All posts by Darren

So so tired

After having three days off where I got to game with Jonathan. Which was the first time in a longtime. Plus attend a Fenland Gamers club night (something that is a rarity these days). At which I got to game with more friends I hadn’t played with in a while (hello Ben).

Games that saw the table in these two sessions were Dandelions, Can’t Stop, Senso: Battle for Japan, Macao, Ship Captain Crew, and Sea Salt & Pepper. Plus two games that Ben owned No Mercy, and Come Sail Away!

It was back to work and a pretty full on four days that were quite frankly draining. Especially after one shift I didn’t have any real recovery time because of union meetings I had to attend. I actually ended up having a snooze in the car between the last union meeting and the start of my shift.

The knock on effect was I was too tired to write anything about the gaming I mentioned above. Or get to mention that it came to light Jonathan has been playing trick taking games wrongly for a very long time. Basically the mistake was playing a trump card when you could follow suit. You have to follow suit. If you can’t then you can play a trump card (if you have any) or “dump” a card from another suit.

As I write this life update I have two much needed days off. Followed by a day back at work. Followed by four days off. What am I going to do in those days off? It’s not long enough to visit Nathan and give mum time to recover! Yes mum needs recovery time after I go away. I’ve factored it for UKGE for example. Apparently looking after Nico and Loki the two attack chihuahuas can be very taxing.

I’m in the process of buying a small dice masters collection. Which will help with the cube building. More on this once it happens.

Until the next big expansion for Marvel Champions Age of Apocalypse comes out (tomorrow/next week?) I now have a complete set of cards. I ordered the final three hero packs that I needed (Venom, Gamora, and Drax) that arrived at the start of the week. The nice thing about getting these older hero packs is the fact you don’t have to pay full price for them. They get nice reductions.

I just need to get the game to the table, get a storage solution, and sleeve the thousands of cards!

Having Tuesday as a dead game night at the moment is killing me. It was really cool that on a Tuesday those of us that liked ccg/tcg/lcg type games had a regular evening where we could play these style of games. I need to be more proactive in my efforts to find somewhere.

Oh I did get a quick chance yesterday to play around with my fire starting kit! I need to start playing around with this more. Get more confident in using it, and develop my fire starting skills.

So yesterday using a piece of fat wood (resin rich pine wood) I created some tinder to start a fire with. Then using a fero rod and striker to create sparks managed to get the tinder to light. This little exercise did not involve me building this into a roaring fire. Its aim was to get the tinder going. I followed this up with using the fero rod and striker to start a tinder wick. Which started first strike! Wow that was impressive.

My final little play with fire for the afternoon was to start a trangia burner with the fero rod and striker. Which worked really well. Why hadn’t I done this back when I was doing all the meth stove reviews?

My Kelly Kettle Trekker also arrived. Looks a lovely bit of kit. Although the pot and lid look too small to be of any practical use. I can’t see them being used at all, and replaced by one of my titanium pots.

Hopefully I’ll get to try out the Kelly Kettle on one of my days off. Who knows I might even film my initial efforts with it!

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

In a recent post I’ve said plans are forming to get back outdoors this year.

Wow how the online scene has changed since my days as one of the early UK “pioneer” bloggers on the trail.

Back then in 2008 the technology was very restrictive and it was just about possible to live blog as you hiked through the wilds of Scotland. Blogs were a lot more popular back then. YouTube was a thing, just not the monster it is now. Heck I even did stove reviews on YouTube.

Now there are so many YouTube channels for the outdoors covering bushcraft and backpacking.

There is some crossover between the two skills and equipment wise. But one thing that winds me up is the bushcraft tarp videos. And to be fair there are some outdoors videos that have the same fault. The bug bear is the pitching of the tarp. A good 90% of them are in woods/forests and use trees, and a ridge line. Something that being in remote locations you won’t have.

I also query just how far they hike with all the gear they have for a camp. Sometimes I suspect it’s not more than a few feet from the car. It’s obvious they have not hiked several hours with the kit, or done a multi day hike carrying it.

Oh and the formulaic videos, starting with the hiking montage. All meant to establish that they are in the outdoors, far from the beaten path. So staged. I almost want to say these montages are a cliche now.

Having said that there are bits of useful information I can use from these new sources. And I’ll discuss those bits in future posts.

