Protect the VIP

Halo Flashpoint

Yesterday Colin and I managed to get Halo Flashpoint to the table.

I had decided before that I would use the Rise of the Banished for my team. Friday had seen me open up the box for Rise of the Banished for the first time. I punched cardboard, assembled terrain, and started getting everything ready to take with me the next day. That’s when I discovered my War Games rules booklet was missing.

After a good look for it, it never showed up. I went to bed with that nagging in my head. The one where if I didn’t find it would see me ordering another copy of the expansion just to get it.

This was the second time this week to hit me. The previous occasion was for the Battletech Campaign rulebook. I just couldn’t find it. Plans were in place to buy another copy once funds next week allowed.

However I had a bit of good fortune on that front. While looking for the missing rules booklet I found the Battletech book plus Formaggio that I’d got from Charlene (that was inside the lid of a Halo box on the top of a shelf!).

The missing booklet really ate away at me and affected my sleep that night. More than once in the night I woke up thinking about where the booklet could be.

Yesterday morning I bought the pdf of the booklet. However that didn’t stop that mind itch that was slowly driving me made. I was most definitely going to be buying the expansion again.

The scenario we played was VIP from the Rise of the Banished included rulebook. Basically one of your team is the VIP you have to protect from the other team. Over eight rounds you only score points by eliminating the VIP, other deaths count for nothing. First to four points, or highest score at the end of the eighth round wins.

The map board and terrain were from the Rise of the Banished.

My team was basically three models I thought looked cool (the rule of cool that I used in our previous game). I treated the Atriox figure like the Master Chief one, counting for two figures. Which according to its card is the right thing to do when drafting.

Colin used a team of Spartans from his Recon/Spartan edition of the core game.

First blood was drawn by Colin when he took out my sniper in the first round. Leaving me with two brawlers. Luckily one had a single use grenade that I did use. Was that too early?

Round two saw me get some hits on his VIP, which paid off in round three with me scoring the first point of the game.

By the time we got to round seven Colin’s VIP had taken a lot of damage. It was an all or nothing moment. If I took out his VIP I’d win, a second point would mean Colin couldn’t draw or win. There wouldn’t be enough time with one round left.

In the end the pressure of sustained attacks on his VIP was too much and I was able to get in a killing blow to get the winning point.

Next time Colin and I are going to each build a 200 point team.

Some thoughts on Halo Flashpoint

So I have some thoughts on Halo Flashpoint on where it is and where I think it should be going.

Big box expansions: what isn’t clear from both of the two big box expansions is that you need a copy of either the Recon or Spartan edition of the game to use them. There needs to be clear labelling on the box. Otherwise I can see some disappointed kids getting the box and basically not being able to play the game. Mind you ideally I think these should also be standalone and contain everything to play the game. Especially the ODST expansion.

Team building: In the Recon/Spartan editions the only team building was restricted to drafting. Which was understandable. With the introduction of the War Games expansion points based team building was introduced. Making Halo Flashpoint more inline with other similar systems/games team building. I would like to see a unified, single points list as a pdf that isn’t the Mantic app. The nearest we have to this is the balancing update. But that doesn’t have the newest ODST on it. We’ll have to wait for the next update for their inclusion.

New ways to play: Rise of the Banished introduced a new way to play the game with Big Teams. A great addition to the game that I’m eager to try. I’ll write more on this once I’ve played a game.

Plastic terrain: I liked the UNSC scenery set. However the Banished scenery set was a bit underwhelming, lacking any of the bigger items present in the UNSC set. It felt over priced.

At the moment the only plastic terrain you can get is the Deluxe Buildable 3D Terrain set, and the Outpost 3D Terrain. Which mostly replaces the cardboard in the Recon/Spartan editions. I really would like to see this side catchup with the big boxes. It needs to.

Scenarios: I think Halo Flashpoint is crying out for a dedicated scenario booklet/book along the lines of those printed for Zombicide or Memoir ‘44 to name a couple that come to mind. I’d love to see the scenarios from all the expansions collected into one place also (not the Mantic app) in physical form. Sell me a pdf I can get printed. The convenience of not having to flick through different rule booklets to pick one to play would be worth it.

