I’ve been so knackered this past six days. Work has been especially tiring.
So tired in fact I’ve been napping in the afternoon after getting home.
I suppose that’s the drawback of getting older.
Being so tired has meant I haven’t finished writing my thoughts on the Twin Suns deck I built. But being on two days of rest now I should get that post done now.
There have been one or two new arrivals that I’m eager to get to the table such as the new Stonemaier release Stamp Swap, the expansion for Apiary, plus the Rolling Realms expansions. Also Tribes of the Wind arrived. Hopefully I’ll get one of those to the table Friday at club night.
Once these two days of r&r are over it’s into a seven day tour of duty. What makes this worse is that there is no two day break at the end. I get just a single day to recover.
As I type this little update I ordered a McDelivery of a McD breakfast using up some of my loyalty points to get most of the order free. It’s a lazy way to start the two days but I feel I’ve earned it.
Whilst I gather my thoughts about Tuesday’s games of Star Wars Unlimited using the Twin Suns multiplayer rules. I thought I’d share the photo I was messaged this morning.
A few weeks ago I messaged an artist I follow on Twitter/X. I really liked her art style and her previous art she’d shared. I asked her for a quote to turn the photo of Strider I took on Holkham beach at dawn way back in 2010 (iirc) into a painting.
Strider and I had spent the night sleeping on Holkham beach sand dunes on a hot balmy Summer’s night. We’d done about three quarters of a nine mile circular walk the previous afternoon, stopping on the dunes for the evening.
It was so warm I didn’t even bother setting up a shelter of any kind. I wasn’t expecting any rain.
Strider and I just chilled out in the dying embers of the evening as the sun set.
We woke early to the most amazing dawn I’ve ever witnessed. It truly was a magical scene that photos I took barely capture or do justice to.
After a brief discussion about what could be done and obviously trying to capture the photo on a different aspect ratio to my original stitched together image. I was quoted a price and gave the go ahead.
This morning the artist shared with me a photo of the finished water colour.
I’m speechless. I think she has done an amazing job capturing Strider, and that moment.
My eyes can’t stop leaking every time I look at this photo of the painting. I miss not only Strider but the other two members of my wolf pack Bud and Barney.
If you had asked me if a piece of art could move me so much before this I’d have said no.
I’ve looked at the original photo so many times and not had such a strong emotional reaction.
But today the waterworks have not stopped flowing.
I’m going to need a lot of snuggles from the two little monsters today.
I’ve given permission for the artist to sell prints of this if anyone is interested. You can contact them here on Twitter/X if interested in getting a copy. For the record I will get nothing from the sales. I want the artist to get all the proceeds. I have (or will have) the original and I’m happy with that. You can also visit the artists Etsy store here.
PS I am now planning to get paintings of Bud and Barney also done. I have an idea for the one of Bud. But not decided on Barney picture to use.
Yesterday morning the latest YouTube video by Chef Corso on his outdoors eats channel dropped. It was about a subject very close to my heart and I take very seriously. Coffee.
I’ve been on a very long coffee journey.
I grew up drinking instant coffee, Camp coffee. I even remember vaguely that my folks had a coffee percolator. They were a thing at one time in the seventies.
But let’s jump forward a few decades to the noughties, and married life. That’s when I started to take coffee seriously. I made a pretty mean latte.
When I was able to get out I tried lots of different solutions for coffee whilst out on the trail. Instant, liquid coffee, coffee grinds in a MSR Mugmate coffee filter (which is still an option).
In the years since moving back to my home town, caring duties, my coffee knowledge widened. I really like getting my coffee from small coffee roasters. Beans are described liked fine wines. Being single source and a higher grade they taste amazing usually. I find that these better quality beans I can also drink black.
I love my Aeropress. But now days my preferred method of making a coffee is using a Hario V60 pour over. It produces great consistent cups of coffee. I also make my own cold brew. Which I tend to make during the Summer. It’s so refreshing on a hot day.
Now the options for a really amazing coffee whilst out are numerous. Below is a brief summary of the ones I currently have and used.
Obviously no matter what way you decide to make your coffee you need to start with a quality bean. You will taste the difference. So splash out and treat yourself.
I prefer taking beans (less messy if the bag bursts) and grinding the beans myself. For this task I have a Hario Mini Mill Plus.
As a camping option for making large quantities of coffee I have a Hellery Camping Coffee Percolator Pot. It makes a reasonable coffee. I get that nostalgic glow when using it.
I also have a mocha pot for possible camp use. They are fine. There is definitely an art to getting a great cup of coffee out of them.
You can take your Aeropress (if you have one). It makes great coffee and is easy to clean.
Along similar lines you could take a cafetiere. Or like I have for the Jetboil (and a rival) the coffee press accessory. It makes fine coffee as long as you use the correct grind and seep it correctly. Pain to clean.
My preference at the moment is the MERMOO YILAN Collapsible Pour Over Coffee Dripper Cone. It comes with a storage bag that you can fit some filters in to. There are other brands that do their version of a pour over cone. You could even use a V60.
