What have The Sentry Box staff been up to – August 23-29

Tracy and Greg played another two player game of Newton now that they’d learned the rules. “I focused heavily on books, also trying to generate potions to mitigate the need for travelling or picking up action cards with books on them. Tracy went for getting out all four Master cards, and pushing to the end of the work track. Ultimately I was able to get all 12 book tokens out, as well as an objective that scored bonus points for book tokens, giving me the win. It’s a neat game that plays quickly and smoothly, especially now that we know how to play. I’d like to try out some other strategies in future games too.”

Tracy and Greg played a two player game of Barrage, still using just the base game. “I’d like to try the expansion out sometime but I’m still enjoying figuring out the base game. I ended up with the faction that can unlock the ability to perform a second production action after doing the first, and that combo’d well with my exec officer power of being able to complete multiple contracts with each production action to allow me to complete a lot of the easy contracts. I really enjoy trying to make the most of your limited resources, and set up a dam system that flows well and lets you use the water efficiently. Love it!”

Sue was really excited to get to paint the Death Korps of Krieg from the Warhammer 40k Kill Team: Octarius box set for the store display. “I think these guys look so cool with their gas masks and WWI French style uniforms and there is loads of customizability. Lots of accessories, and most of the models can be assembled 2 or 3 different ways. I painted their coats Calgar Blue and their pants Fenrisian Grey. I then went back and drybrushed the coats with Fenrisian Grey, before applying a thinned down (w/ Contrast Medium) Space Wolves Grey Contrast Paint to the coats and pants. I primed the heads Mechanicus Standard Grey and drybrushed a lighter grey before applying a black Shade. I highlighted the eyes with Ungor Flesh to try and really make them stand out. I used Black Templar Contrast Paint (sometimes thinned down with Contrast Medium) to paint the boots, straps, backpacks, and weapons.  I painted the weapons silver before applying the thinned down black Contrast Paint to the black parts, and a black shade to the other parts. I used a Citadel Layer Small brush to pick out the buttons, snaps, and highlights on the eyes. If you picked up this box set and are building these models, I recommend gluing the coat before the legs even on all the models (the legs just pop right in after). Also, I found the backpacks to be a snug fit so if you are planning on painting them separately and attaching them after you might want to consider shaving them down, or putting painters tape over the parts that fit together before priming. I think these models are just so, so cool. And I was delighted to see that the Death Korps of Krieg have finally made their way into a plastic kit.”

Greg and his group had unlocked the side quest for the Red Guard in Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion, so they decided to give it a try this week. “The objective was to kill a Stone Golem, except it had four times the usual hit points and spawned two elite vipers every round. I took an early beating and had to pitch three of my nine cards to stay alive, so I felt like it was going to be a quick game, at least for me. In the end we started to get things a bit more under control though, and managed to split the damage being taken among the whole party. We’d been picking away at the Golem throughout, and eventually managed to take it down and win the scenario. We all leveled up to level three as well, so next time we’ll have some new cards to try.”

Greg got Catan 3D on the table. “Catan is a game that I will always have a soft spot for. It was one of the first modern boardgames I played, and I played it for the first time on my first ever trip to Canada, so it has special memories for me. We played it A LOT on that trip and I immediately bought a copy when I got home. It may not hold quite the same appeal these days, but I still enjoy playing it, and having failed to pick up the first 3D version I decided I should definitely do so this time. It’s a very nice edition, and looks really great on the table. Tracy and I tried out Klaus Teuber’s two player variant in this game and it worked quite well.”

What have The Sentry Box staff been up to – Aug 16-22

Greg picked up the Dulcinaria deck for Agricola some time ago but hadn’t got it to the table until now. “We didn’t have quite as much time so we just dealt seven cards from each deck and didn’t draft. There were some pretty interesting cards, including one that I played in round one for free that counted as an occupation, a field and a fireplace all in one, which was great. I did end up playing a lot of cards during the game, as the picture shows. Tracy didn’t quite get her engine going early enough and had to take a begging card and eat some raw grain a few times. Despite taking four negative points from one of my cards, I ended up with a respectable 54 to Tracy’s 28.”

Kickstarter Update – AUGUST 17

Today we bring you another update on our Kickstarters. During the last month we’ve received 1 Kickstarter project at the store and backed 1 additional project. If you want to be updated when new products – including Kickstarters – arrive at Sentry Box, follow us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.  If you are interested in a project below, contact us at the store for more info, prices or to be added to the pre-orders list. It works just like any other pre-order at the store, you only pay when you pick up the game. This is a great way to get your hands on some of the most popular Kickstarter games without having to pay upfront and you don’t have to pay for shipping. Plus you get double points on all pre-orders!

What have The Sentry Box staff been up to – Aug 9-15

We kick off this week’s blog with Sue’s painted Rune Hakko from the Star Wars: Legion Vital Assets box set. “I primed his head with Grey Seer and his body with Citadel’s Death Guard Green. From there, I picked out the purple parts. After that, I added green/purple Contrast Paints and washes. The skin is a thinned down Plaguebearer Flesh Contrast Paint over the Grey Seer. I painted the red eyes before adding the Plaguebearer Flesh overtop, so that I could do any touch ups prior to adding the “liquid skill” (as we call it). This was an easy model to paint.”

What have The Sentry Box staff been up to – August 2-8

This is a Star Wars: Legion Rebel Veteran and R5 droid Sue painted. “I wanted to make 2 squads of Veterans, so I mixed up the arms and heads using Green Stuff to create a second squad that looked different from the first. I primed both of these models white and used Apothecary White Contrast paint to get a clean white look for them. I forgot to add a black wash over the silver parts of R5 droid which I didn’t notice until I took this photo.”

What have The Sentry Box staff been up to – July 26-Aug 1

Greg and Tracy to a stab at Exit: The Deserted Lighthouse. “Wow, this one was tough. It’s rated as a four out of five difficulty, so it should be hard, but we really struggled. We also hadn’t looked at the play time, so we ended up doing it over two nights as it was longer than anticipated. I don’t know if we were rusty from not doing many escape rooms lately, but we needed a lot of clues for this, and I’m pretty sure I could have sat for hours and still not figured some of them out without the help. The jigsaw puzzle element didn’t really add anything for me either – it just meant it was more time-consuming. Overall this was a dud for me, unless you like spending a bunch of time doing small puzzles and feeling stupid. I hope the other puzzle Exit game I have (The Sacred Temple) is better.”