Heavenly hosts of Nico Bolas

Game day, magic, MtG

Today I went over to Huntingdon to play some Magic the Gathering and Commander. On the way I picked up my “break up for the cards” copies of the 3 2018 precons I had put aside at my FLGS The Hobbit Hole. They didn’t have any Subjective Reality decks left (had to order one online), plus a pot of grey paint and a couple of fine tip paint brushes. The later is for when the dire wolf model arrives.

The first game of the afternoon was a 4 player game which saw my Scarab God zombie horde deck get me to first loser. It didn’t really start to kick in, and do its stuff. It looked like it was going to start doing its thing, but a board wipe put an end to that idea.

By the end of the first game 2 others had turned up and we split into 2 groups of 3 to play.

The second game saw my Harry Potter Wizards deck get its butt kicked by a Giants deck. The deck didn’t really start to do anything, so yeah.

Zombie hordes over ran my big green stompy deck, despite me having a nice big stompy hydra on the board. Pumped up 2/2 zombie tokens, that became 4/4 with death touch after some abilities and enchantments, have 19 of those swing in not a lot you can do.

The fourth and final saw my angels come down from high.

“These words he speaks are true,
We’re all humanary stew,
If we don’t pledge allegiance to
Nico Bolas

The horror that he brings,
The horror of his teeth,
The unholiest of kings,
Nico Bolas.

Our minds will be his toy,
And every girl and boy
Will learn to be employed by
Nico Bolas.”

[lyrics poorly changed a little from Alice Coopers Black Widow]

Playing the angel deck it felt like I was the heavenly host for Nico Bolas. And that’s despite stopping the Nicol Bolas legendary dragon (core 2019 version) from transforming into its Planeswalker version.

I think when I played my first board wipe (Hour of Devastation) I did say as casting it “you have angered our Lord Nico Bolas, for the hour of devastation has arrived” or words very similar to these. Luckily my Commander was indestructible so I was able to keep her on the battlefield. In fact I was able to perform the same trick for my second board wipe (Wrath of God) too. It really does feel like you delivering Nico Bolas’s judgement upon the unclean when playing these cards.

I had lots of mana, so when I cast Helm of Hosts and equipped onto my Commander, it was game over more or less. And so it was.

A great afternoon of Commander.


Ok I guess after the two clues one or two might be remotely interested in the answer.

Well the “Secret theme” of the deck I’m going to brew is Ninja. The commander will be Yuriko, the Tiger’s Shadow from the 2018 Commander precon Subjective Reality.

The first clue was the tune Wastelands by Ben Daglish from the C64 game The Last Ninja. And the second clue was a bit of art from the advert for the game.

Painting tomorrow.

Getting ready to paint

miniatures painting

Finally got round to setting up the “painting station” again for the new project. Yes sufferers will recall that nearly 2 weeks ago I applied the primer to 78 or so zombie miniatures from Zombicide.

Oh there are a lot more than 78 zombies to paint in this project. I think with all the different types, zombie dogs, murder of crows, there must easily be another 300 odd models to paint. Followed by easily 70 odd survivors. So a heck of a lot of painting, and practice. So by the end of it all I may be in the same postcode of being a below average painter.

I do know along the way there will be detours. The first detour will most likely once they arrive be some models for our D&D game. I have a dire wolf coming (doing fur will be interesting, and require some research) that will maybe be used to represent the druid of our group when he transforms into said beast. Which he did for the first time in our beginners campaign last session. Who could resist telling the others of our brave party that the dire wolf kept licking its genitals? Not me. It was a constant source of amusement through out the session. There are some orcs, bugbears, and an owl bear also on the way. I know we will be up against the first 2 in this campaign, no idea on the later. But then again owl bears are cool and almost a mascot for D&D these days.

Another that may cause me to stray depending on how many zombies I’ve managed to complete is the The Walking Dead: All Out War Scenery Booster. Sufferers may have forgotten that I bought the rule book to a skirmish game called Last Days: Zombie Apocalypse. Which happens to be based around using 28mm models. So I can use my Zombicide stuff to play it. Along with the stuff from other games like The Walking Dead: All Out War. Hence this scenery booster that gives me the stuff in the stock picture off the internet below.


The nice thing also about this stuff is it’s going to look great on the table when playing Zombicide and Last Days.

So now the “painting station” is ready, I have some miniatures ready to base coat, with Netflix and IPVanish I have a few seasons of Supernatural to catch up on while I paint. I’m ready to rock n roll this bank holiday weekend.

Secret Commander Deck Clue 2

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Here is an amazingly easy clue to the theme for the new secret Commander deck that I mentioned in passing in one of the posts on Tuesday.

I also (if my failing memory hasn’t betrayed me) mentioned the Commander in passing in my coverage of the Commander 2018 spoilers. It is also possible when I was talking about this Commander that I pointed out there will be a few new decks built around this Commander.