Obviously there will be a gaming element to my return. Whether that involves just a pack of cards and some d6 dice, or maybe Pocket Hive for those social moments on the trail. But gaming options too are subject of a future post.

The Road to UKGE 2024 #2

The hotel has been booked.

It’s just me. Nathan is apparently in Cornwall with his Mum, Dan and newest addition to the family Chloe.

I’ve still to meet Chloe. One day. I was just over the moon that Dan told me of her arrival at the time. Small steps.

I’m staying at the Fort Dunlop Travelodge. I’ve stayed there before. It’s nice as Travelodges go.

I’ve gone for three nights so that my start on the first day isn’t so early. It can be relaxed and stomach bursting from the all you can eat breakfast.

For the first time ever I’m trying their standard plus room. Which includes Wi-Fi (I’d be getting this anyway) plus a Lavazza coffee pod machine, hot chocolate and tea. Never used one of the pod machines so expect me to ramble on about my experience at the time.

I nearly went with the evening meals. But that ties me to the Travelodge to eat when I could be meeting up with others to play games if they are elsewhere or at the expo.

Camping at the expo will be next year I think.

Dune Imperium Goes Digital

Last week Dire Wolf Digital released on Steam/iOS/Android the digital version of Dune Imperium.

I’ve been a fan of this worker placement and deck building hybrid ever since it came out in 2020. For me Dune Imperium was a better game than its “rival” with similar mechanics Lost Ruins of Arnak.

When the expansions came out they were instant buys for me. And like all good expansions they added new elements to the game with little overhead, and made the game more enjoyable.

Eventually once finances allowed I even splashed out for the deluxe upgrade that upgraded the components and a larger storage box for the core game and expansions.

Then once Dune Imperium Uprising aka Dune Imperium 2.0, was released it wasn’t if I would buy it but when.

So it’s pretty safe to say that I was pretty excited to be finally able to buy and download the digital version of the game.

At a penny short of a tenner it’s priced at what is standard pricing for a digital version of a boardgame these days.

Dune Imperium (the app) does allow cross platform gaming. So when you play an online game your opponents could be playing on any of the platforms the game is released on. It’s the way it should be. There is no excuse for not doing this.

However I do wish more developers with a game on multiple platforms followed Wise Wizard Games and Star Realms. Buy once and play on any platform.

Sadly Dire Wolf Digital prefer to make you pay for each copy on the various platforms, and games I assume don’t follow you. I say assume because I’m not going to buy the game a second time to find out. But I love that I can start a Star Realms game on my iPad, then later when out and about take a turn on my iPhone, then if at a computer take a turn there.

This is very much a digital version of a board game. I can see new players who have never played Dune Imperium before being a bit overwhelmed by the screen. But it is a fairly accurate representation of the physical board.

Obviously there are quality of life things playing a digital boardgame brings such as highlighting the spaces on the board you can go to. Or playing a solo game against AI opponents.

I’ve not played online yet. I don’t like playing against random opponents, and currently none of my friends have the game.

My solo plays against the AI opponents were fun, and challenging. It was kind of refreshing because I’ve not played the core game for a long time. I usually play with the expansions. Talking of which the first one Rise of Ix comes to the app in the Summer.

I do think Dire Wolf have done a pretty good job bringing Dune Imperium to the digital space. Definitely a must buy for fans of the game.

The Road to UKGE 2024

The holiday request at work has been approved.

So my plan is to travel to the Birmingham area on the Thursday and get to whatever accommodation or campsite I’ve booked. Have a relaxed, chill evening.

Then the day of the expo itself have a relaxed not so early start to the day. If I was traveling on the day of the expo (which I have done before) I’d be having to get up damn early. It most definitely wouldn’t be as relaxed a start as traveling across the day before.

I’m still waiting for Nathan to get back to me about coming along.

On the Fenland Gamers front I’ve created the event for the expo with those club members there on the Saturday to have a group picture taken. It’s bit of a club tradition.

But next week I’ll be booking my accommodation for the expo.

Spicy Gaming Session!

Last night three very good friends joined me in playing some games at our usual location of the Wisbech St Mary Sports and Social Club.

