Early Netrunner Thoughts

netrunner, tabletop

As I mentioned in an earlier post in the week I tried Android:Netrunner and I liked it! (Where is the song about that Katy Perry?) For those that can remember back to the start of the year you will remember one of my gaming aims for 2015 was to try and learn Android:Netrunner. This week means I've met this one, and so early in the year. I'm glad it has ended up this way because it means I have the rest of the year to look forward to playing it. I think if this had been left to the end of the year I'd of regretted leaving it so late.

I think I've played four games now, mostly as a runner and one as a corporation. My Amazon basket is all lined up ready for payday but I will come back to that later in the post. In the meantime I've been doing a little “light” reading. My friends daughters fiancé Todd plays Android:Netrunner a lot, and pointed me in the direction of an article on Reddit that covers what to buy expansion wise after getting the base starter set. I've found a couple of articles on deck building. So I've printed these off to read along with the official rule book and FAQ.
Now I've played both runner and corporation I have to say that I do enjoy playing the runner. I didn't get on with the corporation however that is mainly I think I didn't really understand how to play it properly. But I will and I'm sure my enjoyment of playing corporation will improve.
But what is it about playing the runner that I enjoy?
I've been a fan of cyberpunk for decades now, I came across it while at polytechnic. Like many my first introduction to cyberpunk was through the writings of William Gibson. I burned through his books like Burning Chrome, Neuromancer etc. I came across the Shadowrun series of books, that combined cyberpunk with fantasy. I loved those books. Of course in these books the hacker, the anti corporate types are the heroes or anti-heroes of the story. They were cool and I loved it. Deep down wanting to be like them. I had fallen for the romantic idea of the hacker against the big corporate entity.
But even earlier than that during the home computing boom in the 80s Hollywood released the film War Games. A teenage hacker manages to hack the pentagon, come close to starting world war three, save the day and get the girl! A teenage geeks dream. In the nineties hacking got the Hollywood treatment again in the movie Hackers. Once again made to look sexy and cool, and the hacker and his friends save the day, and he gets the girl (a teenage Angelina Jolie who played an independent elite hacker in the movie).
But Hollywood was not only depicting hackers on TV they were also depicting a cyber world inside of the computer, whether it was with people being physical drawn into a virtual world in Tron or once the term had been defined virtual reality with The Lawnmower Man (this was long before I had heard of or read Flowers for Algernon). This virtual world was another element of the cyberpunk equation.
In the real world during this time viruses where becoming big news and despite the antiquated methods compared to today's everything connected to the net world, were spreading like wildfire. During the late eighties a book caused an uproar when it was printed called The Little Blackbook of Viruses. It wasn't available in the UK, but this book was a how to write viruses book. Which I managed to get a copy of, and is a highlight of my library of computing books. I wanted the book a) because of its exclusivity b) I wanted to understand what I was up against in these new programs that were out to attack my computer and wipe my data.
Hollywood was either on TV or in the movies still depicting hackers as the anti social loner. That image suited me. It was me! In the noughties the film Swordfish came out with Hugh Jackman playing a hacker. Thenfilm is only memorial because of two things, the rather interesting interview technique Hugh's character had to go through and Halle Berry topless in one scene. Otherwise it was a watchable pass the time movie. But it showed a more mature hacker, more in line with my age at the time. Hollywood hackers were growing up with me. However in Swordfish this wasn't the hacker against the big corporate entity this was hacking for criminal ends.
From there Hollywood progressed to depicting hackers as criminals or cyber terrorists in films such as Die Hard 4. With the odd “good” hacker that the action hero could call on to help defeat the evil criminal hacker.
This isn't meant to be an authoritive history of hacking and cyber punk in Hollywood. I've just picked the odd highlight that I remember.
In recent years we have seen the emergence of Anonymous and their attacks on the corporate world. The face of Anonymous is usually represented by the mask of V from the graphic novel/movie V for Vendetta, which is a mask of Guy Fawkes. Their attacks seemed to show some sort of social justice for the downtrodden, victims of corporations and a corrupt political system. This appealed to me and the cyberpunk world I had grown up enjoying. Of course the reality of the group after watching documentaries and reading a book on them showed a darker side that I find repulsive.
However the distopian corporate run world depicted by cyberpunk authors somehow feels like it is is nearly here. Corporations lobby and buy politicians to get laws passed to protect their interests, and to make them unaccountable (look into the TTIP if you don't believe me, or the copyright laws that get passed, how many bankers have been prosecuted for the 2008 collapses, or the other banking scandals that have happened since?), politicians pass laws to allow greater survalience, while not prosecuting those that are entrusted with protecting us when they break the law.
Into this bleak world view and and romantic view of hackers of mine the world of corporations combating against runners in the cyberpunk world of Android:Netrunner really does appeal to me. It's this romanticism that draws me to the runners. I am that hacker fighting against the evil corporations, standing up for the little guy with no voice, bringing down the corrupt system.
I will need to learn to play as the evil corrupt corporation so that I can better learn their tactics. But when I do my heart will be with the runner, secretly cheering them on to win.
Earlier in this post I said my Amazon basket is prepped for payday with Android:Netrunner stuff to get me started on the road to playing and deck building. So what is sitting in the basket?
There are two copies of the base starter set. This will give me the ability to have three copies of the cards. Having one copy does not do this!
The starter set is accompanied with the following expansions:
  • Future Proof
  • True Colours (I refuse to use the American spelling – which is WRONG)
  • What Lies AHead
  • Cyber Exodus

