Tuesday Ten: CCGs That Didn't Make it

When most people think of Collectible Card Games (CCGs), they immediately think of Magic: The Gathering, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Pokemon or maybe some of the more niche games, such as Legend of the Five Rings or the Universal Fighting System. Hundreds of CCGs have been published since the early 90's, and hundreds have died off. Today I'll highlight some of those CCGs that for one reason or another, just didn't have much staying power.

10) Ani-Mayhem (1996) - 3 Sets

The first anime-based CCG in the wake of Magic's release, Ani-Mayhem mixed Tenchi Muyo, Bubblegum Crisis, Oh! My Goddess, Ranma 1/2 and even an entire expansion devoted to Dragonball Z, all in one very large, very complicated play area. Ani-Mayhem involved playing locations from your deck to create the gameboard, then disasters that would help or hinder your team of characters. The complicated rules wound up dooming Ani-Mayhem, but it led the way with regards to mixing different licensed properties into one game. 

Ani-Mayhem also coincided with Toonami taking off, which introduced a whole generation of Americans to anime for the first time. That was where I first started watching Gundam Wing....and G Gundam....but at least Wing is awesome! 

9) Tomb Raider (1999) - 3 Sets + Quest Decks 

Take a quick guess why this game found a successful niche upon first release. Go ahead. I'll wait. 

Boobs. The answer is boobs. 

Well, that's not entirely true, sure an entire game highlighting Lara Croft in things like her....Oceanographer outfit....was a way to get noticed, but amazingly, the Tomb Raider CCG had some really cool gameplay. In order to emulate the feeling of exploring a lost temple, or a forgotten palace, you would place down location cards and then move your character through the ever-expanding tomb. At the same time, your opponent is doing the same thing, and there were ways to make things worse for your opponent so that you'd be the Raider to win the race to the artifact. 

With 3 major sets (Base Game, Slippery When Wet and Big Guns) and then a whole series of separate Quest decks that were ideal for solo play, the Tomb Raider CCG performed well,, just as an actual game. Rules for interacting with opponents were slim, and never really amounted to much, but as a game to play by yourself? Tomb Raider is still one of the best solo-play card games. 

I think there's a joke to be made about the best way to enjoy Lara Croft is by enjoying yourself, but I'm too classy to make it. 

8) Dr. Who (1996) - 1 Base Set

Unlike the previous two games, I never played the Dr. Who CCG. I did not become a fan until after....there was this one episode....I can't remember it for some reason. I even watched "Secret Diaries of a Call Girl" without realizing Billie Piper's pedigree of "most useless companion". The Dr. Who CCG was published in 1996, which makes it just under a decade from the Dr. Who revival taking off, and to say this was a blatant cash-grab during the initial CCG goldrush would be an understatement. 

The game is widely credited as being one of the worst CCGs of all time with rules that make no sense. For example, when attacking, the attacker can pick the defender's character to block or the defender can choose a block if the attacker declines. That's very gentlemanly but also very stupid. 

While I try very hard to be positive and upbeat, the 1996 Dr. Who CCG has no redeeming value. Even the artwork is horrible! 

Just look away. The Dr. Who CCG can only cause you harm when you look at it. Which would make it the perfect thing for a Weeping Angel to be holding wouldn't it? You can't look at these horrible cards and the moment you turn away in disgust, you're dead. 

7) 7th Sea (1998) - 2 sets, many small expansions and fan-made sets

I absolutely love AEG's stable of CCGs that they published in the late 90's/early 2000's. 7th Sea is a masterclass in pairing game mechanics and theme into a cohesive whole. Each player starts with a captain, and a ship, as you can see from the pairings above. Moving around the table means moving from sea to sea, each of which has its own perils based off the cards you to play to mess with your opponent or bolster your own crew. Combat includes ship to ship bombardments and boarding actions, with different characters having different abilities for each set of combat. 

7th Sea got lost in the shuffle of AEG's other properties, a few which we'll get to after the page break. Just as with those other 'dead' CCGs from AEG, there is a HUGE fan following behind 7th Sea pumping out official fan sets to keep the game going. Check out the devotion over at 7thsea.info. 

I Got To Play Star Wars: X-Wing And It Was Awesome

The headline kind of gives it away doesn't it?

