RDTN Episode 116: Assault of the Giants, Jump Drive, Moons and Chit Chat

After many attempts to get the segment to rise from the ashes, we were successful in rezzing Chit Chat for this episode. We are honored to have Mandi Hutchinson join the Chit Chat team, so please be sure to be on your best behavior while she is here. However, Suzanne is use to y’all so carry on as normal. In the segment, we tackle the dilemma of how do you cull your games and, without a doubt, there are many ways to look at it. We are just going to present our ways from the simple to the completely ridiculous* and hope that you will contribute some of yours on either the RDTN Guild or Facebook Page.

Assault of the Giants by Wizkids games is the big review in this episode. This is an area control game where giant
factions are battling for ordning points by completing events or battling with other clans on the board. The game is based on the Dungeons & Dragons adventures and comes from the story the Storm King’s Thunder which was published in 2016 and is often seen as one of the best adventures for 5th edition. The premise of that story is that the giants are running a muck and the small folk must battle the giants or be crushed. This game uses the very start of the story where the giants have emerged. Players control one faction on the board and play command cards to do the various actions. The game is straight forward and fairly easy to teach. Most importantly for us, the game makes us want to play it again because we had a nagging sensation that we could have done better. If you get a chance to give this a try, be sure to do it.

We also have two 5 Minute Initiative reviews based on two new card games. Jump Drive is from Rio Grande Games and is from the Race for the Galaxy universe. This is a clearly a filler that might help you with Race or Roll for the Galaxy in a generic way, but it would be stretching it to say it is an intro to either of those games. Don’t give this too much analysis, it is a filler game. The other game is Moons from one of our local designers, Robert Burke. This trick-taking card game is not a filler and is similar to the card game Diamonds by Stronghold Games. There are some nice one offs to a standard card game that is enough that you might not want to pass up a play if you get the opportunity. Both games are not without their minor faults from a big point swing in Jump Drive to the advantages that the asteroid cards have in Moons. But, we would still play them if brought out on the table.

Be sure to check out the Secret Cabal crowd funding that is going on if you are so inclined. One other thing, if you have yet to write a review or rank RDTN over at iTunes, we would greatly appreciate it.

[table]
Segment, Time
Intro, 00:34
The Captain is Dead, 5:26
Secret Cabal KS, 14:13
Jump Drive Review, 20:07
Portal Games, 24:54
Assault of the Giants, 25:44
Chit Chat, 45:44
Moons Review, 1:18:43
The Broken Token, 1:23:35
Outro, 1:24:23
[/table]

Definition of gibbous
1 a : marked by convexity or swelling
b of the moon or a planet : seen with more than half but not all of the apparent disk illuminated
2: having a hump

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