Target Audience

GENRE

 

Action

 

 

Cody Hansell

N190 Spring 2010

2-23-2009

Target Audience and Attitudes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Target Audience Analysis

Gender: Male

 

Age: 15-25

 

Interests: Gaming, Internet, Movies, History

 

Habits: Eating junk food

 

Other things they like to watch or read: Documentaries, War movies, Fast-paced movies, Gun                                                            magazines

 

What they do in their spare time: Play video games, Hang out with friends

 

Things they buy: Fast food, Video Games, Music, Movies

 

Where they live: With their parents, College dorms, Apartments

 

Income level: 0 - $60,000

 

Maximum education level: Bachelor degree

 

Anything else that is relevant: May like random comedy such as Family Guy

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Battle in the War of the Squirrels

            It was early in the morning in the middle of the forest. A young squirrel in the good squirrel army named Rakou was waking up to start his day at his outpost up high in an oak tree. As he was cleaning the scope on his sniper rifle, he heard the sound of a tank not far off in the distance. He looked through his scope in that direction to see one of the evil squirrels’ tanks along with twenty other troops on foot. They were still about eighty yards off and hadn’t spotted him yet, so he SPRUNG into action. He LEAPT a couple of trees over and threw a satchel charge on the ground in a clearing where the tank would most likely be going over, then hopped down and quickly planted four mines.

            After climbing back up to his sniper’s nest, Rakou made sure his clip was full and his belt was PACKED with ammo. He waited until they marched into his trap, and watched as the mines exploded, killing seven evil squirrels. Luckily the tank stopped right on top of the satchel charge, so Rakou YANKED the pull igniter and it blew off the right track of the tank. Unfortunately, the tanks main gun still worked so it aimed up in the trees and fired, hitting the next tree over from the left of Rakou. Rakou knew that if he stayed in his stand he would be blown up within seconds, but he still had the advantage of them not knowing where he was.

            He QUICKLY shot three evil squirrels as fast as his bolt action rifle would let him, swung his rifle on his back, and jumped four trees to his right. As he landed on a branch of the tree he looked back and saw his nest VIOLENTLY explode as the shell from the tank hit it. By that time the evil foot squirrels realized that the threat was in the trees so they started SPRAYING machine gun fire HAPHAZARDLY upwards. Rakou knew he couldn’t expose himself to get a clear shot without getting killed, so he pulled the pin from one of his grenades and QUICKLY threw it over the edge of his branch. When he heard the explosion that killed another two evil soldiers, he jumped as fast as he could to circle around to the other side of the evil squad.

            They didn’t notice his flanking, and while they were still firing the other way, Rakou SLUNG another satchel charge covered in sap as hard as he could at the tank. It hit the base of the barrel and stuck, so Rakou pulled the pull igniter and the DEAFENING explosion destroyed the main gun of the tank, leaving it inoperable. Rakou only managed to get off to get off two more shots, killing two more squirrels, before he THREW out the EMPTY clip of the rifle and reloaded. Then the evil squirrels found out where he was so he LOBBED a flash bang and then while all the evil squirrels were stunned, he jumped to the trees on the left side of them.

            He realized that with eight of the squirrels still out there looking up in the trees, he would have to change his strategy. He quickly descended the tree to attack from the ground, hoping that the soldiers would keep their eyes upwards. When he landed, he pulled out another grenade and COOKED it before CHUCKING it at the four soldiers that were standing next to each other trying to see in all directions. It landed in the middle of them and exploded before they had a chance to realize their mistake. Rakou noticed that the evil squirrel nearest him saw where the grenade came from and was about to YELL a warning to his allies, so he pulled out his pistol and shot, killing the squirrel before he uttered a word.

            Realizing his pistol didn’t have a long enough range and his sniper rifle wouldn’t be fast enough for the squirrels on the other side of the clearing, he RUSHED out to shoot them hoping they wouldn’t notice him until it was to late. He managed to shoot the first squirrel, but as that squirrel fell his finger stayed on the trigger, shooting the pistol out of Rakou’s hand. Rakou knew now he had to act fast or die. He pulled out his knife and jumped on the nearest squirrel and stabbed him. As the other squirrel was pulling up his gun to shoot, Rakou pulled the knife out of the corpse and HURLED it as hard as he could at the enemy, and the last evil squirrel had a knife sticking out of his neck before he could manage to pull the trigger. Rakou stood up in the middle of the clearing that now had a DESTROYED tank and twenty evil squirrel bodies and sighed, ready to fight another day.