I've been playing miniature war games since 2002 when my college roommate introduced me to Warhammer 40k and Warhammer Fantasy. Since then, I've played Mage Knight, HeroClix, Warmachine, Hordes and Historical Wargaming (if you want to know how the U.S.S. Rainbow would fare in a hypothetical U.S. Navy skirmish off the coast of Korea during 1941, just ask me!). Star Wars: X-Wing is the smallest scale in model count of all the games I have played, but the most intense on a turn-by-turn basis.

One of my usual gaming buddies, Geno, my partner when we won the 2014 Bird Dog Invitational, wanted to introduce me and one of our other usual gaming partners, Mike, to Star Wars: X-Wing yesterday. The introductory scenario he used for us was one that is playable right out of the box with no painting, no assembling outside of popping cardboard pieces out and placing the models on the flying stands, and no extra rulebooks. Chances are you're just shaking your head over why I find this amazing, but keep in mind that to run my Warhammer 40k army I need 4 sets of rules from 4 separate rulebooks and a printed out FAQ. Let's just say that "ease of play" is something I no longer really expect out of miniature games.

Mike and I were running the Imperials which meant we had 1 First Order TIE Fighter apiece while Geno had 1 modified X-Wing with the R2-D2 upgrade. After laying down the terrain, which in our case was an asteroid belt, we immediately started an intense dogfight. This is where I wound up enjoying the game far more then I expected, as the tactics involved were logical (more pilot skill means your model moves AFTER pilots with less skill, but gets to shoot BEFORE them), fast-moving (no "you go I go, just phases for everyone) and the movement was all based on aerial maneuvers.

Me being me, I almost immediately messed things up by misjudging how far my TIE Fighter could move and just how sharp it could turn. Everyone secretly sets the movement for their ships on a dial, which has listed maneuvers that match up with the flight paths provided in the starter set. Once you commit to a flight  path, you're committed, no take-backs once you see how, for example, Geno's X-Wing has the Boost special rule which gives it some extra thrust as opposed to the extra evasion on your sad TIE Fighter.

The original Tie Fighter model with flight path and movement dial.

You can see in the above image how the dial and flight path system works. Note the firing arc of the TIE Fighter (marked in green), now imagine trying to fly around asteroids while getting a shot lined up on an X-Wing. It was super intense with only THREE MODELS ON THE TABLE. My Warhammer 40k army runs 30 models in one of my baseline units! 

Mike and I had to try and line up our shots on Geno in the same turn, which required more coordination for a miniatures game then I was used to, and I apologize to Mike for failing miserably and getting blown out of the sky by Geno. I had a brillant plan of how to move to line up my shots, but Geno's boost ability got him out of my firing arc. It was incredibly trope-tastic given I, as the Imperial, had my plans foiled at the last moment by the Rebel doing something unexpected. In short, it was Star Wars. 

Now we only played with the base models in a low-point (36) game. The suggested point value for side is 100 and it can include ships like Slave-1, the Rebel Blockade Runner, Vader's Tie Interceptor, Y-Wings, A-Wings, TIE Strikers, etc. There's character bases and generic pilot bases, with different skills and abilities available to them. You can customize your weapons a little bit too, for example, Geno could have had photon torpedoes instead of R2-D2. 

I hate R2-D2. That tiny robotic bastard has the ability to regenerate shields when you execute a "green" maneuver, which is the safe, gentle type of maneuver. Mike and I knocked off enough shields to take down the Executor, but noooooo R2-D2 kept the X-Wing flying because we never were able to land enough shots in one volley. Our fault for being rookie pilots, but R2-D2 can go join the robots from The Black Hole on the scrap heap for all I care about him right now. 

Anyways, my first impression was a great one and I look forward to playing larger games in the coming weeks and even exploring the other Star Wars miniature game: Star Wars Armada. Armada is a different scale so instead of dog fighting, you get to use capital ships on a much larger playfield. It sounds interesting and since it uses the same basic rules (more or less), it should be just as easy to jump into for my gaming group.

