Nexus Ops Review

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(More customer reviews)First off, if you are looking for the rare strategy game that can accomodate three players without one player wanting to smash the other two over the head after the inevitable 'gang-up' phase, this one plays excellently. Strategic position, army-building, and alliances take a backseat to planning ahead to accomplish hidden objectives from secret mission cards, which garner points towards victory. The secret missions vary in points awarded, the more valuable ones requiring putting out and using super units, or making suicidal attacks that may utterly trash your best army, but get you the last points you need for victory. The game plays very quickly compared to most strategy boardgames. There is enough random element in it that new and younger players will not be overwhelmed; yet enough strategy hidden in it that experienced players will enjoy tweaking their play to pick up an edge here or there. The 'board' consists of hexagonal cardboard pieces that are randomly fit together at the start of the game in a configuration that suits 2-4 players, with smaller cardboard tokens on top to indicate what the sector contains. While this adds a random replayable element, it and the many, many pieces involved also tend to require some constant tending throughout the game to keep the board 'together' and the pieces where they belong. This game has found a lot of repeat play with my friends as a fast and fun alternative to deeper, more strategic but time-consuming games like Shogun.

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Nexus Ops is a light-medium science fiction war game. The game boasts a hexagonal board that is dealt differently every time, as well as cool "glow" miniatures and lots of combat. Players control competing futuristic corporations that battle each other for control of the moon's Rubium Ore. By winning battles and fulfilling Secret Missions, you can obtain victory points.

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Twilight Imperium: Shattered Empire Expansion Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a must-have for anyone who owns Twilight Imperium Third Edition. The addition of two more colors to allow eight-player games (and extra systems to expand the game "board" along with other extra pieces (like trade goods) to fit the extra players) is alone worth the price of admission. Then they add four more species, all of whom are as balanced as the original species are (which is to say, mostly balanced). There are also scads of new concepts, from shock troops to artifacts to species-based technologies! But if the new concepts and expanded gameplay weren't enough for you, they also put the errata from their website into the expansion's rulebook, and they reprinted a bunch of cards to replace the originals! In some cases, this was to fix poorly worded cards; in other cases it was to open the card up to the new tech or concepts in the expansion.
Mixing the expansion with the original game is a tiny bit complicated (keeping track of which cards are to be added, which are to be set aside as optional, and which are replacements), and if you care enough to do it right, it does take some time to make sure you are not just jumbling everything all together. Fortunately, the rulebook lays out for you exactly what is replaced, and what is new and optional. And even if things *do* get all jumbled together, they made it incredibly easy to separate out the expansion pieces by putting the expansion's logo on most cards and tokens in the expansion! And trust me, putting this game away in a proper manner is a key to playing it again. When you feel like playing, you don't want to spend an hour separating out everything; you want to have done that after the last game, so it's ready when you are.
There is enough room in the original box to fit all the original parts and the expansion parts as well, but the expansion box does not fit inside the original box unless you are willing to remove the original game's inner cardboard divider (with very nice art on it). There's nothing to removing it; it's not glued in or anything. I just find that the divider works very well for keeping the expansion and original pieces that should be separate, separate.
So, here's a rundown of everything that's new in this set:
28 new system tiles
2 new sets of plastic units in orange and gray (the ships, ground forces, PDS units, Space Docks, etc.)
4 new species sheets
64 command counters (16 each for the new species)
88 control markers (14 each for the new species, and 2 additional markers for the 10 original species)
12 leader counters (3 each for the new species)
8 new variant strategy cards (not to be mixed in)
1 variant Imperial strategy card (optional to mix in)
8 new trade contract cards (2 each for the new species)
28 new objective cards (some to mix in, others not)
40 new action cards (5 are replacements, the rest are to be mixed in)
32 new political cards (to be mixed in)
98 technology cards (two full sets for the new colors, some replacement cards for the original decks, and additional cards to be mixed in)
14 species-specific technology cards
28 new planet cards
16 facility cards (8 colonies and 8 refineries)
8 unit reference cards
12 shock trooper tokens
12 space mine tokens
2 Mecatol custodian tokens
8 artifact tokens
1 High Alert token (for use with the variant strategy cards)
22 domain counters (including new counters for more variety in the "Distant Suns" option)
12 fighter supplement tokens (in +3 denominations)
12 ground force supplement tokens (in +3 denominations)
12 trade goods
3 wormhole tokens (including new wormhole Charlie)
In short, this expansion is *absolutely* worth purchasing. You will get even more enjoyment from a game that already has nearly unlimited replay value!

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Midnight is an original d20 setting that pits the players against overwhelming forces of evil in a desperate fight for survival and freedom. The dark lord, Izrador, has conquered the humans, halflings, and gnomes. Only the elves and dwarves stand free, and the forest of the fey is far and besieged. The dwarves stand alone.Hammer and Shadow will include detailed setting information on the culture, caves, and history of the Dwarven people. Information of the heretofore mysterious assault on the Kaladruns: descriptions of troop types, military movements, commanders, tactics, and even an optional advancement of the Midnight timeline to depict the continuing war of attrition against the dwarves. Maps, adventure hooks, and NPCs that may be used in any Midnight campaign. New feats, prestige classes, spells, skill uses, and equipment, useful for heroes and villains alike and applicable to Midnight campaigns or any other setting.

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