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In this issue:
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Welcome |
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Featured Game of the Month |
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Welcome We have just returned from year end festivities and we hope that you have had a good break over Christmas and New Year. We trust that 2006 will not only live up to your expectations, but will surpass it. This is a special month for us not only because it's the start of the new year, but because we are celebrating our 2nd birthday this month. Being the first newsletter for 2006 and this being our birthday month, we bring you not only one, but two red-hot special offers. We also decided to feature the newly released Descent: Journeys in the Dark – a monster of a game that will delight people of all ages! We round the newsletter off with a preview of a board-game that promises to be every bit as exciting as its computer counterpart – yes, we take a sneak peak at World of Warcraft. We also have some sad news, namely that Lord of the Rings Risk has reached the end of its life and will not be printed anymore. Our stock for this game has also run out, and we will not be able to replace it. Before we get to the meat of the newsletter, first a word from our very own Chief Kid. Take it away… Chief Kid’s Corner Howdy Board gamers! I would like to share some of my thoughts with you as I reflect back on a great year. 2005 has whizzed by quicker than any other year in my memory, but it has been filled with huge amounts of fun and memorable occasions. Some of the more memorable of these occasions included the privilege of meeting Kate Turkington (from 702 Talk Radio) and spending an hour just talking board games with her on her talk show, and also meeting so many of our great customers at Hobby-X, ICON, Rage, and at our Rosebank Rooftop Market stall. Thanks to the wonderful support of all our fantastic customers and dealers we have grown our catalogue of new games now available in South Africa from a modest “FOUR” games to a very healthy “SIXTY” games! Online sales and sales through our dealer network continue to grow and we definitely get the sense that we are making progress in our mission to re-energize the local board game market and in bringing family and friends together. Our subscriber database grows every single day and we are always encouraged by the great and constructive feedback that we receive on a regular basis. The amount of stores that stock our new games is also growing at a healthy rate – and here is where we would like to ask our readers a small favour – if you know of a toy shop or hobby shop or even a gift shop in your area and you would like to see some of our games on their shelves then please contact Barbara (Barbara@boardgames.co.za) and let her know about that store so that we can introduce ourselves and our games to them. Our two flagship products “Carcassonne” and “Settlers of Catan” (and all their expansion packs) continue to blaze a trail in the local market. We are incredibly delighted that these two German games have enjoyed so much success locally and both show absolutely no sign of slowing down with their growing momentum. We continue to enjoy a great relationship with New Age Gaming magazine and we thank them for taking the time to play and review our games and dedicate much valuable space in their monthly publication to help boost the local awareness of our offerings. I would encourage our readers to consider the magazine as a great source of gaming information and to please support this great local initiative. We have decided to end our operation at the Rosebank Rooftop Market at the end of December 2005. Sadly, due to staffing shortages we cannot continue to guarantee a high quality experience at the market and so we felt it would be best to halt our activities there until we can find suitable replacement staff members. We would like to thank Justin and Hertzog for their enthusiasm, dedication and passion for board games and wish them both well in their chosen careers next year. What has been incredible is the amount of local enthusiasts who have contacted us during the year with great board game ideas (about 1 to 3 enquiries per week). It is proof enough that the spirit of board gaming is alive and well in our communities and it is our hope that one day we can more actively help to develop the local board games market. The costs of taking a new game from concept to development to production to selling on the shelves is large and it is not unlikely for this whole process to cost between R250,000 and R500,000. I salute those local entrepreneurs who have risked everything to realize their dreams of seeing their own idea and brainchild finally out in the market-place. Local games such as “Money Skills” and “Revelations” have set a very high quality bar for others to meet and exceed and we really wish that these games continue to grow from strength to strength and inspire others to follow in their foot-steps. Thank you all for your continued support and we look forward to a truly exciting 2006 together! We hope you had a very happy holiday season and we wish you a fantastic New Year. I am looking forward to a little bit of quiet time before the New Year kicks into full swing and will hopefully get to play my favourite games of the moment … Power Grid, Memoir ’44 and St. Petersburg.
