Midweek waffle 

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Kinda excited Nath is coming to stay for a couple of days.

How kind have the postal gods been to me so far? 

Well the playmat for the Tiny Epic Galaxies expansion, Beyond the Black arrived yesterday. So one down, two to go. 

A new Amonkhet booster box arrived this morning along with some card sleeves, some more deck boxes, and a couple of life countdown dice, ready for the next league day. Oh almost forgot I also got a two player playmat to use as well. But I can use that at work also.

Yesterday I took delivery of some more Zombicide figures. Which means I now have 72 survivors for the game plus the companion dogs. It also means if I wanted to be a completionist I’m 45 survivors short (that’s counting ultimate versions as separate characters to get). More importantly now I have Dave the Geek and Will the Game Designer (thanks Scott) I can run a Big Bang Theory themed scenario using all the characters from the show.

Right I’m off to file those survivors away.

Verses: Archer: Once You Go Blackmail vs Love Letter

Head to Head, Matchup, VS


This was a real easy match up for me. I like the original Love Letter. But if you followed the count down of my Top 100 games you will have noticed that Love Letter did not break into the list. It actually sits ranked at 119th. Whilst Archer (I’ll call it that for brevity) came in 63rd. That’s a big gap. Aren’t they basically the same game? To some extent yes they are. But it is the differences that make all of the difference!

Let’s start with the components. In the original Love Letter you are keeping score with red cubes. Whilst in Archer those components are rather cool looking dolphin tokens.

I actually prefer the artwork from the Archer cartoon to the original. But that’s personal taste.

But those are cosmetic differences. Each version of Love Letter usual has a tweak to the game play in some way (unless it’s the Adventure Time one). And it’s these differences that I really like. 

In Archer the card that is normally put to one side is now part of the game play (called the Hidden Identity) and some of the card actions interact with that card. One of them allows you to try guessing the Hidden Identity, if you do, you win the round. 

I love that change. I feel they took the idea from Lost Legacy and removed the bit from the end of Lost Legacy that Jonathan doesn’t like, the investigation round (I think I covered that in more detail when we played Lost Legacy yonks ago).

So it’s the combination of art, components and tweak to game play that made this such an easy one, even no brainer in choosing Archer over the original. 
 

BTN July 17

by the numbers, gaming stats, stats

“School’s out forever, School’s out for summer”

The start of July is a busy time. We’ve just said good bye to the students, work is being externally moderated (that’s a nervous time for sure), staff development is taking place, some planning is going on for the new academic year. Yet while all that is going on we can see the light at the end of the tunnel that is our holiday.

Despite a busy two weeks Dale and I still managed to squeeze in 39 games of Star Wars: Destiny for the month. Or team building as we like to call it. Two afternoons of our holiday have helped with this.

But I’m jumping the gun, you haven’t seen the numbers for the month. So here they are…

I played some big games this month. And I’m loving that. Not only that but a couple of them got to the table more than once. The MtG league started, it was well attended and everyone had a great time. A date was also set for the next league day (see below).

So let’s look at the three different types of average for my data.


I’ve managed to beat the averages on number of plays. But the games played failed to beat two of the measures.

The final section as usual presents the data graphically so we can try and see trends.

My Game of the Month…

I liked Descent, but I think there can only be one winner this month.  This months game of the month is …

Xia is soooo epic. I don’t get tired of describing it as Elite the board game. I can’t wait to introduce Nath to this game. I think he will like it. Just play this sandbox game, you will be impressed by the quality of the components, the game play. It’s just amazing.

Worst Game of the Month…

I can gladly declare that there is no new inductee to the Nantucket Wing of Shame or Barenpark cellar of over hyped games for this month.

Hopefully hitting the table in August…

All new games this month. You will notice I have put a few of kickstarters on the list that have either just arrived or I am expecting to arrive during August.

  • The weekly Friday Evening Gaming at The White Lion (or FEG@WL as I call it)
  • Every second Wednesday of the month we have our monthly meet up. This month that second Wednesday is on the 9th.

Please note that the BSG game below is now at the maximum player count.


If you are in the area and want to attend one of the events, please visit the Fenland Gamers Facebook page for further details about the event. Hope to see you there

Praying to the postal gods 

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If the postal gods are smiling on me I have the following hopefully arriving during the next week.

