All posts by Darren

Spelunking the depths of my sadness

lego minifigs, new arrivals

This post is really about levels of sadness and further evidence of needing a life. So let's start off that descent into the depths of sadness with a Pop! vinyl figure of V for Vendetta. Having started to become one of those “guys” (thanks to Bouncy the geek pusher). Ok, ok maybe my Lego minifig obsession had already pushed me down that path. But hey I'm not letting Bouncy off the guilt trip. These types of figures lie firmly at his feet for the blame. It was only a matter of time before I got this figure. I love the graphic novel, I love the movie, heck as you know I've used the V mask or more correctly Guy Fawkes mask for the face of my hacktivist.

I guess I'm lucky that Bouncy hasn't found out about the new Black Widow model for the Age of Ultron movie or found a Rorschach one from the Watchmen movie. He's just that sort of person, putting temptation in the way of the weak willed like me.
Let's sink a bit deeper into the pit of sadness.

New Lego, New Lego

So first up a minifig kilt! It's the Cameron tartan and has been ordered in for the next project. Which I really should write a post about.
It's Red Nose Day next Friday so I planned on marking it with a Lego minifig photo after seeing I could get a head with a red nose on it. I'm debating what the photo will depict. I'm sure the idea will shape itself intime. I got two “super computers” to use in Android:Netrunner photos for the Corp side. The rest of the stuff in the photo is also being used in the May project. It's a very ambitious project. It's not animation but it kind of reminds me in spirit of the minifig movie my friend George did of me back in 2008.
Finally I got this little computer desk. It's not official but something someone has put together and selling on eBay. It's ok and will meet my needs as a prop to use with the minifigs. I'd of liked it to be a little bit wider/deep.
So there you have it a further glimpse in to the dark dark world of nerdiness that is my life.

 

Epic Space Battle

star realms, tabletop

Biggest Defeat Ever!

Early this morning I suffered my biggest defeat ever in the Star Realms app. It was an epic struggle from my side to hang in there and try and claw my way back into the game. But the cards just didn't favour me. Going back to yesterday's slugfest analogy, Freddy kept pounding me, knocking me to to the floor. And like Rocky I kept trying to get back up on wobbly legs to fight on. As I'm struggling to get back up using the Star Realms equivalent of the ropes the Federation ships that give an authority boost, I knew like Apollo Creed, Freddy was shouting at his screen “stay down”. Unlike the fictional epic boxing match there was no referee to protect me as I fumbled around trying to stay up. Freddy kept on coming with the punches. I held on as best I could hoping the cards would come right and get me back in to the game. But as my authority drained away like a leaking water pipe, Freddy just got stronger and stronger, as if he was some demon feeding off my energy. The Federation ships were just delaying the inevitable, with the way the cards were falling for me, I'd of had a hard time punching my way out of a wet paper bag. Finally Freddy was able to deliver the knock out blow. As the screen shot shows he finished with 85 authority points. That's pretty amazing and a very very comprehensive victory.

But what an amazing game. It was such an emotional roller coaster. And I think one of those gaming experiences you retell for years, “Let me tell you about that one time…” It's just occurred to me this was like my Star Realms version of the Alamo. Against great odds I held out for as long as I could against the superior space forces of Freddy. Clinging on for as long as possible to buy time for others to rally and avenge us.

Remember the space Alamo.

 

Toe to Toe

lego minifigs, netrunner, star realms, tabletop

New Stuff

Another day another data pack filling in the holes in the ice security to protect my servers from those cursed runners! Oh wait the Android:Netrunner world isn't real. What I meant to say is another one of the suggested data packs for those starting out in the game.

You will also notice that the photo has a picture of a minifig in it. The Where's My Pants guy from the Lego Movie arrived. Normally I wouldn't of bothered with this figure but my next project which I will start documenting this week with the initial post requires the lower half of this figure!

I joined the A Star Realms Fan Created Community page on Facebook today. This group has weekly online competitions/league play, and is covered regularly on the Megahaulin podcast. So I introduced myself and said I was up for playing online with folks.

Since that introduction and invite to play games four people have challenged me to games.

I get so much enjoyment playing this game. I don't care about winning or losing, I'm having a blast playing. Mind you winning is nice. I get this sort of enjoyment while playing DiceMasters, well any game really. As long as I'm having an enjoyable experience playing, that is the important thing for me.

I've introduced Freddy to the game and he has become as addicted to it as myself. I lost count how many games we played over the weekend. Being in America Freddy has an advantage over me. He is able to get the Gambit expansion, playmats, and storage box, which aren't available over here in the UK yet. So I'm very jealous of that. Having said that tomorrow the Gambit expansion becomes available within the app. So at least I will be able to play with that expansion, and get used to playing with it. The Gambit expansion in physical form comes with some cards that allow you to play solo games of Star Realms. I'm very interested in seeing how that works. I may do a video of for that once I get the expansion.

