Amidst a whirlwind of store visits our heroes, Anne-Marie & Justin, still managed to keep their eye on the prize and complete a few more Tour Schemes. See how many points they earned with these and learn about some of the spooky things Connecticut and New York have to offer.
Continue reading Creepy Noises, Haunted Roads, and Eerie Echoes – Tour Schemes Completed
Last week saw a fair amount of city driving with several visits in and around New York City, and then a jog a up the Hudson Valley. In the past we’ve visited Lairs, Havens, and Taverns. The Village Crone has now taken us to us Cafes, a Lab, and a Den. Check them out!
First up we had one more trip into Manhattan to The UnCommons NYC, a popular game café with a very extensive game library. There is a cover charge to get in, but you can play as many games as you want from their massive collection and stay as long as you like. Looking in their windows you can see a lot of fun games in their window displays.
We unloaded our witchy goodness and got ready to cast some spells. Anne-Marie got the first group started and played with several groups of would-be witches throughout the evening. A lucky gamer got to go head-to-head with Anne-Marie in a 2-player game. It’s pretty cool to learn from the designer!
It was a late night, but a fun one. If you find yourself in Manhattan with a jonesing for a cuppa and a board game, this your place.
We also got to spent two pretty amazing afternoons at the Brooklyn Game Lab. It’s an after school program where kids can not only play great games but study them, and even make their own games.
The whole thing is run by a great team and Bob and his crew really do an amazing job of keeping 40+ kids focused every day. Some days it’s RPG’s, other days it’s board games and for Thursday and Friday the kids had a really special treat of getting to meet Justin and Anne-Marie while they learned Castle Panic and The Village Crone.
The older kids were started on The Village Crone while the younger players went into the outdoor garden area and learned how to play Castle Panic. A few kids even dared to go up against the bigger foes in The Wizard’s Tower.
After we played for a while, the kids all got to make their notes on winning strategies for the game, expansion ideas and even new components. It’s all an organized part of how the game lab staff gets the kids to really focus on the games they are playing and think about them.
After that we had a brief Q&A session where the kids got to ask Justin and Anne-Marie all about their inspirations, and what it takes to make a game go from an idea to a finished product. It’s a really unique program and we were very excited to have been a part of it.
It was a cold and rainy afternoon as we made our way to The Dragon’s Den in Poughkeepsie but we were warmly welcomed by David and Sean as soon as we walked in. They had gone out of their way to make our event special with fancy Halloween themed tablecloths, signs, and even tasty snacks.
No sooner had we setup than the first group of players wanted to know all about our latest release. We had two games going almost nonstop for the entire event with many new fans being made this day. One player even declared The Village Crone to be “The best game ever!” after thoroughly crushing their opponents.
We spent a few minutes talking with the owner David about business and what it takes to run a store like this. The amount of fun stuff here is pretty amazing. Retro video games in the back, comics on the sides, board, card and minis games in between, and tons of table space. It’s a great store and the gamers in the area are lucky to have such a cool place to hangout.
We played more games than we could count and even sold out all the inventory of The Village Crone the store had before we called it a night. Our thanks to the staff at the Dragon’s Den for a great time!
What’s Next?
This week we’ve got a quick stop in Connecticut at Gamer’s Gambit and then we’re heading North to Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine! To see our remaining schedule, check out our Something Wicked Tour blog!
There’s been so much to share with the Something Wicked Tour store visits and the launch of The Village Crone, we’ve gotten a wee bit behind on sharing the meta game Justin & Anne-Marie are playing! Here’s what they completed in the last few days in Massachusetts before heading off to New York and Connecticut (we’ll be sharing those schemes next week).
1 Point: Conjure a Familiar – Locate a Familiar in the Cambridge Village Green (Cambridge, MA) – COMPLETED
In The Village Crone, each witch has a different Familiar. The Familiars to choose from are: Bats, Rats, Cats, Snakes, Spicers, and Crows/Ravens. Anne-Marie and Justin had to scour the Cambridge Village Green to find one of these creatures to score this point.
