Games Dawson is Looking Forward To

Over the course of this summer, many games will earn my attention by releasing trailers and information. Here are a few that have caught my attention.

Beyond Two Souls

This game is made by the makers of Heavy Rain, which is one of the most depressing games ever made. Anyways, the plot line is that you play a girl that is bounded to a supernatural spirit named Ivan. Anyways, I have not heard much about it, and the only things I have seen are the official and gameplay trailers that have been released. Just by these pieces of media, I can already tell that the game will be amazing.

Rome II Total War

Set to come out September 3rd, this game has been under my observation since was announced. I have always been a fan of the Total War series, and it was in fact Rome Total War that made me fall in love with this series. In this new addition to the series, there are many improvements that have been announced. These improvements include naval invasions and bombardments, new key decisions, and unique factions with different units and technologies that they can research. Personally, I am very excited at the prospect of a Spartan naval invasion. Its like pure awesomeness (Spartans) times 10 (Naval Invasion). Athens has nothing on this.

Company of Heroes 2

This is a game that I haven't really paid close attention to, but I am still looking forward to it. The first game was set during WW2, on the Western Front. This game changes to the more brutal and bloody Eastern Front, where the German and Russian forces duke it out. One of the few unique features is that the battlefield changes depending on if it is winter or summer. If it is summer, there are checkpoints along the river where the enemy has to cross. The winter freezes the water, and your troops can cross over the ice that forms. This may seem like a good thing, but if they call an artillery strike on your tanks while they are on the frozen ice, the tanks will sink. Also, the cold winter will literally damage your troops, forcing you to build fires in order to protect and heal them. 

These are just the games that quickly come to mind. I hope that I have interested you in these games, and maybe even spread my enthusiasm to you. Have a nice summer, and more posts are on the way.

New Eldar!

Hooray once again! Another one of my armies has a new codex coming out: Eldar. I have played Eldar for a while and have made a decently sized collection in my opinion. So I can't wait to expand it with all of this awesome new stuff.

First of all the Wraithknight. It is super huge! Like Games Workshop said on their homepage today, "and you thought the Riptide was big." Then we finally get a flyer, it looks like there is two flyers in the one set so you can build either one. Then there are also Spirit Seers now which are basically Wraithguard and Farseers combined if you don't know (at least that's what I think they are). Spirit Seers were made by Forge World before hand and were in one of the Imperial Armor books but now they're in the codex and Games Workshop makes them as well. Then there is also some type of new Wraithguard and a new Farseer model. I don't know about any of you readers but I am most excited about the Wraithknight and the flyers.

I hope all of you have fun with your Eldar when you get them (if you get them). Hooray for Eldar!

Dawson's Top 10 Strategy Games

Dawson's Top 10 Games to Test Your Strategic Knowledge

(Note: This is not in order. All games in the list are just games that I really like.)

1. Total War Franchise

    The Total War franchise is one of the most unique strategy PC games known. The system of turn based campaign, combined with real-time strategy battles, and set in historical eras, leads to hours of untold enjoyment.

2. Warhammer Franchise

    More accurately the Dawn of War series, this game series is one of the few digital representations of the game Warhammer 40k. The range of diverse factions, along with the involvement of the Blood Ravens and Gabriel Angelos, makes this game series one of the most unique strategy games out there.

3. Command and Conquer Franchise

    The creator of modern day real-time strategy, the Command and Conquer game series is one of the most developed and interesting of the PC strategy game series. Their creation of each faction's strengths and weaknesses, along with the additional live action cutscenes, make this game series one to always have on your wishlist.

4. East India Company Series

    The East India Company series is a PC game that begins in the 1600’s to the early 1700’s. The game revolves around the many European powers fighting over the vast resources of the Indian sub-continent, and the many colonies along the coast of Africa along the way.

5. Axis and Allies

    Axis and Allies is the upgraded version of Risk set in during WWII. The incorporation of technology, region values, and combat stats make the game much more detailed than the average game of Risk.

6. Defcon

    If anyone has seen the movie War Games, then you should almost be instantly familiar with this game. This game of thermonuclear war has many features that make it unique, including an office mode, which only requires you to press escape in order to close it (this is great when your boss comes around).

