Monthly Archives: September 2020

Carcassonne Maps

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Sometimes modern classic boardgames, especially the gateway ones, get a bit of a bad rep from more experienced gamers. Usually they have played the game to death when they first had it, got burned out on it.

Somehow I’ve avoided that with the classics like Catan, Ticket to Ride and Carcassonne. It was easy I didn’t play them to death.

Recently a Dice Tower review by Tom Vasel made me aware of a new unofficial way to play one of those classics that breathes new life into the game.

The game in question is Carcassonne.

I like Carcassonne, particularly with the River, Inns and Cathedrals, Traders and Builders, the Princess and Dragon expansions. And until now I had a couple of mini expansions/promos The School, an alternative River starting tile, and large Carcassonne map tile to spice things up a little if need be. I’d add in the Plague mini expansion but until the other day I had forgotten I’d had it (it’s been on a shelf for years unloved!)

Now despite my main way of playing Carcassonne in recent years being the iOS app version of the game. I’ve not burned out on the game.

Anyway this new way to play Carcassonne is using maps of various countries. There are currently five maps to choose from, Great Britain, France, Germany, Peninsula Iberia and Benelux.

In the review by Tom he said his favourite map was the GB one, which was convenient because that was the one I was going to go for considering where I live.

So after watching the review I googled the maps expecting to have to order from a store in the EU. But was pleasantly surprised to find that Boardgame Extras was selling them along with the tokens they use as well. Which both found their way into the shopping cart. I also got tempted by the large Carcassonne starting tile.

As always the service from Boardgame Extras was pretty swift and good. My only complaint is how the map was rolled in the tube it was packaged in. It was rolled with the plain side on the out side, so when you unroll it you need to weight the ends down to play because the won’t flatten out. That was the first thing I did for storage using the tube it arrived in, I rerolled it so that didn’t happen.

The map itself is A1 size (which puts it as 23.4 x 33.1 inch I believe according to a quick google) “high-quality, linen-print map“. So it’s large.

I now have a duplicate Carcassonne starting tile, because I had forgotten I already had it! That will be given away at some point. I’m happy with the quality of the paper used.

I know I won’t get this to the table for a while. But I’m glad I got this. Especially after seeing that it has sold out (at time of writing and getting link) on the Boardgame Extras website since. The Vasel effect?!

You can buy the Carcassonne maps and tokens on the Boardgame Extras website in the UK.

Zendikar Rising Commander Decks Impressions

Commander, magic, MtG

Wow like buses, you wait for MtG content on this blog and all of a sudden three posts come along at once!

With Zendikar Rising officially releasing on Friday it meant we also got the two Commander decks that accompany this set. Ok they were meant to be out for prerelease. But a week delay these days is neither here or there.

As the back of one of the new Commander deck boxes (see image below) shows these decks differ from the annual Commander offering we get.

The first is the large version of the Commander is not in these decks. I miss them. I’m a fan of them.

The included deck box although relatively thin cardboard so won’t last forever, does allow for the decks to be sleeved. Unlike the annual Commander deck boxes. Although those are a bit more durable.

I like the addition of the life wheel. Although it could be improved so that it caters for life totals greater than 40. Once again this is not a durable item, and a short term solution. But needed for a new player to start using the deck straight away.

Naturally these new decks are built around Zendikar Rising and mechanics from the set. So Land’s Wrath is all about making use of the landfall mechanic. So naturally it has creatures that have the landfall mechanic that triggers some benefit when a land is played, it has cards for fetching lands from the library and playing extra lands on a turn, white gives the deck a couple of board wipes. And there is some playing cards from the graveyard. Which is going to be handy considering the other deck.

Sneak Attack is a rogue tribal deck. Black gives this deck it’s board wipes and removal. It’s got milling (look at the Commanders abilities for starters). Along with that it has graveyard shenanigans that allows the player to play creatures from opponents graveyards. Because this is a tribal deck there are cards that play into that.

Its obvious these two decks are designed to be played against each other. However they are also less powerful than the annual decks. Which I think is reflected in their cheaper price, and the number of new cards and reprints.

I’ve not played the decks yet, for obvious reasons. But they look good starting points for new players to the format. If they haven’t already I’m pretty sure MTGoldfish will have some sort of budget upgrade post for these decks going up soon.

I like this idea of releasing Commander decks based on a set. Although I’d like to see them release a set of 4 instead of just a couple so a group of friends can play against each other with decks at a similar level. Like the annual decks are designed for.

Core21 Welcome Booster

magic, MtG

At long last I finally got my hands on a Core21 Welcome booster.

WotC replaced the Welcome decks with these Welcome boosters.