While I’m on this physical moan. I love that the OP scenarios are available in the Mantic app. But let me have them as a pdf please? I want a physical copy to use while setting up. It’s so much easier and convenient than having a phone out. Having that sheet on the table to refer to while playing for additional rules is not only handy but priceless.

I’d also like to see a campaign for Halo Flashpoint. If Battletech can do it with Battletech Alphastrike Aces, then why not Halo Flashpoint?

OP Kits: well done to Mantic on making these available to the public. I think this has helped grow the community. More companies should be doing this.

I think Mantic have done a great job with Halo Flashpoint in the first year. They have got a reasonable amount of content out to enable players to build a variety of teams, play on a varied board setup. And generally supported the game really well.

However 2026 has Mantic focused elsewhere with currently no new stuff announced for Halo Flashpoint. For the game to continue growing and players interested there needs to be regular new content. Even if it’s just one big expansion and two or three smaller ones spread out through the year. But a road map would be handy to. I’d also like to see the OP kits as part of the roadmap with new prize support.

Anyway I’m off to build my team.

The Waiting Game

#littlemonsters, life, the universe, and everything, still alive

Life throws curve balls that can’t be avoided.

One such curve ball was thrown recently due to world events.

I’m not going to complain about it because I support the reasons for the delay. My first world inconvenience is really minor and insignificant compared to the cause of it. If it’s not obvious I’m very pro Palestine and if the interruption and delay of shipping helps bring an end to the genocide then it’s a price I’m happy to pay.

Anyway it’s a waiting game for the arrival of the Stonemaier shipment containing the new Bordeaux expansion for Viticulture and the Americas expansion for Wingspan.

The estimated arrival is mid February, with orders in the post and dropping through letter boxes soon after.

I also have a preorder due to ship anytime soon. That preorder is the two expansions that make up the Ashes cycle in Netrunner. This is a reprinting of an “older” NSG cycle. It gives me all the cards that currently make up the standard format.

I’d love to play the eternal format. But that’d require purchasing a second hand collection of the FFG stuff. Which I may look into at some point.

Another item I’m waiting for is the Mayday card sleeves I use to sleeve Wingspan to come back into stock. I can’t even preorder them. It won’t be a small order once they are available. I’m estimating about 700 sleeves to not just sleeve the new expansion but also Asia and the fan packs.

But there has been a positive to the delay, it’s given me a chance to get all the bits together ready for the arrival. Or in the case of Wingspan get the nesting box and put everything inside it.

I’m looking forward to the new arrivals and having the excuse to get the games to the table once more.

January 2026 Gaming Roundup Part 2

Gaming roundup

Imaginarium: an engine builder at heart. The theme is light at best. But the production was good, the player pieces large plastic busts of your character.

Ashes: I introduced Gavin to the game. I selected two of the thirty available phoenixborn decks, Dimona Odinstar (me) vs Lulu Firststone (Gavin). I couldn’t find a suggested first five so we had to blindly guess. Gavin eventually won a back and forth between our battlefields. I was getting through my deck faster than Gavin as I dived for cards. Gavin isn’t a big fan of this type of game but he did say he’d play again. So a kind of win.

Forest Shuffle Dartmoor: I think I won my first game of this after falling into a bats and dragonfly strategy.

Age of Galaxy: I think describing this game as 4x game might be over selling it. There is barely any conflict. Ok none. However it is a very enjoyable game. I like that you start with seven faction cards, and that’s it for the whole game. You then have the hard choice of how you’re going to use them during the five rounds.

Mistborn: finally got this deckbuilder to the table. I liked it. I liked how as the rounds progress the more you can do on a turn. The target mechanic in the three player game worked well. Ben tried to eliminate me first. However my purchases were wise, giving me health or movement on the mission tracks. So while thwarting Bens plan with healing of my character I advanced on the mission tracks, completing all three to win the game.

Rebel Princess: fun, ‘nuff said.

Formidable Farm: a collect resources to complete contracts race game. Complete your pile of contracts before the others to win. Light, a bit of luck (a lot actually) but still enjoyable game.

