Monthly Archives: August 2015

About Last Night

catan

I get so easily side tracked from my plans. I had three awesome card games to play with me at the Kings Head game night. And what happens? We end up playing another game entirely, in this case Catan.

I think my friend found it funny and maybe slightly disturbing I was getting excited about the multiplayer setup for Cthulhu Realms when I got the rules out to briefly look at. But even excited I'm easily distracted. So somehow we ended up playing Catan.

Truth be told, I think I was releaved to be playing Catan. I think after Saturday's experience with the sulk monster, my confidence in teaching a game has taken a little knock. And it wasn't that great before that.

Below trading my way to victory in a game of Catan at The Kings Head game night. (photo courtesy of Sam Hoy and The Kings Head)

Sometimes having no sense of smell, or even a concept of it, is a blessing. Apparently last night was one such occasion. My two gaming companions and opponents in the Catan game smelt what I believe could be best described as an unpleasant smell wafting to the table we were seated at.

I do hope this stench put my friends off their game. I need every advantage I can get.

Couples, you have to love them. Especially when they get competitive against each other. During the first three quarters of the game maybe, I was able to fly under the radar as they battled it out with each other.

They roll a seven, the robber gets placed on a number that would impact the other. I roll a seven, I place it where it will do the most damage including myself. I'm a kind of cut your nose off despite your face guy sometimes. Especially if that action has a bigger payout damage wise for others.

I had claimed the longest road, and been allowed to defend it, so no one else could claim it (it was a length of ten across the middle of the board). By the time my friends had woken up to the imminent threat of my victory and tried working together to stop me, it was too late. I think at that point I was sitting on seven victory points to their six (both had this score). A castle and one more dwelling was all I needed.

They tried resource blocking, I did manage to get a trade with a generous offer so I could get two stone. I needed three, but there was no way I could convince them to sell me the third as well. I then on my turn swapped four wood for the third stone I needed and got that second castle. Three turns later I was sealing the inevitable (ok it wasn't but let me enjoy this moment) victory.

After packing the game away, I was feeling exhausted. There hadn't been much sleep the night before. So I headed home.

Now the thing is I know there are gamers in Wisbech. Some of them were at the Minicon at the weekend. Others I play with. Plus there must be more out there that I don't know of. So why is this Kings Head game night poorly attended? Lack of promotion? Tuesday night is a bad night? I don't know.

 

Good Timing

ages, Cthulhu Realms

Sometimes things just work out nicely. Today is one of those times.

Tonight there is a games night at The Kings Head (hope people turn up this time).

However when I got home a package was waiting for me. I quickly ripped it open to see its contents.

Well I had guessed its contents before opening, this should be the copy of Cthulhu Realms I bought off Chris Shaner. When I found out he had picked up some extra copies at GenCon and wanted to know who wanted to buy a copy. I snapped his fingers off. Turned out I wasn't the only one and managed to get the last spare copy Chris had. A quick PayPal transfer and the deal had been sealed.

So back to my excited ripping open on the newly arrived package. Wait what's this around the box? OMG! This is awesome. Wrapped around the copy of Cthulhu Realms was a play mat for AGES!

Wow! I wasn't expecting that. What a big surprise. A very very nice surprise. The playmat looks amazing. I can wait to play the game on this mat.

But that wasn't the last surprise. On the side of the Cthulhu Realms box was a Nikola Tesla promo card for AGES.

The photo doesn't show it too well. But it's shiney ^__^

So I really can't say thank you enough to Chris for his very generous surprises, plus being prepared to ship a copy of Cthulhu Realms to the UK. Which isn't on sale here yet I believe (but is due to hit pretty soon).

So now you know what I'm taking to the game night tonight. AGES (got to use that awesome playmat) and Cthulhu Realms and maybe Arctic Scavenger. Think there is a theme to the games I'm taking tonight.

 

Lords of Waterdeep the app Initial Thoughts

iOS, lords of waterdeep

So remember from yesterday's post about the weekend I said I liked Lords of Waterdeep after getting to play it for the first time?