These boosters like the Welcome decks are meant to be given to new players to the game. A new player turns up to their FLGS, gets taught how to play MtG (now with the decks from the Starter Kit), then afterwards gets given a Welcome booster.

Before I look at the Welcome booster. I’m going to briefly look at the Starter Kit.

The current Starter Kit is I believe the third iteration of the kit. They are an interesting product. Designed specifically to teach MtG. Although looking at this current version of the product it’s less new player friendly!


Below is the earlier version. As you can see it had two spin down life counter dice, two decks, two player aids that took the players through their first five turns, and a rule book.

The decks were pre-shuffled!

What I liked about this first version was the pre-shuffled deck and the guide teaching the game. It meant two new players could learn together without needing an experienced player. Plus the spin downs for tracking life. Why they are missing from the current version I don’t know. A new player will need one!

It seems WotC are trying to push players onto Arena, and using that to teach the game! Not cool in my opinion. And a step backwards. Two friends should be able to purchase this, sit down at the kitchen table, crack open the Starter Kit and start learning to play. They shouldn’t have to first sit round a pc/Mac download the app, create an account, register the Arena code and then get taught the basics, log off and on,y then start playing with their new decks. How the feck is that new player friendly? It’s a major step backwards.

Onto the Welcome booster.

“The Welcome Booster contains ten cards. Each Welcome Booster is exactly the same.”


The cards are a mix of standard legal and Commander cards, and I believed meant to be the start of a new players collection.

It’s the Commander cards that were of interest to me. Commander’s Sphere is a Commander staple. Garruk, Primal Hunter could fit in nicely to my big green stompy deck. Archetype of Imagination is always handy in a deck splashing blue. A shiny land is always welcome.

As freebies go, it’s ok. I think pitched just about right. Nothing so good or expensive you have experienced players clamouring to get it at the expense of new players.

Now I need to get my hands on the new Zendikar Rising Welcome booster.

Star Realms App gets Frontiers Promos Expansion

star realms

A new expansion called Frontiers Promos has just gone live in the Star Realms app.

You’ll need to update the app to get access to it.

As you can see from below this is the 17th digital expansion for the game.

I’m looking forward to buying the 9 cost Colossus. I’m not looking forward to being on the receiving end of it though.

Look I love Star Realms. I think that’s evident from the 9000 odd games I’ve played. Sadly my win rate isn’t great. Proving I’m a below average player.

This is a great deck builder. Which the many expansions just take to another level. Whether it’s more ships and bases, or events, heroes and missions.

The only draw back the game now has is for new players to get everything it’s not cheap. The only saving grace is that it’s buy once get everywhere (ie on all the platforms you can play Star Realms).

You can read more about the Frontiers Promos HERE, and see why that Colossus card looks scary.

Happy #BatmanDay

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Apparently according to twitter today (19/9/2020) is Batman Day.

I don’t know who comes up with these things. It’s most likely some marketing person at DC/Warner Bros.

I’ve been a big Batman fan since I was a little kid. I have fond memories of watching the 1960’s tv show with Adam West as Batman on tv (itv iirc). Then seeing the movie at the local cinema on the big screen. Obviously not on the original release. One of the coolest toys you could have at the time was the Batmobile from I think matchbox. I also had the Batman action figure.

In 1988 after Dad died Batman helped me with the grieving. That was the time of the Death in the Family story line and Joker (after a fan vote) killing Robin (Jason Todd). It was seeing Batman grieve that helped in the subsequent issues. I kind of felt a strong bond with Batman. We were both going through the same process.

In more recent times I’ve enjoyed the cinematic outings of Batman. Both live action and animated. Although I will exclude Batman and Robin from that list of enjoyable experiences.

Now days I buy the odd graphic novel, and Lego figure. But there is still a lot of love there for Batman.

Zendikar Rising Prerelease Weekend

magic, MtG

Don’t forget it’s the Zendikar Rising Prerelease weekend.

I know it’s not the same as the “old days” where we would turn up at a store, register, build a 40 card deck, play some magic, get a couple of participation boosters. Generally have a great time playing an awesome game, getting excited about the new cards, etc.

But we can still have that excitement of cracking packs.

So pop along if you can, or order on line your prerelease kit from your FLGS.

At my FLGS we also got an additional booster with the prerelease kit one of the new set boosters. You can read about them here.

I hope you pull some great stuff.

Even more big monsters arrive

new arrivals

The arrival of the Cy-Gull promo for King of Tokyo (KoT) sparked something inside me.

Initially it was to get the remaining character packs Anubis and Cybertooth that I didn’t have. But to be fair I wasn’t aware I’d missed them until I looked.