War: I introduced Gavin to this literary unknown game. I wish it had a wider audience to appreciate how great this game is.

New Arrivals

  • Wingspan Nesting Box
  • Root The Riverfolk Expansion
  • Root Underworld Hirelings Pack
  • Root Upgrade kit
  • Root Marauder Hirelings Pack and Hireling Box
  • Root Landmarks Pack
  • Root The Marauder Expansion
  • Root The Vagabond Pack
  • The Lord of the Rings The Two Towers Trick Taking Game plus Horses and Haradrim promo pack

Multiplayer Ashes

Ashes, LCG

I’ve been thinking a lot recently about how to play Ashes with more than two players.

Multiplayer formats for games like MtG with Commander, with not only its deck construction and MtG game play. But the added political layer that gets added with more than two players just takes the game to a new level. A level where having the strongest deck does not guarantee that you are going to win. I just love Commander. As do a lot of MtG players, it is the most popular format for the game.

Even Star Wars Unlimited launched the game with not just its regular two player format, but also a multiplayer format called Twin Suns. That’s how popular multiplayer formats are in these tcg/lcg games.

Multiplayer formats are just easier to get to the table and play with your friends. They are more social.

So why wouldn’t I want this in Ashes as well?

There are official rules for playing at the higher player count of three to four players. Which are as follows:

3-4 Player Rules

“The rules are identical except that whenever player order
matters, start with the Active Player and proceed clockwise. Also, whenever you need to pass something “to your opponent,” pass it clockwise. The Active Player is the player whose turn it is or, if it is not during the player turns phase, the player with the first player token.

When a Phoenixborn is destroyed, its controlling player discards all cards on their battlefield or spellboard. That player and their play area are no longer in the game. If any cards they own are in another player’s play area, those cards stay in play. The game ends when only one player has a Phoenixborn in play. They have won the game!” Page 13, Ashes Rulebook 1.5

However this is a free for all. Which we will come back to later in the post with an interesting variant to these rules. Obviously these are the simplest rules to use, a last person standing with player elimination.

However I think one or two games out there have takes on taking a two player game into a multiplayer game that I think might be worth considering.

I will stress that I haven’t tried these yet in Ashes. So what you have are my thoughts on these and the changes I’ll be making.

The Mistborn take…

Recently I bought the deckbuilder Mistborn which had the following multiplayer mechanic for allocating damage on a turn.

“ In 3-4 player games, there is an added mechanic called the “Target.” The last player from the first player (counting clockwise) starts with the Target. At the end of your turn, after attacking any allies (you may target anyone’s allies during this phase), you must direct your damage points at whoever holds the Target. After a player with the Target takes any amount of damage to their health total from another player, they may pass the Target to another player. Target passing only happens after all damage has already been used for that turn.” Page 15, Mistborn rulebook

This has a kind of King of Tokyo feel with a player occupying Tokyo and taking any damage from the other players with the option to move out after taking any damage.

To do this in Ashes all you need is something to act as the target that can be passed around. A poker chip would be ideal for this. But anything will do.

Vampire the Masquerade Rivals take…

I like the Vampire the Masquerade Rivals take on multiplayer.

Let’s look at what the Rivals rulebook says. I’ve put in bold the bits I think are relevant to what we will be using to replicate the mechanic in Ashes.

“The game ends when any player is knocked out or any player reaches
13 Agenda points. There are 3 ways to win:
. You win if you are the first player to reach 13 Agenda points.
. You win if you you knock out your Rival.
. Have the most Agenda points when a foe gets knocked out that
doesn’t fulfill an above win condition (i.e., Special Affairs Division
or another player knocks out your Rival, etc.).


To knock out a foe, you must do one of the following:
. Cause their Prestige to drop to 0.
. Defeat the last active vampire in their coterie (vampires in torpor
are not active).

If you knock out a foe other than your Rival (or they are knocked
out by effects not controlled by any player), the player holding their Rival token gains 3 Agenda points. A player who is knocked out has their agenda permanently set to 0. Then compare agenda scores. The player with the most agenda wins! See tiebreakers and ‘Rare End of
Game Circumstances’ on page XX if you encounter a situation not
covered above.” Page 3, Vampire the Masquerade Rivals rulebook

This is how Rivals decides which players have which rival.

