Theology of Games is a multimedia site filled with original content about the happenings in the tabletop gaming industry. We talk games via written reviews, podcasts, and video!
In our third episode of the podcast we introduced a contest for a free copy of Pixel Lincoln: The Deck Building Game.
Well the deadline for entry has come and gone, and we've finally selected a winner!
Look below the jump to find out who the lucky winner is!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9VOEtY9TdM&w=560&h=315] Thanks as always for reading, watching, and listening!
Hey everyone!
We're super excited about everything that's moving and shaking here at Theology of Games. We're happy to announce that our third episode of the Theology of Games Podcast is up and running and available for download on iTunes!
We were joined this month by the effervescent (Jeremiah wrote that. Weird.) Jason Tagmire, designer of Pixel Lincoln, Maximum Throwdown, and more! He was kind enough to chat with us about his games, and a little bit of what is coming down the road for Pixel Lincoln.
But wait! There's so much more! During this episode of the podcast, we give you all the details on how you—yes YOU—can win a free copy of Pixel Lincoln of your very own! Want to win? Listen to the podcast, or, check out the Web for clues about the contest! I know...super mysterious, right?
You can click this link to download your own copy of the podcast; we would love it if you subscribed and shared it with your friends!
Thanks for reading, watching, and listening!
"Four score and seven years ago, I kicked some serious butt with a sausage link whip...." ~Abraham Lincoln
Deck-builders and retro 8-bit graphics—two big gaming trends that have been smooshed together in Pixel Lincoln. What did we think of it? Keep reading and find out!
The Basics
Pixel Lincoln is a side-scrolling deck-building game designed by Jason Tagmire. It's for 1-4 players, and takes between 30 and 60 minutes to play, depending on the number of players. The goal is to score the most VPs.
4 player tableaus
4 wooden Lincoln meeples
Cards—including Characters, Enemies, Items, and Player cards.
Double-sided player board
A HUGE sturdy box
The Setup
As with most deck-builders, you start with a starting deck of cards—5 Beardarangs, which give you one Power, 5 Jumps, which also give you one Coin. You set the board out to whichever side you'd like (there's no functional difference; it's just different scenes depicted on each side). You also have one Player card and two Life cards that you place on your tableau.
Then you create the two Level Decks. You combine three Enemies, three Items, three Characters, and a Special Item. You shuffle that all up, divide the deck into three small decks, shuffle three Checkpoint cards into each of them, and then stack the three decks on top of each other.
Finally, you set a facedown Mini Boss and Boss card off to the side for each of the two decks.
The Gameplay
On a player's first turn, he or she chooses a Level to engage. So you take your Lincolneeple and put him in front of one of the Levels and start to make your way through it—just like an old-school side-scroller. There's no restriction on how many people can be in one Level—though there are certainly strategic reasons to pick one over the other.
You have five of your initial 10 cards in your hand. Beardarangs (and later weapons you purchase) let you fight the Enemies. If you meet or beat their toughness, you defeat them and you place the card in your scoring pile on the tableau. Unlike many deck-builders, cards you defeat don't go into your hand to clog it up.
Jump cards let you Jump one card in front of you—maybe you can't fight an Enemy, or don't want an Item, so you just pass it. You can also use the Coin on the card to buy the Item in front of you. If you do, it's added to your discard pile, like a normal deck-builder. If you start your turn in front of an Enemy, it 'ambushes" you, so you have to deal with it in some way—either defeating it or Jumping over it.
If you can't defeat or jump over an enemy when it ambushes you, it hits you, and you remove one Life card. You start with two of them, and your Player card is your third one. If you lose all of your lives, you're eliminated, and wait until the game is over, or everyone else dies, to add up VPs. Life cards are worth 5 VPs at the end of the game, so you want to stay healthy!
Most cards in the game have a small symbol in the bottom corner—an X or a Key or a Clock and so on. Character cards task you with collecting certain symbols by the end of the game, and if you do, you'll get VPs. The Character cards also cost you to buy, but they go to your score rather than your discard pile. Speaking of those symbols, if you discard a card with a symbol on it during your turn, you get to either score a card from your hand, look at and rearrange the top cards of the Level Deck, exit the current level and enter the other, or cancel the effect of an Enemy or Item card—either on your turn or on an opponent's turn to keep them from doing something cool.
