It’s Rambo. It’ll have miniatures. For many people, that nostalgic excitement will be enough. Frankly, that was all I needed to volunteer for this preview. But the question, of course, is will the final Rambo: The Board Game product live up to the expectations of potential backers?

I, at least, expected a miniatures combat game. And while fighting is certainly the focus of the game’s mechanics, I was pleasantly surprised to find it more a cooperative adventure game. In fact, the highlight for me was how well the game differentiates and personalizes the individual characters—including Rambo himself—which players adopt to complete various missions. Successfully achieving objectives is not just a matter of plunging forward shooting at enemy soldiers. Instead, it requires players to coordinate and make use of their heroes’ unique talents.

Another nice aspect of the game is the scenarios, which not only advance the story but also provide players further development for their selected characters. As each scenario is completed, the players are afforded additional choices of gear and tactics.

In terms of gameplay, I particularly appreciated the individual “alert meters” and other features that focus players on keeping their heroes hidden from the enemy while moving about the board. Also special is the more cinematic approach that the game takes to combat. There are no dice or other random factors. If someone shoots, they hit.

Finally, though Rambo: The Board Game requires players to track a fair amount of detail among character skills, stances, tactics, and gear, plus a variety of enemy units, each type with its own programmed battlefield actions, the structure of the game and most of the rules are pretty straightforward. I rarely play this kind of game, yet one quick read through the rulebook was all I needed.

Still, my generally positive experience with Rambo: The Board Game comes with a significant caveat. The game I played was a prototype. Though I’ve seen much worse even in published games, the rules to this one are still rough around the edges. Some ambiguities and language issues remain. The graphics and design will improve, I’d hope. More scenarios should be added (the prototype only had three). And instead of standees, there are supposed to be plastic miniatures in the production box. The number and quality of those, I expect will be a significant factor for potential backers.

Rambo: The Board Game from Everything Epic Games launches on Kickstarter January 23rd.

A complimentary partial prototype of Rambo: The Board Game was provided by Everything Epic Games for review.

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World War Tesla is a new alternate-history miniatures war game from Fat Dragon Games. Designed by James Ward and Thomas Tullis, the game presumes a world in which Nikola Tesla’s concepts for death rays and force fields have made a real impact on a world at war.

Giant walking tanks, soldiers with rocket-packs, and flying machines armed with death rays rule the battlefield!

The game is also 3D print-and-play. That is, buy the rules and models just once ($20), print figures as much as you want. Along with the rule book are included STL files for 15mm scale troops, vehicles, markers, template, and terrain.

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CMON is giving away two 3-day passes to the CMON Expo (May 11-13 in Atlanta). To enter, post your New Year gaming resolution to CMON’s Facebook page, but do it by tomorrow.

Save 20% on Geeknson game tables through the end of the month.

Also through the end of the month, Rogue Genius Games is offering a bundle of all the company’s Pathfinder RPG ebook products for $29.87, a discount of 98%.

Renegade Game Studios is giving away a prize package that include every game and expansion in its North Sea series. That’s six boxes in all.

Save 20% on all purchases through the 12th in Victory Point Games’ New Year’s Sale. Save an additional 10% on Gem Rush and High Treason.

Featuring the first edition World of Darkness is Bundle of Holding’s Chronicles of Darkness offering, now $28 for the rulebook and eight supplements (maybe more).

Coupon code “holiday2017” will get you 30% off orders placed before the 31st from the Jon Brazer Enterprises Shop.

Save 18% on orders from Mayday Games with discount code “welcome2018” but only until 11:59 MT tonight.

Compass Games is holding a Holiday Sale. Preorders and recent releases are 25-30% off. Select other games are 40% off through the 15th with coupon code “HOLIDAY17”.

Flying Pig Games’ Post-Holiday Sale means 30% off for Old School Tactical Volume I, ’65 Squad-level Combat, and Night of Man.

Buy two card sets from Strat-O-Matic, get one free.

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Mantic Games has secured a license from Dark Horse Comics for a Hellboy board game.

The Hellboy board game will be a co-operative experience in which players face off against some of the comic’s most famous foes. Up to four people take control of iconic BRPD members, such as Hellboy, Abe Sapien and Roger the Homunculus, before exploring gothic locations and uncovering ancient artifacts.

Mantic is planning a Kickstarter project for the game in April and says the product will feature preassembled plastic miniatures.

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Mikkel Bertelsen will hand-deliver an extra-large Klask anywhere in the world to the person who’s Facebook comment earns the most likes by 8:00 PM CET January 1st.

SahmReviews continues its 5 month series of daily giveaways.

North Star Games is giving away Evolution: Flight.

Gozer Games is giving away Codenames: Deep Undercover from CGE.

