Cosmic Encounter is a fantastic board game, a wheeling, dealing, warring strategy game about vying for control of the cosmos as one of many aliens factions who each throw a different wrench in its simple rules. It’s Rab’s favourite board game and, as a sign of things to come, Quinns wrote about it too. “But Alice,” you say, “you clearly can’t be civil for the duration of a board game, so what are you> doing writing about it now?”

It’s simple: Cosmic Encounter has become the second cardboard game officially released as DLC for virtuaboard ‘em up Tabletop Simulator [official site].

… [visit site to read more]

You’ve probably heard of Tabletop Simulator, the clever piece of software that allows users to recreate boardgames on a virtual table. There are many modules to download, and we’ve covered the thoughts of boardgame creators and publishers about the availability of their own games in simulated form.

Now there’s a new kid on the tabletop block in the shape of Revolution: Virtual Playspace. Aimed at cooperative pen and paper RPGs rather than boardgames, it supports up to ten players and comes with a host of editors.

… [visit site to read more]

One of the best things about The Witcher 3 is its awareness that fetch quests are absolutely silly. The other fantastic thing is Gwent. I like Gwent. A lot. In case you don’t know what it is, it’s this in-game collectible card game that has two players take control of different armies and duke it out to see who is the better general-leader-hypothetical-head-of-army. While not the deepest mini-game I’ve encountered, it’s certainly fun and has, to date, consumed a worrying amount of my time in the Witcher 3. And now it is available as a mod for Tabletop Simulator [official site], which is similarly awesome.

… [visit site to read more]

We asked Paul Dean of splendid boardgaming website Shut Up & Sit Down to investigate the future of the enormously successful boardgame software, Tabletop Simulator [official site]. He spoke to the creators, as well as boardgame designers, to discover their feelings towards copyright-infringing mods that replicate their games, plus the possible benefits of paid mods and licensed DLC.>

The first time I saw anyone playing Tabletop Simulator, I was pointed toward a jury-rigged version of the hidden identity game Mascarade, cobbled together using Dota 2 art for the cards. My immediate response was, Well, this definitely isn t going to last. What I saw in this new software wasn t just an explosion of interest in board games, but also the potential for so many copyrights to be infringed.

… [visit site to read more]

Tabletop Simulator [official site] and all its boardgame-replication and physics-enabled table-flipping will leave Early Access on June 5th. The switch to a full release might not mean much since updates will continue, but it will also see the price increase and herald the addition of the first DLC, an officially-licensed digital recreation of the card game Superfight.

… [visit site to read more]

If there s one thing that RPS has been trying to teach us over the past few years, it s that tabletop gaming is cool, possibly even sexy, and definitely done by some handsome folks (hello there, Rab). Sadly, not all of us are blessed with a local circle of sexy and handsome friends to play with. Enter Berserk Games and their solution: Tabletop Simulator [official site].

Something of a rising star of Steam Early Access, Tabletop Simulator boasts the ability to simulate (fancy that) a 3D, physical tabletop with up to 7 other players online. While it comes bundled with a handful of copyright-free board/card game staples, its real strength lies in its easy moddability, allowing you to import just about any tabletop, playmat, token, card or custom dice that you can find an image file or 3D model of and share it with others. Combined with full Steam Workshop support, it s a potentially huge boon for those with tabletop gaming friends in far away places, and (unsurprisingly) a bit of a legal minefield.

I’ll come back that minefield later, but for now: here are four of the best Tabletop Simulator mods, what they do and how they play.

… [visit site to read more]