Lab 4 - Attitudes

Character Obituary

Rakou Novara

Rakou Novara was KIA in a forest in Oktyabrsky, Russia on May 18, 2021 by several severe bullet and shrapnel wounds. He was part of a small invasion force that was organized to take out one of the main evil squirrel leaders based in Russia. Out of the ten soldiers in the squad, only two survived. They were severely wounded and explained that one of the squad members was an evil squirrel spy that had given them away to the enemy. After killing the spy, Rakou started to hold back the enemy so the rest of the squad could escape. Unfortunately, the evil squirrels were prepared and cut off their escape and the two survivors only barely managed to get through a gap in their assault.

 

Rakou was born on March 17, 2019 in a small village near the Buffalo National River in Arkansas named Ashford. His mother, Rizdra Novara, was killed in an evil squirrel raid on their home when Rakou was the equivalent of 7 in squirrel years. His father, Vesenth, hid Rakou in a small hollow tree trunk when the evil squirrels came back a month later and spotted him. Vesenth knew they were going to take him prisoner and decided to take his own life instead of going through the torture the evil army would put him through. 5 squirrel years later, Rakou was tired of just surviving and decided to take his father’s sniper rifle and fight back. After fighting for around 3 squirrel years, the good squirrel army heard about his success against the evil squirrels and found him to recruit him to make a major difference. So at 15 he became a good squirrel army sniper and started taking out important targets to the evil squirrels. Rakou usually worked alone because whenever he was put in a squad for an attack, he got annoyed at others getting in his way. Even with his lack of co-operation with others, Rakou rose through the ranks and became a renowned sniper.

 

There will be a memorial service with a 21 gun salute at Rakou’s hometown of Ashford next Thursday at noon. There will be no formal funeral because the body could not be recovered, but there will be a gravestone put up in the graveyard in memory of Rakou immediately following the memorial service.

Short Story - A Battle in the War of the Squirrels

It was early in the morning in the middle of the forest. A young squirrel in the good squirrel army named Rakou was waking up to start his day at his outpost up high in an oak tree. As he was cleaning the scope on his sniper rifle, he heard the sound of a tank not far off in the distance. He looked through his scope in that direction to see one of the evil squirrels’ tanks along with twenty other troops on foot. They were still about eighty yards off and hadn’t spotted him yet, so he sprung into action. He leapt a couple of trees over and threw a satchel charge on the ground in a clearing where the tank would most likely be going over, then hopped down and quickly planted four mines. After climbing back up to his sniper’s nest, Rakou made sure his clip was full and his belt was packed with ammo. He waited until they marched into his trap, and watched as the mines exploded, killing seven evil squirrels. Luckily the tank stopped right on top of the satchel charge, so Rakou yanked the pull igniter and it blew off the right track of the tank. Unfortunately, the tanks main gun still worked so it aimed up in the trees and fired, hitting the next tree over from the left of Rakou. Rakou knew that if he stayed in his stand he would be blown up within seconds, but he still had the advantage of them not knowing where he was. He quickly shot three evil squirrels as fast as his bolt action rifle would let him, swung his rifle on his back, and jumped four trees to his right. Right as he landed on a branch of the tree he looked back and saw his nest explode as the shell from the tank hit it. By that time the evil foot squirrels realized that the threat was in the trees so they started spraying machine gun fire haphazardly upwards. Rakou knew he couldn’t expose himself to get a clear shot without getting killed, so he pulled the pin from one of his grenades and threw it over the edge of his branch. When he heard the explosion that killed another two evil soldiers, he jumped as fast as he could to circle around to the other side of the evil squad. They didn’t notice, and while they were still firing the other way, Rakou slung another satchel charge covered in sap as hard as he could at the tank. It hit the base of the barrel and stuck, so Rakou pulled the pull igniter and it exploded the main gun of the tank, leaving it inoperable. Rakou only managed to get off to get off two more shots, killing two more squirrels, before he had to reload and the evil squirrels found out where he was. So he threw a flash bang and while all the evil squirrels were stunned, he jumped to the trees on the left side of them and reloaded his rifle. He realized that with eight of the squirrels still out there looking up in the trees, he would have to change his strategy. He quickly descended the tree to attack from the ground, hoping that the soldiers would keep their eyes upwards. When he landed, he pulled out another grenade and cooked it before chucking it at the four soldiers that were standing next to each other trying to see in all directions. It landed in the middle of them and exploded before they had a chance to realize their mistake. Rakou noticed that the evil squirrel nearest him saw where the grenade came from and was about to yell a warning to his allies, so he pulled out his pistol and shot, killing the squirrel before he uttered a word. Realizing his pistol didn’t have a long enough range and his sniper rifle wouldn’t be fast enough for the squirrels on the other side of the clearing, he ran out to shoot them hoping they wouldn’t notice him until it was to late. He managed to shoot the first squirrel, but as that squirrel fell his finger stayed on the trigger, shooting the pistol out of Rakou’s hand. Rakou knew now he had to act fast or die. He pulled out his knife and jumped on the nearest squirrel and stabbed him. As the other squirrel was pulling up his gun to shoot, Rakou pulled the knife out of the corpse and threw it as hard as he could at the enemy, and the last evil squirrel had a knife sticking out of his neck before he could manage to pull the trigger. Rakou stood up in the middle of the clearing that now had a destroyed tank and twenty evil squirrel corpses and sighed, ready to fight another day.