Secret Commander Deck Clue 1

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Thought I’d have a little fun with you all, or with those that care anyway.

Here is a musical clue to the theme of the Super Secret Commander deck that I mentioned yesterday in a post. I have no permission to have this here,I’m breaking copyright in so so many ways it’s unbelievable. But I acknowledge the rights of the copyright owner which I will name, and give info about this bit of music at the weekend once I give the answer. Otherwise this information gives the game away.

There will be another clue tomorrow.

Muldrotha Graveyard Shenanigans Early Look Update

Commander, Deck tech, magic, MtG, MtG Deck Building

After sharing with you in the earlier post today an early look at the cards potentially going into the Horrors from the Deep deck, I’d also share with you an updated look at the cards going into the Muldrotha Graveyard Shenanigans deck.

I’m unsure about [card]Magistrate’s Scepter[/card], and that may be out by the next time you see another post about this deck.

I’ve still got to go through the lands matter Commander precon and see what cards would fit in here. So this list will be changing again pretty soon. If I remember from playing the deck there are a few that would fit in nicely. I just need to pick up that second copy.

Here is the updated early look list with the new additions highlighted.

Creatures:14

1 [card]Azusa, Lost but Seeking[/card]
1 [card]Eternal Witness[/card]
1 [card]Isareth the Awakener[/card]
1 [card]Gravedigger[/card]
1 [card]Jarad, Golgari Lich Lord[/card]
1 [card]World Shaper[/card]
1 [card]Ob Nixilis, the Fallen[/card]
1 [card]Tatyova, Benthic Druid[/card]
1 [card]The Gitrog Monster[/card]
1 [card]Titania, Protector of Argoth[/card] NEW ADDITION
1 [card]Muldrotha, the Gravetide[/card]
1 [card]Multani, Yavimaya’s Avatar[/card]
1 [card]Protean Hulk[/card]
1 [card]Torgaar, Famine Incarnate[/card]

Spells:18

1 [card]Crop Rotation[/card]
1 [card]Elixir of Immortality[/card] NEW ADDITION
1 [card]Vessel of Nascency[/card]
1 [card]Grisly Salvage[/card]
1 [card]Millstone[/card] NEW ADDITION
1 [card]Perpetual Timepiece[/card] NEW ADDITION
1 [card]Crucible of Worlds[/card]
1 [card]Faith of the Devoted[/card] NEW ADDITION
1 [card]Harrow[/card]
1 [card]Krosan Grip[/card]
1 [card]Magistrate’s Scepter[/card] NEW ADDITION
1 [card]Sultai Charm[/card]
1 [card]Fact or Fiction[/card]
1 [card]Scapeshift[/card]
1 [card]Black Market[/card] NEW ADDITION
1 [card]Nissa, Vital Force[/card] NEW ADDITION
1 [card]The Mending of Dominaria[/card]
1 [card]Worm Harvest[/card]

Lands:1

1 [card]Reliquary Tower[/card] NEW ADDITION

I hope people are liking the change to the deck listings I’m trying out in this and the previous post. It almost makes these types of post seem professional or something. Let me know what you think about this tweak in the comments below. While you are typing away why not also suggest cards you think should be going in to this deck?

Horrors from the Deep Early Look

Deck tech, magic, MtG, MtG Deck Building

I currently have 3 decks brewing at the moment. It was 2 until yesterday, then a secret third deck was started. So I thought I’d do an early look at one of the known decks I’m working on, the Horrors from the Deep.

So this deck will be a familiar tactic for my decks so far, and that is swing in with big creatures for the win. Except these big creatures will be round the theme of big sea creatures such as leviathan, krakens, fish, serpents, elder dinosaur and octopuses.

Below is a list of early cards I want in the deck. Although this may change. You will notice that my commander isn’t currently on the list. It’s because outside of the Commander 2018 precon deck I currently don’t have the card. So I’m not including it until I have the card.

Currently there are some counter spells in, but there will also be some ramp and fog spells added too. Oh and there needs to be some board wipes. I think that there will only be another 8 creatures added to the deck. I’m thinking about 25 will be about the sweet spot for this deck. Which is about what I’m going with for the Muldrotha deck also.

