Monthly Archives: December 2019

Last bit of gaming for 2019

Game day

Yesterday Jonathan and I met up for some gaming.

It was the perfect opportunity for Jonathan to get a couple of his Christmas haul games to the table.

I’m going to keep this post short. And just give overall impressions of the game without going into much detail.

First up was Karuba. A new game to me, this tile laying, route building is definitely on the light side. It’s also a quick two player game (although it plays more). This is definitely a good intro game for new gamers.

However despite enjoying the game (I won) afterwards I kind of had that empty, was that it? feeling. It’s not really a game for experienced gamers.

Our second game The Quacks of Quedlinburg was a learning game. This is a bag building, push your luck game.

There are some nice touches to the game mechanics that add to the pressure to push your luck in each of the nine rounds, and a nice catch up mechanism also.

Despite losing, I enjoyed the game. It’s a good game.

Our final game of the afternoon was the return of a great trick taking game, that hadn’t been to the table for something like three years, Haggis.

After Jonathan was lulled into a false sense of security by racing into a commanding lead. Like the team I have supported since the age of seven, Liverpool I didn’t give up and clawed my way back into the game, and grab the win.

This was a great afternoon of gaming to finish the year off with. I got to try two games I’d wanted to try, and get a favourite back to the table. All whilst also getting to have banter with another friend.

Games Played: Karuba, The Quacks of Quedlinburg, Haggis

Initial Impressions on Your Best Game Ever

D&D, RPG

During this Christmas break I stumbled across a new book about playing RPGs by Monte Cook Games called Your Best Game Ever.

There are one or two books out there about being a GM and running a RPG. Some are system specific, others more generic. This book falls into the later.

Your Best Game Ever is written by Monte Cook, with contributions by various people from the RPG world. These contributions appear as side boxes through out the chapters with sage advice from the likes of Matt Mercer or Matthew Colville. Which are the only two names I recognised. The others I’d never heard of.

The book is aimed at both players and GM’s and offers great advice for both sides of the GM screen.

Your Best Game Ever starts off with a couple of chapters talking about what an RPG is. These two chapters describe what an RPG is, general terminology, why you would want to play one, how to find a group, etc. You get the idea. These are the chapters selling the idea to the reader and any one curious about RPGs.

This first section is then followed by five chapters aimed at Being A Great Player. So they are spent talking about how to create a character, role playing that character, and developing the character.

Naturally after the player advice it’s time to focus on Being A Great GM. This was the section most of interest to me. With advice about creating worlds and adventures, and running a session. Even though generic is still very relevant.

The final main section of the book is all about Getting the Most Out of RPGs. This is looking at running a group, organising the session, what do with player absences and other things that might crop up. Followed with some advice on hosting the session, playing online and dealing with issues.

Almost as an appendix is a final chapter with some snack recipes for whoever is hosting the session to use. A person’s mileage out of this chapter may vary depending on gaming group, culinary skills and how fancy you make your sessions.

There is some great advice in this book. I find the style of writing very accessible. One of the recurring themes throughout the book is that an RPG is a collaboration between players and GM. Whether this is in telling the story itself at the table or dealing with any issues.

I like the advice from the guest contributors. The majority are written. But there are some guest arts as well contributing art or comic strips.

Overall this is a well written, accessible book on playing RPGs that will appeal to both players and GMs, whether new or experienced, irrespective of the system you are playing or intend to play.

Game of the Decade

Uncategorized

My final bandwagon post. It’s time to look at my game of the decade.

Honourable mentions:

Twilight Imperium 4 – an updated classic. The game that basically built FFG got updated, stream lined a little and included some stuff from the expansions. It’s a long game to play, but the time just flies by. You are constantly engaged, making alliances, breaking them. A great game to play.

Star Realms – such an amazing deck builder. The base game is cheap, replayable and portable. There are numerous expansions out for it now, that add more of the same and new mechanics (depending on the expansion). These are also cheap, and just shuffle in to the deck. It’s a fun, quick (around 30 minutes) game for two players. But can play more as well.

EDH/Commander – ok I know this is technically MtG but it’s the format for me that makes it here. Easily WotC most popular format, and in the last few years it has really taken off. A casual format that is multiplayer, has that whole social political element to it. My favourite way to play MtG.