The above is the recommendation the Reddit beginners buyer guide. But we all know over the coming months I will be adding further expansions to the game and building up my card pool. It's just in my DNA that I've got to do it! Sometimes hate this character flaw of mine.

Well I hope you've enjoyed this post. It's not a great example of it, but it's along the lines of writing about games I like to read. I will improve (hopefully) as I write more along these lines. And hopefully you will stay for the journey and find it interesting. Until the next post happy gaming.
 

 

Neeeew Arrivals End of Feb

new arrivals, pandemic, star realms, tabletop

Wish Amazon had got this in stock in time for the Pandemic Party, but hey a month late is better than never. I'm looking forward to playing Pandemic with this expansion, which for the friends I play with is essential as it adds a fifth player to the game, so all five of us can play it.

The holy grail arrives

Finally! Finally! The Crisis expansion is in my hands!!!! After what seems like an age since the Crisis expansion for Star Realms was released (apparently it was released or due to have been released just before Christmas). I'm looking forward to adding the cards from these four expansion packs that make up the Crisis expansion to the Star Realms deck. I warned the student I played against this week that next time we play the game will have new elements. I'm looking forward to seeing how the Heroes and Events cards effect the game.
In the meantime in the app version of the game my friend in the US of A Freddy is kicking my butt in the game. I can try and convince myself that the cards were against me. But the truth is Freddy is a more skilful player than me. In one game I know the exact point I lost, and it's was me not having faith in my cards. I could of taken Freddy down to one authority by scrapping a couple of cards but didn't, thinking I could finish Freddy off next go. But that wasn't the case, Freddy rallied and defeated me two rounds later.
The screenshot below shows me drawing even with another friend in games with my biggest winning margin. Now why can't I play like this against Freddy? Although what helped me was a tactical error by my opponent that left The Hive base in play allowing me to get faction combos working with all my blob faction cards. In fact the exact same tactical error the student I played did earlier in the week.
I love playing Star Realms either using the app or the cards. But for me the cards still feel different when playing. It will feel even more different with the expansions in until the expansions get added to the app. Which they will be at some point this year.
Finally as the photo shows the green ten sided dice also arrived. These as stated in a previous post this week will be used to track authority within the card version of the game.