If your Lincolneeple gets through the current "screen" and makes it to the Level Deck, everything behind him is wiped away, he moves back to the front of the Level, and you draw five new cards—so it's like a side-scroller, in that anything you pass is gone and you can't go back and get it again.
There are three Checkpoint cards in each Level Deck. The first time someone hits the Checkpoint everyone in that level gets to do one special action: either exit the level, draw a card, or put a card from your hand into your scoring pile (basically culling a card). The person who actually reaches the Checkpoint gets to do one of those things twice.
The second time you reach a Checkpoint, you still get to do one of those things, but now you place the Mini Boss card where the Checkpoint card was. Mini Bosses are just that: stronger than regular Enemies, but not as strong as Bosses. They're worth VPs, depending on which Mini Boss it is. They can't be jumped over or bypassed—you have to defeat them to continue in the level. When you reach the third Checkpoint card, you get the bonus, and then replace it with the Boss card. It's tougher, and worth more VPs.
Once both Bosses from both Levels have been defeated, the game is over, and you count up VPs.
The Verdict
Firestone—First of all, I really love the artwork in the game. I vividly remember the Christmas I got my NES—I spent the WHOLE day playing Super Mario Brothers. It was the start something big and influential in my life. The artwork definitely takes me back to that, and is fun.
Jeremiah— Yep! The artwork is amazing; I remember when I saved up a bunch of money and my parents drove me to Gold Circle and I bought an NES, which came with Super Mario Bros. and I bought a copy of Kung Fu. So legit...
Firestone—The theme is fun, and way more interesting than Dominion. Zzzzz... So getting my kids, or teenagers, or whomever to play this will be easier. Probably. Because let's face it: My kids don't care about retro, 8-bit graphics. In fact, to their eyes, they look junky and old. But still, the theme is is unique
Jeremiah— The theme is what drew me into the game. It's wacky and out there, but lots of fun. Dominion is a great game, but you'll never find a mutton-star in your Dominion deck, nor will you have to face down a Puking Turtle.
Firestone—The components are hit-and-miss for me. If there's one iconic aspect of Abraham Lincoln, it's his stovepipe hat. Unfortunately, the Lincolneeples look like they're wearing Afros, rather than stovepipe hats. The cards are fine, but kind of thin. The tableaus are nice, thick cardboard, with a good finish on them—though I did find it weird that there's no place for your deck or discards. I really like the Level Deck boxes that come with the game. Setup is time-consuming (as with most deck-builders), but you can create the Level Deck ahead of time and put them into these nifty boxes, which look like old school NES boxes.
Jeremiah— I think the one component that fell shortest to me, is the meeples, Lincoln meeples would have been awesome; these are just weird looking meeples. I agree that the player boards are laid out oddly, but for the most part I'm good with all the components. In fact, the level board is great, a friend of mine always says that card games need boards—well, in this game, you've got them!
Editor's Note: Jason emailed us to let us know that the reason he doesn't have a hat is that Booth stole it, which started this whole affair! So we just missed that, and are dorks. Sorry, Jason!
Firestone—The weird thing to me is that when I play a game that calls itself a deck-builder, I expect to...build my deck. You're kinda doing that here, but there's nothing to clog up your deck, so defeating enemies is a no-brainer. And there are few opportunities to cull you deck. You can do it three times if you are in the Level when someone hits the Checkpoint, and if you choose that as your bonus, and if you have something you want to cull in your hand at that time. That's a lot of ifs. You can also discard the cards with the star "suit," but again, that's only if you've picked up that card during the game at some point, and if when you draw it again, you have one in your hand that you want to cull. So it's less a deck-builder and more a deck-adder. Kind of. At any rate, I still felt that I had super-clogged-up hands at the end.
Jeremiah— Yeah, it's more of an 8-bit adventure simulation game, and in my opinion it does that creatively and well; "deck builder" is sort of a misnomer with this one, but I don't mind it at all, because I think the game itself—which has deck building elements to it—is fun and a nice trip down memory lane. I've thought more about the not being able to cull cards as often aspect of it, and it makes a little more sense to me, seeing as how half of the cards in the level don't go into your deck, they get scored, if you could cull cards often you'd not have much of a deck left... Just an observation.