Warmest regards, Fabio
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World of Warcraft: The Board Game World of Warcraft, the phenomenon that has taken the MMORPG (Multi Man Online Role Playing Game) world by storm with a subscriber base of over five million people is coming to a table near you. This monster of a board-game is going to be the largest board-game on sale at boardgames.co.za, even dwarfing giants such as Twilight Imperium. But how does one translate a game that has ten to fifteen thousand people on a single server into a boardgame? FFG has been tantalizing interested gamers with peak previews and insight into some of the characters, the game mechanics, monsters, even how combat will work. What is very obvious is that this game is going to be as visually stunning as any other. WoW: The boardgame retains the Horde versus Alliance feel of the computer game, with players falling into either of the two camps and competing against each other to be the first to defeat the evil overlord. It furthermore focuses on an area of one of the continents rather than attempting to cover the entire world as presented in the online game. In the box will be a plethora (yes, finally, I always wanted to use this word) of goodies, including sixteen miniatures of our heroes and heroines, one hundred and twenty miniatures of the various monsters and over eight hundred other components! The good news is that copies of World of Warcraft are shipping to us here in South Africa at this moment, and should be with us early in 2006. This crewmember cannot think of a better way to start off the board-gaming new year than to unwrap the massive World of Warcraft box. Yes, I am looking forward to this! And yes, the Murlocs will be present as well – this is, after all, the World of Warcraft. J For more (lots more) information take a look at FFG’s support site on World of Warcraft - it is an excellent place to start to learn more about this epic game. |
A Red Hot Special Offer (or two) In the spirit of Christmas we present not just one, but two special offers. Special Offer 1: Settlers of Catan What can one say about this absolutely brilliant and highly addictive strategy game? Settlers of Catan spearheaded the EuroGame movement, won numerous awards and made people realize that strategy games do not have to have reams of convoluted rules to be fun. It introduced huge numbers of people and families to the board-gaming fold. And Settlers of Catan can be yours for the low, low price of R339 (Normal Price R369)! This is the ideal family game, involving all players until the very end. For more information, take a look at the boardgames.co.za Settlers of Catan Special page. Special Offer 2: Puerto Rico Our second offer is for the exciting Eurogame Puerto Rico. Run your plantation, outwitting and outtrading the competing plantation owners. This wonderful strategy game can be yours for the princely sum of R319 (Normal Price R349). Remember, we always include shipping, so the price you see is the price you pay! For more information, take a look at the boardgames.co.za Puerto Rico Special page.
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Featured Game of the Month: Descent: Journeys in the Dark
However, just because it plays in the Runebound universe, do not mistake this game for an adaptation of Runebound. Descent combines the DOOM style of gaming with the Runebound fantasy environment. It is obvious that FFG has learnt from their DOOM experience, the game is streamlined and downtime between the turns has decreased. From two to five players explore dungeons, slowly building up their experience, collecting treasures and items that can be sold back in town. The Dungeon Master runs their opponents and the environment, trying to stop the heroes from collecting the treasure and exploring the dungeon. The box is large – similar to the Twilight Imperium box (yes, it is that big!). It is filled with eighty miniatures, the heroes being a gray colour, and then standard and advanced (more powerful) monsters in a beige and red color respectively. The dungeon itself is built – much in the DOOM manner, from different sized tiles. Character cards, item cards, dice and various counters round out the content of the box. A personal note – I found the monsters to be visually impressive, with the dragons towering over the hero miniatures. It certainly gave one the idea that the figure representing you is facing a very dangerous adversary. Descent is a classic dungeon crawl, very much in the vein of HeroQuest or WarhammerQuest from years ago. It is a visually impressive game, not only in terms of size, but also quality. This is a game that will be getting a lot of play in this crewmember’s household! Additional Information http://www.boardgames.co.za/prod_descent.htm - Our very own reference to this stunning game. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/17226 - The Descent reference on boardgamegeek. http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/descent.html - FFG’s Descent site with FAQ and other information. |
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Subscribe To subscribe to this newsletter, please click here. Remember that subscribing to this newsletter gives you a chance to win a board game EVERY month. So stay tuned and WIN! Please forward this mail to anyone who would be interested in receiving this newsletter. |
That's a Wrap! That’s all for now. We will be sending out another update in 2 weeks time. Until then, happy gaming! Please also give us any feedback that you may have. Happy Gaming, The Crazy Boardgames.co.za Crew |
Descent:
Journey in the Dark is a monster of a game by Fantasy Flight Games, the
company that brought us DOOM, Warcraft, Runebound and many other games.
It is a dungeon exploration game - one can call it a light action
role-playing game. Descent returns the players to world of Runebound,
focusing on the familiar heroes and heroines of the Runebound game such
as the Runewitch Astarra, Spiritspeaker Mok and Sir Valadir. New heroes
and heroines are also introduced, amongst them Ispher the Dragonling and
Trenloe the Strong.
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