Taktika is a title by indy publisher Sky Castle Games.  The game is a dexterity war game, kind of like Crokinole meets a squad-based battle game.

Each player is given Infantry, Archer and Cavalry Disks to deploy onto any smooth table with the intent of wiping out your opponent’s forces.  The kicker is how each unit attacks.

• Infantry attack by either ricocheting into an opposing piece or by two different Infantry striking the same opposing piece.
• Archers attack by sliding two different Archers within one disk width of the target (without touching… they can’t fight hand to hand.)
• Cavalry attack by knocking the opposing piece off the table completely.

Taktika also comes with four double sided ‘Special’ pieces to be used in scenario play.  The game comes with two, and one is currently available online. There are also several expansions in the works that will introduce new unit types, specials and scenarios.

The table is yours,

Phil

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AEG is currently working on Tomb’s first expansion, Tomb:  Cryptmaster.  This stand-alone expansion may also be integrated with the original game for even more intense tomb raiding action.

As before, Tomb:  Cryptmaster has you assembling a party, killing monsters and taking their stuff.  Where the set differs is its focus on the role of the Cryptmaster, giving players benefits from fulfilling the role.  (The Cryptmaster essentially runs the encounters for another player and changes based on the specific Crypt.)  It also introduces two new card types:  Curses, which wreak mayhem on another player’s party; and Overlords, which look to be REALLY nasty monsters.  Some preview cards are available for purview.

The table is yours,

Phil

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Goodman Games and Profantasy Software and Pelgrane Press want you to nominate your own favorite FLGS to receive over $1500 in free RPG and electronic gaming products. Other publishers may join in the bandwagon as the nomination process continues.

After the nomination process is over, you will have a chance to hack vote for the best game store in America.

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If Hasbro can do it with Monopoly, why not with D&D?

Head over to RYZ to design sneakers with D&D themes for your chance to win $1000 and some autographed D&D material. And, of course, to have literally ones of people around the world wear them on their feet.

Competition starts on June 30.

(source)

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Sggc Paper Dragon Games focuses on board games that have to be played on a computer.

In other words, they will look and play a lot like board games – and specifically the more rich and complex board games – but contain enhanced elements that must be controlled by computer.

Their first game is a game of interstellar conquest called Constellation. Avaiable on Mac or PC for $6.

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Castle Panic is a new cooperative / competitive game from sggc Fireside Games scheduled for release in September.

It looks something like Desktop Tower Defense. Players win or lose together, but only the player with the most points at the end is the Master Defender or whatever. I’d tell you more about the rules, but the link to the rules is broken.

And the contents on the site are copyright 2010. Ah, no wonder the link is broken: the  site is from the future.

Update: link is fixed.

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If you live near Amherst, MA, you might consider joining the Pioneer Valley Gamer Collective.

The Collective is a non-profit that operates a game store called Worlds Apart Games. WAG is like any other game store, with games, dice, etc, as well as place to play games, but it’s worker managed and worker owned. They also make themselves available to do game outreach, non-profit fund raising, education, and so on.

Anyone can join to get discounts and a say in what goes on.

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BattleTech 2nd and 3rd edition box sets were illustrated with a popular collection of anime licenses – Warhammer, Marauder, BattleMaster, Phoenix Hawk and so on. These were retired in 1996.

Randall Bills, Managing Developer of Catalyst Game Labs says that he’s finally managed to reacquire the rights to these lines of illustration and they will be returning on upcoming and future Battletech products. I’m guessing that this also means that Battletech rights are securely in CGL’s hands at the moment, although I don’t recall hearing that.

You can see a preview of the book “BattleTech: 25 Years of Art and Fiction” at source (above link).

Update: Whoops. Catalyst spoke too soon.

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Asian Games: The Art of Contest is a traveling exhibition sponsored by the Mid-America Arts Alliance and the Asia Society of New York.

The exhibit offers you the chance to learn about, and play, a host of games that can trace ancestry back to the Orient, such as Chess, Backgammon, Pachisi, Snakes and Ladders, Dominoes, and playing cards. (Actually, I’m pretty sure Backgammon’s roots are in Africa.)

The exhibition has been traveling since May, 2005 and is currently at The Wilmette Historical Museum in the Chicago area. Additional scheduling dates are available for interested museums. The exhibition’s curators are Colin Mackenzie and Irving Finkel.

(source)

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