Freddy and I have had some very intense games. It is just that sort of game. Sometimes the cards fall for you. The trade row has cards you want to buy. Your hand draws cards that combo up, draw extra cards and force your opponent to discard cards. Your opponent is unable to do any real damage. Everything just goes smoothly. Then there are the games that are like two boxers standing toe to toe just trading blows. They are the really intense games. You take your best shot, they go down. You think they are down for the count. But they get back up and take their shot. They hit you with a belter. Your chin feels like glass, you fall to your knees. That was a hard knock you've just taken. Your head is swimming, but you dig deep, and somehow find the strength to struggle back on to two feet. How much more can this wary body take? Neither of you have much energy left for this fight. You've got to muster one more punch. Hoping you can summon enough from your flagging reserves to finish them off this time. You know you can't survive another punch like you somehow just got back up from.

Those are such great games. The game can go either way depending on how kind the cards are too you. Will you get lucky and draw the cards you need?

I love it. Who cares if you win? With that sort of excitement its kind of irrelevant, you are having a blast, you are on tender hooks with every card drawn.

I love playing Freddy, we have so much fun. But playing a wide variety of people helps to improve your own game. I'm looking forward to seeing what tactics Freddy picks up playing others. And I'm looking forward to seeing other styles of play, and seeing how I compare.

There are weaknesses to my game that I am trying to correct. But sometimes the cards just don't fall for you. When that happens just buckle up, and enjoy the ride.

 

Hotdog

lego minifigs
Instead of sweets when Mum goes shopping I've asked her to get me a minifig instead. Today the blind packet she purchased for me contained a figure I really wanted! I got the hotdog costum. I love it. On the left you have the actual figure, but I couldn't resist putting the hacktivist in it as a disguise (on right).

It really is a fun figure. You can't help smiling when seeing it.

 

Minifig Hipster the Final Post

lego minifigs

So after a little consultation (mainly with the inspiration for this minifig) I have settled on the hat for the figure. Which means I am glad to present in all its glory the hipster minifig.

Below I've broken the figure back down to its parts so you can see what makes the completed figure.

Last night at a local quiz night I presented the finished figure to my friend.

So in the picture below we have the hipster minifig with the inspiration for its creation. I think you will agree I have managed to capture the essence of my friend and being a hipster (something my friend denies being vehemently. Although our response is always “well a hipster would say that wouldn't they”, it's a discussion he can't win ^_^ ) in the figure. The bottom half of the photo also shows another gift for my friend that continues the hipster theme. Yep a hipster dice from Steve Jackson Games. Ok picking up the hipster dice cost me an unplanned £12 buying a used PS1 along with a copy of Command and Conquer Red Alert. But I'm sure I'll write about that another day.

I've really enjoyed creating the hipster minifig. It's been fun finding the right parts, and I got lucky that there was no need to create my own custom parts. But that is something I am looking forward to having to do at some point.
My next minifig project is creating two hiking minifigs to represent two of my friends who will be hiking across Scotland in May on the TGO Challenge. I've already been collecting some bits for this next project. But I will go into more detail about it all in a future post.

 

Some of my favourite cards in Star Realms Part 1

star realms, tabletop

I play a lot of Star Realms especially using the amazing app of the core game (expansions coming later in the year) in both AI mode (the hard AI plays a reasonable game) and online with friends. I think I'm an average player, and need to start playing against a wider pool of players. I'd love to think I'm competitive enough to do a credible showing in any store/regional/national competition. But I don't think I'm expert enough yet to talk tactics. So what I'd like to do is look at some of my favourite cards in the game from the core game.

First up I'll look at three of the Star Faction cards I like (photo above). The Corvette, Survey Ship and Imperial Frigate are great early cards to get. I like them because they are cheap, allow me to draw extra cards, and in the case of the Imperial Frigate reduce the hand of the opposing player for their next turn. Plus when I decide to scrap either the Imperial Frigate and Survey Ship not only do I reduce my deck size (allowing quicker play through of my deck) but I get to once again either force my opponent to discard a card from their hand or draw a card.
In the photo above I have two Machine Cult cards Patrol Mech and Stealth Needle, plus a Blob ship Ram. I'll start with the Blobs Ram. This for me is another early purchase that gives me a bit of fire power to reduce the other players authority (life for non players). Plus if I'm short of credits to buy a ship I can always scrap this card to get three extra coins to buy the ship I want. But I only tend to do this if I'm replacing the Ram with something more powerful. I like the Patrol Mech because it can be either coins or damage I can choose depending which is my greater need at the time of playing the card. Plus it allows me to scrap a card from my hand or discard pile. Scraping cards is an important tactic within the game, because it allows you to get rid of unwanted cards (like the starting cards) and increase the odds of drawing the cards you want, and allow you to get through you deck quicker. I love the Stealth Needle, it's a great mid game card. So I hate it when it appears early. It's power is in the ability to copy another card in your hand. That means all the other cards abilities, faction. So it will kick off any faction abilities of the copied card. Which means it can start off a nice combo with the right cards. It's fairly pointless early on when all you can copy in your hand is the starter cards.
Finally I have three cards from the Trade Federation. Two cheap buys in the form of Cutter and Embassy Yacht and the expensive Command Ship. I like these because they increase your authority when played plus either give you more coins to spend or allow more damage. For its two cost the Cutter has to be my top buy. I hate buying a card and having a Cutter appear which I can't buy. The Command Ship may be expensive but Authority and damage PLUS draw two extra cards with the faction ability to destroy an opposing base. I think it's a bargain at that cost!
Well I hope you have enjoyed this post about my favourite Star Realms cards. I'll do the second part later in the week.

