How I’m Playing TotK (if it wasn’t obvious already)

nintendo, switch, Tears of the Kingdom, video games, Zelda

“Oooh you are so big… So absolutely huge.” Monty Python The Meaning of Life

That quote came to mind when thinking about Zelda Tears of the Kingdom (TotK) when I started playing it again on Sunday evening.

Hyrule is massive. It just feels massive as you wander round exploring and following which ever plot line or side quest takes your fancy.

But I’m sure I’ll talk more about that in a later post.

I know I do this every time I write about video games on here, but I think it helps for anyone who stumbles on these posts and none of the others to know what my setup is for playing the game.

Obviously I’m using a Nintendo Switch but it is the Switch Lite I use and not an original Switch or the newer OLED model (although I’d love one of these).

I’m currently not using any headphones with the Switch Lite. So all sound is from the built in speakers of the Switch Lite. Although I am tempted to sync it with a small Bluetooth speaker I have.

Taking the advice of the hosts of the The Remaster podcast I did purchase for a very reasonable sum of money from Amazon 38 NFT Zelda amiibo cards. They arrived at the weekend and I was taken aback how small they were.

All of them except the 8 bit Zelda art one worked with TotK. I’m expecting or hoping that one works with the Links Awakening remake. It almost felt like a chore scanning in that many amiibo cards. But I was thankful I wasn’t having to use the actual amiibo figures.

The great advantage of these is they are so portable. These can easily be carried around with the Switch. Unlike their official bigger counter parts. Plus for the asking price of less than an amiibo much much cheaper as well. With some of the amiibos being rather hard to get hold of. Those that are for sale normally have a high price attached to them as well.

I am pretty glad I got these amiibo cards. I love the unlocks they give. Such as horses! Yep two of the cards unlock horses. I’ll never be without one now. You also get food/ingredients, rare rocks and gems, swords, shields, clothing. All useful stuff.

It was funny when I first used them because I am currently in a very cold, snow covered area called the Hebra Mountains. As soon meat or fish appeared they froze! All I can do with them is eat them frozen, they are not usable as an ingredient.

In May I preordered the official players guide that came out yesterday. However the day before it’s release Amazon updated my expected delivery date until next Monday. Yet if I bought the players guide on day of release (yesterday) I could have it the next day! How does that work? Surely it should be delivered to me on the day of release? So I cancelled my preorder and ordered a copy which is due to be delivered today (as I write this).

I know I can just google a solution/walkthrough if I get stuck. But I’m old school and I love the physicality of the players guide. And I’m sure once I have it in my grubby mitts I will let you know what I think of it.

My life style doesn’t give me many (if any) gaming sessions where I can play for hours on end. These days I grab an hour or two here and there when I can. Especially on a week night when I am absolutely shattered once I get home.

Which does present it’s own set of challenges when it comes to playing the game. Such as remembering the controls of the game and how to perform certain moves etc. That was really an issue when I returned back to the game after the “break”. That first hour or so of playing again is trying to remember what does what when you need to do it.

So you now know how I’ll be playing TotK from now on as I write further posts about my experience of the game.

A New Campaign A New Beginning

Charterstone, Game day, Stonemaier Games

Literally five years to the day since I last played Charterstone we started a new campaign.

There had been a failed attempt to play the game during the pandemic using the digital version. It’s embarrassing how quickly that fell apart.

This new campaign was with Ben’s copy of the game. The other difference being instead of a four player game we were going to be playing at the full player count of six players.

Sadly life put a scupper on that so it was for this session anyway down to five players.

I really enjoyed returning to the world of Charterstone. My only regret about my previous adventures there are that we didn’t finish the journey. Which has got me thinking I wonder if Jonathan would be interested in returning to finish what we started? I’m pretty sure Diego and Jeff would be up for it.

We managed to get the first two games of the campaign played. And yes games are that quick.

Our first game saw Ben hording assistants and getting ridiculous bonuses when he did stuff. So it wasn’t surprising that Ben won that game. However I did managed to achieve two of the round objectives, plus hit my goal of hitting the thirty point mark. That was important because that meant I could fill in three stars towards getting a reward. You get to fill in one star for each ten points you have. The stars are also worth ten points each at the end of the game. This first game also saw me not build a single building. Although I did open a crate.