Well I've added the game to my BGG wishlist so I don't forget it (fat chance of that). But then I discovered there was an app version of the game.

So for the sum of £4.99 I was able to purchase the app and have it installed on my iPad in minutes.

My initial impression is very positive.

What eased the decision in buying the iOS version of the game was that it supported online play. Specifically asynchronous play. So after playing a game against the AI that I lost (well it was only my second game) I decided to try the online side of things.

This meant I needed to set up “yet another account” to be able to play using this mode. The system at the developer once you have entered your details for the new account is meant to send you an email. An email it claims is your account information, but I suspect also has a link in it to confirm the activation.

Guess what I haven't received yet almost twenty four hours after entering my details? Yep that email.

Every time I try and use the online mode, it simple tells me to check the email and kicks me back to the main menu.

So I have now raised a support call to get this sorted so I can play online.

As for the game I played, well it does a pretty good job of reproducing the game. The interface is pretty good, and it has the nice feature of being able to zoom in and out of the board.

As I said in the title this is an initial impression of the app. It is infuriating that I can't try the online mode against real people. But this will test the developers support I suppose.

Right I'm off to play against an AI.

 

Madhouse Minicon 2015

tabletop

“The highlight of the year for Wisbech True Gamers, Madhouse Minicon is three days of board games, card games, role playing games and other tomfoolery.“

“Originally founded for the players of the online game DungeonWorld it also welcomes local game fans to join the friendly get-together and take part in all manner of amusing games.”

So the above quotes from the private Facebook event page tell you basically what Madhouse Minicon is. It started this Friday evening and finishes later today.

This is the first Minicon I've attended. So let's look at my gaming experience for the two days I attended.

Day 1 – Friday Night

The first game of the evening for me was taking part in a four player game of the DC Deck-building game.

This was my first time playing the DC Deck-building game. So what were my impressions of the game? I wasn't really impressed. There was some interaction between players when you forced players to discard cards or take wounds (cards that waters down the players deck and gives negative points at the end). But it was weak for a competitive deck builder. This seemed more about buying cards that gave you more power to buy higher valued cards than your opponents for the end game add up of points. For me this was such a weak superhero game. The DC Deck-building game doesn't come close to Marvel Legendary. The only reason I can see people buying this game is because they are DC fans, and boy if they do they will be disappointed.

I'm glad I played the game, because I would have remained curious about it. So curious I might have spent good money on the game. Boy would I have regretted that.

After the game I asked the poor owner of the DC Deck-builder if he had heard of or played Star Realms. To which he responded he had a copy. “Cool, did you want to play a game?” I asked. Within minutes we were setup and duelling in space. Now you know I love Star Realms, I think that has been established well and truly on this blog. So I was in hog heaven playing a couple of physical games. I narrowly lost the first game, and comfortably won the second.

While playing Star Realms a game of Sheriff of Nottingham was going on. Which while observing it, re-affirmed my believe that the game isn't for me. You really do need people prepared to ham it up and get into the roles in the game (which one or two weren't in this game) for it to really work. Otherwise the game kind of falls flat.

Next up continuing the playing new games to me experience was a four player game of Lords of Waterdeep.

I liked this game a lot. The game has you playing a secret Lord of the city Waterdeep. It has a worker placement mechanic with some take that interaction with other players. I liked that there was a limited number of turns, stopping the game going on forever. It was quick to pick up the basics of the game. Overall a very nice game. Plus I came joint second in the game. This will definitely be added to my wishlist.

The final game of the evening was Qwirkle, the third game of the evening I hadn't played before. I suppose you could as the owner described it call it a game similar or in the style of dominos.

Another game that I enjoyed playing. Simple rules to learn, so quick to pick up. Did I enjoy it enough to add to the wishlist. Not at the moment. But I'd gladly play a game or two if some-one whipped out a copy and said who would like a game?

Day 2 – Saturday

The con started back up at 10am. On my way in I stopped off at The Luxe and made use of their August promotion of all cinema tickets are £4 during August to buy a ticket to see The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Once one or two others turned up it was time for the first game of the day. I was going to be starting the day of with another game I hadn't played before Sentinels of the Multiverse.