You can make cold brew coffee whilst camping or on the trail. I have a 32oz wide neck Nalgene water bottle for this and cold brew filter bags that hold the coffee grinds.
At a push and in a hurry I’ll use coffee bags. They are better than instant.
If you take your coffee seriously one of the above options that I have briefly mentioned should get you a great coffee fix away from civilisation and out in nature.
Upon his return from doing some uncle duties first thing. Nath and I spent our last morning together playing a couple of games of you guessed it Star Wars Unlimited.
The first game went the same way as the previous evening. With me getting a comfortable win.
But our second game saw me in a position where if Nath had no answer I was going to win on turn seven. I had enough units in either battleground to deliver the winning blow.
Nath tapped all eight of his resources and defeated all my units! I had no cards in hand. I never recovered from this board wipe. Two turns later Nath just picked me off unable to defend myself to get the win.
Afterwards I started packing ready for the journey home.
The time always goes fast when I’m visiting Nath. Parting is always so hard. Even with Nath being an adult and towering over me, he’s still my little boy.
But part we must. At least I will be back in November and updating our decks or building new ones.
Waiting for me when I got home were the final two cards needed for my twin suns deck. That’s ready now for Tuesday.
Plus the board game Tribes of the Wind, which has a very Naussica Valley of the Wind vibe just from the box art alone. Can’t wait to try it.
Apparently Nath and the two attack chihuahuas Nico and Loki have one thing in common. That’s that they don’t like going out in the rain.
With the heavens pouring down Nath was adamant he would not be going for a walk in the rain. Despite me pointing out we have coats, and I have a tarp/poncho that could be used to keep us dry during the coffee stop. Nath remained unconvinced.
Instead we went into town.
Yes it was raining.
No Nath didn’t take a rain coat with him.
Yes after we had lunch at Burger King and made our way to the game shop he “borrowed” my umbrella.
Somehow at the game shop another booster box for Star Wars Unlimited Shadow of the Galaxy ended up in my possession.
After checking another couple of possible stores that on the off chance sold singles we headed home to crack open some packs.
We got some good pulls that went to building my Luke/Hera Twin Suns deck (details soon).
However as we were cracking open packs and sharing the cool cards we’d pulled (like foils, full art etc) I thought how cool it would be to do a mandalorian themed deck for Twin Suns. I think this would qualify as a tribal deck as we’d call it in MtG. Just the thought of the possibility was getting me excited.
Next thing I know I’m sorting out all of the mandalorian cards we’d pulled. And I’m sure I’ll bore you with a post about it in the near future too.
Earlier in the day (before we went to town) I taught Nath Dice Masters using the X-Men Forever campaign box. These campaign boxes are aimed at two players, and meant to give them everything they need to play.
Using the suggested cut down setup recommended in the included rules book I taught Nath how to play. I should say it’s impossible without the aid of a phone camera to work out what the setup is. The image is just too small and unreadable.
Nath won this first learning game.
I then separated the character cards into two piles. Villians in one, and X-Men in the other. Nath was then given the choice of which he’d like to play. He went bad guys.
We then built our 8 character teams, got the appropriate dice (another fault with this campaign box they got away with the bare minimum they could get away with).
After a very tactical game I managed to get to the position of being able to deliver a winning blow.
Later before tea (a roast dinner) and just chilling watching The Retirement Plan. Nath and I played a couple more games of Star Wars Unlimited.
These were comfortable games for me with Nath not really able to mount any real defence to hold in and get back in the game. It wasn’t one sided my base took damage. It’s just I was able to smash face before Nath found any answers.
Despite the disappointment of not going for a walk. We had a great day.
Yesterday I travelled south to visit Nathan for a couple of days. After unpacking I realised what I had forgotten to pack.
On the drive down I knew I had forgotten something. Everybody has that nagging feeling when they set off somewhere.
It wasn’t until I had unpacked and was getting the Star Wars Unlimited stuff out to show Nathan when I realised I had indeed left something at home.
Sitting back at home are the four starter decks from the two starter kits.
Luckily I hadn’t forgotten the prerelease kit and two booster boxes.
But what were we to do?
Opening the prerelease kit we chose a leader each from the promo Luke and Vader cards that were in it. Nath went Vader, which left me with Luke.
We then cracked open the six boosters in the prerelease kit, followed by opening the Spark of Rebellion booster box, and cracking open the packs inside.
Nath really enjoyed opening the packs and discovering full art cards, foils, or foil full art cards. He had caught the habit most MtG players have. That crack addition of opening packs and seeing what is inside. It’s so addictive.
Afterwards we separated the cards by their aspect and then built decks for our respective leaders.
It was a great evening sharing the experience of cracking open packs and building a deck with our pulls.
Later I went through the remaining cards to see if I had any that I needed for my Luke and Hera (I now have a rather sweet full art card of Hera) Twin Suns deck. I found 22 cards that I needed. Cutting down on any imminent purchases to finish the deck off.
This morning once Nath had gotten back from his babysitting duties for his baby niece I taught him Star Wars Unlimited.
