All posts by Darren

A Clue For Nathan Part Two

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So last night I was being rock n roll and had gone to bed early listening to the 606 phone in, followed by the film review repeat they are now doing.

I'd given up on Amazon delivering my final part of Nath's Christmas present, despite the tracking saying it was out for delivery but arriving Monday!

But 8:45pm a delivery van turned up, knocking on Nans door. Hey all my deliveries go to hers. It's my cunning plan to misdirect the world, assassins, ninjas, cyborgs from the future, daleks etc.

Which means the above photo from its box is the only clue for Nath to what it is.

This weeks New Arrivals – Start of December 2015

expansions, magic, new arrivals

At the start of the week the Magic the Gathering Battle for Zendikar Fat Pack arrived, along with some more dividers to use in the gift box, and some card sleeves.

Inside the Fat Pack…

The Fat Pack because of the eighty full art basic land cards has been going for silly money on the Internet. Which has been the cause of many a heated debate on the various online outlets.

Personally I have little opinion on this. I think the full art cards are beautiful, and I can see why people would want them. They are available in the booster packs, ok you get one per booster pack, but still I do believe the serious Magic player usually buys a box of boosters anyway. Plus the full art cards that come in the Fat Pack are being sold separately. So they are easily obtainable.

The box everything comes in makes a really nice card storage box. The quality of the box is really high. I just wish FFG produced something like this or the gift box for the Android Netrunner cards to be stored in. We are crying out for something like these.

So what else arrived this week?

Well 7 Wonders was added to the collection. I really did enjoy that game I played at The Hobbit Hole, so when I visited there at the start of the week and they had one in stock, it somehow ended up in my bag as I left!

I finally got the Walking Dead version of Bang the Dice Game. I like the Walking Dead, and this game uses the comic book art, which I like. So nothing new here really, just a different theme, which may appeal to some more than a western one does.

So is anyone really surprised that the expansions for Colt Express and Istanbul have turned up? I thought so, no one is.

UPDATE:

Typical I hold off, waiting for the post to arrive nothing comes, so I upload this blog post. Then a package I was expecting next week turns up today.

So part of Nath's Christmas present arrived today, along with another game for the collection Survive Escape from Atlantis!

Here is a clue to Nath's Christmas present for Nath (if he reads this that is).
 

 

Mid Week Gaming

Fenland Gamers, game night, tabletop

Wednesday saw me meet up with Mat and Jonathan for a cheeky evening of gaming.

We started off playing The Manhattan Project. This was the first time Mat had played the game, and not to spoil it too much he did really well.

I started off with my predictable first move (especially as the first player) of grabbing an engineer so I could start getting buildings for free.

My board started to build up with buildings to get my engine going. Mat didn't seem to be buying many buildings, but grabbing yellow cake and money. Jonathan was also buying buildings especially one I wanted, which gave three yellow cake for the cheap cost of one worker.

Despite using spies to use the buildings of the others to get stuff I needed, I fell behind on the bomb building side. Jonathan seemed to be pulling ahead on that front. Then bang Mat completed two bombs putting him in the lead and ten points from victory. Ten points which I pointed out to Mat he could get by loading his two bombs onto bombers. Which Mat proceeded to do and get the win.

Mat then shared his winning tactic, he lets Jonathan and I duke it out, and then he comes in, steps over our battered corpses (my words there, Mat was a lot less graphic in his description) to get the win. Are Jonathan and I that competitive, or predictable? It's not something I'm consciously doing. I put it down to seating arrangements, Jonathan sitting opposite me (in front) while Mat is next to me (on my right). So I'm more aware of what Jonathan is doing because he is in front of me, while Mat is out of sight! An interesting theory of Mats which I'm going to have to investigate more.

Our second game of the evening was Colt Express with the time machine car expansion.

I liked what the time machine bought to the game. Not knowing where Jonathan's outlaw was an interesting twist, and added a nice element of surprise, and hidden information.

