a new Star Wars movie comes new Star Wars Legos.

I already have Rey’s speeder, I’ve upgraded to the new Millennium Falcon, and I will likely be writing a full “building Jakku” piece at some point. However, today is my review of Lego Set 75102: Poe’s X-wing!

[divider]Review of Lego Set 75102: Poe Dameron’s X-wing [/divider]

Poe xwing2Poe Dameron is one of my favorite characters from the new movie. He is getting all the due that Wedge Antilles and other X-wing pilots deserved! And I can’t wait for Rogue One to come out! But that is a post for another time.

It’s time to get to the review.  Lego set 75102 is a sweet 717-piece set. It also comes with 4 mini-figs:

  • a non-descript resistance pilot,
  • a resistance ground crewer,
  • BB-8
  • and Poe Dameron, of course.

The real coup here is BB-8!! Many think that BB-8 stole the show in Episode 7, and he certainly is a nice little mini-fig.

The ground crewer has his equipment hover caddie, which slides better on carpet than on a tabletop (pro-tip). On the caddie are two extra missiles and 4 extra blaster pieces (which you will need eventually because we always lose at least one projectile), a wrench, and a hand blaster.

I feel like eventually I will need a new term to delineate between the blasters that actually shoot Lego pieces and the ones that are just accessories. Hopefully, we are fine without it for now.  The non-descript pilot also has a hand blaster accessory and there is a ladder for Poe to get in and out of the X-wing cockpit, though that is it for extras.

The rest and bulk of this set is the X-wing itself. For those of us who have seen the movie, this is actually Poe’s second X-wing, but in my head, it is actually his primary X-wing and the one that gets blown up on Jakku was one he used for the undercover mission of tracking down the map to Luke. However, I digress.

81Zd7u8YWdL._SL1500_Poe’s black and orange X-wing is just awesome! And as I built it, I noticed so many differences between this new style of X-Wing compared to my old X-wing set 6212.

Both sets have a few unique, or at least harder to find pieces such as the cockpit glass pieces.  The engine sections are completely different from one another, as well as the wing guns. You’d likely have a hard time having enough extra parts on hand to rebuild either easily, but both are doable.

One major difference between the two are the spring loaded missile shooters on Poe’s, as well as the blaster, which shoots small Legos. A feature that makes Poe’s somewhat easier to rebuild with spare parts is the absence of the special gear piece that makes the s-foils go from flight mode to attack mode.

Funny side story about that: I had the X-wing in attack mode and as I set it down on the tabletop, the spring loaded shooter went off before I was ready—insert premature ejection joke here. Needless to say, be careful about leaving your spring shooters loaded while constructing.

maxresdefaultClave and I have a little nerd exchange going where we trade Lego sets, because building is the fun part. Before I give Clave his X-wing back, I think I am going to take both Poe’s and Luke’s X-wings and rebuild both then finish the custom one I was constructing. I can’t wait!

For this particular set – #75102 – I have to give it an 8.9 out of 10 Nerds.  I’d say for the price (it lists at $79.99), I would recommend you wait for it to go on sale, but the supply and demand is making it difficult to find right now.  That said, it is a VERY cool set and probably one of the more well-constructed Lego sets out there!

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The 10×10 Board Game Challenge for 2015 https://nerdsonearth.com/2015/01/10x10-board-game-challenge-for-2015/ Sat, 10 Jan 2015 16:45:54 +0000 https://nerdsonearth.com/?p=1057

Nerds on Earth share our picks for 10x10 Board Game Challenge for 2015.

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The 10×10 Board Game Challenge is popular on Board Game Geek, by far the most popular portal for serious tabletop gamers. The idea is simple, at the beginning of the year you make a resolution to play 10 board games 10 times each. This allows players to really dig into a game before the next shiny object draws them into buying something new.

I love setting goals and love making lists (I am a nerd, after all), so I’m going to throw my hat in the ring. Here are my picks for the 10×10 Board Game Challenge for 2015.

star-wars-xwing-mini-game

Star Wars: X-Wing

I have a coworker that I’ve introduced to Star Wars: X-Wing, a fantastic skirmish game between tiny little Tie Fighter and X-Wing miniatures. We’ve already set a few dates where we both pack our lunch and run a quick scenario while we eat. So I’m confident I’ll get 10 plays of this one in 2015.

