Month: March 2015

The Dark Titan Attacks Game Depot

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The second to last stop on The Dark Titan Cometh Tour was to one of our favorite stores, Game Depot in Tempe, Arizona. We first visited this great shop during our West by Southwest tour in 2013 and had a fantastic visit with a huge turnout, so we knew we were in for a good time. (Check out our blog post about that visit.) Sure enough, as we approached the store we could see our poster and postcards proudly displayed on the window and a huge crowd waiting for us inside.

 We can’t say enough about the owners, Patty and David. They have turned their store into a community and never miss the chance to turn an event into a celebration. Patty even wore her WXSW button from 2013 and made an amazing wizard’s tower out of our games!

As soon as we walked into the store we were seeing familiar faces from our visit 2 years ago. Some of our smaller fans had gotten bigger and were now ready for the new challenges of the expansions. After hugs and hellos, it was time to get to fightin’ monsters! We set up 2 games of Castle Panic with The Dark Titan and 1 game with Castle Panic, The Wizard’s Tower, and The Dark Titan and started filling seats.

One familiar face that we were glad to see again was our friend Noble Hess. He is our biggest fan in the area and acts as the Fireside Games unofficial ambassador at Game Depot. Just like back in 2013, he jumped right in and helped us out. We showed Noble how to play The Dark Titan, and he became our extra hand for the rest of the day, helping when we were too busy and answering questions that came up. Thanks again, Noble!

That’s Noble there in the middle on the right, working hard to keep that final Tower standing!

 Agranok showed up throughout the day, varying in strength from level 1 to level 4, and even the promo level 6 for one brave group of gamers. (That didn’t work out so good for them, but they came close!) Some Castles survived and others were crushed, including one painfully classic moment where a player drew Draw 3 Monsters, Draw 4 Monsters, and the Goblin King all in one turn.

 Through nail-biting victories and Castle-stomping defeats, everyone had a great time. It was nonstop Castle defending the entire day, with new games starting as soon as one game ended. We did have to pause every few minutes to sign a game or two for happy fans, which is always fun for us. It was great to see so many folks who enjoy our game come back years later to experience the next chapter in the story.

 As the day wound down, we had our final victory and said goodbye to all the fantastic people that came out for the event. We enjoyed a late dinner with Patty, Dave, and Noble and then headed off for a well deserved rest. If you’re in the Phoenix area, or just passing through, you really owe it to yourself to visit Game Depot and say hi to the gang.

We’re headed to Specialities Games, Toys & Gifts in San Angelo, Texas (another store we fell in love with on the WXSW tour!), for an event on Monday, March 30th, at 4:00 p.m. that will be the final stop of The Dark Titan Cometh Tour!

Get a look at the bustling event at Game Depot in this video:

Titans, and Witches, and Bears! Oh My!

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This week we’re at the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA) Trade Show in Las Vegas. We’re really excited to take this opportunity to officially announce our 2015 product releases!

We have three new products scheduled to hit store shelves this year.

Castle Panic: The Dark Titan Box CoverOur first release this year is The Dark Titan, the second expansion to our popular cooperative game Castle Panic. The Dark Titan features new Monsters, new cards, and new support tokens. The main threat is Agranok, the Dark Titan who has escaped exile and returned to exact his revenge on your Castle. The Dark Titan requires Castle Panic (2009) to play and takes approximately 1 hour. The game supports 1 to 6 players, ages 12 and up, and retails for $14.95. It is also compatible with The Wizard’s Tower (2011) for an even greater challenge. The Dark Titan releases April 1 and is currently available for pre-order.

Keep calm and roll on this summer when our fast and furious dice game Bears! (2011) gets its own expansion. Bears!: Trail Mix’d gives you 6 new rules for the original game to really mix things up. This expansion features a die that is rolled before each round, changing up the rules that affect pairing and scoring for even more versatility and unexpected results. It accommodates 2 or more players, is recommended for ages 7 and up, and retails for $4.95. Bears!: Trail Mix’d is available in June 2015.

This autumn you’ll fall under the spell of our brand new game, The Village Crone. Immerse yourself in the medieval village of Wickersby as you vie with other witches for the venerable title of Village Crone. Worker placement and resource management are key as you use your familiars to gather ingredients and cast spells on the villagers to achieve goals and score victory points. The Village Crone features a modular game board for a new experience every time. It retails for $49.95, accommodates up to 6 players, ages 13 and up, and features a solo play option as well.