The last round seemed as Jonathan observed pretty pointless because between all three of us outlaws we had looted all the loot from the carriages, caboose, and engine already in the previous rounds. Mind you I think we were less aggressive towards each other than the previous time Jonathan and I had played the game. Which meant that our plans to nab loot were not interrupted by an unexpected punch or marshal visit as often.

We still had an enjoyable game, and Jonathan grabbed the win, while Mat and I drew for second place or last, depending on your point of view.

Jonathan very kindly gave me a spare copy he had of the promo “patron” (can't remember what they are called) tiles for Splendor.

Another great evening of gaming, thanks guys.

 

Star Wars Lego Advent Day 3

lego minifigs

Below left is today's advent piece of Lego. It's a robot! Surprisingly enough, and this may shock you but I don't know what type of robot or which of the movies it's from.

On the right is my new Darth Maul figure. There were only two cool things in Episode 1, the duel of fates music, and Darth Maul. Nath even has a signed photo of Darth Maul by the actor who played him.

I'd like to add a Kylo Ren minifig to my collection but at the moment they are going for stupid money. I can dream.

 

Star Wars Lego Advent Day 2

lego minifigs
Today's bit of Star Wars delight from the Advent calendar is…
It's a mini sarlacc from Return of the Jedi. Which makes sense and continues the theme from yesterday's Lego gift of Jabba's barge. As you can see Bobba Fett is a bit upset from the bad memories this brings back.
 

Also the Santa Darth Maul arrived today. This is from an earlier Lego Star Wars advent calendar.

And the winner is…

competition

Wow there was some great entries. All of them so much better than I could come up with.

Sadly there could only be one winner of the game Bang the Dice Game. And the winner is…

Ronald Pablico

Who needs a golden goose when you have a dog that poops board games?!

Well done Ronald, I'll be contacting you for your address to send your prize to.

Once again a big big thank you to everyone that entered, the entries really were amazing.

Star Wars Lego Advent Day 1

lego minifigs, netrunner, new arrivals

Yep today I can start opening the Star Wars Lego Advent Calandar. After keeping it safe round my Nans for a few weeks now (I would have opened them all by now if I hadn't) it is now TIME!

So today's little bit of Star Wars inspired Lego is a mini Jabba's Barge from the sixth Star Wars movie Return of the Jedi. It's amazing what can be done with eleven bits of Lego.
Finally the click trackers from Team Covenent arrived today. I do like these for tracking clicks while playing Android Netrunner.

These are really nice, I also like their money counters for the game. I'll get some at some point, oh along with the extra click tokens.

The invoice came in a really nice card, and had a Team Covenent sticker inside too. Back of the invoice had really nice gushing text on it thanking for buying etc etc. This was a real great way to present the invoice, it is very stylish, and clever. A very very nice touch.

Running Magic

dice masters, magic, netrunner

While getting some card protectors to protect my restocked Love Letter Batman (I'd given my two copies away, and it is my favourite version), a set of Magic Duel Decks and three booster packs fell into my bag! The owner of the FLGS also kindly gave me a “trial” Magic the Gathering pack as well. These “trial” packs are two thirty card decks given to people thinking of trying the game.

This Christmas is looking like a LCG/CCG holiday. With the Magic stuff today, Epic, Android Netrunner, and Ashes I have plenty of options to play with Nath.

Whilst at the FLGS ok I'm going to name it, it's The Hobbit Hole in Chatteris, the owner said he is looking to start organising Netrunner stuff starting in January. Customers (other than me) had been in asking about the game.

The other bit of gossip I got was that apparently the second D&D Dicemasters set is meant to be hitting stores tomorrow!!!

If this is true, it's madness. The Amazing Spider-Man set only hit about three weeks ago.

I love playing Dicemasters, but I'm glad I jumped off the wagon. Wizkids have a crazy release schedule, that is not only expensive, but doesn't give you much time to play with the sets before another hits.

At least with Netrunner and Magic the release schedules are much less punishing. Giving you time to play and explore the new goodness.

Mind you considering the Dicemasters Teenage Ninja Turtles set will be a self contained set, I may be tempted to part with some cash for it.

Don't forget…

Today is the last day to enter the caption competition to win a copy of Bang the Dice Game.