“Randomly determine who goes first and give them the ‘1st Player’ token. Each player has a number based on where they are sitting. The player with the ‘1st Player Token” is Player 1. The player to their left is Player 2, etc. In a 2_player game, your only foe is your Rival. In a 3p game, grab Rival tokens 1_3. In a 4p game, use tokens 1_4. Place the tokens face down in the middle of the table and mix them up. Starting with player 1 and continuing clockwise, each player in turn grabs a token and flips it over. If you grab a token with your player number on it, grab a new one and then throw yours back in face down and mix them up again. When there are 2 players yet to grab a token, if either of their numbers have not been
revealed by the earlier players, flip the remaining tokens over and each player who doesn’t have a token grabs one that isn’t their own. This prevents these players from being left with their own token. Compare your token to the turn order (clockwise from player 1). The player whose number is on your token is your Rival for the game. So if you grab token #2, your Rival is player 2—the player one seat clockwise from player 1.” Page 4, Vampire the Masquerade Rivals rulebook

To start with we will need four tokens numbered 1 to 4. There needs to be no change to how the Rivals rules describes to select your rival.

The win conditions are you win if you knock out your rival.

Or if you knock out someone else’s rival, it’s the player with the most phoenixborn health left, with the player holding the rival token of the player just knocked out getting 3 health back (up to the phoenixborns max health).

The Star Realms/Epic take…

I love Star Realms. It’s probably my most played deck builder. Especially if I include app plays (over 12k games played).

“Hunter (3-6 Players)

Randomly determine which player is going first. That player gets a three-card starting hand. Play proceeds clockwise around the table. The player going second gets a four-card starting hand. All other players get a five-card starting hand.

Players may only attack/target the player to their left and/or the Bases belonging to players on their left and right. If a player is eliminated, put all of their cards into the Scrap Heap. The last player remaining wins the game!

All we take from these rules is you can only attack/select the player to your left.

Hunter First Blood (3-6 Players)

The same rules as Hunter, but when the first player is defeated, the game immediately ends and the player to their right wins!” Page 6, Star Realms rules

“Jackpot Gumbo
Suggested by Anthony Harris
“This variant is for all the people who love the tactical combat of multiplayer in ‘Star Realms’, but don’t want to have to wait for final elimination like in monopoly. It also creates more tension and strategy for all players involved.
Basically, instead of playing until only one is left, the game is over when the first players’ authority reaches zero. At that point, the person with the highest authority is the winner.
This way, everyone is in the game until the end, and they all have to be mindful of every decision they make. Instead of just racing to elimination. sometimes players may even have to consider teaming up to ‘pull’ another player back, or even helping a player who is weak and close to getting eliminated.” https://www.starrealms.com/multiplayer-rules-jackpot-gumbo/

This variant kind of takes the free for all format and removes the player elimination element. If I was going for a free for all game this is the version I’d play. Players aren’t left sitting around watching from the side line.

“Hunter – Last One Standing
Same as Hunter – First Blood, except when a player is eliminated, the person to their right doesn’t win. Instead, that person gains 5 health and draws a card.” https://www.epiccardgame.com/formats-multiplayer/

Might be worth trying.

There are some team formats (especially in Star Realms/Epic) but I’m not sure how the shared life side would work. More thought and play testing is required.

But I’m hoping to try some of the above ideas real soon.

Ranting about exclusive promos

life, the universe, and everything, still alive

It’s been a quiet week so far. Nothing much happening at all.

There is stuff in transit. Which I’m obviously waiting to arrive.

Stonemaier Games launched the latest Wingspan expansion Americas, covering the birds of the Americas such as Peru, Brazil, etc. Obviously I’ll be asking Diogo which of the birds he has seen. Along side this a new board for Viticulture was released. There was also a restock of the fan created packs. And yes I did order the new stuff.

The arrival of the new Wingspan expansion was the final nudge I needed to order the nesting box. For those curious what the nesting box is, it’s basically a big box to store Wingspan and all the expansions in. The only drawback is that the nesting box makes taking the game to a game night a bit more inconvenient. However with more and more large boxes joining the collection this is not really an issue these days.