Firestone—This also seems to have a player-number problem. When I played with four, there's so little control that it's easy to find yourself in front of an enemy (or worse, a Mini Boss or Boss) at the start of your turn. Hope you can deal with it. One guy got seven turns during the game: four turns of doing something, two turns where he couldn't do anything—anything, and one turn of being able to do nothing but his hit by a Mini Boss he'd started his turn next to. On those four turns where he did something, he bought two one-coin-cost cards for his deck, and those were the only Item cards he ever had the opportunity to buy. That's a problem.
Jeremiah and I played a 2-player game, and there was much more control, and it just "felt" better.
Jeremiah— When we played with 4 players we didn't run into the issues you described, but I could see the game changing, especially in the later stages of it, as players are burning through cards in the level before your turn gets back. I'm guessing 2-3 might be the sweet spot to keep it balanced.
Firestone Final Thoughts—I'm really not happy about becoming the Grumpy Old Man of the blog, but this game just didn't do it for me—at all. It's thematic and has fun enemies and items, but it's mechanically mediocre. If I didn't already have the DC Comics Deckbuilding Game, I could see using Pixel Lincoln to introduce my kids (or nongamers) to deck-builders. But I do have it, and it's just better, so I'm going to use that. Maybe I'm taking it too seriously. And I'm sure there are groups out there who will LOVE the art and theme and humor, and this game is just perfect for them. But my group and I didn't like it, so for me, Keep This on the Shelf.
Jeremiah Final Thoughts—Yep, I disagree. If you go into this one expecting a deep deck-building experience, you will likely be let down. However that doesn't make the game any less fun; it's just a different type of fun. Let's have some real talk for a second. You're a pixelated version of our 16th president, who is going through levels of a game fighting absurd enemies, using -possibly- even more absurd weaponry to defeat "bosses." I'm pretty sure you might be taking this one too seriously if you take it seriously at all. This is a fun, light-hearted game that will amuse the younger crowd, and delight those old enough to appreciate the nostalgia. Grab your Chicken Cannon, strap on your Beardarang, and Put This on Your Table!
We'd like to thank Game Salute and Island Officials for providing review copies of Pixel Lincoln. This in no way affected our opinions of the game.
Thanks for joining us for the review! And check out the video review down below!!
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50rXovc3fWc]
Hey Everyone! Jeremiah checking in with you to give you some cool updates and news!
We announced earlier this week that we are giving away a copy of Fluxx: The Board Game to our YouTube subscribers, so head over to our YouTube Channel, click subscribe and tell your friends!
Check out the video after the jump for all kinds of great news and info on what you can expect from TOG in the very near future!
And yes! We have recorded our first episode of the Theology of Games Podcast! We'll be going through the process of getting it listed in iTunes and we'll let you know when and where you can find that as soon as humanly possible! [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ynf8-yTNwQ&w=560&h=315]
Don't forget those interweb things!
Thanks for reading and watching!
Today we're once again joined by our good friend Jason Tagmire. You may know him as the guy who designed Pixel Lincoln and Maximum Throwdown, but today he’s wearing a different hat: developer of a new game by Kevin Kulp, titled PigPen. And look! He’s brought along designer Kevin to talk about PigPen, and the roles that each have had in preparing the game to get it to market.
Jason, Kevin, thanks for joining us today!
Kevin, how did you land on a barnyard-competition theme for the game?KEVIN: Oddville, actually just picked it up. I got to play it at Metatopia and really loved how much game they packed into a small package. There are games that really get my mind going toward design, and this was one of them. I love how the game mechanics work together. I can't wait to play this at my local gaming group.
So, how did you guys meet?
5 Questions - 5 Words (to answer them)Jeremiah got to meet up with some great people at Origins—one of whom was Pixel Lincoln designer Jason Tagmire. In this, our first YouTube video, Jason talks about Storyteller Cards, Maximum Throwdown, and expansions for Pixel Lincoln! [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNUUVwXVf60]
It's another Saturday edition of Kickstarter Weekly! This week we feature white whales, a new iteration of LARPing, and some railway dice rolling fun. All that and much more, so let's get started! The RatRace Board Game - Innov8Seven Design
RatRace is an interesting take on a board game. In a sense it's a type of LARP game. The game board is a calendar, and the events you face in life become allies or foes you defeat. Twenty British pounds will get you a copy delivered to your door. Find out more here.