I then discovered that the Power Up and Halloween expansions had been updated to second edition with new art work. Well I needed them as well.

Which meant with the other item the KoT Dark Edition I ordered technically I’d have three copies of the game. More on this later.

Below are the standees for the Power Up and Halloween expansions. On the left is the new art for the second edition version. Whilst on the right is the original first edition version.

All art is subjective but I’m not convinced the new versions are an improvement.

As I mentioned above I caved and got the Dark edition of KoT. This has been out for a little while. But I just love the box art. It’s amazing.

It will be interesting to see how this “new path to victory” works and effects play.

For the first edition stuff or my spare third copy I did the following.

First I took out the two characters not in the second edition Cyber Bunny and Kraken and added them to my copy of the second edition.

With the Halloween and Power Up first editions added into the base game I feel happy I can pass this game on (for free), because it has seven monsters to play with. Despite me removing two. Plus the relevant power up cards.

I did check with a couple of friends but they already had the game. So I’ll pass it on to a family member who might like to try it.

In the meantime I think KoT might be a game playable using a webcam I might talk to my friend about trying it out.

Some recent arrivals

new arrivals

There have been some new arrivals to add to the pile of shame and list of games to get to the table.

First up is the latest cinematic adventure from Free League for the Alien RPG, Destroyer of Worlds.

Next up was the arrival of the gaming equivalent of lotto cards, or loot boxes, MtG booster packs. I’ll talk about the pulls in another post.

Finally I was one of a lucky handful (if your definition of a handful goes up to a hundred) to get the Cy-Gull promo for King of Tokyo/New York that was done for the UKGE (well its virtual replacement) this year.

I was pleasantly surprised to find included with Cy-Gull another promo for the game X-Smash Tree. Which until I saw it I didn’t know I needed.

I do like the promo monsters but they do have one drawback. They don’t have power up decks. So they can’t be used in a game using that expansion.

Still to arrive at some point is the Tapestry expansion Plans and Ploys. Tomorrow I pick up the new D&D adventure, plus the Zendikar Rising prerelease kit. So I’ll bore you with those over the weekend.

A rare MtG Post

Commander, magic, MtG

This feels real odd writing a post about MtG. I’ve not written anything about it for what seems an age.

With the Zendika Rising prerelease due to happen this coming weekend, I ended up splashing out for some singles to go into a couple of my Commander decks. Don’t ask me how that happened or what the thought process was.

The three decks that will be seeing these cards as tweaks are my Scarab God Zombie tribal deck, Big Green Stompy, and Mono Red Aggro.

Ayara will be so dangerous in the Scarab God deck. It can generate lots and lots of zombie tokens. This card is definitely a threat if allowed to stay on the battlefield. Damage/life gain for just doing what my deck is designed to do! Add in card draw too. This card could be amazing.

Tectonic Giant should be a nice card in my mono red aggro deck. Especially if I can trigger it’s abilities.

Shamanic Revelation hopefully will give some card draw and life gain. Which I think I’m missing from my Big Green Stompy deck. Whilst Garruk’s Uprising will also do that, it’s another source of trample for my creatures. Both cards will easily be triggered, iirc there are hardly any creatures less than 4 power. And if my hydras or any X power creature is coming in at less than 4 power I’m in a very bad position. Liege of the Tangle just gives me another big body that can turn lands into even more big bodies.

As I said these cards are tweaks, with only one being a major game changer.

The big question for me this Autumn/Winter is, will I jump on board the MtG Arena bus when allegedly it arrives on mobile at some point before the end of the year?

Obviously I’m a bit sceptical about WotC being able to do this.

At the moment I’m not feeling very warm and cuddly towards WotC and MtG Arena. I’m not expecting that to change anytime soon. But we will see.

Still have a pulse…

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Just a quick post to reassure folks that I’m still alive.

Just not a lot going on gaming wise naturally.

But as folks that stalk me on other social media platforms will know I have been playing around in the kitchen. I’ve been concentrating more on the sweet side of things, cookies, no bake cheese cake, panna cotta, you get the idea. I do bake a fresh sourdough loaf twice a week. Plus my plain chow mein and sweet and sour pork is pretty tasty.

One or two of my friends in our gaming group have also been playing around in the kitchen (Jeff and his curries). When things become reasonably safe for getting back together for a game or two I think there might be a bring and share type thing that needs organising.

I started to create a character to use in a Strontium Dog adventure. I want to create three more so they can be used in one shots etc for those wanting to try the RPG. I think a one shot adventure will also need to be written. But the way things are going I have time to do this. No pressure!

In the meantime enjoy the amazing song from the end of Portal by Jonathan Coulton.

Until the next post, enjoy the cake.