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.

After a day or two without posting I thought I better post something as proof of life. Plus by using the post title that I have, and the obvious (for a gamer) music choice at least you have some quality entertainment before getting to my drivel.

I thought in this “come back” post I’d briefly look at the two new apps I’ve been playing. Or at least discuss my experience of them so far.

About three weeks ago I got accepted onto the beta test for the Roll for the Galaxy app. It’s something I’d forgotten I had applied for. So when the email arrived in my inbox telling me I was in, was a pleasant surprise.

Basically being part of the iOS beta test means I get to play the game for free until they are ready to release it officially to the general public. That’s when I will have to delete the beta version and pay for the release version. When that moment happens I will gladly part with the money.

I’m really enjoying the experience of playing the app. I’ve not played against anyone else yet online. But my games against the AI have been fun.

I do own the physical game and I like playing the game. How ever I’d not really considered it a filler game. Games had typically taken around 30 – 60 mins depending on number of players and experience etc.

What I’ve found with the app and playing against the AI is that I’m playing the game as a “I have 5 minutes to fill” type game. Which surprised me a little. In fact since getting the app it’s been my go to app for those moments of “I want to play something, but not invest lots of time playing” moments.

In fact this beta version came out within a day or so of the Imperial Settlers Roll and Write app, and apart from an initial play, I’ve been playing this instead.

Nearly two weeks ago now the digital version of Viticulture was released.

Sadly for Viticulture it was after the Roll for the Galaxy app, and it has taken me just over a week before I even fired the app up and played a game.

Since then I’ve played a couple of games against the games AI. I’m liking the implementation but I’m missing the Tuscany expansion. It’d be nice to play a game or two against friends. But not likely to happen for a while.

But like the Lords of Waterdeep and Manhattan Project apps it will allow me to scratch a gaming itch. After all these are my three top favourite worker placement games. So having the option to play all three of them now digitally against AI is a god send.

I still have the Charterstone app to start playing, and I want to learn Race for the Galaxy using the app. So plenty to keep me going.

As promised my prize from the Osprey competition arrived this morning.

Naturally the boxes didn’t remain sealed for long. As you can see the production quality is top notch, great custom insert, the now usual washed miniatures (that look great).

I may actually play this solo! Something I rarely do.

I also decided this morning to quickly organise my other (not D&D) RPG bits.

So instead of separate deck boxes containing the decks for Thunderbirds, Genesys, Paranoia and Alien. I’ve put them into a single large deck box, separated by dividers.

The custom dice for Alien, Genesys and the Paranoia computer die, along with some d6 dice (WOIN and Judge Dredd) have been split between two boxes. One of which also has some tokens and counters. I need a better solution for this. But for now it’ll do.

This will stop that little nagging feeling that was beginning to develop that I was going to lose one of the deck boxes.

There are also another couple of organising projects I need to do. The first is D&D related and involves getting the cards such as monsters, spells etc stored better.

The second is to create a “grab bag” for game nights that contains filler games such as Love Letter, Coup, D-Day Dice Pocket, and others. It just means I won’t have to hunt around, and make being organise easier. I may write a post about what is going into this.

A friend on twitter this morning said that they had a craving for fish and chips. I replied I missed playing board games with my friends.

Yes there are the app versions of some, and the various virtual table tops. But they are not the same as playing in person. Although I do prefer the app version of a game over the virtual table top equivalent. Plus most of my “gaming” has been against the AI. Not much online gaming has taken place for a while now, outside of my usual Star Realms, Epic the card game and Lost Cities games.

Now I realise that the time when it’s safe and allowed to get together in a social setting is still a little way off. But it doesn’t stop plans and lists being made.

For instance I have the games below that have been added to the collection (although technically the Targi expansion is on it’s way) during the madness.

For those wondering, yes that is another copy of Love Letter. This time it’s the latest version of the game printed by it’s new masters Z-Man games. This latest printing now plays up to six players, instead of four. Has new art. Which we could debate for ages whether it’s an improvement or not. Plus a couple of new cards with new abilities. So with all those changes it was inevitable that I’d get this.

Apart from Targi and it’s expansion, there is a theme in the above games. You could argue they are “filler games”. Games that play quickly in under 30 minutes.

Naturally I’m also keen to get back to having the D&D sessions running again. Plus with the new ikora themed Commander decks hitting playing a game or two with them with friends, which would be real cool. Plus having the opportunity to get a first game of Last Days is something I’m also excited about.

