Fallen At The First Hurdle Again

online play, star realms

This week I took part in the “March Madness SR Tournament” that was organised on the Star Realms Fan Created Community Page and run by Ben Jochum and helped by Nathan Jochum.

Apparently March Madness is something to do with the sport basketball in the US. Not exactly a very big sport in the UK. And we definitely don't have college teams for the sport like they do in the US. This of course is where some-one in the UK will comment “oh contrear Darren, we do have college basketball over here, and it is very popular”. Which would basically mean it has a middle of the night spot on one of Rupert Murdochs pay to view sports channels (also popularly known as Sky Sports) straight after a Monday Night RAW rerun.

I find this whole college sports thing the U.S. has fasinating. We naturally in the UK play football (the real football that actually involves teams from around the world in its World Cup, not that big commercial break that is broken up with minor moments of people slamming into each other like sumo wrestlers in body armour that is called football in the US). Football is our passion here. We follow our clubs whether they be Premier League goliaths, or non league minnows like Wisbech Town Football Club. This is what we get passionate about, followed by cricket and rugby. But even so there is none of this college sports phenonum here in the UK. And to me it seems odd, the nearest I can come to understanding it, is to equate it to supporting your local non league football team from which ever town you happen to live in.

Anyway the rules of this tournament were simple, sign up saying which college basketball team you were representing, your current level in the app. Umm college basketball team? As I've pointed out they don't exist over here (probably, if they do they are more elusive than the Lock Ness Monster, or a Tory Cabinet Minister without their hands in the pockets of bankers and big business). I did point this out and asked if I could represent my football team (Liverpool for the record) instead. This was politely rejected. However (and I do apologise I can't remember their name) it was pointed out that there was Liverpool in the US and that their local basketball team was Syracuse. So I went with that suggestion as the team I would represent.

The rules for the actual games were single game, single elimination, “for fun”, and Gambit expansion optional.

The tournament was being limited to 68 players, and the winner of this “for fun” tournament would have their team's logo displayed for the cover photo for the site for about a week.

The draw for the first round was made on Tuesday, it was Syracuse vs Ohio State. JoeC was representing Ohio State in this tournament. JoeC and I started with a our opening moves first thing Wednesday morning (UK time). However the majority of the games turns took place between 3:30am (GMT) and 7:30am (GMT) this morning. So yes you read that right I was playing this match at stupid o clock, and have little naps between plays!

I was pretty happy with the way the game was going. I was whittling down JoeC's authority, getting a good mix of ships and bases that were working. I felt I was in a good position. As the screen capture shows above. JoeC was down to 8 authority, I had a healthy 26 authority and an outpost camped to remove the sting from JoeC's next attack. Adding up the attack on my drawn cards I had 14 points to attack with on my next go. Enough to remove an outpost if one was played and the final 8 authority. Surely I was looking at my first tournament win here?

I left the app and awaited for the alert to say it was my go. I had a little snooze, woke up and checked the app. I'd lost! WTF how? It hadn't sunk in, I had left the game in a good position. What had gone wrong?

Feeling sick as a parrot I went into the app and pressed the replay last turn button. JoeC Hit me for 28 points of damage, but not before using the Blob Destroyer he played to knock out my outpost. That enabled the full 28 points to be delivered in one massive knock out blow. That Blob Destroyer allowed JoeC to snatch the win. Without it I'd have been left with 2 authority and the win.

Once more like an also ran horse at the Grand National I had fallen at the first hurdle. But JoeC played really well, and deserved that win. Star Realms is just full of these sort of moments. The “I was stearing defeat in the eyes, and managed to steal the win, against the odds stories”. You have to love a game that just gives you consistently those sort of moments.
To the victor JoeC I wish you all the best in the next rounds, and hope to see your team win. And a big thanks to Ben and Nathan for organising this tournament. My short lived stay in the tournament was a hoot. Roll on this weeks casual tournament, hopefully I will do better and get through the first round.

 

Krosmaster Arena the App coming Soon

iOS, krosmaster arena, tabletop

I came across Krosmaster Arena on last years International Table Day when on the live feed that was being done by Felicia Day and Wil Wheaton they played the game.

The instant I saw the game being played it struck me as a table top version of Final Fantasy Tactics. Wow how cool was that? I love Final Fantasy Tactics. I have the game on the PSP and Gameboy Advance. Only being a cheapskate has stopped me getting it on the iPad.

Despite loving Final Fantasy Tactics and finding a table top that I was sure I’d love, and that I thought Nath would enjoy playing too. I never bought it.

The thing that stopped me jumping on the Krosmaster Arena bandwagon was I was already at the time spread pretty thin across three or four games that had lots of expansions. And I really can’t afford to add another of those games to the collection where I knew I’d want to buy the expansions for.

