All posts by Darren

Saturday with the Fenland Gamers

Fenland Gamers, game night
Wow another great time playing games. I can’t think of a better way to spend a Saturday afternoon. Well ok out on the hill with a wild camp would technically beat it. But if we add the criteria when you are stuck at home. Then my statement is accurate.
But I’m jumping ahead of myself. This afternoon saw me meeting up with the Fenland Gamers again for an afternoon of gaming.
The gaming session started off with a game of Ticket to Ride with the 1910 expansion used for the larger route cards. The route cards in the base game are small and lots of people don’t like them. So most folks buy this expansion just to upgrade the route cards.
I did complete my three routes only just. Our host won so convincingly, with a score well over a hundred and forty points. His score wasn’t too far off from being double my final score. I do own the game and the expansion but rarely get to play it, and have to usually settle for AI opponents in the app. A refreshing change to play against people.
After Ticket to Ride it we moved onto the bluffing game Coup. This was the first time I have played the game since purchasing it. I think it was also the first time for everyone else too. I think we must of played three or four games of this. In one of the games when there were three of us left, and all of us were claiming to be Dukes, I came up with the line “the Dukes duking it out”.
It was then onto a new game for me Glen More. In Glen More you are a clan leader trying to increase the influence and power of their clan in the 1600s. The game had several mechanics I enjoy in games. For example like Tokaido the last player on the board goes first, although Glen More was doing this long before Tokaido. Buying the tiles and placing them in your village reminded me a bit of Alhambra.
The market in the middle was a nice way to get the odd resource that you were short of to buy a tile.
And I just don’t like the game because I won. Ok won very convincingly.

Glen More is currently out of print and apparently hard to get. Which sounds like a challenge. In the meantime it has been added to my bgg wish list. In my initial searching I did come across the useful to know bit of information that Glen More is being reimplemented in a new version of the game called Lunarchitecs. Which gives the game a space theme. I’m not sure if there will be any tweaks to the game play. Personally I don’t think it needs any. This will be hitting Kickstarter in November, you can find more info HERE.

Below my winning village.

The final big game was another attempt to save the world from total destruction by playing Pandemic. Despite finding a cure for the yellow virus, we still failed to stop the destruction of mankind.
But we did have fun on the way to oblivion if that helps make your slow painful death from the pandemics we failed to stop and better.

The final game we played before I had to leave was Love Letter. This was a new game for the others. I think it is safe to say they enjoyed the game a lot. I managed to win getting the required four tokens. But it wasn’t a walk away victory. I think most of the others won at least two tokens.

I really did have a great time, once again great company, great games. There is also the potential that I will get to play Memoir 44 during the week. Plans are a foot for it to happen. So very excited about that.

I’m hoping my less than subtle subliminal programming will get the others into accidentally buying Android:Netrunner.

 

A Kickstarter Arrival

new arrivals

This morning A Chaotic Life a game I backed on Kickstarter arrived.

Below is a photo of the contents of the box.

Now I know that the designer/publisher has been listening to feedback from backers (those that had already received and played it) about the gameplay. So at the moment the rules are being updated based on that feedback and under going play testing at the moment.

I love that the designer is so responsive to the community, this is definitely a benefit a small company has over larger ones. Looking at the Boardgame Geek page for the game the designer is engaging with the games community. Love it.

However even with all this love, I'm in a quandary. Do I play the game with the current rules or wait for the rules update?

 

Ashes finally arrives

Ashes

Finally the joyous day has come that Ashes Rise of the Phoenixborn arrived. And boy that box is even more beautiful in reality.

The art work is stunning, and the white box as the background just makes it pop. I think this has to be the best looking game box I have seen.

So let's look inside this beautiful looking box. The first thing you are treated by is even more beautiful art work. This time the cover of the games rule book.

Below that are the tokens waiting to be popped out. I love popping the tokens out, it's almost as therapeutic as popping bubble wrap.

Then at the bottom there are several packets of cards, some empty plastic bags and the dice that the game uses.

Below the promo Phoenixborn Dimona Odinstar Phoenixborn of Rayward that comes with the game when ordered from Plaid Hat Games.

In my next post on Ashes I'll start looking at the contents in more detail.

 

My First Fenland Gamers Meet

Fenland Gamers

Last night saw me attend my first Fenland Gamers night in Wisbech.

The evening of gaming started off with a game of Sushi Go. I think we know my views of the game. For the record I love it. None of the others had played the game before, so they had to endure me teaching them the game.

We then moved onto a new game for me the worker placement game Gluck Auf.

Ok I lost the game but I had a great time playing it. I only came last by four points. But wow I liked the game. Our host and founding member had blinged out the game by replacing the paper money with poker chips. Which is something I think I'd do too if/when I get a copy.

Basically in Gluck Auf you are a pit boss bringing coal up from the mines to fulfil orders. I like the fact that if an action spot has already been selected that you can still use it, however to do so requires you to spend one more worker than is on the action you want to do. Ok I love this, it means you can tactically push up the cost of an action to drain opponents resources.

