Category Archives: Uncategorized

Racing to the pile of shame

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You wouldn't it would be safe to say, describe me as a formula one racing fan. I find the sport and especially the TV/radio coverage boring. It's about as exciting as watching washing going round in a tumble drier for me. The commentators make it even worse because they try and make it sound exciting.

So why then have I gone and bought a boardgame that recreates the formula one driving experience? Was the Tabletop episode with Wil Wheaton and friends really that good an advert for the game? Er Yes.

There are some nice touches to the game like how it uses different sided dice to simulate using different gears. Or how a car has to stop in a marked area round each of the corners or the car takes damage.

And the game does seem much more fun than actually watching the sport. So another game removed off my “to buy” list and added to my pile of shame of games I really must get to the table.

Thought I would end today's post with a Nico and Loki photo. I just love the evil look on Nicos face as he plots some act of evil to get the chew off Loki.

 

About Last Night

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So last night using the power of the internets, webcams and other bits of magic that I couldn't even imagine back in the early eighties as a young teenage me, I played a game of Android:Netrunner. This gave me a chance to play my Noise deck against Jinteki. It needs some adjustment, especially on the economy side. Sadly for me the majority of my viruses had migrated to the bottom half of my deck. I didn't do too badly, I scored six points before dieing from a snare. I had been reduced to a hand size of two after taking three brain damage earlier.

New Royal Mail Uniform announced – the saga continues

So called in the Royal Mail depot today. Firstly told they couldn't give me my parcel without a card!! When I pointed out that one was never left, I gave them the tracking number, but conviently they are upgrading their computer system and wasn't able to find it, although they were sure it was on the premises. They even tried saying that they had tried delivering the game, and tried neighbours as well. I pointed out that it wasn't possible, and that their person on delivery was lying but they wouldn't have it. Honestly this is starting to smell like they have stolen my game.

I spoke to Amazon and complained about all this, and have ended up cancelling the order and got a refund. Time to source from elsewhere I think.

Finally after teaching Love Letter to my friend at work, ready for tomorrow's Love Letter tournament, we had a quick look at Run Fight or Die!

Sadly there was only time for a couple of turns each, but wow! We really liked it. Although my friend could do with being a bit luckier rolling dice. I'm now very very keen to get this to the table for a full play ASAP.

PS currently have Formula D (an F1 racing game on its way), along with a copy of Hive Pocket (an abstract game). When they arrive that will be two more off my list of games to get, and two more on my pile of shame.

 

Hulking Out

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I like Games Lore they are a nice reliable company. Well my experience with them so far has been very good. This morning the latest data pack from the SanSan Cycle dropped through the letter box.

I love the data packs and the job that FFG do with them. I love the leaflets that they include with background information on them. They add meat to the Android universe that FFG have created. It's a simple thing but adds so much to the game for me. After all the theme is so awesome.

A Tale of Woe

I should be telling you all about the arrival of Imperial Settlers today. But sadly due to a bunch of lazy lying b'stards at the Royal Mail I can't.

You may detect I'm just a tad upset about this.

Tracking numbers are great things. So when I was on Amazon this morning checking when my Munchkin Loot Letter would be arriving I noticed that it was also saying that there had been an attempt to deliver said Imperial Settlers at 8:23am!

This kind of took me by surprise because I was sitting down stairs in the living room drinking an awesome mug of coffee, with Loki curled up next to me. There was no knock on the door, no little card lying about how they had tried to deliver.

So you can imagine I was very pissed off to see this as an update.

Now I have popped out this morning around 10:30, the pack needed some treats to keep them busy. However mum was dog sitting. So there was someone at mine, sitting in my living room (which by the way the front door opens into) with the dogs.

But apparently once more according to the tracking the Royal Mail had tried to redeliver the package! Once more no card through the door. Once more no knock on the door. Once more a false claim by the delivery person.

Is it a wonder that business is being lost to competitors by the Royal Mail, when they clearly employ liars who are not doing their job. I am fed up with the Royal Mail. Bunch of thieves and liars if you ask me. When I don't receive a package that I've ordered it has always been the Royal Mail that was meant to be delivering it. It's funny as the replacement always gets through no problems.

There is going to be an angry me turning up to the local depot Monday morning. Even then the managers are incompetent, never returning calls when asked to so a complaint can be made.

The sooner the Royal Mail goes out of business the better I say.

 

Bargains Arrive

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Yesterday after a hard day at the ol' mine face known as work I arrived home to the delightful surprise of some new arrivals.

You will remember I have previously pointed out that it is now possible to avoid the eBay fleecers and get the Tabletop promo card for Dead of Winter for a bargain five dollars plus postage.

Now this may seem an odd thing to say but I'm a kind of an off and on again Felcia Day fan. For those not in the know about who Felcia Day is, she is an actress, writer, and producer. Much of her fame comes from the geek/nerd culture world. I do like the web series she wrote and starred in called The Guild. What I'm not a big fan of is Felcia Day the personality.

Now this for some, nay many geeky/nerdy fans out there be heresy. But I'm man enough to take any flak. I just find that when she is on shows like Tabletop or her show co-optitude with her brother that she really really really irritates me. Especially when she plays the coy “am I cute?”, or “because I'm cute” look. It just grates. I'm a rational sane person, despite how sad I must appear at this point in time. I just hope that is some act that Felcia puts on for the cameras.

So why if at best I can be described as a luke warm Felcia fan did I want this promo? If nothing else has been established on this blog since it became about gaming that one of my personality quirks is that I'm kind of a complentionist. That some part of my DNA that defines who I am, there are some chromosomes that switched on this flaw within me. The other reason is heck I can banish Felcia from the colony of survivors, basically throw her to the zombies!

