All posts by Darren

For the republic

father son gaming

Yesterday morning was spent house viewing. I’m not moving (see imminent big news post) however economically it makes sense for my ex to sell the flat Nath is currently in.

So between them they are looking at options for him.

After the two viewings it was time to hit Basingstoke town centre and its gaming shop.

As the photo below shows the latest Star Wars Unlimited set Twilight of the Republic got more than a few of my hard earned pennies.

I also bought Nath his own copy of Lord of the Rings Duel for Middle Earth. I knew he’d like it once we played it. So I jumped the gun a little.

Mistakes were made

I also got Nath copies of Zelda Breath of the Wild, and Tears of the Kingdom to play on my old Switch Lite.

After pigging out at Burger King we headed home.

Once back at Nath’s we started cracking open the boosters. I think Nath enjoys opening the packs and seeing what cool cards we get. It is addictive.

After a little break from that excitement I set up LotR Duel for Middle Earth. Nath played Sauron and I played the fellowship.

We really enjoyed the game. It was familiar but new!

I love the art by Vincent Dutrait. I love his style. He really captures Tolkiens world.

By luck I grabbed a victory by completing the Quest of the Ring track when I completed a tile that allowed me to go through the discard pile and play a card for free. In that discard pile was a three ring card that allowed me to move the final three spaces I needed to reach mount Doom and destroy the ring.

We followed up by playing the two new starter decks for SWU Twilight of the Republic. They didn’t disappoint. I was expecting them to showcase the new token spamming and they did. Just like the previous starter decks they were fun to play. I won this game.

Afterwards we played our own decks in which I won the first game and came close to winning the second but Nathan managed to hold on and grab victory.

We finished off the night watching the latest Alien movie, Alien Romulus. It wasn’t a bad entry in the series.

Unnamed Dish

Uncategorized

Yesterday was a travel day.

The day started off with the usual travel prep of getting in the supplies for mum and the furballs. I usually use that shopping trip to pick up bits and pieces for Nath and me too.

Once back home and the shopping put away it’s time to start getting the stuff together for my visit. Clothes, games, food, and gadgets. I hope I have packed everything as it goes into the car. There is a calm acceptance of the fact I know I will have forgotten something.

All packed it is time to say my farewells to the two apex predators and mum. I left Nico in charge.

Three hours driving south with the latest Jack Reacher novel keeping me company. I managed to avoid the potential traffic queues at the expected spots on the M25 and M3.

While Nathan was out babysitting his niece for an hour I decided to make tea after repairing the hole in the bag in my copy of Splendor Duel.

Earlier whilst I was shopping I had an idea for a dish to cook for us and had bought the ingredients. It was time to see how that idea worked out.

I chopped up an onion and softened it in the pan. Added chopped chorizo to release the paprika infused oil from it. Then a good squeeze of tomato paste, salt, pepper, mixed herbs, garlic powder, smoked paprika, and onion powder were added. After a minute I added two cans of chopped tomatoes. Followed by drained cans of beans (pinto,black,black eye,cannellini,kidney, and butter), sliced cottage sausage (a Central European pork sausage), a splash of Worcestershire sauce, a pinch of sugar, and some vegetable stock.

I don’t know what you’d call this. It was kinda like a casserole/stew. I wasn’t following a recipe. I was just making it up as I went.

I was pretty happy with how it turned out. The balance was about right. I thought that there would be a strong almost overpowering taste of tomato. But there wasn’t.

The aim was to create something hearty, and healthy. I think I achieved that. Although you could argue the sausage and chorizo aren’t that healthy.

I served it with some sliced tiger bread. Ideally a fresh french stitch or tiger baton would have been used. But I used what was at hand.

Nath isn’t a big fan of beans. But he did enjoy it.

There was plenty left for the next day, and to freeze.

Afterwards as I sleeved LotR Duel for Middle Earth Nath played on his Xbox.

Yes no board games got played. But I’d done some needed game “admin” so things were ready for the next day.

The start of the r&r

life, the universe, and everything, still alive

The r&r has started.

Official it started 1pm yesterday when my shift ended.

But I didn’t get to lie-in and enjoy a lazy relaxed start to this week off work.

I had to get up early to help a relative replace the felt on my downstairs toilet. It’s been leaking during heavy rainfall for a while now.

