Email issues - an apology if you have been trying to contact us by email this week – we encountered some fairly major email issues but all has now been resolved now and normal service 100% resumed! Over the coming weeks we will also be relaunching our website, with a view to eventually making an online catalogue available. As usual we are always happy to take orders by phone/email, we can arrange payments by paypal and send out goodies to wherever you desire!

MTG - The Magic scene is buzzing at the moment! As well as our regular TNM and FNM events, we have our Bimonthly Modern Tournament in Bath this Saturday (18th February) and also a PTQ for Lille on Sunday 19th Feb, both run for us by the lovely Pip Griffiths. In addition, alongside the regular Standard tournament at today’s FNM, it’s our monthly Commander/EDH night - why not come along and give this fun multiplayer format a trial – there will be Commander decks available for you to borrow if you don’t have one already made up! Also don’t forget our Dark Ascension Games Day on Sunday 26th February – a chance to try out your newly created Dark Ascension decks and tactics! And – it’s your final chance to get hold of a Gravecrawler promo - we have a couple left and you can get your hands on one by buying a box of Dark Ascension at the bargain price of £100!

Chapter/Rules of Play Games Night - thank you for another fun night last Sunday – next Games Night is planned for Sunday 11th March – hope to see you there!

Cardfight!! Vanguard – this TCG based on the Cardfight!! Vanguard anime series seems to be generating a lot of interest in the UK, especially among Yu Gi Oh players….one of our fellow FLGS’s is importing boosters and starter packs into the UK, and we’re looking at the possibility of getting some of these in and running a casual play day. If you’d be interested in this, please shout – here or via Facebook, or via our newly re-functioning email of course!!

Seeking Tredegar Gamers - a customer of Rules of Play is looking to hear from any games groups in the Tredegar area – if you are part of a group, or know of any, please drop us an email and we’ll pass your details on!

Review spot - We’re playing a lot of Takenoko here in Rules at the moment – what got us started was this great video from the Cat and Mouse Game Store in Chicago. And while we’re on the subject of game store videos – watch this space as we’ll be uploading our own game demos/reviews in the not too distant future!

Coming up…We are currently taking pre-orders for Panic Station, Eclipse, Risk Legacy, Super Dungeon Explore, please let us know as soon as possible if you’d like any of these titles and we will make sure they are pre-ordered for you to avoid disappointment.

Releases/Restocks/Coming soon!

New in store from next week – A great week for fans of the brilliant Agricola, with the release of both the NL deck and the World Championship deck expansions; we also have the Fantasy Flight re-release of the fan-favourite, Nexus Ops and a new expansions for Mansions of Madness with Til Death Do Us Part, and the Death Angel card game with the Tyranid Enemy Pack.  For Warhammer 40K role-players, there are new releases for Black Crusade, Deathwatch and Dark Heresy in the shape of Hand of Corruption, The Chaos Commandment and The Jericho Reach.  For Yu-Gi-Oh fans, we have the new Ra Yellow Mega-Packs.

Recent additions in store NOW - Backstabbing, theft and and general magical mayhem in the relaunch of the classic Wiz-War (with stunning artwork and new figures); the new boardgame based on the awesome Dune, set in the universe of Twilight Imperium, Twilight Imperium: Rex; great deduction games Confusion: Espionage & Deception in the Cold War and Codito (also known as Code 777); the standalone expansion to the wonderful (and bizarre) anime deck-builder, Tanto Cuore: Expanding the House; Risk: Metal Gear Solid; beautiful new piratical card game, Raiding Parties; the new Agent’s Handbook supplement for the Laundry Files RPG, and the gorgeous new edition of Clockwork & Chivalry RPG.

Fantasy Flight Bargains - we’ve managed to pick-up some great value Fantasy Flight Boardgames available in store now: Age of Conan (£30); Android (£21 – currently out of stock, but we’re hoping to get more soon) and Ad Astra (£35) – pick them up before they disappear! Watch out for more bargains over the next few weeks.

Also available in store – restocks of A Game of Thrones 2nd Edition, Chaos in the Old World, and Sekigahara. Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage; Dungeon Petz; Railways of the World; Conquest of the Empire; Power Grid: First Sparks and expansion to the original, Power Grid: The Robots; highly-addictive new strategy gems Takenoko and Kingdom Builder; Ascending Empires; Core Worlds, and the new edition of Knizia classic Kingdoms.

Indie Roleplaying Systems – for fans of the weird and the wonderful, we’ll soon have a new shipment of roleplaying books from the States to add to our ever-expanding indie RPG section – keep your eyes peeled!

New releases available to order from today: Nightfall: The Coldest War; Shadow of the Monolith expansion for the Call of Cthulhu and City of Winter expansion for Warhammer Invasion LCGs; the Africana expansion for Rattus, and the new rulebook for A Call to Arms: Starfleet.

Other recent releases available to order - etection co-op based on the classic manga/anime series, Lupin the Third; racing and race management game Lamborghini: The Racing Game; revised cycle racing game, Leader 1: Hell of the North; Hades; expansion for Cyclades; Rallyman and its expansion, Dirt; Giza, the Great Pyramid; tile-laying strategy in Sol; the card game based on computer fighting games, Battlecon: War of the Indines; Dungeon Run; A La Carte; Bazaar; Empires: Builder Expansion for the Age of Empires III boardgame; Revolver; Khan; Singapore; Memoir 44 Campaign Book 2; Cambria; The Road to Canterbury; The Forgotten Planet; Outpost.

Arriving soon: – Reprints of Super Dungeon Explore, Panic Station and Eclipse; the long-awaited re-release of Merchant of Venus; intriguing-looking new card-based game from Cryptozoic with the very long title, Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards: Duel at Mount Skullfyre; the first expansions for Kingdom Builder, Nomads and Tanto Cuore, Expanding the House; World of Warcraft deck-building game, Clash of Champions; Locke & Key, and Dark Eon: Assassin. PRE-ORDERS FOR ALL THESE BEING TAKEN NOW!

Events

…are now over on the Events Tab. As always, if you want it and we’re not doing it, SHOUT!!

New (and old) goodies arriving today included: More Rex, Risk – Metal Gear Solid, Ascending Empires, a full house of Zombies!!!! expansions, Runewars, Sake and Samurai and plenty more!

Hive - one of our all-time best sellers has just been released as an iPhone app – and is currently FREE in iTunes – but not for long! Download yours here; if you prefer the Bakelite version, we currently have the Ladybug and the Mosquito available in Rules, and are awaiting a UK restock of the game itself. Oh and watch out for Hive Pocket, coming later in 2012…

Facebook groups for players - don’t forget there are various Facebook groups available for local players to discuss decklists, arrange trades, chat about anything and nothing, and also as a way for you as players to communicate with Rules of Play. The Magic group can be found here, the MTG Commander group here, the World of Warcraft group here, and the Yu Gi Oh group here.