D&D 5th Edition – another updated classic. WotC really did knock it out of the park with this update. They made it accessible, and free to play with free digital downloads of the basic core rules. Which was a fantastic decision. Plus the update and any planned rule changes get shared with the community for play testing and feedback. This involving the community is probably the best decision WotC made, building that brand loyalty. Tie in the meteoric rise in popularity online of D&D and other RPGs it was like the perfect storm.

Love Letter – 16 frickin cards! 16! That’s all it takes to create such a fun game. This game created the micro game movement. It’s fun, quick. My personal favourite version is the Batman themed one. I love the slight tweak to the rules, that when you guess another players card you get a point.

And my game of the decade is…

My favourite game of all time. Could it be any other game?

Variable player powers, action selection, resource management, area control. Scythe has it all. Great replay ability. Expansions that add to that, introduce new mechanics. Then add in the Rise of Fenris expansion you get a campaign, which can be replayed or used as modules to add in during a regular game.

The production quality is the usual Stonemaier high quality. There are some official component upgrades that really pimp out the game. Plus there are also third party component upgrades.

The art by Jakub Rozalski that inspired the game is just stunning. And really helps bring this alternative history to life.

The game definitely has table presence. The commanders and mechs look awesome on the game board. Throw on the airships from the wind gambit expansion that goes to another level.

For me this game has just the perfect mix of gameplay and mechanics that I enjoy a lot.

GOTY 2019

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Welcome to my GOTY post for 2019.

The candidates for this were taken from the 35 new games I played in 2019.

These games were either brand new in 2019 or older games that were new to me.

Honourable mentions:

Tapestry – another stunning looking game from Stonemaier games that delivers a civilisation like game experience in about 2 hours. It’s turning out to be a bit of a marmite game. You either love it or hate it. I love it.

Hanamikoji – this is an amazing two player area control card game that plays so quickly. If you play a lot of two player games then this needs to be in your collection.

Via Nebula – pick up and deliver with route building. Definitely worth tracking down a copy.

Penny Lane – a fun light weight worker placement, engine building game from the designer of Mint Works.

My game of 2019 is…

I think it’s an amazing achievement for a game that came out at the start of the year to hold that spot all year. Along the way it has had numerous reprintings that keep selling out. Picked up many awards such as the prestigious Kennerspiel des Jahres. Been covered in mainstream press. To cap the year of success an expansion was released that too has been well received.

Designed by Elizabeth Hargrave and art by Natalia Rojas, Ana Maria Martinez Jaramillo, and Beth Sobel. This engine building game just knocks it out of the park.

As usual for Stonemaier the production values of the game are very high. The art for the birds is sublime and would not look out of place in one of the old Observer pocket guides. It’s that good.

The game has great table theatre, the bird feeder dice tower, the eggs, along with the stunning art just looks fantastic on the table, and attracts people to the table to see what you are playing.

Theme just shines through out the game, and makes a pleasant change from the usual almost tired themes of fantasy, sci-fi, and zombies that flood the market place.

A third party industry has sprouted up around the game allowing fans to pimp out their copies. That’s always a good sign for how popular a game is.

Such a worthy winner and totally deserves the success it has achieved.

2019 Gaming Stats Summary

by the numbers, stats

It’s Boxing Day and I hope you all had a great Christmas.

I think everyone and their dog who creates content for the internet are producing their end of year lists and GOTY stuff. Plus they are “spoiling” whoever consumes their content with their moment, list or game of the decade as we move out of one decade into the start of a new one.

I’ve not done a game stats post in a long time, but I’m not one to miss a band wagon. So I thought I’d do some posts sharing my stats for the year, my GOTY and my game of the decade.

Naturally I’ll start with the stats for 2019.

These stats come straight from the big stats app where I have been recording my physical game plays since December 2015. I don’t record any digital games I play like Star Realms, Jaipur and Lost Cities (although I do play these in real life from time to time and those do get recorded).

I’ve blanked out the time and days stats because I never record the duration from when I play the game. So those figures where very very inaccurate and not relevant.

I’ll start off by correcting the new games figure, this should be 35 not 38. The list of new games that I played in 2019 includes games that I had played but not recorded in the app previously. Which is a poor way of saying I played them before December 2015 when I started recording game plays.

My top 10 played games of 2019 are:

That concludes the stats for this band wagon post. Next post my game of the year.

