All posts by Darren

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.

LiveFromPeru Part 8

#littlemonsters, #livefromperu, #the3d’s, The 3D’s

This post is going to be less poor writing and more just a photo dump from the walks that we have had the last few days. Or as I like to think of it the start of Diego’s training to build him up to the much longer walks.

Our walk round the rugby and cricket fields (New Years Day)
Our walk at South Holland Main Drain (Friday 2/1)

The South Holland Main Drain walk will always be associated with Nico. As we walked along the bank of the drain I couldn’t help remembering the sight of Nico sprinting for his dear life towards me as a flying pheasant seemed to be chasing him. Other times on this walk Nico would go missing in the wheat fields looking for who knows what. Making our walk much longer than it had to be as Strider and I looked for him.

Once back it looked like Diogo had the limp returning. So I made the decision to make Saturday a “rest day”.

Newton and North Level Main Drain (Sunday 4/1)

As you can see we’ve had the cold spell but no snow. Which is kinda disappointing. I’d like a good snow fall.

Drone legal

life, the universe, and everything, still alive

As of yesterday the UK rules for owning and flying a drone in the UK changed.

Previously I only required an operators id to fly my Dji Mini 4 pro because it came in at 249g. Getting an operators id wasn’t hard as long as you had the pennies to pay for it you could get it. The only hassle about it, if you can call it that, is it needs renewing each year. The operators id needs displaying somewhere on the drone itself.

As of yesterday to fly my drone I needed to also have a flyer id. To get a flyer id you need to take a forty question multiple choice test. Which is free to take, and you can take as many times as you like until you get a pass (which is 30 out 40 questions right). This flyer id is valid for five years.

So on New Year’s Eve I took the online test and passed first time (34/40). It’s not as impressive as it sounds. You can refer to the drone code as it’s called during the test. In fact they actively encourage it. One thing I did like at the end was for the ones you got wrong it gives the correct answer.

I will also need from the start of 2028 make sure that my drone transmits a remote id. Technically drones transmitting a remote id kicks in from yesterday too. However “legacy” drones have a transition period before they have to. My drone falls into this “legacy” area.

I’ve looked into if my drone can be upgraded in some way to do this and the answer is technically yes. It can do it now if I use the enhanced batteries with it. Which I think I may have.

Another new requirement as of yesterday is if flying at night the drone has to have a flashing green light on it. Which I believe mine has but when using the camera it may switch off. I need to investigate this more.

I haven’t done much with my drone. But I want to. And the plan is to. Like my Dji action 4 camera I want to do more with them. However I’m not sure how I’m going to use them because I want to avoid using, or falling back on the tropes and cliches currently in vogue with outdoor videos. I’ll leave my subconscious to ponder that one for me in the background.

LiveFromPeru Part 7

#livefromperu

Well it’s a new year but to get here every pet owner and pet has to go through the same gauntlet.

Despite the many pleas on social media in the run up to the new year for others to consider how stressful fireworks are for the animal kingdom. There still seems to be those that think letting off enough ordnance to put the illegal airstrike of a sovereign nations nuclear program to shame is justified in celebrating the passing of the old and the start of the new.

This would be Diogo’s first time experiencing such explosive celebrations. How would he handle it.

I’ve been lucky in the past. The wolf pack were not bothered at all by the loud explosions. Which was handy when we were living in Crook because we were living next to the towns cricket ground where we found out they held the annual fireworks display.

Nico and Loki have been ok as well with fireworks. And Dolly has been as well.

I think the secret is not to get stressed out by the fireworks yourself. I think the furballs pick up on this. So being calm and not reacting helps them.

Mums dogs Ebony and Toby were always getting stressed out by fireworks. Which I think they picked up from mum. She got stressed that they were going to be stressed. It was a self fulfilling prophecy.

