All posts by Darren

My International Tabletop Day 2015

tabletop
Yesterday was International Tabletop Day, a day to celebrate boardgames by playing boardgames. So how did I spend this auspicious of days?
The most obvious thing to start this answer off with is I played some turns in the app version of Star Realms. Well it is my addiction and the games I'm playing go on whether its Tabletop Day or not. I think on the whole I broke even in the wins and loses columns.
Later in the day I got invited out to the pub to pick some leaflets that I had committed to deliver over the weekend for Sam. Sam is running for the local council on the Tory ticket. But I decided to take some games with me to play (just in case the opportunity arose). As the yellow dice bag (and yes it's the official one) above shows I took Zombie Dice along with the little score pad. But the Age of War game box I decided could be used to carry more than just the Age of War game.
So what games did I manage to squeeze into the small game box? Well Age of War for starters, Roll For It, Poker Dice and Batman Love Letter. So I think I squeezed a lot of game into a small box.
Did I get to play anything while out then? Hell Yeah! We played Batman Love Letter. Which Sam won. But it's one of those games where the mistakes give you the laughs and talking points. Like James who sat next to me, not keeping his card to himself at one point allowing me to play a Batman card to guess his card! I have to say I do love playing Love Letter.
There was a quick game of Zombie a Dice which James won. Followed by a game of Roll For It, which I house ruled that we played until some-one got 30 points instead of 40. And that game was won by a mate of James.

I would of gone to my FLGS but the announcement about what they had planned was very last minute, and seeing as it's just under an hours drive not worth a speculative visit (parking also costs), no mention of which promos they had or were giving away, or details on games being played. I feel a post coming on about game stores in general in the near future.

Geek n Sundry Live Feed

When I got home I decided to watch some of the live stream of the Geek n Sundry Tabletop day event. Which is basically Felicia Day or Will Wheaton sitting round a table with guests playing games. For whatever reason it was going out over Twitch (yes I know they broadcast on it). Anyway Felicia and three others were playing Batman a Love Letter when I “tuned” in. I didn't recognise a single one of the guests Felicia was playing with. If you thought Celebrity Big Brother on Channel 5 had obscure celebrities on it, the fame whores that it finds are major A List stars compared to the “celebs” that were sitting round this table. Maybe in the echo chamber that is Los Angeles these people have some standing on the celebrity scale. But outside in the real world they do not register.
Apparently for the next game Splendor the guests with Felicia were presenters on the twitch channel. So as I said in the echo chamber they may be “somebody” but for the rest of us its a game of “who the feck is that?” I think maybe in future instead of choosing nobodies from the echo chamber that Felicia and Will would be better off having members of the public attending plucked from the playing area and join them.
Of course trying to guess what the echo chamber “celebs” are famous for is a great game to play while watching. While guessing you are not allowed to look them up on the Internet to find out. You have until the end of the game being played to make a guess, using clues obviously from their playful banter between each other during the game.

New

I mentioned the other day that it was now possible to get the first data pack in the new Android:Netrunner cycle. The Valley arrived on International Tabletop Day. The first thing you notice is that the packaging has changed. The cardboard box is gone and replaced by a plastic case. I'll try and look at the cards during the week.
Plus Han, Leia and the Emperor arrived.

 

Crystal Maze Post

lego minifigs, netrunner

The forces of good gather to consider options to get Han out of the pickle he's got himself in. Obi Wan said Han shouldn't have failed his Crystal Maze challenge. But Luke and Chewie didn't like this change to the original Crystal Maze format. The ramifications of failing the challenge had a lot more serious consequences than just being trapped in a room.

I decided to add a spare black cloak to the Jedi Luke minifig to finish it off. I may get a black hood at some point to use with it.
A Darth Vader wearing a medal arrived escorted by two Stormtroopers. Wasn't happy with the state of one of the Stormtrooper helmets. I think bad feedback may be due.
Once again I've added to a minifig. This time Vader really did need a lightsaber.
Is it obvious what minifigs I'll be using on a certain day next month? I bet it is.
Some minifig props also landed through the door, four blasters for the Stormtroopers, and a trophy. I think there will be some end of year awards this year.
I also created a new minifig called The Establishment that was inspired by the cover of the book by Owen Jones. It was a simple figure to create, a Lone Ranger head(!) for the mask, a bowler hat, suit torso and plain black legs. Captures the cover rather well I think.
 