I have two items that are in the postal system between the US and the UK. The first is the playmat to go with the recently arrived but unplayed kickstarted expansion for Tiny Epic Galaxies, Beyond the Black. With the two playmats in use this game will be anything but tiny.

Also finding it’s way over the pond is the latest in the Tiny Epic series, and hot off kickstarter, Tiny Epic Quest. Looking forward to this one hitting the table.

Finally the reason I’m not bothered about Gloomhaven being delayed by a couple of months, 7th Continent is due to start shipping from the Kickstarters UK/EU distributor tomorrow. Luckily when asked when I wanted the game I said asap instead of the “wait to the end of August” option. Which means along with the others that said asap should be getting priority on the orders going out.

So let’s see how happy these postal gods are with me. 

All in for the Sultan

FEG@WL, Fenland Gamers, game night

It was the end of the working week. I’d done diddly squat with my week off. Apart from take my recovering mother shopping that is. Chaos Cards had got the replacement copy of the new Five Tribes expansion Whims of the Sultan to me real quick. A lot quicker than I was expecting. Which was cool, because it meant we were able to use it for that evenings planned game of Five Tribes with that expansion. We did have a backup plan, that involved using Jonathan’s copy that had arrived the previous day.

Edmund helped me set up. With all the expansions being used (The Artisans of Naqala, Thieves of Naqala,  Whims of the Sultan, Wilwit promo, and Dhenim promo, side note there is a third promo that I don’t have because it was only part of a couple of crowdfunding campaigns for a couple of gaming channels earlier this year) we were now looking at a massive 7 by 6 grid of tiles. 

Whims of the Sultan adds the pieces for a fifth player. A new auction board, and turn order board for use with 5 players. 6 new tiles, 2 new djinns, a whims deck, and some meeples. 

With the reference cards from the core game, and the expansions that’s a lot of cardboard in front of each player. It’s a shame Artisans only has four reference cards.

We played fully loaded, both expansion wise and player wise. Considering that fact our game took approximately 1:45. That’s pretty good really. 

This was the first time I’d played with Thieves in the mix. And needlessly to say the first time with Whims. Like Istanbul Five Tribes is a game that the expansions add to them in a good way. And at the moment both are on the right side of not being a step too far. 

In Whims controlling the “fabulous” city tiles gives you a nice bonus at the end scoring depending on how many you control. Control all 5 that’s 125 points! I managed three for 45 points.

Thieves gives you a Thieves deck that you can buy from instead of the djinn row. The thief can be used and then discarded after use, or if unused at the end counts as points like a djinn.

The lake tile from Whims has players vying for control of the adjacent tiles, especially those with palms or palaces on because it doubles their value. 

I liked playing with the expansions, they add some great alternate ways to amass points. But they haven’t added too much complexity to the game. If anything that’s mostly in the set up. I was concerned about the fifth player. But it worked ok with the extra player. Usually expansions that add an extra player are detrimental to the game. But this didn’t feel like that.

I can just about fit everything into the core box and the Whims box. A custom insert might take that down to just the core box. 

“Epic” Five Tribes or “Fully Loaded” is a fun experience. Not sure I’ll be playing the core game much, it’s going to be “all in” every time (unless playing with a noob). 

We had a laugh or two playing. Chris’s friend Chris won. Another great Friday evening gaming.

No Life Friday 28th July 17 – minor update 

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This morning on BBC Radio 5 Live (the only radio station I listen to) they were asking for suggestions of things to do with the family on a rainy Summer holiday day.

Naturally I sent in the following text to the news team in response to their question.

Not long after sending it they read it out on air including the game suggestions (minus MtG and Pokemon).

Naturally, (well I say that, but I’m making a big assumption they aren’t hobby gamers) they hadn’t heard of the games. But the one reading the text out politely said she was going to look into them. I wonder if they will actually do that or they were just saying so and then not doing anything. 

The only gaming thing I did yesterday was take delivery of a couple of items. I got the third and final figure of the last Star Wars: Imperial Assault wave which was a Jawa. Plus some more target buys for Star Wars: Destiny. Target buying is now my main way of getting cards I’m missing now. It’s the cheaper option. 

I did go and see Spider-Man Homecoming for a second time. It really is a great movie that can be watched multiple times. 