Game two saw us carry over everything from game one. So Ben was starting with a massive assistant advantage.

However that didn’t translate into a win this time. That honour went to Jeff. As Charlene and Jeff unlocked minions the rest of us were starting to feel left out. Luckily the crate I opened in game two also gave me a golem minion. Once again I managed to hit the thirty point marker. Plus build three buildings. We all had started developing our charters.

Game three is going to be very interesting. Ben won’t have his big assistant advantage. All of us bar Jeff can carry over an extra item of our choosing (I chose an extra resource). Plus we have more powerful buildings out in our charters. Oh and I nearly forgot peril tokens were unlocked by Charlene.

We finished off the session with a game of Vaalbara.

A very nice card game which I’ll talk about another day. It’s hot and I need to cool down

Despite the heat, it was another great afternoon gaming with great friends. I look forward to our next game (or two) in the campaign.

TotK excuses excuses

nintendo, switch, Tears of the Kingdom, video games, Zelda

It’s been hard over the last month or so to get any time on the Switch and Tears of the Kingdom.

Work has been super busy during the day with marking and getting students across the finish line before the end of term. Which has left me really drained in the evenings and at weekends. I’ve just not had the energy to pick up the switch.

It sounds like I’m making excuses for having not played the game. And it’s true I am.

There is a bit of I think trying to convince myself that’s the reason why to ease my sense of guilt.

Earlier in the week I was listening to the latest The Remaster podcast where they discuss Tears of the Kingdom. I like how the hosts talk about video games. It’s some of the most intelligent discussion online. And I was waiting for this episode to hear what they had to say. Sadly Shadid wasn’t taking part in this episode. I assume because he hasn’t had a chance to play the game yet.

One interesting suggestion by the hosts Myke and Federico in this episode for Tears of the Kingdom is to get hold of some amiibo cards to use with the game. These are not official products. However they are much much cheaper than trying to purchase the official amiibos. So can be very expensive. These amiibo cards when scanned act exactly like the official thing and will unlock bonus items etc in game. I have a set on the way now.

But go click the link above and listen to probably the most interesting discussion on Tears of the Kingdom on the Internet. It’ll certainly put any words I throw together to shame.

We are days away from the official players guide landing through letter boxes, and in particular mine. I should try and get the Breathe of the Wild one. So I’m looking forward to that arriving.

I am avoiding the many many YouTube videos out there of all the amazing and clever devices and vehicles players have been building in the game.

I’m feeling guilty as it is not playing Tears of the Kingdom. No need to add feeling inadequate as well.

In the meantime I need to think about my future coverage of the game for this blog.

It’s been emotional

game night, life, the universe, and everything

It’s been a long week.

One that’s been very emotional as well.

At the start of the week I finally had the offer from college to become a full time lecturer. Which I accepted.

However it hit me hard that the one person I really wanted to share the news with I couldn’t. I miss Nan so much.

And the working week ended that way to.

It’s not only the end of term but the academic year and my leaving class of level three students gave me a card and box of Maltesers. An unexpected and very nice thought.

But when I opened the card back in the room where I was doing my final marking of the year, my eyes nearly leaked as I read it.

The card means so much. It’s hard to express how. But it’s nice to know that all the hard work has been appreciated by the students.

After thanking the students again I just wanted to share the card with Nan. And once again the eyes threatened to leak. If it was hard to articulate how I felt about the card. There is no way I’m getting close to getting across how much I miss Nan.

Last night I got to play War of the Ring the card game with Diego. For once the free people of middle-earth (me) won. Plus it was a points win ending the game early by creating a ten point difference

But the glow of victory didn’t last long as Diego thrashed me at Star Wars the deckbuilding game as the Empire.

It was a cool evening gaming with Diego. I’m glad our life events are enabling us to play more games together. Now if only they would sync a bit more so we could game with Jonathan more.

My Precious Sunday!

Game day, magic, MtG

This weekend has been a busy weekend for your FLGS. It’s been yet another MtG prerelease weekend. These are happening a lot more often these days as WotC push out more and more product in their blatant attempt to lighten your pockets and bank accounts.

But it doesn’t take away from the fact that a MtG prerelease is a valuable source of income for the LGS.

There has been a lot of buzz and online chatter about this latest set The Lord of the Rings: Tales of Middle-Earth for one reason or the other.