While caught up in all the excitement of the new releases I realised it must be a good couple of years since I played Wingspan. Most likely when the Asia expansion came out.

However in that period we had two new additions to the Wingspan family in the form of Wyrmspan and Finspan. Both of which have seen table time. So in a way indirectly I have played Wingspan.

I do have a copy of the new Lord of the Rings The Two Towers trick taking game plus the Horses and Haradrim promo chapter pack. I think it’s great that the promo pack is free if you purchase from a lgs. I get that the publisher wants to support the brick and mortar stores. However is this really true? I’ve seen reports that stores are getting very limited supplies of the promo pack. Not nearly enough to go with all purchases of the game. And some stores not getting the promo pack at all.

I hate this sort of promotion. Not everyone has a lgs near them, and their only way to get the game is online. So why punish them? Why not have a period of exclusivity for the promo pack for the stores (making sure they have enough copies in the first place), and then make it available for purchase from the publishers website or the bgg website?

At the moment this extra content, it’s not cosmetic, is just putting money in the pocket of scalpers on eBay. I’m pretty sure a lot of the copies for sale on eBay are from retailers. Although I have no evidence to back this up. But they are the only ones that’d have multiple copies to sell.

How did I get my copy? Well Nathan was going into Basingstoke so I asked him to pop into the flgs there and see if they had it with the promo. They did so a quick bank transfer and I’m the proud owner of the game with the promo.

I think that’s enough for now. Hopefully something interesting in my life will have happened by the next post.

All night long (nearly)

life, the universe, and everything, Lord of the Rings, LoTR, still alive

Well it happened.

The 25th anniversary back to back screening of the Lord of the Rings extended editions took place at my local cinema last night.

I got to the cinema about an hour early to have a coffee and catch up with staff.

There were about 33 like minded souls joining me for this ultimate Tolkien endurance fan experience.

Once Gavin arrived I handed over my old copy of Parks first edition, plus expansions and play mat. I was happy to have found a good home for it.

Then it was to my luxury double seat at the back of the cinema to get settled in and ready for the night ahead.

After a brief introduction by the cinema owner we were straight into the night’s entertainment.

Each part of the trilogy was preceded by a “short” introduction by Peter Jackson himself. Which was a nice little extra to make this night feel a little bit more special.

Sting (3D printed by my friend Duncan)
My nest for the night
Our reward for making it through to the end
Back of the can

So how did I do sleep wise? Did I stay awake for the whole thing?

The short answer is no.

During the Fellowship of the Ring I drifted off once. For the Two Towers that went up to twice. Then finally for the Return of the King I drifted off two three times in the first hour.

I definitely think during the last film I snored a couple of times.

However I was not the only one that had to rest their eyes during the night.

Was there the odd leaky eye during the “you bow to no one” and Frodo leaving Middle Earth? Yes for more than one of us that may have happened.

To help the hard working staff everyone took their own rubbish out.

As we left we were handed a reward for our remarkable act of endurance, a rebranded can of Taters.

It really was an epic night. I’m glad I did it. I had a great time.

January 2026 Gaming Roundup Part 1

Gaming roundup

Bombbusters: I’m not a big co-op player. I have one or two in the collection but they don’t get to the table that often. There is some very limited information, lots of deduction, and a “campaign”. I like the “tutorial” levels at the start that teach the basics and introduce new mechanics gradually, whilst upping the difficulty. It was basically these that we played through. This was a surprisingly pleasant experience.

Root: Well I definitely enjoyed this two play of the game. I’m looking forward to getting deeper into the game.

Medici: a very nice Reiner Knizia auction game. It’s fairly quick to play even at five players. I like you are bidding with your points. So you have to balance the amount of points you are spending and the amount of points you will gain. Plus this thinking feeds into your bidding if you want to push up a bid for another player. A nice game.

Seasons: I’ve been wanting to get this back to the table for a very long time. We played the base game only, with the suggested starter decks. It’s nice, can’t wait to play again with the expansions.

