Dastardly Dirigibles Coming Summer 2016!

Posted on Monday, Feb 08 2016 10:50AMWednesday, Jul 13 2016 5:43PM by Justin De Witt — Leave a comment

Happy Birthday, Jules Verne! In honor of a man whose imagination and fantastical inventions on the page have inspired amazing technologies to be born in the real world, we are excited to announce another new release coming your way in 2016! Dastardly Dirigibles are coming to airspace near you this summer.

Professor Phineas Edmund Hornswoggle, famed airship builder, is retiring and you are an engineer competing to inherit the Hornswoggle factory!

Build your airship from different parts of 9 beautiful suits. Each time a part is added, ALL players MUST add the SAME part–which may replace an existing one.

Use Special cards to your advantage or to thwart your opponents. The round ends when the first airship is complete. But you score only the suit used most in your airship. The player with the highest score after 3 rounds wins!

Dastardly Dirigibles is a game full of surprises and visual delights. The tarot-sized cards feature gorgeous Steampunk artwork. You will have a hard time choosing a favorite airship suit! This card game will hit stores in July 2016. It plays in an hour, accommodates 2–5 players, ages 8 and up, and has an MSRP of $19.95.

Dastardly Dirigibles joins Bears! and Here, Kitty, Kitty! as part of our line of fun, friendly competitive games priced $25 and under.

Share our official press release with your favorite mad scientist or engineer!

3D Printer Files for The Village Crone

Posted on Monday, Dec 28 2015 2:18AMWednesday, Jul 13 2016 5:45PM by Justin De Witt — 2 Comments

Happy Holidays! If you received a copy of The Village Crone for Christmas, you might be interested to know we have created 3D printer files for all the components in the game that you can download for FREE for a limited time!

PLEASE NOTE: Some printing services and/or programs may require you to enter the dimensions for the item to be printed. Please consult the ReadMe.txt file included in the download for a chart of proportional dimensions for all the pieces to fit your game appropriately.

Castle Panic Downloads Pack!

Posted on Tuesday, Dec 08 2015 2:16AMWednesday, Jul 13 2016 5:46PM by Justin De Witt — Leave a comment

We’ve been compiling a nice array of downloadable accessories for the Castle Panic fan in your life and now we have finally put them all together in one place!

You can click on the “Download the Pack!” button below to enhance your Castle Panic experience.

But what is included? We’re so glad you asked!

The Oracle – Remember those “cootie catcher thingies” from grade school? We made one that gives you some added player interaction to pull out when playing the game. Print it out, fold it up, and Presto! you have your own Castle Panic Companion Oracle.

Master Slayer Tracker – We put this together for International TableTop Day, but you can use it all year to keep track of who has been the Master Slayer the most times or with the most points. It’s a great way to settle arguments over who won the last time. Provided in color and in black and white.

Monster & Hero Coloring Pages – These will keep the kiddos busy when you need a little quite time before you break out the game for an evening of Monster slaying. It’s a great way to include younger players who aren’t quite old enough for the game yet.

Castle Snowflake Template – Who says gaming can’t be festive for the holidays? Use the template to make a few strategic scissor cuts (under supervision for the little ones, of course!) and watch the magic unfold to reveal a snowflake made of towers and walls with a token surprise in the middle!

(2.4MB PDF)

If you have an idea for a printable accessory, let us know! We’re always looking for fun ways to add to your gaming experience.

Let Fireside Games help you bring fun ho-ho-home this holiday season!

German Language Castle Panic

Posted on Wednesday, Dec 02 2015 2:13PMWednesday, Jul 13 2016 5:46PM by Justin De Witt — Leave a comment

Box cover of German language version of Castle Panic

Back in October Castle Panic made its German language debut at Spiel Essen. We received some images of this version (published by Pegasus Spiele under license) and thought it would be fun to share them with you.

The tokens don’t come pre-punched, so if you like punching out your own bits and pieces you would enjoy this version. The board and box are also slightly larger than the English version to fit Pegasus Spiele’s standard box size.

It is fun to see the cards in a different language, as well. A little strange, but definitely cool.

What other languages would you like to see Castle Panic published in? If you are interested in a copy of the German language version, you will have to look for German retailer. It doesn’t appear to be available through online sales.

The Village Crone Review Roundup!

Posted on Wednesday, Nov 04 2015 1:30PMWednesday, Dec 16 2015 3:04PM by Justin De Witt — Leave a comment

Witches aren’t just for Halloween anymore! Find out why YOU should be playing The Village Crone through recommendations from gamers like you in this Review Roundup for our newest game (released September 30).

Dave Banks at Geek Dad flatters us with his comments on the components and gameplay quality, “I really appreciate Fireside’s devotion to quality, both in gameplay and components. Everything looks and feels top-notch, making for a great gaming experience… …I think Fireside is great at coming up with little twists that affect gameplay positively…”

“The game is easy to learn and play, but offers enough depth to keep players interested,” according to Mike N. over at Nerds of a Feather in his recap of the best games at GenCon.

