The ability can only trigger once on each of your turns.
The actual text of the ability on Alesha is
At the beginning of your end step, if you attacked this turn, return target creature card with mana value less than or equal to Alesha’s power from your graveyard to the battlefield.
In order to understand this ability, you can divide it into three parts: the trigger event, the condition, and the effect. The trigger event is “At the beginning of your end step”. The condition is “if you attacked this turn”. And the effect is “return target creature card with mana value less than or equal to Alesha’s power from your graveyard to the battlefield”. The beginning of your end step happens once during each of your turns, so the ability triggers once in each of your turns. The condition means that if you didn’t attack, the ability doesn’t trigger at all. If you did attack, and you have a valid target, the ability triggers and resolves that one time, and the effect happens.
Despite seeing years of play, the deck (seven of clubs not withstanding) has held up remarkably well. The cards are crisp, snappy, and despite some face wear perfectly serviceable (seven of clubs not withstanding). The cards really are the kind of made for life component we all love in our games.
Varnish Crackling
My new deck of red arrows is a different story. After only two plays we cracked open the deck and found substantial crackling on the face of cards.
To understand what is going on with this, we first need to talk a little about how playing cards are made. First a long roll of card or plastic stock (in this case PVC or a similar plastic) is taken. It’s rolled through a printer, and then is finished with either a varnish or a laminate.
There are a few strategy games with a large published literature expounding the “theory” or advanced strategies of the game. Go, chess (and related games such as Chinese chess and shogi), bridge, poker, and blackjack come to mind. I know of a couple of other games with a smaller literature, such as checkers, backgammon, and Scrabble, and a few more games about which just one or two notable “theory” books seem to have been written, such as Othello, Hex, Connect 4, Dots and Boxes, and Nine Men’s Morris.
Are there other games with a small but substantive amount of published theory? To set some parameters, I’m interested only in games for which there exists at least one full-length book devoted entirely (or almost entirely) to advanced strategies for the game. So for example, for Monopoly, I’m only aware of The Monopoly Book by Maxine Brady, which doesn’t quite meet the threshold I’m looking for, because it devotes a lot of space to history and basic explanation of the rules, and does not delve that deeply into advanced strategy (but if there are other, more advanced books on Monopoly, then I’d love to hear about them).
An important but hopefully understandable update: we won’t be hosting a SHUX event this year. That’s the bad news out of the way – with the GOOD news being that we’re already planning SHUX 2024 for next October, and hoping to return to the Vancouver Convention Centre.
Obviously, this is a bummer. We know how special and important this event is to a lot of people, partly because WE are those people too. It’s our highlight of the year, and as we’ve said repeatedly at the events themselves, we’re amazed and humbled at what SHUX has become – sprawling out to be something that’s bigger and cooler and kinder than any of us.
If you receive and read our monthly newsletter this likely won’t be a surprise: ambitious projects and post-lockdown exhaustion means that 2023 is a rebuilding year for the SU&SD team – after a decade of creating neat stuff at top speed, we’ve needed a little time to get back to the core focus of making lovely and interesting videos about games.
Covid was obviously disastrous for conventions, scuttling plans and erasing entire businesses: thankfully we were able to carry some of the deposits and ticket sales from 2020 forward to SHUX 2022 – but we simply didn’t have the cash in the coffers to sort the down-payments for another show this year.
Again, we’ve been hugely lucky throughout the difficulties the industry has faced in the past few years – but we’d be lying if we said we weren’t hit pretty hard by the covid lockdowns: while “board games” as a concept saw a boom for those with families or folks who lived with like-minded individuals, hobbyist were – in most cases – playing fewer games together, or frustrated by the imperfect digital alternatives.
Add that to times being tougher across the board for everyone, and it’s very understandable that our donations have dwindled – it’s just unfortunate that this coincided with a point of “low batteries” – having just spent a handful of years trying to swivel and pivot our way through a difficult period.
Thankfully though – literally just because of our donors – we’ve been able to hold this ship together, plugging any of the holes with laminated cardboard and mouth-mashed chunks of tiny wooden cubes. And while we’re really sad not to be able to share the joy of SHUX with some of you this year, we’re still emotionally buoyed by the vibes of last year’s convention – honestly, it might have been the best one yet?