Dark Ascension seems to be a hit with MTG players old and new – we have sold through our original batch of Fat Packs but have managed to get some more in – if you would like one, it would be wise to claim it sooner rather than later – these ALWAYS sell out very quickly and we may not be able to get any more…also don’t forget the special Buy a Box price of £100, plus we have a couple of Gravecrawler promos left – one with each box purchase while stocks last!

Chapter/Rules of Play Games Night is this Sunday 12th February…hopefully we’ll all be in a good mood after the Wales Scotland match, but whatever the result, we’ll be there in Chapter with our boxes of goodies! We’ll definitely be bringing current favourites Kingdom Builder, Takenoko and Power Grid: First Sparks. RSVP here.

Yu Gi Oh – We’re looking forward to welcoming our Yu Gi Oh players back tomorrow after a couple of weeks away….we’ve missed our Saturday crew! Come and practice for the forthcoming Battle of the Kingdoms, we’d love a Rules player to take top place! Also we have the Dragons Collide Structure Decks here for you!

World of Warcraft - This weekend also sees the next WoW casual play day in Rules on Sunday 12th Feb, and we have plenty of new Crown of the Heavens boosters and epic collections for you!

Review spot – This game hasn’t had much attention since its release at Gencon but has been a real hit for our customers – we have restocked today and based on the good reports we’ve received I’ll be picking up a copy myself…you can read Tom Russell’s BGG review here, and a short and simple overview from Adam B. (also on BGG) here. Enjoy!

Coming up…We are currently taking pre-orders for Panic Station, Eclipse, Risk Legacy, Super Dungeon Explore, please let us know as soon as possible if you’d like any of these titles and we will make sure they are pre-ordered for you to avoid disappointment.

Releases/Restocks/Coming soon!

New in store from next week – the stand-alone expansion to the frankly bonkers Tanto Cuore, Tanto Cuore: Expanding the House; new fantasy boardgame from Richard Launius, the creator of the classic Arkham Horror - Dragon Rampage;  awesome looking new pirate card game, Raiding Parties; for fans of the Laundry RPG, the new Laundry Files: Agent’s Handbook, and the new (standalone) edition of the fantastic Clockwork & Chivalry RPG.

Recent additions in store NOW - Fantasy Flight’s reprint of the classic Wiz-War; the new boardgame based on the classic Dune, set in the universe of Twilight Imperium, Twilight Imperium: Rex; Rio Grande’s Havana; the third edition of Reiner Knizia’s Kingdoms; great deduction games Confusion: Espionage & Deception in the Cold War and Codito (also known as Code 777); for serious strategy fans, we have Wallenstein and Warriors & Traders. For sci-fi fans we have the highly regarded deck builders Core Worlds and Rules favourite Eminent Domain, and also the quirky dexterity space game Ascending Empires.

Fantasy Flight Bargains - we’ve managed to pick-up some great value Fantasy Flight Boardgames available in store now: Age of Conan (£30); Android (£21) and Ad Astra (£35) – pick them up before they disappear!

Also available in store – restocks of A Game of Thrones 2nd Edition, Chaos in the Old World, Sekigahara and Memoir 44. New Yu-Gi-Oh Dragons Collide Structure decks; WoW TCG Crown of the Heavens Epic Collections and boosters (with a free Baby Murloc promo for all WoW purchases over £10); Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage; Dungeon Petz; Railways of the World; Power Grid: First Sparks and expansion to the original, Power Grid: The Robots; highly-addictive new strategy gems Takenoko and Kingdom Builder.

Indie Roleplaying Systems – we have the complete selection from Lumpley Games in stock, Dogs in the Vineyard, Apocalypse World, Poison’d and In A Wicked Age; the much-loved game of chaotic heists gone wrong Fiasco (and the Fiasco Companion); Chronica Feudalis; film noir roleplaying in A Dirty World; inventive storytelling systems with Annalise, Gaesa, How We Came to Live Here, A Penny for My Thoughts and Polaris, and for our live-action role-players, we have Cthulhu Live and new zombie system Shelter in Place.

New releases available to order from today: detection co-op based on the classic manga/anime series, Lupin the Third; racing and race management game Lamborghini: The Racing Game; revised cycle racing game, Leader 1: Hell of the North;  D&D Heroes of the Elemental Chaos; new supplements for Pathfinder – Adventure Path #53: Tide of Honor, Jade Regent Poster Map Folio, Palyers Companion: Dragon Empires Primer and the Cubicle 7-published 1001 Spells.

Also available in store now: lots of Power Grid, including the new First Sparks stand-alone game, and expansions for the original: Robots, New Power Plants and maps for  Central Europe and China/Korea; brilliant deduction game Tricoda; stand-alone expansion for Ascension, Storm of Souls;  , and the Europe expansion; Conquest of the Empire (for those with very, very big gaming tables);  1996 classic, ; and highly addictive new strategy games Kingdom Builder and Takenoko.

Other recent releases available to order - Hades, expansion for Cyclades; Legends of Anglerre playing companion; Rallyman and its expansion, Dirt; Giza, the Great Pyramid; tile-laying strategy in Sol; the card game based on computer fighting games, Battlecon: War of the Indines; Venture Forth; Friday; Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition Gamemaster’s Guide; Bios: Megafauna; Dungeon Run; A La Carte; Bazaar; Empires: Builder Expansion for the Age of Empires III boardgame; Revolver; Khan; Singapore; Memoir 44 Campaign Book 2; Tschack!; Cambria; Hibernia; The Road to Canterbury; Upon A Salty Ocean; The Forgotten Planet; Outpost.

Arriving soon: – Reprints of Super Dungeon Explore, Panic Station and Eclipse; the long-awaited re-release of Merchant of Venus; intriguing-looking new card-based game from Cryptozoic with the very long title, Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards: Duel at Mount Skullfyre; the first expansions for Kingdom Builder, Nomads and Tanto Cuore, Expanding the House; World of Warcraft deck-building game, Clash of Champions; Locke & Key, and Dark Eon: Assassin. PRE-ORDERS FOR ALL THESE BEING TAKEN NOW!

Events

…are now over on the Events Tab. As always, if you want it and we’re not doing it, SHOUT!!

MORE New and Shiny Stuff!!! Yesterday, we were mostly unpacking our latest shipment, which was so huge it came on its very own pallet!! New releases Wiz War, Twilight Imperium: Rex, Reiner Knizia’s Kingdoms; a return of recent sellout A Game of Thrones – The Board Game, and also old favourites Roborally, Shadows over Camelot, Railways of Europe, Age of Conan, St Petersburg, and Thurn & Taxis. We are literally stuffed to the rafters, though judging by the response we’ve had many of these titles won’t be hanging around long!