With free coffees and teas fuelling us, our four chosen heroes battled it out with a super villain. Often when it comes to superhero card games the majority of players are either Sentinels or Marvel Legendary fans, with the DC Deck-building game a poor third (and having played it now, I know why).

So to have this opportunity to play the game was ideal for me. In a way I feel that it is wrong to compare Marvel Legendary with Sentinels. Marvel Legendary is a co-op deck building game, while Sentinels is a co-op hand management game. You play a pre-constructed deck in Sentinels. Although the Ironman/Hulk type character I was playing did seem very thematic. And it is at this level that I feel that the two games can be compared. Which of the two really carries off the superhero theme? For me I think Sentinels may edge it.

However I feel that Marvel Legendary is the better game, and more fun to play. I kind of felt that Sentinels was an ok game, maybe a bit biased towards the villains. Would I play the game again? I think I'd be ok with playing it again but wouldn't go out of my way to. I don't think it's good enough to go on my wishlist.

The second new game of the day, Antimatter Matters. This is an educational game!!!! It tries to teach you through game play like physics stuff! The game has three ways to be played, the default competitive, a team mode and co-op. The flavour text on cards is all science like and educational. It was hard but I managed to block out that side of the game, I was determined not to learn. The game is basically role and move, do the action at the location, possibly mitigate the role with a move card. There is a bit of planning, working out routes that get you the symbol required to get the elements required to build your electron and proton. Plus the game can also be made more challenging by adding a side board for the player that also needs completing.
Even though I won the game (victory is always sweet) I felt the game was ok. An enjoyable experience, I'd play again.mbut another not good enough for the wishlist.
Below a couple of misguided Magic players. Everyone knows Android:Netrunner is by far the superior game. I even trolled them about it ^_^
My last game of the day was Five Tribes.
Three of us played this game of mine. It was my first play of Five Tribes since buying the game. I enjoyed playing the game, despite one player having a little hissy fit because he was losing, didn't really understand the game. They even stormed off at the start of the scoring. Another first for me, an adult behaving like a little kid because of a game. They apologised later for their behaviour.

Day 3 – Sunday

Decided not to do the last day.

Final Thoughts

I enjoyed the games I played, but the question is would I go again?

For me despite that I knew one or two of the people there. This event came across as cliquey. At the Top of this post I quote that this event was for gamers and welcomes local gamers. However the event page itself on Facebook was private, and the event wasn't promoted (to my knowledge) to the general public.

The majority attending also were players of the online game DungeonWorld. For which they had a little “icebreaker” game for those people specifically. Not only did it exclude those of us not players (admittedly most likely just myself) it took out a table for a good twenty minutes and paused play while a large number decided to do the trades that the “icebreaker” encouraged.

Adding to the feeling of the clique was that the local players attending all seemed to be from the same gaming group. Apart from myself and one other I think everyone else was either a player of the online game or this gaming group or both.

The experience of the little temper tantrum on the Saturday kinda ruined the experience for me too. A couple of families attended, with their kids then taking up one of the larger gaming tables for their junk and playing on their Nintendo DS/3DS consoles.

On a whole I enjoyed playing the games. It's just everything else around it I didn't.

I think this would have been a great opportunity to promote gaming in the local area. However I think this was missed with the limited visibility of the event.

To answer my initial question for these final thoughts I don't think so. That's assuming that after reading this they invite me again!!!

 

The Trooper

star wars

So Qwertee had some Star Wars designs up recently and I caved and bought one. I could have bought all three to be fair. But somehow I found the inner strength to just get the one. The one I went for tickled not just the inner Star Wars nerd in me, but my teenage metal head as well.

Below is the original design that inspired the rather humorous fun Star Wars themed take on it.

Ashamidly for a Star Wars fan I have only one Star Wars related tee. So this will be my second. This trooper tee is begging to be worn while playing Imperial Assault or X-Wing. Yes I think we have already established on this blog that I am in fact that sad.

