Barnes on Games- Doctor Who Card Game/Food Chain Magnate in Review, Tanks, Deathwatch: Overkill

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I tend to avoid licensed stuff, and when I saw that the original version of that Doctor Who game (with the 11th Doctor) had a "Jammy Dodger" card in it, I said, "Ah, okay, that's the kind of game it is." and did a hard pass. (Plus there isn't much of anything about the 11th Dr's tenure that I want to be reminded of.) I hadn't heard much good about the gameplay from others either. As with the Firefly game, the primary appeal seems to be looking at depictions of things on the show and reciting lines and no thanks.

You're right to point out that Food Chain Magnate is VERY satirical. It's basically an extreme send up of capitalism re: marketing and the gullibility of consumers. Demand for new unique products is generated by companies making the products and consumers are little more than passive suckers who are waiting to be shown a more complicated product to pay more for.

If you have too easy of a time with the Space Marines vs. genestealers in D:O, issue 114 of White Dwarf has a new scenario with Militarum Tempestus Scions vs. cult.

And if you need a genestealer cult limo I LOVE the NOT40K cars at Wargame Exclusive

wargameexclusive.com/shop/imperial-soldi...cars-big-pack-28-mm/

Yeah man, that limo (and the others are awesome...FOR 165 EUROS. FUhhhhhhhh...can't even afford the CK there! And then I apply my patented Chinese Factory Paintjob (TM) to them and...what did I spend my money on???

I love those Scion models, I might have to take a look at that.

Yeah, FCM's satire is one of the reasons I felt like it deserved up to three stars...Splotter is VERY slick about having real themes and an actual message in their games. I don't think it is as pronounced as it was in Greed Incorporated, but they are definitely sending up not only consumerism and marketing, but also corporate "food chains", so to speak. There's almost a kind of clever piece of wordplay going on there, because the game is just as much about managing that corporate food chain (the org chart you lay your cards out in) as it is about selling junk food. And then there's this whole thing going on about making your structure more complex with middle managers, and the balance between having skilled but expensive workers and laying them off to get cheap help on the payroll. But man, it's just not fun to play. I laid the cards out for a couple of friends before trying to explain it all and one of them just said "Jesus..." looking at all of the Milestones.

But you know, it is one of those kinds of games where if you really commit to it and learn it in and out, it could be something you get a lot of play out of.

Dave, there's no denying that TDWCG is just a big ol' hunk of fan junk. Totally. It barely even tries to meet up with the Doctor Who settings and Characters. But the game is pretty fun to play as a super casual card game with a couple of Martin Wallace twists to it. The problem is that if you're not familiar with the characters and such, it's harder to make an argument for the game simply because there are many better card games in this class. I'm not as down on licensed stuff as you are, provided that it's done respectfully and has something to offer beyond merchandising...I think this one is just on the right side of that. It's also one of only five Doctor Who items I own aside from the entire series, a couple of books and a badge.

Nice to have confirmation from someone other than me on Battle of Calth. I'm thinking to expand the system across races. The idea is that you can buy a box of troop and play it with Battle of Calth rules. The new boxes for rank and file is amazing. The latest Tau Fire Warriors have plenty of weapons. Shotguns, rifles, carbines, and even some turrets.

I went up to watch a demo of Tanks at the GF9 booth at Origins, and was immediately punched in the face with gamer funk. So I left.

And I forgot to mention that I played Tyrants of the Underdark. It's neat, but it's essentially Ascension with area control tacked on. So if you are like me, and are over deck building, give it a pass.

I got to play Tyrants a few times over the weekend. It is a perfectly competent, well-designed deck builder/area control game. Kind of Ascension meets El Grande with some intrigue and plenty of interaction.

It is also patently uninteresting. If it had come out three or four years ago, I think it would have have been more significant. If it had come out right on the heels of Waterdeep, for example. But about halfway through my first game I was thinking about how much I did not want to be playing what amounts to a second-gen deck builder regardless of some cool twists.

I dunno, feels around a workmanlike 7 at best.