Dark Ascension, the latest set for Magic the Gathering is officially released as of today; we have Fat Packs, Intro Decks and Boosters in store; don’t forget the special Buy a Box price of £100, plus we have a limited number of Gravecrawler promos – one with each box purchase while stocks last!

Chapter/Rules of Play Games Night is next Sunday 12th February…hopefully we’ll all be in a good mood after the Wales Scotland match, but whatever the result, we’ll be there in Chapter with our boxes of goodies! RSVP here.

Yu Gi Oh - Please remember that there is NO Yu Gi Oh tomorrow (Sat 4th February) for the MTG Release tournament, back to normal Sat 11th February. But the good news is, the Dragons Collide Structure Decks are in today!

World of Warcraft Realms Qualifier - The Rules of Play WoW Realms qualifier will be held on Sunday 11th March and will be a sealed deck tournament; more details to follow shortly. In the meantime, why not come along to the next WoW casual play day in Rules on Sunday 12th Feb, or join the Facebook group for local players here.  The new Crown of the Heavens boosters and epic collections will be in stock from next week!

Coming up…We are currently taking pre-orders for Panic Station, Eclipse, Risk Legacy, SuperDungeon Explore, please let us know as soon as possible if you’d like any of these titles and we will make sure they are pre-ordered for you to avoid disappointment.

Review spot – Chaos – or Elegant Brutality? Have a look at geekinsight’s review of Chaos on the Old World on BGG, and if you want more, check out what boardtodeath.tv have to say also!

Releases/Restocks/Coming soon!

New in store NOW - Fantasy Flight’s reprint of the classic Wiz-War; the new boardgame based on the classic Dune, set in the universe of Twilight Imperium, Twilight Imperium: Rex; Rio Grande’s Havana; the third edition of Reiner Knizia’s Kingdoms; Lorefinder, investigative roleplaying for Pathfinder; restocks of A Game of Thrones 2nd Edition, Chaos in the Old World and Merchants and Marauders; Invasive Procedures for Trail of Cthulhu RPG; all the Dark Ascension goodies you need for your Magic: the Gathering fix – boosters, intro decks and fat packs.

In store from next week - new Yu-Gi-Oh Dragons Collide Structure decks; WoW TCG Crown of the Heavens Epic Collections and boosters (with a free Baby Murloc promo for all WoW purchases over £10).

New releases available to order from today: Hades, expansion for Cyclades; Legends of Anglerre playing companion; Rallyman and its expansion, Dirt; Giza, the Great Pyramid.

Also available in store now: lots of Power Grid, including the new First Sparks stand-alone game, and expansions for the original: Robots, New Power Plants and maps for  Central Europe and China/Korea; brilliant deduction game Tricoda; stand-alone expansion for Ascension, Storm of Souls;  Railways of the World, and the Europe expansion; Conquest of the Empire (for those with very, very big gaming tables);  1996 classic, Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage; Dungeon Petz; and highly addictive new strategy games Kingdom Builder and Takenoko.

Other recent releases available to order -

Tile-laying strategy in Sol; the card game based on computer fighting games, Battlecon: War of the Indines; Kingdom of Solomon; Venture Forth; Friday; Deadlands Reloaded Players Guide; Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition Gamemaster’s Guide; Phantom League: Mostly Harmless; Octopus’ Garden; Bios: Megafauna; Dungeon Run; A La Carte; Bazaar; Empires: Builder Expansion for the Age of Empires III boardgame; Revolver; Khan; Singapore; Memoir 44 Campaign Book 2; Tschack!; Cambria; Hibernia; The Road to Canterbury; Upon A Salty Ocean; The Forgotten Planet; Acqua Dolce; Trains, Planes and Automobiles; Outpost; Core Worlds; Burdigala.

Arriving soon: – Reprints of Super Dungeon Explore, Panic Station and Eclipse; intriguing-looking new card-based game from Cryptozoic with the very long title, Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards: Duel at Mount Skullfyre; the first expansion for Kingdom Builder, Nomads; World of Warcraft deck-building game, Clash of Champions; Locke & Key, and Dark Eon: Assassin. PRE-ORDERS FOR ALL THESE BEING TAKEN NOW!

Events

…are now over on the Events Tab. As always, if you want it and we’re not doing it, SHOUT!!

New and Shiny Stuff!!! Over the last couple of months, we’ve been busy setting up new supplier agreements so that we can bring you a even more gaming goodness in 2012; roleplayers will have already noticed the much wider variety of books available, especially independently produced titles. And this week, we had a mammoth delivery of board games, many of which have been unavailable in the UK for many months; including Railways of the World; Conquest of the Empire; Hannibal (Rome vs Carthage), Tribune (Primus inter Pares), Merchants and Marauders, Ticket to Ride Marklin, and Kingdoms. And there’ll be more deliveries over the next couple of weeks (keep a close eye on our Facebook page) - come and fill your boots!

Learn to Play…or just Play! We had a great time playing Ora et Libora, by Uwe Rosenberg on Wednesday evening. We’re planning on setting up more of these smaller games meets –  email us, Facebook us or comment below to let us know what you’d like to play and when!

World of Warcraft Realms Qualifier - we now have a confirmed date! The Rules of Play WoW Realms qualifier will be held on Sunday 11th March and will be a sealed deck tournament; more details to follow shortly. In the meantime, why not come along to the next WoW casual play day in Rules on Sunday 12th Feb, or join the Facebook group for local players here.

Yu Gi Oh - Please remember that there is NO Yu Gi Oh on Saturday 28th January and Sat 4th February for the MTG Pre-Release/Release tournaments, back to normal Sat 11th February.

Dark Ascension Events – Pre-release events this weekend are fully booked! There are just a couple of spaces available for the release party on Saturday 4th February and the games day on Sunday 26th February – check here for details and to RSVP!  Advance bookings are highly recommended following the rapid take-up of the pre-releases. ALSO PLEASE PRE-ORDER YOUR BOXES AND FAT PACKS NOW TO MAKE SURE YOU DON’T MISS OUT!  There are limited free promo cards for each order of a complete Dark Ascension box of boosters!

Coming up…We are currently taking pre-orders for Eclipse, Risk Legacy, SuperDungeon Explore, Wiz War and Rex – Final Days of an Empire,  please let us know as soon as possible if you’d like any of these titles and we will make sure they are pre-ordered for you to avoid disappointment.

Review spot – one of the games we received this week was the third edition of Reiner Knizia’s Kingdoms (as yet not generally available in the UK). So we’re taking a look at this review from Tom Vasel, written back in 2003, after the second edition was released. Enjoy!

Releases/Restocks/Coming soon!