Creatures:17

1 [card]Kraken Hatchling[/card]
1 [card]Shore Keeper[/card]
1 [card]Fog Bank[/card]
1 [card]Thing in the Ice[/card]
1 [card]Wall of Mist[/card]
1 [card]Reef Worm[/card]
1 [card]Segovian Leviathan[/card]
1 [card]Archetype of Imagination[/card]
1 [card]Shipbreaker Kraken[/card]
1 [card]Fleet Swallower[/card]
1 [card]Nezahal, Primal Tide[/card]
1 [card]Scourge of Fleets[/card]
1 [card]Simic Sky Swallower[/card]
1 [card]Slinn Voda, the Rising Deep[/card]
1 [card]Stormtide Leviathan[/card]
1 [card]Inkwell Leviathan[/card]
1 [card]Deep-Sea Kraken[/card]

Spells:11

1 [card]Opt[/card]
1 [card]Stifle[/card]
1 [card]Anticipate[/card]
1 [card]Call to Heel[/card]
1 [card]Counterspell[/card]
1 [card]Search for Azcanta[/card]
1 [card]Disallow[/card]
1 [card]Drag Under[/card]
1 [card]Helm of the Host[/card]
1 [card]Time of Ice[/card]
1 [card]Crush of Tentacles[/card]

Lands:1

1 [card]Evolving Wilds[/card]

That’s the early look.

Tiny Epic Rankings

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This morning I woke to an email/update from the Tiny Epic Zombies kickstarter that they will have started shipping the game to backers by the end of the week. Amazing news, so with a fair wind, a bit of luck (which I never seem to have with the shipping companies) by the middle of September I’ll have my grubby mitts on the game.

I am waiting on the Star Realms Frontiers kickstarter to be shipped. The US has theirs now and it’s very frustrating seeing all these people getting their copies. While here in the UK we are not getting ours yet. They are in the country now. However the shipping company is Games Quest and their kickstarter fulfilment side is amazingly useless. They appear to be totally understaffed, and unable to meet the commitments to kickstarter projects that they have been contracted to fulfill. Can you tell I’ve been on the receiving end of their ineffectiveness a few times now. I wish Kickstarter creators would realise that because Games Quest is cheap (possibly) that they are not any good, and that they tarnish the reputation of the creator.

Anyway back to happy thoughts and Tiny Epic Zombies, and the Tiny Epic series. I thought that just out of interest for myself and maybe some random people out on the inter web I would rank the Tiny Epic games. As a general comment, the only thing tiny about these games is the box. Once out and setup they can take up a lot of space. Oh and one thing Gamelyn do as an optional extra that you can by for these games are play mats. Naturally these don’t fit in the box. But they are pretty cool, and do add to the game, and aid setup and game play.

Let’s start with the one I haven’t played and haven’t been tempted to play Tiny Epic Defenders. It didn’t help that the reviews I saw were not that flattering for the game either. So naturally this goes straight in at the bottom slot. No competition.

Now all the rest I have played, and enjoyed. So lets get onto the real rankings.

Tiny Epic Western is next lowest in the rankings, which currently makes it fourth place. I like the game. This has worker placement, bluffing, area control, rolling of dice, set collection, unique player powers. The bullet shaped dice are thematic and rather unique. But also fun. I love the play mat. But this game takes up a lot of space once set up. I like the poker mechanic that the game introduced.

Third place goes to the 4X game Tiny Epic Kingdoms. I like 4X games, and this hits the spot when I want that quick fix without the epic long game play. I really should play this more. This has individual player mats instead of a single playmat. They are mouse mat size, and there is score tracking mat too.

Tiny Epic Galaxies takes the second place slot. Action selection, dice rolling, resource management. I like the follow mechanic, there is a way to mitigate bad dice rolls. There is also a bit of engine building when you collect planets for your empire/colony. The expansion Beyond the Black is also a nice addition to it. I love the theme.

The top two spots were really hard to choose between. I really like both games a lot. But Tiny Epic Quest just edged it to the top slot. I think at the time after playing the game for the first time, this was Zelda the boardgame for me. The playmat is a must for this game in my opinion. It just makes life so much easier when playing and setting up. It helps that it is a really great playmat. The ItemMeeples and the plug in equipment help make this feel like you are adventuring, and also that your ItemMeeples are unique.

This post will actually help I think when I come to talk about Tiny Epic Zombies once it arrives and I play it. It has also got me wanting to get these games back to the table sooner than later.

King of the Hill

magic, MtG


Sometimes you just have to put cards in your deck for the lol’s. Sometimes like Custodi Lich to spice up the game.

I’ve written in the past about spicing up games of Commander. This card from Conspiracy: Take the Crown once in my Scarab God Deck will introduce the monarch mechanic to any game it’s played it.

When I become the monarch I get the above token. As you can see being the monarch has it’s advantages, extra card draw (at your end step). But there is a draw back. It puts a big fat target on your back. An attacking player gets rewarded for hitting you with a creature. They become the monarch, and get a target on their back. And so the monarch will move around the table from player to player.

Now I’ve not played with the monarch mechanic yet. But I’m pretty sure I’ll like it. I do know if there is a card which introduces the monarch mechanic to the game in the colours I’m playing and it fits any theme I’m going with. Then it will be in the deck.

The Rise of Fenris Arrives

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So this arrived yesterday. The power of pre-ordering.