At regular intervals I’d drift back to looking at the game, and nearly caving in and buying it. I’m so weak when it comes to this sort of thing usually.

Recently I found out that Krosmaster Arena is based around a French Anime called Wakfu (now on Netflix, so you can guess what I’m working through at the moment).

So why am I bringing this up now?

This morning on the Boardgame Geek Youtube channel they had the following video from Pax East.

UPDATE! For some reason the app I use on the iPad to write posts decided to go all foobar on this post. Putting multiple copies of the YouTube video in the post instead of just one, and deleting my final words.

Basically my final words went something like the following, and I can only say like because I can’t remember them exactly but I can remember the point I was making. So the sentiment is the same!

Anyway I thought that it was a mark of share evil genius, and cunning planning my the Krosmaster Arena folks to hook me in. I know I’ll but the app, and from the app crumble and want to get the board game. Finally they would have me in their evil gaming clutches.

I also made comment that it was ironic that a game so similar to the video game Final Fantasy Tactics but in the meat space was now becoming a video game which obviously will be compared by some if not most reviewers to Final Fantasy Tactics.

One aspect I also liked about the app is that figures bought in the meat space for the physical game have code numbers that can be entered into the app which would then allow you to use the characters in app. It sounds like a simple way to give the app Skylanders/Disney Infinity/Nintendo Amiibo like functionality And collectibility. Will we see app players also collecting the figures to use in game?

So I think that about sums up everything that this ipad app managed to trash. Hope you thought it was worth adding back in to the post.

TGOC Minifig Project Part 2

lego minifigs, new arrivals

Technically this is also a new arrivals post. But it ties in with the new minifig project also.

What we basically have here are parts to be used in one costume minifig of Lord Elpus (the top hat), while the other bits are to be used in a minifig caricature of a well known (well in the outdoors world) personality. It probably won't be a very flattering caricature. But I can handle the heat.

I've also heard that minifigs.me have also posted today my order with them from two weeks or so ago. A few of those parts ordered are for this project. So the order should be here in a day or two. I'm sure many of you will find that this news excites me a very sad thing indeed, and a sign that I need to get out more.

 

New Minifigs New Minifigs

lego minifigs, new arrivals

New figures. I got the unicorn costume one at the weekend. I do like this one a lot, like the hotdog costume one it's very whimsical. They are such fun figures you can't help but smile when you look at them. It's a side of Lego I like seeing.

The other figure I got today. It's a female oriental warrior. Another figure I like. It's nice to see a woman being portrayed in a strong way. When I got the genie figure I wasn't too happy with that and it's facial expression. It seemed a bit sexist. Not a great portrayal.

Looking forward to the pizza delivery guy arriving, and hopefully my minifigs.me order.

 

First Games of Pixel Tactics

pixel tactics

 

This evening I played my first couple of games of Pixel Tactics (the game came last week) with Freddy using the magic of Google Hangouts.
I lost the first game, and won the second. So broke even. It's an enjoyable game, and interesting. Both players are basically playing with decks that have the same cards. It all comes down to the cards you draw and how you play them. Decisions, decisions, decisions, with a bit of luck.
I like the mechanic of taking turns going first through out a game. It's a nice way of over coming a player having first turn advantage.
Pixel Tactics won't replace Star Realms as my current addiction. However it is certainly a game I want to play a lot more. There is a lot of depth and tactics I haven't explored yet or scratched the surface of. It's also a game I think Nath would also enjoy.
I'm looking forward to my next chance to play Pixel Tactics.
 

 

Stealing the win

star realms

My slump has hit rock bottom, it's time to turn this around with a winning streak. I thought earlier in the week it was ending when at the start of the week I did what I wasn't able to do on Sunday in the tournament, and that was win two games back to back against TheCutter.

During the week I have won the odd game, however they were little thermals doing little to stop the free fall that I was in.

Of course as I've written already about my better performance in the meat world in yesterday's post I won't rehash yesterday's news.

My regular Star Realms playing partner Fredo aka Freddy has had a better week than me. He made it through the second round of the tournament for starters.

However in one of my games today with him I stole the win from him. I'd decided to try a bases strategy with my early purchases being bases, with federation ships to keep topping up my authority, I had hardly anything to combo up to do lots of damage. It wasn't long before Freddy had me down to 30 authority then my bases started kicking in slowing him down. Then I was down to 20 and not long 11. But my federation purchases kept me fluctuating between 10 and 20 authority, the bases protecting me taking the stings out of Freddy's swings at my dwindling authority.

All the time I was chipping away at Freddy's authority and buying the odd big hitter to give me a bit more fire power to chip away faster.

At any moment while I was hanging in there I feared Freddy was going to get a massive combo and just wipe me out like one of those massive tidal waves you see in disaster movies. Just had a feeling in my bones it was going to happen.