New in store this week:  Its a quiet week for new releases, with most of the focus on CCGs – new Magic: the Gathering set Dark Ascension will be on sale from Friday 3rd February.  Following the very highly appreciated new Order of Chaos set for Yu-Gi-Oh, we’ll have the new Dragons Collide structure decks in next week as well.  For role-players, we have Lorefinder, the Pathfinder-compatible supplement which introduces the investigative mechanics of Gumshoe.

New releases available to order from today: Tile-laying strategy in Sol; the card game based on computer fighting games, Battlecon: War of the Indines; Kingdom of Solomon, and Venture Forth; Invasive Procedures for Trail of Cthulhu.

Available in store now: Power Grid: The First Sparks and Power Grid: Robots; the awesome Kingdom Builder by Donald X. Vaccarino; great Panda-themed strategic in the delightful Takenoko; stand-along expansion Ascension: Storm of Souls; potential argument-initiator, Dragon’s Gold; the incredible and much sought-after Railways of the World; Conquest of the Empire (really only recommended for those with a large gaming table!!); Seikigahara; 1996 classic, Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage; a brand new edition of Reiner Knizia’s Kingdoms; Dungeon Petz; Catan: Great River; great pirate shenanigans in the fantastic Mechants & Marauders; Tricoda 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (also known as Code 777).

Other recent releases available to order - Friday; Deadlands Reloaded Players Guide; Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition Gamemaster’s Guide; Phantom League: Mostly Harmless; Octopus’ Garden; Bios: Megafauna; Dungeon Run; A La Carte; Bazaar; Empires: Builder Expansion for the Age of Empires III boardgame; Revolver; Khan; Singapore; Memoir 44 Campaign Book 2; Tschack!; Cambria; Hibernia; The Road to Canterbury; Upon A Salty Ocean; The Forgotten Planet; Acqua Dolce; Trains, Planes and Automobiles; Outpost; Core Worlds; Burdigala.

Arriving soon: – Reprints of Super Dungeon Explore and Eclipse, both of which sold out very very quickly upon their initial release; remake of the chaotically classic Wiz War;  Rex: Final Days of an Empire (based on the AH classic Dune, and set in the Twilight Imperium universe); intriguing-looking new card-based game from Cryptozoic with the very long title, Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards: Duel at Mount Skullfyre; Yu-Gi-Oh Dragons Collide Structure Decks  ; Star Trek Expeditions – Expansion. PRE-ORDERS FOR ALL THESE BEING TAKEN NOW!

Events

…are now over on the Events Tab. As always, if you want it and we’re not doing it, SHOUT!!

Dark Ascension Events – Pre-release events on Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th are now fully booked! We still have a few spaces available for the release party on Saturday 4th February and the games day on Sunday 26th February – check here for details and to RSVP!  Advance bookings are highly recommended following the rapid take-up of the pre-releases. ALSO PLEASE PRE-ORDER YOUR BOXES AND FAT PACKS NOW TO MAKE SURE YOU DON’T MISS OUT!

Yu Gi Oh – Order of Chaos is released today – if you didn’t make our Sneak Peek last week, tomorrow will be your first chance to play with the new cards, …Also please remember that there is NO Yu Gi Oh on Saturday 28th January and Sat 4th February for the MTG Pre-Release/Release tournaments, back to normal Sat 11th February.

Learn to Play…or just Play! There are still spaces available  for our game of  Ora et Libora, by Uwe Rosenberg (of Agricola fame). If you’d like to take part, please confirm your availability here, and also please email us so that we have contact details to confirm time and place! As ever, any feedback on this new system is welcome, as well as requests for games to play! Please email us, Facebook us or comment below for more details.

Coming up…We are currently taking pre-orders for Eclipse, Risk Legacy, SuperDungeon Explore, Wiz War and Rex – Final Days of an Empire,  please let us know as soon as possible if you’d like any of these titles and we will make sure they are pre-ordered for you to avoid disappointment.

Review spot Those Priests of Ra have recently reappeared on our shelves – check out this review from BoardtoDeath.tv - and don’t forget, if you have any games you’d like to see in this spot, or better still have any reviews you’d like to share, then let us know!

Releases/Restocks/Coming soon!

New in store this week:  Its the second week of Power Grid related goodies with the release of Power Grid: Robots, which provides an additional automated player for Power Grid (especially good for those looking to play 2 player!). We also have a reprint and update to the awesome Shadow Hunters, which now includes the previously separate expansion.

New releases available to order from today: Well-received solo adventure game Friday; Deadlands Reloaded Players Guide; Mutants & Masterminds 3rd Edition Gamemaster’s Guide; The Resurrectionists for Vampire, and new booster packs for Federation Commander.

Available in store now: Power Grid: The First Sparks; Rogue Trader: Hostile Acquisitions; re-release of the classic Wallenstein, including previous expansions; fun and disarmingly cute strategy game Takenoko; Kingdom Builder, by Donald X Vaccarino (Dominion); the new standalone expansion to Ascension, Ascension: Storm of Souls; fire-fighting co-op with  Flash Point: Fire Rescue ; Dragon’s Gold; and two new games by the brilliant Vlaada Chvatil, Mage Knight and Dungeon Petz.

Other recent releases available to order - Phantom League: Mostly Harmless; Octopus’ Garden; Bios: Megafauna; the new Dungeon crawler set in the world of Summoner Wars, Dungeon Run; culinary gem, A La Carte; Bazaar; Empires: Builder Expansion for the Age of Empires III boardgame; Revolver; Khan; Singapore; Memoir 44 Campaign Book 2; Tschack!; Cambria; Hibernia; The Road to Canterbury; Upon A Salty Ocean; The Forgotten Planet; Acqua Dolce; Trains, Planes and Automobiles; Outpost; Core Worlds; Burdigala.

Arriving soon: – Reprints of Super Dungeon Explore and Eclipse, both of which sold out very very quickly upon their initial release; remake of the chaotically classic Wiz War;  Rex: Final Days of an Empire (based on the AH classic Dune, and set in the Twilight Imperium universe); intriguing-looking new card-based game from Cryptozoic with the very long title, Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards: Duel at Mount Skullfyre; Yu-Gi-Oh Dragons Collide Structure Decks  ; Star Trek Expeditions – Expansion. PRE-ORDERS FOR ALL THESE BEING TAKEN NOW!

Events

…are now over on the Events Tab. As always, if you want it and we’re not doing it, SHOUT!!

Yu-Gi-Oh Order of Chaos Sneak Peek - starts at 11:00 TOMORROW! Still a couple of places left, come along in plenty of time and we’ll get you set up to play. For more details, click here.