Moby Dick, or, the Card Game - King Post Productions
Great literature translated into a game? Apparently so! Moby Dick is a card game for up to 4 players. Players are embarking on the epic voyage to find the elusive white whale. You can get in on this campaign for $30, which will score you a physical copy of the game and a print-and-play pre-release version. Check out the details here.
Canterbury - Quixotic Games
Canterbury, is a civilization building board game. Players take turns building different structures in the medieval town of Canterbury. Each structure supplies different needs to the town, and scores points. The game looks cool, but it's a little pricey, with a $60 price point to get a copy of the game. But you will get your name on the box at that pledge level as well! Check out the campaign here.
Railways Express - Gryphon and Eagle Games
An express, dice rolling version of Gryphon and Eagle Games' Railways of the World board game. The game feature lots of dice-rolling, and tile-laying as up to four players compete to finish their railway routes. The game play looks fun and fast. You can still get in on a few remaining early bird pledges for $38 after that it will cost you $40 for a copy including free shipping. The details lie on the other side of this link.
Fox & Chicken - Michael Fox
A few weeks ago we told you about Michael Fox's Werewolf interpretation, Fox & Chicken. The campaign closed this week and it is fully funded and all of the stretch goals were unlocked! Congrats, Michael! Check it all out here!
Storyteller Cards - Buttonshy
Jason Tagmire of Pixel Lincoln fame is launching his first product under the Button Shy brand. Look for the Storyteller Cards project to launch on Kickstarter May 5th.
Thanks for checking in with us this weekend! Are you backing any of these projects? We'd love to hear which ones, and why! And don't forget to look for us on Facebook, Twitter, and now Instagram! Have a great weekend everyone!
Welcome to Kickstart Weekly! We're toying around with the schedule for this post so today, you get it on a Saturday! Enjoy!
Coup - The Resistance - Indie Boards and Cards is currently launching a Resistance themed version of Coup, a card game of bluffing, and deception! If you've been reading TOG for any amount of time you know that we're big fans of The Resistance titles and are looking forward to yet another addition to the franchise! Check out the campaign here, you can jump in and get a copy of the game fairly inexpensively!
Greater Than Games - Galactic Strike Force: The Cooperative Deck Building Game
The same folks who brought you Sentinels of the Multiverse are bringing you another deckbuiler, this one is set in a sci-fi universe in which players are working together towards a common goal. The game looks cool, and GTG has a great track record of bringing quality games to market. Follow this link for their Kickstarter Campaign.
Ares Games - Galaxy Defenders, a co-op miniatures game.
Another sci-fi co-op game, this time using miniatures players will fend off an intergalactic invasion! The miniature prototypes displayed on the campaign are looking slick! We don't usually cover miniatures games, but this one looks like it breaks out of the typical genre box. You'll find out more right here.
Pixel Lincoln Playing Cards Funded!!
Our good friend Jason Tagmire and his pixelated pal along with the good folks over at Game Salute, have done it again, the Pixel Lincoln themed Bicycle deck has funded and they managed to knock off a few stretch goals along the way! Congrats, to Jason, Game Salute, and Pixel Lincoln! Find out more here! And read our most recent interview with Jason here!
Following up: Machine of Death -
This game crushed it's campaign bringing in over half a million! A big congrats to David Malki and the gang for hitting another home run with their twisted concept of fate, and death. Best of luck! See what the hub-bub is about right here! And read our interview with David right here.
Thanks so much for reading, and have a great weekend everyone! If you want more fun and info from TOG check us out on Facebook and Twitter!
News! Reviews! Poohs! We had a cram-packed week here on the blog.
First we brought you news that Z-Man Games is reprinting an old Alan Moon trick-taking game: Black Spy. And Z-Man also revealed that the anticipated game Terra Mystica will come out May 1.
We had two interviews: first was Jason Tagmire of Pixel Lincoln fame, sharing about upcoming projects. And then we interviewed Shane Steely and Jared Tinney, designers of Walk The Plank.