Last night Diogo was in his bed when the first explosions of the night started going off. All he did was get on the bed and cuddle up next to me. As did Loki and Dolly. I was literally pinned on the bed by them cuddled up next to me.

They weren’t stressed, worried or under any duress. Just content cuddled up next to me.

I was really proud how all three handled the fireworks. I’ll take doggy cuddles any day of the week.

This morning on our walk there was very little evidence of last nights explosive celebrations. Usually the remains of some expensive fireworks display in a box type thing are left next to the dog bins or in the middle of the grass. All I saw this morning was the remains of a sparkler and a couple of rockets. I know times are hard for lots of people and this is just a tiny example of where people are making cuts.

Anyway happy new year from the little monsters.

LiveFromPeru Part 6

#littlemonsters, #livefromperu, #the3d’s, hiking/backpacking/camping, outdoors, rambling, The 3D’s, Walking

Today Dolly and I introduced Diogo to the fenland landscape.

We went to just out side of Newton in the Isle for a walk I used to do regularly with the wolf pack. This one saw us doing a there and back to the North Level Main Drain. It ended up being about 1.5 miles in total.

This is the furthest Diogo has been on a walk since arriving in the UK.

Although the sun was out there was still a bit of a chill.

While Dolly was off the lead, a trust she has learnt. Diogo has not got to that point yet and was kept on his lead. He did get a bit longer on it than normal because I used Dolly’s lead as an extension.

Although I did my best to avoid other dogs, and the inevitable barking in excitement from Diogo. I wasn’t 100 percent able to avoid that situation though.

But I am trying to get to a point using calming dog treats (I’m very sceptical about these but time will tell). I’ve also contacted a dog trainer but had no reply yet. But then again it is the Christmas period and they could be taking the time off. I’ll give them until middle of next week before looking for another.

In the meantime Dolly and I need to build Diogo up so he can do the longer walks.

My 2025 Boardgaming

bgstat, by the numbers, gaming stats, stats, Year In Review

It’s that time of year once again where I bore you with the stats for the year.

This year despite one or two poor months I’ve surprisingly played more games than last year, yet had less plays! I’ve also played more new to me games.

I’ve said in a previous post this year seems to be the return of some old favourites such as Netrunner and Ashes. Which I’m glad I’ve done. I’ve really enjoyed playing these games again.

My GOTY…

I think this is probably the easiest year since I started doing this for choosing my game of the year.

As you can see from below I’ve played 84 new games (to me) this year. And there have been some crackers.

But before I share with you my GOTY I think a few honourable mentions need to be made. Any other time these games would be worthy winners.

Honourable mentions: Battle of Hoth, War, Furnace, Tir na nog, Vantage, Rebirth

Ok and now onto my GOTY. Which I think you could guess easily.

My GOTY is…

Rebel Princess.

This is such an amazing trick taking game.

It became a group favourite after the first play. It’s quick to teach. The variety from the princesses and round cards makes each game feel unique.

We have had so many moments and laughs playing this game.

The boring bit…

One Year On

#littlemonsters

This post is a couple of days late. However it doesn’t change the fact that a year ago on the 27th of December I drove down to the Farnborough area to meet Dolly’s owner.

I’d been warned before hand that if I things went well with the owner I’d be returning home with Dolly.

We met at a friends house. Dolly wouldn’t stop barking at me. I think more protective of her owner. It wasn’t until Dolly and I were given some alone time that we started to bond.

We had a nightmare return journey.

But Dolly settled in so fast with Nico and Loki. Even got on with Ramsey the cat.

I can’t believe Dolly has only been with us a year.

We did a charity walk together for Alzheimer’s and dementia research. The both of us have a great time when we are able to get out on longer walks.

She is such an amazing dog. She is beautiful, such a character, you can see what she is thinking on her face, has the cutest yawn. Although her barking at the tv when animals or scrolling text are on it can be a bit annoying. But I’ve never had a dog that watches tv before.

I’m so glad Dolly joined our family.