The game is played over three rounds, with scoring taking part at the end of each round. A round ends when everyone has no more workers to place.

Another cool mechanic is that at the end of the third and final round when scoring if your tableau is not balanced (equal number of tiles each side of the tableau) you get negative points. If you have incomplete orders you get negative points.

Ok yes this has been added to the wish list.

The final game of the evening for me was a game of Pandemic the Cure.

I'm sorry to report once more the team assembled to save the world from the viral oblivion were not up to the job, and mankind was wiped out.

I had a really great time, the group made me feel really welcome. I'm really looking forward to the next meet up which I believe is this Saturday.

You can find Fenland Gamers on Facebook and the Interweb.

 

Battlelore Arrives

new arrivals

Well I'm a semi happy bunny today. The second hand copy of Battlelore Second Edition arrived today. I'm still waiting for the second hand copy of The Game of Thrones Board Game to turn up apparently it was sent last Friday. I believe it's been sent using myHermes. This courier is used a lot on the Facebook group I belong to. Mainly because it's cheap to send stuff through them. Sadly there is a trade off for this low cost, and that is its not the speediest of couriers to use.

I'm still waiting for Ashes to turn up. Plaid Hat Games said it was allegedly sent two weeks ago by their European distributor, and that I should have had a notification that it had been sent. Needlessly to say I've never received that notification. I have to wait until Friday before getting back to them if it has not turned up.

I have to say this is the one I'm most disappointed about. Previously my experience with Plaid Hat has been exemplary. But at the moment my current experience is leaving a little sour taste.

I'm hoping these both will turn up before the weekend. There is a new gaming group in Wisbech that I am going to (first meet up that I'm attending tonight), and they have a gaming event this Saturday. Plus I'm hoping to get to The Hobbit Hole in Chatteris on Sunday (taking my Netrunner decks with me incase I can get a game).

 

Boba Fett Infamous Bounty Hunter

imperial assault

And here we go, and here we go, another character from the Imperial Assault Wave Two expansions. This time it's a Villian pack and is Boba Fett, Infamous Bounty Hunter.

Now I think Boba Fett is a cool looking character. However! I just don't get all this fandom for him. I mean in Empire all he does is ferry the frozen carbon body of Han back to Jabba the Hutt. He didn't even capture Han, Darth Vader did all the hard work there.
Then in Return, he stands around looking cool at Jabba's Palace, first bit of action he ends up in the belly of that sand pit monster after a nearly blind Han takes him out by accident! Hardly the stuff of legends

Anyway as the photo above shows the sculpt for Boba Fett is pretty cool looking. Ok that's an understatement it's bloody amazing. It really does capture the coolness that is Boba Fett.

Below shows the two new skirmish mission cards that come with Fett.

Fett gets three new command cards, one specific to him. Plus there is a new status introduced Weakened. There are no new tokens (yet – maybe Team Covenent will release some) for this new status included with Boba Fett. FFG suggest using coins or whatever is to hand at the moment.

Boba Fett has the following character card, six movement! Then look at his abilities. I can easily see Fett being a skirmish favourite.

Below is the mission sheet showing the skirmish map. Continuing my self imposed ban I haven't shown the campaign side to maintain some mystery for the campaign player.

Once again I present the campaign cards that come with Boba Fett, but remember I don't (or haven't yet) play the game as a campaign.

I think with Boba Fett, and IG-88 a bounty hunter skirmish squad is going to start becoming a thing. Boba Fett is a very strong addition to the game. I may not understand his following but that doesn't stop me appreciating how cool this figure is.

 

Star Realms Cosmic Gambit Expansion

star realms
Well this post is over due. It's about time I showed you the cards that come in the new Cosmic Gambit expansion for Star Realms.
This new expansions adds fifteen new cards, a rules card, a base card and thirteen gambit cards.

The above card is from the first Gambits expansion. I've included it here in this look at the new cards so that you can see the difference in the rules. When I play with Gambits in the real world I normally mirror the app and deal two random Gambits to each player. With the old rules there was no real advantage to not revealing your Gambits at the start of the game. Which is probably why the app shows them straight off.

However as the new rules show that Gambits remain face down until they decide to reveal the cards (they can if they like reveal them right at the start) however as the look at the cards below show, there is now an advantage to not revealing straight away. Some of the new Gambits have effects that trigger when they are revealed.

The Hidden Base Cosmic Gambit card (below) does something new. It gives you an extra outpost that the player chooses the faction for! I think if I had this I'd be playing it at the start of the game letting it stop that early damage from the opening dance that occurs.

There are two copies of the following three Cosmic Gambit cards in this expansion.

It should be noted that in this pre-release Origins/GenCon edition of Cosmic Gambits that the Asteroid Mining card (shown above) has a misprint. Apparently it shouldn't be two trade but one.

The Black Market looks interesting. The way I'm reading it is that only you can buy the card above it, and not your opponent. If so this could be devastating! It could potentially tie down something like The Ark until you are able to buy it at a reduced cost, and not have to worry about your opponent buying it!