The main one that affects this weekend and sales of the very expensive Collectors Boosters is the one of one card The One Ring hidden in one of them. In the run up to this weekend various individuals and businesses put a “bounty” on the card. Last I heard before Friday was one MtG retailer offering over one million dollars to the lucky individual who pulled it (within one month of the prerelease).

Guess what’s been selling like hot cakes this weekend?

My local FLGS sold out of their stock of the Collectors Boosters, and barely sold any draft boosters.

I don’t know if other stores had the same. But it’d sure be interesting to find out.

I wasn’t going to attend any prerelease events. But I did manage to score a couple of prerelease kits and the new starter kit, and held my own prerelease event this afternoon with Dave.

I’m a big Lord of the Rings fan.

Funny enough it was my other passion in the early Eighties and the home computer boom that introduced me to Tolkien and Middle-Earth.

Thanks to the software house Melbourne House who did The Hobbit adventure game, and it’s follow up The Lord of the Rings Part 1. Both coming with copies of their respective books. I was introduced to hobbits, elves, and dwarves.

I ended up reading the books to help me solve the many puzzles and situations I would come across.

During this time I got to see The Lord of the Rings animated movie on vhs. Yes the video revolution was great for geeks like me. The animated movie was only part one. Part two was never made. The movie ended just after Helms Deep if I remember correctly. It’s also of interested that during its making they started running out of money, so they used an animation technique called rotoscoping. Which was basically filming actors in orc outfits and colouring over them! It does give the movie a unique look and feel.

I have such fond memories in the mid Eighties sitting in a large beanbag in my spare room rays of light coming through the window, reading my leather bound, gold leaf lettering on the cover edition of The Lord of Rings.

My first RPG that I played was the Middle-Earth Role Playing game whilst I was studying for my HND down in Brighton.

Then whilst married getting the thirteen cd edition of the BBC radio play production of the book. Wow such an amazing production. Apart from Tom Bombadil they got the book captured perfectly. I soon added the BBCs production of The Hobbit. You can just close your eyes and imagine you are there. I even have both on Audible.

I could go on. But that’d bore you. I think you could say I’m a big fan just not one that can quote chapter and verse from the books or lore.

Dave and I had a blast building our decks to play after cracking open our prerelease kit boosters and participation packs. This was a first for Dave as he was getting to experience his first sealed game.

I love that excitement, anticipation of cracking open a booster. Nothing quite like it in gaming. It’s so addictive.

I went green/white aka Selesnya, whilst Dave went Red/Black with a splash of blue aka Grixis.

I went with cards that generated food tokens and did things with them. I surprised myself with the synergy. If this had been a proper prerelease I’d have never been that lucky with my cards.

There is some amazing art on these cards. I dare to say WotC and the artists they used have taken things to another level.

And it felt so thematic playing the cards. I’ve not felt that with MtG in a long time. Granted I’ve not played a set since that awful Strixhaven set. But playing the cards was such a joy.

The Starter Kit decks also got a couple of plays. They too were fun. There was a nice balance to them.

I had a great afternoon playing some MtG with a friend. As a Fathers Day goes the only way I could top this if I had spent the time with Nathan. But he called me which is all I need.

The spice did flow

Fenland Gamers, game night

After the failed attempt to have a club night last week. Which would have been the first post UKGE we got back on track by having one this week.

I took along my now pimped out copy of Dune Imperium in it’s new home of the Deluxe Upgrade box. Along with After Us, War of the Ring the card game (with the four promo cards I purchased at this years UKGE), and Cat in the Box. Plus the limited edition, super rare black edition of the club tee. There are only three of these and all spoken for.

Despite only five people actually responding to the event on the clubs discord server. We actually had twelve turn up.

This meant we split up into three gaming tables of four players on each.

Luckily there were three others willing to play Dune Imperium.

The Dune Imperium Deluxe Upgrade kit (finally arrived earlier in the week)

One of them was new to the game so I limited our game to just the core and Rise of Ix expansion. Having Immortality in the mix as well would have been too much.

Who had which leader?

  • Viscount Hundro Moritani – me
  • Prince Rhombur Vernius – Julie
  • Princess Yuna Moritani – Dave
  • The Beast Glossu Rabban – new player

I bet me not playing Yuna surprised you. It surprised me too. But then Dave had already chosen her. So I had very little choice in the matter.