The second volume of Snowpiercer also arrived.

Android:Netrunner SanSan Cycle Data Packs

Super cool news saw that the first data pack in the SanSan Cycle is out to buy! The data pack is called The Valley, and that's all I know about it. I've not seen any spoilers for cards for this data pack, or cycle so I have absolutely no idea what to expect. This is going to be an unusual experience for me. Usually something I play I'm up on any spoilers. I don't recognise myself.

 

 

Weekly Humble Bundle

tabletop
I think the image I swiped from the Humble Bundle site for this weeks weekly bundle says it all really.
Pay what you want for the following games:
  • Small World 2
  • Talisman Digital Edition
  • Magnifico

If you pay over seven dollars you unlock the following on top of the above:

  • Catan Creators Edition
  • Ticket to Ride
  • 100% Orange Juice
  • Soundtracks from the games

Plus if you splash out more than thirty two dollars you get the Humble tabletop box. Which is something that continues the Humble Bundle trend of having some physical element for people to opt for. For me this wasn't something that appealed to me. But its contents may be attractive enough to you to go for this.

Click HERE to splash out for these great digital versions of tabletop games. Don't forget a percentage (that you decide) also goes towards charity, and that these are DRM free and also on Steam (not 100%).

 

Remember remember

tabletop

 

This Saturday is International Tabletop Day. It's smack dam in the middle of an awesome weekend that starts on Friday with DareDevil hitting Netflix. Then on the other side is the start of the new season of A Game of Thrones on the Sunday (plus a pub quiz at the Kings Head). How's that for a weekend sandwich of awesome?

If you have an Amazon Prime account you still have time to order a game or two in to play if you don't have any games. If you don't have a Prime account then you could always pop along to your local game store and pick something up.

If you are a none gamer and want some suggestions what to buy and play I would say you can't go far wrong with one or two of the following games: Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne, Catan, Fluxx, Splendor, Machi Koro, Tokaido, Star Realms, Munchkin, Harbour, Love Letter, King of New York, Cash n Guns 2, Resistance, Zombie Dice, Age of War, Bang the Dice Game, Lost Cities, Tiny Epic Kingdoms, Pandemic The Cure, Pandemic.

Some of the above suggestions are quick games, some are two player, some are group games. I think that they are all games that can be learnt easily and quickly, are accessible.

Or if you have some games already why not choose one of them to play? And yes despite my opinion on games like Monopoly, Cluedo, etc I'm including these to here. It's about having fun playing games, and if that's what floats your boat.

If you are lucky your local gamestore will be taking part and have stuff going on. I have no idea what either the local stores to me are doing on Saturday. I know one said they are doing something but what I have no idea.

I'll probably end up playing a solo game or two while watching the live feed of Will Wheaton and pals. I'm not going to count taking my turns at Star Realms.

I've been looking forward to this day, and feel I've let myself down not having anything planned. I did try organising something but very little interest was shown. And saying very little is being economical with the truth, no interest was shown.

But don't cry for me Argentina. I'm a big boy now, I can handle rejection.

What are your plans for the day? What games are you planning on playing? You can find out more here.

 

Heinz 57 Post

lego minifigs, Munchkin, pixel tactics, star realms, tabletop

About Last Night

Last night Sam (a friend) messaged me via that NSA friendly site Facebook inviting me along to the Kings Head and to bring along Munchkin. The pub was a little busier than was expected, but Sam, Duncan and myself sat down to play a game of Munchkin.
As the photo above shows my Munchkin character was an Elven Thief dressed in leather armour. That's one of the things I love about the game the crazy race and class combos that paint such vivid pictures (greatly enabled by the great art work on the cards) that become more vivid when you start adding on the accessories like armour and weapons.
The game started slowly mainly due to work (Sam having to serve customers) and very few monsters turning up in the Door pile of cards to fight. Once we started fighting monsters and levelling up, it becomes the case of stockpiling cards to stop your nearest rival from stepping over the winning line.
That arms race finally happened in our game between Sam and myself. I used my salvo of cards to stop Sam crossing over the line, depleting my arsenal. Then it was Sam's turn to use up her arsenal to stop me crossing the winning line. Which she successfully did. But then all sides are wondering did the other person have anything left to stop them when their turn comes around again. Back to Sam's turn and she draws a curse. Then it's my turn I too draw a curse, but protected from its effects by some magic footwear. Back to Sam and still no monster for her to fight. Which was lucky for me, I had nothing to stop her with in my hand. My turn. A level one monster (I forget which one) I very easily had more than enough to defeat the monster. Phew Sam was in the same situation as myself nothing left to stop me winning. We had both used everything we had in our previous exchange of blows. I crawled across the finish line to win.

