Let’s face it this year is an anomaly when compared to other years. Well I hope it is, and that we are not looking at the new normal.

Obviously the least surprising stat is that I have played very few board games this year. In totally 22 games, down from 70 in 2019. But considering the state of things that’s not bad.

My most played game was Las Vegas (6 plays), which only just pipped D-Day Dice Pocket by one.

Of the 22 games played 8 of them were new to me. And that is the pool I have to choose from for my 2020 game of the year.

My game of 2020 although technically is over 30 years old, was out of print for most of that, achieving almost legendary status and greatly inflated prices on the secondary market, got a reprint in 2019 by Galeforce Nine. It wasn’t until the start of the year that I got to play the game.

My game of 2020 is…

Dune the board game did not disappoint. For me it lived up to the hype.

The two plays that I got were a 3 player and 5 player game.

I love the asynchronous faction powers. They were very on theme for each faction.

Which reminds me this game oozes theme. It captures the conflict for the planet Arrakis and the control of spice perfectly.

I’m a fan of games that capture or build in a political element between players, such as Commander, and A Game of Thrones the board game. I love making alliances and that potential for portrayal. And believe me those involved in the alliance are looking at when it will be the most advantageous for them to break the alliance and stab the other in the back.

The combat is pretty cool, although it can be a forgone conclusion, there is still an air of uncertainty. Especially when the the forces involved on both sides of the combat are pretty close in size. It comes down to leaders and cards played by both sides.

Dune can be a longish game to play. Not up to TI4 times. But still over two hours, more likely three to four. But even so, the time flies whilst playing. You are engaged between turns as you have to keep up with what the other players are doing. So you may have an idea what your next turn might be, by the time it is back to you that may have changed because of what others have done.

Yep Dune the board game is a classic that has held up rather well. I love it. It does need to be played with the higher player counts. But that is where the game sings.

Dune the board game my game of 2020.

Wishing everyone that reads this blog a safe and Merry Christmas.

Sometimes modern classic boardgames, especially the gateway ones, get a bit of a bad rep from more experienced gamers. Usually they have played the game to death when they first had it, got burned out on it.

Somehow I’ve avoided that with the classics like Catan, Ticket to Ride and Carcassonne. It was easy I didn’t play them to death.

Recently a Dice Tower review by Tom Vasel made me aware of a new unofficial way to play one of those classics that breathes new life into the game.

The game in question is Carcassonne.

I like Carcassonne, particularly with the River, Inns and Cathedrals, Traders and Builders, the Princess and Dragon expansions. And until now I had a couple of mini expansions/promos The School, an alternative River starting tile, and large Carcassonne map tile to spice things up a little if need be. I’d add in the Plague mini expansion but until the other day I had forgotten I’d had it (it’s been on a shelf for years unloved!)

Now despite my main way of playing Carcassonne in recent years being the iOS app version of the game. I’ve not burned out on the game.

Anyway this new way to play Carcassonne is using maps of various countries. There are currently five maps to choose from, Great Britain, France, Germany, Peninsula Iberia and Benelux.

In the review by Tom he said his favourite map was the GB one, which was convenient because that was the one I was going to go for considering where I live.

So after watching the review I googled the maps expecting to have to order from a store in the EU. But was pleasantly surprised to find that Boardgame Extras was selling them along with the tokens they use as well. Which both found their way into the shopping cart. I also got tempted by the large Carcassonne starting tile.

As always the service from Boardgame Extras was pretty swift and good. My only complaint is how the map was rolled in the tube it was packaged in. It was rolled with the plain side on the out side, so when you unroll it you need to weight the ends down to play because the won’t flatten out. That was the first thing I did for storage using the tube it arrived in, I rerolled it so that didn’t happen.

The map itself is A1 size (which puts it as 23.4 x 33.1 inch I believe according to a quick google) “high-quality, linen-print map“. So it’s large.

I now have a duplicate Carcassonne starting tile, because I had forgotten I already had it! That will be given away at some point. I’m happy with the quality of the paper used.

I know I won’t get this to the table for a while. But I’m glad I got this. Especially after seeing that it has sold out (at time of writing and getting link) on the Boardgame Extras website since. The Vasel effect?!

You can buy the Carcassonne maps and tokens on the Boardgame Extras website in the UK.

Apparently according to twitter today (19/9/2020) is Batman Day.