Things can never be easy, now can they? The Cambridge Village Green was under construction at the time of their visit, so they had to get creative to find any creatures who stuck around, and hadn’t gone into their winter dens yet.
3 Points: Marry Magic & Mayhem – (Boston, MA) – COMPLETED
Three parts to this scheme include “Visiting Phineas Gage’s Skull at the Warren Anatomical Museum, Crossing Harvard Bridge, and Visiting Boston Neck Gallows“.
Phineas Gage was a railway worker in 1800s who famously survived an accident in which a large metal rod impaled his head, destroying much of his frontal lobe, but not killing him. He lived for another 12 years and has become a case study for brain and behavior for psychology and neurology enthusiasts and professionals alike. His skull is on display at the Warren Anatomical Museum.
The Harvard Bridge connects Cambridge and Boston. It is the site of a famous Harry Houdini stunt where he was shackled and jumped off the bridge into freezing water below. Spectators waited an agonizing 40 seconds before Houdini broke the surface of the water, shackle-less, to solidify his fame as a magician. Harry Houdini died on Halloween in 1926.
The Boston Neck, a narrow strip of land connecting the Boston peninsula to the mainland, was the former home of the Gallows where the first person sentenced to death for witchcraft was executed.
What’s the Score?
With the 3 points they scored previously, and the 4 points they scored above, Justin and Anne-Marie are at a total of 7 points toward the 13 they need. There’s plenty of spooky left to share, so stay tuned!
The Something Wicked Tour rolled along over the weekend with three more stores in two states and some crazy traffic!
Our visit to Sarge’s Comics and More in New London, CT was short and sweet. While setting up for the event I noticed they had this copy of the old Bermuda Triangle game. I haven’t seen that since I was a kid!
We gave overviews of The Village Crone to several customers and made many people happy with a free piece of Silver, which came in handy as an actual coaster as well.
On Saturday we braved Manhattan traffic to visit legendary NYC store of The Compleat Strategist.
For years we have heard about this amazing store deep in the heart of the Big Apple. It’s known around the world as “the” place to come see if you are a gamer in New York. It lives up to its reputation.
Not only is the store absolutely packed with games of every type, style and size, the owners Mike and Danny do a great job of matching customers to the perfect game they are looking for.
We were warmly welcomed and quickly setup right at the front of the store to show off The Village Crone. Within minutes we had people asking how to turn Villagers into Frogs, or what the binding rings did. In between giving overviews, we talked all kinds of business with Mike and Danny and learned a lot about what it takes to have run a game store since 1975!
Before we knew it we were signing copies of games and wrapping up the night. It was a great event for us and a very cool opportunity to see one of the most unique game stores in the U.S.
A sunny, fall Sunday in Manchester, Connecticut saw the Fireside Games minivan pull into The Portal’s parking lot and unload all our goodies. We made our way inside and grabbed a long table in the board game area to setup The Village Crone.
Sunday’s are board game day and before long it was standing room only in there and we had our first game up and running. 5 witches battled it out and we saw one of the best uses of scattering happen, sending almost every Familiar back to the Village Green! In the end it came down to just a few point spread, but we had our winner at 13 points.
In between games we took a few minutes to explore the store. In addition to a great selection of games and a ton of play space, The Portal has a massive demo game library! Hundreds of games stacked into bookcases mean that you can come here and play anything from an old classic to a brand new release. The hardest decision will be picking which game to try!
Our next game started up and was a quick 2-player battle that resulted in one of the most crowded Forges we’ve seen and to top it off, it gets Bound so no one can leave! The best part was that while 4 Villagers were in the Forge the other 2 had been turned into frogs, so that was all there was!
We had a great time and met a lot of great gamers there. If you’re anywhere near the Manchester area and are craving a game, The Portal is definitely the place to go!
We’re only halfway through the Something Wicked tour, so stayed tuned for many more store visits in another 3 states!