Earlier in the day I had started a six bean chili of my own creation. My chilli paste I used was a combination of ancho, pasilla, guajillo, and kashmiri chillis. All mild chillis. I’m going for taste over heat. So I want that chilli warmth that you get after having a mouthful but not so much that it hides any flavour.

The night before the beans (a combination of haricot, butter, pinto, black turtle, cannellini, and kidney beans) were soaked in a water that had salt and baking powder dissolved in it.

The peppers I used in my “Mexican” mirapoix were Tesco Finest sweet ramiro peppers. Plus I added a can of La Costena Chipotles Peppers In Adobo Sauce, some chopped up Tesco vine ripened tomatoes I had that needed using up, and finally some whole chestnut mushrooms.

This concoction was then put in a low oven for four hours or more. I took it out just before I left. I finished it off with the juice of one lime.

I took a little of the chili with me to get a second opinion or two.

That’s how much I was happy with the results of this “experiment”. Folks don’t get to try my cooking unless I’m happy with it. I’m not a confident cook and rarely share my efforts with others.

I’m very much a seat of pants cook. No two times I cook something will be the same. I vary some element or two.

Chili and soup are great for riffing!

I think for me and maybe to the horror of Texans and a lot of folks I like bean chili over a meat based one. My six bean chili is vegan!

Gavin and Diego liked the chili. Although Diego did say it was sweet. Marcin “liked” it, however he said it was spicy! He doesn’t do spicy. There was a big clue that it’s a chili!

Our first game of the evening was Wyrmspan. Like Apiary, and Expeditions, or any new game, this was just another play in the new game tour of players trying it.

I’m not complaining as I get to play a game I enjoy playing.

For the first time ever in a game we had a three way draw for first place. Diego, Marcin, and myself all got exactly the same number of points! Sadly the tie breaker of number of dragons on display gave Diego the victory.

After Gavin left we had time to play Can’t Stop.

This has become a favourite “filler” game. It’s light, very quick to teach, and fun.

Unlike Wyrmspan where Diego won on a technicality this was a clear win for him. Due mainly to Marcin and myself being unable to stop!

This was a great evening. Much banter and laughs. So great to see Gavin again. This sort of evening just sums up what gaming for me is.

Brief Expo Update – 12Mar24

The holiday request has gone in at work for the expo dates (Fri 31 May – 2 Jun) plus a couple days after to give mum time to recover.

My trips away are always draining for mum. Apparently the two attack chihuahuas (the deadly breed) Nico and Loki can be little sods, and play her up something rotten.

So I need to factor this in for any trip away that is not a day trip.

I’ve also asked Nathan if he wants to come. He needs to check dates as it might clash with dog sitting duties for his mum.

So hopefully next week I’ll be sharing that I have the time off, Nathan is going, and hotels are booked.

Happy Mario and Mothers Day 2024

Happy Mario Day everyone! And to all the mums out there happy Mother’s Day.

This year Mario Day and Mother’s Day in the UK coincide.

A double celebration.

That’s why as I write this post I’m watching the Super Mario Bros movie.

Mum has got the perfunctory card. But I did get her a cake (photo to be shared on social media later) and a bunch of tulips.

Plus from mum and me some daffodils to put next to nans ashes. They were her favourites.

Oh and mum gets to spend even more time with her favourite two little masters of mayhem as I’m working this evening until 2am. So I’m going to get stories of how they kept her awake all night tomorrow.

Happy Mario and Mother’s Day…

It would appear once more I am leaving the booking of accommodation for UKGE to the last minute.

I can’t book the days off until the start of April!

At which point I need to sort something out booking wise. But any affordable rooms will be long gone. Even if it was earlier there seems to be less and less affordable rooms each year. Are the hotels etc finally catching on to the popularity of the expo, and exploiting that new knowledge?

I am toying with the idea of camping instead of a hotel. It’s been years now since I’ve spent a night under canvas.

I know in previous years some attendees of the expo have used a camp site. And it does just fall into the affordable price range.

Camping at UKGE was added to my bucket list for the expo of things to do years ago when I first heard of this being a thing.

Plus it would give me an excuse to update some of my equipment. I am tempted by the Kelly Kettle for instance. There are three versions! Even though my initial use would be for camping I’d want to be able to use it on backpacking trips also. So out of the three available “models” I’d go with the Trek version.

