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Issue Eight – Feb/Mar '17
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FIRST TURN ERIC M. LANG
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18 MIN READ TIME
FIRST TURN ERIC M. LANG
Interview by Dan Jolin
“I was going to be a game designer, there was no two ways about it.”
BACKGROUND
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Tabletop Gaming
Issue Eight – Feb/Mar '17
VIEW IN STORE
Other Articles in this Issue
EDITOR'S LETTER
WELCOME
It’s a brand new year – and that means plenty
NEED TO KNOW
WARLORD OF ALL
It’s been a busy couple of months for Warlord Games,
EURO DA CHAMP
If you’ve ever felt the urge to prove your superiority
DEATH TO KITTENS
Of course we don’t really mean that. What we mean
FORGOTTEN CLASSICS TO MAKE A COMEBACK
If you were going to bring back a game from
A MAD IDEA
One of the hottest names in tabletop design of the
BRITISH PUBLISHER TREEFROG CLOSES
Among a year of major losses in 2016, not even
DON’T BE GLOOMY
Gloomhaven is still months from release, but that hasn’t stopped
THE RESISTANCE CREATOR PREPARES TO ABANDON PLANET
The Resistance is one of our all-time favourite social deception
BOURNE TO GAME
With board game cafés becoming a more common sight in
BOARD RUNNER
Androids may or may not dream of electric sheep, but
TABLETOP TALKIES
Move over Jumanji reboot – you might have The Rock,
COLUMNS
MY FAVOURITE GAME LESLIE SCOTT
The inventor of Jenga recalls how the atmospheric power of playing Cluedo with her family influenced her childhood growing up in Kenya
COUNTER VIEW BECKY OTTERY
Following the flurry of New Year bargains, Eclectic Games’ co-owner offers a brief primer on why, when and how retailers offer clearance sales
10 OF THE BEST...
MOVIE AND TV SPIN-OFFS
For more than half a century, board games have found
RPGS
ROLE CALL
With 2017 already well underway, we take a look at some of the most recent and upcoming roleplaying releases of the New Year
ALL THE JAHRES
SCOTLAND YARD
James Wallis replays the winners of the Spiel des Jahres in order
EVIL DEAD 2
GETTIN’ GROOVY
Comic book publisher Space Goat is breaking into the tabletop universe with its debut game – and it’s sure to swallow your soul. Evil Dead 2 designer Taylor Smith chainsaws open the bloody brilliant reimagining
RIVER HORSE
DARK HORSE
Alessio Cavatore reveals how bringing Terminator, Labyrinth, My Little Pony and Hunger Games to the tabletop helped UK publisher River Horse discover its own unique voice
AN INTRODUCTION TO...
MAGIC: THE GATHERING
The first trading card game created remains the biggest and best entry in the genre, more than 20 years later. But if you’re a newcomer, how can you break into a title with more than 15,000 cards and decades of history?
THE MAKING OF...
MECHS VS MINIONS
Lead designer Chris Cantrell reveals how Riot Games brought the world’s most popular video game out of its digital universe
REINER KNIZIA
‘GAMES ARE A MIRROR OF OUR TIME’
Perhaps the most influential and certainly the most prolific designer of our time, Reiner Knizia sounds off about telling stories on the tabletop, the importance of authorship and why he will never describe any of his games as the best he’s ever made
DIVERSITY IN GAMES
THE SPICE OF TABLETOP LIFE
With diversity continuing to be a hotly-debated topic in and around gaming, we break down the efforts taken by two of the medium’s biggest franchises to welcome everyone into their worlds
FINAL TOUCH AT SPIEL
THE ESSEN FACTOR
Just how crucial is appearing at the world’s biggest games fair to the launch of a brand new title? TTG follows the fortunes of arty card game Final Touch before, during and after Spiel 2016
DELTA GREEN
THE GREEN DEATH
Hopelessness, suffering and a high body count abound in Lovecraftian roleplaying game Delta Green. Co-creator Dennis Detwiller recalls the Call of Cthulhu spin-off’s origins and tells some of his own tales
TED ALSPACH
THE ULTIMATE DESIGNER
Ted Alspach takes a break from spending One Night with werewolves, vampires and aliens to talk about the thriving social deception genre
GAME PLAN EXHIBITION
BOARDS OF EDUCATION
London’s V&A Museum of Childhood is running tabletop-focused exhibition Game Plan: Board Games Rediscovered until the end of April. TTG went along to meet curator Catherine Howell
EXCLUSIVE GAME
BARBARIAN HACK
Fill a spare five minutes by defeating evil and rescuing a doomed prisoner in this warrior versus monsters dice-rolling title from the creator of Frostgrave, published exclusively in this issue of Tabletop Gaming
BATTLE REPORT
X-WING MINIATURES GAME
TTG heads to a galaxy far, far away to see whether the Force really is with the Rebel Alliance, or if the power of the dark side can clinch it for the Empire
PLAYED
A FRESH PERSPECTIVE
As Kickstarter continues to fill up with tabletop adaptations of
SEAFALL
The first fully original legacy game boldly sets sail, but does it triumphantly discover new lands or end up lost at sea?
