I’d like to say yesterday was an interesting day and also my first day taking an LFT on the road back to civilisation.

However it wasn’t. It was a very painful day where taking an LFT was the last thing on my mind or actually do able.

Within minutes of waking up a pain on my right hand side started and it got worse and worse. The pain was so bad I was sweating, and being sick from it. I’d got a gallstone. A large one guessing by the pain.

I have a high tolerance for pain. But this pushed the limits even for me. I eventually called 111, and whilst on the phone to the local on call doctor I was throwing up. Her advice call an ambulance.

So I did. However the ambulance service decided I wasn’t a “priority” for sending an ambulance and should make my own way to A&E. Which might involve calling my doctors surgery to see if they could help get me to hospital. I certainly didn’t have the money for a taxi.

Whilst rolling on the floor in agony (and that word doesn’t not even come close to describing the actual pain) trying to think clearly what to do, who I could call, about half an hour or more had passed and the pain level dropped!

Another area of my anatomy then also started to hurt.

All of the above was over about a four to five hour period.

Now I was dealing with a painful side and a bladder area also in pain. And also screwing up the messages to my body about when I needed to go. I was regular up and down trying to go.

But at least with the new “lower” pain levels I was able to drift in and out of sleep during the afternoon. The pain finally stopped around 8:30pm. Gone just as quickly as it had started.

Looking back it wasn’t just a big gallstone that I passed but a few smaller ones too. Luckily for me. I don’t think I could have done a second large gallstone.

But enough of my medical problems, and over sharing. Let’s talk roll and writes! There is no relationship between the two. No easy way to segway into the rest of the post. So let’s just change the subject totally.

I enjoy roll and writes. I like the puzzly nature of them. They do tend to be a communal solitaire game with very little player interaction. Although some decisions you make like die selected may have an impact on the other players. But that’s the closest you get to “interacting” with other players. I think they can all be played solo as well. But I’m not big on solo game play. Besides one or two of them have app versions that more than replace that side of the game.

Below are the eight roll and writes in my collection.

I have played all of them bar one, Rome and Roll. From my understanding it’s probably the heaviest roll and write going. I’m hoping to get it to the table with Jonathan one day for a learning game. It’s on a couple of my bgstat challenges.

Probably the “funniest” one in my collection is That’s Pretty Clever. But not funny haha, more funny how I was introduced to the game and by whom.

I was first introduced to That’s Pretty Clever at UKGE 2018 by Jonathan during a gaming session at our hotel. It was his copy we were playing.

The funny bit to me is Jonathan isn’t a big roll and write fan. Yet I believe he still has this in his collection (but I might be wrong on that, I don’t remember him selling it on). And he introduced me to the game.

I like to think that each of the roll and writes I own are different from the others in some way (Qwinto and Qwixx might be the exceptions).

Currently my favourite two are Rolling Realms and Three Sisters. It’s just coincidence that these are also my two most recent additions.

I started adding tags within the bgstats app that I use to record games played, and keep a track of my collection.

The first tag I added was a 2 player tag for those games that play just 2 players. You saw the result of that in yesterday’s post as it helped me choose the games I would have taken to the 2 player game session.

I added three more tags today. The first is the basis of today’s post.

I knew I had more than one copy of Love Letter. But not this many!

It’s funny how things soon mount up.

I’m too lazy to type out the names manually so here is a screen shot of them from the bgstat app.

What is it about Love Letter that I like? It’s such a perfect “micro” game. 16 cards, quick to teach, and play. There is so much depth and decision making to do based on which card to play, and what cards have been played. Plus it’s fun!

So why do I have so many copies? Apart from a couple of them that are just basically alternate art versions of the original game. Each version brings a new twist to the core game play. Whether it’s the gaining an extra point for guessing another players card in Love Letter Batman, or the card zero in Love Letter Hobbit (one of a couple changes) to the Archer one that brings the removed card from the game into the game play. Plus the theme often comes into why as well. Or my reasoning for getting the second edition is the fact it now plays up-to 6 players in a handy pocket friendly edition (unlike the Premium edition).

I think Love Letter Batman is still my favourite of them all.

Although the Archer and Hobbit versions are vying for second place. But Jabba’s Palace might be leap frogging them both.

What do you think of Love Letter? Which is your favourite?

The Friday 2 player games evening has been cancelled due to lack of interest and one or two others that were going having to drop out.

It would have been nice to have seen it going ahead.

It is what it is.

But seeing as I have a bit of time on my hand for a couple more days before I can start testing. I thought why not share the list of games I would have taken with me if I was able to attend this Friday.

I have about 30 games in my collection that I have tagged as 2 player only. Which includes one or two like Santorini or Star Wars Rebellion that technically can play more players. But playing more than two is a kludge. They are really 2 player games, and play best at that count.

A couple of the above have new expansions (can the Targi expansion be called new considering I’ve had it for a year or so now?) I want try with them.