I already have an army surplus 100% wool blanket in the car, along with a poncho liner. Yes to be totally honest these have been recent additions. Which is the start of a sleep system idea I have. I think these would work well with the backpacking quilt I have. Obviously not the lightest of systems but definitely warmer and more flexible. Plus as a car camping system as it initially would be used the weight side would not matter. Nor would the fact it is more bulky.

But this conversation should be for another post if I decide to go this route for UKGE.

Having raised the topic of camping and backpacking on what is now essentially a boardgaming blog. I have given mum notice that later in the year I will be returning to the hills for one or two trips. Which means on one or two of future posts this blog will return back to its roots.

Yes although the posts are no longer on this blog (they are archived on a backup) this blog started life back in 2008 as an outdoors/backpacking blog!

But life events meant I have had to take an extended break from doing that sort of thing. Over a decade now. I really do love backpacking and hiking in the remote areas of the UK. And I think it’s about time I rekindled that love of being outdoors.

The aim is to get a couple of weekend trips to the hills in over the summer. It will be a while before I’m back to applying for the TGOC. Which I really do want to take part in again. But being a carer puts restrictions on how long I can be away. Three days is the limit at the moment. Two weeks is out of the question.

As some of you know I have reached an age where in the UK if I have a personal pension I can start taking it. I’m at least a decade away from being able to take the state pension. Well currently. The UK Government like to keep moving the goal posts so it gets further and further away.

But what this means is that I have as an option the possibility of taking a short career break of about 5 months.

Which is an idea I’m mulling over.

It would allow me to get some stuff sorted for mum. Do the afore mentioned backpacking trips and spend a bit more time with Nathan. Maybe even volunteer sometime to a charity.

I never thought I’d be able to do something like this. So now I know it’s an option I think it needs exploring and looking into the feasibility.

What board games mean to me…

This post was inspired by the book “What Board Games Mean to Me
Tales from the Tabletop
” by Donna Gregory. Which I’m currently listening to on Audible.

Basically this is an anthology of short essays by the likes of Ian Livingstone, John Kovalic, Reiner Knizia, Geoff Steve Jackson, James Wallis, and many others. In which they write about how boardgames have impacted their life in one way or another.

I only got to listen to the first three or so essays on my drive over to Bury St Edmunds for a training course. But I liked what I listened to enough to think I should be sharing my story with the world.

Obviously the following words will not be so eloquent or inspirational as those in the book.

My childhood was the Seventies. Between such cool toys as Ricochet Racers, Evil Knievel action figures with stunt bikes, Six Million Dollar Man action figures, Action Man, Airfix kits, to name a few. We played the odd boardgame. The ones I remember (and owned) are Frustration, obviously Monopoly and Cluedo. As a little one Snakes and Ladders.

Our family did get caught up in the whole Trivia Pursuit craze when it first came out. I remember being good at the entertainment questions. What general knowledge did a kid have other than pop culture?

I loved Connect 4, still have my travel edition from back then. I was a machine at the game! My brother owned Downfall, which I enjoyed beating him at.

We also had Mastermind, Chinese Chequers, Solitaire (did I really play a solo game back then?). Every kid knew how to play chequers and chess. And our family was no different.

I only have ever played the “classic” Mouse Trap once in my life, and that was a cousins copy.

Pubs were a more social thing back then. Darts, dominoes, crib were played regularly by locals. I definitely played dominoes in the pub with Nan or others as a kid.

My teenage years were the Eighties. Less boardgames more video games. Which isn’t a surprise as like many the home computer boom was my start of a life long passion and the start of a career. However the digital route did bring me to ttrpgs such as D&D and MERP when I went to Brighton Poly. I played Trumps aka Knockout Whist a lot with my dad’s Aunt Joan when I used to visit her, and also during tutorials at secondary school. Top Trumps was also a thing, and I did own a few packs that I played with friends.

Plus I did have what would be considered a hobby game these days in the shape of the Judge Dredd board game that was released in the mid eighties. It was a no brainer purchase for me being a Judge Dredd fan.

To cut a long story short it wasn’t until I moved back to my home town in 2010 that I got into modern boardgames.

I was introduced to them by a friend who I worked with. Possibly the first one I purchased was the D&D Castle Ravenloft dungeon crawl.

