Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower

Hmm...yeah, not so much. I think this is pretty dumb, at least from my probably perfunctory glance at the app. It seems clunky to refer back to the app to see what to do, especially when games have perfectly serviceable, reactive AI with cards, tables and so forth. You open a door, you have to go register the action in the app. It's really kind of the same thing as Dark Tower, to be honest- it stores some basic game state info and provides some feedback/tracking.

It doesn't help that the font is TEENY TINY on a standard sized phone. I guess if you have a phablet or are doing this on an iPad it would be more reasonable, but I was struggling with it.

Plus, It has this thing where you add to your collection and it shows you just how much you DON'T have. Which is bad news for people like me. But it does show what each expansion adds to the RTL mode, which is a good touch.

I've tried the app now. It *feels* clunky at first, but we get used to it fast. It's something that could be done by cards and/or dice, but would be fiddly.

I mean, have you seen the Galaxy Defenders card? An enemy card has like 3-4 IF THEN. In Silver Tower you need to roll dice to determine monster behavior. The app get rid of these, and I'd rather make manual input to the apps than having to roll dice for every monster group. It also does travel events (stuff that happens before the actual game) that may affect the quest itself with no tracking from my side. In a campaign, I think it tracks variables. You remember IA mission cards that you need to add in your mission deck? Gone. Since you need to pre-prep your stuff (tiles, monster, etc) on the table, I really appreciate how it does quite a few things without adding more clutter to the table.

Expansion-wise, none needed right now. It's as if FFG *resets* Descent. You only need the base game. Expansions will add monsters, classes and items. I'm not sure about tiles though. Tiles are fun. With the basic exception of combat/movement mechanic, it might as well Descent 2.5. If you want to buy expansion, generally it's agreed that the big boxes are the best since it provides you 4 classes, 4 characters, and more monsters than 2 small expansions combined.

I'm playing on my daughter's slow tablet, so fonts are big enough for me. Slow, but it works.

EDIT: Tried only with the base game flagged on. I have 1 big box and 1 small box expansion.

Michael Barnes wrote: It doesn't help that the font is TEENY TINY on a standard sized phone. I guess if you have a phablet or are doing this on an iPad it would be more reasonable, but I was struggling with it.

I think I'll just have my laptop at the table and use an Android emulator. There are a couple of threads on BGG that point to downloads for PC and Mac. I'm using the Mac version without problems.

I'm fine with the flow of the app itself. It's just as "clunky" as poring over some cards or flipping through an overlord book.

Heh. You guys would probably redefine "clunky" after seeing the Conflict of Heroes solo AI cards. It's more than just if-then logic, it really takes into account the present situation and triages the action based on it. So it is truly reactive to what you are doing. I think it does a better job of simulating playing against a live person than anything else I've seen. Then there's Navajo Wars, which has an extremely sophisticated automation system. It's brilliant, but it takes some work.

All of which is to say that what I saw in the app- which is very limited and just playing around with it, not even with a copy of the game at hand- is that it automates things that I've seen simpler systems handle without an app. But yeah, I can see what you mean about all of the attendant overlord/GM stuff being obsoleted...that's definitely a good thing.

I'm going to see if any of the folks I know that are into Descent are playing with this and see if I can get in with them, regardless of first impressions.

I used the App on my iPad and just left it propped up on the table while we played. Even at that size I still had an issue with a few things being too small or spaced too close together. For example, when you end your hero's turn you have to select whether the turn is over or if they've been KO'ed. The choices are right on top of one another and there was like 6 or 7 times where I thought I hit KO'ed by accident. Like I said, it's got some kinks to work out for sure.

Let's bring this back to Warhammer Quest for a second. I REALLY wish that GW was selling this thing for $100 instead of $150. $150 is just so damn expensive. I mean for that much money I could get Shadows of Brimstone with a bunch of expansions (which is essentially WHQ in the WEIRD WEST). Or I could buy Claustrophobia with both of its expansions and still have some money left over for a sandwich. I was initially going to pre-order this but I think I'm just going to wait. With many of these recent GW boardgame releases you can eventually find a better deal if you wait a few months via Ebay or Amazon.