A powerful reminder of what life can be like when everything aligns: great people connecting around the squidgy core of this extraordinary hobby – a beacon of laughter and passion and fun after such a long stretch of glum isolation. Our team lost loved ones to the pandemic, as I’m sure is also true for many of you – but as much as the past few years may have changed us, one thing remains the same: life is at its best when we’re surrounded by the folks we love, at a table, staring quizzically at far-too-many cardboard components.
And since we won’t have a chance to see you in Vancouver, we’re doing our DARNDEST to get to more conventions this year. Here’s what we have in the works, we hope to see you there!
UK Games Expo [confirmed!]: Birmingham, England: Jun. 2-4, 2023 – Matt, Tom, and friend-of-the-show Pip will be doing some stupid things live on a stage, and signing your stuff, at some point? This is the big UK show we try to do every year, and we’re thrilled to be returning. Sadly we won’t be doing “live podcasts” this year because warhammer has probably spend mad $$$$ to turn the room we usually use into laser quest, or something? Honestly we’re not even mad, that’s a glow-up.
Ropecon [confirmed!]: Helsinki, Finland: Jul. 28-30, 2023 – We have been invited to be this year’s guests of honour at Ropecon! Quinns, Tom and Matt will be doing some talks, and likely playing lots of roleplaying games. What else will we being doing there? We don’t know! And legally, WE DON’T HAVE TO TELL YOU. Come and see for yourself, with your eyes!(???).
SPIEL [unconfirmed]: Essen, Germany: Oct. 5-8, 2023 – It doesn’t look like SPIEL really does stage events – or necessarily has any dramatic interest in us BEING there – but we’re trying to airdrop special-correspondent Tom right into the beating heart of SPIEL.
PAX Unplugged [confirmed!]: Philadelphia, PA: Dec. 2-4, 2023 – We’ve headlined this great show a few times in the past, and we’ll be back again to do COOL STUFF. More details closer to the time!
Obviously – none of the above are SHUX – and we’re really going to miss it – and you! – this year. But here’s to hoping that for October 2024 we can spring back bigger and better than ever. Thank you as always, from the whole team!
Once upon a time (well, in September 2022, actually), to celebrate The Treehouse’s fifth birthday, we had our first go at running a Megagame. You can find out all about what happened during our first run of Watch the Skies, and get an overview of what on Earth (and off Earth) it actually is, in our previous blog post here.
We came away from the previous experience exhausted, exhilarated, and bubbling with ideas for what we wanted to do ‘next time’. Perhaps, in retrospect, we had TOO MANY ideas for tweaks and changes, because it then took us over a year to get our ducks into anything resembling a row and announce the next game. But finally, the day dawned… our second run of Watch the Skies took place on Friday 26th January, and once again, it was a TOTAL BLAST.
This time, a reasonable proportion of those in attendance had played the game before, but no problem! We had plenty of plot twists and new mechanics the keep things fresh, not to mention some nifty new game components, and even a brand new type of team in the mix. Read on for some of the headline changes in this year’s game, some actual news headlines from the in-game newspaper, and lots of pictures to give you a feel for what went down.
The combination of Amalia and an indestructible Wildgrowth Walker always draws the game with an infinite loop once a creature explores, no matter what card is on top of the library.
For reference, Amalia has the text
Whenever you gain life, Amalia Benavides Aguirre explores. Then destroy all other creatures if its power is exactly 20.
and Wildgrowth Walker has the text
Whenever a creature you control explores, put a +1/+1 counter on this creature and you gain 3 life.
The keyword action “explore” and the event “explores” are defined in rules 701.40a-b:
701.40a. Certain abilities instruct a permanent to explore. To do so, that permanent’s controller reveals the top card of their library. If a land card is revealed this way, that player puts that card into their hand. Otherwise, that player puts a +1/+1 counter on the exploring permanent and may put the revealed card into their graveyard.
701.40b. A permanent “explores” after the process described in rule 701.40a is complete, even if some or all of those actions were impossible.