7. Civilization Franchise

How can we not include this all time classic in the list. This game, which is the game of all time (seriously, it includes all of human history) ensures hours of replayability for your hearts enjoyment.
8. Risk Franchise

The most classic board game strategy of the modern era, this game has launched untold sequels and conversions. The game only really holds power in its name (in my opinion), as other games are starting to surpass it in quality.

9. Monopoly Franchise

    Now this isn't a game of military conquest, but conquest still the same. In this all time classic you must buy and trade to make your property empire, and establish a monopoly.

10. X-COM Enemy Unknown

    The remake of the old classic, this game covers an alien invasion of Earth. Your mission is to assemble a team of elite commando's from all over the world, and to beat back the alien menace.

High Elves: Dragon Princes of Caledor Review

Dragon Princes, the High Elf heavy cavalry. They are decent heavy cavalry I say, they're not as good as Skullcrushers, yet they're not terrible. First of all statistics and equipment. They have good movement since they are riding elven steeds and have ilithmar barding so don't sacrifice any movement for barding. They are Elves so have always strikes first, low toughness, and low strength. They have weapons skill 5 which is above average and 2 attacks per model which is great. They will do good amounts of damage on the charge because of their lances, good weapon skill, and a good number of attacks. Do not charge anything with high strength because they will bring your nice 2+ armor save to something undesirable, perhaps even ignore it. So that's why you flank their other units because it is extremely doubtful that they will have an entire army with high strength. Charging units with great weapons could go good or bad for you. You will attack first but they do have high strength. In fact you'll attack first against most units so you just need to make sure that your judgement is good regarding charging high strength units. For upgrades full command is always nice I guess. You can block those nasty mega powerful tank-characters with champions so your whole unit doesn't get annihilated. You can give your champion a magic weapon if you want and have the points and can give your standard bearer a magic banner which can be useful depending on what banner it is. So Dragon Princes are a good high elf unit. They're quite balanced I think so it is always nice not use lots of cheese in your army so that not everybody hates you. So have fun with your Dragon Princes!!

Warriors of Chaos: Dragon Ogres Review

Hooray for Dragon Ogres! Let's go kill some Skaven! If you have a problem with Skaven players using lots of lightning attacks such as Warp Lightning Cannons use Dragon Ogres (or Shaggoth's). Dragon Ogres are great for rat problems, just call 1-800-DRAGON OGRES FTW!!! So always use them against Skaven so you can destroy their stuff without being shot to bits by cannons. First of all, options. I would give them great weapons because they are initiative 2 which is crap. So might as well give them +2 strength with Always Strikes Last. This would make them ideal for killing monsters and models that are hard to kill. They may also do well with killing cannons if you can get them across the board fast enough, movement 7 is pretty good so that could work. Whenever you play against Skaven take some Dragon Ogres, it will annoy the crap out of them (unless they don't have any lightning stuff which is unlikely though because their lightning stuff is good). So use your Dragon Ogres as cover for as much of your army as you can when playing against Skaven so that their lightning cannons don't do much. Charge your dragon ogres into Doomwheels too so that their lightning attacks in close combat (as I believe they can use their guns in close combat or at least when they charge) will do nothing and can't do anything to the rest of your army. So Dragon Ogres are a good unit and are great against Skaven. Not just great but are what saves you from all of the Skaven lightning stuff. I hope you guys have fun with your Dragon Ogres!

High Elves: Phoenix Guard Review

Phoenix Guard is the most balanced unit regarding Phoenix Guard, White Lions, and Sword-Masters of Hoeth. Phoenix Guard are pretty hard to kill as they have their 4+ ward save so will last a good amount of time in a game (unless you roll terribly of course). They also have halberds so do have some hitting power plus weapon skill 5. So they will do a good amount of damage throughout the game plus will survive longer than MOST other High Elf units. White Lions and Sword-Masters aren't as rounded as Phoenix Guard, Sword-Masters don't have very good defense and White Lions only have good defense versus non-magical shooting attacks. They are both more specialized in putting out a lot of damage with not so good defense while Phoenix Guard are half and half. They do good damage and have good defense at the same time. So overall definitely take Phoenix Guard if you can. This doesn't mean not to take Sword-Masters or White Lions, just take Phoenix Guard first.

The Armies of Ulthuan

I have some High Elves from the past and my interest for them has sparked once again. So I have decided to work on my High Elf army. I will be posting reviews on units from the army book as I have done in the past. Have fun with your new stuff High Elf players!