When Worlds Collide

In the world of Minecraft skeletons are a minor irritation. They don't have it easy especially when they are on the surface, as soon as it turns daylight they burn up. Well one skeleton had had enough of the status quo. He reached out for some help. A pan-dimensional portal opened up and four Stormtroopers turned up to help even the odds up for the skeleton.

Luckily for Steve two other figures followed the Stormtroopers through the pan-dimensional portal, Jedi Luke and Stormtrooper Han.
So I have a nice little minifig Stormtrooper army building up.

Competition My Arse

The Pixel Tactics playmat from Level 99 arrived today but only after I had to pick it up from its kidnappers the Royal Mail. They had taken it hostage and were demanding a ransom before they would release it.
The ransom exchange took place at the nearest sorting office. Not exactly neutral territory but when a gun is being held at your head you have to go along with the demands of the man with the gun in their hand.
The thing about this kidnapper is that they are meant to be working in a competitive market place (except the last mile where they have a monopoly) for delivery of mail. But I call shenanigans on that. There is no competition in reality. If there was competition then the ransom fee I had to pay today would be a lot lower than it was.
I don't mind paying the tax on the goods I bought from outside of the UK. That is fair. What I do object to paying is the ripoff fee that the Royal Mail charge. The “handling” fee is total bs. It's like the extortionate fees banks charge. There is no way that the costs to the Royal Mail is that much.
However the “competition” only match or go higher on the costs they charge. A competitive market should see these costs dropping not remain stagnant and at a profiteering price.
I'm really resentful of this exploitation of a situation that the Royal Mail use to unfairly profit at my expense.

The playmat itself from Level 99 is lovely. Similar material to all my other playmats, but thinner. The thinness did strike me at first, but it doesn't detract from what a nice playmat it is.

Some Light Reading

I really did enjoy the movie Snowpiercer starring Chris Evans. It's one of those films that snuck out last year and didn't get the exposure the movie really deserved. Just go rent the movie you won't regret it.

The film was based on a French graphic novel. So I finally caved and ordered the source material to read. The second volume is in the postal system somewhere.

Star Realms An Easter Miracle Happens

A couple of days back I decided to check what if any my ranking was in the Star Realms Leaderboards. Bloody hell how did I get that high? Surely something was wrong with their leaderboard? Ok it dropped down after a couple of loses, but even then it was way higher than I was expecting.
Another loss and a further drop. But I tell you I won't see this again me higher up in the rankings than TheCutter.

Naturally on the monthly and lifetime leaderboard I don't even make a dent. That was more like it. The natural order of things is at least restored on those two leaderboards.

 

Halflings vs Elves

tabletop

Yesterday we squeezed in another game of Age of War which I won. So that's a 50% win rate at the game so far against Duncan.

Duncan and I also got to play Tiny Epic Kingdom which saw the Halflings of Brysue (me) go toe to toe with the Elves of Galson (Duncan).

Tiny Epic Kingdom is a 4x game. What does that mean? Well I had heard it explained recently in reviews for this very game. However I am old and my memory isn't as good as it used to be, so I found this explanation for you.

“4X is a genre of strategy-based video and board games in which players control an empire and “eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate”.” (Source Wikipedia link)

The expansionist plans of both our kingdoms over spilled into the lost kingdom of Ahlfors. This is a slight rule change for two players, one of a couple specific for two players. The high and mighty Elves had decided to go off on a quest to far away lands and came across the lands of the lost kingdom of Ahlfors, where they found a strange race of humanoids stopping their expansionist plans to colonise this newly discovered kingdom.