After each of my turns finished I was expecting to see the message that Fredo had defeated me. Going back into the game and watching the last turn replay showing Freddy's tidal wave attack demolishing my last authority points. But all that happened was Freddy chipping away the odd authority point. Freddy was obviously having a hard time getting the cards to finish me off. Oh how I know that feeling being in Freddy's position. You've done all the hard work. But the cards just won't fall right to do that finishing blow. It is so frustrating, because it gives the other player that window to get back in the game.

The screenshot below shows the situation at what turned out to be my final turn.

I played the cards, this was going to be close. Freddy had an outpost I needed to go through first before I could do any damage. That meant I had to have an attack that added up to 16 points or more. I hadn't done my sums, but I knew it would be close, would I be leaving Freddy with one or two authority so he could take the win he had been working so hard to get? It was all or nothing I played the cards, scraped everything I could to increase my attack. It didn't matter now, this was the time to throw caution to the wind. If I didn't there wouldn't be another chance.
I feel like the great escape theme music should of been playing as I played out my cards. I blew away the outpost, 4 points down. I then played my remaining cards the attack points built up. I hit 14 points. Wow I was going to win! I delivered the finishing blow. Somehow I had won. I felt guilty as this was definitely a stolen victory.
I'm optimistic now that the only way is up. Here's to a weekend of victories (touch wood).
 

 

Thursday Night Star Realms

game night, new arrivals, star realms, tabletop

I think it's time to talk about Star Realms in the meat world, and not the digital.

Lunchtime yesterday I managed to get a couple of games with Jamie at work. These were the first games I'd played since getting the Crisis expansions. The trade deck was made up from the base set, the Crisis: Bases and Battleships expansion, the Crisis: Fleets and Fortresses expansion, from the May-June 2014 Game Day kit the Megahauler and Battle Screecher cards, from the second tournament kit Fortress Oblivion and Starbase Omega.

To cut a long story short I won both of our games. The first game was a comfortable win, however the second game was close. If it hadn't been for a couple of outposts taking the sting out of a 20 point combo attack, reducing the damage to 10 points, Jamie very well would of gone on to win the game I think. In the end I finished the game on 14 authority, to his -1 after taking a 10 point hit from me to end the second game.

Naturally we played using the new playmat. Playing the game on the official playmat the game looks amazing.

When I got home the official Star Realms storage box was waiting for me. Inside was a nice little letter from the shop I bought it's from in Germany plus a little packet of sweets. Sweets are always welcome no matter how small the packet is.

As the photo below shows you get an awful lot for your money with the storage box. The box itself is a strong cardboard with amazing artwork. White Wizard Games really do know what they are doing visually. The art work on the cards and official products like the playmat and this box is just out of this world. You also get four packets of card sleeves, four cardboard dividers, and three copies of the Mercenery Garrison outpost card.
The box will hold three base sets sleeved. Which is lots of space for a base set and the expansions that are out at the moment.
Before Luke arrived to play Star Realms I spent a bit of time sleeving all the cards I have. The official sleeves are pretty cool, the art work is the same as it is on the back of the cards. I like the fact there are plenty of sleeves included. There is more than enough to sleeve a base set, the Gambit expansion, the four expansions that make up the Crisis Expansion, and any promo cards you may have. And I still have spares left over for new additions. The sleeving of cards was followed by adding in the Mercenery Garrison to the trade deck from earlier. I somehow need to get my hands on three copies (I think that's the number allowed of this card) of the Starmarket promo card to add in, and I have all the promos, and expansions for Star Realms at this point I think.

Luke arrived and after the wolf pack had calmed down a little, I started to explain the game of Star Realms to him.

Just a quick aside, but now with all the cards sleeved the trade deck goes from a compact pile to a reproduction of the Empire State Building in cards. The sleeves really do increase the height of the trade deck considerably.

We played three games of Star Realms, with some coaching along the way. I hope I got the balance right between letting Luke make his own decisions and learning, and helping. Although I do based on my current slump playing against opponents in the app feel a bit of a fraud pretending to be an “expert” who knows what he's talking about. Between games and at the end I pointed out one or two of my favourite cards and explained why.

Near the end of the third game, Luke got a great combo working that ended up in hitting me for 23 points of damage.
Luke enjoyed playing the game and is planning to get the app so that he can get more practice playing the game before the next time we play.
Through out the evening what I thought was Strider knorring a bone was in fact him knorring the table leg. When caught he tried licking it as if that would fix what he had done! Below is a photo of the naughty Strider having been caught in the act.
So a great day with Star Realms playing with the cards. Great games (and I'm not saying that because I won, I love playing this game win or lose) and great opponents. I love the app and playing against opponents from who knows where. And this is great especially if you have no-one local to play with. But and this applies to all boardgames really, playing across the table from some-one, interacting, having that physical product interaction just can't be replicated. It's a different experience. I love both experiences, but it's really cool to be playing with the cards and seeing the reactions when you pull off those combos and hit them with a large damage score, and the banter that goes with it.