I liked Hundro a lot. Especially his starting bonus of getting an Intrigue card.

For most of the game I was just behind the leaders on the victory points. I was in the mix and just needed a good round to leap frog into the lead. Ideally timed to trigger the end game.

Early on I picked up an end game scoring intrigue card that rewarded me for being having three or more influence on the faction tracks. Followed by taking one off Julie that gave me a point for having more than ten solari. Almost straight away after taking that card off her I drew another with the same condition on it.

I had potentially four victory points in those three intrigue cards at the end of the game.

Our game went the full ten rounds.

I didn’t win a single combat. Most of them I didn’t even participate in.

In the later rounds I made sure I couldn’t lose the two alliances I had. In this game losing one to another player is a massive point swing.

In the last round I was able to pick up a Spice Must Flow card to gain a much needed victory point. It helped that the cost was reduced by three with a card I had.

After the dust had settled and points from tech tiles and intrigue cards added I won with twelve points.

I really love the deluxe upgrade kit. The models look awesome on the board.

The metal first player token is amazing. It feels really nice and has a great weight to it.

The insert I like. It just about fits everything in sleeved. There is no room for any thing else. So I hope there are no plans for a third expansion.

I think the only way the kit could be improved is if they had replaced the remaining cardboard with acrylic tokens.

I had a great time playing Dune Imperium. A great evenings gaming.

Not your average board gaming content creator!

life, the universe, and everything, rant, still alive

I was going to write a post in response to a recent YouTube video by Jamey Stegmaier and one or two others called Tabletop Publishers, Content Creators, and Audiences: The Inside Scoop.

However this heat wave is sucking my will to live, and I can’t be bothered to share my very cheap opinions about the issues raised.

Besides I’m not a content creator in the board gaming space. Or not by any definition that most people would use.

What we have in this little corner of the internet is a personal diary where I talk about what gaming I get up to. I don’t review stuff. I share my opinions on the games I play.

If this blog is read by more than a handful of people I’d be shocked. I’d bet good money that most of those that read my posts are friends and family.

Why do I write it?

It’s for me. And maybe one day for Nathan. That’s why some of the posts recently have had a more personal “back when I was a lad” bit to them. It’s my “gift” to him. Hopefully it will help him feel closer to me if he ever decides to read my badly written words.

So no I’m not trying to make a living from this. I’m not trying to get free games (god I’d hate that pressure), and I’m definitely not trying to make a name for myself.

I’m just creating memories that one day will help my son.

A hot Sunday afternoon

Game day

A very hot Sunday afternoon saw my friend Jamie and myself meeting up to play some board games.

We started off with a two player game of After Us. You can read a rather long winded not saying much post about it here. We had fun. Despite leading on the points front for the majority of the game, Jamie caught up and overtook me to get the win.

After my apes had their butt kicked it was time to start climbing in the Himalayas by playing Trek 12: Himalaya.

Obviously I like roll and writes. I do have a few in the collection (22 at the last count according the tags I’ve added to games in bgstat). So a while back when I saw a review for it on YouTube (and for the life of me I can’t remember which channel it was I saw it on) I was intrigued. Especially by the theme (we’ll come back to that in a mo). So when I saw it for sale at UKGE with the expansion I finally caved and bought both the base game and it’s expansion.

Now folks who know me longer than I have been blogging about board games will remember that originally this very blog was an outdoors blog! (The posts are no longer on here) I love being in the outdoors, backpacking, sleeping in the middle of nowhere with great views, being up high on the UK mountains. I’ve taken that love of hiking to holidays in the Swiss Alps and French Pyrenees.

Heck I got Strider from a family holiday to the Brecon Beacons, and picking him up when he was ready to leave his mum was my first wild camp.

I love the outdoors.

Why am I not doing this stuff now? Well life got in the way. As it does now. I don’t want the day to arrive when I can do multi day trips again, or go do my dream trip of visiting New Zealand. (I’m getting a bit emotional as I type this next bit) As that means mum is no longer with me.

So you can see the mountaineering theme of Trek 12: Himalaya really appealed to me.

We started off playing the trek mode for the game. This is basically picking one of the three included maps and playing the game using the core rules. As per the rule book suggestions we used the Dunai sheet (see photo below) for this first learning game.