Blog and podcast giveaways:

• By The Mama Maven, Happy Salmon from North Star Games.
• By A Small Village, Catch the Fox from Goliath Games.
• By Backstage Pass, War of the Ring Anniversary Edition from Ares Games.
• By Boards Alive, Near and Far from Red Raven Games.

A bundle of Tony Petrecca’s DM’s Guild products is available now at more than 50% discount but disappears tomorrow.

Save 10% on anything from Strat-O-Matic through the 3rd.

Discount code “MERRY17” is good for 20% from Rebel Minis but only through tomorrow.

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Giveaways:

• By Iello, a holiday-themed promo for King of Tokyo/New York, X-Smash Tree.
• By Board Game Closet, Dinosaur Island from Pandasaurus Games.
• By Eric Booth, Rocky Road ‘A La Mode from Green Couch Games.
• By The Kids Did It, Goliath Games’ Fish Food and Doggie Doo, and $50 of games from Winning Moves.
• By The Mommy Island, also Goliath Games’ Fish Food and Doggie Doo, and also $50 of games from Winning Moves, plus Dodgeball from Identity Games.
• By Candrel’s Crafts, Cooks, & Characters, Goliath Games’ Greedy Granny and Catch the Fox to separate winners.
• By Everything Board Games, Charterstone and Scythe (with two expansions), both from Stonemaier Games.

TripAdvisor’s giveaway invokes The Game of Life but I’m sure you’ll forgive the lack of actual board game if you win the $5,000 vacation prize package.

Wargame Vault’s Winter Offensive Sale runs until January 2nd, with 25% off over 8,000 titles.

The discounts on 250 family-friendly RPG titles range up to 60% in DriveThruRPG’s Teach Your Kids to Game Sale.

Through the 27th, save 20% on everything from Lock ‘N Load Publishing with coupon code “LNLP2017”.

There’s lots going on at Bundle of Holding. The latest deals include two for the first edition of Dark Heresy (Dark Heresy 1E Essentials and Dark Heresy 1E Judgements) and two from Monte Cook Games (The Strange and Cypher System).

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Kolossal Games is giving away two copies of Legendary Buffy the Vampire Slayer from Upper Deck.

The Santa Clausthulhu Holiday Sale at Steve Jackson Games’ Warehouse 23 includes such deals as 75% off metal Ogre miniatures, 50% off Munchkin monster boxes, various bundle offers, and free gifts and double promos with every order.

For its holiday sale, Troll Lord Games has instituted a scaling discount that hits 40% at orders of $50.

HasbroToyShop also has a scaling discount, maxing out at $20 off orders of $100 or more. Use promo code “SMSM17”.

Fire Born Games is giving away 5 copies (print) of their A Forgotten Evil adventure for AD&D.

Steve Jackson Games’ 8 Day Holiday Giveaway runs for a few more days on the company’s Facebook page.

Buy two board games direct from Spin Master, get one free.

Save 10% on orders from Paizo with code “holiday18”.

Triple Ace Games has discounted most products 30%, both at the company’s website and at RPGnow. Prices good until the end of the year.

Solve Scorpion Masque’s puzzle to win one of two copies of Decrypto.

From One Small Step, Miracle on the Marne and 2WW: The War in Europe are 25% off and Battle for Baghdad is 50% off.

With Cubicle 7’s Call of Cthulhu license expiring January 1st, all titles from those lines are 25% off.

The Players’ Aid is giving away Enemy Coast Ahead: The Doolittle Raid from GMT.

Get a free WWII game with any purchase of $42 or more from Against the Odds. Make sure, though, to use coupon code “BALCK”.

DMily is giving away three sets of polyhedral dice.

Eileen Teo is giving away Concept from Repos (UK only).

Mummy of 2+1 is giving away four games (total value >£70) from Esdevium (UK only).

Krystyn is giving away Happy Salmon from North Star Games.

Like and comment on the CMON Expo Facebook page for a chance to win passes.

Save up to 85% with Miniature Market’s Holideals.

If you make a purchase from Dog Might Games now, your receipt will contain a promo code that can be used for 25% off in January.

The One Ring RPG from Cubicle 7 (based on The Lord of the Rings) is back on Bundle of Holding. The One Ring bundle from October 2015 has been revived and The One Ring +2 bundle added with the Adventurer’s Companion, Horse-Lords of Rohan, and more.

The winner of the Pressman Toy Holiday Giveaway will receive one copy each of Tri-Ominos, Rummikub, and Mastermind.

Until New Years, all terrain sets from Fat Dragon Games are 20-50% off.

With all games designed by Paul Koenig being discontinued by Victory Point Games, remaining stock has been marked down 20%.

Save 20% on purchases from Rebel Minis with coupon code “MERR17”.