Now I just need to get either game to the table to prove how sad I am in real life.

 

Guest Post: Numenera: Into the Ninth World

Uncategorized

This is a rarity for this blog, a guest post. But my friend Jamie asked if he could do one for the blog, and I thought why not? It will give you all a break from my ramblings. Please note this guest post neither represents my views or is me endorsing any product/kickstarter. The following is entirely the views and opinions of Jamie. Right disclaimer over here are Jamie's words for you to read.

 

Growing up in a small community in the UK I was never really exposed to Roleplaying Games until I was already a couple of years into college. I had collected Warhammer 40K for most of my teenage years and when Inquisitor was released in 2001 I decided to give it a try. This was a narrative skirmish game and it served as a gateway from table top miniature war-games to story driven table top gaming. Before long I was introduced to D&D 3rd edition and eventually decided to turn my hand to DMing. I was really into the world building and narrative development, but my small group of players disliked my style as too ‘Railroading’, as they wanted and open world free for all and I wanted to craft a compelling story. I would eventually come to realise that there is a balance between these too ideals, but it was several years before I tried to turn my hand to running a game again. I dabbled with 4th edition, but as an RPG it wasn’t for me, I felt the system was a little too ‘crunchy’ like Inquisitor and made for a better board game.

Then in September 2012 I discovered the Numenera Kickstarter, two days too late. The setting sounded interesting, and the rules promised to take a backseat to exploration and collaborative storytelling. Even though the Kickstarter had finished, I found that Monte Cook Games were still allowing preorders, so I made my pledge and waited.

For those new to the setting, Numenera is set in the ‘Ninth World’, our world, but ‘1 Billion Years in the Future’. Think about that for a moment. Seven other civilizations have risen and fallen after our own, and the ninth is well on its way to the middle ages. “What’s the point if it’s just another rehash of the traditional Knights of the Round Table setting?” I hear you ask, well imagine if King Arthur had grown up around the remnants of an incredibly advanced civilization, with left over technology that is largely incomprehensible to even the most learned of the era, what impact would that have?

As Arthur C. Clarke put it, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”, and that is the heart of Numenera.

When the Numenera sourcebook eventually arrived I was blown away by the quality of both its production and the content. This book alone contained enough material to get a game up and running, along with a combined world guide and ‘monster manual’. It was excellent value.

The system took a little while to get my head around at first, as it was so different to what I had experienced before. The GM doesn’t make any rolls? Really? And then you come to realise that intraditional RPGs the GM is going to fudge the results of her secret rolls half the time anyway to make it fair to the players (unless they are really mean), so why not put the onus on the players. They get to gamble with the risk and reward directly and with the inspired inclusion of the GM intrusion mechanic, allowing the GM to interrupt and throw a spanner in the works in exchange for bonus XP, still gave the GM enough control to shape the story.

After running a few games of Numenera, I knew that the Cypher System was right for me, and the setting of the Ninth World was fresh (and weird) enough to provide a lot of inspiration for my own world building within it.

The numerous ‘Glimmers’ or digital supplements that followed the release of the core book, along with further hardback releases of a detailed Bestiary, Technology Guide and World Guide, have only continued in the tradition of the first release, maintaining the quality while expanding the breadth and depth of the worldbuilding options.

I now have so much faith in the Monte Cook Games team that I didn’t hesitate to back the Numenera Reliquary Box Set Kickstarter as soon as it was announced, and I wait with anticipation (and the quiet jealousy of seeing seemingly everyone on Twitter receive theirs already), for its imminent delivery.

Which brings us to Monte Cook’s new Kickstarter announcement:

Into the Ninth World: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/montecookgames/numenera-into-the-ninth-world

I knew as soon as Monte announced the first of this new book line last year that I was going to be getting it. Into The Night expands the Numenera sandbox dramatically by opening up space travel and the potential to explore the solar system ‘One billion years in the future’, I can’t wait to see what’s out there. For this now to become the first of an entire product line for expanding the Ninth World is very exciting, and the Kickstarter is already off to a phenomenal start, having hit its initial funding goal one hour after launch and tripling this only 18 hours later, there will be many big things to come before this Kickstarter concludes. Four stretch goals have been met and I am sure there will be many more over the next month before this campaign comes to an end.