Dark Ascension Events – these are booking up fast thanks to the fantastic deal we’ve put together for you…we’ve managed to hold our Sealed Deck prices at £22.50 – but you can play in BOTH pre-releases for £35, and if you do that, you can play in the Release event too for a total of £45!!! Remember, you walk away from each event with a minimum of a promo and 7 booster packs, plus any prizes you win – so these prices are excellent value for money for kicking off your Dark Ascension collection. Check here for details and to RSVP!  Advance bookings are highly recommended. ALSO PLEASE PRE-ORDER YOUR BOXES AND FAT PACKS NOW TO MAKE SURE YOU DON’T MISS OUT!

Our project for 2012 (well, one of the many!) is to seek out new suppliers from Europe and the USA to bring you an even wider range of games, including titles which are difficult to get hold of here in the UK. If you have a wishlist of games that you’d love to own, but can’t get hold of in the UK, please let us know – and also from those of you who are well travelled, we always like to hear about new and interesting games you’ve discovered, which other customers may enjoy. Please email us, FB us, or comment below!

Learn to Play…We’re restarting our Learn to Play series for 2012, but with a slightly different format; we’re using Doodle.com to schedule times to play that suit you; the venue will be also be decided by players on a game by game basis. We’re kicking off with Ora et Libora, by Uwe Rosenberg (of Agricola fame). If you’d like to take part, please confirm your availability here, and also please email us so that we have contact details to confirm time and place! As ever, any feedback on this new system is welcome, as well as requests for games to play! Please email us, Facebook us for more details.

How Board Games Get Made…We’ve recently discovered Tasty Minstrel Games excellent blog (partly as a result of our staff obsession with Eminent Domain!) – there’s loads of interesting stuff on there but, knowing that more than a few of our readers are budding board game designers, this post on the making of board games may be of particular interest.

World of Warcraft TCG - the World of Warcraft group’s next meeting is this  Sunday, 15th January at 12:00.  Even if you can’t make it, why not get in touch with the group on Facebook to see what all the fuss is about…also, new class and dungeon decks are now available in store! We have a provisional date for the Cardiff Realms Qualifiers – Sunday 11th March! More details on this one to follow.

Review Spot – With the hotly anticipated release of the second edition of the classic War of the Ring, we are revisiting an older review by Desiderata on BGG, as well as bringing you this useful and detailed comparison of the first and second editions, from Tallgrant, also on BGG.

Releases/Restocks/Coming soon!

New in store this week:  A re-release of the 2002 classic from Dirk Henn, Wallenstein; a brand-new Power Grid game flinging players back to the Stone Age, Power Grid: The First Sparks; and a new addition to the Rogue Trader RPG Universe, Hostile Acquisitions.

New releases available to order from today: A new expansion for the boardgame based on the classic computer space game Elite, Phantom League: Mostly Harmless;  Where Loyalty Lies, the new expansion for A Game of Thrones LCG; and wargame Shenandoah.

Available in store now: Brilliant and disarmingly cute strategy game Takenoko; Kingdom Builder, by Donald X Vaccarino, which is rapidly becoming a classic like his previous game Dominion; fire-fighting co-op with  Flash Point: Fire Rescue ; Dragon’s Gold; epic fantasy with Mage Knight; Dungeon Petz; Ascension: Storm of Souls; the card-based hacking game, Node, and a return to the shelves for the expansions to Gloom!

Other recent releases available to order - Deep-sea strategy in Octopus’ Garden and evolutionary strategy with Bios: Megafauna; the new Dungeon crawler set in the world of Summoner Wars, Dungeon Run; culinary gem, A La Carte; new expansions for Warhammer Invasion and A Game of Thrones LCGs; Bang! Gold Rush, an expansion for Bang!; Bazaar; Empires: Builder Expansion for the Age of Empires III boardgame; Revolver; Khan; Singapore; Memoir 44 Campaign Book 2; Tschack!; Cambria; Hibernia; Medievalia; The Road to Canterbury; Upon A Salty Ocean; The Forgotten Planet; Acqua Dolce; Trains, Planes and Automobiles; Outpost; Core Worlds; Burdigala.

Arriving soon: – Return of the classic Wiz War;  Rex: Final Days of an Empire (based on the AH classic Dune, and set in the Twilight Imperium universe); intriguing-looking new card-based game from Cryptozoic with the very long title, Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards: Duel at Mount Skullfyre; Yu-Gi-Oh Dragons Collide Structure Decks  ; Star Trek Expeditions – Expansion. PRE-ORDERS FOR ALL THESE BEING TAKEN NOW!

Events

…are now over on the Events Tab. As always, if you want it and we’re not doing it, SHOUT!!

Dark Ascension Events – We’ve been working hard on putting together a fantastic deal for our MTG Players, to say thank you for all the support you have shown us over the last year! We’ve managed to hold our Sealed Deck prices at £22.50 for this release – but what’s more, you can play in BOTH pre-releases for £35, and if you do that, you can play in the Release event too for a total of £45!!! Remember, you walk away from each event with a minimum of a promo and 7 booster packs, plus any prizes you win – so these prices are excellent value for money for kicking off your Dark Ascension collection. Check here for details and to RSVP!  Advance bookings are highly recommended.

Yu-Gi-Oh Order of Chaos Sneak Peek - starts at 11:00 on Saturday 14th January, with a discount on tickets bought before the 7th January. Make sure you book in advance so you don’t miss out!  For more details, click here.

Fancy playing 2011 releases Eminent Domain, Kingdom Builder, Tournay or Innovation?  Come along to the first Chapter/Rules of Play Games Night of 2012 from 5.30pm this Sunday, and you can borrow these, as well as a selection from our collection…it’s also a great opportunity for you to bring your Christmas games along for a play! If you’d like us to bring anything, give a shout out on our Facebook page.

New Arrivals - Our Victory Point Games restock arrived this week, along with shedloads of gaming goodness from  Indie Press Revolution…seems we’re not the only ones excited by their arrival, judging on how fast they seem to be disappearing! Come by and have a browse – and look out for even more new stuff from Lumpley Games coming soon!

World of Warcraft TCG – the World of Warcraft group’s next meeting will be on Sunday, 15th January at 12:00.  For more details, get in touch with the group on Facebook, we’d love to see you along.  New class and dungeon decks are now available in store! We have a provisional date for the Cardiff Realms Qualifiers – Sunday 11th March! More details on this one to follow.

Review Spot – This week we’re heading to Asara, Land of a Thousand Towers – this lovely looking game, one of the three nominations for the 2011 Spiele des Jahres is given the video review treatment by Catandmouse over on BoardGameGeek.

Releases/Restocks/Coming soon!

New in store this week:  Possibly the most anticipated release of the week is Ascension: Storm of Souls, a standalone new game which can also be used to expand Ascension: Chronicles of the Godslayer. Also out is the first deluxe expansion for Lord of the Rings LCG, Khazad-Dum; the card-based hacking game, Node; and the elegant and tasteful Kittens in a Blender!  Not brand new, but its a welcome return for the incredible  Mage Knight by Vlaada Chvatil, originally released last month, but has been unavailable since its last appearance in Rules which lasted only a few hours!