Each round the two dice are rolled and each player chooses one of the following to do with the result:

  • Use the higher of the two values
  • Use the lower of the two values
  • Use the difference between the two values
  • Use the sum of the two values
  • Use the product of the two values

However there is a catch. There’s always a catch. You can only do each of the above a max of four times during the game. So you have to really think about when you use each of the above.

You are also restricted on the max value you can write in a circle. A regular circle is considered to be normal terrain so the max value that can be written in it is 12. Difficult terrain (with a thicker boarder) can only have a max value of 6. If you have to write a value higher than the max the space can hold you draw a sad face instead! Each sad face at the end of the game is worth minus three points.

You start off being able to place the first number you have anywhere on the map. After that each number has to be added to an empty space adjacent to a space already containing a number.

In Trek 12: Himalaya you are scoring points based on chains of numbers (ie 3,4,5,6) and groups of numbers (ie a group of 2’s).

Any number not part of a chain or group at the end of the game is orphaned and gets a sad face.

We enjoyed our initial game so much we played the campaign or expedition mode as it is know.

This adds assist cards to the game that you can claim by having a group of 0’s,1’s, or 2’s. You are allowed a max of three of these at a time. Any you don’t use during a game can be traded for points at the end.

These assist cards are useful as they can give you an extra addition to perform, allow you to put a number anywhere on the map, plus other useful powers.

There are also challenge envelopes that get unlocked at the end of a game before starting the next one if the condition has been met to open it. From the two that I’ve opened so far they have added more assist cards, a fourth map pad, and guides (they increase the power of certain things).

Expedition games are played over three maps, and the victor is the player with the most reputation points. In our game that was Jamie right up to the last game. He had gotten points from both the first two maps whilst I had zero. Then I smashed the last, most difficult map and got a shed load of points to grab the win.

We really liked Trek 12: Himalaya. We played four games back to back.

On the roll and write difficulty level scale it is not even close to being as difficult as a Three Sisters or Hadrians Wall. The rules are very simple. It’s the decisions that you have to make that make it so enjoyable.

I was kind of reminded a bit of Rolling Japan/America when it came to placing the numbers on the sheet. I got that vibe from it.

However you are trying to get those chains and groups, and it gets more and more difficult as your options start to run out on how you get that number you need.

Having the three maps (or more once unlocked) makes the trek mode enjoyable as you can tailor the difficulty of the game you want to play. With the expedition mode that looks to have so much replay ability as you unlock the extras and try and beat previous scores. Plus it doesn’t wear out it’s welcome. The games were fairly quick, so you can do an expedition easily in an evening and not have it hanging around.

I don’t do solo modes of games. So I can’t comment on how it plays solo.

But I do love this game.

Our final game of the afternoon was Three Dragon Ante.

We used the Iron Clay poker chips that I picked up at UKGE for this instead of the cardboard chips that come with the game. They are nice. Feel really great in the hand.

Before I write lots about Three Dragon Ante I want to play this with more than two players.

But we had fun playing it despite an initial misplay. There are some interesting decisions to make during the game.

Plus I won.

I had a great afternoon gaming with Jamie. It was just what I needed on such a scorching weekend.

After Us – no astronauts were hurt in the making of this post!

Uncategorized

I grew up in Wisbech in the seventies.

Life was simpler. Despite only having three tv channels I think my tv and movie education was richer than the media bloat that we have now.

Holidays for me were watching which ever 1930’s serial the BBC had decided to show each morning. I loved Flash Gordon with Larry Buster Crab, King of the Rocketmen (the inspiration for Disneys The Rocketeer). I got to watch classic comedies from the likes of Harold Lloyd or Laurel and Hardy. I had Tarzan movies and tv show to enjoy. The Lone Ranger helped set my moral compass! I loved series like Champion the wonder horse, Skippy the bush kangaroo, and Whirlybirds, etc.

But one series both tv and movie that I loved was Planet of the Apes.

The tv show was great for the time, and like so many I watched at that age had fewer episodes than I remember. When I’ve looked into getting the series on dvd I’m like “no way was there just fourteen episodes”.

My memory of the show has me thinking it was formulaic for the time with the protagonists wandering from village to village fixing a wrong. Which seems to describe a lot of shows at the time such as Kung Fu, Logan’s Run, etc.

