White Wizzard: The Rebirth of 80's Metal

I think music stations on cable and online are great because I find bands who are not played on local radion stations. Late one night while painting minatures for gaming (saving this for another blog) some music from the band White Wizzard (WW) played on the heavy music cable station. I just glanced at the TV to see the name of the group and figured they must have been a little known band from the 1980's since I had not heard of them and they had an "older" sound.

After doing some research I found out WW is a fairly new group. Their first album, "White Wizzard" was released by Earache Records in 2008, quickly followed up by the release of "High Speed GTO" in 2009. These two albums are basically identical, but the song order is re-arranged in their second release. In 2010 they released another album "Over the Top", with a new lead singer, Wyatt "Screaming Demon" Anderson. I was anxious to find these CDs to listen to the full experience of this band.

I finally came across a copy of "Over the Top" at Cheapo Records, as I could not find their CDs at any of my usual places. Out of the great metal bands they remind me the most of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden, but they do have their own unique style (and really, no one can replicate those two classic bands). WW's strengths are their lead singer and lead guitar riffs, which are the two things I like most about 80's metal. "Screaming Demon" lives up to his nickname on most tracks, as the lead guitarist, Erik Kluiber, thrashes along. The lyrics are fairly simple, but I'm okay with this, as I can at least understand the words compared to some of the modern groups I enjoy listening too.

Overall I enjoyed the "Over the Top" album. There is a consistent sound throughout most of the songs, except "Iron Goddess of Vengeance." This song has more instrumentals and is a little lighter than the others. I am really looking forward to music from this band. My hopes are they can continue to put out the same type of sound they have captured on this album, while improving as well.

If you want a good laugh check out their video for "Over the Top" (see link below). Once again they follow the 80's path with a cheesy video, including a wizard (what a surprise), ladies, and bad acting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfnIBnz2_zw

D&D "Red Box"

Yesterday I noticed an advertisement on Facebook for a new Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) product; the Starter Set with updated rules. Normally I would not have given this a second look but the red box instantly took me back to a simpler time; my Junior High years....

Ryan "Ol River" introduced me to D&D and a few of our friends (Bubba and Sinnbadd) at his house, using the classic starter set in a red box. Until this point I had never heard of role-playing games and was excited to give it a try. We spent many days guiding our characters through dungeons, fighting horrible creatures, gaining power and wealth. This was my first taste of "real gaming", other than Monopoly, Sorry and other family style games;

I have been hooked ever since.

After reading the advertisement I had mixed feelings. As I stated previously, seeing this updated version reminded me of my childhood and all the good times I had with my friends then. On the other hand it seems like a cheap way for Wizards of the Coast to suck role-players into the 4th edition rules. Then again, the original starter set was how I got my start into role-playing games and other non-traditional games so it probably isn't all bad.

Overall I think this is a great marketing strategy for Wizards of the Coast. The starter set will most likely bring in new gamers as well as "old school" gamers wanting to relive the glory days. I am also considering playing D&D with my daughter and this would be a perfect way to get her into the game.

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/redbox.aspx

The original Dice from:

Basic Box Set circa 1983 (the Red one)

&

The Advanced Set circa 1983 (the Blue one)

Small World, Big Shoes.

Ok. So the first entry on the blog should be about something geeky...something, that as a geek , I love and probably spend too much time doing.
While there are a lot of things that qualify for that honor, few of them come close to Small World on the iPad.

I've had my iPad for several weeks. I have six screens worth of apps, and fully 3 of those are games. Small World, by Days of Wonder was my first purchase and remains my most played game on the device.

A little about Small World and it's publisher:

Days of Wonder is a French-American game company.

Their largest and most commercial success is Ticket To Ride (a game I'm not overly fond of).

Their other games include;
Memoir '44 (mostly a 2 player tactical WW II game)
Shadows Over Camelot (an innovative co-op game)
Pirate's Cove (who doesn't like a pirate game?)
Cleopatra and the Society of Architects
(a set collecting game about building a temple)

Days of wonder is known for quality and their games are often quite family friendly. They are also know for their online gaming community. Several of their more popular games are available for play over the internet, internationally. All of these online games are realized quite successfully and
often mirror their physical counterparts exactly.

Enter Small World.
A reprint, actually, Small World was an instant hit in the hobby community. With a slew of analytical and themeless games being imported form around the globe, Small World immediately stood out for it's game play and humorous Fantasy theme.

From the Days of Wonder Site:
Small World, the fun, zany, light-hearted civilization board game!
Designed by Philippe Keyaerts as a fantasy follow-up to his award-winning Vinci™, Small World is inhabited by a zany cast of characters such as dwarves, wizards, amazons, giants, orcs and even humans; who use their troops to occupy territory and conquer adjacent lands in order to push the other races off the face of the earth.

Essential Small World is a conquest game in which you must manage a modest amount of units over the span of several turns… The true innovation here (from the predecessor Vinci) is the fact that no one player can hope to last the entire game with a single 'race' of units. Players must time the decline of their active races in hopes to start fresh with a new 'army.'
All said, I love Small World as a board game.

Enter Small World for the iPad.
The iPad version of the game is restricted to 2 players and is fully realized with all the great art from it's physical counterpart.

Price: $4.99
As iPad apps go this is one of the more expensive games, though it is no where near the most expensive. App owners may also buy the expansion (there are two) for $1.99 each.
For a total of $8.97, I have completely been satisfied and eagerly await future expansions and enhancements. Days of Wonder really hit a great balance with its pricing.

Gameplay:
The game play is phenomenal. Not only does the computer take care of all the mundane movement, allocation and removal of the multitude of pieces in the game, it also capture the quirky feel of the game with it's animations and sound. New users can fumble their way through the AI with minimal trouble as many of the actions you take feel natural and mimc the way you would play the physical game.

The computer is also a tough opponent at times. There have been a couple of updates to the app to improve the AI such that it most accurately mimics a human player. In truth, I have learned a lot about some of the subtle strategies in the game from watching how the computer uses each of the combinations in race/special ability.

The only thing I find myself wanting is a difficulty setting that could turn the AI's skill level up or down. Also, the game has the ability to allow players to select a sound track from their iTunes library, but if you have a lot of music, it can be quite daunting to find the songs you really want to hear.

Overall, I think this is the best game available on the iPad. Days of Wonder has really set the bar high for what I expect from a ported board game.

If you own an iPad and enjoy boardgames, I really believe you'll like this game. I have played this game well over 100 times, and still look forward to playing more.

If you don't own an iPad, I encourage you to pick up the physical boardgame. It's quickly become a classic and will be enjoyed by many families for years to come.

Check out this video:

•Small World Video