Four Winners, Two Losers

Game day

Saturday afternoon saw Charlene, Ben, Dan, Anthony, Marcin, and myself gather to play Cosmic Encounter.

I think it’s fair to say Cosmic Encounter is considered a classic board game.

We were playing the core game rules with the rewards decks added in.

Earlier in the day I had sorted all the alien cards by difficulty so that we would only be playing with the green (less complicated) ones. My thinking was for the majority of us this was our first game. We didn’t need to complicate that experience with potentially confusing, and complicated aliens.

Using the bgstat app to select the first player and not the draw of cards from the destiny deck, Ben was chosen as the first player.

I did enjoy my alien power as soon as other players started using artefact cards. It meant I got them, and could then use them myself. In other words the cards potentially came back to haunt them.

I’m not going to bore you with a long winded account of how Ben, Charlene, Dan, and myself all ended up on four points (aka colonies on other planets), and Marcin and Anthony trailed way behind.

But that was the situation after much negotiation, banter, and alliances as we ended up on what was to be the final encounter.

The final encounter of the game was for Dan. He had to choose who to attack. After much deliberation he chose Marcin.

Charlene, Ben, and myself were invited to join him on the attack. We threw in the maximum number of ships possible. This attack needed to succeed. I helped it along by playing an artefact that switched off Marcin’s alien ability of swapping played event cards. Oh and for some unexplainable reason Anthony threw in with Marcin.

But still Marcin was quietly confident of victory with a kicker card he was playing. However under normal circumstances he would have every right to feel that way. Indeed his play would have worked. But it didn’t take into account I had another artefact in hand that allowed my to cancel his kicker.

So smugly Marcin revealed his trump card that would remove everyone’s ships and deny us victory. Then my big reveal in response his reveal. His hopes and dreams shot down in burning flames.

He got smashed and his planet was colonised.

Sadly for Ben he was at the bar getting refreshments as the drama unfolded missing it all.

We had a four way win between Dan, Ben, Charlene, and myself.

What a blast the afternoon was. We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Loved playing Cosmic Encounter.

Growing trees

Fenland Gamers, game night

Last night was the fortnightly club night. For the middle of Summer having eight folks turn up was pretty good.

On the table I was on we were learning and playing a four player game of Undergrove.

This was Charlene’s deluxe kickstarter edition.

Wow! The production on this deluxe edition is phenomenal.

The wooden tile holders in the shape of trees just take a beautiful looking game with an eye catching table presence to another level.

The tiles are I think wooden, beautiful artwork, really nice feel to them. The wooden mushroom first player marker is overkill but still impressive.

There is a great learn the game mode that takes each player through their first four turns. Each unique and doing something different. Then at the end of the fourth turn it gives you advice on your next turns.

I like the flow of the game with each player taking it in turn to do one of the possible actions. Plus it is possible with the right tile(s) out on the board to combo or get more than one action on your turn.

With several goal cards to choose from each game, and a reasonable number of tiles the replayability is there.

There is a bit of decision making and tactics involved in where you start to grow your trees. Its location, location, location. You have to factor in not just the points the tile will give you but also what action the tile will allow you and anyone else with roots on it to do. It’s almost like you are building an engine in plain view of everyone.

I will say the iconography took a few rounds to get used to. But once it clicks.

Yeah I liked the game (and not just because I won). I’d happily play this again. Would I add it to my collection? I’m not sure. It’d depend on how much the deluxe edition and the tree tile holders (they are a separate purchase) are. It’s the only edition of the game I’d want.

Twin Sun Leaders & Bases Early Deck Thoughts

Deck tech, Star Wars Unlimited

So the other night I went and bought all the current leaders and bases for Star Wars Unlimited. Which is approximately 35 leaders, and 20 bases. It was actually 31 leaders I bought because Magic Madhouse didn’t have the starter set leaders in stock as singles.

I didn’t really need them anyway. Which saved me money. Plus those four cards it appears are the more expensive costing pounds each instead of pence each.

That was the surprising bit that these cards were so cheap.

Using the Star Wars Unlimited DB deck building feature I browsed leaders to come up with some pairings for some initial Twin Suns decks.

What follows are some initial pairings of leaders and bases that I think synergise or compliment each other.

My first pairing is Chewbacca and Fennec Shand. I’d like to use the Energy Conversion Lab base with them. But I’m not sure the deck building rules allow that (need to look into it more).

The current thinking for this deck is all about getting out units and using them straight away to attack, or protect the base.