Marvel Dice Masters

I plan to introduce my coworker to Marvel Dice Masters next. Like X-Wing, it’s a thematic 2 player game where we can nerd out over lunch. The price point ($15) is great and since we won’t be hard core about it, we can simply create our favorite Marvel superhero teams and duke it out.

Star Wars Imperial Assault

Imperial Assault miniatures
via EntropyMag.org

I just got Imperial Assault and I couldn’t be more excited. It’ll be more difficult to find someone to play this one with me 10 times in 2015, but I’ve already picked up some paints to get to work on the Stormtroopers. If I only play a few times, but still get hours of relaxing enjoyment through painting the miniatures that are included in this game, then I’ll certainly consider it a win.

Imperial Assault puts you in the midst of the Galactic Civil War between the Rebel Alliance and the Galactic Empire after the destruction of the Death Star over Yavin 4. Imperial Assault is a miniatures game of tactical combat and missions. The campaign game pits the limitless troops and resources of the Galactic Empire against a crack team of elite Rebel operatives as they strive to break the Empire’s hold on the galaxy.

Cash ‘n Guns 2

Cash ‘n Guns is our go-to game if my wife and I have another couple over and want to pull out a really light, fun game that is easy to teach and plays really fast. It’s always a hit and my 6-year-old often plays with us, which is fun. Each play represents a good time with friends, so let’s hope I get 10 plays of this one in 2015!

Dungeons and Dragons 5e

I’m probably most confident on this one. If you read Nerds on Earth even occasionally, then you’ll know I’m so in love with D&D 5th Edition, that I’m scribbling its name on my Trapper Keeper.

I’ll likely get 2-3 sessions of Organized Play in over the next couple of months, then in March the new adventure modules release and it’s game on.

Dominion

Dominion is my wife’s favorite game. She likes lightly themed games that are also light weight and play quickly, so Dominion is right up her alley. Since she’s my #1 gaming partner, I’m sure I’ll get in 10 plays of Dominion on 2015.

Marvel Legendary

Legendary_HawkeyeI prefer more thematic games, so I asked for Marvel Legendary for Christmas. Since Legendary is a card drafting game like Dominion, my hope is that I can get my wife to consider playing it on occasion. By ‘occasion’, I mean at least 10 times in 2015.

Legendary: A Marvel Deck Building Game is set in the Marvel Comics universe. To set up the game, players choose a number of hero decks – Spider-Man, Hulk, Cyclops, Wolverine, and more – and shuffle them together. Players then choose a mastermind villain.

Over the course of the game, players will recruit powerful hero cards to add to their deck in order to build a stronger and more resourceful deck.

Pathfinder Adventure Card Game

The Pathfinder Adventure Card Game can get a little competitive on the quests, but it’s a great game to play solo. If I get a rare quiet evening, I’ll often run through one or two scenarios in this game. Plus, I’m only halfway through the first adventure path (I haven’t even needed to pick up the follow-up: Skulls and Shackles), so it’s likely I’ll get in 10 plays in 2015.

Zombicide

A beginner's Guide to painting miniatures (Zombicide).
A beginner’s Guide to painting miniatures (Zombicide).

Honestly, I like Zombicide mainly because of the miniatures. In fact, the first miniatures I ever painted were Zombicide miniatures and I wrote about that experience here. But with their latest Kickstarter wave scheduled to be delivered to my doorstep in March, I’m sure the excitement of that will encourage me to play.

Memoir 44

I already have 4 plays of Memoir 44 under my belt so far this year, so I’m well on my way. I have a good friend who is a WWII nut, so he and I bond over Memoir 44, which is an absolute classic of a game. Not only is the game fun, but I learn a little something each time, plus get to spend time with my buddy.

So there are my 10 games for 2015 that I hope to play at least 10 times in 2015.

But I need to offer some caveats, mind you. I’m going to cut myself some slack if I don’t make it. I realize this is me wimping out before I even get started, but I just know my work schedule is too demanding during the day and my evening domestic time with my kids too tiring to realistically play 100 games in one year. Let’s give it a shot though, shall we?

As a result, you’ll notice the above list has pretty light games that often play quickly. While I would love to play Dead of Winter 365 times in 2015 (because it is amazing), I know that I won’t be able to get it to the table that much. And there are other games like Hero Kids, which is a lighthearted RPG that I play with my daughter, but that’s entirely predicated on her initiative, so I don’t include it on my list.

But I’m really curious as to what games you hope to play often in 2015. Won’t you please share in the comments?

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