Saturday 21 January 2012

Unboxing 'Dwarf Kings Hold: Ancient Grudge'

  
  
The third in the much loved series

Well it turned up yesterday. But I was too busy erm... unboxing it to actually put anything up on the blog. Sorry. It won't happen again. I promise... well until the next time it happens. As I'm sure most of you are aware, I've got a little bit of a soft spot for this series of games. They inexpensive, not overly fussy or complex and quite frankly straight up fun. They're a good way to waste an evening if you ask me, and if you have kids a pretty good way to get them into the hobby. So the much anticipated third box is very welcome. Although my friends and I already pretty much knew what to expect from it as we'd all had a sneaky peak...

I'm really not sure about some of those names of playtesters... look a bit iffy!


Let's see what's in the box... it's not as packed as the previous offerings.

But that's not so bad as it £10 cheaper too. Here look at a Dwarf spru.

Now are these Zombies or Ghouls?


Nope those were definitely Zombies, these are the Ghouls! I think.

Don't like the Undead? How about some poncy elf scouts then?

A first for the DKH boxed sets, a metal figure. Sorry about the lighting.

The all important rulebook. Don't adjust your monitors it's still black & White

The solitary sheet of floor tiles and counters

So I already know what to expect from this as I was playtesting it for about a couple of weeks or so. So wat can you expect? Well in broad strokes it's about turning the Dwarf Kings Hold series of games into a sort of skirmish game on a board. It mixes things up with new troop types for the already announced races. It also allows you to pit the various races against each other, with some army building. It's what most DKH fans have been asking for and so Jake has given it us. The review shouldn't be too long coming now I've got it in my hands on it. Just a quick note though, I'm actually very, very impressed with the metal dwarf berserker, it's honestly a quite nice sculpt. Especially as it's a single piece. Any who I'm off now to do something important... erm... and really interesting for you all to read... yes that's it. Peace out!

21 comments:

  1. Stop claiming credit for the kittehs hard work.
    Surely they deserved a playtesting credit.
    :P

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    1. The cats had nothing to do with it!!! Although Tybbs has already tested the strength of the metal dwarf by batting it across my living room floor... the little shi... sugar plumb fairly. Luckily it appears to be Tybbs proof.

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  3. Is the playtester Chris Tapper previously an employee of GW Birmingham do you know?

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    1. There's a few former B'ham GW staff members on that list. That Jody Barton is one as well as that Ashley Hunt!!! All of them Cads and bounders to a man!!! No to be trusted any of them.

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    2. Woo hoo I'm famous, @ baragAsh do i know you?

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    3. Chris it's probably your mom trying to make you feel good about yourself again!!! :P

      ... My mom does it too.

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    4. Lol, no I worked with Chris and Jody at Brum 2001-03 whilst I was at uni ;-)

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    5. Well Baragash I am Jody and Unique Geek is Chris. So who pray tell are you?

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    6. Sorry I seemed to have missed this. Is that Sami who was transferred to B'ham over the summer once from another store when he was back from Uni? Because if so I can't remember who you are... Oh wait hang on :P

      How are you doing and what are you up to now?

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    7. S'ok, took me like a week to respond ;-)

      Yes indeed, though I was at B'ham Uni and transferred away in the summer ;-)

      I returned to London and joined the UK's vast ranks of retail management accountants in the end (though I just moved into media).

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    8. Yep! That's it. I knew it was something like that. lol. What you doing in media now? Not working for Rupert Murdoch I hope!!!

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    9. Same thing, mostly revenue and profitability analysis (I don't do much financial accounting thankfully, though now the missus has her own business I have to do it at home.... :-( )

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    10. Heya Sami, send me an email at TheFrontlineGamerBlog@Gmail.com rather than having a chat on my Blog comments.

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  4. So if I had to choose, which should I get for me and my 11 yr old son to play: DKH or Gears of War?

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    1. Oooh that's a doozy of a question. I' not entirely sure how to answer that as both games actually are potentially pretty good products for an 11 year old.

      I don't think either game has overly complex mechanics, but on ease of play and understanding I'd say DKH:DR was the game that my own nephews would grasp quickest. But it's two player only.

      Gears is up to four player and if there are lots of potential friends to play it with that's a massive plus point. Plus if he's already familiar with the Gears universe he'll love the board game.

      Is this as a hobby introduction product Paul? Because if so I tend to lean towards DKH as it's really more of a 'hobby introducer' than Gears is. It has plastic mini's you'll need to put together. It introduces many concepts you'll see within gaming in the wider hobby. It's what marketing types would call a 'gateway product'. I.e. get 'em hooked so they spend more money. So if that's your aim it's not a bad option.

      However, my nephews have had more fun with Gears of War, they know the computer games, they know the characters and they love the fact they have little toy soldiers of Fenix, Dom and the the Cole Train... I know, no love for Baird! So it all really depends on what your 11 year old is like, and who his opponents and potential gaming buddies are and how many. I know that's nor really a definitive answer, but it's the best I've got. Sorry.

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  5. Thanks for that reply. No its not an intro game, he us already a veteran Space Hulker, Blood Bowler and many other games so he can handle rules and tactical problems relatively well. I suppose I want something different to those games, and DKH would seem to be fairly similar to Space Hulk. Then again Gears seems to be as well...

    cheers
    Paul

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    1. Nope Gears actually isn't that similar. The card mechanic means it actually plays out more like a skirmish game than a board game. It's actually quite hard to explain because the board isn't split into grids, it's split into areas and you can take cover in these or stand out in the open. It's really quite different to games like Space Hulk. Plus it really truly is great fun, especially when there are four of you. Plus you can play it solo.

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  6. I love the sound of being able to pitch warbands against eachother. I kind of sounds like the Kings of War version of Mordheim.

    Hurry up with the review! :p

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    1. I've got the review mostly finished, and I did playtest it for Jake. Thing is I want to get a few more games in and right now I've burnt all my gaming buddies out playtesting other things for other people so... they're not really up for many board games right now. I'll get round to it though!!! Soon...

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