Grand Moff Tarkington and Darth Vader, paired up with the Tarkintown base make up an “aggro” deck!

Hopefully Luke Skywalker, Hera Syndulla, Spectre Two, and the base Security Complex will give me the counter to the aggro deck by spamming out shield tokens.

Finally the deck I’m excited about because this is kinda aggro as well but will be all about doing damage to bases as the result of doing an action. Sabine Wren paired up with Jyn Erso and the base Jedha City should allow that. I see Jyn and the base removing the amount of damage taken, and keeping Sabine alive.

Now I have to choose which cards the decks need. Then try and buy them. That’s where the real cost will come in.

Multi player Star Wars Unlimited

lcg/ccg/tcg game night, Star Wars Unlimited

Tuesday night was our weekly lcg/tcg/ccg game night. This week Marcin, Dave, and myself played a couple of games of multi player Star Wars Unlimited (SWU).

SWU has a multi player format called Twin Suns. Twin Suns is basically the SWU Commander. Like Commander it’s a singleton format, ie only allowed one copy of a card in the deck.

Sadly I have not built any decks for Twin Suns. I’d love to see FFG copy WotC and release Twin Suns precon decks just like WotC release Commander decks but not as frequently as WotC release them. But I digress.

So how did we play a multi player game?

I used the starter decks like they were decks in the MtG Game Night Kit. Which was the inspiration for this idea.

So we each chose a starter deck (Dave went Vader, Marcin went Mando, and I went Luke) and played the game as a free for all.

The one rule I borrowed from Twin Suns was how the game ends.

“Once one player is eliminated, the game will end once the current phase ends. The player with the most HP remaining on their base at the end of the current phase wins the game.” taken from the Comprehensive Rules by FFG p46

We had a blast playing SWU this way.

It had that Commander vibe to it. But you are very much aware how much damage your opponents have on their bases. It’s a deciding factor on when or if you try and take out an opponent. Obviously you don’t want to knock someone out if you have more damage than the other remaining player. So you are hoping that you’re not too vulnerable to get knocked out, whilst the other player hopefully gets some damage to their base putting you in a potential winning position.

I won the first game, whilst Dave won the second. But in both games could have been won by any of us. They were that close.

Obviously I’d like to try the Twin Suns format. But I don’t have the cards to build some for us to use. I’d also like to have some “battle decks” but I suffer from the same issue as that for the Twin Suns decks.

Maybe that’s a project to put on the to do list.

Tumble weeds

life, the universe, and everything, still alive

Wow I don’t think I’ve had this long between posts for like ever.

I’m most definitely still alive.

Gaming has taken place but I’ve been so tired from a six day tour of duty at work.

I’ve been getting home and barely getting the will power to do anything.

The times I have played something I’ve been limited to how late I could stay out. My curfew being earlier than Cinderella’s.

The having to get up about 4:30am each work day does take its toll if I’m not out like a light by 21:30 the latest.

Usually I get Tuesday and Saturday off. But holidays at work meant this week I had no Saturday off.

Six days without a day off is taxing. It drains you.

So that’s why I’ve not written anything for a few days. I wanted to. But the energy just wasn’t there.

Normal service will resume asap.

Knots for tarps and other bits!

#backtothehills, hiking/backpacking/camping, outdoors

I think one of the things I miss about living in Farnborough and thinking about it Crook, is being close to land you can wild camp in, practice setting up hammocks etc.

Back in Farnborough I could be walking the wolf pack, stopping for a brew in a quiet spot within 10 minutes of leaving the house. 30 minutes or more and I could be at Frensham Little Pond doing the same.

My old stove talk videos were filmed in the woods around Farnborough. And I often just chilled out in a quiet corner with the wolf pack and a brew.

In fact back in 2008 when I was told I was at risk of being made redundant, and because of this shocking bit of news given the option to take the rest of the day off. I didn’t even think twice I took them up on the “kind” offer.

Within an hour and half I had taken the train home, thrown a brew kit in the car, found a quiet spot at Fleet Pond with the wolf pack and was contemplating life, the universe, and the days events over a hot brew.

In fact apart from one other occasion during the redundancy process for signing some papers I never returned to the office. I wasn’t required to. That bit was a blessing because it was at this time Kate decided she no longer wanted to be married to me. It would have been hard to go into the office each day, concentrate on work, and pretend life was good. When it obviously wasn’t. The redundancy process spared me from all that.

But here in Wisbech I’m not so lucky on that front. I’ve yet to find those spots of refuge.