Fireside Games is growing! Thanks to fans of our games and the amazing support we have found in the board game industry, we find ourselves with more work than ever and looking toward many new opportunities and products. To get there we need help.
We are looking for new members to join the Fireside team in several departments.
Please visit our Careers page to see the openings we are seeking to fill and submit your resume.
We are accepting applications through October and will begin contacting candidates after we wind down our Something Wicked Tour.
The Village Crone releases next week (September 30) in Friendly Local Game Stores (FLGS) everywhere in the US. We invite you to immerse yourself in the medieval town of Wickersby and learn about the gameplay with our Official How to Play videos!
Not only do we have a general gameplay overview video, but we also have some break-out videos on casting Spells, moving Familiars, and Witch’s Schemes. Check them all out on our YouTube Channel. You can share the entire playlist for The Village Crone, or just video you think your friends will find useful.
Want to know what different Spells you’ll be casting in The Village Crone? Check out this video that teaches you what the Spells do, what you need in Ingredients to Cast them, and the special incantations you need to give voice to your witchy desires!
What happens when too many Familiars congregate in one place? Watch the video on Movement & Scattering, to see what happens to Villagers and Familiars when the party gets too big! You can even use Scattering to your advantage if you are clever.
Check out our Something Wicked Tour in the New England area if you want to learn to play from the designer, Anne-Marie De Witt. And be sure to visit the game’s webpage for the FREE 3D Printer Files for all the components if you want to add minis to the game!
If you order directly through our website you get the exclusive Silver coaster promo you can use in the game, or ask at your FLGS, they may have snagged a few of this promo at a recent show!
As you prepare to get your very own copy of The Village Crone, be sure to download the Book of Spells patch for the Unbinding Spell error in the first printing.
Happy Spell-Casting!!
Riding with ghosts, witnessing history, and exploring the paranormal… just a few of the objectives Justin and Anne-Marie had to complete to score the first seven points of the Something Wicked Tour meta game. Let’s take a look at the Schemes they were following and whether they accomplished them or not!
1 Point: Ride with the Damned – take the Trolley of the Doomed (Boston, MA) – COMPLETED
Our first scheme “Ride with the Damned” took us on a dark and spooky ride through historic Boston. We visited Copp’s Hill burying ground, saw the home of the last victim of the Boston Strangler, spent some time with the occupants of the Granary Burying Ground and more. The city is crawling with ghosts and we survived our encounter to score our first Witch’s Scheme!
Copps Hill Tombstone: This 3 part tombstone is a sad marker of 3 untimely deaths. George Worthylake’s tombstone is on the left, his wife’s on the right and their young daughter’s in the middle. The three were drowned while returning to Boston Lighthouse at Beacon Island where George was keeper. Strangely enough, George’s replacement was found drowned days after taking up the position, giving rise to the legend that the lighthouse was cursed. To this day, a phantom lightkeeper can be seen shining his lantern on the island and climbing the lighthouse stairs. Locals believe it to be George Worthylake, which means this is a photo of the grave of an actual ghost!
Franklin Grave: Wow, the actual grave of Benjamin Franklin! . . . is in Philadelphia. This monument is where his parents are born.
Paul Revere Grave: The large marker in the center is a monument to the famous rider. The tiny tombstone on the bottom right is where he is actually buried.
2 Points: Pay Respects to the Accused – visit the Salem Witch Museum & Memorial (Salem, MA) – COMPLETED
What witch focused tour would be complete without a visit to Salem, MA? We took some time to absorb the history and tragedy of the Witchcraft Hysteria of 1692.
The Witch Trial Memorial is a somber place to remember what happened here. It’s a simple, but touching memorial with stone benches bearing the names of those who were hanged for witchcraft.
Actual quotes from the accused are carved into the stone threshold of the memorial.
A plaque at the memorial recaps the trials and lists the names of all the hanged victims.
The Salem Witch Museum has a retelling of the events that surrounded the hysteria of the trials as well as a look at witches through history.