Here's some of the other ships available for Star Wars: X-Wing, just to give a taste of the variety:

Finally, as for cost of entry? Roughly $40 MSRP for the starter set with the rules, flight paths, dice, terrain and basic ships. Extra ships can run from $15 to $40 based off their size and the extras they come with, as even the $15 one posted just above comes with 9 upgrade cards in addition to the unique movement dial. After all, a TIE Fighter can move a little differently then a Y-Wing. If you're even remotely interested, head down to your friendly local gaming store and odds are someone will be able to run a demo game for you!  

Ask Dog: Why are Orks Green?

Why are Orks always 'greenskins'? I thought Tolkein created Orcs. Orcs in Lord of the Rings were grey and not green. Is this a Warcraft thing that caught on?

This wasn't received through email, but came up in conversation last night while grinding away for Eternity Splinters in Marvel Heroes 2016. It's a pretty common question that I hear every now and then, and as with all things related to Orks, it's not WarCRAFT to blame for the common tropes we associate with them, but WarHAMMER.

Orcs weren't even a direct invention of Tolkein, though he did expand dramatically on them as a species just as he did with Elves and Dwarves, but like those two fantasy races, Orcs originally come from Norse mythology. Wait, it was actually a 17th century French writer. No wait, it was a 16th-century Italian poet. Nope, wrong again, Orcs are mentioned in Beowulf and Old English as a form of 'evil spirit'. Things are muddy regarding the specific origins, but from piecing together all the various sources, the monstrous, forest-dwelling savage Orc is very likely to be from the same Norse mythology that gave us Frost Giants, Dwarves and Trolls.

Tolkein's Orcs have long-arms, tusks and a taste for flesh. Orcs without a stronger leader are reduced to roaming packs of savages, little better then cannon fodder for the real threat in the horde. Despite Tolkein's influence on bringing Orcs to the mainstream of fantasy, despite Gary Gygax including Orcs in the first D&D Monster Manual, the modern Orc is derived primarily from the world of Warhammer.

In 1983, in an effort to paint Orks in a way that would make them stand out on the table, a Games Workshop painter used green for his horde, to say that this was immediately popular, would be an understatement. The next official Ork Armybook made constant reference to "Greenskinz", as the lore was twisted to justify the coloring. Orks were green because they are a type of fungus.

Yes, that's the actual, 100% official background of Orks in the Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40k universe. Orks reproduce by 'shedding spores' just like a mushroom. These spores grow very quickly into a full-size Ork, but due to their unique make-up, Orks have to engage in physical battle and "work out" to get even bigger. That's why the biggest, baddest Orks are always the Warbosses. They've lived the longest, survived the most battles, so they are the toughest, roughest Orks in the horde.

So the direct answer to your question, is that Orks are green because they are plants in Warhammer Fantasy/Warhammer 40k. Warcraft Orcs are green because of "corruption", though the answer of "Well Games Workshop did it first and it worked for them...." could be just as valid, since the concept of non-corrupted Orcs in the Warcraft universe didn't come about until well after the launch of World of Warcraft in 2004.

First Poster For Netflix's Castlevania Series

Ohhhhhh.

Ahhhhhh.

This is a thing that's actually happening. We're getting an animated Castelvania series, written by Warren Ellis, on Netflix, later this year. How awesome is that!? Just remember, no matter how the series turns out, it will be better then the last time we had an animated Belmont:

Highlights From New York Toy Fair 2017

The 2017 New York Toy Fair took place last weekend, and as usual, there were a ton of awesome looking products on display. Like most of you, I wasn't able to make the trip, but that doesn't stop me from going over all the awesome reveals and drooling over them. Let's run down some of the awesome shall we?

Marvel Legends Gets Obscure 

Ex Nihilo is getting a Marvel Legends figure. I guess he's a recent Avenger (joined in 2011), but still...that's an odd choice. 

DEATH'S HEAD! 

Not the first figure of him, but easily the best and still one that will have 99% of the public going "Who?" 

Captain Universe Spider-Man. 

If you haven't read it, check out the Acts of Vengeance event on Marvel Unlimited to see cosmic Spider-Man throw down with Gravitron and Magneto. 

A reminder about the Justice League movie

Movie version of Cyborg! 

Khal Drogo lives! 

Sure, this Wonder Woman is from her upcoming movie, but if not for her, would anyone have high hopes for the Justice League movie?

Speaking of Superman...

