Category Archives: new arrivals

new arrivals

Thursday Night Star Realms

game night, new arrivals, star realms, tabletop

I think it's time to talk about Star Realms in the meat world, and not the digital.

Lunchtime yesterday I managed to get a couple of games with Jamie at work. These were the first games I'd played since getting the Crisis expansions. The trade deck was made up from the base set, the Crisis: Bases and Battleships expansion, the Crisis: Fleets and Fortresses expansion, from the May-June 2014 Game Day kit the Megahauler and Battle Screecher cards, from the second tournament kit Fortress Oblivion and Starbase Omega.

To cut a long story short I won both of our games. The first game was a comfortable win, however the second game was close. If it hadn't been for a couple of outposts taking the sting out of a 20 point combo attack, reducing the damage to 10 points, Jamie very well would of gone on to win the game I think. In the end I finished the game on 14 authority, to his -1 after taking a 10 point hit from me to end the second game.

Naturally we played using the new playmat. Playing the game on the official playmat the game looks amazing.

When I got home the official Star Realms storage box was waiting for me. Inside was a nice little letter from the shop I bought it's from in Germany plus a little packet of sweets. Sweets are always welcome no matter how small the packet is.

As the photo below shows you get an awful lot for your money with the storage box. The box itself is a strong cardboard with amazing artwork. White Wizard Games really do know what they are doing visually. The art work on the cards and official products like the playmat and this box is just out of this world. You also get four packets of card sleeves, four cardboard dividers, and three copies of the Mercenery Garrison outpost card.
The box will hold three base sets sleeved. Which is lots of space for a base set and the expansions that are out at the moment.
Before Luke arrived to play Star Realms I spent a bit of time sleeving all the cards I have. The official sleeves are pretty cool, the art work is the same as it is on the back of the cards. I like the fact there are plenty of sleeves included. There is more than enough to sleeve a base set, the Gambit expansion, the four expansions that make up the Crisis Expansion, and any promo cards you may have. And I still have spares left over for new additions. The sleeving of cards was followed by adding in the Mercenery Garrison to the trade deck from earlier. I somehow need to get my hands on three copies (I think that's the number allowed of this card) of the Starmarket promo card to add in, and I have all the promos, and expansions for Star Realms at this point I think.

Luke arrived and after the wolf pack had calmed down a little, I started to explain the game of Star Realms to him.

Just a quick aside, but now with all the cards sleeved the trade deck goes from a compact pile to a reproduction of the Empire State Building in cards. The sleeves really do increase the height of the trade deck considerably.

We played three games of Star Realms, with some coaching along the way. I hope I got the balance right between letting Luke make his own decisions and learning, and helping. Although I do based on my current slump playing against opponents in the app feel a bit of a fraud pretending to be an “expert” who knows what he's talking about. Between games and at the end I pointed out one or two of my favourite cards and explained why.

Near the end of the third game, Luke got a great combo working that ended up in hitting me for 23 points of damage.
Luke enjoyed playing the game and is planning to get the app so that he can get more practice playing the game before the next time we play.
Through out the evening what I thought was Strider knorring a bone was in fact him knorring the table leg. When caught he tried licking it as if that would fix what he had done! Below is a photo of the naughty Strider having been caught in the act.
So a great day with Star Realms playing with the cards. Great games (and I'm not saying that because I won, I love playing this game win or lose) and great opponents. I love the app and playing against opponents from who knows where. And this is great especially if you have no-one local to play with. But and this applies to all boardgames really, playing across the table from some-one, interacting, having that physical product interaction just can't be replicated. It's a different experience. I love both experiences, but it's really cool to be playing with the cards and seeing the reactions when you pull off those combos and hit them with a large damage score, and the banter that goes with it.

 

Lego Log Cabin

lego minifigs, new arrivals

I bought a second hand Lego log cabin set off eBay saving a bit of money. It arrived today, so naturally I had to put it together straight away. I was going to buy this set ages ago to get the hiker and backpack before deciding to make my own. But when I saw this on eBay at a very very good price I had to get it. But now it was because of one of the three designs the set could make. I dug out the plans for desired design and set about making the Lego log cabin.

Official Lego minifig hiker vs mine

I really do think I've done a far far better job of representing a hiker/backpacker than Lego. If it wasn't for the backpack on the Lego character you'd never guess it was meant to be a hiker. I think the hat, and the custom torso I sourced work so much better. Maybe Lego should get me in to design minifigs.

