Cardglass : I wish I could see their hand of cards
I’m back at the desk. It’s been ages since my last post. During that time I did play games, including LOTR LCG, but have been low on ideas for Boardkit. Until now!
With this idea, I’m stretching Boardkit’s scope to include card and board game video capture. That’s right, video.
If you’re like me, you’ve enjoyed watching OCTGN play sessions of your favorite games. That it be live on Twitch or recorded on Youtube, it’s great fun and can be a good learning tool also. OCTGN recordings are prevalent as it is a much more easily recordable medium then the original table top card version of the games. That said, tournaments are played with real cards and so are most FGS meetups. For these, the standard way to capture the game is from one point of view, up top, looking down at the table top. It works ok, but if you’re like me you may wish for a way to see the player’s hands. That’s were Cardglass comes in.
LOTR LCG Player mat from Inked Playmats
I live in very cold, but very nice Montreal. Less then 50 miles from the US border. Yet mail order from the good old US of A can be a real challenge. That’s why I didn’t build BoardKit mats initially to be printed through one of the play mat printers based there. I guessed they would make the mats look and play much better, but feared the cost and hassle of shipping across the border.
A month ago, I changed my mind. After producing the simplified version of the player mat I figured it was time to go further and build a “serious player’s” player mat and for it only a fabric would do.
The Noble riders take on The Massing at Osgiliath
This is a first turn-by-turn game session report for me. I’ve enjoyed reading them for LOTR LCG over the years, but reading those from Ian at Tales from the cards especially. He weaves a tale around the cards to make a real story of it. This is what inspired me to take a stab at contributing in this way.
This is then kind of a side quest for this blog as it’s not Boardkit focused, so please indulge me for this dramatized session report of the first GENCON quest, The Massing At Osgiliath. Read the rest of this entry »
New Boarkit player mat for regular LOTR LCG Players
You can never please everyone. That’s a true fact of life. This can be depressing for content creators, but the silver lining is that this is also a source of new insight.
LOTR LCG Boardkit Playthrough Library – part 2 – The Hall of Fire is in open Beta!
Hi all. It’s been a while since my last post. Like most of you, I imagine, the holidays and all the activity surrounding this happy time has taken a lot out of my LOTR LCG time. Only played two games! That said, I did get back to the Boardkit project after the holidays and I’m happy to say, I reached a milestone. Yes, the Boardkit LOTR LCG Playthrough Library is now officially in open beta.
Even if this is not it’s official opening, I did give it’s official name so that I could complete the web hosting portion of the project. From this point on it shall be called the HALL OF FIRE. This is obviously in reference to the use given to this great room of Rivendell by the elves and their guests. Here is a quote from the Tolkien Gateway website that inspired me to use the name:
The Hall of Fire was a large room in Elrond’s house in Rivendell. Between carven pillars in a great hearth a fire was always kept lit, with little other light present. While the hall stood empty during most days, at night it was given over to the telling of tales and singing of songs.
New Questing path mat: Battle of the five armies
I’m looking forward, like most of you I’m sure, to the final chapter in the Hobbit movie saga. For those that want to replay the last of the On the doorstep saga adventures, The battle of five armies, I’ve assemble a Questing path mat for you. Read the rest of this entry »
LOTR LCG Boardkit Playthrough Library – part 1
I said at the start of this project that three elements would be required to make a Boardkit for this game. The last piece is as important as the others, but delivering on it will be quite a bit more difficult. Why? Yes, yes, of course, because it means building and maintaining a Web application. That part is taking some major time to get to Beta. But really, it will be difficult mostly because it will need to gain the support of active players to bring it to life. Crossing my fingers on the second element, let’s talk about the first, the Library app. Read the rest of this entry »
LOTR LCG BoardKit Player mat
LOTRS LCG is the first card game for which I will be developing a BoardKit and the first of this kit’s components I want to publish is the Player mat. It is going to be only one of five mats required for the LOTR LCG BoardKit, but as it can be used without the other components as simply a player mat, it was the best one to start off this kit. This way, I can get some feedback on this first element without all the kit being published.
So, lets talk about this mat. What you need to know is that with this LOTR LCG player mat I’m attempting to assemble in a clear and fun way all the cards a player will place on the table plus all the enemy cards that will engage with him in an 11 x 17 inch area. I also included some tracking mechanics to round-off all the basic components a player needs in front of him. Overall the mat is divided into six areas: Heroes, Allies, Attachments, Engaged Enemies, Deck and the Combo tracker. We’ll look at each in turn.
LOTR LCG Boardkit Success Score
The second key component of the LOR LCG Boardkit is the BK Scoring system. For those that have read the post on the Success tracker mat, you already have a good idea of how it’s calculated. Here, I will take more time to explain the system, talk about its goals and how it will be used not only on this play-mat, but also in the LOTR LCG Playthrough Library.
LOTR LCG Boardkit Questing path mat
This is the fourth and last mat of the central board area.
Like the Success tracker mat, it is focused on enhancing the sense of challenge associates with the Questing portion of the game. Unlike the other three mats though, the Questing path changes from adventure to adventure to deliver on its goal.
BoardKit 
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