Minifig Hipster the Final Post

lego minifigs

So after a little consultation (mainly with the inspiration for this minifig) I have settled on the hat for the figure. Which means I am glad to present in all its glory the hipster minifig.

Below I've broken the figure back down to its parts so you can see what makes the completed figure.

Last night at a local quiz night I presented the finished figure to my friend.

So in the picture below we have the hipster minifig with the inspiration for its creation. I think you will agree I have managed to capture the essence of my friend and being a hipster (something my friend denies being vehemently. Although our response is always “well a hipster would say that wouldn't they”, it's a discussion he can't win ^_^ ) in the figure. The bottom half of the photo also shows another gift for my friend that continues the hipster theme. Yep a hipster dice from Steve Jackson Games. Ok picking up the hipster dice cost me an unplanned £12 buying a used PS1 along with a copy of Command and Conquer Red Alert. But I'm sure I'll write about that another day.

I've really enjoyed creating the hipster minifig. It's been fun finding the right parts, and I got lucky that there was no need to create my own custom parts. But that is something I am looking forward to having to do at some point.
My next minifig project is creating two hiking minifigs to represent two of my friends who will be hiking across Scotland in May on the TGO Challenge. I've already been collecting some bits for this next project. But I will go into more detail about it all in a future post.

 

Some of my favourite cards in Star Realms Part 1

star realms, tabletop

I play a lot of Star Realms especially using the amazing app of the core game (expansions coming later in the year) in both AI mode (the hard AI plays a reasonable game) and online with friends. I think I'm an average player, and need to start playing against a wider pool of players. I'd love to think I'm competitive enough to do a credible showing in any store/regional/national competition. But I don't think I'm expert enough yet to talk tactics. So what I'd like to do is look at some of my favourite cards in the game from the core game.

First up I'll look at three of the Star Faction cards I like (photo above). The Corvette, Survey Ship and Imperial Frigate are great early cards to get. I like them because they are cheap, allow me to draw extra cards, and in the case of the Imperial Frigate reduce the hand of the opposing player for their next turn. Plus when I decide to scrap either the Imperial Frigate and Survey Ship not only do I reduce my deck size (allowing quicker play through of my deck) but I get to once again either force my opponent to discard a card from their hand or draw a card.
In the photo above I have two Machine Cult cards Patrol Mech and Stealth Needle, plus a Blob ship Ram. I'll start with the Blobs Ram. This for me is another early purchase that gives me a bit of fire power to reduce the other players authority (life for non players). Plus if I'm short of credits to buy a ship I can always scrap this card to get three extra coins to buy the ship I want. But I only tend to do this if I'm replacing the Ram with something more powerful. I like the Patrol Mech because it can be either coins or damage I can choose depending which is my greater need at the time of playing the card. Plus it allows me to scrap a card from my hand or discard pile. Scraping cards is an important tactic within the game, because it allows you to get rid of unwanted cards (like the starting cards) and increase the odds of drawing the cards you want, and allow you to get through you deck quicker. I love the Stealth Needle, it's a great mid game card. So I hate it when it appears early. It's power is in the ability to copy another card in your hand. That means all the other cards abilities, faction. So it will kick off any faction abilities of the copied card. Which means it can start off a nice combo with the right cards. It's fairly pointless early on when all you can copy in your hand is the starter cards.
Finally I have three cards from the Trade Federation. Two cheap buys in the form of Cutter and Embassy Yacht and the expensive Command Ship. I like these because they increase your authority when played plus either give you more coins to spend or allow more damage. For its two cost the Cutter has to be my top buy. I hate buying a card and having a Cutter appear which I can't buy. The Command Ship may be expensive but Authority and damage PLUS draw two extra cards with the faction ability to destroy an opposing base. I think it's a bargain at that cost!
Well I hope you have enjoyed this post about my favourite Star Realms cards. I'll do the second part later in the week.

 

Lego Research Institute

lego minifigs
I mentioned in yesterday's post that the Lego Research Institute arrived.

Well as the photo below shows I've now had time to put it all together.