 

Just in this weekend

lego minifigs, new arrivals, tabletop

New Minifigs

Two new official minifigs from the local Tesco. The alien and a space soldier, both look pretty awesome. I think the only figure I've been disappointed with has been the genie so far.

New Tabletops

So yes I was that impressed Thursday night with the following game. It's a very reasonable price too. A great game for gamers and non gamers, Bouncy plays it with his kids, so great for families.
I played the odd game of Blood Bowl while I was studying down in Brighton. I know the miniature game has been reprinted and I think updated, and popular again. I'd love to get back into it, but I have enough miniature based games at the mo (can you ever have enough?), there is only so many a wallet can support unless you win the lottery. However they spun off a card game from the Blood Bowl IP. The reviews are fairly good, so I thought this was a “cheaper” way to get a Blood Bowl fix without the miniature game cost.

 

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.

 

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.

 

Neeeew Arrivals End of Feb

new arrivals, pandemic, star realms, tabletop

Wish Amazon had got this in stock in time for the Pandemic Party, but hey a month late is better than never. I'm looking forward to playing Pandemic with this expansion, which for the friends I play with is essential as it adds a fifth player to the game, so all five of us can play it.

The holy grail arrives

Finally! Finally! The Crisis expansion is in my hands!!!! After what seems like an age since the Crisis expansion for Star Realms was released (apparently it was released or due to have been released just before Christmas). I'm looking forward to adding the cards from these four expansion packs that make up the Crisis expansion to the Star Realms deck. I warned the student I played against this week that next time we play the game will have new elements. I'm looking forward to seeing how the Heroes and Events cards effect the game.
In the meantime in the app version of the game my friend in the US of A Freddy is kicking my butt in the game. I can try and convince myself that the cards were against me. But the truth is Freddy is a more skilful player than me. In one game I know the exact point I lost, and it's was me not having faith in my cards. I could of taken Freddy down to one authority by scrapping a couple of cards but didn't, thinking I could finish Freddy off next go. But that wasn't the case, Freddy rallied and defeated me two rounds later.
The screenshot below shows me drawing even with another friend in games with my biggest winning margin. Now why can't I play like this against Freddy? Although what helped me was a tactical error by my opponent that left The Hive base in play allowing me to get faction combos working with all my blob faction cards. In fact the exact same tactical error the student I played did earlier in the week.
I love playing Star Realms either using the app or the cards. But for me the cards still feel different when playing. It will feel even more different with the expansions in until the expansions get added to the app. Which they will be at some point this year.
Finally as the photo shows the green ten sided dice also arrived. These as stated in a previous post this week will be used to track authority within the card version of the game.

 

New Arrivals New Arrivals – mid Feb 15

dice masters, lego minifigs, new arrivals, star realms

I'm starting this new arrivals post with Lego minifigs. I'm still awaiting for some parts to arrive from France, but in the meantime I managed to get a Lone Ranger minifig and also the Lego City Polar Accessory Kit. I got this mainly for its accessories. I wanted a tent, and the stove, the mugs and axes are a bonus. But there is also what looks like a lolly which is a little hand trowel. These accessories will help me in my backpacking scene I will be creating.

Next in is some Dicemasters stuff. Top photo shows the three cards from the Days of Future Past OP kit. I had bought the first OP kit as well, however that seems to have been lost by the courier, and I got a refund. So now need to source another copy of that.

The bottom half shows off the final nine cards that I needed to complete the Avengers vs X-Men Dicemasters. So I'm happy about that. My set does not include the alt art cards, that's a silly root for me to take as the Tsarina alt art card is going for silly money.
Next month get the final cards to complete the Uncanny X-Men set.
Finally on the Dicemasters front the Yu-gi-oh! Starter set also arrived. I think I need nineteen cards to finish off this set after getting the starter and a gravity feed. So that isn't bad. The cards are either rare or ultra rare.
Also arriving are the cards from the two tournament kits that Star Realms had last Summer. Star Realms is one of my favourite games at the moment. Obviously there are spares which I'll be giving away. I'm going to need to get another base game. Then I can have a copy of the base game to teach new players with, and a copy of the game with the expansions added to play with experienced players. I still need to find a copy of the Gambit expansion, and I haven't seen anyone advertising the storage box yet.

