Monthly Archives: September 2017

Edmunds Delivery Service 

FEG@WL, Fenland Gamers, game night

Last night an assassin managed to stop Jonathan and Chris attending the weekly Friday evening meet up. Luckily Edmund and I have far superior ninja skills and managed to dodge the assassins attempts on us.

Our first game of the evening was a game I’ve been wanting to get to the table since I purchased it. That game is Broom Service. A game I’ve referred to as Kiki’s Delivery Service the boardgame! 

Seeing as this was our first play and we were learning from the rule book, we played the basic game.

This was despite my loss a nice game.

The pick up and deliver aspect with the correct coloured potions having to go to correct coloured castles. Added to the fact some of the castles once delivered to are blocked for the duration of the game, is fun.  The delivering and blocking a castle does add a kind of take that, foil your opponents plans element to the game.

I really liked the action selection process. Each player has ten cards to choose four from. Those four cards will be the possible actions you take that round. Each card has a brave action and a cowardly action. Then the starting player selects one of their four cards and plays it. When they play the card they select which of the two actions on the card they are going to do. If it was the cowardly one they donthe action immediately. If it was the brace action they may not get to do it. They have to wait and see. Now one player order the other players also have to play the same card if they selected it in their four cards. When they play the card they two have to decide which action to do. If it’s the brave action the previous player who selected brave gets to do nothing that turn. It’s only the last player to play that card and selected the brave action that gets to do it. All the others that played it and selected brace get to do nothing. So you have a push your luck element here. Plus this whole selecting cards trying to choose cards that have actions you want to do, but also having to work out which actions other players maybe selecting. Add in a dummie hand for lower player counts adds even more things to consider. Play an action that matches one of the dummie actions and you lose 3 points. And these change each round. Yeah I like this mechanic a lot.

I also like round cards that add some new condition/rule to that round. These can have positive and negative consequences. Plus these are a great way to track the seven rounds.

The art is a lovely cartoon like style. Lovely counters for the potions and witches. It’s an attractive game. 

Luckily for me Edmund didn’t lap me on the score track, that would be embarrassing. He only nearly doubled my score. 

Our final game saw us slowing the place down, going back to art school in Kanagawa. I’m not going to say much about this. I’ve spoken about it the past. It’s a beautiful looking game, with some lovely mechanics and decisions. Sadly I lost to Edmund again. 

A great evening gaming with a really great guy. 

Nissa, Genesis Mage Planeswalker deck pulls

magic, MtG

You’d think that with all the MtG posts recently that this blog has turned into a MtG blog! Plus MtG has become my “lifestyle” game of choice. 

You already know what I think of the Planeswalker preconstructed decks for value, and what the contents are. I covered those in the recent post about the Nicol Bolas Planeswalker deck. 

I haven’t answered why I buy them. With the Nissa, Genesis Mage Planeswalker deck I’ve bought four in total. So it’s not a thing I do a lot of. I’m a casual player. No argument about it. So I don’t have a massive card base to construct decks with. So things like preconstructed decks are ideal for me, buy and play. I can scratch that  Magic itch without investing in lots and lots of cards. 

Anyway the Nissa, Genesis Mage Planeswalker deck recently arrived. In the two Hour of Devastion boosters I pulled a foil, and that nasty looking scorcery. 

I also gave into temptation and cracked open an Amonkhet booster and pulled a Liliana, Death’s Majesty Planeswalker. Sweet!

Don’t forget your FLGS and the Open House events they are holding this weekend.

Magic Open House Tomorrow

magic, MtG

Are you a new or returning player to Magic the Gathering? Want to learn/try Magic?

Want free stuff? 
Well get yourself along to your FLGS or LGS in some cases, this weekend. Like my FLGS The Hobbit Hole in Chatteris, many are running the Magic Open House.
The Magic Open House is aimed at new and returning players (i.e. Used to play, but haven’t played it in a long time). Where they can go along to their FLGS, choose one of the free Welcome decks, learn how to play Magic, play a few games with their new deck, get a free promo card (which is I believe a full art walk the plank card from the new Ixalan set – there will be a lot of regular Magic players that will want this and will be green with envy).