Caylie Sadin from Nerdy But Flirty fell in love with The Village Crone when she first saw it at GenCon 2015, “The game is really fun to play, the art is beautiful, and the theme is awesome.”

She really likes the thematic use of spell-casting in this one: “One of the mechanics that makes the game super enjoyable is that every time you cast a spell, you have to say the incantation too. It helps players get into the spirit of the game.”

You can check out Caylie’s interview with Anne-Marie De Witt, the designer of The Village Crone, over on the Nerdy but Flirty website.

The Domestic Geek echoes Nerdy but Flirty with her praise, “I can’t get enough of this game.” You can watch Brittany’s Unboxing Video and her Video Review over on her blog or YouTube channel.

Jeremiah from Theology of Gaming enjoys the thinking aspects of the game:

“The interaction is great, the board is constantly shifting, and there’s a lot of guessing who’s doing what and trying to block them, or at least trying to stop other players from moving the pieces you need out of the ares in which you need them. You’re right, it is very much puzzle-like. And I like that a lot!”

The praise for this game is summed up nicely by Ryan Morgenegg over at Deseret News, “The Village Crone has a great theme and beautiful components.”

There you have it, folks! The Village Crone is a worker placement, resource management game with a puzzle-like quality and continually shifting landscape. Learn more about The Village Crone on our information page and pick up a copy at your Friendly Local Game Store today!

Catch Cat Fever with Here Kitty Kitty – Coming Spring 2016

Posted on Thursday, Oct 29 2015 10:30AMWednesday, Jul 13 2016 5:43PM by Justin De Witt — Leave a comment

It is National Cat Day, and Fireside Games is pleased to take this opportunity to announce Here, Kitty, Kitty!, a new game that will be releasing in Spring 2016.

In this crazy cat-collecting game your neighborhood has a cat problem. The problem is they don’t all belong to YOU! Everyone in the neighborhood wants to claim those adorable kitties for themselves.

Outwit your fellow feline fiends as you lure cats onto your property, move cats into your house, and steal cats from your neighbors. All is fair in love and cat-collecting!

Here, Kitty, Kitty! will include 40 covetable cat miniatures. You will have a hard time picking a favorite! The game retails for $24.95, accommodates 3-6 players, and plays in approximately 30 minutes.

Designed by Kris McCardel Ware, a self-proclaimed “crazy cat lady,” this game is full of thematic jokes and cat puns. There are no blenders or explosions in this game, but if you use your “Catlike Reflexes” and avoid “Stray Dogs” and “Hairballs,” you might just “Land on Your Feet!”

Get ready for some feline fever this coming Spring with Here, Kitty, Kitty!

How to Play The Village Crone – Videos!

Posted on Thursday, Sep 24 2015 4:30PMWednesday, Jul 13 2016 5:20PM by Justin De Witt — Leave a comment

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!!

Get ready for The Village Crone! Releasing September 30

Posted on Tuesday, Sep 15 2015 12:07PM by Justin De Witt — Leave a comment

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!

Casting the Spell

Posted on Sunday, Sep 06 2015 12:35PM by Justin De Witt — Leave a comment

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

Getting Familiar with The Village Crone

Posted on Monday, Aug 31 2015 3:10PM by Justin De Witt — Leave a comment

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!

Which Witch is Which? Look Inside the Book of Spells

Posted on Saturday, Aug 29 2015 2:12PM by Justin De Witt — Leave a comment

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.

Scheming Witches: Anatomy of a Witch’s Scheme Card

Posted on Tuesday, Aug 25 2015 4:30PM by Justin De Witt — 3 Comments

The main objective in The Village Crone is to be the first witch to score 13 victory points. You score points by completing Witch’s Schemes valued at 1, 2, or 3 points, depending on the difficulty level of the objectives in the scheme.

In order to score a Scheme, all conditions on the card must be met in the same turn. Cards contain both Active and Passive Schemes. What’s the difference? Active Schemes must be completed by the Witch scoring the card, Passive Schemes may be met by conditions existing on the board or by the Witch scoring the card.

Let’s take a look at an example: Continue reading Scheming Witches: Anatomy of a Witch’s Scheme Card

Unbinding Unbound

Posted on Thursday, Aug 20 2015 11:35AM by Justin De Witt — Leave a comment

We want to extend a big “Thank You” to everyone who has been spreading their love for The Village Crone through your reviews, blogs, posts, and tweets.

As you are enjoying the game, we want to let you know about an error in the Unbinding Spell that affects the rulebook and Book of Spells. Binding a location requires 2 Soil cards, but the Ingredients required to Unbind a location should be 2 of the same of ANY ingredient, not just Soil.

village-crone-updated-rules-cover — Visit *The Village Crone* info page to download the latest version of the rules with the ingredient fix.

