Category Archives: life, the universe, and everything

Life, the universe, and not a dungeon23 post!

life, the universe, and everything, new arrivals, still alive

It’s been a day or two since I last posted. Several days since I posted something not #dungeon23 related.

Believe it or not I have other stuff going on in my life.

Sadly that seems to be work.

This year I’m not able to make the majority of the Fenland Gamers holiday gaming sessions.

Currently the only one I can make is the night before I do a whistle stop trip to see Nathan.

The lack of getting round a table with friends and playing games is a drawback of the new job role I took on in the later part of this year.

Don’t get me wrong I love what I’m doing. I’m working with some great people.

But there is a price all this comes at.

I do have some new arrivals though.

New arrivals

First up is the second expansion for Dune Imperium, Immortality.

I don’t think anyone will be surprised at this one considering I love playing Dune Imperium (especially with the first expansion Rise of Ix).

Just like Istanbul, Dune Imperium just gets better with each expansion added in. So I’m pretty excited to get this back to the table

The next two arrivals just show you how much I liked these games after playing them recently.

First up is Splendor Duel. Yeah I know two player games hardly get to the table, and attempts to get a two player game evening arranged have fallen flat. Add in the fact I’ve not won a game of Splendor in a long time. But despite this I still enjoyed the game and wanted it in the collection. Splendor Duel will be making the journey with me for that whistle stop trip to see Nathan.

Next up is Trekking Through History. I played this recently with Ben and Diego and had a good time playing it. I loved the stories of your time travels you could make up with the card titles. I also think this might play well as a two player game with Nathan.

Finally the latest Vampire the Masquerade Rivals expansion The Dragon and The Rogue arrived.

It’s been out for a while in the US, and only now starting to get in the hands on UK and maybe EU folks.

I love the game. But like many before (Ashes, Star Wars Destiny, Dice Masters etc) supply issues are just killing the game for me.

Well that’s it for now. I’ve a busy few days ahead of me. As they say no rest for the wicked and those that work in retail.

Brief – I’m alive (but tired) post

life, the universe, and everything, still alive

This is going to be one of those brief still alive posts.

After a weeks holiday it was back to work Sunday. Although my next few weeks work schedule sees me swapping between lates and omg it’s early shifts. Before having another weeks holiday at the end of the month.

With my next bit of gaming this weekends D&D session. You may have noticed from the recent posts that’s my main focus, along with the D&D taster session three or four days after.

I’ve managed to swap shifts at work so that I can attend the next Fenland Gamers club night. So really glad was able to do that.

And hopefully there might be a gaming session with Diego somewhere amongst these things too if schedules work out.

Right that’s another proof of life over. Catch you in the next post.

What am I taking on my visit to Nathan?

father son gaming, life, the universe, and everything

Somehow I survived the week at work to make it to my weeks holiday.

It’s my first week off since the holiday reset in April. I still have four more weeks to take off before the end of March next year. The plan is over the following four months I have a weeks holiday each month.

But my focus is now on this week of R&R and visiting Nathan.

Naturally we will be spending time playing board games, watching the odd movie, and just having quality father son time.

But what games will I be taking for us to play?

Well I have to take one for sure as it was requested by Nathan, and that is Wingspan. Nathan like so many others, myself included, really likes Wingspan. Sadly Wingspan Asia won’t be out in time for this visit (next time) but we are going to have a blast anyway playing it.

One of the attractions of Marvel Champions for me was that I thought it is something Nathan and I can play together. I know Nathan will love the theme, but will he love this co-op lcg?

I can’t play Scythe with Nathan. Well I could if he had a big enough table. And that’s the issue and a major constraint on what we can play. So instead of playing my all time favourite board game I’ll introduce him to one or two similar mechanisms by taking the impressive Brazil Imperial. It’s modular board makes it ideal for a visit to Nathan’s.

Star Wars Outer Rim barely fits on Nathan’s table, but it’s a game he likes. Which means I don’t really need an excuse or reason to include it, but with the Unfinished Business expansion having come out since we played it I know he will be keen to get this to the table.

I think Nathan will enjoy Smash Up, once again I can go the Marvel route to start with to hook him in.

Nathan has enjoyed the roll/flip and writes he’s tried in the past. Sadly Twilight Inscription is too large for his table! Which means I’ll be taking Welcome to the Moon for him to try.

Nathan will love Smitten I’m sure of it, and I envisage us playing several games of this over my visit.

I’m going to try the campaign Gloom Chronicles or at least the parts I have the expansions for with Nathan. It’s going to be interesting to see if he gets into the storytelling side of the game.

The final game I’m throwing into the bag is Portal the board game. We are both fans of the video game, and I think he will like this game that captures the spirit of the video game nicely.

There is one other game I’m taking however it will be staying there. Nathan had his birthday earlier in the month and I bought him a board game for it.

It could be only one game, the one he nearly bought on his recent holiday in the US, Alien Fate of the Nostromo.

This game by Scott Rogers has been on my radar since it was announced. I just never got round to pulling the trigger on getting it until now.

I really can’t wait to play this with him.

Hulk Smash

apps, iOS, life, the universe, and everything, star realms

It’s been a while since I’ve racked up some massive damage to defeat an opponent in Star Realms.

So when I finally achieved a big hit that won me the game.

Well it had to be shared with the world via social media.

This is not the time or place to debate the eternal Star Realms issue of whether it’s morally right to over kill an opponent. And let’s just enjoy the delivery of lots of damage.

Really peeved I missed out on gaming this week due to the cold I had on my days off.