Once my car has been M.O.T.’d tomorrow morning I’m hoping to get along to The Hobbit Hole, play a few games and then shoot back to play in our Magic league.

BGG Hotlist 14th September

Uncategorized

Decided to run my little python stats program to see just how many of the current BGG Hot List I own and had played.

I own 4 of the Hot List
I’ve played 11 of the Hot List
The games I own in the Hot List are ranked as follows:
1 Scythe
12 Mechs vs. Minions
13 Android: Netrunner
81 Robinson Crusoe: Adventures on the Cursed Island

I really must update the program to tell me which ones I have played as well. There is a major rewrite on the books anyway. Adding this little change won’t make a big difference.

Nicol Bolas Planeswalker Deck from Hour of Devastation 

magic, MtG

WotC when they release a new set of cards, usually release a couple of preconstructed decks for purchase along side the booster boxes, Fat Packs, Gift boxes etc. These preconstructed decks are themed around a Planeswalker and aimed at newer players.

What do we get for our hard won cash this time?

Well we get the following:

  • A 60 card deck
  • A foil Nicol Bolas, the deceiver Planeswalker card
  • 2 Hour of Devastation booster packs
  • A cardboard deck box
  • A strategy insert
  • A quick reference card

In the two boosters I pulled one foil and one full art basic land. Plus this rather nifty board wipe card. 


So the big question is, is this worth the money? Well this preconstructed deck costs £13.99 rrp but you are looking more towards a tenner if you shop around. The two boosters are £6 – £7 of value, for the sake of argument let’s say the account for roughly half the value of this. You do get a cool foil Planeswalker card. But does all the rest justify the rest of the cost? If you are a regular MtG player probably not. I can’t imagine the preconstructed deck has any high value cards in it. If it had the value of this pack would have shot up and it’d be near impossible to buy. For a new player or returning one as a jumping off point I think it’s worth getting. You get a ready to play deck that you should be able to play and have fun with. After a few games, you can buy some boosters and start customising the deck.

September ’17 Monthly Meet Up

Fenland Gamers, game night

It was the second Wednesday of the month last night which means it can only be one thing for Fenland Gamers, yep the monthly meet up.

Our first game of the evening after our little chatter about stuff was a recent arrival in Gavin’s collection that he got in a trade, but a long time favourite, Tiny Epic Galaxies (TEG).

It felt a little weird playing the game without the awesome playmat for the game. But then this was Gavin’s copy not mine. It’s funny really because I nearly threw this plus the expansion, and Tiny Epic Quest into my bag for the evening.

Four player TEG is probably the sweet spot for this game. Five players we found in the past was too many. But then again this was more of a “gamer” group playing this time, unlike the time we played with five, which was mainly casual gamers.

After losing a battle with Diego for a seven point planet, there was no stopping him and his push to victory. By the time it was his turn again, he was able to complete a second seven pointer and trigger the end game. That meant Jonathan and Gavin had one more go to bolster their points, and hopefully steal the victory from Diego. In reality the only one with a shot of doing that was Gavin. Jonathan was way to far behind to do that. Gavin gave it a good shot. He was able to orbit and colonise a five point planet on his and Jonathan’s turns. Pretty impressive. But sadly not good enough to stop Diego claiming the victory. The important thing here is that I was not last. That honour fell to Jonathan.

Our second and final game of the evening was Dice Town. This is a really nice game. I played it aggressively to start with. I was helped by some great early rolls. So by aggressive I mean paying to keep more than the one dice, thus cutting down on the chances others had on building good poker hands, or getting useful dice. I think on the second round I rolled a full house. Four dollars thrown in. The others get one more roll and have to live with it. It was fun to play like this, but back fired when I had no cash, and was denied for several rounds from getting any. Which limits this more aggressive approach big time.

