War on Terror Blog
Thursday 30th March 2006
New Prototypes.
A beautiful union of paper and plastic has resulted in War on Terror, the boardgame v.3.0.5.1 (all trendy things these days have overly-complex version numbers).
We're getting nearer to the finish line every day here at the TerrorBull Games bunker. The new boards look well swanky and they fold too. But best of all is the proper Axis of Evil spinner. Had we known it would be so much fun to flick a spinner that's labelled 'Axis of Evil', we would've constructed the game solely around this activity.
We've actually made up a few of these sets which are currently being lent out to blind testing groups (not groups comprised of blind people, but people who have no knowledge of the game). Others we're keeping in pristine condition for buyers and distributors. When we have any news on that front, you'll be the first to know.
- posted by TerrorBull Games on 30 March 2006 - 0 comments
Friday 17th March 2006
Game Report: Andy S, Jenn, Tom & Fiona
A late start and we're all WOT veterans. It looks like it's going to be a hard fight. Andy S lays first and tries to nab S.America and Africa for his own, which Fiona spoils by settling Argentina, sparking a long and bitter struggle.
Tom grabs Europe and some of Asia, but has to share some of it with Fiona, who seems to be everywhere. While Jenn's empire spans the globe in both N.America and Australasia.
Fiona responds by attacking Tom in the Balkans (which was as nasty as it sounds).Jenn becomes evil no fewer than three times in a row, thus amassing a huge army of Terrorist cards and dirty tricks. Before too long, she turns terrorist, believing to have enough havock-wreaking cards to secure a terrorist victory.
Meanwhile Andy S tries to flush Fiona out of S.America. Fiona responds, quite surprisingly, by attacking Tom in the Balkans (which was as nasty as it sounds).
After some lucky oil, Andy S is pretty rich and fancies his chances. However, before his victory march can take place, it's Fiona's turn. Using the 'espionage' card, she steals a 'psycops' card from Jenn - which she then uses to steal Jenn's formidable terrorist army. No one could see the next step coming... After covering the world in the freshly stolen terrorists, Fiona plays the 'insurgency emergency' card, doubles all terrorist units, gifts all her cards to Jenn and joins the dark side with an evil smirk. Tom and Andy S are left shitting themselves.
The end is surely nigh and in the next terrorist turn, Andy S takes the brunt of the terrorist violence. He vigilantly fights off a plane hijack and a deadly city strike also fails. But plain terrorist attacks leave all of Andy S's cities in ruin. Tom doesn't escape unharmed either. His budding Asian empire is left in tatters.
But the terrorists have expended virtually all their cards and cash in one turn, so there may be hope. Then again, with the black menace covering the board, no one's getting any oil revenue. It's a bitter stalemate, forcing the remaining empires to club together. Tom has a couple of nukes and manages to mop up a fair portion of the terrorists. Andy S says he's with Tom all the way, but secretly has his eye on a miracle victory.
After another demoralising terrorist turn we have to call a halt. Obviously it's going to be a long fight and it's a school night. The board is left with a healthy sprinkling of insurgents and two wounded Empires. Could've been anyone's.
- posted by TerrorBull Games on 17 March 2006 - 0 comments
Friday 10th March 2006
Game Report: Andy S, Jenn, Mark & Jess
A "couples special". In a remote vestry in Wales, with the wind howling outside... The perfect setting for a bit of domestic terror.
Better get this out of the way - Jess won. It was her first time and she protested she had no idea what was going on, but she won. So bear in mind that Jess hoodwinked us all by playing dumb.
Excitement was running high as the new prototype board was unveiled - complete with fully working Axis of Evil spinner. The War on Terror has come of age! The world was divided so: Mark in Australia, taking the entire continent for himself early on, but refusing, strangely to venture much further afield. Andy S had a weird Nowhere/N.American split in his empire. Jenn had Europe and Africa, whilst Jess dug herself into the jungles of S.America as well as planting the seeds of a wide-ranging empire in Asia.
Unfortunately the game was built around the idea of unfairness.Mark became evil early on, and build up his Australasian empire to four cities in a very short amount of time. It was a prime target for attack, but then he was evil and do you really want to stir things up with those on the wrong side of the Axis of Evil?
Proceedings were fairly peaceful, the world was a generally prosperous place and all empires were managing to live side-by-side in relative harmony. How this all changed is a bit of a mystery. The photo evidence just shows Andy S's empire suddenly vanish from the board. Hazy recollection says that an unnecessary sibling attack from Mark provided the only flimsy excuse he needed to turn terrorist. Certain people were running away with the game, despite protesting innocence, and desperate measures had to be taken.