The others are just favourites that have been away from the table for way too long. Although I do play Lost Cities a lot using the rather excellent app against friends.

Oh and sorry for the click bait post title. I know I’m better than that.

It’s Nans birthday today. The first since she died.

She would have been 95.

To mark the occasion and to celebrate her memory we got Nan some flowers.

I still miss her everyday.

I thought the wolf pack left pretty big holes in my heart but nothing compared to the one left by Nan. At least they are looking after her for me.

Earlier today on Twitter Osprey Games asked an impossible task?

Obviously my first reaction was to call it out as crazy talk.

But Osprey Games or their intern running their social media said to “Consider it a new year spring clean”.

Where do you start? Especially when (according to the bgstats app) I have 282 owned games! Yeah you read that correctly. I still find it hard to believe. I look at the games and think “never that many”. But apparently there is.

Do we get the game plus the expansions? That could affect the choices.

Well Scythe would have to be one of them. After all back in 2017 (iirc) that was my number 1 game of all time. And I don’t think that’s changed.

I think Wingspan would make the final five. And that ticks the engine builder box.

Magic the Gathering or more specifically my Commander decks would be on the list. Using the precons makes it like a board game!

Dune Imperium would kill two birds with one stone of deckbuilder and worker placement. As we know it edges it over Lost Ruins of Arnak for me.

The final slot has to be D&D. But this could easily be any one of the RPGs that I own. Although with my “library” of D&D books it does have the edge over the others.

But there are so many other games that I own and love playing, such as Twilight Imperium 4 or Tapestry. Or how about Lost Cities, Santorini or Onitama? How could I leave them out?

That’s why this is so impossible to do. I have so many great games that I love playing.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas from myself, Nathan, Mum and obviously our benevolent overlords, the apex predators, the cerebral assassins, Nico and Loki – attack chihuahuas.

We hope you have a great day with loved ones.

It’s been a day or two since the last post. Nothing much gaming wise has happened.

Well that’s not entirely true. Jonathan and I have had a chat about Fenland Gamers stuff last Saturday when we met up for a handing over of a boardgame. But I’ll probably cover the conversation in another post at the appropriate time.

The big take home from the above is what was boardgame I handed over to Jonathan?

At the start of the week on the BGT&C UK Facebook page we both belong to a copy of Via Nebula came up for sale. I knew Jonathan had been after a copy. So I grabbed it before anyone else could. Games go ridiculously quickly on this page. Especially if they are out of print (like Via Nebula is) and at a reasonable price. I couldn’t wait for Jonathan to see the post. It could have been sold.

I then contacted Jonathan to let him know what I’d done and to check if he wanted it! Yep I know a bit risky doing it this way round. Especially since I already own the game. But if on the remote chance Jonathan didn’t want it I could easily have sold it on. Luckily I’d called it correctly and Jonathan did indeed did want it.

So that was the game I was handing over last weekend.

This is a good example also of how you can tell just how much another person likes a game of yours after playing it.

Yes they may of had an enjoyable experience of the game. And indeed like it a lot and want to play it again.

But you know they “really” like it, when they add it to their wish list or buy it straight away.

I’ve been known to have done this myself once or twice in the past. Viticulture is definitely one example that comes to mind.

I am a creature of habit or more routine. Every now and then that routine changes.

With my new temporarily employed status and the early starts my morning routine has changed.

The time of morning I get up the last thing on my mind is making coffee! Shocking revelation I know. I barely manage a few mouthfuls of my current food addiction over night oats.

My morning caffeine fix was a cup of Kenco vending machine coffee once I got to work. The experience isn’t good.

So I bought the coffee equivalent of a teas-maid (as my friend Duncan calls it) a coffee filter machine that uses a travel mug instead of pot/jug and has a timer.

The night before I set everything up, grind the beans, put in the filter, top the water up, and set the timer for 4am (I said I’m up early!)

In the morning the only thing I have to do is add milk and go!

Oh what has the blog post title got to do with things? Nothing but I had to think of something to put!

This afternoon my Nan passed away in her sleep, in her home and bed.

Heartbroken.

Love you Nan you leave a big hole behind in my heart.

I’m not sure where this post is going.

A quick Nan update. Nan improved a lot yesterday. It was easier getting food and drink into her. She was brighter. More herself. I think she has started to get over the urinary infection. The medicine from the doctor that she started taking yesterday afternoon will make sure of that. So good news.

Now onto game stuff.

Tail end of last week I found out that unsurprisingly there is an expansion for Dune: Imperium coming out called Rise of Ix.

Rise of Ix will give us 3 new houses to play. “Acquire technological innovations from the planet Ix for a lasting strategic advantage.” which will be via some sort of board extension I assume. The expansion will also have a new epic game mode.

