Cool, Battlelore

With my wife sick, I've been spending a lot of time at home. Especially since I know I'll have little chance soon, I've really been geeking out, playing video and board games. A lot. Now I've done a lot of other stuff so it's not like I'm spending all my time getting reversed-tanned in front of an anodized tube. But in the last two weeks I've played:

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell -- The original, purchased long ago but never played. This game is available practically free in stores, which is a good deal, because it's a whopper of a great game. Many sequels which I've yet to see. Playing this game is like being the hero of a spy novel. Highly recommended.

Prince of Persia and Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones -- These are very much like Tomb Raider. Light, simple, first person jumping puzzlers. The action is very smooth, the scenery beautiful. There's a lot of silly fighting and everything is far too easy, and there's no replay value, but these are packed with enough fun to make them more than just rentals. They have a cool love story, a real rarity in video games, and it's not just tacked on.

Spiderman 2 -- Grand Theft Auto, except you're Spiderman. It's amazingly fun and thrillingly well implemented to swing around a beautifully rendered New York. Unfortunately, there's not a lot else to do, especially for an "open-ended" title. Great game, but it could have been so much more.

But none of that matters now...Battlelore has arrived. The acclaimed new fantasy war game from Days of Wonder, it's a big fantasy battle game ala Warhammer, the 8-million pound gorilla of wargaming, except that it's got more in common with the "German games", which is to say it's quick, lighter, and playable. This game is so highly anticipated that it was rated #1 wargame of all time on BoardGameGeek the day it came out. And now it's in my living room.

Tonight...I douse myself in geekery, and light the match of...um...nerdiness.