But why is this important to you? Well if you have already bought into the MCG ecosphere you have probably already backed this project, as you know what the team there can deliver, but if you are new to Numenera or any of the Cypher System games, this is a great point to jump on board. Take a look at the Pledge calculator to see what addons you can get:

http://www.montecookgames.com/store/i9w-pledge-calculator/

That’s right, pretty much the entire back catalogue (sans glimmers) is available to bundle in with this Kickstarter, for a reasonable price. It is worth noting that this has free shipping in the US, but if you’re in the UK like me, or anywhere else for that matter, shipping costs do add up, though MCG does provide a $10 subsidy on the shipping cost for each delivery. It’s a hefty investment but, believe me, it’s well worth it.

I hope this has convinced some of you to jump on board, and if so please come join in the fun at the Numenera G+ community https://plus.google.com/communities/118049550596003630024

You can reach Jamie at the following places

Jamie Myland https://twitter.com/raegar

https://plus.google.com/+JamieMyland/

Numenera, The Strange, the Cypher System, and their respective logos are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC in the U.S.A. and other countries. All Monte Cook Games characters and character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof, are trademarks of Monte Cook Games, LLC. Content derived from Monte Cook Games publications is © 2013-2014 Monte Cook Games, LLC. http://www.numenera.com/fan-use-policy/

 

 

Top Deck

marvel legendary, run,fight or die

Last night I got to play a couple of games of Run, Fight or Die! with two friends while sharing an alcoholic beverage (ok I was on orange and lemonade not very rock and roll I know). One of the friends was new to the game but picked it up really fast.

I won the first game but it's how I won that matters. Friend number one playing as The Country Girl had died, swept away by a zombie horde. I was playing as The Street Kid and had a couple of wounds, while friend number two (noobie) was playing The Silent a Rancher and had his full seven health remaining when friend one left the mortal game board.

Luckily we weren't playing the co-op expansion so friend one dying was good for the rest of us. One down, one to go. Into the mix the Mutant Boss decided to make an appearance. Just what we needed more pressure. The way the boards were building up there wasn't going to be much chance to take him out.

It wasn't looking good for me, in a couple of turns I too would be on the receiving end of a zombie horde that had built up in zones three and two unless some miracle happened. My rolls allowed me to clear zone one, but that was delaying the inevitable. I needed a miracle.

On my next turn I now had a packed zone one, the rolls of the dice hadn't gone my way.

And low and behold one did occur. I had to draw a follower. I drew the card, and looked at it. I had drawn Hit Girl. Hit Girl was worth two victory points. But if I sacrificed her I could remove all zombies in any one zone. OMG I had just top decked a card that was going to keep me alive for another turn. There was no soul searching, no how could I sacrifice a little girl to survive. I was cold and brutal and sacrificed Hit Girl in a blink of an eye. Zone one was clear I would life another turn. Although that wasn't looking any better, because once more a horde would be knocking on my door.

Luckily friend two although having two more hit points to start with, had been slowly building up wounds with poor draws of the mutant cards. They were now only two wounds away from defeat. While I was slightly better off with being three away still.

My turn again. I needed to be lucky again or get overrun and become a zombie snack. I had to draw again, I can't remember the card type. But I had top decked again! The drawn card stopped all zombies advancing this turn. Wow why can't I be this lucky in Star Realms?

I was still alive somehow. Friend twos turn ended up being their last. With the Mutant Boss doing the final two wounds to kill them off.

Somehow I had hung in there long enough to win! If I hadn't top decked there was no way I'd be celebrating this victory.

Game two was a shorter game with friend one winning. Although I did manage to do three damage to the Mutant Boss before dying a couple of turns later, when I was overrun by a horde.

A great evenings gaming with two good friends. Doesn't get much better than that.