 

Lego Research Institute

lego minifigs
I mentioned in yesterday's post that the Lego Research Institute arrived.

Well as the photo below shows I've now had time to put it all together.

The Research Institute depicts the roles of an Astronomer, Paleontologist and Chemist in three viniettes.
One of the things this set was applauded for was that it used female characters in these roles instead of male ones. I don't want to get into the whole gender equality, portrayal of women, discussion. How can I really discuss it because I don't experience it on a daily basis? All I can do is try and be supportive and not re-enforce the gender steriotypes that do so much damage, that put up an invisible wall that acts as a barrier to dissuade women from entering STEM subjects. A more diverse make up of the STEM subjects can only be a positive thing enabling us to create great and amazing things. Does this set fulfil this?
The instruction booklet with the construction details in has a nice touch at the start of it where it tells you a little bit about each of the roles in the set.

Combine the booklet with the viniettes and I do think this set does create an interesting way to encourage the possibility of doing one of the STEM subjects as a career.

I like this set a lot. The figures and especially the supporting viniettes really do capture the three STEM roles. I love the T-Rex skeleton, it's frickin cool. The viniettes aren't over complicated, but their simplicity gets to the heart of what the role is.

I can see this set being used at schools. But this is a fun set, easy to build, and if you are into Lego really worth getting.

 

You’re making me laugh, tell me your killing joke

lego minifigs, netrunner, new arrivals, tabletop

So the edition of Death of the Family that I wanted arrived. It was the edition with the Joker mask. Now I have the quandary do I leave it unopened or do I open it. But I know if I open it up I will be drawn to trying the mask on. Then who knows what will happen. I'm afraid that the mask will take me over and I will become lost in some nether world while the Joker takes over my flesh and go on some insane killing spree. Who knows where it would end with no Batman to stop my Joker possessed carcass.

At least I don't have to worry about being taken over with this following Joker. All I have to worry about is some sort of Chucky thing happening. Waking up with a miniature Heath Ledger Joker standing over me is just marginally more scarey than waking up with the apex predator Nico the attack chihuahua next to me.

This rather cool Lego Research Institute arrived also. It's got a frickin dinosaur!

Finally the second Android:Netrunner core set arrived. Thanks to attending the rather Raspberry Pi Third Birthday Party celebrations today, I've not had time to start organising the cards. But free pizza, cake and odd freebie override a day of card organising and making lego.

 

Hack the planet!

netrunner, tabletop

Oh yes using the call to arms from the movie Hackers. Somehow I thought it would be an apt post title for today.

Today saw a visit to the FLGS The Rift to purchase the living card game Android:Netrunner with a data pack or two.

I ended up leaving The Rift with a base set and the following data packs. A second core set is also winging its way to me so that I can build decks that can use three of the core set cards instead of being limited to two.
The data pack 'What Lies Ahead' is on its way from elsewhere. When that arrives it will mean I will have all the data packs that make up the first cycle for Android:Netrunner the Genesis Cycle. While 'Up and Over' and 'All that remains' are from the third cycle Lunar.

So now I have some cards to organise, learn about building decks for Android:Netrunner, build some decks and test them out in games. I'm really looking forward to this.

Adding to my unintended collection of dice games (well who doesn't enjoy rolling dice?) Age of War arrived.

It's a game by the prolific game designer Reiner Knizia. I love his two player card game Lost Cities, which I play regularly using the iPhone app (which is a rather good implementation of the game, I think I have a 56% win rate, which I'm happy with). I also have his book of dice games. Oh oh just remembered that he did the micro game Shoot Out, that was included with the film Going Cardboard. Which is a fun little two player game that for me amazingly manages to capture the atmosphere of an old west gunfight. So I'm looking forward to playing this dice game.

 

Creation of the Hipster Part 3

lego minifigs

So the three hats that I got in to put the finishing touch to the hipster minifig I'm creating have all arrived. The final one was today (see previous post).

So here is how the hipster figure looks with each of the hats on.

For me the brown cap is too large, doesn't work as well as I had thought it would. The beret as a cap works really well, but still on the fence over the trillbe. Which is your favourite?