We hope you’re as excited about these titles as we are. We’ll be updating the product information pages as we get closer to release dates for each. Stay tuned for more gameplay information, including component images, unboxing and how to play videos, and more!

Share our Press Release and tell us which game you are most excited about in the comments.

The Dark Titan Cometh Tour Wraps Up Utah

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Thursday night was our last store visit in Utah, and we spent it at the Game Haven store in Tooele. (Pronounced “two-EL-uh” in case you aren’t from around here or haven’t spent weeks asking locals how to pronounce the names of their cities.)

We weren’t sure what to expect since Tooele is a smaller town outside of Salt Lake, but Riley, the store owner, did a great job promoting the event, and we were busy all night!

 

We had a fun group of fans show up who were excited to see the new expansion and meet The Dark Titan up close and personal. Our initial group included a first-timer, so we let them experience just Castle Panic with The Dark Titan to see what that is like.

 

Before they had even finished their first turns, a double boulder combination took out 2 Towers and left them on the defensive. The pulled together quickly and drove off the next few waves, even slaying Agranok before he could cause too much damage. Things got hairy for a while, but in the end the last monster fell with a tower still standing, and our heroes erupted into a furious hurrah.

 

Before we could even say goodbye and set up the next games, we had new players lined up and waiting to get their games signed. It’s always a treat to meet fans and hear their stories, and we had no shortage of that at this event. Once the ink was dry, we had games of both Castle Panic with The Dark Titan as well as Castle Panic with The Wizard’s Tower and The Dark Titan up and running.

Our group of Castle Panic players fought bravely, but in the end Agranok and his army proved to be too much. Meanwhile, our team of defenders in The Wizard’s Tower combo started losing Walls quickly and a few Towers followed soon after. Things went from bad to worse, to not so bad, to very bad and back again. It was a nail-biter as our teammates lost Walls as fast as they built them, but in the end the last Monster fell with 2 Towers still standing and victory was theirs.

There may have been screaming involved.

 

We wrapped up the night with a few more signings and some talk about design, new games, and future plans. All in all, it was a great way to wrap up our time here in Utah, and we want to thank all the fans who came out to all our events or supported us online.

The Dark Titan will be in stores on April 1st, and if you pre-order it from our website right now, you get the Level 6 Promo card of Agranok that we’ve been giving away during this tour for free!

We’re headed to the GAMA Trade Show, which happens in Las Vegas next week, and we’ll be making some super-cool announcements. So stay tuned to our blog, Twitter, or Facebook for more info!

Take a look inside the Game Haven – Tooele store in this video:

Dragons and Dark Titans

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Monday night we headed to Dragon’s Keep in Lehi, Utah. This was the second to last stop in Utah on The Dark Titan Cometh Tour.

 

The first game played was Castle Panic with The Dark Titan and our team of heroes trounced Agranok quite nicely, without having to Banish a single card and only losing 3 Towers on the way!

The next game included both expansions and definitely kept our players on their toes. Early in the game, a lucky boulder destroyed the Wizard’s Tower, leaving our players to face down the horde of Monsters with no magical aid. At one point, the Basilisk and Warlock were on the table together causing no shortage of chaos. Towers were lost and MANY Walls were rebuilt, but at the end of the battle 2 lonely Towers still stood and victory was claimed!

Overall, it was a quiet night, which gave us plenty of time to visit with our fans as well as with John, the store manager. We talked about the making of The Dark Titan as well as what makes Dead Panic and Munchkin Panic so different from Castle Panic before packing up and heading home for the night.

Our final stop in Utah will be at the Game Haven in Tooele this Thursday the 12th from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. If you haven’t made it out to play The Dark Titan and grab a promo card, this will be your last chance in Utah, so we hope to see you there!

Take a look inside Dragon’s Keep in Lehi in Anne-Marie’s video of this visit:

Agranok Invades the Dragon’s Keep

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A warm and sunny Saturday afternoon saw us headed to Provo, Utah. This time we brought The Dark Titan to Dragon’s Keep, not far from Brigham Young University.

 

With a great selection of games, comics, and all sorts of goodies, it’s no surprise that the place was hopping. We had gamers lined up and waiting for us, and it didn’t take long to get our first game of The Wizard’s Tower and The Dark Titan fired up.