What games are you excited to play once this mess is over and it’s safe to do so?

It’s that time of year again.

Yesterday after sitting on a shelf since I bought it over two years ago, I finally built the ruined farmhouse.

Naturally the plan is to use this in a game or two of Last Days.

Smaller than I thought for sure.

I think it needs a barn to go with it. I’ll have to try and find one.

Naturally instead of playing the apps I already have. I’ve bought one or two new apps to play during this period of lockdown.

A couple I’ve already mentioned in the post about my online id’s being updated. However I’ve added a couple more since then. One because a friend reminded me it was a thing and had been for a while (Smash Up!) and the other was a brand new release (Charterstone).

Although for the later I’ve not been successful in getting an online game with any of my friends so far. A combination of no Android version yet and the PC price on Steam putting them off.

One of the new apps I bought to play was Through the Ages. A game I’ve always wanted to try. For whatever reason I’ve not done. But this lockdown has given me the excuse to try the game.

I really did like the tutorial for Through the Ages. It was about the right length, had a little humour mixed in. And after completing it left me with a basic understanding of how to play the game. So a success.

I’ve not played the game against a real life opponent yet. I rarely play against random players online. I much prefer to play against friends. Which my current crop of online games for Star Realms and Epic Card Game will back up. Although I will sometimes pop into the Arena in a Star Realms to try and earn a foil version of a card.

So all my games so far have been solo against the AI. Which for the record I’ve not beaten yet. I’d like to say they were close. But I’d be lying. I think I have done respectfully by scoring over 100 points most times.

I actually like Through the Ages a lot. Which I thought I would. Naturally I can’t compare how accurately the conversion is between it and the physical. But I like the implementation, the interface and the look.

The game ticks a lot of boxes for me. I certainly feel like I’m building a civilisation, but I think the graphics certainly help on that front. It’s an engine builder. A mechanic I like a lot. I have one or two in my collection. The variable powers for each player achieved through leaders and government cards helps make your civilisation feel unique, and helps shape your plans.

One of the advantages of an app version of a game is that it does all the heavy lifting of doing upkeep such as generating resources, handling triggers, and any calculations. But the one I’m glad for and it would be such a chore and time consuming I’d imagine in the physical game is the constantly shifting market. Each turn three cards drop off the market and are replaced with new ones at the other end.

The other app I’ve played but also only against the AI is Smash Up!

I knew I liked this game, having played it in it’s physical form with Gavin a while back now (probably last year).

Once again I like the interface but I did struggle initially with the in game one. I loved the deck selection interface and it’s carousel, it felt very natural. Which isn’t surprising because it reminded me of when you used to select tunes on an iPod with the click wheel.

At its heart Smash Up! is an area control game. Another mechanic I like. What I like about Smash Up! is the choosing two themed decks and shuffling them together to get your final deck to play with. It’s a clever way to remove deck building from the game. Which can be a lengthy process and require knowing about all the cards and how they interact to do it really well. Which would favour the experienced player. This way is a great leveller, and reduces that advantage to a degree. It’s also a fun way to do things.

Again the tutorial is good. And does its job.

I can’t wait to play this game against friends. Despite not beating the AI, I like the game. I’m seeing a trend here with these two games. All hail our AI overlords.

Two great board game apps worth considering getting.

In this uncertain times what does a famous game designer do when self isolating?

Design a roll and write game that’s what.

Jamey Stegmaier has spent the last week creating and updating a roll and write game called Rolling Realms.

All you need to do is down load the single page pdf (link below), print it out, find two d6 dice, and a pen/pencil, and you are all set to play.

Jamey is currently doing live Facebook streams playing the game with those that tune in. Yeah it scales quite well. These videos also act as a tutorial as well.

I hope sharing this with a wider audience (I’ve also shared on twitter and Facebook) will help make those self isolating or on lockdown have a slightly less stressful time.

I’d also like to Jamey for doing this. It’s very much appreciated.

link to where you can download the pdf.

Just a brief post to let whoever is interested/concerned that Nan, Mum and myself are ok.

I know I haven’t posted for a day or two. Didn’t want people to worry that this was a sign that the pandemic had managed to break into our house holds. Just not had much to write about. Plus I didn’t want to spam everyone with posts about random dungeons. That would soon get boring.

The attack chihuahuas Nico and Loki are doing a grand job keeping Nan safe during the day with snuggles under the blankets. They are like little hidden booby traps.

Be safe.