Month: September 2016

Play Terraforming Mars, Tiny Epic Galaxies, and Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle now available in the Great Library at Merlin’s Beard!

Terraforming Mars

In the 2400s, mankind begins to terraform the planet Mars. Giant corporations, sponsored by the World Government on Earth, initiate huge projects to raise the temperature, the oxygen level, and the ocean coverage until the environment is habitable. In Terraforming Mars, you play one of those corporations and work together in the terraforming process, but compete for getting victory points that are awarded not only for your contribution to the terraforming, but also for advancing human infrastructure throughout the solar system, and doing other commendable things.

– Board Game Geek

Tiny Epic Galaxies

In Tiny Epic Galaxies each player controls a galactic empire, aiming to expand their influence by acquiring highly contested planets and increasing their cosmic armada. The game revolves around an innovative dice-rolling combo mechanic. The number of dice you roll is determined by the strength of your galaxy. Each die is engraved with symbols representing the various actions you can take, such as moving a spaceship, increasing your culture or energy resources, or advancing your political or economic influence over newly discovered planets.

– Board Game Geek

Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle

The forces of evil are threatening to overrun Hogwarts castle in Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle, a cooperative deck-building game, and it’s up to four students to ensure the safety of the school by defeating villains and consolidating their defenses. In the game, players take on the role of a Hogwarts student: Harry, Ron, Hermione or Neville, each with their own personal deck of cards that’s used to acquire resources.

– Board Game Geek

League of Legends World Championships 2016

Merlin’s Beard is excited to try something new. Starting tomorrow night will will be airing the League of Legends World Championships at Merlin’s Beard*. This event is brought to you in part by the generous action of Adam Kowalski (spelling?) who spends all his free time at Merlin’s anyway and so moved in his TV. Thanks, Adam, we love you!

League of Legends is a pretty big deal in the competitive video game world, and while I know little about it myself, Andrew and Ian talk about it all the time. So here’s to eSports, Adam, and new ventures at Merlin’s Beard!

* Player’s Fare does not apply to those coming in to watch LOL however we ask that you consider making a purchase while you attend. Should we reach capacity,  non-paying viewers will be asked to make room for paying board gamers, especially on Friday and Saturday nights.

Ticket to Ride Leaves the Station

All aboard for Ticket to Ride Season 1! Join other travelers every Thursday at Merlin’s Beard for some fast playing, route blocking, set collecting action. League registration is $3 and you can choose to pay all 6 player fares up front for just $3/night ($21). Price is good through the end of the day tomorrow.

I’m still working the the rewards tiers, however we will maintain the rewards from Catan. That is the tier 1 reward is a free soft drink and  the tier 2 reward is a free sandwich. The overall winner will receive a $10 gift certificate and everyone competing will receive one free player’s fare at Merlin’s Beard at the conclusion of the league.

The Trudvang Chronicles and Great Library at Merlin’s Beard

Calling all role playing aficionados! Merlin’s is a working hard on our RPG library and we are especially interested in supporting interesting role playing systems. We have a tablet incoming that will be loaded with Pathfinder and 7th Sea PDFs, plus core rule books for Dungeons and Dragons (5e), 7th Sea (2e), and Pathfinder (coming soon), and legacy books for Shadow Run (2e), Middle Earth Role-Playing (MERP), Star Wars (WEG and WOTC), and D20 Modern.

We very much would like to add 6 volumes of the award winning Trudvang Chronicles to our library. The cost is $90 with shipping through Kickstarter, bringing the system to English for the first time. If you are interested in helping us out, bring a few dollars in and contribute to the Trudvang Support Fund at Merlin’s Beard. I plan on learning the rules via PDF as soon as they are released to us and then I will host a training day for everyone involved. More information can be found here.

If there are other RPG systems you are interested in, Merlin’s is willing to help you find and acquire them through group funding similar to what we are doing with Trudvang. We will observe the following rules when building the library in this manner:

Donation rules

1. We are only raising the money necessary to fund and ship the book(s).
2. Cash only.
3. Merlin’s will chip in $10 once funded.
4. If we exceed the total cost we will start to refund money (after the kickstarter) to the largest donors first down until everyone is on equal footing.
5. Anyone who contributes shall have their name written on the inside front cover of all the books we receive.
6. There will be a record kept on the Looking for Group board at Merlin’s Beard.
7. Donors do not have to pay a player’s fare when reviewing the books. Their groups pay $2.50/person to play the game at Merlin’s.
8. Donors may purchase fountain sodas at the refill price (~at cost to Merlin’s) while reviewing or playing the game.

 

Catan: Seafarers League Sets Sail

Come out to Merlin’s Beard on Tuesday to set sail with the Seafarers and compete to earn rewards in our league format. Earn a free soda at 30VP, a free sandwich at 60VP, and the winner receives a $10 gift certificate to Merlin’s Beard! Participants will also receive a guest pass sometime next week (I just ordered them).

Ticket to Ride, All Aboard

On Thursday our Ticket to Ride league leaves the station. The reward structure will remain similar to Catan’s, so expect opportunities to earn sodas, sandwiches, and our riders will also receive a guest pass when they come in.

League Pricing

• $3 admission to the league, does not include player’s fare.
• $21 preregistration includes 6 discounted player fares for league nights.

*image from Wikipedia entry on Catan Seafarers.

Whose got a ticket to ride? Andrew Chapman does! Join Andrew and Merlin’s Beard as we prepare to launch our first season of Ticket To Ride next Thursday!

Continue reading “Get your ticket to ride!”

The Gameman Commeth!

Bearing new temptations for the girls and boys that frequent The Beard, Keving Manning stocks the shelves with many wonderful new games.

New for purchase are a wealth of deck builders in the DC and Tolkien universes.

We’ve also got new content featuring Terry Pratchett’s ubiquitous witching crew and the latest offering in the Munchkin lineup, now with added Marvel-ousness.

Dying to build some flowers? Try Lotus. Empires of Zidal is another offering by a local designer.