Holiday Wednesday

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Yesterday Dale and I spent the afternoon playing Star Wars: Destiny at The White Lion. I tried initial versions of two decks. The first was a FN-2199/eUnkar Plutt/First Order Stormtrooper. 

Which doesn’t have a cool name (afaik UPDATE: A friend Chris Shaner has informed me it’s called FuNkar) like the other initial deck I played, which is called emokids.

I played both as elites (which is why I put an e in front of a name, to signify that that character is elite, i.e. played with two dice not one). Luckily my target buys arrived in the morning so I could play Darth Vader. 

Dale was playing his Maz/Snap/eRey deck.

Out of four games my FN/eUnkar/First Order Stormtrooper won a single game. That was when the stars aligned, the dice and cards smiled on me, and everything went my way.

But Dale’s deck is such a nasty action cheat. With Force Speed on Rey, playing an upgrade weapon with Ambush on her could see Dale taking an additional 4 actions, one of which is activating Maz with her resolving two dice, by the time it’s my turn again Dale is more or less finished and ready to claim the battlefield. Which if he has his two plantery uprising outs is four points of damage. 

What I don’t get about FFG is that they nerfed the Ammo Belt/Second Chance because “this has not proven to be a strong combo at a competitive level, it warps more casual games and is difficult to deal with“. But this action cheating is a problem both at casual and competition level but no they don’t nerf that. It’s possible to do the “massive” amount of damage to get through the Ammo Belt/Second Chance. There isn’t much you can do about this action cheating. It feels like you are just a spectator, there isn’t anything you can do but sit there and take it. If you have a character alive or not critical at the end of it you are lucky. This is what FFG should have errata’d. 

Before playing the emokids, Dale and I did some quick trading of cards that saw me getting a second Sith Holocron.

Although my emokids didn’t win a game I found those games more “fun”. Having two Sith Holocron cards made a big difference. I was much more consistent drawing the card in my opening hand. Although getting an upgrade ability to go with it was a little less reliable.

One or two of the emokids games were close. But the plantery uprising was a game winner. However the amount of damage possible with the emokids is surprising. The first game, activated Darth Vader first ,double special rolled, that’s 6 damage. A bit more consistency on hitting Darth’s specials and taking a character out turn one or two with the aid of Kylo this could be a nasty deck to be up against.

I did have the new expansion for Five Tribes called Whims of the Sultan. This adds a fifth player (not sure if I’ll ever use this, if it played well with five it would have been in the base game), and six new tiles, two djinns, some Whims cards for the new tiles. 

Sadly when I opened up the box inside I had two sheets with the new order and bidding tracks, and a missing sheet of tiles. 

Once again I’ve managed to find the wonky needle in the haystack. Naturally I’ve emailed the retailer I bought it from. I’m awaiting a reply, which should be today. 

I know this will shock you but I didn’t buy the last wave of Villians and Allies for Star Wars: Imperial Assault. But organising the minis Tuesday reminded me to rectify this. So while the Jawa is still on its way, the BT-1 and 0-0-0 Villain Pack and Hera Syndulla and C1-10P Ally Pack did arrive.

I have seen rumblings by one or two online that if the app for Imperial Assault doesn’t get released soon they are selling up. The app would be nice, it would be cool to have that campaign co-op option. I enjoyed the Descent app experience. So I’m looking forward to the app for Imperial Assault. But to sell up if it doesn’t come out. That’s extreme and cutting your nose off despite your face. 

So that’s my Wednesday. That’s how rock ‘n roll my holidays are. 

A Lazy Day Organising

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I forgot to post this screen grab from the Star Realms app the other day. It’s something else I haven’t done in a really long time in the game. Yep it’s been a while since I’ve smacked some-one down with this much damage. 

It’s Summer holiday time so I’m chillin’ until I have to go back into work for a day next week.

So am I spending my time productively? Nah. I’m being a slob.

I did finally open up the last wave of Star Wars Imperial Assault I bought (a few months back) this morning. Aren’t these minis brilliant?


I even popped out, got some organiser trays (need to get more) from the local QD, so I could organise the games minis. I’d used these trays successfully for organising my Zombicide survivors. So I knew these were perfect for the Imperial Assault minis. I also got the smaller ones shown below to put the tokens for the game in.


I also sorted out the tiles by expansion. At some point I need to motivate myself and work out a solution for the cards in the game.