The Venture Bros.

The Venture Bros. is a show on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. It mixes action and comedy together as it chronicles the adventures of two teenage boys named Hank and Dean Venture. They also have an emotionally insecure, ethically challenged super-scientist father named Dr. Thaddeus "Rusty" Venture. There is also the family's bodyguard, named Brock Samson and a former supervillain named Sergeant Hatred. The show is said to have the primary theme of "beautiful, sublime failure" and be about the failure that happens to all of us. The show is also largely based off of an older show called Jonny Quest, which is a really old show that aired back in the 1960s.

From what I have heard, this show is extremely funny, but I have also heard it is extremely stupid. Of course, stupid isn't always bad. I love Robot Chicken and that is probably one of the most stupid things on television. I hope that I can see this show one day and decide for myself whether it is stupid funny or just plain stupid.

Code Geass

Code Geass is yet another anime put on me from my guild leader in Guild Wars to watch (she really likes anime). Although this one was also watched by a few other people in the guild, and they all said it was good so I have more than just her opinion to go off of.

Code Geass is set after Japan's conquest by the Holy Britannian Empire with their powerful new robot weapons, the Knightmare Frames. After taking over, the Britannian Empire stripped all rights and freedoms from the people and renamed the country Area 11. Lelouch is a Britannian prince that is the main character and was disowned by his father after his mother was murdered. Since his father disowned him, Lelouch has vowed to destroy him, the Emperor, and Britiannia. Lelouch gains an ability through a mysterious thing called the Geass. With this power, he became the leader of the resistance movement so he could fulfill his two wishes: get revenge for his mother and construct a world where his sister Nunnally can live happily.

This anime seems like it would be nice after I got into it. At first, it seems like I might be to confused with all the different names and terms, but after watching it a bit more I think I could get it all down and start to really enjoy it. Although it is a mech anime, and for some reason I am not a huge fan of mechs. Not to say I can't enjoy an anime with mechs, but I would find it easier to enjoy one without them and with something else cool involved such as a medieval setting or steampunk setting.

.hack//Sign

I discovered this anime once while I was looking around for new video games and found a .hack game. Someone then told me it was also an anime, and I have wanted to, but never have gotten around to, watch it since.