New releases available to order from today: Deep-sea strategy in Octopus’ Garden and evolutionary strategy with Bios: Megafauna; the new Dungeon crawler set in the world of Summoner Wars, Dungeon Run; culinary gem, A La Carte; new expansions for Warhammer Invasion and A Game of Thrones LCGs; Bang! Gold Rush, an expansion for Bang!, while for D&D fans we have the Haunted Temple map pack.

Available in store now: Don’t be deceived by the cute theme, Takenoko is a great-looking new strategy game by Antoine Bauza, whose previous game 7 Wonders was proved massively popular, despite containing no pandas at all! Another deceptively simple game by an established designer is Kingdom Builder, by Donald X Vaccarino (Dominion). While the rules only take 2 minutes to explain and games only take 30-40 minutes to play, there’s a wealth of strategy and replayability in Kingdom Builder that makes it a great choice for gamers and non-gamers alike. For lovers of Pandemic, or those looking for a new co-operative challenge, Flash Point: Fire Rescue is gaining a lot of attention recently, with a great theme of rescuing people from a burning building, support for 2-6 players and also variable difficulty levels (including a family-friendly version).  Newly released after a long time out of print is Dragon’s Gold, a fantasy game about saying dragons and stealing their treasure with a twist – you need to co-operate to defeat the dragons, but as soon as you do, you’ll have 60 seconds in which to agree how to divide up the loot between all the players, or everyone goes away empty handed!  Also available is another new release by the prolific but brilliant Vlaada Chvatil, Dungeon Petz!

Other recent releases available to order - Reprint of the classic Sid Sackson game Bazaar; Empires: Builder Expansion for the Age of Empires III boardgame; Revolver; Khan; Singapore; Memoir 44 Campaign Book 2; Tschack!;  Principato; Cambria; Hibernia; Medievalia; The Road to Canterbury; Upon A Salty Ocean; The Forgotten Planet;  Bulp!; African Park; Acqua Dolce; Stalag 17; Air Show; Trains, Planes and Automobiles; Puerto Rico: Anniversary Edition; Outpost; Core Worlds; Burdigala; Core Worlds; Urban Sprawl; Drako;  Pret-a-Porter; Space Maze; K2: Broad Peak expansion.

Arriving soon: – Return of the classic Wiz War;  Rex: Final Days of an Empire (based on the AH classic Dune, and set in the Twilight Imperium universe); Ascension – Storm of Souls; Star Trek Expeditions – Expansion. PRE-ORDERS FOR ALL THESE BEING TAKEN NOW!

Events

…are now over on the Events Tab. As always, if you want it and we’re not doing it, SHOUT!!

First Chapter/Rules of Play Games Night of 2012 – we’ll be back in Chapter Arts Centre in Canton from 5.30pm on Sunday 8th January, continuing our regular second Sunday gaming events.  As usual, we’ll be bringing a load of great games, helping to introduce people to the wonder of boardgames – but it’s also a great opportunity for you to bring your Christmas games along for a play! If you’d like us to bring anything, or would like to bring along your own games to play, give a shout out on our Facebook page.

New Games from the States -We’re currently waiting for arrival of loads of great new games from the U.S.  Any day soon, we should have some new Victory Point Games stock in, and new roleplaying games from Lumpley Games and Indie Press Revolution.  We’re increasingly focused on getting in new and different games which can be harder to get hold of in the U.K., so if there’s anything in particular you’re looking for, please let us know.

Deadstar Publishing - We’re very excited to announce we’re working with Deadstar Publishing, a Cardiff based independent comics publisher who are responsible for some quirky and excellent publications, including Pride, Thackeray and Rising Stars. We have a small selection here for you to browse, and we’ll be bringing you more comic goodness in 2012!

MTG News – Dark Ascension – Its getting close -  we’ll be running TWO sealed deck pre-release tournaments, one on the Saturday and one on the Sunday – and of course a special FNM on the day of release, followed by another Sealed tournament the next day. Check here for details and to RSVP!  Advance bookings are highly recommended.

Yu-Gi-Oh Order of Chaos Sneak Peek – starts at 11:00 on Saturday 14th January, with a discount on tickets bought before the 7th January. Make sure you book in advance so you don’t miss out!  For more details, click here.

World of Warcraft TCG – the World of Warcraft group’s next meeting will be on Sunday, 15th January at 12:00.  For more details, get in touch with the group on Facebook, we’d love to see you along.  We’re also hotly anticpating the new Crown of the Heavens set due for release in February, and will have new class and dungeon decks available! And, even more hot off the press, we have a provisional date for the Cardiff Realms Qualifiers – Sunday 11th March! More details on this one to follow.

A New Year Thank You From All at Rules of Play – 2011 has been our first full year, and while its been occassionally chaotic, often unpredictable and has had its ups and downs, we’ve had a great year, and we’d all like to extend our thanks to all of you for making Rules of Play such a fantastic and fun place to work.  We’re learning and (hopefully) improving all the time, and in 2012, we’ll be attempting to bring you more gaming goodness than ever before, and extending our range of the classic, the great, the unusual and the weird and the wonderful.  Thanks to all our friends and customers – new, old and future, and here’s hoping you all have a brilliant 2012.  We try and build Rules around you, so if there are things you’d like to see more of, please let us know!

Releases/Restocks/Coming soon!

New in store this week:  If its new, strategic and has a cute panda, it must be Takenoko, which we’re very excited to be getting in this week.  Highly-rated new co-operative game Flash Point: Fire Rescue is also available, and comes highly recommended for any fans of Pandemic.  After disappearing within hours of the first printing, we have restocks in of the new game by Donald X Vaccarino (of Dominion fame), Kingdom Builder.  For Pathfinder fans, the long-awaited Bestiary III is finally available.  Fantasy game Dragon’s Gold has been reprinted, and will be on the shelves.  Its also a great start of 2012 for World of Warcraft TCG players, with the 2011 Fall Class Decks and also the 2011 Dungeon Decks are at long last available.

Due to the Bank Holiday, all this week’s new releases will be with us in Rules from Wednesday, 4th January.

New releases available to order from today:  Reprint of the classic Sid Sackson game Bazaar; new expansions for Game of Thrones and Call of Cthulhu LCGs, as well as a reprint of the Game of Thrones LCG Defenders of the North Cycle expansions; Empires: Builder Expansion for the Age of Empires III boardgame; Revolver; Khan; Get Nuts; Cherokee; Singapore; new campaign settings for Pathfinder, and the Book of Vile Darkness for D&D 4th Edition.