So there you have it, a day in the life of some-one with no life.

Oppression Averted – Carry On

Game day, star wars

Yesterday the stars aligned that Diego and I were both free and had the time to get Star Wars: Rebellion to the table. 

After scientifically choosing who picked the side they wanted to play by tossing a coin. I was the Empire for our second game, which naturally meant Diego was the Rebel scum.

For our second game we went all in using the full setup. Which meant we were using the action cards with their abilities and not just for recruiting, we had two random action cards from the one use ones. Our starting systems were chosen by selecting the first three rebel systems from the probe deck and also the first five Empire systems. And then allocating our forces as we saw fit between them (although there was a minimum force requirement I think for the Empire on each system). 

Just the way the cards fell I was able to drop my Death Star and some back up units  , like some ties and troopers to split the Rebel starting systems.

Early on I drew project cards that allowed me to build a Super Star Destroyer and blow up a system (Bothawui) with my Death Star. So I did, because I could. That destroying Bothawui would come back and haunt me later on.

Diego did far better than I did as the Rebels. He completed more missions than I did. Luckily in the final couple of rounds some serious rules lawyering stopped him from destroying my Death Star. But it was my earlier “it was fun to do” destruction of Bothawui that gave Diego the final point he needed to win. He had a mission that gave him a point for each destroyed system. 

One more turn would have given me victory with my newly commissioned second Death Star able to move in and blow up the Rebel base. But it was never to be.

It still amazes me that with epic games like Rebellion that the time flies by. You get so engrossed in the game you lose track of the time. It took just over four hours for the Rebels to bring an end to my tyrannical grip on the galaxy. 

A great afternoons gaming. Thanks Diego.

Climbing Magic

Fenland Gamers, Game day, magic

After a fun (for me) morning of opening a booster box of Star Wars: Destiny Awakenings and filing them away yesterday, it was the second attempt at the Fenland Gamers Magic the Gathering League.

After the first attempt to start this league I was left feeling a little bruised. So I was really relieved when people started showing up. 

The night before I’d been given the heads up that a couple more players would be coming along. My mental head count said there should be 10 of us playing. I was hoping I hadn’t forgotten anyone. The Amonkhet booster box of 36 packets would cater for 12 players. I had breathing room for 2 unexpected players if need be. 

We would be following the Magic the Gathering League format (rules here) that usually runs over 4 weeks. Ours will differ slightly, instead of weeks it’ll be meet ups. Otherwise we are exactly the same. So everyone buys 3 booster packs (£7) and builds a 30 card deck from them to play with. Then each meet up you are allowed to buy a booster pack to strengthen your deck with. If you loose 3 games in a row you can also buy an additional booster pack to help improve your deck.

What I like about this format is that it’s accessible to new, casual and experienced players. It doesn’t rely on having spent lots on cards (although we do have to use extra lands for the decks). It’s also a format you can join at any time during its running and just start playing and not be at a disadvantage.

We all cracked open our three packs, started organising the cards we’d pulled, and started building our decks. 

I think Justin got the find of all the packs opened. He pulled an Invocation. I should have took a photo (which I only just thought about as I write this post). It’s potentially worth a bit of money. 

My first game of the afternoon was against Charlie. Which I lost. But at least during the game I was able to remove his hand of two cards by forcing him to discard them. Which delayed his plans by getting rid of his two 7/7 flying creatures. 

My next game against Chris saw me do better but still loose. One more lose and I can strengthen my deck with another booster. 

The following 3 games were against the least experienced players in the room. I walked away with victories but they felt hollow. I always feel like the school bully when I win these games. 

My final game of the afternoon was against Michael. His deck was just nasty. He enchanted a flying creature so it had life link. I had not drawn either of my two bats, he’d forced me to discard five (iirc) cards from the top of my deck to my graveyard. Which got rid of the one card I could have played to kill off his flyer. It was an achievement I suppose that Michaels health was 21 when I died and not 35 (which was his final health when he defeated Charlie).

The feedback I’ve been getting was people had a good time. Which I’m chuffed about. I’m also chuffed that at last one of these events was a success.

A big thank you to Fenrock for hosting the event. We really do appreciate it. 

A very big thank you to those that came along and making this a success and so much fun.

The next league day is the 12th August, same time and place.