Christmas for the Gamer with No Time!

Let’s face it, we’re all pretty buys nowandays – and gaming can be a pretty time consumuing hobby.  So what does the concerned significant other/family member/friend/random stranger get that gamer in their life who lacks the time called for their beloved hobby?  Never fear!  We have put together a comprehensive list of the best gifts for the gamer without any time!

Best Miniature Game for the Time Strapped Gamer – Monsterpocalypse
And we don’t mean collectible miniature game – we mean miniature game period.  Monsterpocalypse packs the punch of a traditional miniature game with deep rules and some serious tactical depth, but without the hours spent painting your army.  This one is so deep and has so much complexity, that if you’re looking for the next D&D miniatures, look elsewhere.  On the other hand, if you’re used to playing Warhammer or Warmachine/Hordes but haven’t been able to make time for building and painting, then Monsterpocalypse is for you.

Best RPG for the Time Strapped Gamer – Dark Heresy
Good golly, I love this game.  Dark Heresy is a great RPG of the old-school kind that many of us grew up with combined with a setting that nearly every gamer knows.  Dark Heresy delivers a rich setting that builds on games you’re gamer is probably already familiar with combined with a tight rules set.  To top it all off, Fantasy Flight is doing an outstanding job of supporting this game and has really churned out some great content, including frequent adventures so you can jump right into the gaming.

Best Card Game for the Time Strapped Gamer – Living Call of Cthulhu
Fantasy Flight continues to rock our world with the re-release of their Call of Cthulhu CCG in a non-collectible format.  For those who haven’t played the game before, CoC is an accessible game with a number of mechanics that have been adopted by other CCGs over the past few years.  But now you can have it with pre-made decks designed to deliver a good play experience.  The CoC living game is a great option for people looking to have the traditional CCG experience without the time required to collect, sort and build decks!

Best Board Game for the Time Strapped Gamer – Neuroshima Hex
Neuroshima Hex started out the year as the hot new game – until a little something called Agricola came along.  Put that aside for a moment – if you’re looking for a deep game that plays quikly and won’t take an hour to explain to new players, Neuroshima Hex is for you.  This is a great little tatical combat game based on tile laying.  With some great art, a really interesting theme and components that allow for special rules without creating confusion, Neuroshima Hex can be just the thing for your time frustrated board game (and with the new re-release from Z-Man games, its never been easier to find).

Best Accessory for the Time Strapped Gamer – Game Mastery Maps
Paizo has been running on all cylinders this year, but the Game Mastery line has been amazing.  This line has a ton of aids for your favorite roleplayer, but the maps have been outstanding.  These high quality, dry erase friendly maps feature some great looking terrain with grids already printed on them.  If you’ve been looking for an easy way to manage combat in your RPG, then you can’t go wrong with these little gems (and at $13 for a pack of 2, they can definitely work as stocking stuffers).

Best Non-Blog Media for the Time Strapped Gamer – D6 Generation
I had originally though about nominating a magazine in this category, but the fact of the matter is, none of the magazines left on the market really do justice to the gamer with a broad set of interests.  Scrye comes close, but let’s face it, the magazine format is just too slow and they’ve more or less abandoned in-depth articles.  So where does a gamer get depth and breadth?  Check out the D6 Generation – this biweekly podcast pumps out 2-3 hours of gaming goodness.  With a good mix of the serious and the silly, these guys cover nearly every type of game you can think of.  Combine this breadth with industry interviews, detailed reviews and a real love of gaming, and I think you’ll find that the D6 Generation fills that special hole in your gaming life.

Oh yeah…and best blog…do I really need to mention that?