On a lighter note, there is a cool statue of Samantha Stevens from Bewitched in the middle of town. Anne-Marie loved this show growing up and later episodes were actually filmed in Salem.
What’s the Score?
At this point Anne-Marie and Justin have scored 3 points total towards the 13 they need by the end of the Something Wicked tour in October. We’ll be sharing their first 3-point scheme soon, so stay tuned!
Have you visited any of these places? Tell us about your experiences in the comments!
Over the weekend Anne-Marie and Justin made the first two store visits for the Something Wicked Tour.
We have started this tour in Boston and the surrounding boroughs and our first stop was at Knight Moves Cafe in Brookline, MA. Knight Moves is a game cafe that focuses on providing a friendly hangout for gamers (both new and veteran) to have a snack, a drink, and a good time playing games together.
We arrived early and the shop was relatively quiet. That would change as the night went on when it was standing room only and we got in several games of The Village Crone and earned some new fans for the game
The owner, Devon, was very helpful and kept directing gamers to our tables as well as serving delicious drinks and snacks all night long.
Their demo library is made of multiple bookcases that are literally overflowing with games. If you want to try out a game in the Brookline area, this is the place to do it!
While they don’t sell games at Knight Moves Cafe, they do work with Eureka Puzzles & Games, a game store down the street, to promote gaming in the Brookline area.
On Sunday evening they ventured to the Harvard University area to visit Pandemonium Books & Games in Cambridge.
We played with all the local board game night attendees, squeezing in 4 games over the night.
The first game of the night had a tremendous finish with one player scoring all three of his Witches Schemes on his last turn in an amazing combination of spellcasting!
Thanks to all who came out!
On Tuesday night we visited the Compleat Strategist in Boston.
Unfortunately we lost the video for this event, so we only have a few photos we grabbed while we were there. Must have been some of those ghosts we met earlier on the Trolley Tour!
We met some local gamers and showed them what it takes to become The Village Crone. They were pretty good at being witches as it turns out since Justin got trounced soundly!
Up next is our visit to Sarge’s Comics in New London, CT on Friday (6–10pm) and then we will be visiting the legendary New York store of the Compleat Strategist this Saturday from 1pm to 5pm!
Join Justin & Anne-Marie on the Something Wicked Tour, and immerse yourself in the spirit of the tour with a little meta-game.
Follow along as they try to complete their own set of Tour Schemes over the next few weeks. Similar to your goals in The Village Crone, they will have to achieve the objectives on the Scheme Cards to score those points. Will they be able to score a total of 13 points before the last tour date? Stay tuned and see as we share these little extras with you!
Up first is a series of schemes in the Boston area. If you see them out and about, say hi, but don’t distract them from their purpose, they want to WIN this tour!
Schemes on Deck:
1 Point: RIDE WITH THE DAMNED – Take the “Trolley of the Doomed” Ghost Tour
1 Point: CONJURE A FAMILIAR – Spot a Familiar in the Cambridge Village Green
2 Points: PAY RESPECTS TO THE ACCUSED – Visit the Salem Witch Trials Memorial & Visit the Salem Witch Museum
3 Points: MARRY MAGIC & MAYHEM – View Phineas Gage’s Skull, Cross Harvard Bridge, & Visit Boston Neck Gallows
They will be providing proof of their Schemes on social media with photos and videos, so watch our YouTube Channel, Facebook Page, and Twitter & Instagram accounts for details.
(For bonus points, you can play along… share your experiences with any of the events/situations on their scheme cards – or make up your own! – through social media. Tag your posts using #SomethingWicked!)
Best laid plans often find themselves at the mercy of fate, and a customs hold on our shipment of The Village Crone has put us a bit behind so we are sliding the release date to September 30.
We have confirmation it has been released by customs and is in the warehouse. We need some time to get it logged into inventory and prepped for outgoing shipments, but we will definitely make this new release date.
In the meantime, we invite you to view our How to Play video for The Village Crone, and put in your pre-orders with us or your Friendly Local Game Store.