Onyx Path Publishing has several Chronicles of Darkness bundles for $10 each (in the neighborhood of 80% off): The Descent of 2017, The Curse of 2017, 2017 is Forsaken, A Requiem for 2017, and A Chronicle of 2017.

At Toys “R” Us, the new Bop-It Maker from Hasbro is on-sale for 50%, Simon Optix is 40% off.

Spend $50 on gift cards from Top Shelf Gamer and get an extra $5.

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A double-date game night with Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard (including travel and accommodations to LA) is the prize in an Omaze raffle raising money for Opening Act, a theater program for under-served NYC high school students.

Humble Bundle’s latest RPG offering has some great (unofficial) Dungeons & Dragons products even at the $1 level. But for just $17, you’ll get all that plus Kobold Press’ Tome of Beasts and Book of Lairs.

BoardGameTables is selling off its extra samples, prototypes, and ding-and-dent game tables. There’s a really nice looking farmhouse-style table for $3,899.

Dark Sword Miniatures and Miniature Monthly are running a painting contest. All entrants must be members and use Dark Sword’s Female Ranger figure but there’s $1,000 in prizes to go to the top 5 finishers, and more stuff for everyone else.

In Reaper Minis’ 12 Days of Reaper promotion, get a free figure for every $40 spent.

Ninja Division and Soda Pop Miniatures are running a Holiday Sale that includes a special Candy Collection Bundle, as well as discounts on Backspindle Games and a Super Dungeon: Arena bundle.

Goliath Games’ Shit Happens Contest asks for “shit happens” stories. For the winning entry—judged on the basis of creativity, originality, representation of theme, and quality of expression—the prize is travel and accommodations to spend an evening playing Shit Happens with Ryan Lochte.

The Dracula Dossier at Bundle of Holding features a horror-espionage campaign (with rulebook) for Night’s Black Agents from Pelgrane Press.

For the 20th anniversary of John Kovalic’s Dork Tower, get a free signed print with any order from the new Dork Store, plus a signed issue of Dork Tower with an order of two or more books, and 15% off orders of $100 or more with coupon code “DSWEEK1”.

Get a gift certificate for yourself when purchasing one for someone else from Monte Cook Games—$5 for you for every $25 for them.

Each day through the 12th, Big Potato Games is giving something away on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. That’s a different game on each, for three chances to win per day. And then on the 12th, they’ll be giving away a package of several games.

Restoration Games is giving away five sets of lapel pins, each set with four pins (representing their current games). [For those wondering why pins. They’re a tradition at PAX conventions.]

Engaged Family Gaming’s Nintendo Switch giveaway also includes a number of board games from IDW and Restoration Games.

Save 25% on dice from Tabletop Loot with coupon code “3kFollowers” but just through midnight tonight CT.

Use coupon code “ELF” to save 25% on up to four games from R&R Games.

Tiffany Caires is giving away a Quiver game case.

Hero Lab’s sale of 20-50% off Pathfinder, Call of Cthulhu, D&D, Shadowrun, and World of Darkness products ends tonight.

Osprey Games’ 30% off sale, which was, I believe, for Black Friday, has been extended to December 15th.

From Mayday Games, there’s a new buy-one-get-one free deal each day.

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Gamewright’s annual Warehouse Sale takes place this coming Friday (December 8th) in Newton, Massachusetts. There’ll be games and puzzles up to 70% off.

Over the course of 20 days, Renegade Game Studios will be giving away one of each game that the company has published this year.

Bundle of Holding’s current offerings are an eclectic mix. Worldbuilder’s Toolkit +5 includes volumes of game-mastering advice, such as Sly Flourish’s Fantastic Locations and the Kobold Guide to Plots & Campaigns. Indie Cornucopia +5 includes a selection of small-press RPG titles, such as MASHED, Puppetland, and The Sprawl. Dying Earth Compleat includes the entire product line of Dying Earth from Pelgrane Press (24 total titles at the threshold price of $37.44). Stone Skin Press includes nine titles from Pelgrane’s fiction imprint.

To celebrate the launch of Journey to the Tree of Sorrows, the company’s new Lovecraftian trans-media project, RAINN Studios is giving away enamel pins, Cthulhu statues, TerraTiles, and $500 worth of Dwarven Forge cavern models.

ProJared is giving away multiple sets of Dungeons & Dragons books.

In Compass Games’ Holiday Sale, recent releases are 25-30% off and earlier releases are 40% off. Coupon code “HOLIDAY17” required.

ACD Distribution is giving away two copies of Alien Artifacts from Portal Games.

In Hollandspiele’s Hollanday Sale, everything is $5 off.

Steve Jackson Games is giving away the contents of a Munchkin CCG tooling sample booster pack. And the game isn’t even being released until February!