 

Creation of the hipster part 2

lego minifigs

As expected the minifigs.me bits arrived today. Which means the alternate head arrived. This one has more “hipster” like glasses on it, they are meant to be wire frames! But also a couple of beanies were also in the order, along with a tile made to look like an iPad (this will be added to my minifig of me as a lecturer). There is also a cowboy/trilby hat and two more tiles to add to the hipster in the form of a record sleeve and a smartphone.

For me a lot of the time the accessories can make or break a minifig like this.

Now I know these two accessories along with the star bricks coffee really do add to this minifig being a hipster.

When designing a minifig I really should sketch out, however badly a plan for the figure. At the moment the design lives in my head. I then spend ages trawling the sites looking for the bits that look right for what I'm trying to create. Luckily so far I have found the bits I want on the sites. Which means for the moment I haven't had to create my own custom parts, nor have I had to create custom decals. At some point down the road I can see myself getting a 3D printer!

So while this model is getting close to being finished, I'm just awaiting the flat cap from the U.S. now as the finishing touch for this figure. I do prefer the new head for this figure, but what do you think? Which head do you prefer?

 

Creation of the hipster part 1

lego minifigs

Today some of the parts for the hipster minifig I'm creation arrived from Firestarter Toys. As you can see from the photo below I got some beards, black legs, and two different hoodies, a head with glasses, a latte, and two bases.

So I've thrown some of the elements together to create an initial version of the hipster. The flat cap is in the postal system somewhere between the U.S. and here, and an alternative head is also on its way from minifigs.me
Once all the bits have arrived I play around to get the perfect combination to make the hipster. In the meantime I can decide between the hoodies, I think the one in the photo is the right one for this model based on the source photo (see Sunday's gaming post).

 

Star Realms an obvious idea

star realms, tabletop

 

So played another game of this today but with a student. It was a comfortable win but when the student usually plays with a friend instead of the authority cards to keep track of authority they use two ten sided dice. One to represent tens and another to represent units.

Why hadn't I thought of that? The cards work, but it is fiddly almost awkward keeping track using them. This is a much simpler and easier option. However it doesn't store in the small box that the game comes in, which the cards do.

So I really really want to get the Star Realms storage box, it will hold the cards and and four dice easily. I've not seen the storage box on sale in the UK yet. But then again I've not come across the play mats either. I'm hoping we get these in the UK soon along with the Gambit expansion.

In the meantime, in the game they use the colour green to represent authority. This got me thinking, how about using green ten sided dice with the game? So now I've got some green ten sided dice on their way, along with the Crisis expansion packs. I think the green dice will be cool with the game. And I'm so excited about adding the new cards to the game.

An update on my games with the Games Quest guys, we seem evenly matched, I win a game, they win a game, then I win a game and so on. Some how I need to improve my game to break the deadlock. I know one or two of my weaknesses, but more studying of tactics etc is in order.

 

 

Great Start To The Week

lego minifigs, netrunner, star realms, tabletop

So the cape for Bane arrived today which I got through eBay, it looks really cool and finished off the minifig for me. The added bonus was a surprise free black cape. That was pretty cool, and now being so easily bribed heck when I need to get some ponchos guess where I'll be looking first for them?

Then this evening from The Entertainment Centre at the heart of the capital of the universe Wisbech I got a great deal on the Western Emmet from The Lego Movie. Which looks, wait for it… AWESOME!
They also got in a Jason Vorhees Pop! figure which now joins the Black Widow and Lady Sif I have. I had promised myself I wouldn't become that guy who buys these sort of things (oh hark look at the minifig collector getting high and mighty). Sadly that pusher of such things Bouncy at The Entertainment Centre has hooked me in, and turned me into that guy! Mind you I had seen Jason in a Facebook feed Friday, thought it looked pretty cool, low and behold Bouncy the Walter White of Videogames and merchandise in Wisbech goes and gets it in! He's evil I tell you.

