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OK disclaimer up front-I'm a product of the mid-20th Century,
learned to write with real ink & inkwells.The picture on the
wall was Harry S.Truman...so take some comments with that in mind.

I don't do Vid Games or read comics(pardon me "Graphic Novels")
so I knew nothing about Gears of War.Then FFG actually
released the Gears of War Board Game.

I never paid much attention to the Game other that it was
rather funny to see it listed as "Under Development"
on FFG upcoming section for 3 years.I just figured it was some sort
of tactical modern combat game.

When the Rules were put up I looked them over & thought
they look really cool,especially the AI Mechanic.I then
saw that it was based on a Vid Game & began to check
out the background from some GoW dedicated web sites.

I also checked out Amazon & saw some titles but they
appeared to be Comics(pardon me "Graphic Novels")
and passed.I was able to get a good idea of GoW
Game World from the GoW web sites anyway,so long
story short got the Board Game.

Now to Topic,I was in Barnes & Noble a couple of weeks
ago & found that there were indeed Books,a whole series
by Karen Travis on Gears of War:Aspho Fields,Jacinto's
Remnant,Anvil Gate & Coalition's End.So of course I scooped
them up & have been reading them,I'm up to Anvil Gate.

Traviss writing style is a little weird,the books go back &
forth often chapter by chapter.Your reading about stuff
in the Pendulum Wars & then your thrown ahead to
the Locus Wars only to go back to the Pendulum Wars
a little later.

Events are referred to that haven't appeared in the book,
which aren't explained until the next book.I have a feeling
it's heavily patterned on the Video Game where you
have to get to a certain level to unlock information.

It's a good read,the characters have depth & the gritty
Sera setting is handled well once you get use to the
time shifts.I went on a long hunt when the story mentioned
meeting the Locus Queen,thinking I perhaps missed that
part by accidentally skipping a page.However,in going back
I didn't miss anything,so somewhere ahead of me this
Event will come out even though time wise the story is
past that part.

So all in all a Good Series that keeps you interested
from Book to Book.Perhaps if your a Vid Game fanatic
that played GoW to death the books may seem redundant,
but if your not it's a good page turner.

Then again if you never heard of the Vid Game the Books
may lack a little context.Reading the "Story so Far"
on the GoW web site helped me get a good general background
which made the Books read more smoothly.

OD

What an interesting perspecitve. I have been a fan of the Gears games since the first one. They focus on intense fire-fights and introduced a really neat "duck behind cover" mechanic I had never seen before in a game. I hope the feel of being pinned down and sneaking shots in isn't lost in the boardgame. I am really excited about it. That and FANG are the only two games I asked for this Christmas. I hope I get one. If you ever play the Gears Boardgame, I would love to know what you think of it.

Hopefully you'll have a Good Christmas there both Great Games.

I've played several GoW Board Games (I made myself stop simply because I wanted to play Elder Sign
and F&G)It's hard for a Board Game to capture a Vid Game action but I think GoW comes close.

The duck into cover & taking pot shots is nicely covered as is the constant tension between doing
the Mission & getting into firefights.Here's a Session Report on the Introductory Mission

Team 2-Emergence Sector 4:Marcus Felix & Dominick Santiago


CoG HQ Jenico City

Lieutenant ...Sgt.Felix is here

....Send him in.

Sgt.pull up a chair,first of all congratulations on
your successful mission .Now lets get to the debriefing,
just give your run down of how things went.

Lieutenant it's all in my report.

I know Sgt. but Command feels that a visual & audio
record is valuable,it allows them to pick up nuisances
that simply reading a report doesn 't provide.
You've been through these before so lets get to
it.

OK...Well Santiago & I were checking out Sector 4
looking for an Emergence hole.The Sector is mainly
the campus of Janico City College & it's fairly busted up
being on the perimeter but the R.O.T.C. building is still
standing & it's a large complex so we figure that's
the first thing to check out.