So, if a player controls Amalia and a Wildgrowth Walker, and a creature explores, then Wildgrowth Walker’s ability triggers, which causes the player to gain life, so Amalia’s ability triggers, and she explores, which triggers Wildgrowth Walker’s ability again, in a loop. The only choice any player makes during that process is what to do with the card on top of the library, if it is not a land.
However, because of the last part of rule 701.40b, the exploration happens no matter what card is on top of the library, and even if there is no card on top of the library at all. This means that the loop always continues, no matter what choice the player makes while exploring. Therefore, the loop is mandatory, so the game is a draw.
Tom: Hello! Sorry for a slightly late monthly post here – we’ve been scrambling together videos and podcasts aplenty before pootling up to Birmingham for a whole load of the UK Games Expo! We had a wonderful time and have come back loaded with games and excitement for them – an excitement that will gently trickle out of us into all kinds of fun content. Ew.
We’ve got a really lovely slice of videos lined up for you this month. Very soon we’ll have a review of Beast for you – a cracking iteration of the hidden movement genre that throws us right back into the kinds of games SU&SD reviewed when it was just a little baby. We’ve also got a video review of War of the Ring: The Card Game, as well as some quick-and-nasty reviews for games we played at expo. We’re slowly gearing back into the rhythm of more regular videos, so expect a whole heap of content over the next few months! (I hope!)
Podcasts-wise? It’s the wild west out there. We’ve played so many games, and next week myself and Matt will be sitting down to record multiple pods telling you all about them. I don’t entirely know what to expect from those, or even how long we’ll record, but we played enough exciting games to keep us chatting for a good long while. They’re making some great stuff out there!
As for streams – I think I might start worming my way through the System Shock remake very soon – but I’m thinking about changing the day we stream on. More on that soon, as it’ll all abide by the classic stream motto – “idk, it’s chill”. For donors to the site, the next newsletter will be a fun recap of UKGE and will arrive a little later than usual – I was thinking about writing it whilst there, but I was simply having too much fun. What a silly job. Thank you for letting me do it!
Note: All of the images depicting game components in this article show early concept or playtest art.
A Time to Plant.
It was 18(!!) years ago that Chad and I started talking about designing a Combat Commander: Vietnam game together. Of course, Chad was the master crafter of Combat Commander and knew the CC design a bazillion times better than I did, but he didn’t really know anything about Vietnam. I probably know more about that war/period than I know about any other in military history, and I love Combat Commander, so a co-design with Chad and myself seemed like a good fit. But we both were really busy with other projects, so we decided to work on CC: Vietnam in the margins, not caring if it took even a decade to get to our game tables in finished form.
So we went slowly but had a ton of great conversations as we crafted the project—and I learned even MORE about the genius of Chad Jensen when he sent me his master CC spreadsheets to adapt for CC: Vietnam. Wow. Over time, we honed the design document, unit spreadsheets, and scenario scope, and I finally put together a very ugly test CC: Vietnam map that we used to maneuver and “fight” our imaginary battles. Here you can see both that original map and Chad’s enormously better version of that map at right, which depicts mountainous jungle terrain that we envisioned as a base map for an “Assault on a US Fire Base” scenario, Marine defenses of a hilltop position, and US assaults (mini-Hamburger Hills) on dug in NVA/PLF forces.
Gene’s playtest map (left) vs. Chad’s playtest map (right). Yeah, I know… 😊
As most of you know, Chad’s design plate was continually busy during those years. There wasn’t a time I can remember when Chad didn’t have a couple games on our P500 list and a few more in his head. Here’s an ad we did back around 2015 that showed just a few of the Family Games that Chad had completed or in the works:
So Chad was busy. And starting around 2014, I got into serious development and testing on the game I’d wanted to do forever, Mr. President. So both of our design time for CC: Vietnam was minimal, but we kept honing the design document and both thought it was coming together and that we’d do it “someday.”
A Time to Weep.
