#114: Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower, Alchemists, Origins 2016 Recap and A Short Topic Extravaganza
Another Origins in the history books and a bunch of stories of nonsense to tell! Columbus Ohio and Origins Game fair is the Founder's home away from home and they cant wait to recap all the hijinks that ensued. After we throw a giant banter segment at you, we review the new game from Games Workshop, Warhammer Quest Silver Tower. Then the guys look back at Alchemists one year later. Tony T goes bananas with his news roundup. Then because Jamie was lazy and taking a vacation from podcast work, they provide another Short Topic Extravaganza.
Blood Rage
Trickerion
Mare Nostrum
Civilization
Sleuth
Lost in R’lyeh
Amber Route
Salem
The Grizzled
Warhammer Quest: Silver Tower
The game is set in the Age of Sigmar world. Heroes must battle through the ever-changing Silver Tower of Tzeentch. Uses a modular board with random layout. The Chaos opponents are followers as well as daemons of Tzeentch. The game includes a multi-mission campaign in the box, with expansion add-ons to be published in subsequent issues of White Dwarf.
Alchemists
In Alchemists, two to four budding alchemists compete to discover the secrets of their mystical art. Points can be earned in various ways, but most points are earned by publishing theories – correct theories, that is — and therein lies the problem. The game is played in six rounds. At the beginning of the round, players choose their play order. Those who choose to play later get more rewards. Players declare all their actions by placing cubes on the various action spaces, then each action space is evaluated in order. Players gain knowledge by mixing ingredients and testing the results using a smartphone app (iOS, Android, and also Windows) that randomizes the rules of alchemy for each new game. And if the alchemists are longing for something even more special, they can always buy magical artifacts to get an extra push. There are 9 of them (different for each game) and they are not only very powerful, but also very expensive. But money means nothing, when there's academic pride at stake! And the possession of these artifacts will definitely earn you some reputation too. Players can also earn money by selling potions of questionable quality to adventurers, but money is just a means to an end. The alchemists don't want riches, after all. They want respect, and respect usually comes from publishing theories. During play, players' reputations will go up and down. After six rounds and a final exhibition, reputation will be converted into points. Points will also be scored for artifacts and grants. Then the secrets of alchemy are revealed and players score points or lose points based on whether their theories were correct. Whoever has the most points at the end of the game wins.