Jenn feared for her safety, having a strong seam of developments down the centre of the board, but Andy S was after petty vengeance and keeping Jess from winning. A quick terrorist-provoked revolution, followed by WMDs, reduced one of Mark's and one of Jess's cities to rubble. Jess protested this was 'unfair', but unfortunately the game was constructed around the idea of unfairness... Mark was soon after coerced to join the terrorist force.
Jenn and Jess now faced terrorist brothers-in-arms and both were getting nervous. Jenn had a win in sight and so left Jess some valuable breathing space by developing instead of attacking. The next go, Jess rolled just enough developments to build her way to instant victory, the dark horse that she is. The terrorists never really got a chance to sink their teeth into the game.
Three hours in total.
- posted by TerrorBull Games on 10 March 2006 - 0 comments
Friday 24th February 2006
Game Report: Andy S, Jenn, Michele, Mike, Alan & Fiona
A long-awaited 6-player game. In fact, it's been a while since we played at all, what with all our spare time going into getting this thing designed and manufactured. Tonight we're playing with lovely plastic counters, the first real step away from DIY to proper sets. A collective nostalgic tear is shed before warfare commences...
The set-up round is remarkably free of friction considering six players laying their starting villages pretty much fills up all the prime space.
We're down to 5 Empires and a board covered in black mountains of doom ...Andy S is has the pick of Nowhere and Australasia. Mike is split between Africa and Asia. Alan - new to the game and the last to lay his initial villages - finds himself unfortunately sandwiched on the Europe/Asian border. His Empire grows little but boy does he coin it in - he deserves a small business award for the way he made 3 cities pay out. Michele shares South America with Fiona, who also has Europe and Jenn spends the entire game playing in North America by herself, unhindered and somehow overlooked.
Things start hotting up as soon as the Axis of Evil gets spun and Michele is the first to don the balaclava of evil. Despite threatening a lot, she holds off any gratuitous violent acts. Except, of course, destroying Andy S's only city purely because she "didn't like the look of it". Meanwhile Andy S has sneaked into Africa with an Explorers card and has dreams of conquering the southern hemisphere...
Mike and Fiona start duking it out across the Mediterranean and at one point there are no fewer than four Empires living edgily side-by-side in Africa alone.
Suddenly Fiona gets careless and drops a nuke in Mongolia, devastating one of Mike's strongholds and reducing Alan's stake in the game to a worrying 3 countries. The very next go, Andy S picks up the 'Insurgency Emergency' card (formerly 'Global Jihad') and the temptation is there - although he's doing well enough, the dark glory of a terrorist victory promises too much fun and he turns terrorist - a very rich terrorist at that. Down to 5 Empires and a board covered in black mountains of doom.
Unfortunately it seems like Andy S's terrorist tactics were too heavy-handed and the remaining Empires rally together and work, united, to defeat the terrorist threat. Some are bought up off the board, others are fought, moved around and even nuked in the snowy wastelands of Nowhere (what a way to go).
Despite Alan turning evil and threatened with obliteration, Andy S can't coax anyone to join his terrorist team. With everyone focused on defending themselves, it seems Jenn's being growing steadily. A lucky roll and some instant cash from a GDP card means she steals the game! Three and a half hours, one defeated terrorist and a North American victory.
- posted by TerrorBull Games on 24 February 2006 - 0 comments
Monday 6th February 2006
When is a cartoon not a cartoon?
It's hard to ignore the recent insanity caused by a cartoon. Just goes to show that art can be provocative stuff...
While it's been amusing to watch irony-free protesters freely parading placards with slogans like "To hell with free speech!", it's frustrating to see others threatening the "next 9/11" while protesting about a cartoon that has insensitively and inaccurately linked an entire religion to terrorism. Is it just me, or do these squabbles take you back to the playground?
And amid the hand-wringing about "responsible free speech" and "cultural misunderstandings", few people are asking the question, "When is beheading ever a rational response to anything?" - whether it be a cartoon or another beheading. It's hardly the route most likely to open up negotiations, is it? Primarily because you're now negotiating with a headless corpse.
No one seems to be asking the question, "When is beheading ever a rational response to anything?" What really gets us though is how the radical elements on all sides exploit this comprehension divide and deliberately escalate it beyond its importance. Suddenly this incident becomes: the latest recruitment tool for would-be terrorists/ the latest reason to sign up and blow them terrorists to kingdom come/ the latest proof that Muslims are taking over the world/ the latest proof that Jews/Christians/Infidels are taking over the world/ fuel for whatever paranoid theory you sign up to.
So what have we learnt today, class? Extremism in all forms is misinformed, dangerous and regressive. Personally, I think the only way to stamp out extremism, is through an extremist approach: abolish all religion and dissolve all borders. There, everyone happy.
In other news, we've just discovered the amazing blog search engine, Technorati. This is a link to claim we own this blog so they can index us: Technorati Profile.
- posted by TerrorBull Games on 6 February 2006 - 0 comments
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