I had an early advantage for sure. But that soon eroded away, and unnoticed by the others Diego seemed to be amassing a lot of cards and possibly victory points. By the end we were all positive that Diego had won. The biggest shock really was that it was by a smaller margin than we thought it would be. The important thing for Jonathan was that I was last.

Dice Town is really nice, it’s just a shame that the expansions for it are so hard to get hold of.

This was once more another great evening of gaming with some great folks.

Star Realms App Update Available 

news, star realms

New major update of the Star Realms app is out. Look at what they have added.

I’m really chuffed about the friends list. More cards is also good. Plus I can challenge a friend to a real time game also. I’m not really a campaign player. All of my play is against friends. 

£3.99 to get the new cards. Which sounds expensive but that includes unlocking the cards across all platforms. That’s the nice thing about the Star Realms app. No matter which platform I play the game on once I buy an expansion I have it available across everything.

Some much needed additions. A must update to download. I think a must buy expansion but your mileage may vary on that.

Cracking open the Hour of Devastation “fat pack”

magic, MtG

Ok unlike the prerelease packs I have had a couple of “fat packs” before. I think they have been rebranded as a bundle now! But still I really like buying MtG boosters this way. 

So what comes in these “fat packs”? Here is a photo of the back of the box telling you exactly what you get for your money.

Like most Magic players I’m a big fan of the full art basic lands. They are gorgeous. These “fat packs” are a great way to get a load of them for the current set. In this sets “fat pack” WotC promise on the box that you get at least 25 in this bundle. I counted 26 in mine.

I like the double sided tokens. Which effectively doubles the amount in the box to use. 

So what did I pull in my 10 booster packs?

  • 4 full art lands
  • 4 foils
  • 1 Legendary creature

I was also really happy getting Mirage Mirror and Overwhelming Splendor. Both great cards I’d love to play in a deck.

I’m a fan of the card boxes. The cardboard is nice thick sturdy card that has stunning art.

How does the “fat pack” workout value wise? Well depending on the cost of a single booster being £3 to £3.50. Then the 10 boosters alone are between £30 to £35. The spindown die is approximately £2. It then depends on the value you attach to the 80 land cards (I got 26 full art ones), 25 double sided tokens, and card box. The players guide is nice but would you pay for it separately? I’m not sure you would. I would argue that paying £30 for this you are getting great value for your money. Especially if you are a noob or casual player (like me). If you were planning on buying 10 boosters then you would be silly not to buy this bundle. My local FLGS sells 3 boosters for a tenner if I remember correctly. Which makes this bundle even better value as you are getting an extra booster pack for the same money, plus all the other stuff.

My second prerelease pack ever, without going to one!

magic, MtG

Within days of my first post about opening my first ever prerelease pack we are looking at my second one. This time it’s the Amonkhet prerelease pack.

This prerelease comes with the standard components.

  • Leaflet on how to build a deck from the packs in this prerelease pack.
  • A life spin down die
  • A promo card
  • A card of challenges tied in with the prerelease event.
  • 6 Amonkhet booster packs

So what were my pulls from the 6 Amonkhet boosters?

  • 1 Legendary Creature – God Rhonas the Indomitable 
  • 2 Foils (one creature, one land)

Whether any of the other cards are any good or worth mentioning who knows? There are some I’d love in my league deck. But sadly they can never be. 

So I think these 6 boosters edged it over the Hour of Devastation prerelease pack ones. Mainly because of the Legendary creature. Each legendary creature for me is another potential commander for any commander deck I get round to building. 

Here’s the promo I got.

I’d love to know if anyone has ever played this and won. It’s not a cheap card to play. 

So that’s it for my prerelease packs for the time being. Maybe I’ll track some more down to crack open next month.