A couple of firsts happened today, I finally got to play Star Realms using the physical cards. I also played with the cards from the event packs mixed in. Good grief the Megahaulin card is powerful. It seemed a little weird playing with cards, less random. The cards also felt better distrubuted when being dealt into the trade row. It was fun, and I'm not just saying that because I won.

Finally thanks to a friend I had my first game of Netrunner using a learning deck created by my friend. I was playing a hacker deck. I won, but did really enjoy the game. I can sadly seeing myself getting into this game big time. Curses another game for the collection. I'm looking forward to my next game, and learning the game better. I can see myself tending towards playing hackers over the corporate side.

 

Not a hipster game night

game night, lego minifigs, Munchkin, tabletop

Last night there was another game night round mine. The wolf pack had been relocated next door to spend the evening with Nan. Well I have to look out for the safety of my guests. It wouldn't be right having a guest mauled and eaten by the attack chihuahua.

The first game to the table was Star Fluxx. Star Fluxx is a favourite of my students, and I thought might be a good start to the evening. Star Fluxx is a science fiction themed version of the game Fluxx. The game starts off with the simple rules of draw a card and play a card. After that who knows what the rules will be or how you will win. That is all decided by the cards played. One card may make it that you have to draw three cards, another may add the rule that you have to play every card in your hand each time. Some one may play a card that changes what the goal (win condition) of the game is. Basically the game is in a constant state of flux (get it?) The first game of Star Fluxx we played was probably the shortest game I've played. It lasted for about four rounds. The second game last a little longer but not by much.

Our second game of the evening was Tokaido. In Tokaido you are traveling from Edo to Kyoto, trying to have the best experience possible by visiting temples, bathing in hot springs, painting incredible views, visiting temples, shopping and eating great food at inns. Which I didn't explain very well, and at the start the other players were not getting the game or enjoying it much. But once it clicked after two or three turns they started to enjoy it. By the end of the game I think everyone was getting into the game and having a good time.

Super Munchkin is a super hero themed version of Munchkin. Even so it's still all about the loot baby! Lots of dealing, undercutting, backstabbing, wandering monsters suddenly appearing, people being suspiciously helpful to others, all the elements of a great game of Munchkin. At the end there was three of us that could of won it. But the eventual winner really did deserve the win, we threw every wandering monster, monster power up, action we could or had left to try and stop them winning. But to no avail, our attempts failed and then super leaped over the finish line to win. Did I say that Munchkin is another of my students favourite games?

The penultimate game of the evening was Cash 'n Guns 2. I'd previously only played this game once with Nath at last years Eurogamer in the table top playing area. Basically Cash 'n Guns recreates the Mexican stand off, chose your favourite movie that has one whether it's the one from the end of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly in the cementary, or maybe like the one in Reservoir Dogs. The game plays upto eight players, is reasonably quick to play, quick to explain, and fun to play. It's also one of the few games I know where being the eldest pays off! Each player in the game takes on the role of being a gangster during the splitting up of the spoils of a big robbery. One player becomes the Godfather (the eldest person at the start of the game) and remains the Godfather until some-one else takes over the mantle by taking the Godfather token during the splitting of the spoils at the end of each round. It's handy being the Godfather because you can ask a player to “reconsider” who they point their gun at. But the Godfather also gets first pick of the loot. The winner after eight rounds is the player with the most loot and alive at the end. It's safe to say I didn't win, but I did last six rounds before dieing. This is a fun game to play. This game has the potential to become a gaming night staple.

The final game of the evening was Zombie Dice. A great push your luck dice game. I bet my fellow dice masters players wished I rolled like I do playing Zombie Dice. All my luck seems to happen in Dice masters. It's safe to assume I didn't come close to winning either of the two games we played.

The great thing about our group. Wow are we a group now? This is our second games night now. Do we qualify as a group? How many games nights do you have to have to qualify as a group? The great thing about last night is that we all have a similar sense of humour, love the banter, and able to take it all in good humour. A big theme of the evenings banter was whether James was a hipster. To be fair it was funny, and his denials and heated protests added to the laughs. It didn't help his case admitting he had been using beard oils recently, nor when googled that the first image of a bearded hipster with a flat cap looked like his twin!