AN UNCHARTED SEA
Mastermind of the legacy concept, Rob Daviau is following his lauded Pandemic spin-off with the first wholly original title built on the revolutionary design philosophy. Here, he reveals the challenges of going it alone and achieving lasting recognition with terminable creations
ARKHAM HORROR: THE CARD GAME
This horror hybrid of the LCG and RPG genres is a beautiful nightmare
FRESH HORROR
Fantasy Flight has finally applied its living card game format to one of the most iconic Lovecraftian board games of all time: Arkham Horror. Designer Matthew Newman offers some clues to the new nightmares
SCYTHE
Jamey Stegmaier’s sweeping strategy title set in a 1920s filled with robots is the perfect combination of style and substance
FINAL TOUCH
Is Mike Elliott’s art-based card game a brush with greatness?
BLOOD BOWL (2016)
Games Workshop’s beloved fantasy football miniatures title makes a return with a brand new edition. We discover whether it’s a golden goal
THERE WILL BE BLOOD
Games Workshop designer James Hewitt, part of the team behind Blood Bowl’s triumphant return, discusses reimagining a classic and balancing luck with creating moments to remember
CONAN
The legendary barbarian returns to the tabletop in this Kickstarted adaptation
SECRET HITLER
It’s a resounding ‘Ja!’ for this historical spin on deceiving your friends
DARK SECRET
No stranger to creating controversy on the tabletop, Cards Against Humanity co-creator Max Temkin is back with social deduction title Secret Hitler. Here he discusses adapting history’s most reviled figure, balancing humour with tact, and how games can – and should – be political
STAR WARS: DESTINY
Like BB-8 across the deserts of Jakku, we’re rolling for our lives in this collectible dice game
PANDEMIC IBERIA
Matt Leacock’s disease-battling modern classic takes a trip back in time in this limited edition spin-off
SPYFALL 2
Does the undercover party sequel prove Diamonds Are Forever or is it a flat-out Dr. No?
SPY AND MIGHTY
As the sequel to his 2014 social deduction hit sneaks onto shelves, creator Alexandr Ushan considers his future plans for the franchise and why party games are the best tabletop therapy
JIM HENSON'S LABYRINTH: THE BOARD GAME
A miniature David Bowie, a chance to sing Magic Dance and a beloved cult movie – can this cinematic spin-off live up to its source material?
LEGENDARY ENCOUNTERS: AN ALIEN DECK BUILDING GAME EXPANSION
Is the first follow-up to the cinematic deckbuilder more of an Aliens or Prometheus?
GAME OF THRONES: THE IRON THRONE
We find out whether the Cosmic Encounter spin-off can stand up alone
MOB TOWN
Hire gangster animals to help you rule the city in this stylish card game
ADRENALINE
Filip Neduk captures the speed and style of first-person shooter video games on the tabletop
KHARNAGE
Pandemonium, mayhem and bloodshed: it’s all in a day’s work in this fast-paced card game
DREAM HOME
Is this lightweight property design title home sweet home or a building fright?
COLONY
Oh no, the nanopocalypse is here! Luckily, we’ve stashed this dice-driven deckbuilder in our fallout shelter
UNUSUAL SUSPECTS
Cranio Creations/CMON | £27.99 | Party | 3-16 players 20
NOT ALONE
Geek Attitude | £19.99 | Hand management | 2-7 players
SIDEWINDER 80+ DECK CASE
Storage specialist Ultimate Guard has done it again with a
DRAGON SHIELD CARD SLEEVES
If you’re looking to protect your trading cards, Dragon Shield’s
HOBBY TIPS
PAINTING GUIDE: JIM HENSON’S LABYRINTH: THE BOARD GAME
Bring some magic to the cult movie’s tabletop adaptation with these instructions to painting the included miniatures of its lead heroes and David Bowie’s goblin king Jareth
A DM’S GUIDE TO RPGS
BUILDING AN RPG CAMPAIGN
Our new regular column will focus specifically on providing tips, guidance and advice to RPG Dungeon Masters as they create their own worlds in which to run campaigns. Some of the advice will be specific to the fifth edition of Dungeons & Dragons, but the majority of the concepts are applicable to any setting, game or ruleset that you prefer. In the first entry in the series, we take a look at high-level world-building
EVENT REPORT
DRAGONMEET
Chris Birch, founder of Dragonmeet organiser Modiphius, discusses the growing diversity of London’s ‘friendliest gaming event’
SHOP SPOTLIGHT
LOADING BAR
Owner of London’s games watering holes, James Dance, divulges the hidden joys of Pop-Up Pirate and pitches some tabletop-inspired cocktail recipes
Tabletop Time Machine
HALMA (1883)
Phil Robinson is a game historian and the founder of
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