 

Our friend Matt who led his team to victory at Blakfyre Games came by to get his games signed by Justin and to take another stab at The Dark Titan. Sure enough, with some great teamwork, they were able to keep most of their Towers standing, even if it meant losing the Barbarian and Wizard’s Quake in the process of defeating Agranok.

 

Meanwhile, Anne-Marie got another group started on the base game with The Dark Titan. Here she is explaining how there are 5 levels of Agranok in the game.

 

Before long we had another pair of players show up and we added them to the game, giving our heroes some reinforcements.

 

They fought bravely, slaying Agranok and most of his minions, with only a few Towers out. But a devastating combination of the Healer and the Troll Mage late in the game proved to be too much to overcome, and the last 2 Towers fell as the Castle was destroyed from inside and out.

 

Not to be deterred, our players switched tables to see how The Dark Titan expansion changes Castle Panic when you include The Wizard’s Tower. Many Towers were destroyed in both games, but we actually had our first player victory over the promotional Level 6 Agranok! So the day ended on a high note!

 

Our next stop will be at the Dragon’s Keep in Lehi, Utah, Monday, March 9th, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. It’ll be your second to last chance to catch us before we head off to the GAMA Trade Show in Las Vegas!

Want to see what the inside of the Dragon’s Keep looks like? Check out Anne-Marie’s video of our store visit:

Game Night Games Welcomes The Dark Titan

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The skies finally cleared over Salt Lake City as we made our way to Game Night Games for an evening of monstrous fun. Game Night Games not only features a great selection of games but they have a really nice gaming area in the back, which we promptly filled with players anxious to get a look at the newest addition to Castle Panic!

 

Faster than you could say “8-point Monster” We had our first game up and running. Our first group of fans wanted to try the base game with the new expansion, and they got off to a great start, clearing the board early and keeping the Monsters well under control.

 

While the first group fought on, Anne-Marie was busy giving overviews of the game to some interested gamers and a third game of just Castle Panic got underway to help some new players get a feel for the game before jumping into the expansion.

 

Before long, we had another game going and our teams fought on. The Cavalier was definitely the MVP of the night, and more than 1 player agreed that he may be their new favorite addition to Castle Panic.

 

And it’s a good thing our first group was using him a lot too. Take a look at this.

The Dark Titan expansion introduces a new mechanic called Banishing that removes cards from the game. Slay cards that are used against Agranok only cause 4 points of damage to him and are Banished. There are other ways you can have cards Banished, and the first group ended up losing all the cards shown here during the game.

Imagine having to fight off the Monsters without using any of these cards!

Thanks to some REALLY lucky draws and carefully planned moves, our team did more than fight off the Monsters. They stomped them flat, losing only 1 Tower when the dust settled.

 

After the second group survived their game, we started up a combined game with The Wizard’s Tower and The Dark Titan. This time our heroes would lose all but their last 2 Towers (including a rebuilt Wizard’s Tower), but still claim victory.

We signed some games while we chatted with our players, and then spent some time talking with Mike, the store manager. It’s always great to talk some business as we get to know all the great stores that help spread the love of our hobby.

Our next stop on The Dark Titan Cometh Tour will be an afternoon event this Saturday, March 7th, at Dragon’s Keep in Provo from noon to 4 p.m.

Check out how nicely laid out this store is! It is well-arranged for customers to easily find exactly the right game to take home.

The Dark Titan’s Icy Victory in Bountiful

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Our store visit to the Game Haven in Bountiful, Utah, just happened to coincide with one of the bigger Winter Storm Warnings we’ve seen on this trip. The rules for The Dark Titan don’t say that Agranok has any weather-control abilities, but we’re starting to have our doubts. We loaded our gear into the store as the snow began to fall and dried off before getting set up.

 

 

It turned out to be a quiet evening because of the storm with only 1 full demo played, but we got to meet several fans and even make a few new ones while we were at the store. The Game Haven in Bountiful is a pretty cool shop with tons of tables for playing, a demo game library that is literally overflowing with games to try, and even a full coffee bar that sells food. The coffee shop is named Battle Grounds, which we found quite amusing. Check out the video Anne-Marie shot for a cool tour of the place.

When players did arrive we were able to get a full game of 6 players started, and they jumped right in to The Wizard’s Tower–The Dark Titan combo game. Things started out good with a few quick slays and lots of wounding, but before too long a lucky boulder took out the Wizard’s Tower itself. Our heroes were left with just a few Wizard cards in hand and no chance of rebuilding the Tower. Still, our group was unphased.

 

“We’re not scared! Well, maybe just a little.”