Santiago takes point and Advances through the foyer
and takes cover behind the reception desk,
and puts both barrels into a Boomer.The damn
thing is hit but doesn't go down.

Now all Hell breaks loose,this is obviously the Emergence
location Two Drones fire on Santiago he's wounded but
as he's in full cover the damage is minor.

I haul ass around the Boomer & Assault the Drone nearest
to Santiago with my chain blade cutting the thing in two.

Now I can hear other Locus coming in our direction,but
my immediate concern is the wounded Boomer & behind
me & the other Drone in front.The Boomer swings his
Boom Shot in my direction but I beat him to it & put
a full clip from my assault rifle into him & this time he
stays down.

I just have time to try to dodge the Drones attack,
he still hits me but it could have been worst.

I 'm worried about Ammo,taking out the Boomer
has cost both Santiago & me clips.I know from
studying plans of the building that an ammo storage
locker is just ahead to our left,so I yell for Santiago
to move up & secure it.He does & I can hear him
ripping shells from their packing cartons.

We now get a break as the Drone in front of me
just holds up in cover.But I can hear something big coming
our way.

I figure why wait? so I move up & assault the approaching
Boomer,I kept my finger on the trigger & emptied
another full clip into him,I'm burning ammo but I gotta
stop the damn thing.He goes down & I breath a big
sigh of relief.

The Drone I slipped by now tries another attack on me
but Santiago opens up on him full bore with that shotgun &
cuts him down even though it was in partial cover.

I'm still in trouble as the Drone who was with the
Boomer now opens up on me but I managed to
avoid any damage.

Santiago is just setting tight in the ammo locker
& I'm hold up just outside as a Drone moves into
my area.Santiago draws it into the ammo locker
& Ambushes it taking it out.

We're free of Locus but I can hear them
moving out somewhere in front of us.
I pick up the dead Drone's Hammer Burst.

Santiago moves ahead causiously as the
sound of Locus approaching is getting louder.

I slip into the ammo locker to cover him.
Just then another Boomer takes a bead on
Santiago but I've got his back & blow the
Boomer away with a Bolo Grenade.

Santiago now breaks for the end of the corridor
& follow.He runs right into another Boomer &
empties his pistol point blank into it killing it.

A Drone & a Wretch now attack Santiago but
do only minor damage.

I attack the Drone into coming after me & then
take it down with an Ambush.

We're in the clear again but we can still hear Locus
of somewhere in the next corridor.

Santiago charges toward the sounds and moves
into the grenade storage room where he can
see the Emergence hole & 2 Drones just across
the corridor.He lobs a Bolo Grenade into them
with perfect timing both Drones are taken out
and the Emergence Hole is sealed under the debris.

Then 2 wretches & 2 Boomers come through the
back door and into the hall way!

A wretch goes for me but I dodge the attack.The
other Wretch goes for Santiago but he catches
it on the edge of his shotgun & blows it to hell.

I use the Hammer Burst to to Ambush the Boomer
coming in on me and stop it cold.

It's now a real Firefight The last Boomer attacks me
along with a Wretch but their aim is off and I get off
with only minor damage.Another Wretch goes after Dom
but he escapes without damage.

Santiago now Pummels the Boomer but it remains standing

The Wretch renews it's attack on me but Santiago
intercepts with a shot gun blast.

The remaining Wretch goes for Santiago but he dodges
the attack.

I uses my last ammo to open up with my assault rifle
on the wounded Boomer & put it down.

The Wretch is now alone but still attacks Santiago
who uses his final ammo to shred the thing.

We give it several minutes to make sure nothing
no other Locus are around then signal for pick up.

That's it Lieutenant,you need anything else or is Show
& Tell over?

No Sgt.your excused.

Quote:I haul ass around the Boomer & Assault the Drone nearest
to Santiago with my chain blade cutting the thing in two.

One of my favorite things to do in the game! I used to play as Santiago with my buddy online a lot. Sounds like lots of the video game is represented in the boardgame. Sweet report; thanks.