Finally I have for some reason two copies of the Blackmailer promo card for Cash 'n Guns 2. Could of sworn I only clicked it once! And also with that came the Kickstarter Deluxe Content for Tiny Epic Kingdoms. This adds three new factions and the exploration expansion.

So that's the new arrivals wrapped up. Some cool stuff I think. I'm going to leave this post with something I shared on Instagram/Twitter/Facebook yesterday, I hope you like it.

 

New Arrivals new arrivals (5/2)

dice masters, ghost stories, lego minifigs, new arrivals

Going to start off this post with some lego stuff and then finish with a game related bit.

First up some minifig bits that will make be parts in making my three planned figures. Plus the little contamination container for the scientists. There are still some more bits to come, more legs torsos, and accessories. But they are coming from a different company. I am really happy with the anonymous head to use for the hacktivist.

I had a little issue getting this next item. Ordered at the same time as the other bits from Amazon, but sent separately via Royal Mail. Didn’t arrive next day ( thanks Amazon for the extra month of Prime membership, pays to complain ). The book still hadn’t arrived yesterday so back on to Amazon who resent the book! Which turned up today.
Finally I found a site (Belgian!) that sells promos for the game Ghost Stories, ok truth be told I wasn’t actively looking for promos for this game I stumbled upon it, as you do. So as part of a small promo splurge this month I ordered the promos they had. The Ma-Cho promo is for an expansion I don’t have (yet) but thought I’d get now while I could. The others add more cards/tiles to the base game. I’ll be looking at these in more indepth at a later date.

So there you have it today’s new arrivals. More still to come, but I’m not going to spoil the surprise as to what they are. Knowing what was released last week I think some of you may be able to make an educated guess to one or two of the items.

UPDATE

Well lunchtime saw another delivery. The Yu-Gi-Uh Dice Masters Gravity Feed arrived. Ninety packs, one hundred and eighty cards and dice. Two rare cards ^__^ So as you can guess I’ve had a funtime opening all those packs.

 

 

Firehouse Baby

flash point, game night, lego minifigs, new arrivals, tabletop

“Get the firehouse

'Cause she sets my soul afire

Get the firehouse

And the flames keep gettin' higher”

KISS – Firehouse

As part of my expanding lego minifig collection four lego minifig firemen arrived. Luckily these can be picked up relatively cheaply on eBay. So why have I got firemen? The photo above kind of gives it away really. It's mainly to use in playing the game Flash Point instead of the little plastic figures that come with the game (the blue figure in the photos is one of them). And also for when I do posts about the game I'll use them for a little photo shoot to illustrate the post.
I'm not claiming using lego minifigs as replacement game counters as my original idea. I had been thinking about it since getting Imperial Assault ( and ruled out because Star Wars minifigs aren't as cheap as firefighters). However over Christmas I did see a post on the UK Imperial Assault Facebook page where some-one had done exactly that and used Star Wars lego minifigs instead of the provided miniatures. It looked pretty cool.
In fact I'm half tempted to use the scientists I have in Pandemic games also. One thing I'll have to do is get a female minifig head or two to convert one or two of the firefighters into female ones. Why? Well it's the right thing to do, plus there are female characters in the game already. So to be true to the game I think some of the player counters should also be female.
I kind of like the idea of using lego minifigs as game counters. For me it adds an additional fun element to the game. It means I can create personalised minifigs that represent the person playing the game. So it can add that personal touch and be used as a cool memento of the evening (although that could get expensive – unless they bring the minifig back with them for subsequent games). Before I start doing this for my gaming evenings I must find a cheaper supply of minifig parts and accessories. eBay and the sites I use online aren't suitable for this as a long term project. Nice thing is if I can source a cheap supply of parts for my own projects, I can use them also with students in induction weeks (I mentioned this idea in a previous post).
Who would of thought I'd find a cross over between lego minifigs and boardgames. It was pretty dam obvious really.

 

New Arrivals, New Arrivals (Jan15)

comic books, lego minifigs, new arrivals, tabletop

The payday splurge has happened!