Low Player Count is giving away a $100 gift certificate to Game Surplus. Entry is via a kind-of digital scavenger hunt.

CMON’s Holiday Sale runs through December 24th and features discounts of up to 80%.

Save 30% on downloads from Jon Brazer Enterprises through January with coupon code “holiday2017”.

Top Shelf Gamer is giving away Charterstone, along with a deluxe token set, from Stonemaier Games.

BattleBots are on-sale from HexBug. About 20% off.

Victory Point Games’ 12 Games of Christmas Sale has started and works this way… Every day a new game is added to the sale. Everything is 20% off.

USAopoly is doing a 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway. Sign up once for a new opportunity to win each day through the 12th.

Mayday Games will be running different Holiday Deals throughout the season. Right now, I see dexterity games on-sale.

Everything Board Games’ current giveaways include: Mountains of Madness from Iello and Pie Town and Kepler from Renegade Game Studios.

Eagle-Gryphon Games is holding a Holiday Blowout Sale with many individual games on-sale. Also save an additional 10% with a $50 total order, 20% with a $100 order, and 30% with a $150 order.

At DriveThruRPG, two bundles from Raging Swan Press will together net you over $700 in product for just under $40.

Dog Might Games is giving away a $250 gift card.

Answer The Big Community Survey from Games Workshop for a chance to win one of five $80 vouchers.

Osprey Publishing has extended its 30% off Black Friday Sale until December 15th.

Toys “R” Us has reduced select Hasbro board games to $6.

Save $5 on purchases of $25 or more from Fat Brain Toys with coupon code “DA-7969”.

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Dog Might’s Kickstarter campaign for their Traveler Dice Tower ends in four days. They’ve sent me one.

I don’t have much to say except it’s pretty cool.

You like well-made wooden dice towers? Yes? Then you should get one of these. Thanks for reading.

Bye.

Oh. You’re still here.

Fine.

Let’s talk about Dog Might. They make wooden things: dice trays, storage cases, dice towers, and other awesome wood things for gaming. They say they make “Kick Ass Gaming Gear”, and that’s pretty much accurate. A friend of mine purchased an Adventure Case from them at PAX Unplugged, and we all just ooo’ed and aaah’ed over it. Sturdy. Heavy. Pretty. It was a gorgeous piece of gaming goodness for storage of stuff that doubled as a dice tray and tripled as a GM screen.

This thing they sent me, they didn’t send for review. But I’m reviewing it anyway because I’ve had a chance to chat with some of the people at the company and they’re great people making nice products. Also, the Traveler Dice Tower is really cool.

See, this thing is only six inches tall by three and a half inches wide (and less than two inches thick when closed). It comes in three parts attached by those strong rare earth neodymium magnets they use on most of their products, with an optional two on the side of the bottom tray unit so you can add this to their component collector product (see right). With these magnets, you get a fit that won’t jostle the dice tower around when rolling dice. Flip the small ends around and you’ve got a travel storage solution for your dice. (I was able to get sixteen 16mm Fate dice in the unit.)

While I don’t prefer to use dice towers — I love dice trays — this is one I might consider using because of two — no, make that three — factors.

It’s really portable. The entire thing snaps up into a unit that doesn’t take up much space nor does it weigh too much. I could throw this into my messenger bag and run right out to game night. Most other dice towers I’ve seen are large and bulky. While small, it does the job, randomizing dice rolls.

Did I mention it’s small? It takes up as much space on the gaming table as a square coaster for a drink. At six inches in height, when assembled, it’s about the height of a pint glass, or slightly taller than a 12 ounce soda can. It doesn’t clutter a table and doesn’t get in the way.

And they look good. Dog Might uses real wood and have a large selection of woods and finishes and decorations to add to it. Look, here’s the one they sent me.

I don’t mean they sent me that wood type for the dice tower, they sent me that one. That’s Kentucky Coffeetree, with the Laurels engraving on front and the Stag sculpted design on back, which is a design you can get for $55. You can get a simple, plain Whitewood dice tower for $45 — and even without a design, this is a neat looking tower. At $60, the wood type upgrades to African Mahogany, $5 more gets you to the stained colored Flame Birch series, and then for a few dollars more you can upgrade to Cherry, Maple, Red Oak, Benge (featured in the first image), and on and on until you’ve dropped $135 on a tower carved out of Bolivian Rosewood which is absolutely stunning. (And if you are the type of person that can afford to spend $135 on a dice tower, this is the one to drop it on.)

So, should you get it? Well, do you like well-made wooden dice towers? Yes? Then you should get one of these.

A Kentucky Coffeetree Traveler Dice Tower wasn’t provided for review by Dog Might, but we decided to review it anyway.

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