Christmas Eve Gaming

Game day

An opportunity to meet up with my friend Nathan and play a game or two with him was too good to turn down. Especially considering I had a couple of new arrivals I was eager to get to the table.

Jonathan had been invited as well. But considering the day he was a bit snowed under with chores to get ready for the big day. So it was a rather pleasant surprise when he turned up with his daughter and his copy of Bohemian Villages.

We started off playing and learning Las Vegas. Which despite being an “old” game, was new to me and my collection.

Our second game was my other new arrival Skull. Which was also a new to me game.

Both games had been bought as games that could be played at a club night. Games that would support 5 or 6 players, quick and easy to teach, and also roughly about 30 minutes to play. They ticked all the boxes.

We all had fun playing them. With Las Vegas edging it as the favourite of the two. But I’ll write more about these two games after more plays.

Our finally game of the afternoon was last played at the UKGE a couple years back. Jonathan’s daughter still hasn’t managed to defeat me at the game. I was a very gracious and humble winner, and celebrated my victory the only way one could in such a grudge match with a celebratory “in your face little girl”. Yes I was that mature.

A great afternoon of gaming with some great friends. What more couple you ask for?

Games played: Las Vegas, Skull, Bohemian Villages

Skeleton Minotaur

D&D, RPG

Yesterday a skeleton minotaur dropped through the door.

I just had to paint it!

I know right? Who is this person?

But I do enjoy painting skeletons!

Maybe it’s because they are so quick and easy to paint. Maybe it’s because the bones come out looking so awesome.

Sadly for you I was sharing on social media my progress throughout the day.

Naturally the first thing to do was prime the miniature.

Doing the base coat and shading followed after the base coat was dry. But I had been getting impatient waiting for that to dry.

Finally some dry brushing, and flock on the base to make it dungeon ready.

Pretty happy with the final look. The bone has come out nice. As did the stone axe.

If I can track down another skeleton minotaur or two in different poses, and more importantly at a reasonable price, I’d love to grow this side of the undead horde.

Fenland Gamers Christmas Session

Fenland Gamers, game night

A movie and gaming, what a great way to start the holiday season and the weekend. How could it be any better? Well Netflix decided they could by dropping The Witcher (based on the books and video games) tv series.

So the morning was spent watching the first few episodes of that. I’ve not played the video games (shocking I know, and something I should put to right at some point) and I’ve never read the books. Which means I’m coming in cold to this knowing nothing of the lore, the characters etc.

It also means that I was sold entirely on this series in the run up by the promos that were released during the year. So what little excitement I had was based on those alone. There were no expectations or preconceived ideas, other than those created by the said promos.

From the three or four episodes that I’ve watched so far I’m enjoying the series a lot. I like the aesthetics of the series. The costume design, set design, tone. For me it works. Production wise, ok we weren’t going to get the massive army battles of LoTR or even AGoT. But the one major battle so far I was impressed with. It was handled well. I like the way the plot is developing, and the interchanging between each characters storylines. You know at some point they will intersect, and I want to know how, and can’t wait for it to happen, and see where that goes. That for me is the sign of good storytelling.

One thing I did think is this whole Witcher universe would make a great setting for an RPG. Guess what, one has already been done. I know nothing about it, no idea what system it’s similar too, or even how popular it is.

But the whole premise isn’t too dissimilar to a D&D campaign with the traveling from town to town killing monsters for financial reward. It’s the lore and the role of magic within the world that is obviously different. From what I can tell from the tv series, the world that The Witcher is set is very low magic. Similar to Dragonlance I suspect. What magic there is comes at a price.

I don’t think it would be too hard to put a Witcher based campaign together. There are pdf files out there by fans for the official RPG that stat out all the monsters that exist in the Witcher world. I’d be tempted to just do the D&D thing and reskin an existing D&D monster.

If you want something cool to binge watch this weekend this show is it.

Ok the big release of the weekend (Well technically mid week) Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was a movie I did have some preconceived ideas about. In the run up to it’s release the leaks, rumours and general feel for this movie was not looking good. So I naturally had set my expectations low.

I actually enjoyed the movie. It’s definitely better than The Last Jedi. Which for the record I dislike.