I don’t know who comes up with these things. It’s most likely some marketing person at DC/Warner Bros.

I’ve been a big Batman fan since I was a little kid. I have fond memories of watching the 1960’s tv show with Adam West as Batman on tv (itv iirc). Then seeing the movie at the local cinema on the big screen. Obviously not on the original release. One of the coolest toys you could have at the time was the Batmobile from I think matchbox. I also had the Batman action figure.

In 1988 after Dad died Batman helped me with the grieving. That was the time of the Death in the Family story line and Joker (after a fan vote) killing Robin (Jason Todd). It was seeing Batman grieve that helped in the subsequent issues. I kind of felt a strong bond with Batman. We were both going through the same process.

In more recent times I’ve enjoyed the cinematic outings of Batman. Both live action and animated. Although I will exclude Batman and Robin from that list of enjoyable experiences.

Now days I buy the odd graphic novel, and Lego figure. But there is still a lot of love there for Batman.

Just a quick post to reassure folks that I’m still alive.

Just not a lot going on gaming wise naturally.

But as folks that stalk me on other social media platforms will know I have been playing around in the kitchen. I’ve been concentrating more on the sweet side of things, cookies, no bake cheese cake, panna cotta, you get the idea. I do bake a fresh sourdough loaf twice a week. Plus my plain chow mein and sweet and sour pork is pretty tasty.

One or two of my friends in our gaming group have also been playing around in the kitchen (Jeff and his curries). When things become reasonably safe for getting back together for a game or two I think there might be a bring and share type thing that needs organising.

I started to create a character to use in a Strontium Dog adventure. I want to create three more so they can be used in one shots etc for those wanting to try the RPG. I think a one shot adventure will also need to be written. But the way things are going I have time to do this. No pressure!

In the meantime enjoy the amazing song from the end of Portal by Jonathan Coulton.

Until the next post, enjoy the cake.

With the Tapestry: Plans and Ploys expansion going on preorder later today on the Stonemaier website, it got me thinking.

This Winter period there are no games I’m really excited about getting (with one exception), it’s all about the expansions for me. No game has grabbed me, inspired me, and made me say “I’ve got to get this game”. In fact the recent announcement of Splendor getting a Marvel reskin for me sums up the direction the industry seems to be moving at the moment. It’s a sweeping generalisation. Especially considering the number of games that get released each year. But the high profile ones from the big boys are the ones that generally grab peoples attention and the headlines in publications. Heck I wasn’t even excited about the new Stonemaier game Pendulum. It just didn’t fire my imagination!

Obviously considering the opening sentence of this post I’m excited about the Tapestry expansion Plans and Ploys.

Plans and Ploys adds new landmarks, tapestry cards, civilizations, new space tiles (plus a replacement tile for a misprinted tile in the first printing), landmark tiles, landmark cards, a bag for territory tiles to go in, and automata cards.

So more variety, a new mechanic with the landmark cards, a new tiebreaker rule. It looks like a great addition to a game I like.

I wasn’t expecting an expansion for Civilization A New Dawn to be announced. So it was a nice surprise when FFG did announce it at this years Flight Plan.

Terra Incognita changes the game up a little bit by the looks of it. This expansion allows up to five players, you can now explore during the game and dynamically create the game board as you play. The combat rules have been tweaked, new leaders, and other additions.

I liked the original version of the game. But the exploring does sound really cool, and more like the video games. Will this change the way I play this game for ever? That’s an exciting prospect.

Then there is a massive expansion coming for Twilight Imperium 4th Edition called Prophecy of Kings. This increases the player count to eight players! New tiles, races, mechs, plus much more. It may be a while before this gets to the table (I need a table big enough for starters), I’m still excited for what this is going to add to the game.

The only game I’m excited about is Vampire the Masquerade: Rivals. Which is an expandable card game from Renegade Games set in the Vampire Masquerade/World of Darkness. Ok the setting isn’t the bit that excites me. But a multiplayer card game, where politics is part of the game play. That does. All the sounds coming out of Renegade about the game had me thinking they are approaching the game and it’s development the right way. The Kickstarter $100 tier was amazing value, and included a copy of the first OP kit. And is scheduled to be delivered in December.

What are you looking forward to or planning on buying this Winter?

Mike Shea aka Sly Flourish has an article just published on his blog called “The Most Valuable DM Tool: A Good List of Names“. I’ve embedded his YouTube video discussing this below as well.