The Elves taking inspiration from US history engaged in a war with the indigenous population to steal their stone producing land to use in their own resource hungry master plan. The indigenous people gave little resistance to the superior invading forces. The Elves had been victorious and now controlled the valuable resource producing land. But not for long. No sooner had the surviving rightful people of this region of Ahlfors fled their homes from the marauding Elven armies, than a fleet carrying the liberating armies of the halfling armies of Brysue arrived to free the people of Ahlfors from the tyrannical yoke of the elves. Naturally the liberators had to stay behind and make sure that the indigenous people were exploited for the right cause.

Or in none fancy words I let Duncan take one of the Lost Kingdoms lands, depleting his resources that could be used in combat, then stepped in and took the land off him using just enough resources to defeat him. A cunning tactic on my behalf ^_^

What is amazing thing about Tiny Epic Kingdoms is that for such a small box, there is an amazing amount of game play, and good quality components. They really have captured a game that would come in a much larger box with tonnes more components and take many hours to play into a tiny box that plays much quicker.

Even though there are only six actions to choose from, there is a lot of tactical decisions to be made. Play an action at the wrong time and it could screw up your opponent easily that round. At one point I had the decision of questing or patrolling. If I quested I could of invaded an area on the Elven kingdom and won (I had more resources for fighting) and cut off the mana source Duncan needed to do research. Basically be a complete git. Or I could patrol and make a move towards a capital to give me a victory point at the end.

There really are some nice mechanics in this game from the selecting actions, sharing actions, end conditions, to the combat.

Naturally the forces of good depicted by the Halflings defeated the forces of chaos depicted by the Elves. Or put another way I beat Duncan.

I know Roll For It, Age of War etc have been out for a while. But there does seem to be a much welcomed new wave of small games punching well above their weight, Tiny Epic Kingdoms, Star Realms, Harbour. Games that can easily be taken around in a bag and whipped out at a moments notice. I'm loath to call these filler games, although they certain can fill that role at a games night. I think calling them such deminishes the games from what they are. I hate to call them micro or pocket games. I think these games are like the transformers of the games world, more than meets the eye. Whatever the tag you want to put on these types of games they are at the end of the day great games, with lots of replayability, and lots of fun.

 

 

The Bank Holiday Weekend

tabletop

Saturday saw the arrival of Duncan, who had travelled down from the semi-free people's Republic of Scotland. Thinking about it that gives the impression that those north of the border have more of a resemblance of democracy than we do down here in the oppressed Englandshire. But in reality they are ruled by just as corrupt politicians who seem in some areas more destructive than our temporarily out of power Establishment overlords. The ruling Scottish version of UKIP or SNP as they like to call themselves (dispute that? well you can't. You can take a speech from either party replace England/Parliament with EU and vice versa and you have the same speech, they are the same bigoted party) seem to have come up with a cunning plan that allows them to please their local branch of the Establishment, whilst ruining a national treasure that attracts the hated English oppressors. What is this Bond Villianesq plan? Why to build Windfarms in all the remote wild places, ruin the views and landscape. That way those nasty tourists and their money that gets spent in local rural communities will go elsewhere like the cities, and the landowners won't be inconvienced by unwanted visitors and can enjoy hunting protected species in happy bliss.

Anyway Saturday evening Duncan and I spent a little time playing Star Realms! Yes a chance to play the physical game once more. So these were learning games for Duncan as I taught him the game, and he started to,learn some of the cards.

Yesterday saw me introduce Duncan to Roll For It which he wasn't too impressed with. However I still enjoy the game.

We then had a game of Age of War which Duncan did enjoy. This was the first time I'd gotten to play the game since buying. It's a “simple” game to play using the same mechanic as Roll For It. For me Age of War is the natural game to move on to for those that like Roll For It. It's a bit more tactical, has the chance to steal cards from another player. If I could get it (it is proving hard at the moment) Elder Signs would be the game to play after Age of War, because it still uses the same core mechanic, but adds even more onto it. Once I've played a few more games I'll go into it in more detail.

For me these three games would give a smooth path for taking a non gamer from a simple quick filler game to playing a more substantial game using a simple core mechanic of rolling dice to complete cards.

Yesterday I did give Duncan a guided tour rounded the Capital of the Fens, Centre of the Known Universe on foot. The tour was bought to life with memories from my youth of terrorising the town and ruling it with an iron fist.