What I've seen in all of the previews the game does look rock solid...but $150 solid? Not so sure about that.

Agreed that $150 is too much, but I was just looking at $375+shipping on Dark Souls.

I paid $119 shipped for it, which is a little more reasonable but it really ought to be more in line with comparable FFG products, especially as an AoS "starter" product. Granted, the miniatures are FAR higher quality than anything in any FFG product, so there is that too.

I got myself foolishly interested in the other recent GW board games...without minis you can get them for $20 or so...but I want the figures. I got Assassinorum for $60, which seems about right (at half price). Trying to find deals on Deathwatch and Calth now.

Egg Shen wrote: Let's bring this back to Warhammer Quest for a second. I REALLY wish that GW was selling this thing for $100 instead of $150. $150 is just so damn expensive. I mean for that much money I could get Shadows of Brimstone with a bunch of expansions (which is essentially WHQ in the WEIRD WEST). Or I could buy Claustrophobia with both of its expansions and still have some money left over for a sandwich. I was initially going to pre-order this but I think I'm just going to wait. With many of these recent GW boardgame releases you can eventually find a better deal if you wait a few months via Ebay or Amazon.

What I've seen in all of the previews the game does look rock solid...but $150 solid? Not so sure about that.

I kinda feel for the msrp, they should have included the other 4 characters and the other 8 adversary models (3 flamers, 3 screamers, an exalted flamer and a herald) (those adversarys sounds like a boring night at Black Barneys house...).
60 models for $150 I can feel much better about.

But that's a boardgamers perspective. From someone who values the models for WhFB or even 40k, GW cannot allow the lifestyle gamers to ever have that good of a.deal. The peasentry must never be allowed to drink from the wine barrels.

Egg Shen wrote: When you play, the game instructs you what tile to put what monsters on. It doesn't keep track of where they are or anything.

Based on the demo, the app does show where the monsters appear on the tile, but beyond that the movement is only tracked on the board proper. Same with damage and fatigue.

Further to what Egg suggested for expansions, look out for heroes and classes with useless powers due to no OL, there's a list of those at the end of the rules. One of the classes from Manor of Ravens I think has at least 3 completely useless skills (out of 9), so not the best one to play with RtL.

Michael Barnes wrote: I got myself foolishly interested in the other recent GW board games...without minis you can get them for $20 or so...but I want the figures. I got Assassinorum for $60, which seems about right (at half price). Trying to find deals on Deathwatch and Calth now.

Good deal! Let us know what you think of that.

My brother won't get WHQ unless it's something like half price. Otherwise it's the same old GW miniature collecting, where you just feel like you NEED to buy more and more to not miss out.

Attention: Joel reviews the app in detail and it's FANTASTIC sounding.

Road to Legend definitely has me thinking about Descent again. But what's the deal on how Silver Tower plays? Does anybody have a link to a good write up?

Yeah, I just closed a trade for Descent. I historically have not liked it, but I want to see how this app enables the game...I didn't realize that it actually generates the scenario as you play it. Between this and the Silver Tower app adding hero and monster cards without having to buy physical products we may be looking at a significant new way to deliver board game expansion material.

If people will stop being crybabies/luddites about using a device at the table.

Michael Barnes wrote: If people will stop being crybabies/luddites about using a device at the table.

I'm holding out hope for an Omega Virus re-theme from FFG when System Shock 3 comes out in a couple years.

The only thing that sucks with the WHQ Silver Tower app is that its for running one hero. You need multiple devices if you want to run multiple heroes, making soloing more difficult.

Michael Barnes wrote: If people will stop being crybabies/luddites about using a device at the table.

I hear you... but I am around computers ALL day. One of the genuine attractions to this hobby, for me, is its analog nature.

And Elder Sign on the iPad will NEVER give you that klickety-klack.