After surviving Braemar our heroes of no fixed abode head towards Tarfside and the down hill walk towards the coast and journey's end. But first the most dangerous part of their journey…
TGOC 2015 Al’s Last Dance Part 7
All posts by Darren
Posted by me using my iPad and the Blogsy appA big thank you
I need to say a very very big thank you to my friend Freddy. Why? Well thanks to Freddy I'm the proud owner of the following two games that arrived today from the U.S. Of A.
Why did I need the help of Freddy to get these? Well ordering from the publisher in the U.S. was too expensive. And I wasn't able to find a place selling both in the UK (although I was directed to a couple of shops in the UK that had the Brew Crafters Card Game).
So a shout for help went out to Freddy. The plan was Freddy would order the games have them sent to him and then he would post them on to me. I can see the cogs turning and you thinking sneaky. Well it was because doing this way was less than half the cost that the publisher wanted to charge for postage.
Why? Oh Why do companies like to profit from sending goods internationally? Surely if Freddy can send it from the U.S. To the UK for $10 why can't the publisher? But I've had similar in the past in the outdoors world too. I would even accept a little increase of about $5 to cover insurance. But when the cost of postage is more than four times the cost of the goods ordered something smells.
Once again I'm very grateful Freddy for doing me this big favour.
Where I stick it to the man!
Ended up with three of today's Lego give away from the Daily Hate newspaper. I feel dirty having had to buy the paper to get two of them. I'll have to live with that dark spot on my soul.
TGOC 2015 Al’s Last Dance Part 6
After a weekend of celebrating, debauchery, gluttony and singing “I would walk 500 miles” really loudly with other Challengers at Braemar (most likely), potentially doing some clothes washing (although that does use up very important beer tokens), we have the latest up date of the misadventures of Al and Lord Elpus. In which after all that excitement at Braemar they headed off to their mountain retreat to recover.
How many sidekicks does a hero need?
Just how many sidekick and basic action dice do you need?
The photo above doesn't include the dice I have in my dice bag for playing. These are the spares from all the four Dicemasters starter sets so far (if I remember correctly I bought two of the Uncanny X-Men set). Plus this will grow a little bit more when the DC one ordered arrives.
Plus I'm getting a nice little stock of the awful waxy dice bags they give in the starter set.
Intensity Factor 11
I played my first “three minute” game of Star Realms today. Why did I leave it so long before doing this? it was intense!
So let me step back and explain what I'm talking about for those not familiar with Star Realms and specifically the Star Realms app.
With Star Realms the app there is an online play option that allows you to play against a specific player (if you know their ID) or you can rely on pot luck and let the Star Realms servers pick a suitable opponent for you.
Naturally when setting up a game you can choose to play with the Gambit expansion or not, plus choose between being given upto forty eight hours for a turn. Which is brilliant for allowing life to happen during a game. And this is how I've been playing the online side of things since that fateful day earlier in the year to test my mettle against other Star Realms players.
However the second turn time I hadn't tried, which was the three minute turn.
I'd seen comments on the Facebook page about people losing games because their app hadn't refreshed in time. Which hadn't really endeared me to trying this faster version of the online game. Yes you can play the other turn time just as fast but there isn't that pressure to do so.
So today I decided to throw caution to the wind and give the three minute turn a go.
Wow! What an intense experience. That time pressure makes such a big difference. No switching between multiple games. You need to remain focused on that single game. As I pointed out above people have lost games because the timer ran out due to lack of refreshing in time.
I was determined not to have that as an issue, and with the iPad version of the app it wasn't.
Three minutes may seem like a long time to take a turn. But let me tell you it isn't. During that brief down time when you are waiting for your opponent to take their turn, you are working through scenarios of what to buy in the trade row, working out how to best play your cards. Then throwing it all to the wind because they have just bought the cards you wanted and they have been replaced with cards you don't want. Yes this all happens in the normal game but it's more compressed.
How best to describe this for none players? Well you have seen the chess players with their little chess clocks and their timed games? Three minute turns in Star Realms is like that but fun!
Oh and for the record I won the game!
TGOC 2015 Al’s Last Dance
It is often said that magic lives in the hills. Especially round the many stone circles scattered round the landscape. So why did our intrepid wanderers decide to camp in such a spot? Surely they knew the night wouldn't pass without mystical incident?
TGOC 2015 Al’s Last Dance Part 4
Hot in, the latest update on the progress and misadventures of Lord Elpus and Mr Alan Sloman Esquire – gents at large.
Five Tribes Politically Correct Expansion
In previous posts I have mentioned that I had ordered this expansion from Board Game Geeks store. I think I also mentioned also about the fuss that a certain card had caused. In new printings of the game that controversial card has been replaced. However for those that have one of the earlier printings (I'm assuming there have been more than one to meet demand for the game) you can get this expansion to replace the card that can't be named.
The expansion isn't expensive five dollars if I remember correctly plus a dollar shipping. So a bargain really. Plus to sweeten the deal you also get a djinn card to add to the game too.
So here is that controversial card (on the right) plus the new card (on the left). I can see both sides of the argument that of the designer and those that find it offensive. For the record I am against slavery (heck Wisbech is the home of Thomas Clarkson a key figure in the abolition of slavery).
Now I'm sitting on the fence here on whether the card should be played with in the game. However I think when I play Five Tribes with friends and others then I think I need to be able to take the other players opinions into account. So by having both versions I can do that.
However if they do find the card offensive, sadly they will have to put up with the card being referred to in the playing instructions and player reference cards as the slave card. I assume that in the reprinting this too will be replaced with the new cards name.
Will the djinn card included in this expansion be included in the reprinting? I don't know. I would be surprised. As I hinted at the top of the post this djinn card is a sweetener to make having to buy the replacement cards more palettable. So if I was to bet money on this I'd be placing my hard earned cash on that it wouldn't be included.
So is it worth getting? For me yes for the reason given above. Yes if you are a completionist and must have everything for a game.
Remember it's not essential to the game, which can still be enjoyed without it.
TGOC 2015 Al’s Last Dance Part 3
Thought I would share with the wider world than a Facebook page the photo Alan posted of Lord Elpus and the start of their ascent up one of the lesser mountains on the way to amount Skullzfire.
Last night I am happy to report Al and Lord Elpus ate a hearty fish supper. As our latest instalment of their most epic of crossings shows.
TGOC 2015 Al’s Last Dance Part 2
This morning our intrepid heroes had a minor catastrophe. Luckily it was captured for all to enjoy.
Sadly I don't think Al has packed enough whisky or wine to erase this sight from his mind!
Continuing with the ultra light ethos that Al and Lord Elpus have been for championing on this crossing, the pizza delivery boy delivered a deep crust meat feast to them just as the porters had made camp and brewed them a cup of joe.