We have updated the rules PDF (which is available online), provided a small patch for the Book of Spells (which can be downloaded and printed), and will be including an errata sheet with all games purchased after the publication of this post.

Spellbook_Patch_For_Web — Download and a print the patch sheet for the Book of Spells quick reference guide to update your game.

The Village Crone releases September 30, and we’re looking forward to bringing you more bewitching good times. Happy casting!

Welcome to Wickersby

Posted on Tuesday, Aug 18 2015 2:30AM by Justin De Witt — Leave a comment

A look at the modular game boards in The Village Crone.

One of the many fun features of The Village Crone, is the modular game board. In this game, the play area is comprised of six (6), 9×9 boards that each represent a different location in the medieval village of Wickersby.

The layout of the boards is changeable each time you play. For standard play, we recommend you lay them out on a standard 3 x 2 grid; however, if you would like more complexity in your game you may choose to offset the boards, creating new pathways that must be maneuvered when moving Villagers and Familiars from location to location to achieve your Schemes.

With this added flexibility in the game, you will discover new challenges to your strategy each time you play. The “best” path from the Forge to the Mill will change each time you lay the tiles differently, adding a simple, yet meaningful, twist that keeps the game feeling fresh even after repeated play.

You can pre-order The Village Crone on our site or at your Friendly Local Game Store. It officially releases in stores everywhere September 30. To read the full rules, visit the information page about The Village Crone and click on the PDF download link under the How to Play header.

The Dark Titan Review Round Up

Posted on Tuesday, Jul 14 2015 11:53AMMonday, Nov 09 2020 11:22AM by Justin De Witt — Leave a comment

It’s been a few months since Agranok returned from banishment and invaded the Castle Panic towers with his army of Elite Monsters. Now that The Dark Titan expansion has hit table tops around the country (and world), let’s take a look at what people are saying…

Ryan Morgenegg of Deseret News says, “For fans of Castle Panic, the purchase of The Dark Titan expansion is a no-brainer. For a relatively small price, the game offers a bunch of new content and the toughest challenge yet.” You can read his full review on the Deseret News page.

For those of you new to Castle Panic, check out PostPostModernDad’s review. He introduces new players to the joys and woes of defending your home in Castle Panic and gives a great overview of what this expansion adds to the game, without overwhelming you with the nuances of adding the first expansion, The Wizard’s Tower, as well.

His verdict? “The Dark Titan enhances and underscores Castle Panic‘s inherent cooperative play making it a fantastic addition to the game. Buy it.” Well, we can’t argue with that, now can we?

The Opinionated Gamer (aka pastor guy) states, “fans of the game will find new challenges and interesting twists that don’t overwhelm the sold engine of the base game.”

And Rick Teverbaugh of the Herald Bulletin believes this expansion will remind you why you loved Castle Panic in the first place and encourages you to get it back on the table. There’s no reason your Castle should be gathering dust in your game library!

“I can virtually assure all gamers there will be moments of panic when it seems all might be lost – and with the challenges put forth, that might really be true,” says Teverbaugh.

Still need some convincing of the amount of drama and panic held in the small expansion box? Check out the dramatic retelling of a play through of The Dark Titan in The Dice Tower video review by the fine fellas at Boardgame Corner (click HERE to skip straight to the epic story time!).

Randy and Mark of Boardgame Corner both agree the expansion “is a blast to play” with Mark really loving the 5 different levels of difficulty for Agranok.

“It goes from manageable to completely insane,” Mark says. We’re pretty sure that is what Justin (De Witt, designer of Castle Panic and its expansions) was going for!

If you still haven’t tried The Dark Titan expansion for Castle Panic, we invite you to check out our How to Play videos, including a video on how to play with both expansions. For more information on The Wizard’s Tower expansion, visit our webpage.

Ask for Castle Panic and its expansions at your Friendly Local Game Store!

The Village Crone Unboxing and Rules Sneak Peek!

Posted on Friday, Jul 10 2015 12:00PM by Justin De Witt — 2 Comments

We’ve been anxiously awaiting the chance to get our hands on a final copy of The Village Crone, so we know you’ve been waiting too! We got our final production sample delivered the other day and immediately made this unboxing video to share:

While it doesn’t officially release until September 16, we will be previewing The Village Crone in demos at GenCon AND have a limited number of advance copies for sale. If you will be in Indy for GenCon 2015, make sure you plan to come by booth 1949 to get an up close look at this beautiful game and its special promo debuting there.

The video wasn’t enough to satisfy your appetite? Check out the PDF of the Rules, now available on The Village Crone information page on our website!

We hope you’re as excited about this game as we are! Stay tuned for information on a special promotional tour we’ll be taking this Fall to celebrate its release.