The Research Institute depicts the roles of an Astronomer, Paleontologist and Chemist in three viniettes.
One of the things this set was applauded for was that it used female characters in these roles instead of male ones. I don't want to get into the whole gender equality, portrayal of women, discussion. How can I really discuss it because I don't experience it on a daily basis? All I can do is try and be supportive and not re-enforce the gender steriotypes that do so much damage, that put up an invisible wall that acts as a barrier to dissuade women from entering STEM subjects. A more diverse make up of the STEM subjects can only be a positive thing enabling us to create great and amazing things. Does this set fulfil this?
The instruction booklet with the construction details in has a nice touch at the start of it where it tells you a little bit about each of the roles in the set.

Combine the booklet with the viniettes and I do think this set does create an interesting way to encourage the possibility of doing one of the STEM subjects as a career.

I like this set a lot. The figures and especially the supporting viniettes really do capture the three STEM roles. I love the T-Rex skeleton, it's frickin cool. The viniettes aren't over complicated, but their simplicity gets to the heart of what the role is.

I can see this set being used at schools. But this is a fun set, easy to build, and if you are into Lego really worth getting.

 

You’re making me laugh, tell me your killing joke

lego minifigs, netrunner, new arrivals, tabletop

So the edition of Death of the Family that I wanted arrived. It was the edition with the Joker mask. Now I have the quandary do I leave it unopened or do I open it. But I know if I open it up I will be drawn to trying the mask on. Then who knows what will happen. I'm afraid that the mask will take me over and I will become lost in some nether world while the Joker takes over my flesh and go on some insane killing spree. Who knows where it would end with no Batman to stop my Joker possessed carcass.

At least I don't have to worry about being taken over with this following Joker. All I have to worry about is some sort of Chucky thing happening. Waking up with a miniature Heath Ledger Joker standing over me is just marginally more scarey than waking up with the apex predator Nico the attack chihuahua next to me.

This rather cool Lego Research Institute arrived also. It's got a frickin dinosaur!

Finally the second Android:Netrunner core set arrived. Thanks to attending the rather Raspberry Pi Third Birthday Party celebrations today, I've not had time to start organising the cards. But free pizza, cake and odd freebie override a day of card organising and making lego.

 

Hack the planet!

netrunner, tabletop

Oh yes using the call to arms from the movie Hackers. Somehow I thought it would be an apt post title for today.

Today saw a visit to the FLGS The Rift to purchase the living card game Android:Netrunner with a data pack or two.

I ended up leaving The Rift with a base set and the following data packs. A second core set is also winging its way to me so that I can build decks that can use three of the core set cards instead of being limited to two.
The data pack 'What Lies Ahead' is on its way from elsewhere. When that arrives it will mean I will have all the data packs that make up the first cycle for Android:Netrunner the Genesis Cycle. While 'Up and Over' and 'All that remains' are from the third cycle Lunar.

So now I have some cards to organise, learn about building decks for Android:Netrunner, build some decks and test them out in games. I'm really looking forward to this.

Adding to my unintended collection of dice games (well who doesn't enjoy rolling dice?) Age of War arrived.

It's a game by the prolific game designer Reiner Knizia. I love his two player card game Lost Cities, which I play regularly using the iPhone app (which is a rather good implementation of the game, I think I have a 56% win rate, which I'm happy with). I also have his book of dice games. Oh oh just remembered that he did the micro game Shoot Out, that was included with the film Going Cardboard. Which is a fun little two player game that for me amazingly manages to capture the atmosphere of an old west gunfight. So I'm looking forward to playing this dice game.

 

Creation of the Hipster Part 3

lego minifigs

So the three hats that I got in to put the finishing touch to the hipster minifig I'm creating have all arrived. The final one was today (see previous post).

So here is how the hipster figure looks with each of the hats on.

For me the brown cap is too large, doesn't work as well as I had thought it would. The beret as a cap works really well, but still on the fence over the trillbe. Which is your favourite?

 

Trapped in an invisible box

lego minifigs

Another day another minifig! Today the new arrival was the mime character from season 2 of the minifig collections that Lego push out. I really do like the look of this minifig, especially the multiple heads with their expressions. Plus I bought the beret separately to use in the hipster project (my next post).