L

This expansion adds another Wild Gambit card to the game, so when combined with the original Gambits expansion there will be two Wild Gambits sitting in the mini Gambits deck.

People either love or hate the Gambit cards. Get the right ones and it's possible to buy like the Megahauler, The Ark or other expensive powerful cards turn one! This alone has people complain they are over powered blah blah blah.

I personally sit on the fence about them. I can take them or leave them. I enjoy playing with them when I do.

The cards in Cosmic Gambits look fun, they add even more variety to a very enjoyable game.

 

Father and Son Become Lords of Waterdeep

lords of waterdeep, waterdeep

So what gaming did Nath and I get up to in this way too short visit?

Well if you don't count the game of tidying up Naths bedroom ready for it to be painted, which had the mechanic “do you still want this?” then we only played one boardgame this weekend. Which was today.

Sadly Nath was working Saturdy night and was closing up which meant I had to pick him up at two in the morning. Which means by the time he gets home, has something to eat, unwinds a little it's gone three by the time he hits the sack.

So naturally this meant Nath didn't surface until nearly midday. After we had eaten (lunch for me, breakfast for Nath) we had a game of my new arrival Lords of Waterdeep.

After setting up, it was teach Nath the game. Luckily between the two physical plays and the excellent iOS app I was familiar enough with the game to teach Nath.

Lords of Waterdeep isn't a difficult game to explain and can be done in a fairly short time. Once you start taking your first turns it soon becomes very obvious what to do. I think the limited things to do each turn like take an action by placing an agent on it and possibly completing a quest make it a very fast learning curve.

Nath picked up the game really quick, and after three rounds I tested the water and asked Nath if he was enjoying the game. Nath responded in the positive to my question.

Sadly I got well and truly thrashed by Nath.

I've now played the game with four, three and now two players. So which is my favourite number to play with?

I liked playing two player with Nath, and found the game was fun. So when it comes to choosing what to take down to play at Christmas Waterdeep will be a strong contender to make the trip.

I also thought the game is even better with more players. A bit more challenging, and more to think about.

For me I'll happily play this game with any number of players, I don't think I do have a favourite number. I just like playing the game. When Nath is playing then it just takes the game enjoy ability to new levels of awesome.

Oh well back to the real world. A games night this Wednesday to look forward to, and hopefully some of the second hand games I bought will turn up or against the odds finally Ashes Rise of the Phoenix Born.

 

Southern Car Park

new arrivals

So finally made it down to see Nath. I'd like to say without incident, but it seems the South is just one big carpark with road works every blooming where. Take a route to avoid road works I knew about, only to run into more road works. Nice to know all my taxes are going to prop up the South while we get no investment locally.

Waiting for me at Naths was last weekends delivery that the escapades of the previous Friday meant I missed.

So I'm assuming a recent issue of XBox The Official Magazine gave away with it a little XBox themed card game called Heroes of XBox Combat Cards.

As the instructions on the back (see below) indicate this card game is “similar” to the popular card game for children of all ages Top Trumps.

I'm not going to bore you with all the cards in the pack, however I will bore you with four of my favourites.

I think every kid growing up has played a top trumps game or two. I think my favourite version of the ones available when I was much much younger was the Marvel Top Trumps. So we are probably talking early to mid eighties.

Hopefully tomorrow we will get a game or two in before I have to return back to the land of the never ending horizon.

 

Induction Day – Student Gaming

love letter, tabletop

Today and yesterday were the first day of the new academic year for some of our students. For the first couple of days our students are on a special timetable from the rest of the academic year while they go through induction activities.

For my part of the induction process I like to use boards games.The games I usually use are Love Letter (Hobbit, Batman and Loot Letter) and also Resistance.

My first session with some level two students. For this I had the students play Love Letter with the winner on each table getting a prize (a McD Luigi toy from their current promotion, a Lego Minifig Mirkwood Elf, or a Lego Minifig TMNT).

The next session I had was a double session with some level three students. I started off with a Love Letter “tournament” for the first half, using more of the same prizes from the morning.

Then for the second session one group played Resistance while the other group played Bang! the Dice Game.

This morning for another level three double session (different group), they had the same Love Letter “tournament” followed by Resistance (I had managed to borrow a second copy for today).

About two or three of the two level three groups play a CCG of some type (yes Magic was the most popular). While the rest weren't really gamers.

However from all the groups it was evident that they had a good time playing the games. In fact one in his lunch break today went to the LGS and bought a copy of Loot Letter. Wow! he went with that version because he liked the none gloss cards better.

The nice thing was the last session today I was able to play a game of Loot Letter myself with the students. Which was great fun. I also quickly taught the ones I played Loot Letter how to play Sushi Go. Although we didn't have time to play a full game.

The students were interacting with each other, which is why I had chosen these games. The games broke the ice and gave them an enjoyable break from the other induction activities. Win, win in my book.

Plus I think we have some gamers (both video and board) so we might be able to get a gaming society going for the students.