After meeting up with my aunt and uncle in Guildford, Nath and I played a couple more games of Star Wars Unlimited.
This time my deck worked and I was able to get two comfortable wins.
Between games Nath wanted to crack open the Shadows of the Galaxy so I caved and let him. Although I didn’t get a Mando card that I needed for the Twin Suns deck I did get another Krayt Dragon (I did purchase my other copy).
Which means I pulled a £40 odd card. Which I definitely plan to use in the Vader/Tarkin deck.
We ended up playing a fourth game. Nath wanted the opportunity to pull things back.
It was a very tense game with Nath hanging in by the skin of his teeth before grabbing victory from the impending jaws of defeat.
I think it can only be said that we’ve had a great day.
With the impending visit to Nath I have warned him that we will be going for a walk whilst I’m there.
I have an idea of where we will be walking after getting a 1:50k os map of the area and finding a woods not far from Nath’s.
The plan is that we’ll stop brew up, even have something to eat.
With that in mind
New gear arrivals in last six weeks or so (not everything I’m sure):
32 OZ, Wide Mouth, Nalgene bottle
50PCS Cold Brew Coffee Filter Bags
Snow Peak Folding Nylon Cooking Ladle
Toaks titanium 1350ml pot
CAMPINGMOON Compact Foldable Stove
Hellery Camping Coffee Percolator Pot
1:50k os maps for eTrex 32x gps
Belgian military hooped bivy
DD Hammocks lightweight hammock and under quilt (not sure if mentioned before)
I’m taking the BRS 3000T stove for this trip. I’ve not used it and it needs an outing.
The Nalgene bottle is for making cold brew whilst at Nath’s and when I go away whether camping or in hotels. Hence the filter bags.
For me to turn my dried bean and veg bags into a soup or stew for me and Nath my current pots just weren’t large enough. I think the largest was 900ml. So I got the larger 1350ml Toaks pot. That should be big enough cooking for two. Hence why I got the Snow Peak ladle. The percolator is for camping trips.
I’m hoping that the woodland walk and a bit of chill time will help Nath with all life has thrown at him recently.
Obviously a lot of this stuff will be used when camping or even backpacking. But with me using a campsite for next years UKGE, getting bits in that will make that trip as “glamorous” as possible. Or my take on it using a mixture of backpacking gear and camping gear.
The dust has just about settled and I’m already getting a UKGE post for next year written!
My plans for next years accommodation is to use a camp site.
As I have previously mentioned I feel this is the last thing to experience at the expo. I’ve done the a room share at the Hilton and had the whole expo experience that involves, such as evening gaming, see “celebs” in food queues etc.
I’ve done air b&b whilst helping demo Epic the Card Game for Wise Wizard Games. I’ve stayed at a deer farm, Travelodge (several times), that awful pub.
I think the only accommodation I’ve not done is the camping side.
A few years back now I remember on the Board Gaming Trading & Chat Facebook page it was mentioned that one or two of the group going to the expo were staying at a camp site.
Since reading that was an option it’s always been at the back of my mind when I’ve looked for accommodation during the expo. Especially when I’ve left it rather late to find any affordable bargains.
But I’ve finally decided to pull the trigger on that idea and do it next year.
I’ve googled camp sites near the expo. There are one or two that I like the look of. So in the new year I’ll book the one I decide to go with.
I have been bearing in mind camp site usage as I refresh my outdoors gear. Sadly the camp stove I want the Jetboil Genesis Basecamp is no longer made (it’s an ex stove). They must be good stoves as they don’t exist on eBay unless I want to pay stupid money for one from like Australia which would also hit me massively on import tax too.
The only thing I think I need that would be camping specific is a gazebo to use for cooking, chilling, playing games (I have two folding tables), etc. Oh plus some sort of cool box and a camping bbq.
If I could convince Nath to join me camping I’d invest in a suitable tent and cots to make the experience as “glam” as possible for him.
I don’t expect there will be another post about the expo until the new year. So see you then (there will naturally be my other boring content until then).
I started an 8 day break from work today. Which means during this much needed period of R&R I’m going to visit Nathan for two or three days.
Before any visit I always mull over which games to take with me for us to play.
There are practical limitations to which games make the journey with me. The major one is the footprint of the game. Whatever I take needs to fit on Nath’s circular dinning table. So large footprint games are out of the question. No Star Wars Rebellion for Nath unless he comes up to visit.
I have Star Wars Outer Rim (his favourite game) and the Star Wars Deck Builder at Nath’s.
Nath likes MtG so I’m definitely taking Star Wars Unlimited with me. The plan is we choose a starter kit deck each and play them against each other. I’ll the crack open the Spark of Rebellion prerelease kit and we will use the boosters from that to “upgrade” our decks. After some games with the new decks I have booster boxes for Spark of Rebellion and Shadows of the Galaxy. Which we can crack packs open to once again strengthen our decks.
I’m also going to take the Dice Masters X-Men campaign box I have to teach Nath Dice Masters.
Unusual for me I’m going to leave it at that! Although I’m sure I’ll throw something in the bag at the last minute.