Up to an hour away is Sandringham which I think if I wild camped there might see my sleep interrupted by armed officers. My other option is around a similar traveling time, possibly a bit longer Thetford.

I do plan to explore Thetford a bit more in the future. It does seem to be a popular spot for some YouTubers to show off their bushcraft skills whilst wild camping.

There are some interesting wooded areas nearer (but still not local) that need to be investigated for suitability.

But it’s only when you no longer have it that you truly miss what you once took for granted.

In the meantime as I try and find spots that I can do a quick on the spur of the moment wild camp I’m practicing my knots.

When it comes to using a tarp and hammock I don’t like using cord with plastic (or metal) tensioning bits on them. They break, limit what the cord can be used for, etc, etc. I’m of the school that prefers to tie knots.

For me the knots I need to know when using a tarp or plan to use with my hammock are the following:

  • Bowline
  • Clove hitch
  • Prusik knot
  • Trucker’s Hitch
  • Tautline hitch

So how would I be using these knots when setting up my tarp?

The bowline I’m using to attach the paracord to a tie on point of the tarp. Or giving me a loop to use for tying one end of the paracord round a tree for creating a ridge line between two trees.

The clove hitch I use to secure the paracord to my trekking poles.

Whilst I use a truckers or tautline hitch to go round the tent peg (or tree) and tension the line.

Where does the prusik knot come in? That’s for when I’m using a ridge line I can use this knot to attach a tarp or bug netting to it. I do carry a couple of pre-made prusik loops for quick and easy use. I know these prusik loops are not intended for mountaineering and climbing ropes. So the knot I’ve used for them is the common overhand knot instead of the more appropriate double fisherman’s knot for joining two ends together.

For me those 5 knots allow me to do everything I need to do with a tarp or hammock.

I’m also in this downtime prepping meal ideas.

My current experiment/idea involves soaked, then cooked, and then dehydrated beans! Which I will added freeze dried garden peas, dried carrot, dried sweet corn, dried shiitake mushrooms, and/or sliced dried mushrooms (that I dried in the dehydrator).

The idea is that these packets can be added to vegetable stock and some herbs/seasoning to make either a bean soup or stew that requires minimal cooking.

New look?

life, the universe, and everything, still alive

Here we are with yet another I’m still alive post.

I have partial posts about recent gaming sitting in the draft folder of the blogging app that I use.

But tiredness and apathy stop me finishing them off.

I get home and just want to shutdown.

Guilt hits me as I try to switch off.

I know there is stuff I could or should be doing.

But motivation is lacking.

I’m not going to go into the reasons why on here. But last Friday after finishing my shift I walked into the instore barbershop and had them shave off not only my hair but also my beard.

It’s been something like 15 years or more since I last was clean shaven.

I’m still not used to the face that looks back at me in the mirror. It’s taking sometime to get used to.

At work my friends and colleagues have been positive, agreed it’s a major change and I look younger.

For one or two I had to speak first before they realised it was me. Which was kinda funny.

The car is going to cost me more money because it needs new brakes. An expense I could do without with the purchase of the house going on.

I did have a good long chat with an old friend who I hadn’t spoken to for a long time the other night. It was good to catch up. There will not be such a long gap before our next time.

I am trying to work it so I can get out and spend a night under canvas (or should that be silnilon?). But not having consecutive days off makes the logistics and being able to go somewhere somewhat challenging.

Think I’ll call it a day there and catch you in the next post.

July 2024

bgstat, by the numbers, stats

Well I certainly played more this month than in recent months.

It has felt I’ve played lots more than I actually did.

The Tuesday lcg/tcg/ccg evening is back. And I’m loving it.

There have been some great moments through out the month. I’m lucky to have such great friends willing to share those gaming moments with.

Here are the raw stats for July.

One against many, or just another Commander evening

Commander, game night, lcg/ccg/tcg game night, magic, MtG

Tuesday saw another lcg/tcg/ccg evening.

This time three of us could make it, so the plan was to have a game of Commander.

Dave was playing his Doctor Who deck. I played my Ninja deck. While Marcin played my Atraxa precon.

It really was Dave and Marcin vs me. I needed every trick in my deck to try and hold in and get to a winning position.

A position that never arrived.

Was I close? I don’t think so. I tried politicking to try and help me out. But the butt hurt Marcin still had from the weekend made that very hard.