The blog post and video contain links to some random generators that you can use to create random lists of names.

What Mike forgot to name is a couple of his own resources that also have lists of names you can use. The first is page 10 of his The Lazy DM’s Workbook that has fantasy first and last names. Followed by the very useful D&D 5e Campaign Worksheet that Mike created.

The worksheet is a nice thing to have to hand during a session anyway. But it’s random names section is very useful. I’ve used it during prep for a session to name NPCs, and during play to name an NPC on the fly.

Another source that Mike didn’t suggest, and it’s most likely because the book is no longer in print, not available digitally, and copies go for that stupid money now on sites like eBay, is Gary Gygax’s Extraordinary Book of Names. Just to get a digital copy involves looking on the shadier side of the internet.

I like the official book sources (Players Guide and Xanathar) plus the Gygax book. They are great for species related names. But I find they are best suited when planning or a session zero where time is less than an issue.

But for on the fly use during a session a list of names on a sheet of paper is in my limited experience the better option. No hunting around, reaching for a book etc. It’s just a quick look at a sheet of paper and marking off the name as used. So much quicker.

Yesterday my friend Sam wrote the following post.

I’d been the recipient of one of Sam’s surprise deliveries before. So I responded with the comment “Lightning doesn’t strike twice” knowing it wouldn’t be me.

This morning there was a knock on the door, and when answered the delivery person handed over a parcel.

I thought it was the two decks I’d order for the Paranoia RPG.

But when I opened up the packaging I was greeted by a surprise box. See photo below.

I laughed out loud.

This was funny.

Sam had sent me a joke present.

So I opened up the box to see what was involved in making this Bunny decoration.

To my surprise inside were two dice bags that had been made for me by Sam’s mum and cake making genius Doreen. You’ve seen Doreen’s cake skills on here before, granted a couple years back now.

This had me in stitches.

This was sooo funny.

What a great surprise. Lightning had indeed struck twice.

A big thank you to Sam and Doreen. This was very generous. And they will have pride of place in my DM bag and be the envy of the table.

There was a delay between the release of the documentary Gamemaster in the US and coming out in the UK. That delay meant that I forgot all about the film.

As far as I’m concerned there was no fanfare or reviews pointing out that the film was finally available outside of the US. Or if there was then it didn’t surface into my consciousness through whichever media channels I follow.

It wasn’t until I heard the Secret Cabal folks talk about the documentary on this weeks podcast that I thought I’d see if it was available in the UK.

It wasn’t on Amazon digitally except as a region 1 DVD!

Google showed up a tweet from the director/publisher mentioning it was on iTunes in the UK. Otherwise if I hadn’t seen that I’d have assumed that this was still only a US film.

Luckily being an Apple fanboy I could purchase the documentary. Which is something a rarely do. The majority of my digital purchases are on Amazon. I’m assuming that like the documentary Never Surrender that eventually Gamemaster will end up on other streaming services.

Gamemaster is a documentary about the boardgame industry.

Format wise its standard fare. They follow/interview four game designers that are at various points in their game design journey. Interspersed with talking head segments with various established big name game designers dispensing nuggets of wisdom and industry insights.

The four designers that get followed are a guy who was trying to kickstart a game he designed called Thug Life. A Pakistani female designer who had designed and published a game about arranged marriages and avoiding them. The creator of the Parks board game, and the video game designer, ex-Disney Imagineer Scott Rogers and his boardgame Rayguns and Rocketships. The director of the documentary seemed to have forgotten to mention Scott’s past experience. Heck he’s written one of the best, most accessible books on video game design, Level Up!

The female game designer was an interesting inclusion. Her story and the personal experience that formed the inspiration for her game was interesting. Naturally the theme isn’t one that appealed to me. But I loved how personal it was. It was also interesting to see the blow back she got from friends and family when she returned home to Pakistan.

The Thug Life designer also had a personal story that fed into his game design. However it didn’t feel as personal or as well executed as the arranged marriage game. His story within the documentary felt more to do with his Kickstarter journey and ultimately failure.

The talking heads were your usual suspects, Lang, Knizia, Vassel, Leacock, and Cathala, to name a few that instantly come to mind.

They briefly dealt with diversity and representation within the game industry and in games.

On the whole it’s a competent put together documentary up there with Going Cardboard: A Board Game Documentary, and miles better than The Next Great American Game documentary.