You may also want to meet up with us on the road as we start the Something Wicked Tour this weekend in Brookline, MA at Eureka Puzzles & Knight Moves Cafe on September 19. You can see the entire tour schedule with dates and venues in our tour announcement blog or by viewing our Calendar.
Don’t forget you can download the 3D printer files for the game components and make your own minis on your personal 3D printer, and if you pre-order through our website, you will get the exclusive Silver promo coaster! (Ask at your FLGS, as they may have gotten a few of these at recent retailer shows.)
We’ll be sharing more game play videos and game reviews as they come in and stay tuned for fun updates from the Something Wicked Tour!
What fun would a game about witches be without spell-casting? Don’t worry, The Village Crone, is chock full of this kind of fun!
You main objective in The Village Crone is to score 13 points first by completing Witch’s Schemes. To do so, you will be sending out your Familiars to harvest Ingredients you need to cast a variety of spells to achieve the objectives on your Witch’s Scheme cards.
There are 8 different spell types you can cast, each requiring a different mix of Ingredients and a special incantation. We have provided incantations for you, but you are permitted to make up your own if you are feeling particularly witchy while playing.
Pages 4 & 5 of the rule book go into detail about each spell, giving examples of how they work and how they affect the Villagers, and possibly your Familiars.
Let’s take a look at a specific spell-casting scenario: Continue reading Casting the Spell
We’ve recently discussed the importance of using your Familiars to gather the Ingredients you need to cast Spells in The Village Crone. Let’s take a closer look at the Ingredients and how you will be using them.
There are five types of Ingredients: Fire, Flour, Silver, Soil, and Eye of Newt.
Fire is created at the Forge, Flour at the Mill, Silver is found at the Lord’s Manor, and Soil is harvested at the Farm. Eye of Newt is a wild card and can be used in place of any of the other Ingredients to complete your Spells.
Three Eye of Newt cards are shuffled into each of the other Ingredient decks at the beginning of the game. These will be drawn at random during the Harvest phase, so you may or may not end up with one.
You receive Ingredients during the Harvest phase of a round. Remember, you only get Ingredients from locations in which you have a Familiar during the Harvest phase. If you do not have any Familiars in a location to receive Ingredients, you may take 3 Ingredients from the Tithe Barn as charity. There is also a rule that allows witches to trade Ingredients during the Move & Cast Spells phase, but the rate of trade is negotiated between players. You may be able to “buy” an Ingredient you need from another player, but it can cost you!
When you cast a Spell, you discard those Ingredients. If another player blocks your Spell with a Protection Spell, you still lose those Ingredients.
Don’t forget to consult your Book of Spells often to remember the Ingredients you will need to be collecting to cast the Spells on your Witch’s Scheme cards. And remember there are multiple ways to achieve some of your Schemes, so get creative and use your resources wisely!
Happy Casting!
There is a crispness in the air and something whispers on the wind. Fall approaches, as does the witching hour. We invite you to join us as we bring The Village Crone to game stores across New England with the Something Wicked Tour!
Our newest game is full of spell-casting and witchy fun, and releases in September. We are hitting the road to traverse the Northeast United States, teaching new witches how to play and visiting some spooky places along the way.
Anne-Marie De Witt (designer of The Village Crone) and Justin De Witt (co-owner of Fireside Games) will be making the following stops to demo The Village Crone, talk about game design, share promos for the game, and generally be enchanting! We hope to see you along the way.