Sadly, we were wrong. Even 5 ½ years later, I still have trouble thinking and talking about that incredibly heart-wrenching period of Chad’s sickness and passing. I lost a good friend, Kai lost the love of her life, and the gaming world lost an absolute rock star designer. So gaming-wise inside GMT, everything Chad-related just stopped while we all grieved his passing.
A Time to Build Up.
Probably a year later, allowing some time to pass and the hard edges of grief to soften a bit so we could get through a phone conversation without crying, Kai and I began to talk about finishing Chad’s unfinished or unpublished designs. And he had a bunch of them. Honestly, I didn’t think at that point that CC: Vietnam would be one of them because, frankly, I didn’t want to design it without Chad (and there was STILL Mr. President dominating my design time). And so we did other games instead—games that either Kai or I had a team in place or recruited to finish. Of all those games we talked about and have worked on, I’m especially happy that John Butterfield volunteered to finish Downfall with Kai. And it won the CSR Game of the Year last year! What a tribute to Chad, and to John, a forever friend to Chad and Kai.
In 2022, Kai and I began to seriously discuss the Combat Commander series and agreed to create an Anniversary Edition of the CC: Europe/CC: Med. games which was packaged as Chad originally intended, in one big box. And we had designers ask us about taking the CC game to other theatres and periods. But no movement for CC: Vietnam. Until there WAS!!!
A Time to Seek.
Two of our newer GMT designers whose work I’m really excited about are Non-Breaking Space (NB) and Stephen Rangazas. NB created Cross Bronx Expressway(nearing heading to the printer now) and Stephen designed The British Way. Both have other designs on P500 now and also on the design table. Well, in the fall of 2023, NB came to our Weekend at the Warehouse and showed a couple games to Jason, Kai, Rachel, Mike Bertucelli, and me. I liked his games, but more importantly, I liked HIM. After the weekend, we were all excited about working with NB—I heard several “he fits with us” comments (and he DOES!)—on various projects. And Stephen’s The British Way and The Guerrilla Generation demonstrated both his design skill and the depth of research that he puts into game design. I was particularly impressed with the way he engages with customers online: he communicates clearly and humbly and is open to feedback and other interpretations while being committed to making the best product that he can.
So, at that warehouse meeting, being really impressed with NB, I mentioned in passing that I’d really love to find a team to get the Combat Commander: Vietnam project moving forward. NB surprised us with “I need to make a phone call.” That call was to Stephen (they often work together in a design partnership). NB has since told me that it was Stephen’s background in Vietnam research that prompted the call. Stephen’s design of Sovereign of Discord, the expansion to our hit COIN game Fire in the Lake, already benefited from his depth of knowledge (and I would note here that your work has to be pretty impressive to get Mark and Volko to sign off on doing an expansion for one of their best-selling games!). After the call, NB told us something along the lines of “We’re interested, but it’s a divergence from the path we are on right now. So we need to take some time to think about it and discuss it in depth before we give you an answer.”
Fast forward to January of 2024. NB contacted me and Jason and let us know that he and Stephen were definitely interested in working on a Combat Commander: Vietnam game! We had an online meeting a week later where they walked us through a slide show of how they intended to move forward with the design, assuming we approved it. Here are a few of the slides from that meeting:
Stephen and NB’s scoping of the Factions that they proposed including in the game.NB and Stephen’s early overview of Faction Deck Force Composition and Timelines
It was a really good meeting. We had a lot of questions, and NB and Stephen answered them with skill, honesty, and transparency and were not shy to share what their research showed. I liked that when they hadn’t figured something out yet, they said so. It was clear to me that they had the chops to research, design, and deliver a new Combat Commander: Vietnam that aligned with Chad’s and my vision for the game but was not limited by it. I left that meeting IMPRESSED. And we gave them the go ahead to push forward into the “create the physical game” stage, which they proposed to have to show us by the Fall 2024 Weekend at the Warehouse.
A Time to Dance.
We didn’t hear much from Stephen and NB from January to September. We just left them alone, knowing that what they were creating was a huge task. Occasionally they’d have a question, but mostly they just worked away on their own, sculpting what we all hoped would become a masterpiece.