We also discussed some of the odd choices of the Origins Awards. And Tom Vasel gave us some behind-the-scenes info on the nomination process (in the comments).
We had a Double-Take Review of I'm The Boss: The Card Game—and we had wildly different experiences with it.
THEN, we talked about the newly announced deluxe expansion for Star Wars The Card Game—with wookies!
And finally (whew!) we talked about a bunch of new Kickstarter projects—including the new Gryphon Game Francis Drake.
Thanks for reading! We'll have more for you next week; have a great weekend!
There has been such an increasing amount of activity on Kickstarter over the past few weeks, that we've decided to put a newer spin on our Kickstarter Weekly features. You'll still get them on Thursdays, but instead of piecing them out we're going to feature several projects, and give some news about them as we go. So welcome to the new Kickstarter Weekly here at TOG!
Our first project this week is from Eagle Games: Francis Drake, a game designed by Peter Hawes, puts players in the heart of Spain's new world as they sail the Caribbean, buying, selling, trading, and raiding ports for goods to return home with and sell for profits! The gameplay looks well-thought-out, and there are some customized aspects, giving it a higher replayability factor. The board and components look gorgeous as well!
The campaign has 32 days left and they've already blown past the funding goal, so it shouldn't be long before the stretch goals start getting knocked off. The only downside is the game is a little pricey, but if you've got your eye on a few other titles from the Eagle/Gryphon catalog, they've thrown together some really nice bundle packages. Check out the campaign here, and consider getting in and helping them reach the stretch goals!
Our next campaign is Paradise Fallen from Crash Games, a card-management game game set in a modern post-apocalyptic island setting. Crash Games plans on setting up an entire series of games, using this title as a launching point, to create a deeper universe for games and expansions to live in. Players control tribes trying to survive while placing obstacles in the paths of the other tribes. You'll strive to survive, find food, and and explore the fallen paradise.
You can grab a copy of the game for a $25 pledge, and there are again some nice bundles available for higher price points. The campaign has 27 days left and is still $10,000 short of their funding goal, so they've got a ways to go before it funds—let alone hitting stretch goals. I'm loving the artwork so far, and they've come up with some great outrigger canoe meeples as well! (What meeples will they come up with next!?) If card management, and post-apocalyptic island survival are your thing(s) then head on over and check out the campaign here.
Up next is Teramyyd: Earthsphere a steam-punky, monster-fighting sky pirate, questing game. I (Jeremiah) am very intrigued by this game. The game appears to have multiple scenarios for players to embark on, and within those scenarios lie different quests to complete on their way to victory. Let's not forget the cool sky pirates flying machines that you can upgrade and add to while trying to defeat sky monsters!
IO Worlds has blown past their funding goal by $40,000 with 32 days remaining on the campaign. And have already unlocked a new baddie and a new ship as the first two stretch goals. And the 3rd one looks way cool too! The bad news is, all of the early bird pledge levels have been devoured! So it will take a pledge of $75 to snag a copy of the game, but as the stretch goals pile up, the box you get will be stuffed with more and more cool little miniatures! You can check the campaign out for yourself, right here.
If you haven't done so, your window of opportunity is closing to get in on the Pixel Lincoln: Bicycle Playing Card campaign! There are two inexpensive options for jumping on board, a $10 pledge will get you a 21-card expansion for Pixel Lincoln the deck building game. Or a $12 pledge will get you a deck of PL playing cards! There's just 5 days left, so best hurry on over!
And finally we want to extend a congratulations to Days of Wonder who CRUSHED their campaign to bring Small World 2 to the tablet realm (including PCs through Steam, android and iPad). They blew past their $150,000 goal, pulling in almost $400,000! This unlocked ALL of their stretch goals! Congrats to DoW, and the over 7,000 folks who backed the campaign!
Have you backed any of these projects? We'd love to hear what pushed you off the fence, and what you're excited about!
Thanks for reading TOG! Please tell your friends about us, and don't forget to check us out over on Facebook and Twitter, and don't forget to sign up on the right to receive TOG via email!
Two Geeks, Hundreds of Games, One God. We bring you the best in board game talk, tabletop news and compelling interviews with those in the boardgame industry! Stay tuned for all things gaming, here on Theology of Games!