The leak was due to rotted felt under the tiles. The tiles themselves were still doing their job.

So 8am this morning we stripped the roof of the tiles. Removed the old batons and rotted felt.

It was then time to lay the new felt, new batons, and re-lay the tiles (once I’d cleaned the moss off them).

We got that done by lunchtime.

Tomorrow some cement work needs doing and once dry some sealant stuff (that’s about as technical as I get on this diy stuff), and it’s all good as new.

What this means is that my visit to Nath is going to be at the end of the week.

And hopefully before I see Nath I’ll have some big news to share with you.

Seven rounds

deck building, star wars, Star Wars Unlimited, Twin Suns

Next week sees Twilight of the Republic, the third set for Star Wars Unlimited (SWU) released to the world.

Obviously I’m keen to try the new starter decks, and start building Twin Suns decks with the new cards, or even upgrading my existing decks.

With Twin Suns being our preferred format for SWU. Allowing Dave, Marcin, and myself to play a multiplayer game. It is the SWU Commander.

However one thing I’ve noticed from our games is how they rarely go pass round seven.

Which means that it’s hardly worth even including any cards that cost seven or more. You won’t get to play them.

I’ve nearly arrived at the opinion that even six cost cards, possibly even five cost are dead cards in the deck. That the space in the deck taken up by anything that costly should be filled by lower cost options (if there are any).

I’m finding that these more expensive cards are more often when drawn placed face down as resources.

On rounds five and above being able to play two or three cards on the current phase is massive. You have options. Hopefully you have the cards in hand to respond to what your opponents are doing.

Do the Twin Suns rules need a tweak? Maybe double the health of the base, or add ten to the base health so the games (maybe) last a round or two longer.

If you have played SWU Twin Suns what are your experiences? Do your games last longer?

Gladiators in an arena

Fenland Gamers, game night

Last night was the fortnightly club night.

I took a bag of games on the lighter side. Amongst them was the recently arrived English edition of Strike! from the US Amazon store. This was a replacement for the european language version I had and was unable to find at home.

It’s the usual story for me. I’m unable to find something. Spend ages looking for it. Then over the following days the thought about it just naws away in my mind. Forcing me to keep looking at the oddest moments. Eventually to stop this driving me mad I have to order a replacement.

Then after the replacement item has been dispatched and can’t be sent back. Magically the missing item turns up in precisely where I’d been looking for it. This is how I’ve ended up with three copies of Knizia’s dice games book.

It was as I was leaving last night that the european version of Strike! turned up.

So now I have two copies. Not a total disaster. I could run a mini Strike! tournament at a future club night.

With only five of us able to make it. Or to put it another way. Only five of us with no social life outside playing games for this time of year could make it.

Yes the whole American Halloween fixation and traditional fireworks means a lot of folks have social commitments this time of year. So having five of us able to make it was a miracle in itself.

We started off playing Castle Combo. A frustrating experience at times. Some of which I’m sure was expert level trolling. Some of which was just annoying analysis paralysis. But still it’s a fun game. Despite Dave’s coin strategy, Marcin won with having a lot of keys.

Our next game saw Strike! getting to the table for the first time.

Strike! has been a thing for the Rolling Dice Taking Names guys for a few years now. Marty and Tony are split on their opinion on it. Is it dice in a bowl or gladiators in an arena? So to decide who is right they hold a yearly contest with listeners of the podcast split into two teams representing the opposing viewpoints at Gen-Con. The winning team means Strike! has to be referred to the opinion they represent for the year.

The reason I wanted to own and play it was as part of the research for my game idea. That is on the back boiler but not forgotten.

We had a blast playing Strike! In the end we played five games of it. There was laughing, banter, incredible dice rolls. For such a “simple” game of just throwing dice into a bowl it was so much fun and addictive.

Our final game of the evening was Sushi Go which saw Anthony win this card drafting, set collection game.

Another fun club night.

Bgstats for October 2024

bgstat, by the numbers, gaming stats, stats

Autumn is well and truly upon us. The clocks have gone back, and the English fascination with the weather and the many ways to describe rain kicks into high gear.

October was an ok month for gaming.