It wasn’t long after that I bought more. My purchases were initially aimed at games I thought I could play with Nathan when I visited him. Until this point all I was for Nathan was a more random NPC when playing FIFA or Call of Duty. Both games I only played when I visited him. I was much more into played rpgs or RTS style games.

For me modern boardgames were and still are a way for me and Nathan to spend quality time together.

We both love playing them. Nathan has his favourites and a small collection.

It means so much for me that we share this time together, and that Nathan enjoys playing the games.

Floating in the air like a dandelion seed

Yesterday Diego and I got to play some games.

We started off the afternoon playing a two player game of Dune Imperium Uprising with the House Haggle deck as the third player. Ok technically it was the Dire Wolf app replacing the deck but still it was the digital version of those cards.

This was a strange game. For starters I never bought my third agent. Something I always do as early as possible! I just wasn’t getting much solari in this game.

The game also went the full 10 rounds. Neither Diego or myself were close to triggering the end of the game. And until the last combat it was looking like the run away winner was going to be the AI!

The last combat was a power play by myself. And was crucial to me coming from behind and seizing victory. With a worm in the combat if I won I was going to be able to claim my rewards twice. That meant victory was worth 4 victory points for me.

During that final round I was the clear leader with the committed forces to that final battle. But Diego had intrigue cards he could play. There was the potential to turn the tide of war in his favour.

But that fear was for nought. When it came to resolving the combat Diego had no tricks to play to steal the victory.

I had my 4 points and shot up to 9 points and the lead.

Did Diego have end of game intrigue cards then? Sadly for him nope. My last gasp power play was enough to snatch victory.

We followed up Dune Imperium Uprising with learning to play the dice game Dandelions.

This is an unusual game in my collection. It is very specific on the number of players it supports. Dandelions only plays two or three players.

Dandelions plays very fast. We played three games in less than 40 minutes.

I think Dandelions appears deceptively simple. Roll your dice, select one to use, move that number of spaces, put dice on card you finish on. Doesn’t sound very complicated. However that glosses over the area control element, where to move opponents dice to, etc.

So yes the basic game play may be extremely simple. However although not TI4 level of decision making, there are some deeper decisions to make.

I love the dry erase score sheet. That’s a very nice touch.

The fact that we played three games back to back should tell you all you need to know. This is another small box game that makes it easy to just leave in the game bag ready to play at a club night.

Our final game of the afternoon was Senso Battle for Japan.

I like trick taking games. My teenage years were spent playing knock out whist. Having one of my grand parents run a pub for part of my childhood, and two pubs (now long closed and turned into rental properties) literally next to my nans. Where many a time was spent with nan and locals playing pub games like dominoes. So the old traditional pub games are in my dna so to speak.

Thinking about it maybe my years playing knock out whist, and Top Trumps is why I like card games like MtG. That competitive duel.

Anyway Senso adds in an area control mechanic to this trick taking game.

The art on the cards is gorgeous and thematic. Setup is the same no matter the player count. Which is nice. The only thing that changes based on player count is the number of cards dealt each round after the first.

I like how the number of tricks you win each round determines your action that you take after all the cards have been played. As the rounds progress the number cards in your opening hand goes up, and the more tricks to be won. This opens up the possibility of being able to do more powerful actions.

As a two player game I thought it worked well. I get the feeling at higher player counts it gets a lot more cut throat. Not only on taking tricks, but on the area control part.

Definitely a game I need to try with more players.

I am enjoying these Sunday afternoon gaming sessions. Hopefully lots more to come.

New stuff on the way or arrived

So yes it wouldn’t be a just after payday week without some new stuff on the way.

First up are the three latest promo packs for Rolling Realms, Wyrmspan, Obsession, and Crusaders. I can’t wait for Rolling Realms Redux with the larger box. To say there is a storage issue currently if you have all the promo packs, or a large proportion of them, is an understatement.

Next I pulled the trigger on the second expansion for Parks called Wildlife. This is described as the “more” expansion. So more cards for the various decks. Plus a “minor” game play addition that I’ll go over once it arrives and gets to the table.

Finally I bought three roll and write print and plays! I forget which YouTube video I watched that put me onto these. But I bought Voyages, Waypoints, and Aquamarine from Postmark Games. They were dirt cheap at £4 each. I just need to print out four copies of each and laminate them (so I don’t have to keep printing and wasting ink) before I get them to the table.