Pretty excited about this expansion, despite not having got the core game to the table yet! I’d also like to get the deluxe upgrade kit, but not seen that for sale in the UK. But then again with the expansion coming out you’d think they might offer a deluxe upgrade for that too. Otherwise there will be a mismatch in player components when using the upgraded core game with the expansion.

I’ve mentioned previously (a long time ago) that Lost Ruins of Arnak was getting an expansion. That should be out pretty soon. It was given a GenCon release date. But with the mess shipping is at the moment it’s possible there might be a delay.

The expansion introduces six unique leaders that have their own unique powers and starting decks. So basically introducing an asymmetrical element to the game. It also brings in an alternative research track, new item and artifact cards, plus more guardians, assistants and sites.

Another no brainer. Luckily I have got the core game to the table. Guess what I liked it a lot. As did those I played it with. Within the week Gavin had his own copy!

One game I will be getting once it’s possible to order it is Rolling Realms by Stonemaier Games.

Jamey created Rolling Realms as a free print and play at the start of the pandemic. It stands out from other roll and writes in that it has no maximum player count!

However Jamey listens to his fan base that asked for a commercial release of the game. Which this is. Although this version of the game has a player count maximum of 6. It will play more with more copies of the game. So you are basically increasing the maximum player count by an additional 6 players per extra copy.

But like all things these days Rolling Realms release has been delayed by the world wide shipping issues.

There is also a new Tapestry expansion due to come out before the end of the year. But whether that happens is due to the shipping gods. If delays to games is our only problem in life the we should count ourselves lucky. However I still need to, you guessed it, get Tapestry and the first expansion to the table.

With GenCon next week there are bound to be lots of announcements about new games etc by the companies there and those that are not attending this year (of which there are a few).

First out of the block was this post by R Talsorian Games creators of Cyberpunk Red RPG. Funnily enough this post is about that RPG and their The Witcher RPG.

I’ll let you go read the post for The Witcher stuff. But I’m very interested in the Cyberpunk Red stuff they have coming out, such as the Data Pack (GM tools), Netrunning Deck (deck of cards), and Interface Red (a collection of the free articles). Plus an update on a couple of Cyberpunk Red projects that are currently being worked on.

The interesting thing other than the product info is the information about how not only the already mentioned shipping issues are affecting them. But also how world wide shortages of materials such as paper and cardboard are also having a knock on affect on production and release schedules. Let alone the difficulty of getting a slot in the over busy production companies production runs.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg in the UK. We are experiencing the perfect storm here of the above issues, plus the effects of the pandemic and the fallout of Brexit (self inflicted). Which adds up to it being harder, more expensive and slower getting stuff into the UK.

There will be implications to the consumer in the UK in the form of price rises. Asmodee UK has never been shy of passing these on as quick as possible. Funnily they don’t seem to drop prices.

There will be another post after GenCon about anything that caught my eye. Until then stay safe.

What does board gaming mean to me?

I love it.

For a brief time the stuff going on in life is not wearing me down. It’s a break. A distraction. My social life.

I got a similar benefit from another activity I love backpacking/hiking. Sadly life over the last decade has meant that was not an option. But playing board games is.

Both activities have lead to great friendships, and great memories.

That break I mentioned, it is so important as a full time carer. A couple of hours here, half a day there. It might not seem like much. But it makes all the difference. Believe me.

So deciding not to go to this evenings club gaming session is a big thing for me. I didn’t make the decision lightly.

But considering how my Nan has been the last couple of days, and is today I can’t go.

I’ve tweeted about the emotional toll that Mum and I are paying caring for Nan. Especially over the last few weeks. It’s a price we gladly pay. After all it’s my Nan.

However watching her slowly decline, refuse to eat, not even open her eyes, or speak clearly (she barely mumbles now). It’s hard.

As I write this post we are awaiting a nurse visit. But you know there isn’t much that can be done.

UPDATE 10/9/21 15:30 : the nurse has been and checked Nan and seems happy Nan doesn’t have an infection (after listening to chest and taking temp). She has a urine sample to get tested. So we await the results. Which will be next week sometime I assume.

To paraphrase a popular saying, we are praying for a miracle but expecting the worst.

So if it’s quiet on here for a while, it’s most likely because I’m not up to writing anything. I’ll pop in with the portal posts if that’s the case.

Be safe folks.

UPDATE 10/9/21: part 2. It’s been a tough day emotionally. Not just with what’s going on with Nan but today is also the anniversary of my dad’s death. Which ironically is a hash tag day for World Suicide Prevention Day. So socially media today has helped make the day extra painful. 33 years since dad took his life and it doesn’t get easier.

UPDATE 11/9/21: we didn’t have to wait for the results of the pee test. Within an hour the nurse had called back and said Nan has a urinary infection. I would also be able to pick up from the pharmacy a prescription for liquid antibiotics. Sadly when I went to pick the prescription up they had none in stock. So I have to go back later today to pick it up. It won’t be easy getting Nan to take this but much easier than a pill.