Oh while I remember I've pre-ordered the Big Box expansion for the game, which is mainly a large storage box for the game and all the expansions I believe. But it also comes with the new Running Late expansion, plus some kickstarter promos. Which pushes up the value for money factor. While I was pre-ordering that I also pre-ordered the mutant boss 2.0 model. It's so hard to get the mutant boss model 1.0 because it was a kickstarter exclusive I believe, and they rarely come up. So I was relieved that the publisher is doing this limited release model.

Upper Deck Legendary News

 

I don't know how I missed this news from GenCon but I did. Luckily I've found out now, and this news is blooming awesome.

Upper Deck are going to be releasing two new Legendary games based on two very popular ip. I think it would be fair to say they have big cult followings.

Both of these games will be using the Legendary game engine. Which means these will be deck building games. I'm assuming here based on previous products in this line that they will be co-operative, possibly have a competitive mode of some sort, be really thematic (Legendary Encounters Alien did win the best themed game award in the Dice Towers Awards this year) and finally interchangeable with the other Legendary games.

The first ip that will be joining the Legendary world is Big Trouble in Little China. The eighties cult classic staring Kurt Russell as Jack Burton.

There is no release date at present. However considering that next year is the thirtieth anniversary of this classic cult movie (god I feel so old typing that) and there is a remake/reboot apparently in the works and in some stage of development with apparently The Rock involved. With that information in hand I would hazard a guess that we will see Big Trouble in Little China in 2016, I'm not sure when the exact date of the anniversary is, but if I was in marketing at Upper Deck I'd be trying to release as near to that date as possible. However my gut says because of the next ip to be announced and that's release date we will see this game in the first half of 2016.

Will we see Upper Deck pick up another cult classic starring Kurt Russell, Escape from New York?

The second ip taking the Legendary world to a new world of awesome is… No before I tell you, you had better go to the toilet because you are going to soil yourself in excitement…

Right now you are back…

The second ip joining the Legendary world is…

Are you ready for it?

The second ip is… get this… Firefly!!! OMG!! How amazing is that news? There are a lot of fanboys wetting themselves at the moment because they didn't listen to my advice. Yes there are already Firefly games out there, including the just released Firefly Shiney Dice game. But this one has the potential to put all those others in the shade.

Oh yes a chance to play the crew of the Serenity using the amazing Legendary game engine. If the reavers aren't in the game I'd be really really shocked.

So when can we expect to get our dirty sweaty nerdy fanboy mitts on this new member to the Legendary stable? Currently (and I say that because things can happen in the meantime that could delay it) Upper Deck are aiming for GenCon 2016 for its release. Which basically means we have a year of trying to manage our excitement.

I do have one concern with this news, by the time these come out we will have three (four depending on how you want to class Villians) games out on the market using the Legendary engine. Will the games start feeling tired? How will Upper Deck make sure that the games remain fresh, but at the same time compatitable with the existing games, and not just a retheming of an existing engine? Maybe I'm just worrying over nothing. I know I'll be buying both I'm such a predictable sheep sometimes. What do you think of this news or my concerns? Are you excited as me about it?

 

 

More Survivors

zombicide

Continuing on from yesterday's Zombicide survivor fest I've made a visit to the top secret location to get more pictures of the Zombicide survivors that are in the witness protection program.

Seth or Mr Liam “I only play the one role these days” Nilson. A great looking sculpt, that for me captures Liam's character from Taken. Sadly it also captures every bloody role he has had in a movie since also. Not sure I could play Seth, the pain of having to think of all those derivitive roles deluting the memory of a good movie. It's just too painful. Seth will stay in the witness protection program.

I was a House fan, although that final season was a bit of a slog to get through. Now I'd like to say that this sculpt captures the House character really well. But that would be a lie, in my opinion it captures the over the edge, lost his mind with anger side amazingly well. You can definitely see House going a bit insane with a baseball bat busting zombie heads.