All I have to do now is find a suitable free location that can be used on a regular basis to play this. Oh and then suitable dates and times that those interested can play. Which is the more herculean task.

But I am so excited to start playing this. I’ll keep saying this, I absolutely love Scythe, it’s my all time favourite game (I’ve proven this scientifically using paired comparisons). I don’t play it nearly as often as I should, this campaign expansion is an excuse to play it a lot more times.

So until I’ve solved the above problems of location and dates I’m keeping it in the bubble wrap to avoid the temptation to peak inside.

All Hail Emperor Jeff

Game day

Certain things have a repetition for being taking a long time, such as a John Bonham drum solo (younger sufferers go google this guy, listen to his stuff, sit back and be amazed at the greatest drummer ever, and group of all time). Another such thing is Twilight Imperium 3.

Yesterday 6 wanna be rulers of the known universe gathered to scheme, plot, betray, bargain, manipulate, and outright attack their way to victory. How were they going to do this? By playing Jeff’s Twilight Imperium 3 with a few of the expansions thrown in.

Sufferer’s will remember I’ve only played the fourth edition, which I got last Winter, and miraculously have got to the table 3 times since buying it (which is really good going).

I’m not going to bore you with turn by turn plays. I’m not that cruel.

Jeff had everything setup by the time everyone had arrived. Jeff had selected expansions we’d be using, tailored the races available to balance out the game to cater for experienced and novice players, and the expansions being used. The action cards were also tailored to fit in with the expansions etc. All that was left to do was chose race, colour and seating position.

The map set up of 3 small galaxies for the known universe was pretty cool. The smaller middle galaxy had Mecatol Rex in the middle, while the other 2 galaxies had 3 players and their home worlds each. Movement between galaxies was with warp gates.

I think it was round 3 of the game, over in the other galaxy red was looking like getting out of control. And for us over in the other galaxy very scary, and likely targets for their aggressive expansionist ways sooner rather than later.

So when the politics action came up, I had the perfect card to vote on. It basically gutted reds fleet and didn’t affect the rest of us. Mainly because our fleets at that point were mainly carriers, with the odd cruiser/destroyer. Sadly red was mainly the latter ships. Luckily I was selected for my politics cards, after some bargaining (which saw me outbid red with Jeff for his votes, and allowing Jeff needing one less victory point to win), the vote was won, and the red fleet was gutted. I then played a card that got me an extra destroyer to rub salt into reds wounds. In retaliation red attack me (a carrier ship) in the middle galaxy with a single cruiser. They took each other out. Which was funny I didn’t mind losing the carrier, but losing another cruiser was more salt in reds wounds. He was not a happy bunny. This round had not been a good round for them. At that moment of the game I was happy, I didn’t care if I lost, I’d done something pretty cool/big in the game. Anything else from now on was gravy.

There is a picture above where red is looking a bit salty over their recent losses.

At the end of round 4, play stopped for burgers and hot dogs. The perfect fuel for wanna be rulers of the known galaxy.

Hostilities resumed on full stomachs. Apparently red was still hurting from their wing clipping before lunch, but was also adding to their list of payback. Luckily the others on the list were more local to them (same galaxy) and therefore higher on the list than me.

Apart from the skirmish above, and some skirmishes during the last round there was no battles between the 2 galaxies. Most of the exchanges took place in their respective galaxies between the empires there.

Towards the end it transpired that Jeff only needed 12 victory points thanks to taking bribes for his votes earlier in the game. I’d achieved my other game objective, get my flagship out by then.

The final round was spent trying to stop Jeff claiming that last victory point. Despite some valiant attempts our efforts were in vain, and Jeff was able to claim his final victory point and declare himself Emperor of the Known Universe.

Thanks to Jeff and an implied permission by his sharing the photo on Facebook, there is a photo of me looking wild and all dwarf like.


This was a really fun, long day. Great game, great opponents, great food, it was a blast.

Some final brief thoughts on TI:3 especially in comparison to TI:4. I enjoyed TI:3. I think I lean towards favouring TI:4. I prefer the streamlining, the way politics are integrated into the game once Mecatol Rex has been occupied. There is more reason to take Mecatol Rex in the newer edition. For starters it is worth a victory point. In our game of TI:3 no one took Mecatol Rex, it was left alone. I did like the artifacts from one of the expansions in TI:3, along with one or two of the others we got to use. Such as the tokens on the board that were turned over when you entered the system, which could be good or bad. Maybe we will see them as an expansion for TI:4 at some point. The leaders I didn’t use. Although Jeff and a couple of others did. Not sure about this one.

Our game from arrival to clear up with the food break, was around 9 hours! Ok that was 6 of us, with a few expansions mixed in. But the TI:4 plays (4 and 5 player counts) have at most been around the 6 hour mark. So the streamlining done by FFG between editions has made a big difference in play time.

A great day, great gaming memories.