It’s rushed and the story is a mess because of the previous movie. The criticism that this trilogy was created with no over all arching story/plan is evident when you look at the three in a whole. The hoops that this movie has to jump through to pick up the pieces left by the train wreck that was the previous movie, have a negative impact. But I will add despite this criticism the movie is still enjoyable.

There is some great fan service in this movie. Which does add to the enjoyment.

Overall it’s an average Star Wars movie. Not the best, but not the worst.

If after watching you want to play some Star Wars board games, any of the FFG games would suffice. I’d avoid the mainstream offerings, unless it’s Looping Chewie for a younger fan. FFG also do the official RPG if that is a universe you want to explore. Plus the original 80’s RPG was reprinted last year. So you could step back in time to play a classic 80’s RPG.

After the film Jonathan and I had some time to kill before the start of the Fenland Gamers Christmas gaming session. So after getting a beverage, Jonathan cracked out a game we hadn’t played since 2016 (according to the stats app I use).

Our main game of the evening was five player Wingspan. It’s not my favourite player count for the game. I prefer the middle counts for the game. I definitely wouldn’t want to play it at six players as some online are asking for.

I managed to get a tuck engine going on the wet lands, plus a nice round end triggered bird that tucked cards based on grass land actions done by another player.

But in the end all it got me was third place.

Our final game of the evening was No Thanks! We played using the Amigo variant detailed in the rules. This basically removes the 10, 20 and 30 numbered cards from the game plus six random cards. It made the game a bit more interesting. Some how Jonathan won this also.

It was a great day. Star Wars, board gaming. Great hosts as always.

Games played: Brew crafters, Wingspan, No Thanks!

A big decision for your Judge Dredd campaign

Judge Dredd, RPG

I think one of the most important decisions a GM has to make when planning their campaign set in the Worlds of 2000 A.D., and particularly Judge Dredd and Mega City One is when to set the campaign.

The when is a really big decision. It determines what has happened to the city, whether characters are alive or dead, etc.

For instance when deciding when to set your campaign in the history of Meg City One did you want your characters to be able to bump into Judge Dredd? If the answer is no you are probably best setting your campaign in the early days of Mega City Ones history and the Judges before Dredd was created.

The alternative is to pick one of the many times that the legend was not in Mega City One, such as when he was on Luna 1 or in the Cursed Earth. Although the drawback is he does return to the City. Which is fine if you are running a short campaign.

Or you can just do the obvious and pick any point in the city history and have the party not meet him. But for me the temptation would always be there to call upon the legend. Personally I’d chose the early history of the city because of the interesting story arcs that could be used. That could eventually cumulate into the development of the clones that produce Joe and Rico.

Let’s assume that you want Judge Dredd to be around, and the possibility of your players bumping into him. You now have forty years of Judge Dredd stories to inspire you.

But when do you set your campaign? Which of the major story arcs to you want your players to experience? Each of the main arcs have had an impact on the city in some way. The ones I grew up with were The Robot Wars, The Cursed Earth, The Day the Law Died, The Judge Child, and The Apocalypse War.

It’s very easy to have your party taking party in these events as they happen. For instance while Dredd is off on Luna 1 justice still needs to be kept in Mega City 1. Maybe the criminals are feeling a little bolder while Dredd is off planet. Or your party are doing hit and run raids on Soviet judges during The Apocalypse War.

Naturally another thing to consider is which of the classic adversaries you want to have your party face off against. This will also determine when the campaign is set. Mainly because eventually the adversary ends up dead. The Angel gang is an amazing adversary for a party. But they died at the end of The Judge Child. Fink Angel died after The Apocalypse War. So this is something that needs to be considered. Unless you decide to play the what if? scenario. Such as what if the Angel Gang didn’t die?

EN Publishing has three source books now for the Worlds of 2000 A.D. WOIN system.

Which as you can see cover early classic story arcs. But definitely worth getting.

There is an excellent timeline here. The wiki page also has a cool list of major stories.

Don’t forget that there have been three earlier rpgs based on Dredd. There have been some great adventures for them, and really useful source books.

And finally there are the reprints in the Complete Case Files, of which there are over thirty volumes. You can usually pick these up for less that a tenner second hand from Amazon. Plus if you are after just one story arc there will also be a good chance there is a single graphic novel collecting the issues into a single volume.

I suppose the main point is that there is a wealth of material out there to support you in your campaign no matter when you decide to set your campaign in the history of Mega City One.