Have you not seen The Iron Giant? Go watch it. 

LOBSTER JOHNSON ACTION FIGURE!

Truly we live in the Golden Age of Nerds.

I should play The Witcher 3

I've played the first one in the series! 

LINK!

And now the show stopper...

....the main event....

....the one item everyone knew was coming...

There's a lot of cool things that were shown at the Toy Fair, and if you want a good look at pretty much everything, head on over to Toyark.com as they have an incredible round-up that has you covered, no matter your fandom. 

Daily Ten: Platformer Games With Attitude

In honor of Crash Bandicoot making a return later this year with remasters on the Playstation 4, I thought I'd take a look back at other platformer games that had some WILD and ZANY characters that were no doubt the result of the same focus group testing that gave us Poochie. As we go through, you'll notice that most of these games are actually pretty good just suffer from a complete failure to stand out from the crowd.

10) Aero the Acro-bat - SNES/Genesis

Released in 1993, Aero the Acro-bat was one of the many anthropomorphic mascots that followed the wake of Sonic's success. Despite what you may think, Aero was actually pretty cool! No really! He's a bat, that works as an acrobat! How is that not awesome!? 

It helped the the plot was simple (save the circus), the levels were absolutely massive and well-designed, taking full advantage of tight platforming controls. Aero has some success with a sequel and a spin-off (Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel). These days, Aero is available on the Virtual Console but is otherwise forgotten in the dustbin of 90's platformers. 

9) Pandemonium - Playstation 1

Pandemonium was a cool platformer with a strange, Medieval dream-world type of aesthetic to it that also gained good marks from critics of the time for the top-notch character design of the two leads. In fact, the game was a bit of a hit and warranted a sequel that resulted in....

.....a 90's makeover! 

The whole sequel suffered from a horrible case of "Trying-to-hard-itis". Which is a shame, as the first game is really good and worth your time to hunt down for a snapshot of platforming at the dawn of the CD era. 

8) Chuck Rock - Genesis 

EXTREEEEME CAAAAVVVEEEEMANNNN!!!!! 

If you remembered Chuck Rock, and the sequel, Chuck Rock 2: Son of Chuck before reading this, then congratulations, you've made the same sort of poor life choices as I have. Chuck Rock is a perfectly competent platformer that features dinosaurs offering their assistance to Chuck as he rescues his girl from evil caveman Gary Gritter. While you can't tell from this cover art, Chuck Rock was a rock'n'roll caveman with ATTITUDE. So much attitude, that he actually became a company mascot! 

What company? Well maybe you've heard of Core Design. No? Well then I'm sure you heard of the mascot that replaced Chuck, a British character by the name of Lara Croft. 

7) Radical Rex - SNES

What better way to follow up a caveman with attitude, then with a DINOSAUR THAT LOVES TO SHRED!? Can you feel the focus group testing that resulted in Radical Rex? Are you snickering a little that this was published by Activision? Yeah, they made some poor choices in life before Call of Duty helped make them a very, very rich company. 

As with most video game dinosaurs, Rex can not only shred but he also breathes fire. I'm okay with a skateboarding, radical T-Rex but breathing fire? That is just too far. I question the level of research that went into designing this game. 

As always, for the rest of the list, hit the jump and make sure to bust out a 720 while you do it! 

I've been playing a lot of Marvel Heroes

Marvel Heroes 2016 is a free-to-play MMO Ultimate Alliance type of game available on Steam. It's done by Gazillion, and frankly, it's a blast. Not in the graphics sense, though it looks a lot better now then it did when it first launched in 2013 (that screenshot is from a lesser build then what is currently live), the voice clips get really annoying and the interface is usable but still mildly irritating. Marvel Heroes is a blast in the way that only something with a license like Marvel can be: deep cuts from the Marvel universe. 

There's 60 playable characters, each with powers and a playstyle that match up well to the comics counterparts. Human Torch flies around blasting things, Juggernaut is all about "NEVER STOP MOVING", X-23 causes everyone to bleed, Scarlet Witch has an ability that is literally "No more.." and kills all non-boss enemies on the screen, etc. There's a ton of costumes for the characters, ranging from 1602 Angela to Punisher Noir or Ghost Rider's various host forms. Oh, and team-up heroes! You don't directly control a team-up hero but they can follow along with you or just pop-in from time to time, and that's a whole seperate selection of heroes, ranging from Firestar to Angel (and Archangel as a separate character) or the Deadpool Kid, Carnage, King Thor, Jubilee, Agent 13, etc. 