Obviously I knew the main tactic of the Atraxa deck, and the proliferate was useful in delaying Dave getting his cards out for free using his time warp/suspend ability. I think the Doctors deck Dave was using had potential. With some suitable additions could be pretty good and fun.

That’s what I like about my ninja deck is it is a fun deck to play. Maybe not be on the receiving end of.

Marcin managed to get the win.

Next week the plan is to do a Dice Masters draft using draft packs from Tomb of Annihilation. A booster box had arrived earlier that day along with two campaign boxes. Recently Wizkids had a 50% off sale on Dice Masters stuff. So I took advantage of that sale to pick up a couple of things.

Feast or famine

Game day, game night

After what has seemed a famine when it comes to board gaming over the past few months.

It now seems like the complete opposite. I’m gorging myself on gaming.

Friday evening saw Marcin and I play a two player game of Ra. I’d recently picked up a Pharaoh edition of the game. Which is basically the thematic way to describe the deluxe edition of Ra.

The main difference as far as I’m aware between this fancy edition and the retail edition is metal coins and wooden/plastic tiles.

The production is out of this world. The Ra token is huge. The sun boat marker, epoch marker, sun dials are all wooden. The auction board and player boards are a good thickness. It’s obvious a lot of love has gone into the production of this game.

Friday evening gaming

As a two player game it worked, and was an enjoyable experience. However I need to play this at the higher player counts. I think the play experience will be completely different.

Sadly Marcin won.

For our second game of the evening we were joined by Anthony. The game was Ohanami.

I’ve been often a copy of this game ever since I hear about it in a Broken Meeple video. At the time I was unable to track down a copy. That was until about two weeks ago when I was just browsing through saved items in my Amazon basket and saw it was in stock. I clicked on the item to check my eyes weren’t deceiving me. The price was amazing. Just under £11 for this card game. I instinctively pressed buy it now.

If a purchase has not been a dice game, then it’s most likely been a trick taking or drafting game. I do seem to be into those two mechanics at the moment.

This was a great purchase.

Once more Marcin won. He was on track for a clean sweep.

Next Fuji Flush hit the table. I think I was the only one who hadn’t played it before. But I was glad I did. This purchase has been sitting in my game bag since purchasing.

The game was fun at its lowest player count. But like Ra I think Fuji Flush will be a different experience at the higher player counts. Maybe even better.

We managed to get two plays in. Marcin’s win streak was ended. With the honours being shared between Anthony and myself.

We finished off the evening (for me anyway, I left Anthony and Marcin playing some other game) with the game Haggis. I’m so glad this great trick taker is making it back to the table. Which is easier to do because it’s either a two or three player game. It’s the three player support that is enabling it to get some love.

Luckily I was able to end my evening on a win.

After that I headed home. I couldn’t be late home because I had work the next morning.

Sunday I went straight from work to game with Marcin, Anthony, and Jeff.

Our game for the afternoon was Steamwatchers.

I have to say I was pretty tired during the rules explanation and nearly fell asleep a couple of times. That was by no means an indictment of Marcin and his explaining of the rules.

But I did wake up. Or feel more awake after I purchased my usual beverage order and started playing.

Sunday afternoon gaming

The theme of Steamwatchers is a post apocalyptic one. This is Marcin’s favourite game theme.

There is very much a big influence from the game A Game of Thrones on Steamwatchers with the Dune combat system thrown in.

Early on both Jeff and I formed an alliance. We offered an alliance to Anthony as well. The aim was to focus on crushing Marcin. However Anthony made the error of joining forces with Marcin.

That meant Anthony had hostile forces either side of him. So Jeff and I jointly attacked Anthony from both sides, whilst Marcin just turtled. Yep Marcin threw Anthony under the bus in an attempt to build get enough points to win.

We had to cut the game short by one round due to the social club closing early. But it was a critical round.

I had planned to attack Anthony to try and grab a point off him. Like Dune Imperium a one point swing is huge. However he moved all of his forces out of my target space to attack me first. This was better than I had hoped. The base would be undefended. I didn’t bother winning the battle, my forces were sacrificed for the greater good. I couldn’t have him retreating back to the base.

My turns saw my train with troops swoop in and claim the undefended base and grab the point.

I also broke my alliance with Jeff to grab a last point by taking an undefended base with my last action.

Points were tallied and I had won.

Wow the banter, especially at the end. It was hilarious. Marcin was butt hurt, trying to deflect from his betrayal of Anthony. Remember those buses he let hit Anthony without doing anything?

It was a fun afternoon, a fun game, and great company.