Then, just before the Weekend at the Warehouse, NB sent us the image below and told us he’d have the playtest kit ready for the Weekend. We were so excited!
At the Weekend, we were all really happy about where the design was and ready to move forward to getting it ready for P500. I was thinking it might be ready to go on the P500 list in a year. Then NB said, “Please give us a deadline. We work better that way.” So I said, “April 2025.” NB didn’t blink, so that was our target date.
Then, in January, Stephen and NB informed us that they had EIGHT maps (pictured below) they were now testing on and anticipated they’d double that within a month.
They also included a Map of Vietnam with a Scenario and Reference guide for all the planned Battles (below).
And then they COMPLETELY blew me away. They built a campaign system! WHAT??!!??
Campaign Scenario Generator (left) and the CC: V scenario it generated (right)
They then noted that they thought they’d be ready for a MARCH P500 addition instead of April. Looking at the quality and completeness of their work (I’ve shown just a fraction here), I had no problem giving them the March slot. So here we are, with Combat Commander: Vietnam hitting the P500 list with this week’s customer newsletter. I hope you’ll order yours now!
I hope this article gives you all some insight into how Combat Commander: Vietnam has come to exist. What a long journey this has been. I am HUGELY excited about what NB and Stephen have created and how they’ve taken Chad’s system and our vision and combined it with their own research and added so much that we probably wouldn’t ever have thought of. I still can’t believe we’re going to have a Campaign System for CC: Vietnam!!!!!!
I believe (and hope) that the Combat Commander community will be blown away by how cool this game is and by the amount of value they’re going to get in this big box of Combat Commander love. And I know Chad would be SO happy to see this game that we planted the seeds for finally come to fruition. As with everything in the Combat Commander world, every time I play this, I’ll be thinking of Chad. And I’ll always be thankful that NB and Stephen took up this challenge and have honored Chad with the care, attention to detail, and general awesomeness that they’ve created for us to enjoy as we play Combat Commander: Vietnam.
Some abilities, such as Nullhide Ferox, like to be discarded by a spell or ability an opponent controls. I am seeking ways to proactively cause these abilities to trigger. A few ideas I had are…
Controlling an opponent…while they already have a discard option available, but they would have likely used it anyhow.
An ideal card might be something like an X-and-a-green Instant with an effect "search your library for creatures with the same name as each other with mana value X and put one of them onto the battlefield under each player’s control." This could grab, i.e., Acquisitions Expert. I thought something like this might exist, but I couldn’t find anything.
Are there sensible (i.e., at most two drawn cards and four mana) strategies to use these abilities proactively, or are they only good for the sideboard? I am mostly interested in Pioneer format options.
Many of you told us how much you appreciated us giving you a Buyer’s guide to our 2024 Fall Sale, so as we approach our Special Spring Sale that starts on Tuesday, April 1, Rachel and I have updated this Buyer’s Guide to try to give you some of that information to help out with your buying choices. We encourage you to use this information and the links below to build your sale carts on the GMT website between now and Tuesday when the sale begins. I hope you find this Buyer’s Guide useful.
Where Can You Find ALL the Eligible Sale Items?
We’re trying to make things a little easier for all of you this year, so can find all of the games you can buy in the sale in one department on the GMT Website. Just click Spring Sale 2025 (or choose it from the left side menu on any page in the “Browse by Series/Type” section except the front page on the GMT website) to see a list of every item that you can buy with the 40% off sale discount.
Which Games are Close to Going Out of Stock?
Here’s an alphabetical list of our lowest-stock games, with current quantities on hand for all games with less than 200 copies currently in stock:
NOTE: The following games have been “OUT OF STOCK” on our website for a while, but in our latest physical inventory, we’ve found some copies in the warehouse (quantities noted below). Good while stocks last:
Note that some of the games pictured may already be out of stock now (updated 4/1)
Which Games in the Sale have the highest retail prices?
Here’s a descending order list of our highest retail priced games, for those of you looking to optimize value. Price listed is BEFORE your 40% sale discount:
We hope you find this Buyer’s Guide useful and that you all get some 40% off games in the sale that will bring you many hours of enjoyment! – Gene & Rachel