Sept 19 5:30-6:30PM
Eureka Puzzles & More
Brookline, MA
Signing Event Q&A
Sept 19 7-11PM
Knight Moves Cafe
Brookline, Ma
Demo night
Sept 20 6-10PM
Pandemonium Books & Games
Cambridge, MA
Sept 22 4-8PM
Compleat Strategist
Boston, MA
Sept 25 6-10PM
Sarge’s Comics & Games
New London, CT
Sept 26 2-6PM
Compleat Strategist
New York, NY
Sept 27 12-4PM
Time Machine/The Portal
Manchester, CT
Sept 30 7-11PM
The UnCommons NYC
New York, NY
Oct 1 & 2 2-6PM
Brooklyn Game Lab
Brooklyn, NY
Oct 3 2-6PM
Dragon’s Den
Poughkeepsie, NY
Oct 4 12-3PM
Gamer’s Gambit
Danbury, CT
Oct 6 6-10PM
Quarterstaff Games
Burlington, VT
Oct 11 1-5PM
Crossroad Games
Standish, ME
Oct 13 5-9PM
Diversions Puzzles & Games
Portsmouth, NH
Beasts that Crawl, Fly, Slither, & Stalk
What witch could succeed without the assistance of her Familiar breed? In The Village Crone, you command your Familiars to assist you in the completion of your Witch’s Schemes.
Each witch has their own set of Familiar tokens that represent their animal minions. The choices you have are cats, bats, rats, snakes, spiders, and crows. If you have a personal affinity towards a particular animal it may bring you luck!
You will get 5 tokens displaying your Familiar’s likeness, you will place 3 of them on the board at the beginning of the game. In order to put the other two in play, you must use the Conjuring Spell.
The Familiars are placed on the board in various locations around the Village for several strategic purposes.
A vital function of your Familiars is harvesting of Ingredients you need to cast Spells. During the Harvest Ingredients phase of a round, you will receive two Ingredient cards for each Familiar you have in a given location. For instance, if you have one Familiar at the Lord’s Manor, you will receive two Silver. If you have two Familiars at the Farm, you will receive four Soil (two for each Familiar).
You may also want to move your Familiars around using your Movement Phase if you need to change the Ingredients you have been gathering to cast different Spells. This strategy will depend upon the Spells required to complete your Witch’s Schemes.
There are spells that require a Familiar to be present in a location to affect that space, such as Summoning or Switching.
An overcrowding of Familiars can occur, triggering a Scatter effect and kicking Familiars out of a specific location. For more details on Scattering, check your rule book page 3.
Whether you prefer cat-like reflexes, a bird’s eye view, or the creepy-crawly vibe of an eight-legged friend, your Familiars will be a most valued resource as you vie to be The Village Crone!
What is inside the Book of Spells?
Each player in The Village Crone will choose a Book of Spells at the beginning of the game. You will use this as a privacy screen to keep your Schemes away from the prying eyes of the other witches and it acts as a handy reference guide for the Spells you will be casting and some of the rules for gameplay.
The book you choose determines which Familiar becomes yours to command. The image of your Familiar is displayed on the outside facing portion of your Book of Spells so the other witches know whose Familiars are whose.
Inside the Book of Spells you will find a handy chart of the Spells you will be casting. The chart includes a description of what the Spell does, the Ingredients required to cast it, and the Incantation you must say to give power to your spell. You may also choose to make up your own incantations, which can lead to some really funny moments in the game!
There is also a reference guide for Order of Play when you are first learning to play the game or have new players joining you, and a helpful reminder list for some of the rules you will want to keep in mind without having to look them up in the rule book once you get going.
Don’t forget to make sure you have the latest version of the rules with the correction to the Unbinding spell. You can also print out a patch for your Books of Spells Charts.
It’s that time of year again already! Next week we will be heading to Atlanta, GA along with 70,000 other people for DragonCon.
This year the Exhibitor Space is in AmericasMart Building 2. We will be on the First Floor in Booth 1425.
We will have copies of The Village Crone for advance sale, so you can take it home with you before it releases in stores in September. But we only have a limited supply, so be sure to come by early.
DragonCon is a unique show and we get to see some pretty sweet costumes walk by the booth! If you are going to the show this year, stop by and say “Hi!” You can pick up the 6th Level Agranok card for The Dark Titan or an Alarm Clock for Bears!
Oh, and we’ll have these super sweet Deluxe Monster Draw Bags for Castle Panic for sale. We just got them back in stock!