The story is about a guy named Tsukasa who wakes up in a dungeon in an online game known as The World. He has no recollection of where he is or how he got there. He also can't log out, so he is trapped in the game. He then goes on a quest to figure out why he is there and also why he can't log out and meets other people that play the game along the way. There's also an item called the Key of the Twilight, which is a legendary item rumored to have the ability to bypass the system in The World. While some want it just for the powers it could give them, others believe it would provide Tsukasa with a way to log out. Even if they don't want to help Tsukasa, everyone believes that the item is related to him in some way.

It is said that this anime relies more on character development and does not really have any action scenes. I don't necessarily have a problem with that, but I would probably have to be in a certain mood to watch it. I like action a lot, but every once in awhile I don't mind if things slow down and there's a talking scene. Now could I handle a whole series of just the talking without the action? I guess I will find out when i watch this anime.

Black Cat

Black Cat is another manga/anime my guild leader in Guild Wars wanted me to try and watch.

It is about an organization bent on world peace named Chronos, which rules one third of the world's economy. Since that makes them required to maintain balance in the world, they need protection. So they have thirteen special elite assassins called the Chrono Numbers, all of which wield unique Orichalcum forged weapons. The thirteenth Chrono Number is the main character, and he's named Train Heartnet but is also known as the infamous Black Cat. He meets a licensed bounty hunter (known as a Sweeper) named Saya Minatsuki and his morals and values are changed from that of Chrono's to his own. Instead of killing people like he is told, he just stops them. This leads to tension between him and the Chrono Elders, and culminates with Train leaving the organization. Another assassin named Creed Diskenth resents the way Saya changed Train, and murders her. After six months pass, Train is an easygoing Sweeper when Creed appears before him again.

This looks like a fantastic anime that I would love. I don't know why, but it just seems very interesting to me. The story is not extremely extensive or intricate, but it still has something that just makes me want to watch it. Although I probably did read to far because I am pretty sure knowing that Saya dies is a big spoiler, and I am a little disappointed in that. If all anime summaries made me want to watch them like this one does, I would probably be watching non-stop anime and have no life.

Invader Zim

I have heard many people talk about Invader Zim, but I have never actually seen anything for it. Since it has such a large fan base, I think it would be something worth looking into.

Invader Zim was produced by and aired by Nickelodeon. The main character is an alien invader named Zim from the planet Irk that is trying to conquer or destroy Earth. His plans usually end up failing due to his mistakes, his robot named GIR, or by his arch-nemesis Dib. Zim was exiled when he accidentally destroyed his own planet, and was banished forever to "Foodcourtia", the food court planet. After so long, he was sent on a "secret mission" to Earth to get rid of him for good. He takes his mission seriously, however, and is determined to vanquish Earth to reclaim his honor.

I also read that this show has heavy use of black comedy, which makes me wonder why it is on Nickelodeon. They were pitching to eleven to fifteen year old kids, but a lot of parents might still say eleven is to young for things like Zim eating organs stolen from school children (an example that was given). I don't have a problem with it personally, but that seems like it could be a risky choice on Nickelodeon's half. Of course, I have not seen it, so I don't know how serious it really is. It could just be a few serious black comedy bits and the rest not so bad.

Ghost in the Shell

Ghost in the Shell is an anime I have been curious about for a long time now because I saw the video game of it and was curious as to where the game came from. After a long time I realized it was an anime, and many people have mentioned it to me, but I still have seen even a part of any episodes. There are actually two different Ghost in the Shell seasons, the first one being named Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, and the second one being Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. 2nd GIG. There were also three films about the manga which were Ghost in the Shell, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence, and Ghost in the Shell: S.A.C. Solid State Society.

The story is about a fictional counter terrorist group in Japan called Public Security Section 9 in a cyberpunk setting. The main character is a cyborg named Motoko Kusanagi, who is a member of covert operations in the Public Security Section 9. Even though all members of the squad are equal to each other, Motoko has the leadership role in the group. Other members call her "the Major" because that was her past rank in the Japanese Self-defense Forces. She is biologically enhanced for her job, the only thing not mechanized being her brain and a part of her spinal cord.

I have not watched many futuristic anime, so I do not quite know whether I would like this or not. I suppose I don't have any reason to worry because most of the futuristic shows I watch have a great story behind them. Hopefully, this one will be added to that list of great futuristic shows.