Boardgames

Last Wednesday I finally found a shop in the UK that had Tiny Epic Kingdoms in stock. Which was very lucky because Friday when I went back to check that I hadn't imagined it and done a pre-order, it was out of stock. When it arrived this morning and I opened it, it did seem slightly unreal that I actually had a copy. Then I had a little epiphany (yeah I know I don't have these moments very often, self awareness, contemplation is over rated), I like the thrill of the chase, the hunt, call it what you like. But the harder a game is for me to get the more I want it! It's a character flaw for sure. But the excitement and euphoria of that moment of finding a copy of the game (especially at the retail price or less) after weeks or months of hunting.
Back in the early nineties I was in London for work, and somehow ended up at the Virgin Megastore and in its comic department. There behind the counter hanging on the wall was the 1977 KISS Marvel Special. This was the first ever dedicated comic book to the group ( their first appearance had been in the Howard the Duck comics), to mark this monumental occasion the group had some of their blood mixed into the ink that the comic was printed with. I'd been after this comic for years. Well I'm a big KISS fan, and a comic book fan, so this was like the perfect comic for me. When I saw it there behind the counter, I knew I had to have it. I just went up to the counter spoke to the member of staff the following words “I'll take the KISS comic please”. I didn't even ask how much it was. The price was irrelevant to me. I handed over my bank card to pay, I don't remember hearing the assistant say a price, I remember signing the authorisation slip (this was way before chip and pin had been introduced), I never looked at the amount, I was focused on the comic. I finally had it, and couldn't wait to get home to read it. I seem to remember from the bank statement that the object of my desire had cost me £40.
Another example of this addiction also involves KISS and comic books but while I was in my final year of my HND at Brighton Polytechnic. As I mentioned above the groups first appearance was in the Howard the Duck comics. I was under the impression that appearance was in issue eight of the comic. So when I bought that comic from I think it was Forbidden Planet if I remember correctly, I was disappointed when I read it back in my room that KISS were not in it. But I knew they were in one of the issues. So I did the only thing I could at the time (remember this was before the internet). I started at issue one of Howard the Duck and bought all the issues in its thirty two issue run. I knew that way I would get the issue I wanted. It turned out their appearance was spread over two issues (I can't remember the issue numbers), but it was the last panel of one issue and the first couple of pages of the following issue. A side affect of this hunt was I became a big Howard the Duck fan (and yes I'm excited about the new comic, and was delighted with his cameo in Guardians of the Galaxy).
It was like this with the game Space Hulk. I'd wanted to get a copy to play with Nath, but it was out of print, copies were going for stupid money on eBay and Amazon. But I kept looking, trying to find a bargain, or to be more honest a reasonable price I could justify. If Games Workshop hadn't done the reprinting last year, I was a month or two away from caving and paying the extortionate prices being asked for the game. Even then the buying of the reprint was a roller coaster of a ride. Games Workshop announced the reprinting at a weekend, and had sold out on their site within hours before I could order a copy. My only hope was if The Rift were going to get any copies. Luckily they were and I was able to get one.
Sometimes I do feel that companies exploit people like me with this character flaw. At least I am aware I have it, and try to not let it rule my life.
The other two games I got Bang the Dice Game and Cash and Guns 2 are both light games for groups. I've not played Bang the Dice Game, but it's had great reviews. Cash and Guns 2 Nath and I got a chance to play this at Eurogamer last September and we really enjoyed it.

Comic Books

I don't think I've spoken about comic books before on here. I tend to buy trade backs these days. I can't afford to relapse. I was an addict.
I owe getting these four to a conversation between a couple of friends on Facebook (thanks Steve and James). They were talking about how good Alex + Ada was, and how the trailes for Ex Machina reminded them of this comic book. So I thought I'd give it a try. You know what Amazon is like with its “others also bought” or “you may like this also”. Well I'd been looking at Sex Criminals and Saga on and off, the reviews were pretty good for both, so I thought I'd give them a go finally. Deadly Class looked interesting too, so that was added to the give it a try list for this time. I'll do a post about these once I've read them.

Lego

Amazon Prime let me down (and they will be paying for that later, usually in the form of extending my Prime membership by a month – it's worth complaining) by not deliverying the first volume of the Minifgure Customisation book. However volume 2 did arrive as the DK Lego Star Wars The Dark Side book. Can you tell why I bought this? Yep the minifigure of the Emporer. I'll let you try and guess the first photo I'm going to do with him is, you will find out soon enough.
So wow an interesting mixed bag of arrivals today. I hope you have liked this post. It kind of ended up slightly different to what I imagined it would when I thought I'd blog about the new arrivals.