Above a picture of me impersonating a well known ex outdoor magazine editor. In the distance you can make out the monument to Thomas Clarkson the true unsung hero behind freeing the slaves. Sadly the public and history books have fallen for the better publicity machine of Wilberforce.

 

Lego and Playmats

lego minifigs, tabletop

Ok we know I have a Lego minifig problem, but obviously it can't be that big of a problem because an intervention hasn't been held for me yet.

So having not been abducted and deprogrammed from the cult of Lego, I feel I'm pretty safe in talking to you my fellow addicts about my new arrivals.

As you can see in the photo I have a minifig boxer now, I'm on the hunt for the 2012 GB Olympic boxing figure at the moment. Why would I want these figures? I'm not exactly a big boxing fan. Well for those of you that have insomnia or have gotten bored with life will know when I write about games of Star Realms I usually end up comparing them to boxing matches. So the little clogs in my brain turned and turned and came up with the idea of using two minifigs boxing to illustrate the posts.
The other new arrivals were four more Stormtroopers. No guns with them, but I can source them easily enough. I also have one or two other Star Wars figures coming, but I'm not going to ruin the surprise by telling you which ones they are now.

Custom Playmats

In a previous post I mentioned about some custom playmats I had ordered a couple from a place in the US, then a couple of days later found out about a place in the UK that does them called Patriot Games. So from them I ordered custom playmats for Marvel Legendary and for Splendor. Using my advanced Google skills I found a couple of amazing designs to use and upload.
This morning the postie also delivered the two playmats from Patriot Games.
I have to say I was really impressed with the two mats. The quality seems really good, the finish is good. I'm looking forward to playing the games using the mats. This will definitely be my go to place for custom playmats I think.
While I'm talking playmats I did notice on the FFG website for Android:Netrunner that they are developing (what's to develop?) four playmats for the game. None of the designs they have up have the play areas marked out, which is a shame. The play areas are great for us noobs to the game. They act as a great aid memoir for layout out the cards. There are some great custom designs out there that are corp/runner specific, but also some great designs that are duel use. So it's definitely possible to make a mat that us noobs can use.

 

A Tuesday Night Games Night

tabletop

Just an idea I'm throwing out there. But anyone in the Wisbech area (or further if you can make it) want to play any of the above games on a Tuesday between 7:30pm and 10pm at The Kings Head (on the Old Market).

I don't play Magic The Gathering but if people want to play that I'm up for a game if you don't mind teaching someone and lending me a deck to play with.

I thought it might be fun to play one of these games whilst enjoying a beverage or two. I've not asked permission to do this (at the moment if it gets a lot of interest I will), because I can't see a problem with two or three people playing games while enjoying a pint.

Was thinking of starting this on the 14th April. If you are interested leave a comment below or sign up using the event page I've set up on Eventbrite.

Hope to see you there

 

Easter Thursday Night Games Night

game night, star realms, tabletop

Last night saw another Thursday Night Games Night at a new venue.

The evening started off meeting at the old location to go in convoy to the new location. But due to the length of the journey the convoy had to stop at Morrisons for supplies. They are cunning people at Morrisons placing “better than half price” (their words not mine) Jaffa Cakes right next to the entrance of the store as the first thing you hit before having to walk through that evil guilt inducing fruit and veg isle. Mind you it's rare that I feel guilty that I should eat more fruit and veg. Now cake I do feel guilty I'm not eating enough of.

It was a major display of will power on my part not to just buy a shit load of Jaffa Cakes. Sadly I was strong and didn't crumble and only bought two packets. Oh and a trifle for a quid to use as a dip for them! Hey what can I say I'm a creative genius.

Now stocked up with supplies to finish the long trek to the new venue we headed off across the border into the wildes of Norfolk, for about thirty seconds before crossing back into the civilised lands of Cambridgeshire. That was the most dangerous part of our trek over with. We had survived unscathed the badlands of Norfolk.

The convoy arrived at the new venue. We hadn't had to touch the supplies after all, oh well they will do for the game night.