Blood+

I have heard some good things about Blood+, but I have also heard that it is overrated. It was inspired by the film made in 2000 called Blood: The Last Vampire although there are few allusions to that film.

The story starts with Saya Otonashi, which is an anemic and amnesiac schoolgirl whose happy life crumbles when she attacked by a chiropteran (a bat) and finds out that she's the only one that can defeat them. When she finds this out, she arms herself with her katana and takes her family and friends to rid the world of chiropteran and rediscover her identity. During her journey, the background of the chiropteran's is revealed and Saya learns she has a very deep past that extends to the mid-19th century. Throughout the series, she goes around the world fighting chiropterans and trying to discover her past.

I am a bit iffy on this show. It doesn't make all that much sense to me in text. She gets attacked by a bat that only she can kill? I am going to assume that the bat is a vampire, and Saya is some form of immortal (or something similar) since her past goes so far back. I think I would have to watch the show to be sure of any of this, but I am also afraid that this show might have been overhyped for me by twilight fangirls that just love vampires.

Ergo Proxy

Ergo Proxy is a science fiction anime with both steampunk and postcyberpunk elements. The setting is a futuristic domed city called Rondo that was built to protect its citizens after a global ecological disaster. This city has humans and androids (called AutoReivs) coexisting peacefully under a management system. However, some of the AutoReivs have been infected with a virus called Cogito which causes them to become self aware. Becoming self aware has led these AutoReivs to committing murders, which has upset the domed city's social order. This has made the government start secret experiments on a humanoid life form called a "Proxy". Proxies are described as God-like and immortal and are believed to hold the key to the survival of mankind. The main character's name is Re-l Mayer and she is assigned to investigate some of these murders with her AutoReiv partner Iggy. While investigating, she encounters one of the infected androids along with a Proxy. After so long of investigating, Re-l discover the truth about the Proxies and the domes, which I am not going to find because I don't want to spoil it for me or anyone else.

This show does seem intriguing to me. You don't see that many steampunk themed shows or games, much less ones that are set in the future, and I kind of like the steampunk look. Hopefully I can get around to watching this as soon as possible.

Rurouni Kenshin

Rurouni Kenshin is one of the anime my guild leader on Guild Wars always tells me to watch, yet I've never gotten around to it. It seems to be one of her favorite shows, so I'm guessing it's pretty good (at least to her).

The story is about a peaceful wanderer named Himura Kenshin who used to be an assassin known as Hitokiri Battosai. After fighting in a war, he offers aid to those who need it as a way to atone for the murders he committed as an assassin. When he's walking into Tokyo one day, he meets a woman named Kamiya Kaoru who was fighting with a man who claims he is Hitokiri Battosai. Kenshin helps her and defeats the fake Battosai, and she finds out that he is the real assassin. She realizes that he is a nice person, so she invites him to stay at her dojo. Kenshin lives there and starts to make new friends and enemies, and after several months of living there he finds out that his successor as an assassin of shadows plans to conquer Japan. To do this he plans on assassinating the government, one of which is one of Kenshin's new friends.

To save myself from reading spoilers, I'm going to stop there. So far this anime looks like it would be pretty good. Of course, sometimes all an anime needs for me is some flashy swords and I'll like it so this will most likely get watched by me sooner or later.

Carcassonne

I saw this game named after a town in southern France on wikipedia and it made me think of the game Zombies!!! because it also has tile laying as the way of making the map. Except it this game, there is no zombie killing. It's more of a strategic tile placing and follower placement.

The game is two to five players and you're basically trying to lay down and control as much land as you can. There are 72 tiles in total, so the games would most likely last quite awhile. At the beginning of each player's turn, they draw a tile and place it on the board. Certain tile have to connect to each other so they keep extending, like roads have to connect to roads. After the player places their tile, they can place a follower that claims land for them. However, they can't place a follower on the same tile as another player's follower although it is possible for terrain to be shared if two terrains are connected with a follower on each one that got connected. During a turn, if something is completed then the points are added to the owner's score. So if there is a town that gets finished somehow then whoever owns that turn gets points right then. Once all the tiles are laid, then the incomplete tiles are also added to the score.