Today started off with an amazing start and a very generous gift of a Lego minfig of the Vitruvius character from The Lego Movie from a friend at work. This was given away with the movie on Bluray and dvd.

 

The Corporate Minifig Post

lego minifigs

New minifig arrivals! Today a couple of astronauts from a space shuttle set arrived. While a minifig business man complete with accessories has also dropped through the letter box. The final figure should need no introduction if you have seen The Lego Movie that came out last year and got Oscar snubbed. For those that haven't seen the movie it's the big bad guy from the movie Lord Business.

I got Lord Business because I thought if you had to have one Lego minifig to symbolise “the man” or in the world of Android:Netrunner the corporations then it just had to be Lord Business. The other business minifigs naturally are there to represent his corporate minions.

Finally here is a picture of the vintage astronaut with his new space shuttle astronaut buddies.

 

Hey hey have you heard the news?

lego minifigs, tabletop, trip report

Thunderbirds are go!!!

Yes you have guessed it the Kickstarter for the cooperative board game designed by Matt Leacock based on the beloved children's TV classic (despite Holywoods attempt to ruin the memory with that aweful live action movie) Thunderbirds, has gone live today.

Be quick as the top tier will be locked once the game has reached £70,000. The top tier is awesome as it gets you the game, expansions and stretch goals PLUS your name in the credits!!! OH YES! I think it will hit this target easily, although I guess it won't raise as much as the Ghostbusters boardgame. It will be interesting to see what both of these franchises manage to raise via Kickstarter when they reach the end of their funding periods. And I'm sure when both have closed on Kickstarter I'll write some fluff piece comparing how the campaigns went and commenting on the totals raised. I may even try to make myself sound intellectual and know what I'm talking about (I know that will be amazingly hard).

click here to go back the game

Lego Minifig Stuff

Had some new arrivals today. First up straight from the U.S. some cowboy hats, a couple of flat caps, a couple of trilbes, and some six shooters.

The flat caps and the trilbe are for the hipster figure I'm creating. I have one more cap coming before I decide which is the one I like best for completing the figure. Once that arrives I'll write a third and final post on the hipster figure.
Next up I was able to source off eBay the parts I wanted from a particular Indiana Jones lego set that I need for another project which you will see the fruits of in May.

Remember my post about Android:Netrunner from the weekend? I used my Hacktivist figure for that post. Well I want to be able to depict the conflict between runner and corporation, so I've sourced some business minifigs to represent the corporation side of the Android:Netrunner. Can you guess which minifig is on its way that is the ultimate representation of a corporation?

Finally today also from eBay came a vintage Lego minifig astronaut. I think this was one of the first minifigs I played with as a kid/teenager.
Mum got me a series 13 minifig today, but I'd already got the Egyptian guard/warrior so it was kept for the parts. I don't mind doubles when it comes to minifigs as I do as I have here and use them to build up my spare parts to make other figures with.
I also got the latest copy of Blocks, a magazine about Lego. I particularly want to read the building a Star Wars arm article.

 

A Couple of Recorded Star Realms Games

star realms, tabletop

I don't have Lego minfig pic yet for when playing Star Realms YET! Anyway I think by now it's clear on this blog exactly how I feel about this game. However if there is any doubt I LOVE IT.

And confession time I'm not exactly subtle about pushing the game at friends. I'm a total fanboy for this game. I'll bore you another day with a post about what it is exactly about the game I like. I'd imagine the post will be along the lines of yesterday's that I wrote on Android:Netrunner.

So I managed to wear down a good friend of mine in the US of A, Freddy. Freddy since buying the app has been playing Star Realms with me, and doing rather well at it. Anyway Freddy recorded a couple of our games from today and put the video up on YouTube.

I've embedded the video below, give it a watch Freddy does a really great job on the commentary.

It's funny really because last night I was looking at using twitch on my Mac to record a game or two of Star Realms. The great thing is buy the game once (and it's not that expensive) and you get it across all platforms. So PC, Mac, iOS, and Android.

It's great to see a friend love a game so much, and I can't wait to see what Freddy thinks of the promo cards and the expansions. I think they will blow him away with how awesome one or two of them are.