You know me I will work lego minifigs into anything. This morning I have found the bits to make a hipster minifig of James as a present for him next time. It has to be done. When all the bits come together I hope they live up to the plan I have in my head. I think it will be better. We will see in a couple weeks time.

Anyway a fantastic evening once more, great company, fun games, awesome banter/conversation.

 

Minifig Saturday and I’m a winner

lego minifigs, star realms

Minifig Saturday it is then. There is gaming stuff going on I can assure you. Yesterday Games Quest had a Star Realms competition where if you beat them playing the game using the app and posted a screen shot of the win, they would send you the Crisis expansion pack of your choice. I won my game and couldn't decide which to have so I asked them to choose at random for me. So a surprise prize is on its way. We played a second game that I lost. So I'm going to challenge them to a third game as a decider.

I think it's well known by now how I get forgetful over stuff ordered. I'm pretty sure I ordered the set of Crisis expansions but for the life of me can't remember who from! I might order an extra set just incase my mind is playing tricks on me. Which it often does. If I end up with two complete Crisis expansion sets, I guess we will have a first for the reborn blog a competition. (Yes years ago we had competitions but that was as the old blog not the new!)

Yesterday I was meant to be teaching and playing Star Realms with a friend, but serendipity meant instead I ended up chilling out with friends, chewing the fat over, righting wrongs. We ended up in the local Burger King, where the service was soooo slow. And it took them three attempts to get my friends burger correct! The compensation burger they gave my friend was awesome. Another friend had the Taco ranch burger and that was the sorriest burger I have ever seen at Burger King. It was more a kids burger or entree, it was so tiny for the money. I would of felt robbed and my friend who ordered it did. Anyway this is a point to this little tale (thank god I hear you say), we have arranged a gaming night round mine for tonight. So expect a write up about that tomorrow.

Well as the diptic photo below shows a Bane (movie version) minifig has arrived. I bought a trench coat for it too separately which will arrive Monday I think. That will finish the Bane minifig off nicely. The other figure turned up too which is Tonto with an open fire. I wanted the fire for camping vignettes I have planned. The Tonto figure was a very nice bonus. I like the figure a lot, and having The Lone Ranger and Tonto is really cool. The look of Tonto in the more recent Lone Ranger movie was one of the things I loved. I know Depp and the Director based the look of Tonto on a famous painting of an Native American. Having done a quick google I'm seeing results that are declaring the painting and Depps depiction of Tonto as racist. This isn't something I have spent time thinking about, and hadn't occurred to me. I'd like to discuss this with an Native American, I really don't know enough about this subject and if this is a racist depiction. I would not be surprised if it was. What I do know is I don't know what an accurate depiction would be.

I don't want to use ignorance as an excuse and I won't, I'd rather I have the facts and make an educated and informed decision.

I do enjoy using the motivational poster app on the iPad to produce these posters of the minifigs. Especially when I am using quotes from that the character said in the movie.

Well yesterday was Friday the 13th, so a photo like the one below had to be done. It's the Jason Vorhees minifig with Friday the 13th Part 4 playing in the background on the tv.

Let me know what you think about this post in the comments below. I do moderate comments before putting them live. Just to catch spam and offensive comments. Otherwise even if you disagree with me the comment will appear.

 

Impulse minifig purchase!

lego minifigs

So an afternoon with friends ended with arranging a games night for tomorrow, and me having given in to buying the odd minifig packet from WH Smiths. There is always that temptation whenever I am in the town centre during shop opening times. I'm a weak weak person that's all I will say in my defense.

So what did I pull?

As the photos show I got the Goth girl, a carpenter, and fencer. All three are pretty cool, but my favourite has to be the goth girl and the goth teddy bear.

Ok I admit it I need an intervention.