The other bargain that arrived was Run, Fight or Die with the two expansions I wanted. Which if you remember I got at a great price compared to what Amazon were asking.

I'll look at this dice rolling, push your luck zombie based game in another post once I get a chance to play it.

 

Quick Post

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Start of the month goodies arrived yesterday. Not all of the ones I was expecting but hey ho.

With the arrival of The Source and The Spaces Between data packs for Android:Netrunner I now have all of the data packs (apart from the just released one – awaiting Amazon to send it). Next up is to get the remaining two big expansions that I need to complete for the time being having all the available cards for the game.

As you can also see I have the Why Can't We Be Friends expansion for Imperial Settlers. Just a bloody shame Amazon decided not to send the game at the same time! So have expansion but no game!!!

Yesterday I also got a chance to play AGES with one of my students. The student had heard about the game on the Star Realms Fan page on Facebook, and I did say I'd bring the game in for him to play. Now the student is just waiting for the kickstarter to start so he can pledge for a copy of the game.

Finally there are plans for a Tuesday night Netrunner to start running at the Kings Head in Wisbech starting on the 7th of this month. So next week basically. Hopefully. Maybe.

 

Cord Cutter

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I'm a cord cutter as I believe the term is in the U.S. Of A. Where across the pond in means dropping the cable subscription over here it means I've stopped paying for Sky and I don't have Virgin or BT. In fact I don't have get the UK terrestrial channels either. Mind you I had given up on ITV and Channel 4 and 5 years ago, and hardly watched the BBC (usually only tuning in for Doctor Who and Sherlock).
Even with Sky it was mainly used as background noise. Most of my viewing was and still is streaming from the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime and getting all the latest episodes of shows I like from the U.S. weeks if not months ahead of the UK. So even Sky was irrelevant to me.
So when my Sky box gave up the ghost I saw no point in continuing paying them money for Malcolm in the Middle, Modern Family and Simpsons reruns. When I cancelled Sky did their damnedest to stop me leaving, and I still got letters and phone calls trying to woe me back.
Still the money I saved from Sky paid for an Apple TV, which for me an Apple Fanboy was a no brainer. With AirPlay I can watch my shows from the U.S. or Amazon Prime (although I also have a Fire Stick now also due to a nice little pre-order offer from Amazon for Prime members). I can watch Netflix, Sky News and YouTube on the Apple TV.
YouTube now makes a much bigger chunk of the content I watch now. Well being able to view on a large screen does make a big difference.
Now my YouTube subscription list is of actual use. There are some great shows on YouTube around my interested of gaming (video and board). They vary in production values naturally. Some are good enough that they could easily be on a regular channel.
I wasn't able (and not likely to be able) to get to Origins last week. However thanks to one or two of the channels I subscribe to I've been able to see game previews and interviews from the show. This coming week E3 happens and there will be loads of content from there. Then not long after there will be coverage of GenCon and Dice Tower Con.
Already I have even more games on my radar now. Like Tides of Time, Nations the Dice Game, Cthulhu's Vault, Ninja Camp, Extra Extra, City of Gears, Epic (backed on Kickstarter), Council of Verona tabletop edition, and Tiny Epic Galaxies (backed on Kickstarter). Ok I've also added Imperial Settlers too after seeing the expansion preview.
It's also nice to see game play videos. I can watch live streams of National or World tournaments of games I play, or the video afterwards. These are great not only in helping to improve your own game play, but if you are looking at getting a game they are also good at giving you a feel for the game.
Then finally there are the reviews and how to play video, which I find helpful in learning a game and making my mind up if a game is for me.
It's great I have what can be best described as my own personalised channel of content that I'm interested in. Maybe I'm late to the party and more hip and trendy younger readers will have been doing this for years. However I hate watching TV on a small screen like an iPad or laptop when I have a large screen in my living room. So I've never been a big fan of watching stuff on those devices. The Apple TV has made it feasible for me to cut the cord, watch programs that I want, when I want and not be dependent on some-one else making those decisions for me.
 

 

A big thank you

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I need to say a very very big thank you to my friend Freddy. Why? Well thanks to Freddy I'm the proud owner of the following two games that arrived today from the U.S. Of A.

Why did I need the help of Freddy to get these? Well ordering from the publisher in the U.S. was too expensive. And I wasn't able to find a place selling both in the UK (although I was directed to a couple of shops in the UK that had the Brew Crafters Card Game).
So a shout for help went out to Freddy. The plan was Freddy would order the games have them sent to him and then he would post them on to me. I can see the cogs turning and you thinking sneaky. Well it was because doing this way was less than half the cost that the publisher wanted to charge for postage.
Why? Oh Why do companies like to profit from sending goods internationally? Surely if Freddy can send it from the U.S. To the UK for $10 why can't the publisher? But I've had similar in the past in the outdoors world too. I would even accept a little increase of about $5 to cover insurance. But when the cost of postage is more than four times the cost of the goods ordered something smells.
Once again I'm very grateful Freddy for doing me this big favour.

Where I stick it to the man!

Ended up with three of today's Lego give away from the Daily Hate newspaper. I feel dirty having had to buy the paper to get two of them. I'll have to live with that dark spot on my soul.

 

TGOC 2015 Al’s Last Dance Part 6

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After a weekend of celebrating, debauchery, gluttony and singing “I would walk 500 miles” really loudly with other Challengers at Braemar (most likely), potentially doing some clothes washing (although that does use up very important beer tokens), we have the latest up date of the misadventures of Al and Lord Elpus. In which after all that excitement at Braemar they headed off to their mountain retreat to recover.