But the good news is I’m nearly over it, and I didn’t pass it on to mum.

Videos are starting to appear on YouTube for the second Dune Imperium expansion Immortality.

It looks interesting. But I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it.

Obviously I’m going to get it.

But will it be a must include when playing expansion? Which I think the previous one was.

I can see the playtime going up, especially the analysis paralysis side with players.

We’ll find out once I get my grubby mitts on the new expansion and get it to the table with some willing participants.

And that game (whenever it is) will be using the newly laminated leader mats. Yes they were probably the first thing I laminated with my new laminator.

I hated how flimsy those leader mats were. But Direwolf aren’t the only publishers guilty of scrimping in this area. Now the issue is “solved”.

But that’s enough of my ramblings I’ll see you in the next post.

More ramblings

D&D, D&D Grp2, Gloom Chronicles, life, the universe, and everything, Marvel Champions, rambling, RPG, session planning, still alive

Well just like politics a day in my life can be a long time, and things change.

The next session arranged for Saturday has had to be cancelled due to a union work thing that has cropped up.

However it looks like it may go ahead Monday (currently my day off!) evening instead. I’m still on lates next week, so I don’t have to worry about getting up for a damn early start the next morning.

So there is a silver lining to this cloud.

It would appear that soon (next payday) I will be jumping into the lcg from FFG, Marvel Champions.

Hence the new little icon thingy I’ve done.

I did enjoy the game when I did the “try before you buy” game with Gavin. And it is his copy with expansions I’m buying.

I also think this is a game I can play with Nathan that I’m pretty sure he will enjoy. I’m not sure I’ve played a co-op game with Nath. But I know just from the theme alone he will love it. And I’m excited that I will be able to play this with him.

Buying Marvel Champions does boot into the distance any decision I was going to make about getting into another FFG lcg The Lord of the Rings Card Game. Which does also appeal to me on theme alone.

We know I like the idea of solo gaming, and when I see a game can be played solo it does help sell the game to me. But when it comes to actual reality I very rarely play a game solo. I think I can count on one hand the games I’ve played solo. So I’ll never (ok I know never say never) play Marvel Champions solo.

Another given is in the coming months once Marvel Champions has joined my collection I will be catching up with the expansions I don’t have. It’s that whole Pokémon “got to catch ‘em all” thing.

Bugger they also have playmats for the game. And we know how I am about playmats.

I better order in a lot of sleeves. I usually go Mayday Premium with boardgames. But this technically is a card game so I may fall back to my other preferred brand Dragon Shield Matt sleeves. The ones I use for playing MtG.

Before I look for players willing to commit to playing the campaign version of Gloom, The Gloom Chronicles, I need to get the two expansions that I currently do not own.

Obviously The Gloom Chronicles uses the core game. But it also needs Unfortunate Expeditions, Unquiet Dead (need to get), Gloomier: A Night at Hemlock Hall, Unhappy Homes (need to get), and Unwelcome Guests.

It’s a twenty game campaign. It should be possible to play multiple games a session. I don’t see it being much of a commitment, three or four sessions at most.

I’m very intrigued how Gloom plays as a campaign. It’s a story based game. Well technically if players are not into the story side can be played as just a card game. I know other games like Scythe, Pandemic, etc have campaigns that are tied together by an over all story. But that’s a story written by the designer. Gloom is a different animal altogether. The storytelling is part of the game.

I definitely want to get Gloom to the table sooner than later for sure. Especially around the end of the month. I don’t do Halloween but if that isn’t the time to at least play the game once I don’t know when is.

A Rambling Wednesday Update

life, the universe, and everything, rambling, still alive

The September monthly stats will go live on the last day of the month. I suppose they could have gone live now. It’s not as if I will have played any more games before October starts.

Being one of those glass half empty doom merchants I don’t think October will be a massive month for playing games.

October starts at the weekend with a D&D session. But after that my next bit of gaming will be the following Friday with the next Fenland Gamers session.

My next day off is a Monday when our hosts are not open. Plus I’ve not had much luck getting others interested in gaming on days I’m off. So even if they were open I don’t think I’d find others to game with.

That’s the drawback of my current job with my shifting days off during the week.

So far I’ve been lucky that I can make the Friday evening sessions.

It also makes it harder to arrange things. I should know three weeks in advance what my rota is. But at the moment I know what I’m working up to the end of next week and that’s it. I’m on lates for this and next week. Which I like working.

I do have a weeks holiday next month as well. I’m hoping to visit Nathan then. So that will be quality time together gaming.

But for the next five months I do have a week off each month, as until that week off I’ve only had one days holiday this year.

I was watching The Dice Tower Autumn Spectacular – Top 10 Horror Games last night.

It reminded me although I own them I still haven’t got Fury of Dracula nor Ghost Stories to the table. Plus The Others appeared on a couple of the lists, and now I want to get that back to the table.

The Others has the dubious distinction of putting me off ever backing or buying a CMoN game again. Or I should clarify it was the Kickstarter campaign CMoN ran for it and not the game itself (which I really enjoyed).

But one omission from the four top ten lists the Dice Tower contributors came up with for me was Gloom.

Which I have played once. But I really do need to get back to the table (especially now I have the fancy storage box, Gloomier, and Gloom Chronicles from the last Kickstarter) as I think there are others in Fenland Gamers that would also enjoy playing it.

10th October sees a World Mental Health Day.

I’m going to try and “celebrate” it with a post. I don’t know how the post will come out. That will all depend on the day I suppose.

That’s it for now. See you in the next post.