Tiny Diggers – An iPad Construction Truck Game for Kids Age 2-5

Like Sir Francis Bacon said, “I have taken all knowledge to be my province.”

This is certainly true of myself in regards to all things geeky. I love video games, but I also grew up playing table-top games, be they hard core strategy like the old school Avalon Hill war games, or pen ‘n’ paper RPG’s like AD&D and Shadowrun.

So, it was with great excitement that I sat down at PAX and was treated to an instructional demo of WizKids upcoming Halo ActionClix, or “HaloClix” as the kids are calling it these days.

As a strategy game veteran, the idea of moving figures around a map and rolling dice to see if shots hit, etc. immediately strikes a chord. However, I’ve always kept my distance from the Clix games because I abhor the CCG business model. It literally means that the richest person will be able to but his way to having the better pieces, and hence a much better chance of winning. That’s just the way these things go.

HaloClix is the first Clix game (that I know of) to address this… kind of. The Halo ActionCLix game was designed to simulate the Team Slayer aspect of Halo as much as possible. One way in which this is done was by including a “respawn” mechanic. In other ActionClix games, once a unit dies, it’s out of the game permanently, but in HaloClix, you can respawn that same unit or another of similar point value. This means that if you only spent enough money to garner one or two powerful rares, you can continuously spawn them back in.

The “weapon swap” mechanic is another important feature of HaloClix. It allows to trade units in and out on the fly. For instance, swap out “Spartan with Brute Shot” for a “Spartan with Shotgun”.

I played through a quick game and it was an interesting game, tactically speaking. I typically prefer much deeper strategy to sate my ravenous hunger for tabletop gaming, but a combination of the Halo license with a solid base of game mechanics makes this a great product for anyone who enjoys tabletop games. I truly found myself wanting to take some HaloClix minis home with me, but alas, it was not to be so. I’ll just have to wait until later this month, like everyone else. (And yes, the Scarab pictured above IS a playable piece.)

Now, as an aside, I asked WizKids if they have any plans to bring any of this online, similar to the Magic Online or “Digital Gaming Table” that Wizards of the Coast is rolling out next year. The reply was that they don’t really have anything planned in that arena, which is kind of too bad, but altogether not surprising. But for an old-fashioned geek like me, that’s just fine.