Mum and Dad even bought me a Planet of the Apes mask. It was plastic (light grey if my memory isn’t playing tricks on me), no hair, just something that went over the face held in place by elastic.

But after being left high and dry by the tv series when it ended I got to enjoy the cartoon series instead on (my memory wants to say) a Saturday morning.

I liked at the time how from that first movie and it’s shock ending, the movies, tv show, and cartoon expanded the world and lore. Although I was too young at the time to know what lore was, or pick up on the allegory/themes in the movies.

The Tim Burton, Mark Wahlberg reboot in 2001 was watchable, but despite its modern production values didn’t have the same impact emotionally as the original movie.

It’d be another ten years before we’d get more Ape movies that used modern sfx to create realistic looking apes and “remake“ the origin of the series. I love these movies. They did a great job of updating the franchise and it’s themes. I wish others would learn from this.

I’ve skipped the original book all this was based/inspired by (although my Audible library may be growing soon) as I’ve never read it. And back when I was enthralled by each new movie, and episode I had no idea there was a book behind all of this.

It had also escaped me there were also comic books expanding the universe. But thinking about it I shouldn’t be surprised. I need to correct this oversight soon.

So it’s fair to say I’m a fan. Not a hardcore fan that can quote chapter and verse about the lore or lines from the movies and shows.

Is it any surprise that I was then drawn to the theme of After Us?

UKGE exclusive box art on left, regular cover right

The nice thing is the French designer acknowledges the influence of Planet of the Apes on the game.

However that’s were it ends.

To be honest like the majority of deckbuilders the theme is so paper thin to be non-existent.

I love the art by Vincent Dutrait. It truly is beautiful.

What I like about this deckbuilder is the simultaneous play. It really does speed things up.

Having now played the game at five players and two players I think it worked well at both player counts.

I like that this stands out from a lot of other deckbuilders with it being a race to get to eighty points, and not all about inflicting as much damage as possible to the other player.

There is very little player interaction, with the little there is in the game being which reward you copy from one of your neighbours in the second phase.

But it has to be that way with the chaotic simultaneous play.

I love the arranging your hand of four cards each round so you complete as many frames as possible. As the only frames you can activate are complete ones. Incomplete frames get you nothing.

Not having the buy 5 points tile out made a big difference in the two player game. I definitely prefer the game without it.

Is it my favourite deckbuilder? No. But it is probably top of the list if I want to play a deckbuilder with a group of people. It’s fun.

It’s been a busy week

D&D, life, the universe, and everything, new arrivals, RPG, still alive

It’s been a busy and tiring week at work. Which has left me too tired to try and arrange any midweek gaming.

My attempt to get some gaming in last night failed. No one was free or interested in playing some roll and writes. And I had to turn down an invite to learn Marrakesh as it would have meant finishing too late.

So it looks like June is on course for being a slow month of gaming, and I don’t have a car issue as an excuse this time.

Work wise I’ve stepped up the job search as the clock counts down to the end of my temp contract. Apparently there is a full time contract, they are timetabling as if I’m there next year. However I’ve not seen anything yet to sign.

At the start of the week the latest promo packs and solo mode for Rolling Realms arrived. It’s getting to the point now that an alternate storage solution needs to be found for the game. I think with the Encounters promo pack that comes out at the same time as when the game does that’s it. The limit for everything in the original game box has been reached.

So yesterday out of the blue my pre-order of Tome of Beasts 3 by Kobold Press arrived.

I am a big fan of the Kobold press pocket editions of their books. I love the format. It’s so handy. Goes nicely in a bag to read on public transport or in bed. I just love it compared to the larger books like the Monster Manual.

I currently have two other of their creature books, Tome of Beasts 2, and Creature Codex. With the updated Tome of Beasts pre-ordered (out next month if memory doesn’t fail me).

For me I actually prefer these Kobold Press offerings to the official WotC equivalents. They feel fresh and fire the imagination more. The art is amazing. Which helps fire that imagination.

There is also the benefit that unless your players also have purchased the books that they are unlikely to have come across the creatures in them. So when they encounter one it’s a surprise and refreshing to them also.

I’m looking forward to flicking through the pages of this latest volume and seeing what grabs me.