Michael's Magical Mailbag Chapter 2- "Cease and Desist" Edition Hot

What about Train Raiders Mike? You always mock us with Magical Athletes and Game Zs, you tell us to be patient but at some point I just really must insist you cease and desist being such a tease! Can't you throw us a friggin bone?

Respectfully yours,
el "totally not patient" Van

You have to cease & desist calling Android a failure. It was one of the best games of 2008! and probably the one I played most times during 2009. It's a much better and playable game that what may seem at first glance (or should I say at first "play"?)

Maka, I'm going to issue you the following cease and desist letter.

Dear Maka,

It has come to my attention that you like crappy games. The following are games that you have publically stated that you like:

1) ANDROID
2) MARVEL HEROES

Please cease and desist all further mention of these games being "good", "great", "awesome" or "quite compelling". Failiure to do so will result in F:AT court action.

Thank you,

Michael Barnes

Good call on Bootleggers. The main problem with that one is that there is always something that needs to be given to someone. Someone always needs to be paid, someone always needs to get their kegs of booze, etc. This is made worse by the fact that deals are going down as the game goes, so that gums it up more. It feels like it almost needs to be less mechanics-focused and let that negotiation and bartering truly take center-stage. The first couple times I played, no one was haggling at all. It's only after people are familiar with the game that good stuff starts happening.

There is also a huge difference between a four-player game and a five-player game. There is no point in playing with less than five people. Six is even better. Still, it's a great bargain for 12 bucks, and I will hold on to it for a while.

Great article.

Bootleggers had a couple of interesting mechanics, but otherwise it was a boring game. The theme was weakly implemented unless somebody is very impressed with plastic figures. It could have just as easily been about other generic merchant activities, like say restaurants.

Maybe you should include Titan in your letter. I'm starting to really like that game too...

Dear Michael,

What happened to "Games From the Crypt?"

-MJ

"Maybe you should include Titan in your letter. I'm starting to really like that game too..."

You're allowed to say "really like".

Upon hearing that Magical Athelete is going to be publishes in the US, I will probably have to stop continuing work on Magical F:AThelete. I don't want to get into any trouble over it. I would continue it, if I could come up with new special abilities, but that is tough.

I think he's reviewed them all.

Or sold all his OOP games on eBay, so he doesn't need to do anymore price inflation.

What happened to "Games From the Crypt?"

I've got one coming up pretty soon after RAILWAYS OF THE WORLD, an interview/review for SUMMONER WARS, and the GotY thing. My copy of the game is what I like to call the "Full Swastika" edition.

Upon hearing that Magical Athelete is going to be publishes in the US, I will probably have to stop continuing work on Magical F:AThelete. I don't want to get into any trouble over it. I would continue it, if I could come up with new special abilities, but that is tough.

Don't stop. Wait for the C&D.

My copy of the game is what I like to call the "Full Swastika" edition.

Mighty fuck! It doesn't get much more OoP than Colditz. What's next, a Full Metal Planet review?

I do need to make Barnes play Full Metal Planete. Right after Valley of the Mammoths. Full Metal Planete is kind of a hard game to love. It is just so painfully chess-like, stressful, and brain melting.

Valley of the Mammoths is just pure, delightful deranged, vastly random, spiteful Ameritrash.

We've been holding off about that one for a long time.

Luckily for us in Spain, Colditz was re-released recently and is still widely available here. I got to play it a while ago and it is still quite fun. Will have to get it again for my kids when they grow up a little, as it's one of the only great games I got to play when I was a small kid (when all I had available were mainstream games). Someone should make a more international reprint...

Valley of the Mammoths is just pure, delightful deranged, vastly random, spiteful Ameritrash.

VotM is fucking awesome. No question.

Hey Mike, are Nipponos the new Euros? I was looking at Magical Athelete and Train Raider again, and flipping through the publishers and designers, there is some cool stuff out there. It is interesting to me that as long as I have been around this silly ol hobby, I have never paid any attention to Japanese games. The funny thing is, I don't really know why, they just never really have hit my radar. The discussion on Warriors of God, and its Japanese designer was one of the first times, I began to think about this. The design aesthetic of Japan (writ large) is one that I could see attracting people who are getting to the point of "seen it, done it" in the rather staid Euro scene. It would seem to be an intriguing possibility. What do you think?

Erm, $66 - I picked up those plastic FFG tokens (red-flavored) to replace the crappy cardboard bidding / VP chips. But you know what? The pleasure density of that little game is off the fucking charts. I played it at a good friend's the day it arrived in the mail, and halfway through the second race it had five grown-ups howling, cheering, fist-pumping, trash-talking, high-fiving and laughing so hard we knocked over the hookah; that absolutely justifies the cost to me. That's right. Hookah-toppling good.

I am interested to see whether the re-release of Magical Athelete includes new characters or updated artwork. New characters I can live with - I think more is probably better, ala Cosmic Encounter, and I'll find a way to shoehorn them into my "classic" edition. I'd be sad to see the artwork go, though. As you say, the ineffable Japanese cuteness of each athlete (which look a bit like somebody was drawing chibi manga characters on a sketchpad in the backseat of a pickup truck driving down a bumpy road) is part of the game's appeal. The title change, on the other hand, is horrendous.

Now, Monsterpocalypse. The collectible nature of the game became a huge turn-off for me when I saw the price tag on the boosters, especially since there wasn't anybody local to trade with. Luckily, a healthy secondary market developed shortly after its release and by ordering singles online I was able to piece together a couple playable factions at a cost on par with retail. Singles from the first three sets (including the Shadow Sun Syndicate, your Jet Jaguar lookalikes) can be had even cheaper than they used to be since Series 4 introduced six spankin’-new factions and they’re getting all the attention now.

On the other hand, TeamCovenant is rocking a sweet deal where you can purchase a Series 4 starter for twenty bucks (five dollars less than retail) and for five dollars extra, they’ll replace the monster in the starter with whatever monster you want. On top of that, they’re selling “faction packs” for each force which, for between $30 and $40, will net you a completely kitted-out team. (For the record, it’s one of each rare unit, two of each uncommon unit, and three of each common unit to total thirteen units plus an extra building. And no, the most competitive armies aren’t all rares. Rare units serve a niche / utility role and barring two specific cases you won’t ever need more than one or two them.) That’s a $55 entry to a solid pre-painted miniatures game using the newest line of models and it includes far more than the minimum necessary to play. Not bad.

Alternatively, wait to pick up the special edition Voltron set.