This game seems really confusing at first, but I think playing it once could get me used to it. There seems to be a lot of thinking in this game because you have to think of the best place to put your tiles and followers to get the most points. Of course a lot of thinking isn't necessarily a bad thing.

The Settlers of Catan

The Settlers of Catan is a board game that was published during 1995 in Germany and since has been translated into 30 other languages. It's a game where you are establishing settlements on the island of Catan. The games original design was actually supposed to be a large game of exploration and development in a new land but had to get downsized. The expansion combined with the game is close to what the game was originally supposed to be.

The game board represents the island and is made up of hexagonal tiles that represent different land types that are laid out randomly at the beginning of the game. Players collect the resources on the different land types and build up settlements. On each players turn they role two dice to determine what land produces resources. If they role a seven, they can move the thief, which keeps that hexagon from producing resources until it's moved and that player takes someone elses resources. You can also trade resources with other players and the offshore non-player bank (at a rate of four to one unless you own a dock). There are also different types of development cards you can get to help you by trading resources for them. The goal of the game is to get ten victory tokens, and you get victory tokens by building settlements, upgrading settlements to cities, and other achievements such as building the longest road.

This seems like a good family game to play. It is a simple game to understand so kids could play easily, but interesting enough to keep me interested. Since there's some thinking involved in how you're going to obtain the resources you need, I think that it requires enough thought to keep me immersed in the game. However, I don't think that I would be able to play it extensively like some other card and board games.

Wyvern

Wyvern is a card game I found while browsing wikipedia. The reason I wanted to look into it was because I found it odd that an entire card game would be called Wyvern, unless the whole card game was played with dragons. I'm not saying a dragon-only card game would be bad, but it might not be as fun.

First off each player has two decks. One deck is made of dragon and terrain cards, and the other is made up of action and treasure cards. You start with six face-down dragon and terrain cards on the battlefield with 25 gold pieces. For each turn, a player can have limited card movement, play actions, and have a single battle. As the game goes on, each player pays to turn their dragon and terrain cards face up to use them, which cost gold pieces. The damage triangle goes dragons can kill smaller dragons, but are weak to terrain, smaller dragons can kill terrain but are weak to bigger dragons and terrain can kill bigger dragons, but is weak to smaller dragons. The game ends when one player loses all their terrain and dragons. After that game, a scoring system is usually used to reward players that use their resources efficiently. Usually these scores are added up from all the games into a match, and whoever reaches the set score cap wins.

This game seems ok, but I would want to just try it before I got into it and started buying cards. I would really like to see all the types of cards that are in this game, because it really depends on how those work and what they look like for me to see if I like it. If I can't use neat strategies to confuse and beat my opponent, I don't think the game would be as good. This game seems like the only things you could use to make plans are action cards. I believe treasure cards would probably just give you money so you can use your dragons and terrains. So I think as of now I would much rather play Magic: The Gathering or Yu-Gi-Oh, but you never know, if I ever play Wyvern it could surprise me and be extremely good.

Shadows Over Camelot

Shadows Over Camelot is a game I found while browsing a list of board games on wikipedia and thought sounded interesting. From what I have seen, the game doesn't look like it would be terribly difficult if you had the board in front of you while reading an explanation.

The game is basically the Knights of the Round Table (the people you are playing as) trying to defend Camelot. They do this by taking their turns and trying to help win. At the beginning of your turn, you must suffer a "progression of evil" and either lose health, add a siege engine to the ones attacking Camelot, or draw a black card that will make quests harder to complete. After that, you take a heroic action. A heroic action is when you move to or return from a quest location, advancing a quest towards victory, playing a special white card, discarding three of the same cards to gain health, or accuse another knight of being the traitor. The traitor is a possibility in the game where, at the beginning, everyone is dealt loyalty cards. There are seven loyal cards and one traitor card, and there can only be a maximum of seven people, meaning there won't always be a traitor every match. You can also lose one health to do another heroic action during your turn. Quests are completed by having the right cards, and completed quests reward white swords to the table. The way to win is to have more white swords than black on the table by the time it fills up. Black swords are a result of failed quests, failed accusations of the traitor (one white sword turns black), and if the traitor is still there at the end (two white swords turn black). Another way to lose, however, is if twelve siege engines surround the castle.