Yes I would consider myself a Big Bang Theory fan despite its stereotyping of geeks for comedic effect. Kabir below is the Zombicide characture of Raj. There are other Big Bang Theory characters charactured in Zombicide, and those that I have will be covered in another post. Ok I admit it I will be playing scenarios where the Big Bang Theory gang have to fight for survival.

What red blooded teenage boy didn't have a crush on Daisy Duke from the Dukes of Hazard during the late seventies early eighties? Not sure I'd play Cat that much but it sure was great bringing back those teen memories.

I know at least one friend who will love playing this character. Spencer is the sculpt representing Walter White from the Breaking Bad TV series. A very cool looking sculpt. I'll have to look what other characters they do and see if there is a themed team I can put together.

Finally we have Yuri who is meant to be Keither Sutherland as Jack Bauer from 24 I think. I like this sculpt a lot, and I think Yuri will be used a few times.

So there we have it for this witness protection update. I hope you have enjoyed this look at some of the figures I got with the third kickstarter. Sadly the kickstarter is usually the only place these can be picked up at a normal price. Otherwise it's paying the inflated and they are very inflated prices of eBay.

 

Clones and Survivors

zombicide

After suffering that mauling by Loki, Raoul was beyond saving. Surgeons tried for hours, working in shifts to save him. But alas their epic struggle through oceans of blood and tissue was to no avail. Raoul was declared legally dead on the operating table and his remains immediately handed over to some shadow cybernetics skunk team trying to develop cyborg soldiers.

Luckily with advances in medical technology thanks to the imagination of science fiction writers cloning has come far enough for Raoul to be cloned. Yesterday straight from the cloning vats the new clone Raoul arrived.

Clone Raoul has been placed in a secure secret location to protect him from any future attempts on his life by the diabolical Loki.

I thought that while I was talking about the new clone for Zombicide that I was forced to get after Loki decided he wanted a plastic snack! I'd belatedly go through some of the figures from the Zombicide Season 3 kickstarter I got. These figures aren't from the actual episode 3 boxes but stretch goal figures and add-ons.

The attraction of these figures is that they are charactures of well known celebrity figures. Naturally the publisher hasn't licensed anything so they can't call the figure the actual name of the person it is of. However you can make an educated guess who they are meant to be.

These figures just add another bit of fun to the game.

First up is Bastian. I had to look this one up for who was a parody of. Apparently it's Ben Stiller from Zoolander. The character looks cool with the double Uzi guns and double axes in his zombivore version. But and this may be blasphemy to some but I'm not a big Ben Stiller fan so unless a friend really wants to play this character in a game he won't be seeing much game play.

The potty mouth, no holds barred, tell it as it is, Gordan Ramsey is the next to be parodied as Jesse. I love the art work and sculpt, they really do capture Gordan Ramsey so well. I wonder if he is aware of this characture? Not sure I'd play him much but I can see myself doing so on the odd occasion.

Finally for this post for fans of the Luc Besson film Leon we have Lucius as the parody of Leon the professional. This sculpt just oozes cool. I know a couple of friends that might play this character.

These figures have also joined Raoul in the top secret safe house in a witness protection program so they can escape the clutches of Lord Evil himself Loki.

 

My Awesome Weekend

imperial assault, netrunner, new arrivals, tabletop
Saturday saw me driving up North to the shadow of Kinder Scout to visit friends. As the photo below shows I took the odd game with me. I had ordered some new games that I was hoping would make it before I set off. Unusual for the Royal Mail they actually attempted to deliver my parcels, and they did it at half eight. Which meant I got them on time for once.
But I still had no idea what time DPD would be arriving with the one game I actually did want to take with me specifically for the weekend. Then a text message arrived letting me know they would be delivering the game Castle Panic before ten fifteen. Score I'd have everything before my planned leave time. For once the stars aligned for me.

Once at my destination for the weekend it was Netrunner time with my guru Todd. Todd was using his newly constructed HB Cybernetics Division deck against my Noise deck. Two games, two loses. But I did score some agendas so it wasn't a white wash. Then we swapped I played Todd's HB corp deck, while he played my Noise deck. I think this was maybe my third time playing corp. I haven't really looked at trying to construct a corp deck yet. I'm not really sure which corp is me yet.