Two of the new games I tried during the month ended up with copies in my collection. In fact a third has just been ordered after looking at the 3×3 below. I decided to google if it was possible to get a copy, and before I know it I’m getting a Korean/English version off eBay!

I played Phoenix New Horizon (PHN) last Friday on the clubs get it to the table night. But decided not to say anything at the time. I had a good time playing it. However at the end I was left feeling a bit meh! It was fine.

It’s a worker placement game with a paper thin theme. PHN is meant to have a post apocalyptic theme. For this the theme could really be anything. I felt it didn’t come through.

The action select had a new twist with its upgrading the worker mechanic that also saw more powerful actions becoming available.

The game just didn’t knock my socks off.

Anyway enough waffling. Here’s the raw stats for October.

5 Shifts until R&R

father son gaming

I’m writing this post on my scheduled day off at work. Which means I have five more shifts left that are broken up by another day off before I start a much needed week off.

My plan is to go and visit Nathan for a couple of days (with the usual recovery time for mum at the end, apparently looking after two attack chihuahuas is stressful!)

But what games am I going to take with me?

I think the most obvious is Star Wars Unlimited. We have our respective decks to update and play. Plus I’ll take the starter decks. I think also whilst I’m there that the third set Twilight of the Republic is released. So that might see us getting some stuff from that.

I’m also going to throw in the bag the Gears of War card game. I’ve not got this to the table yet. Nath and I both like the video games. So hopefully we’ll get this to the table.

Nathan loves 7 Wonders Duel. I bought him his own copy, including the expansions, and pimped it out for him with the metal coins. So even though I’ve not played it yet I know that we will both love The Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle Earth. So that will definitely be in the bag as well.

Finally I will throw in the WWE Dice Masters set.

I’m also going to try out a new coffee gadget with Nath that is arriving today. But I’ll reveal more about this new gadget whilst I’m at Nath’s.

Seven shifts until R&R

life, the universe, and everything, still alive

I can’t believe it’s been a week nearly since my last post.

The work life balance seems out of whack at the moment. Maybe not in hours worked but more the physical and emotional toll.

Sometimes it feels age is catching up with me and despite getting about eight hours sleep. I am still having an afternoon nap.

However since the last post I’ve been on the first of three training courses to become a union health and safety rep. It was a three day course at the unions branch office, with accommodation provided at a local Premier Inn.

Yes breakfast was included. So it would have been rude to not have the full English to start the days off correctly.

I even made a batch of cold brew coffee over night in the hotel room to have during the day on the course.

Yes they had coffee, tea, biscuits etc to help yourself to during the day. But sachets of Nescafé coffee just won’t cut it as the caffeine option.

So I felt forced to make the cold brew to get that fix.

How did I make the cold brew?

Well I had my 1 litre Nalgene bottle, cold brew filter bags, Hario mini mill plus, and some coffee beans in the car (along with a few other bits, like gas stove, dehydrated food).

That first night in the hotel room saw me grinding beans, filling the filter bag, placing it in the Nalgene and pouring in the bottled water purchased from the Tesco next to the Premier Inn.

The next morning I had a litre of cold brew ready to take in with me.

I had been due two back to back days off but I was asked if I’d do some overtime Friday. Which I agreed to.

The bright side of all this is that in seven shifts time I’m on holiday for a week. I’ll talk more about those plans in another post.

Castle Combo arrived, and once some more Mayday premium sleeves also arrived, was sleeved.

Thanks to Jamey Stegmaier and his latest YouTube video (at time of writing) about his favourite mechanic in Splendor: Pokémon I have now ordered a copy.

The thing about this version of the game is it’s not available out side Korea. So to get a copy you have to import a copy or hope a company specialising in imported games has it. I went the former via eBay. The later could have been an option but the company I found was out of stock for it.

This kind of reminds me of the “original” Star Wars Love Letter that sadly was only available in Russia. At the time I did try and get a copy. But as you have probably already guessed I was unsuccessful in those attempts.

Carcassonne Star Wars was a similar thing for the US. Available in the UK and EU. But not licensed for the States.

The joys of franchise licensing.

Back to Splendor. I don’t actually own the original game, despite liking it. I sold on my copy plus it’s play mat once I had the Marvel edition in my collection. I preferred the extra bits that they added to the Marvel version such as the Avengers Assemble tile.