It's everything great about the Ultimate Alliance/X-Men Legends games, but amped up to 11. Daily runs for special loot drops, raid encounters, separate high-level content for solo players, timed drops of premium loot so you can unlock heroes for free, weekly events based off of high-end loot drops...and it goes on and on. Jimmy Woo is a quest-giver! There's Agents of ATLAS references! 

As an actual game there's probably too many types of loot and it can get messy tracking the may types of quests, but damnit, this is the closest I'll get to a new Ultimate Alliance game! I've sunk about 20 hours into Marvel Heroes in the past week alone, leveling Human Torch from 1 to 60 (which can be done in one run of the story mode) and unlocking Storm. I should have enough premium loot to unlock another hero this week and....oh god...why am I playing a free to play game when there's so many awesome games coming out these days!? 

Oh right, playable Green Goblin...Ultron...Black Bolt...team up Ms. Marvel....the Iron Spider costume...and that's just the latest DLC pack. The unannounced hero was just released last week, and it's Hank McCoy, The Beast. 

Anyways, it's free, you can play any hero up to level 10 without unlocking them and it's the classic X-Men Legends/Ultimate Alliance gameplay with much, much more to see and do. 

Here's hoping Gazillion reads my letter requesting the inclusion of ADAM-X THE EXTREME as the next hero. 

Daily Ten: Reader's Choices For Awesome Openings

Last week after the Daily Ten of Awesome Video Game Openings went up, I immediately got comments from readers that I missed some great ones. Which is true, there's so many awesome things out in the world that it's impossible to capture them all in just one list. Presented here is the Reader's Choices for Awesome Openings, in no set order:

10) Soul Edge - Playstation 1

9) Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 1 - Playstation 1

8) Borderlands 1 + 2 (Xbox 360, Playstation 3)

7) Suikoden II

Hit the jump for the rest!

Daily Ten: Regrettable Superheroes

That whole "librarian by day" part of my bio is true. No matter what gamertag I'm under at the moment (NuPhoenixX/Dog of Thunder), I love books, I love reading, I love knowledge. While giving a tour of the library I work at to a student yesterday, I happened to see a book on the shelves that I just had to check out:

The League of Regrettable Superheroes by Jon Morris.

How could I possibly resist!?

Join me as I look at some of the Regrettable Superheroes selected by Jon Morris, and just what makes them so....regrettable.

10) Doctor Vampire 

Doctor Vampire. He's a doctor that fights vampires. This is a thing that happened. 

Pre-dates Dr. Acula from Scrubs by 50 years, so he's got that going for him, which is nice. 

9) Speed Centaur

The only survivor of an earthquake that devastaed his home city in the Arctic Circle, Speed Centaur is taken in by a friendly trapper. Once he's old enough, Speed Centaur moves to the City of Rackets, where he uses his mighty strength, lightning speed, flight and an ability to disguise himself as a regular horse. Speed Centaur's secret headquarters, in a museum on Nob Nose Mountain, includes a portal to a medieval kingdom where Speed Centaur reigns as a jousting champion. 

I was unable to find any explanation for why he is suplexing a horse. 

8) Fatman, the Human Flying Saucer

Created in 1967, Fatman is possibly the result of copious amounts of drugs. Amazingly, C.C. Beck and Otto Binder, two of the men behind the creation of Captain Marvel (or SHAZAM~!), are also the creators of Van Crawford, a fat guy that happens to be nearby when a spaceship crashes and thus gains the power to transform into a UFO. 

I am just as shocked as you that his power is NOT being fat. In fact his main power is being a world-class athlete! Turns out the athletic fat guy thing was done way before Bob's bulk destroyed the Tekken competitive scene. Who knew? 

7) Brother Power, The Geek 

Created in 1968 by Joe Simon, the same Joe Simon that made Captain America famous, Brother Power is a mannequin brought to life when a hippie's wet clothes are placed on the mannequin which is then struck by lightning! The mannequin is dubbed Brother Power by the hippies and he soon goes to live with his lazy, slacker buddies. Unlike the hippies though, Brother Power has ambition and soon starts running for Congress! While campaigning, Brother Power has time to foil the evil Lord Sliderule, before being shot into space on a rocket. The whole series lasted two issues. 