I won this role reversal game, and then had feedback from Todd on where he thought my short comings were for my deck. I basically need to look at my economy (there wasn't really enough being generated), while there was also not much synergy going on in my deck either.

After a break, Todd constructed a runner deck that he wanted to test. So I played his corp deck again (well I don't currently have one) it was a tense game. But in the end Todd ended up winning.

While we were playing the last game it was getting near to the bedtime for his boys, and they wanted to play a game with me. So before they went to bed we had a couple of quick games of Batman Love Letter.

Tea for us grown ups had been an awesome homemade chilli made by Todd. It was just right, not over hot, but not bland like the chilli at work. There was a really nice heat to it. Perfect.

Sunday morning after breakfast was a quick game of Batman Love Letter with the boys. Then with the table in the middle of the room it was time for a game of Zombies! a favourite of the boys.

I hadn't played Zombies! before, so this was a new experience for me. My initial impression of the game was it was a lot of fun. Building the map as you go along was a nice mechanic. The game has a lot of opportunities for player interaction, well a take that interaction. It was very easy to screw over another player, forcing them to skip a go, stop them moving, surround them with zombies etc. One of the boys was really getting into this side of the game. That did add to the enjoyment of the game.

Run,Fight or Die! Fails

I tried to teach the youngest age seven Run,Fight or Die! However it didn't really grab his attention, especially with Cartoon Network on the TV.

How unfit I am?

After lunch we all went for a walk. The weather was hot, and the route took us over a hill to a conviently placed pub that used to be a mill. The hill was hard work, I'm so out of shape. Well more than usual. Luckily the return journey didn't have as much up, which was welcomed. The boys were amazing, not a single word of complaint, they really enjoyed themselves. It warms my heart to see kids enjoying the outdoors.

But boy was I knackered and sore afterwards. I really must get back into shape for the outdoors.

With the car packed it was time to say my good byes. I'd had a really great weekend. Great hosts, a great time. 'Nuff said.

Chris Shaner GenCon Star Realms Champion

Well the subheading says it all. A really big congratulations to Chris on becoming the champ. I don't think I'd be wrong in saying this competition is the nearest the Star Realms has at the moment to a world championship.
For an amazingly long time Chris was the top Star Realms player online however due to his alterism (he is no longer actively trying to push up his ranking since hitting level 40) he has been over taken and currently sits at number 4 on the all time league table. So really when you are that good at the game is it a surprise that Chris did so well in the GenCon competition?
Chris regularly thrashes me at Star Realms online. Sometimes I even make him work hard for his victory. Even more rare is the below photo, a victory for me. It just happened I managed to score this ultra rare win yesterday on the day I find out about Chris's well deserved title win.

Imperial Assault Wave 4 Announced

At GenCon this years big Imperial Assault announcement from Fantasy Flight Games was details of the wave four expansions. Wave four will have another big expansion which will return us fanboys back to Hoth.

Above photo taken from The Dice Tower stream from GenCon iirc ^_^

My favourite GenCon coverage from the week has been from Team Covenent and their unboxing and looks at the Wave Two expansions for Imperial Assault and the next big expansion for Android:Netrunner Data and Destiny. The videos give a great look with initial thoughts on the expansions, the enthusiasm for the contents, and the games really does come across in the videos. It's infectious and makes the videos a delight to watch.

The other coverage I have enjoyed is the MeepleWorship Instagram feed. This has been a great personal view of the show. Some great photos from the show floor, including loads of selfies with industry figures, celebs from the bloggersphere and of purchases.

New Arrival To The Pile Of Shame

The Recon expansion for Arctic Scavengers arrived this morning. It comes in a pretty big box. But there is a reason for that. The box is designed to hold not just the Recon expansion but also the base game and the HQ expansion (the right half of the photo above shows this). Apart from adding 140 new cards for the game, it also comes with the rules for using the Recon expansion, plus an updated rule book for the base game and HQ expansion. Now to just get the game to the table! Which is easier said than done.