Available in store now: Possibly the greatest Lord of the Rings game ever: War of the Ring; a new mini-expansion scenario for Settlers of Catan, Oil Springs; Dungeon Petz, and its spiritual predecessor the awesome Dungeon Lords; the new expansion for Quarriors, Rise of the Demons; Tournay, the new card game from the designers of the excellent Troyes; Forbidden Alchemy, the new expansion for Mansions of Madness; Ora & Labora, the fantastic new game from Uwe Rosenberg of Agricola and Le Havre fame; the new Dominion expansion Hinterland; the reprint of the game of dinosaur evolution (and extinction!) from Phillipe Keyaerts (designer of SmallWorld), Evo; restocks of Rules favourite Eminent Domain and the fantastic Star Trek: Fleet Captains.  We also have a great selection of games restocked, including Dominant Species, Sid Meier’s Civilization, Caylus, Navegador, El Grande, and many, many more.

Other recent releases available to order -  Memoir 44 Campaign Book 2; fun-looking fantasy card game Tschack!;  Principato; Cambria; Hibernia; Medievalia; The Road to Canterbury; Upon A Salty Ocean; The Forgotten Planet;  Bulp!; African Park; Acqua Dolce; One More Barrel, and Ristorante Italia; Stalag 17; Air Show; Trains, Planes and Automobiles; Puerto Rico: Anniversary Edition; Outpost; Core Worlds; Burdigala; Core Worlds; Urban Sprawl; 2 player fantasy strategy Drako; high fashion strategy game Pret-a-Porter; Space Maze; K2: Broad Peak expansion; Warriors and Traders.

Arriving soon: – Return of the classic Wiz War;  Rex: Final Days of an Empire (based on the AH classic Dune, and set in the Twilight Imperium universe); Ascension – Storm of Souls; Star Trek Expeditions – Expansion. PRE-ORDERS FOR ALL THESE BEING TAKEN NOW!

Events

…are now over on the Events Tab. As always, if you want it and we’re not doing it, SHOUT!!

Roleplayers – We’re continuing in our quest to bring you some of the more unusual and interesting roleplaying books from independent publishers.  In the New Year, as well as getting in restocks of the fabulous Dread, Polaris, Don’t Rest Your Head, Annalise and Fiasco, we’ll also be stocking titles such as How We Came To Live Here, Chronica Feudalis, Another Fine Mess, Colonial Gothic, Houses of the Blooded and the new live-action zombie game, Shelter in Place.  We’re planning on starting 2012 with a bang for roleplaying in Rules of Play!

Deadstar Publishing - We’re very excited to announce we’re working with Deadstar Publishing, a Cardiff based independent publisher who are responsible for some quirky, but excellent, publications, including Pride, Thackeray and Rising Stars. We have a small selection here for you to browse, and we’ll be bringing you more comic goodness in 2012!

MTG News – Dark Ascension - While TNM and FNM might be taking a break for a couple of weeks, we are busy preparing for the Dark Ascension release, and we’ll be running TWO sealed deck pre-release tournaments, one on the Saturday and one on the Sunday – and of course a special FNM on the day of release, followed by another Sealed tournament the next day. Check here for details and to RSVP!

Yu-Gi-Oh Order of Chaos Sneak Peek – starts at 11:00 on Saturday 14th January, with a discount on tickets bought before the 7th January. Make sure you book in advance so you don’t miss out!  For more details, click here.  On a sadder note, we have heard that Ian Wembridge recently had his trade folder stolen at a Yu-Gi-Oh tournament in Brighton.  Ian has been a great friend of the store, and helped really build up the Yu-Gi-Oh group in Cardiff.  I’m sure that any help that can be given in getting Ian’s collection back in tip-top form would be much appreciated.

World of Warcraft TCG – the World of Warcraft group in Rules will be meeting up on Sunday, 15th January at 12:00.  For more details, get in touch with the group on Facebook, we’d love to see you along.  We’re also hotly anticpating the new Crown of the Heavens set due for release in February (with much better support for UK releases and in-store tournaments in 2012).

In-Store Demo Games – struggling to find the right gift for Christmas?  Wherever possible, we happy to demo games that we have available in store, and to let you try them out downstairs if we don’t have any other events booked.  If there’s anything you’re particularly interested, email or Facebook us with any requests, and if we have a demo copy available, we’ll have it ready for you.

What the Rules of Play Team Are Looking Forward to Playing This Christmas – in our final Friday Rules before Christmas, we thought we’d let you know the games that we’re all hoping to get to the table this Christmas.

• Adam will be playing a little Ankh Morporkh, and a lot of Munchkin.
• Huw is looking forward to playing Dixit and PitchCar with the entire family.
• Ian is hoping to get some Myr Retrievers in his stocking apparently; but is also looking forward to playing some more Twilight Struggle and Sekigahara, both games which have been on his shelf for a while but have not seen too much table time thus far.
• Michelle will be playing Eminent Domain, her game of 2011, and is looking forward to introducing Llewellyn to Forbidden Island.
• Pip has Dixit, Carcassonne and Saboteur all packed and ready for holiday action…
• Steve is aiming to hone his skills on recently purchased Ora & Labora (of which he’s suffered some recent humiliating defeats), and getting to grips with another new game Tournay.  He’s also keeping his fingers crossed for an epic Through the Ages session.
• Tim, back in Cardiff for the Uni holidays is hoping to squeeze in a game of Eminent Domain after all the excitment about the game from everyone else in Rules.

Most importantly, we’d like to wish a very Merry Christmas to all of our customers, supporters, friends and family.  Here’s to a great gaming Christmas and New Year to all!

Releases/Restocks/Coming soon!

New in store this week: No new releases at the moment due to Christmas and New Year, but we’ve stocked up on a great selection of new and classic games for all your gaming needs!

New releases available to order from today:  .  For our role-players, there are new books for Shadowrun (Artifacts Unbound); Battletech (Jihad: Final Reckoning), Savage Worlds (Totems of the Dead: Players and Game Master’s Guide) and Pathfinder (In the Company of Monsters), and new RPG system Ghosts of Albion.

Available in store now: Possibly the greatest Lord of the Rings game ever: War of the Ring; Dungeon Petz, and its spiritual predecessor the awesome Dungeon Lords; Tournay, the new card game from the designers of the excellent Troyes; Forbidden Alchemy, the new expansion for Mansions of Madness; Ora & Labora, the fantastic new game from Uwe Rosenberg of Agricola and Le Havre fame; the new Dominion expansion Hinterland; the reprint of the very cool-looking dinosaur evolution strategy game from Phillipe Keyaerts (designer of SmallWorld), Evo; restocks of Rules favourite Eminent Domain and the fantastic Star Trek: Fleet Captains.  We also have a great selection of games restocked, including Dominant Species, Sid Meier’s Civilization, Caylus, Navegador, El Grande, and many, many more.