I swear none of that is made up and Jon Morris' book is amazing. 

Hit the jump for the rest of the Regrettable Superheroes. 

Daily Ten: Awesome Video Game Cinematic Openings

A cinematic opening is something of a lost art these days. I'm not talking about the actual opening segment of a game, in which case The Saboteur is one of the best, but rather the movie that plays when you first insert a disc, leave the main menu on the screen for awhile, or first press the 'play' button. Usually these are done in an anime style with some sort of J-Pop music playing over scenes that either have nothing to do with the game or involve characters wistfully looking into the middle distance.

I'm a complete sucker for these. If I missed any good ones, just let me know in the comments, and I'll definitely check it out.

10) Lunar Silver Star Story Complete - PlayStation 

First off, how may times can they repackage Lunar Silver Star Story? Sega CD, Playstation, iOS, Gameboy Advance, probably some other formats I'm missing. I'd be more accepting of the re-releases if Lunar Eternal Blue needed more then just the two releases. Regardless, the opening for Lunar Silver Star Story is exactly what I'm talking about with the lost art of the opening cinematic. 

Random shots of characters in the game? Check. 

Possibly poorly translated J-Pop song? Check. 

Wistful stares into the middle distance? Check. 

Does it get you PUMPED UP TO PLAY THE GAME!? CHECK~! 

9) Chrono Cross - PlayStation

The PlayStation was clearly the Golden Age of the opening cinematic. Witness Chrono Cross, a game best known for "not being Chrono Trigger", and the GLORIOUS intro. Starts off gentle with text that hints at some large, epic destiny and then launches into the anime! CG-style, as that was the style of the time, but it's still anime!

Random shots of characters in the game? Check.

Possibly poorly translated J-Pop song? Check.

Wistful stares into the middle distance? Check. 

Does it get you PUMPED UP TO PLAY THE GAME!? Sort of. 

It did remind me of the not-Harley Quinn jester though, so that's something. 

8) Ninja Gaiden 3 - NES

The worst of the original Ninja Gaiden trilogy is still a really good game. The original was actually the first use of a cinematic opening, but it was the third entry in the series that pushed the envelope. Irene Lew, your intrepid sidekick in the previous two games, is killed by someone that looks exactly like Dead or Alive combatant, Ryu Hayabusa. 

Random shots of characters in the game? Nope, clearly setting up story.

Possbily poorly translated J-Pop song? Nope, just some killer MIDI tunes. 

Wistful stares into the middle distance? Check. 

Does it get you PUMPED UP TO PLAY THE GAME!? Only if you scream "MENDOZA!" at the sight of Irene falling off of the cliff. 

Hit the jump for the rest of the Daily Ten! 

Ultra Street Fighter II For Nintendo Switch Will Have a FPS Mode

I'll admit, I rolled my eyes upon hearing that Capcom was releasing Ultra Street Fighter II for the upcoming Nintendo Switch. This marks the 22nd version of Street Fighter II. Why? Who cares at this point about a new version of Street Fighter II?

Then I found out this morning about the first person mode.

Yeah, it's limited to just Ryu and awkward motions with the Joycon controller, but it's been a long time since we had a decent first person fighting game! It's been over 20 years since we got Supreme Warrior! 

I fondly remember playing Charles Barkley's Shut Up And Jam! and Kamen Rider at a friend's house back in Middle School. Kamen Rider was AMAZING to 11 year old me. I think the point I'm making is that first person Street Fighter will also be AMAZING to an 11 year old. Every generation has to go through the growing pains of "this will be awesome! Oh wait, no, no it isn't". I had Super Mario Bros. the Movie, kids these days get motion controlled dragon punches. 

Avengers: Infinity War Has Started Production!

The first Avengers: Infinity War movie may be the only movie, ever, that will cause chills from a trailer for the first day of production. The hype starts the moment you see Andrew Garfield, Chris Pratt and Robert Downey Jr talking about the start of a very hard year for them. I'm increidbly stoked just to see all the Marvel characters, hopefully including Bree Olson's Captain Marvel, in one movie. 

