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======GAME REVIEWS======

A Game without reviews is lonely indeed.\\

======STANDARD FORMS======

Game Name:\\
Game Author:\\
Geonra Type: (SF, Fantasy, Historical, etc.)\\
Mechanics Type: (Board, Card, War, Dice, etc.)\\
Name of Reviewer:\\
Date of Review:\\
Link to Game Rules:\\
Time To Play:\\
Target Audience:\\
Number of Players:\\
Overall Rating: (1-10)\\
Complexity: (Playability)\\
Historical Accuracy: (If applicable)\\
Game Mechanics: (Description, Analysis)\\
Novelty Factor:\\
Game Flaws:\\
Strong Points:\\
Cardset Availibility:\\
Difficulty to Make:\\
Playtesting Results:\\
Game Winning Strategies:\\

======The Art of Review Writing======

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geekforum.php3?action=viewthread&threadid=59278

======REVIEWS======

http://www.gis.net/~pldr/wsg.html    Warpspawn Games\\
http://www.angelfire.com/games2/warpspawn/RevIntro.html     Introduction\\
[[RevIOD|Review of Island of D]]\\
[[RevHAH|Review of Heroes & Hordes]]\\
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/16762  Warp Skirmish\\
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/3761   Warp Quest\\
http://grognard.com/reviews1/march.txt   March on Rome\\
http://www.angelfire.com/games2/warpspawn/AW.html    Ancient Warfare (Bottom of Page)\\

===== FEATURED REVIEW: Island of D =====
  * Game Author: //Jack D// 
  * Genre Type: //Fantasy// 
  * Mechanics Type: //Card & Dice// 
  * Name of Reviewer: //Marcelo Paschoalin// 
  * Date of Review: //May 24th 2005// 
  * Link to Game Rules: [[http://www.geocities.com/islandofd]] 
  * Time To Play: //50 min.// 
  * Target Audience: //Fantasy gamers, dice-rollers, roleplayers// 
  * Number of Players: //Solo// 
  * Overall Rating: //6 - (could be 7 or even 8 with better graphics and improved rulebook)// 
  * Complexity: //Easy to learn, but you need to refer to the rulebook several times on your first games.// 
  * Description of Game Mechanics: //Choose a random hero, pick one of two random quests, face random events, fight random monsters, improve your hero, face more monsters, fight the ultimate enemy - all in 32 game days.// 
  * Analysis of Game Mechanics: //Ok, the main word here is //random//. The game is a dicefest, and I mean it: you'll roll the dice for almost everything... and when you don't roll the bones you'll draw a random card. Surely there's room for strategy - if you know the odds - but on a bad day you may have your game ruined.// 
  * Novelty Factor: //There's a great replay value, as the quests you draw are always random (but you may choose which quest to pursue from those drawn), but sooner or later you'll find yourself on a fighting-improving_your_hero-fighting routine. It seems similar to console RPGs, where you keep facing enemies to gain experience to improve your character, but the game mechanics prevent //overloading//, by forcing the player to rush when the time is about to expire.// 
  * Game Flaws: //Another word for the game is //fighting//, as you'll need to defeat your enemies in combat to win gold and improve your character. That means //intelectual// characters will suffer a lot, as the lack of fighting skills is the doom of any character.// 
  * Strong Points: //This is a game that is begging for expansions! It's greatly expandable and this is always good thing. New quests, new locations, new events, new characters, new monsters... everything could be added to improve the gaming experience.// 
  * Cardset Availibility: //It's online, but the graphics need improvement... But you could play this game without any hard printing, as many of the cards (locations, for example) are just a collection of random tables. You could simply roll a die and check a table instead roll a die and check a card.// 
  * Difficulty to Make: //Print the front, print the back, cut, glue the back and the front of the cards together and you're good to go.// 
  * Playtesting Results: //On my first game I've had a terrible experience: my Merchant died on the third day when trying to complete the Guildmaster quest. That shown me you need a strong figthing hero to stand a chance. My second game was much better... My Knight was able to complete his two first quests without much worry (I've drawn Alchemist's House and Evil Magic Mirror), but he'd struggled a little to complete the Globorc Hideout quest; without much time left (30 days had passed), he begun the ultimate quest, facing all the peril that his great enemy, the Black Knight, sent to him; finally, on the third day of the fifth week, the Black Knight fell... My Knight's result was 235 points (100 from the winning, 75 from 15 gold he had, and 60 from the 3 days after the deadline).// 
  * Game Winning Strategies: //Great offense and great defense are a must, as you'll face tough enemies on the end, and always carry a potion and a horse, as you'll need them. If you think you'll lose a combat, run away, and if you're given the choice to fight or not choose the safest way.//