Other recent releases available to order -  Memoir 44 Campaign Book 2; fun-looking fantasy card game Tschack!;  Principato; Cambria; Hibernia; Medievalia; The Road to Canterbury; Upon A Salty Ocean; The Forgotten Planet;  Bulp!; African Park; Acqua Dolce; One More Barrel, and Ristorante Italia; Stalag 17; Air Show; Trains, Planes and Automobiles; Puerto Rico: Anniversary Edition; Outpost; Core Worlds; Burdigala; Core Worlds; Urban Sprawl; 2 player fantasy strategy Drako; high fashion strategy game Pret-a-Porter; Space Maze; K2: Broad Peak expansion; Warriors and Traders.

Arriving soon: – Return of the classic Wiz War;  Rex: Final Days of an Empire (based on the AH classic Dune, and set in the Twilight Imperium universe); Dungeon Petz (a follow-up to favourite Dungeon Lords); Ascension – Storm of Souls; Star Trek Expeditions – Expansion.PRE-ORDERS FOR ALL THESE BEING TAKEN NOW!

Events

…are now over on the Events Tab. As always, if you want it and we’re not doing it, SHOUT!!

CCGs at Rules of Play - We’ll be taking a break from our usual Thursday and Friday Night Magic, and Saturday Yu-Gi-Oh tournaments in the run up to Christmas, but we’ll be back in full force in the New Year! If you’d like to come along to Rules of Play in the interim for some more casual play in the interim, then you’re more than welcome.  Our local World of Warcraft card game group are planning on unleashing a shiny new copy of the Assault on Icecrown Citadel raid deck in store soon, so if you’d like to join in the raid, contact them via Facebook.

MTG News – Dark Ascension - While TNM and FNM might be taking a break for a few weeks, we are busy preparing for the Dark Ascension release, and we’ll be running TWO sealed deck pre-release tournaments, one on the Saturday and one on the Sunday – and of course a special FNM on the day of release, followed by another Sealed tournament the next day. Check here for details and to RSVP!

In-Store Demo Games – struggling to find the right gift for Christmas?  Wherever possible, we happy to demo games that we have available in store, and to let you try them out downstairs if we don’t have any other events booked.  If there’s anything you’re particularly interested, email or Facebook us with any requests, and if we have a demo copy available, we’ll have it ready for you.

Christmas Gift List Service - get in touch if you’d like us to track any Christmas gift wishes for you, allowing your friends and family to get you the games you want, with no fear of duplication.  Also don’t forget that we can post any gifts for the cost of Royal Mail postage, and take orders for any gifts via phone (029 2022 1695) or via email at games@rulesofplay.co.uk.

Christmas Recommendations - this week we’re focussing on great Christmas gifts and treats for gamers, with a selection of games which, although accessible, have enough depth to them to please even the experienced gamer. New out this month is Ora & Labora, from the designer of the great Acricola.  In Ora & Labora, you head up a Medieval monastery, in which you have to make strategic use of available land and resources in order to acquire buildings and create goods for profit – a fabulous game with deep strategies.  For those looking for a very satisfying and deep Civilisation-type game, we have restocks in of the magnificent Through the Ages, which has become a true modern classic of the genre.  For fans of the books and TV series, The Game of Thrones board game is now available in its new second edition, and is very highly recommended.  For more traditional fantasy fare, the Dungeons & Dragons boardgames Castle Ravenloft and Legend of Drizzt provide excellent co-operative dungeon-crawling adventures for 2-5 players with tons of replayability, excellent models and a streamlined game system that allows for a complete adventure to be played in around 60-90 minutes.  For those seeking epic yarns of adventure and derring-do (with tongue firmly planted in cheek), Fortune and Glory provides pulp action heroics and devilish Nazi plots to unleash powers of ancient artefacts!  Finally, for all those with their eyes to the stars, the classic Twilight Imperium, or the new wonderful Star Trek: Fleet Captains provide enough space adventure to last any gamer well into the New Year and beyond.

Don’t forget to drop in or give us a quick call if there’s anything you want reserved or ordered so we can make sure you get what you want for Christmas!

Releases/Restocks/Coming soon!

New in store this week: A great Christmas treat for Lord of the Rings fans, the 2nd edition of the fantastic War of Ring will be in stock this week.  Settlers of Catan fans are also in for a treat, with the new mini-expansion Catan Scenarios: Oil Springs.  We also have the follow-up game to the much-loved Dungeon Lords, Dungeon Petz, which we’ll sure will be another massive hit. While not new, its been unavailable for so long that we’re all very excited to be getting it back in stock is 7 Wonders, the card drafting civilisation-building game.

New releases available to order from today:  Memoir 44 Campaign Book 2; fun-looking fantasy card game Tschack!;  Principato; Cambria and Hibernia.  For our role-players, there are new books for Shadowrun (Artifacts Unbound); Battletech (Jihad: Final Reckoning), Savage Worlds (Totems of the Dead: Players and Game Master’s Guide) and Pathfinder (In the Company of Monsters), and new RPG system Ghosts of Albion.

Available in store now:  Tournay, the new card game from the designers of the excellent Troyes; Forbidden Alchemy, the new expansion for Mansions of Madness; Ora & Labora, the fantastic new game from Uwe Rosenberg of Agricola and Le Havre fame; the new Dominion expansion Hinterland;  both new Ticket to Ride map collections are available: Ticket to Ride India (which comes with the Switzerland map for 2-3 players) and Ticket to Ride Asia (with a 6 player team variant); the reprint of the very cool-looking dinosaur evolution strategy game from Phillipe Keyaerts (designer of SmallWorld), Evo; restocks of Rules favourite Eminent Domain; the highly-loved Dungeon Lords; and the fantastic Star Trek: Fleet Captains.

Other recent releases available to order -  Medievalia; The Road to Canterbury; Upon A Salty Ocean; The Forgotten Planet;  Bulp!; African Park; Acqua Dolce; One More Barrel, and Ristorante Italia; Stalag 17; Air Show; Trains, Planes and Automobiles; Puerto Rico: Anniversary Edition; Outpost; Core Worlds; Burdigala; Core Worlds; Urban Sprawl; 2 player fantasy strategy Drako; high fashion strategy game Pret-a-Porter; Space Maze; K2: Broad Peak expansion; Warriors and Traders, and the finally re-available Dominant Species.

Arriving soon: – The incredible-looking game of space exploration and conquest Eclipse (which sold out very quickly upon its US release); return of the classic Wiz War;  Rex: Final Days of an Empire (based on the AH classic Dune, and set in the Twilight Imperium universe); Dungeon Petz (a follow-up to favourite Dungeon Lords); Ascension – Storm of Souls; Star Trek Expeditions – Expansion.PRE-ORDERS FOR ALL THESE BEING TAKEN NOW!

Events

…are now over on the Events Tab. As always, if you want it and we’re not doing it, SHOUT!!