 

Whose Watching Rorschach?

lego minifigs

The custom Lego minifig of Rorschach from The Watchmen arrived today. The figure looks pretty awesome. There are some great custom figures available being made by very talented people.

Some parts also arrived for use in projects, like these walking sticks. I've added one to my custom hiker to give you an idea of one in use.
The Indiana Jones set came. The bits I wanted it for are really cool. Plus I now have an Indy figure for the collection.
Finally the Luke Skywalker and Emperor figures I have never had lightsabers. They didn't because they came with books. So I got some in to use with the figures. Sometimes it's the little details that make a model or scene. These and the walking sticks will make a big difference.
I'm still awaiting some parts to arrive from one of my usual places to get them. Usually they are quicker than this. Will have to contact them to see what's happened to them.

 

Tomorrows Plans

star realms

Tomorrow night my friend Luke is coming round to learn Star Realms and to play a game or two. I've said previously that I find the physical card game has a different feel to it.

After I got the four packs that made up the Crisis expansion I instantly shuffled all four packs into the base set. But since then I haven't had chance to play the physical game with the expansion. I've also added to the play deck the cards that made up the two organised play kits that came out last year.

But as the photo above shows I now have the elusive Gambit expansion also. Since the Gambit expansion hit the app version of the game the Merc Cruiser has become one of my favourite cards. So I'm chuffed to be adding it to the play deck.

For the games with Luke tomorrow I've removed the Heroes and Events Crisis expansions from the deck, and will not bother using the Gambit cards. I think it makes little difference having extra ships and bases in the deck, they don't change the game play, and add more variety. But throwing in the extra game play elements of Gambit cards, Heroes and Events I think would be too overwhelming.

I've also now got an official playmat which looks dam awesome. It's just a dam shame getting them and the Gambit expansion is nigh on impossible in the UK at the moment. Distribution and getting product out to stores is something White Wizard Games needs to work on big time. I know they are a small company it really hurts them customers not being able to buy their stuff.

I just need the storage box to arrive now, oh from Germany. Another product hard to get. People try the game and love it, but they need product available for people to buy. White Wizard seem to have solved the availability of the base game and Crisis. But come on get this stuff out to the rest of us. Wizkids are just as bad. The delays between the U.S. being able to buy official dice bags and playmats and the UK getting them was ridiculous.

I'm really looking forward to playing tomorrow night. I enjoy playing this game, and chances to play with the cards are rare. So being able to share the game, shuffle cards is exciting. I'm hoping Luke will enjoy playing.

 

Star Realms My Slump

star realms

At the start of last weekend I was knocking on the door of breaking into level 8 in Star Realms And hoping to make some progress towards reaching level 9. I'd been hovering around the top end of level 7, sometimes breaking into level 8. Only to slide back into level 7 after a couple of losses. My win percentage of games was 60%, it had been as high as 63% at one point.

But things have a habit of not going to plan. Since Friday I've been losing more games than I have won. It's been like one step forward, two back. I'm in the middle of a slump. Last night I checked my level I had slipped down to the top end of level 6.

That was when it really hit home how badly I had been playing recently. This wasn't a slump it was a full on decline.

To be fair I have been playing lots more people, so maybe it was inevitable that I would start clocking up more losses.

When I joined the Facebook community at the start of last week, and asked people to challenge me, it was with the intent to see just how good I was and to play more games. I was getting an inflated opinion of my abilities. Having challenged and played more people now, who are obviously more skilled at the game than me. I do now have a more realistic view of where I am in the scheme of things with regard to Star Realms.

Realistically and not very comforting for my ego and pride I'm not nearly as good as I thought I was. With a severly bruised pride I know I have to improve.

The day dream of storming on the competitive scene has been crushed. See yesterday's post about my experience of my first tournie for more details. The New Years fireworks display ended up being less impressive than a damp squib.

Since the new release of the Star Realms app and the league tables it introduced I've not done enough to even break into the lower tiers of the league tables. Another indicator that I'm just not cutting it at the higher levels.

Maybe I'm setting myself too high a standard. I'd like to think I offer a reasonable challenge when played. But on current form the evidence suggests otherwise.

Now this post may sound like I'm really down on the game at the moment. But that can't be further than the truth. I love playing the game. I think it comes across in my recent posts how much I love playing the game, even when I lose.

I know just round the corner my next win could be the start of a run that ends this slump and takes me back to where I was before the weekend. It could take me to new heights and into level 9.

So if you want to play me on Star Realms my ID is whitespider hit me up for a game or two.