===== REVIEW: Heroes & Hordes =====
  * Game Author: //Lloyd Krasner// 
  * Genre Type: //Fantasy// 
  * Mechanics Type: //Card Game (No Dice)// 
  * Name of Reviewer: //Brian Peterson// 
  * Date of Review: //May 27th 2005// 
  * Link to Game Rules: [[http://www.angelfire.com/games2/warpspawn/HH.html]] 
  * Time To Play: //1 to 2 hrs.// 
  * Target Audience: //Fantasy gamers and gamers who can enjoy CCG game mechanics minus the really cool graphics// 
  * Number of Players: //Solo// 
  * Overall Rating: //8 - (No graphical cardset provided, rating based entirely on game mechanics and theme.)// 
  * Complexity: //Easy, requires basic math skills.// 
  * Description of Game Mechanics: //Pick a card from the deck. If it is a hero (man, elf, or dwarf) add it to the corresponding army (some cards allow you to choose from multiple armies). If it is a monster (goblin, undead, or dragon) add it to the corresponding horde (some cards allow you to choose from multiple hordes). Once a horde grows to 5 cards the horde attacks, you choose which horde attacks which army. Heroes and monsters have attributes such as (magic, bows, troops, etc.) which add to your force values. The more cards you have with the same attributes typically you will get greater bonuses. You may use multiple heroes cards to destroy a single monster (so that the force of the heroes equals or exceeds the monster) or use a single hero to destroy multiple monster cards (if the heroes force is greater than or equal to the sum of monster force values). You continue until you either destroy all of the monsters. If you can not destroy all of the monsters your army is completely destroyed. Events can cause hordes to attack sooner than expected, can allow you can destroy a monster card, summon heroes from the deck, resurrect dead heroes, etc. At the end of the game you count the number of times an army was completely destroyed, this determines whether you win, tie or lose. H// 
  * Analysis of Game Mechanics: //It is a lot of fun battling the hordes with your heroes. This is a good example of a game that works without dice. There is enough strategy involved to keep the game interesting. The game is quite long, the event cards add considerable excitement and can change the flow of the game. Overall the game mechanics are very good.// 
  * Novelty Factor: //Mining for heroes is a nice twist. Summoning and resurecting heroes is also pretty cool. I like the theme heroic armies versus hordes of monsters. Grouping monsters by type and giving them attributes like troop, etc. works well.// 
  * Game Flaws: //I think the game is a little too long and the hero armies can at times get quite large and hard to manage.  When summoning a hero or resurrecting a hero the game can slow down a bit because it takes a while to sort through all of the cards. Rather than having spies look through the deck it might be more fun to allow them to affect the play: An example might be to allow them to peek at the next 6 cards and choose whether to leave the deck the way it is or reshuffle it.// 
  * Strong Points: //See analysis of game mechanics and novelty factor. I would definitely recommend this game.//
  * Cardset Availability: //Used Peter Cobcroft's PHP card generator at [[http://www.curufea.com/games/warpspawn/]]. Used the PDF format so that all cards lined up and was able to cut all sheets at the same time with a paper trimmer. The small cards took a lot less table space which was nice when the armies became large.//
  * Difficulty to Make: //Easy with PHP card generator. Setup time is 5 to 10 minutes using this method.// 
  * Playtesting Results: //Usually if you die, you die early. Near the end you may get armies that are huge and there is really little chance of losing. After 3 games I won twice and lost once. Then I started playing modified versions of the game with diplomacy cards (for hero alliances), added "FLY" as an attribute to heroes and monsters that can fly and added "LARGE" to monsters that were unusually large. Renamed cards with force +2, "LEADER" cards, and created new card types using existing attributes (will be described under the variations section, i.e. Assassin on event cards that took out any one monster card), and changed spy rules.//
  * Game Winning Strategies: //Take out the monster cards that add to force of all other monster cards first and preserve your hero cards that add to force for all other hero cards. Add hero cards with multiple army options to the army with the highest force.//
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