The new venue was none other than the secret headquarters of the infamous pirate podcast Lolocaust Tubeblockers. We even had a guided tour of the actual recording studio used to create these acts against humanity and good taste. I will apologise because this would of been the perfect time to strike back for mankind and deliver a blow for freedom against this tyranny. However Bouncy had more security than a Bond villian round his recording studio. Yep that's right it was blocked off with “Police Line Do Not Cross” tape. Security does not get harder to crack than that. It's uncrackable. An opportunistic chance to strike back for freedom and democracy had been foiled by impenetrable security.

Our first game of the evening once there collective had decided to make a decision was King of New York. Yep the game I got only the other day, hadn't been opened and none of us knew how to play. So while I was getting the components ready to play with, Gav read the rules. I think I was the only one listening as Gav read the rules out. The others decided who needs to know the rules, what we need is banter! Was this a tactical decision that was part of some new cunning planning at winning a game you'd never played before? After a slow start as we got used to the rules and what dice symbol did what etc. we started to play. We even had Bouncy live streaming a bit of the game at the start. The game lived up to my expectations. It manages to capture the japanese monster movie trope of giant monsters fighting in the middle of a metropolis trashing buildings, fighting each other and the army really well. I enjoy the japanese monster movie which most will of experienced in the form of the Godzilla series. I wouldn't call myself a fan, unlike Bouncy who is. But still I enjoyed the movies a lot as I watched them as a teenager late at night on one of the four terrestrial TV channels we had at the time. I want to say it was Channel 4 but my fading memory could be wrong on this. I even enjoyed the 1998 Hollywood attempt at doing a Godzilla movie. Which may be an unpopular opinion. But hey I haven't said it was a great movie, just an enjoyable one. Ok the Godzilla reboot by Hollywood last year was much much better, and Pacific Rim also was a good Hollywood monster vs giant robots movie. Which I believe at some point we may see a crossover between Godzilla and Pacific Rim, which could be very very cool. But if you love these types of movie you are going to love this game. In the end the game was won by Gav, who was accused of shenanigans because he had the rule book!
The next game was another game we hadn't played and was one of mine that had been bought recently and unplayed! The game being Batman Love Letter.
The above photo shows us reading the rules!

A word of advice if Bouncy does his bum note joke and you have your back to him. Do not turn round and look. I stumbled across this useful hint last night, I was busy playing my go at the time, Bouncy had come down with just a Guitar Hero/Rock Band guitar covering his lower naked half. That image alone was disturbing enough. Then he turns round to leave the room and does the bum note joke. The rest of the group now for ever more have the image of Bouncy's bare bum etched in their memory. I dodged a bullet here. It's a bit like Rick waking up in hospital at the start of The Walking Dead, everyone else is dead or a zombie, he survived whatever “event” happened to turn the world upside down. And here I escaped what can only be assumed a horrific image that even horror porn can not even come close to matching. Then it dawned on all of us “OMG that guitar has touched his junk, never ever play Guitar Hero with Bouncy and use his guitar”.

Batman Love Letter is a great fun game. It helps to stay focused while playing (see the above Bouncy story), which Luke seemed to have a hard time doing. But Luke ended up winning. So that's a tactic I'm going to try next time I play the game. This game was really a hoot. It helps that if you play the Robin card when someone selects you to reveal your card to not reveal your card and then remember you didn't have to because you were exempt. Hands up I did this a couple of times. The last time I did this I basically gave Luke the win on a plate.

Gav wanted to have a game of Star Realms, so while we played that. The others went off to play Smash Up! I really want to give this game a try sometime, maybe another game night. The Star Realms game Gav and I played worked out with me getting some combos, not massive ones but enough to win. But that wasn't the point of the game. It was to teach the basics, and give Gav a taste of playing. Gav enjoyed the game and will be getting it electronically I think/ possibly physically as well. As a first game Gav did well. It helped that he had played Marvel Legendary before so was used to the mechanics.

It was hitting midnight and being the little Cinderella that I am I had to rush back home, hoping that the mutants roving the wastelands of Norfolk didnt waylay me as I crossed into their lands briefly.

This morning also found out that the guys also had a game of Spyfall too after I left. Another game I want to try, I think this could be a student favourite.

I had a great evening, many laughs, avoid something that could never be unseen, and as always great company.

Can't wait for the Marvel Games Night planned for the release of Avengers: Age of Ultron. That will be a Marvel Legendary night.