Furnace: we all know this is a new favourite, dare I say classic. Any excuse will do to get this to the table.

Fields of Green: a welcomed return to the table. The only draw back is it’s a table hog as you build up your farm.

Havalandi: a game that shares some of its dna with Rebirth. Both by Reiner Knizia, with Havalandi being the earlier game. I like the ballooning theme, the rolling dice to move controlling where you can place your balloons can be a little frustrating. It’s a very enjoyable game but I think I prefer Rebirth out of the two.

Machi Koro 2: My worst game ever. I never even got close to purchasing a landmark. Dice rolls and losing money to the others made sure I never got close. Very frustrating.

Rebel Princess: Do I need to say anything about this? We had a blast and introduced a new player to the game.

New Arrivals

  • Mistborn
  • Fields of Green: Grand Fair expansion

War comes to the forest

Root

My only previous play of Root was way back in May 2019. It wasn’t a great experience. Looking back at my blog post I think it’s fair to say I was left indifferent to the game.

Fast forward to the tail end of 2025 and a copy of the game plus the underground expansion went up for sale on a board game facebook group. The price including postage was a bargain. A deal was struck and I became the owner of the game. Now the usual problem, getting it to the table.

This finally happened last Saturday.

Originally it was going to be a three player game. However life meant a player had to drop out last minute. Which left just Jeff and myself.

Jeff played Marquis De Cat, while I played Eyrie Dynasties. The recommended pairing for a two player game.

I managed to as Jeff described it snatch defeat from victory.

All I needed was one more turn to hit 30 victory points.

My failure that gave Jeff victory was not paying attention on the clearing symbols. I attacked the wrong clearing, focusing on a dash to the top left corner clearing. Failing to notice the win condition on Jeff’s dominance card. Which he had met for the start of his next turn.

We really enjoyed our game.

But regular readers will know me by now. If I like something I usually go all in. It’s a big character flaw of mine.

A visit to the publisher Leder games website saw a few expansions enter the virtual shopping basket.

Apart from the neoprene maps, two bot expansions, and the 3d tokens (soon to be replaced) I got everything.

Obviously the bot expansions will come at some point. But before they do I’ll get the latest kickstarter stuff when it hits the stores.

Now I just need a regular crowd to play this with. Which seems my main issue at the moment with one or two games.

LoTR Extended Trilogy on the big screen

life, the universe, and everything, Lord of the Rings, LoTR, still alive

Twenty five years!

How the time has flown and so much has changed. I’m sure I’ll reflect more on this after the event.

But to get a chance to see the LoTR trilogy movies on the big screen in their extended cut, who can pass up that opportunity?

I don’t think they have been released on the big screen before.

So I’m pretty excited about this.

The last time I did anything like this was back in 1977 after the death of Elvis.

I was (and still am) a big Elvis fan. Back then when the news of Elvis’ death broke it really hit me hard. It was probably the first time one of my heroes had died.

The celebrate the life of Elvis and to remember him our local cinema at the time The Unit One, held an all night run of Elvis movies.

My “little” nan (I was so imaginative as a kid in my naming of my grandparents, yes my nan was “big” nan, and I used the same naming convention for my grandads) took me to the all night showing.

I can’t remember which movies were shown, and I did fall asleep at one point. But I think this was the nicest thing my “little” Nan ever did for me.

Obviously I’ve done a couple of all nighters for other things. But they were not movie related.

I’m so excited about next weekend now.

LiveFromPeru Part 9

#littlemonsters, #livefromperu

We woke up Monday morning to a thin layer of snow.

I really would have loved a thicker covering of snow. At best we had one and a half centimetres. Not deep at all. It’s been at least fifteen years since our part of the fens has had anything worth describing as snow. Which firmly puts it into the twilight years of the wolf pack.

As far as I know this is the first time Diogo has experienced snow.

Diogo’s first experience of the snow was in our back yard. At first he found it a bit odd. But the fresh snow fall passed the lick test.

Moon still in the sky

It was funny throughout the day when out in the backyard that not only would he lick the snow but he got snow on his face.

I think it’s fair to say he enjoyed his first experience of snow.