Avengers: Infinity War will make all the money. By the time the merchandise and Blu-Ray sales are added up, I think Disney could buy the moon. No wait, that's stupid, they'd just build a giant laser and carve Mickey Mouse into the surface of the moon instead. 

Daily Ten: Awesome Warhammer: Age of Sigmar Models

In honor of last night's Total War: Warhammer stream, I thought I'd devote today's list to some of the awesome Age of Sigmar/Warhammer Fantasy models that are out there. Warhammer Fantasy, as a game system, stopped getting support from Games Workshop about two years ago when it was transformed into the Age of Sigmar. Gone are the movement trays and massive blocks of infantry. Instead, we have unit cards, streamlined stats and gameplay that's more on the level of a skirmish. That's not to say that Age of Sigmar is a bad game, it's actually really cool and keeps growing after the initial stumbles out of the gate.

This time out there's not really a ranking as any of these models would be excellent showpieces for a tabletop army. Let's hit the list!

Streaming and Blog Update!

With my new computer setup, new monitor and well, new everything, it's time to make this little blog experiment of mine more official!

Twitch:
https://www.twitch.tv/dogofthunder360

I will be streaming games Monday through Friday, 9:00 PM to Midnight, Eastern Time.
Weekends, I'll stream when I can and hopefully stick to the 9:00 PM to Midnight time slot.
As for what I'll be streaming, it'll be a mix of games. If there's anything you really want me to stream, just let me know either here in the comments or in the following ways:

Twitter:
@DogOfThunder360

Email:
DogOfThunder360@gmail.com

Feel free to email me any questions, comments, etc.

I'll post good emails to the blog and reply to them on here.

Finally, there will be a bunch of ads on the blog in the future along with a DONATE button on the Twitch stream, and subscriber information going out once I manage to be consistent with my streaming for awhile. I have to be rather mercenary in my motivations here as gaming needs to be a self-funded hobby for me, and ideally, turn a slight profit. Nothing major, just groceries here and there, small bills, etc.

Regardless, I love what I do and look forward to sharing the sheer joy I get from gaming with all of you.

Dino Gnar plush is further evidence we live in a golden age of gaming

Riot Games has an online store for League of Legends merchandise. How did I not know this? More importantly, how ADORABLE is Dino Gnar!?

For every great thing for gamers, there is of course a downside. In this case, it's that there's also plushes of the devil himself, TEEMO:

There was once a time when finding the Street Fighter figures in Toys'R'Us was a big deal, and those were just using existing GI Joe molds and had no features with them. Now you can get a plush of alternate champion skins for a PC moba? This is awesome! 

How did I miss on this store existing!?

Daily Ten: Games That Turned Out To Be Disappointing

Yesterday I managed to stay positive with games that turned out to be much better then I had expected, well, today is the opposite: Games That Turned Out To Be Disappointing. There's some games that for one reason or another, get built up and turn out to be either not exactly what we expected or just a complete flaming turd.

For the sake of argument, I'm sticking to games from previous generations, and I also never played No Man's Sky.

HIT THE DISAPPOINTMENT~!

Get Ready For Samurai Dark Souls Game Nioh With The Opening Movie

While I'm struggling to progress in Bloodborne, I have to admit, Nioh looks really good. The Samurai Dark Souls inspired title is available tomorrow for the PS4. I avoided the demos and most of the news coverage since well, I plan on tackling it someday. Given how I play games, that will end up being 2022, but for now enjoy the opening:

On a related note, can we get an Onimusha Collection?

Daily Ten: Games That Turned Out To Actually Be Good

Sometimes a game can surprise us. Back in Ye Olden Times, every Friday my parents would take my brother and I to the local gaming store to rent one game each. Now, when you're 8, this is the single most important decision of your week. What if you pick up a crappy game!? You're stuck with it until the next magical weekend when you can pick up something else.

For every time you grab Spider-Man and X-Men: Arcade's Revenge, which is a horrible game that will be covered later, you get a game that defies all expectations. For the inaugural Top Ten list here on Positive Nerdery, we're going upbeat by running down my personal Top Ten Games That Turned Out To Actually Be Good!