This game seems similar to Arkham Horror in the fact that there are many ways to lose, and a very hard to achieve way to win. That's not always a bad thing though, because I think that way when you win you feel more accomplished because you just beat an extremely hard game.

Zombies!!!

As you can probably tell, this board game is about zombies. It is another game my friend's roomate has, and he says this one is pretty good as well. I decided to look up what exactly you do in it to see how good of a game it actually is.

The game starts out with all the players (2-6 people can play) on the town square with three cards in their hand, three hearts as health, and three bullets. The cards can be used for many things such as summoning more zombies or equipping items to make you move faster. The bullets are something you can use against zombies when fighting them to help kill them. The way the combat works is when you are attacking a zombie, you roll a die. If that die is a 4, 5, or 6, you kill it. If it's a 1, 2, or 3, you lose one heart or use the amount of bullets to bring it up to a kill (one bullet equals one digit on the die). Then people start going and as they start their turn, they have to take a tile and put it down. This starts to make the city that you are playing in and also starts putting zombies on the map. You can draw both roads and buildings, but the buildings are the ones that usually have more zombies and also let people use certain items. You move by rolling a die, and the object of the game is to either kill 25 zombies, or get to the heli pad tile when it gets flipped up.

This game does actually sound really fun, and doesn't seem like it would take that long to learn. It also has eight expansions, so if you ever get bored of the same old buildings, there's always more. So every once in awhile when you get that sudden urge to start killing zombies, this game fits perfectly!

Arkham Horror

Arkham Horror is a board game one of my friend's roomates owns, and he has told me that it is one of the greatest board games he has ever played. I decided to see why he thinks it is so good by looking up what it's about.

The board is made up of locations in HP Lovecraft's fictional city of Arkham during 1926. The actual story behind the board game is that there are strange things happening and you're an investigator that has come to try and find out what's behind it all. The "strange things" are actually portals opening into other dimensions that are spawning creatures that will attack you. The way that you kill these enemies is by rolling dice. If you roll the right amount of successes (successes being a five or six) then you kill that monster and keep it as a monster token. The way to win is to close all the portals that open up to other dimensions. To do this you have to explore that portal then attack it. However, whenever a portal opens you place a token on the Old One (an extremely powerful Lovecraft monster). If you get a certain amount of tokens on the Old One, then it is summoned and you have to fight it. If you have to fight the Old One, you are probably going to lose. Although if you do manage do defeat the Old One, then you win. If you couldn't tell, this game is extremely hard to win. The game has also been around since 1987, so if a game can stand the test of time like that, it's probably really good.

This seems like an amazing game that is extremely intricate. It has a wide variety of items and spells at the investigators disposal, and the fact that you're working with people instead of against them on a board game is kind of new. Usually, you're playing against people in board games. I would very much like to play this game and see if it lives up to my expectations.

Magic: The Gathering

Magic: The Gathering is a card game that I have actually wanted to learn about for an extremely long time now (my friend said he would teach me if I ever had the time, so I can't wait until I get time). Although before I learn how to play, I thought I would take the chance to learn a bit about it first.

Each game represents a battle between powerful wizards that use magical spells, items, and creatures to fight each other. There are five different colors for spells, all of which represent something different. There is white which is the element of light and is good at healing, blue which is the element of water and good at countering, black which is the element of death and good at destroying creatures, red which is the element of fire and good at destroying non-creatures, and green which is the element of nature and good at creature summoning. All five of these types have their weaknesses and strengths, and combining some of them could probably make some powerful combos.

This game seems extremely intricate and looks like it would take a lot of practice and money to get cards and organize them into good strategies. I would start to explain what I have read about how to play the game, but then this blog would probably seem more like a book. There are many rules and many abilities which seem like they will be extremely confusing to learn, but also extremely fun when you finally do learn them.