My Hero Academia has revitalized the Universus system, thanks to the crossover appeal from fans of the anime. In fact, the Jasco booth at Gen Con was constantly full with people taking demos of the game. For better or worse, the meta also moves quickly, with a character considered useless jumping to high usage in a matter of weeks.
With this in mind, I offer this little deck tech. It is not tournament viable, at least not now, but should work well for casual or local play using a very high-risk/high-reward style. The deck is capable of throwing out several high-damage, nearly unblockable attacks each turn, but only if all the pieces are in place. Without further ado, the list.
The 55th annual Gen Con convention is in the books and gamers across the world are slowly recovering. When not at the booth, several of the BCW staff wandered the exhibit hall, looking for fun and interesting games. Here is a sampling of what we found.
Andrew enjoyed It’s a Wonderful Kingdom, a 1-2 player card drafting game from Lucky Duck Games. It uses a “I split you choose mechanic” where you draft cards to either build or pitch for resources. The layers of strategies plus the addition of the quests make for a challenging, yet fun, fast game.
Rick found Chonky Donkey appealing. It is a 3-8 player party game where the goal is to not laugh. The player flips over the top answer card and reads it out loud. The other players then pick one of their question cards from their hands and reads the question card out loud to match with the answer card from the active player. If the active player laughs, they win no points but if they can control the laughter, they will score a point.
For myself, my pick is Valiant Wars from Strange Machine Games. The game is a mix of deck-building strategy and press-your-luck gameplay. Players generate gold to buy soldiers and champions, and use swords to win victory point granting locations. The game also becomes harder to win the closer to victory you are, which reduces blowout games.
This year was a return to form, with over 50,000 gamers filling downtown Indianapolis for the best four days in gaming. As usual, the convention was fun but exhausting. We hope to see everyone next year as well.
Marvel United is a cooperative board game in which 1 to 4 players each represent one of the many heroes from the Marvel universe, trying to stop the schemes of the chosen villain. Teamwork is necessary, as everything you do effects what the other players can do on their turns.
The game begins with the villain taking the first turn. The players place the top card of the Master Plan deck face-up on the table. This is the start of the Storyline. The first player draws a card then plays a card face up in the Storyline. Subsequent turns are similar, but players can perform actions on the previous 2 hero cards in addition to their own. Heroes win if they complete 2 of the 3 missions and deal enough damage to knock the villain out. The players lose if the villain’s plot is successful or if they run out of Master Plan cards. They also lose if a Hero runs out of cards in their hand and deck. You can find more information on the official site.
If you want to display your favorite sports or game cards on a wall, BCW Interlocking Card Frames are an amazing system. Each frame has a black border and looks great individually, but it’s the interlocking system that makes these frames special. With the turn of two screws, each frame can connect with a neighboring frame, allowing you to form a grid for however many cards you want to display.
2022 Gen Con attendees can visit the BCW Supplies/Spectrum booth (2721) during the exhibit hall hours to purchase a Gen Con Dice Bag. These officially licensed Gen Con Dice Bags are extra large, and can comfortably hold 350 dice (50 sets). Your dice will stay secure in the bag with drawstring cords. The golden stitched Gen Con logo makes this a special souvenir from your 2022 trip.
The Gen Con Dice Bag is a traditional style bag, designed to sit flat on the table either opened or closed. While the bag does feature strong stitching and sturdy materials, we do not recommend using the dice bag as a last ditch improvised weapon for when you fail your perception check.
Get one for $15, or FREE with a $75 purchase at the BCW Supplies/Spectrum booth (2721).
This blog series is inspired by Rob Fleming, the protagonist of Nick Hornby’s novel “High Fidelity,” originally published in 1995, and the film, Broadway, and TV adaptations that followed. Rob, and his trusty employees Dick and Barry, are known for creating Top 5 lists for almost anything, but especially music. We encourage you to play along by commenting on your own Top 5 or sharing a Top 5 subject matter you would like to see in a future post.
Since the introduction of Magic the Gathering, dozens of other games entered the CCG space, each hoping to take a piece of the market. This was especially true in the ’90s, when there seemed to be a new game premiering every month. Sadly, not all games found lasting success, with many cancelled after a single release. Fortunately, even when a game loses official support, it is still enjoyable to collect and play. To a degree, they have advantages over currently produced games.
Music fans can rejoice. Record Store Day‘s June 18 drop date is almost upon us. This Saturday date is a follow-up to the main event, which took place on April 23, bringing out the rest of the releases originally slated for April that didn’t make the shelves because of manufacturing delays.
As has been widely reported, the growth of new vinyl releases has put a strain on existing pressing plants, causing delays on pre-orders and pushing back independent releases for months. This year, even Record Store Day was not immune.
Of course, the good news for both collectors and independent businesses is June 18 marks another chance to celebrate record stores with a batch of exclusive, limited, and first-release titles on vinyl and CD. Be sure to check the list before you hit up your favorite store.
In the meantime, here are five of the most anticipated music releases to look for on Saturday.
There’s a familiar mantra among crate diggers when they pull a classic record from a bin to discover a well-worn jacket.
“Well, you play the record, not the cover, right?”
Yes, vinyl condition is everything in the hobby, but truth be told, most collectors would prefer that the jacket be as pristine as the record itself, especially when it comes to ringwear.
Ringwear is the visible imprint of the vinyl disc shape on both the cover and the back of a record jacket that occurs over time. While it is most often caused by improper shelf storage, the repetitive nature of pulling a record out and then returning it to the jacket can also contribute to ringwear.
Unsleeved LPs with ringwear and rough edges on the jacketContinue reading →
If you plan to ship vinyl records, extra care should be taken to make sure the record, the outer jacket, and the inner sleeve arrive at their destination in the same condition as when they left. Whether you’re shipping 12-inch or 7-inch records, BCW Supplies has several shipping accessories to help you ship vinyl safely.
12 Inch / 33 RPM Paper Inner Sleeves, Square Corners, With Hole, Polylined
The first step is to examine the record to make sure it is clean. You don’t want dust or pet fur on your record or inside the inner sleeve. If the original inner sleeve is damaged or worn, slip that into the jacket by itself and put the record in a new replacement inner sleeve before shipping.
