Monthly Archives: September 2024

The student becomes the master

father son gaming, star wars, Star Wars Unlimited

Yesterday I travelled south to visit Nathan for a couple of days. After unpacking I realised what I had forgotten to pack.

On the drive down I knew I had forgotten something. Everybody has that nagging feeling when they set off somewhere.

It wasn’t until I had unpacked and was getting the Star Wars Unlimited stuff out to show Nathan when I realised I had indeed left something at home.

Sitting back at home are the four starter decks from the two starter kits.

Luckily I hadn’t forgotten the prerelease kit and two booster boxes.

But what were we to do?

Opening the prerelease kit we chose a leader each from the promo Luke and Vader cards that were in it. Nath went Vader, which left me with Luke.

We then cracked open the six boosters in the prerelease kit, followed by opening the Spark of Rebellion booster box, and cracking open the packs inside.

Nath really enjoyed opening the packs and discovering full art cards, foils, or foil full art cards. He had caught the habit most MtG players have. That crack addition of opening packs and seeing what is inside. It’s so addictive.

Afterwards we separated the cards by their aspect and then built decks for our respective leaders.

It was a great evening sharing the experience of cracking open packs and building a deck with our pulls.

Later I went through the remaining cards to see if I had any that I needed for my Luke and Hera (I now have a rather sweet full art card of Hera) Twin Suns deck. I found 22 cards that I needed. Cutting down on any imminent purchases to finish the deck off.

This morning once Nath had gotten back from his babysitting duties for his baby niece I taught him Star Wars Unlimited.

After meeting up with my aunt and uncle in Guildford, Nath and I played a couple more games of Star Wars Unlimited.

This time my deck worked and I was able to get two comfortable wins.

Between games Nath wanted to crack open the Shadows of the Galaxy so I caved and let him. Although I didn’t get a Mando card that I needed for the Twin Suns deck I did get another Krayt Dragon (I did purchase my other copy).

Which means I pulled a £40 odd card. Which I definitely plan to use in the Vader/Tarkin deck.

We ended up playing a fourth game. Nath wanted the opportunity to pull things back.

It was a very tense game with Nath hanging in by the skin of his teeth before grabbing victory from the impending jaws of defeat.

I think it can only be said that we’ve had a great day.

Planning a walk with Nath

#backtothehills, father son walks, hiking/backpacking/camping, outdoors

With the impending visit to Nath I have warned him that we will be going for a walk whilst I’m there.

I have an idea of where we will be walking after getting a 1:50k os map of the area and finding a woods not far from Nath’s.

The plan is that we’ll stop brew up, even have something to eat.

With that in mind

New gear arrivals in last six weeks or so (not everything I’m sure):

  • 32 OZ, Wide Mouth, Nalgene bottle
  • 50PCS Cold Brew Coffee Filter Bags
  • Snow Peak Folding Nylon Cooking Ladle
  • Toaks titanium 1350ml pot
  • CAMPINGMOON Compact Foldable Stove
  • Hellery Camping Coffee Percolator Pot
  • 1:50k os maps for eTrex 32x gps
  • Belgian military hooped bivy
  • DD Hammocks lightweight hammock and under quilt (not sure if mentioned before)

I’m taking the BRS 3000T stove for this trip. I’ve not used it and it needs an outing.

The Nalgene bottle is for making cold brew whilst at Nath’s and when I go away whether camping or in hotels. Hence the filter bags.

For me to turn my dried bean and veg bags into a soup or stew for me and Nath my current pots just weren’t large enough. I think the largest was 900ml. So I got the larger 1350ml Toaks pot. That should be big enough cooking for two. Hence why I got the Snow Peak ladle. The percolator is for camping trips.

I’m hoping that the woodland walk and a bit of chill time will help Nath with all life has thrown at him recently.

Obviously a lot of this stuff will be used when camping or even backpacking. But with me using a campsite for next years UKGE, getting bits in that will make that trip as “glamorous” as possible. Or my take on it using a mixture of backpacking gear and camping gear.

The Road to UKGE 2025 #1

UKGE

The dust has just about settled and I’m already getting a UKGE post for next year written!

My plans for next years accommodation is to use a camp site.

As I have previously mentioned I feel this is the last thing to experience at the expo. I’ve done the a room share at the Hilton and had the whole expo experience that involves, such as evening gaming, see “celebs” in food queues etc.

I’ve done air b&b whilst helping demo Epic the Card Game for Wise Wizard Games. I’ve stayed at a deer farm, Travelodge (several times), that awful pub.

I think the only accommodation I’ve not done is the camping side.

A few years back now I remember on the Board Gaming Trading & Chat Facebook page it was mentioned that one or two of the group going to the expo were staying at a camp site.

Since reading that was an option it’s always been at the back of my mind when I’ve looked for accommodation during the expo. Especially when I’ve left it rather late to find any affordable bargains.

But I’ve finally decided to pull the trigger on that idea and do it next year.

I’ve googled camp sites near the expo. There are one or two that I like the look of. So in the new year I’ll book the one I decide to go with.

I have been bearing in mind camp site usage as I refresh my outdoors gear. Sadly the camp stove I want the Jetboil Genesis Basecamp is no longer made (it’s an ex stove). They must be good stoves as they don’t exist on eBay unless I want to pay stupid money for one from like Australia which would also hit me massively on import tax too.

The only thing I think I need that would be camping specific is a gazebo to use for cooking, chilling, playing games (I have two folding tables), etc. Oh plus some sort of cool box and a camping bbq.

If I could convince Nath to join me camping I’d invest in a suitable tent and cots to make the experience as “glam” as possible for him.

I don’t expect there will be another post about the expo until the new year. So see you then (there will naturally be my other boring content until then).

What I’m taking to Nath’s with me

father son gaming

I started an 8 day break from work today. Which means during this much needed period of R&R I’m going to visit Nathan for two or three days.

Before any visit I always mull over which games to take with me for us to play.

There are practical limitations to which games make the journey with me. The major one is the footprint of the game. Whatever I take needs to fit on Nath’s circular dinning table. So large footprint games are out of the question. No Star Wars Rebellion for Nath unless he comes up to visit.

I have Star Wars Outer Rim (his favourite game) and the Star Wars Deck Builder at Nath’s.

Nath likes MtG so I’m definitely taking Star Wars Unlimited with me. The plan is we choose a starter kit deck each and play them against each other. I’ll the crack open the Spark of Rebellion prerelease kit and we will use the boosters from that to “upgrade” our decks. After some games with the new decks I have booster boxes for Spark of Rebellion and Shadows of the Galaxy. Which we can crack packs open to once again strengthen our decks.

I’m also going to take the Dice Masters X-Men campaign box I have to teach Nath Dice Masters.

Unusual for me I’m going to leave it at that! Although I’m sure I’ll throw something in the bag at the last minute.