I can see there being room for two copies of the game (possibly).

I’ve been looking everywhere for my copy of Strike! But can I find it? So like previous times in similar situations I’ve ordered a replacement copy. If it does turn up it’ll be handy having two copies.

Right I think that’s enough for this post time to spend the day just chilling before work tomorrow.

A Couple of Gaming Sessions

Fenland Gamers, Game day, game night

Friday evening was once again club night.

For me it was a light evening of gaming with my friend Jonathan.

That’s right Jonathan had made it to club night, and it was great to be able to game with him. It’s just a shame that Diego was on the other table. Then it would have been like the old club days.

We started off on our table with a game of Castle Combo.

Apparently this game had been getting a bit of buzz which had completely passed me by.

I quite liked this card driven tableau building game.

You are building this 3×3 grid, so in total you are getting nine turns before the game ends. So in that time you are trying to purchase cards that generate you money (to buy further cards), get keys, and meeting end game scoring conditions.

The symbol reference card is handy and very much needed through out the game as you learn the iconography.

It’s fun, accessible, fairly quick. And probably why I ordered a copy this morning. At £17 plus postage not that expensive either.

Our follow up game was Big Shot. My copy had arrived that morning. It was an odd experience with Martin our third player not taking out any loans, not winning a single bid, and finishing with the original money token he started with.

We finished off our evening with a game of Sushi Go. What more can I say about this fun drafting game? It’s a great filler game.

Sadly it was a clean sweep of victories for Jonathan. But great to share the evening gaming with him.

Sadly our Saturday afternoon plan of playing Cosmic Encounter was a three player game.

I used the Cosmic combo cards to select the alien races we would use for this session. After scanning through the 34 cards I settled on the quick-start set up.

I do like these Cosmic combo cards. They are a great way for 3-5 players to choose alien races around a theme such as trade or really aggressive. Shame FFG didn’t make these available as a separate print on demand deck for existing owners of the game.

We also used the tech cards (and associated rules), flare cards (played wrong btw) plus the reward deck.

Three players was fun, but a very different experience to our first game.

I liked the tech cards, and will probably include these in future plays. They give an additional choice to make if you win an encounter as the aggressor. Do you initiate a second encounter or draw new tech cards to gain new tech?

Charlene managed to beat Anthony and myself.

Our afternoon of gaming was finished with a game of Big Shot. Yes it’s fastly becoming a favourite filler game. Quick to teach and play. I managed to win this one.

A great afternoon of gaming with plans starting to get TI4 to the table.

Hello is there anybody out there?

#backtothehills, hiking/backpacking/camping, life, the universe, and everything, outdoors, still alive

Wow I can’t believe it’s been so long since I posted last.

I have been rather tired and dozing off in the afternoon once home from work, and then getting to sleep early. But that’s just getting older.

There has been some gaming but not much. I got to spend a rather pleasant afternoon Saturday gaming with Ben and his family.

We played the newly arrived expansion for Tokyo Highway, Rainbow City.

We jumped in with using the additional rules for missions. Which makes the game a bit more gamery!

It was a big hit with Ben and his family.

We also played Tonga Bonga. Which was great fun. I did like the mechanic of placing money on your ships to tempt people to place their die on your spaces over others. That and placing your dice gets very very tactical.

The afternoons gaming was finished with a very cut throat game of Big Shot. That I really liked. I do like the auction mechanic it uses.

I liked both the (to me) new games. They weren’t heavy by any means. But still very fun.

Tying myself in…

A few weeks back I asked Dave if he’d use his wood crafting skills to make me a practice board for tying knots.

In one of the posts was a 5mm hole that allowed me to thread through some 5mm bungee cord to create a loop to simulate a tent/tarp tie off point.

The idea is that whilst I’m chilling at home whilst I have something on tv playing I can have this out and practice my knots. Practice makes perfect they say.

Knot practice board

Back in a previous post I wrote that I personally only needed to know and practice five knots.

This board allows me to practice those five knots.

Bowline
Clove hitch
Bowline
Truckers hitch
Prusic knot

I’m tempted to ask Dave to add a horizontal bar connecting the two vertical ones maybe 2 or 3 inches from the base.

But I do love what he has made for me.