 

They made great use of the Cavalier and even managed to use the Phoenix to light a ton of other Monsters on fire. Arrows flew and swords clashed, but when a Level 4 Agranok, the Dark Sorceress, and the Necromancer all appeared at once, it was too much for our heroes. The last Tower fell under the thundering assault.

A well fought battle, but the enemy is triumphant.

 

We stuck around and talked with several other customers after the game wrapped up. Justin even signed a few copies of Castle Panic for fans both new and old. It made for a fun evening before braving the snow and heading home. Special thanks to Charity for making us feel so welcome during our visit!

Your next chance to catch The Dark Titan Cometh Tour will be Wednesday, March 4th, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Game Night Games in Salt Lake City!

Game Haven Isn’t Safe From the Dark Titan!

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It was a cold, snowy Saturday evening when we arrived at Game Haven in West Jordan. We wondered if the dark weather would be an omen for what was to come during our demo games that night. As soon as we were set up for our event, we jumped into a game of both The Wizard’s Tower and The Dark Titan with 2 excited fans.

We put up a good fight, dropping several big threats early on, but then a combination of Mega Boss Monsters, a wave of Imps, and an early showing of Agranok had us on the ropes.

I’m sure this will all work out just fine.

This is one of the more impressive uses of the Wall of Force Wizard card we’ve seen in a while. It definitely bought some time, but even that wasn’t enough to save the Castle. In a few turns, it was all over.

Hooray for Wall of Force!

Luckily, that meant we had lots of time left for new games! We reset The Wizard’s Tower–Dark Titan combo for a new group and started a game of Castle Panic with one of Anne-Marie’s friends from college and her family. They had never played before, and it wasn’t long before they were engrossed in trying to keep their Towers standing.

 

Sadly, the Monsters proved too much for our friends, but that just made them excited for their next chance to try again. We reset the game to include The Dark Titan for a new group that was made up of both experienced fans and first-time players.

Never a dull moment when you’re about to be crushed by rampaging monsters!

Some expert coaching and a few lucky rolls kept them in the fight as the new players got familiar with the game and before long they were a monster-fighting machine!

Meanwhile, the group that had been battling with The Wizard’s Tower–Dark Titan combo weathered wave after wave and despite losing the Wizard’s Tower, they eventually slayed the last Monster with 1 Tower still standing. Luckily, that’s all it takes and that gave Game Haven its first victory of the night!

Our last game of the night would see the team fresh off their win in Castle Panic with The Dark Titan jumping in to the dual-expansion combo. They were confident as the first Monsters came out of the forest, but once the Chimera and a Flaming Boulder showed up, things began to look bad.

That is entirely too much fire.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, after the fires were extinguished, Agranok showed up at Level 5 and proceeded to cause even more chaos as he drove other Monsters forward. The Cavalier was bravely sacrificed to finish off Agranok, and Wizard’s Quake had to be used to give our heroes some room to breathe. In the end, the Wizard’s Tower would even be destroyed and rebuilt in order to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, but their efforts paid off in a nail-biting win!

This could be bad . . .

We stayed around for a while after the event, talking about game design, playtesting, and all sorts of fun things before we packed up and said goodnight. It was another great time, and we’re already looking forward to our next one on Monday, March 2nd, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the Game Haven in Bountiful. As always, don’t forget that you can check out our calendar to see where we’re headed next!

Castle Panic: The Dark Titan – Available for Pre-Order

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Agranok and his army are getting closer! Castle Panic: The Dark Titan will hit store shelves April 1, but you don’t have to wait that long to stake a claim to a copy.  The latest expansion to Castle Panic is now available for pre-order!

You will find yourself facing all new threats to your Castle’s survival. The formerly banished Dark Titan, Agranok, has escaped exile and is back with a vengeance!

His army of strong, elite Monsters will invade the world of Castle Panic, wreaking havoc and testing your new clever new defenses.

The Dark Titan is serious fun and releases April 1, 2015. This expansion retails for $14.95, can accommodate 1-6 players, ages 12 and up, and play time is approximately 1 hour.

The Dark Titan requires Castle Panic to play and can also be played with The Wizard’s Tower if you are truly courageous.

Tell your Friendly Local Game Store to reserve your copy today, or you can order on our website.

Be sure to sign up for our Newsletter and check The Dark Titan webpage for more details and a fresh look at the components!

The Dark Titan Agranok is coming to wreck a Castle near you!