Not the worlds greatest detectives

game night

Friday evening was not a club night but still gaming took place.

I like to think we had a themed game night. The theme being deduction games. In particular Awkward Guests and Cryptid.

After seeing a review, albeit an old review from the Dice Tower, for Awkward Guests I purchased a copy.

I knew Jonathan was a Cluedo fan. He has one or two versions in his collection. Awkward Guests was billed by the reviewer (Tom Vassel) as a Cluedo killer.

Jonathan would love this game I thought.

So having ordered it, I messaged Jonathan.

It turned out he owned it already, had played it once, and didn’t have a good experience.

Oh.

That kinda deflated my bubble a little.

But that didn’t put me off organising Fridays gaming session. I just knew that Jonathan most likely wouldn’t come.

So I was a little surprised when Jonathan said he was coming. Also a little relieved because until then I only had one person commit to coming along. Three was the minimum needed for the evenings gaming to go ahead.

The new normal for me is to go straight from work to the game night. I’m there early enough to not only set up the tables but to grab a bite to eat also.

So by the time Anthony and Jonathan turned up everything is set up waiting, and I’m well fed.

We started off our evening of deduction with Awkward Guests.

As I mentioned previously Awkward Guests is meant to be a Cluedo killer.

Now I don’t have any particular strong feelings about Cluedo one way or the other.

During my formative years aka as a child I remember playing Cluedo once or twice. But memory fails me as to if it was a copy we owned or a family members copy we played.

I certainly don’t have fond memories to reflect back on playing the game. At best I know I played it.

However we do know I enjoy deduction games. So the glowing reviews did make me curious to try it.

I actually liked the game. I particularly like the hand management side of it. Having to decide which clues you want to keep from the other players (and then bury in the discard pile), which you are happy for others to know.

The only real criticism I have of the game is the map of the house and suspects on the back cover of the rulebook should be a separate sheet/board. That way players can just check a rule without disturbing a players turn and moving the markers. A single card player aid summarising the turn structure would also have been nice.

We played using the official companion app. Which meant if you guessed wrong you weren’t eliminated from the game. However you were not allowed to make a guess at the end of the next turn.

The companion app is just that. It’s not needed. But it’s handy and offers many more scenarios to solve.

What I’d like to see for this and Cryptid is a cheap expansion that just adds more physical scenarios. In the case of Awkward Guests a pdf or booklet. With Cryptid a deck of cards.

That’s all these games need just for those that don’t want to use the app or can’t for some reason.

Jonathan solved the case. I’m sure Jonathan will read this post at some point and hopefully share his updated views and what initially put him off the game. Until then the tl;dr is he enjoyed the game this time around.

Next up was Cryptid. We actually played three games of this in a row. These were pretty quick games. Maybe twenty odd minutes each.

I wasn’t using the companion app (it’s not really an app more a website). Plus we were playing basic rules not the advanced. Jonathan doesn’t like the advanced rules with the negative clues. So we play the rules he enjoys. For me it’s a fun game either way. Besides Anthony had never played the game before so made sense sticking to the basic rules.

I faired much better at Cryptid by winning two of the three games. And Jonathan winning the third.

This was a fun evening of deduction. It’s nice to get these type of games to the table. It’s almost refreshing to play something that’s a bit more thinky.

Can’t wait until we have a similar themed evening again.

“Hey, not too rough” #3

Doom, fps, nintendo, retro gaming, switch, video games

Welcome back to my dramatic play through of Doom the video game on the Nintendo Switch.

You can find all my previous posts in this project here if you are interested or need to catch up for some reason.

Knee-Deep in the Dead

I don’t think over the numerous times I’ve played Doom I’ve ever played it on anything but “Hurt me plenty”.

There might have been one occasion when I tried “Ultra-Violence” out of curiosity. But I quickly returned to the comfort of “Hurt me plenty”!

For me “Hurt me plenty” offers the perfect mix of difficulty and challenge.

But I’m older now.

Will this difficulty level still be that perfect mix. How will age have affected my reactions?

The other choice is whether to go to the dark side and use any of the available cheats.

Cheats that are made easily accessible from the pause menu.

Thinking back I’m pretty sure back in those early days of playing Doom for the first time I was aware of the cheat codes you had to enter to get one or two of those power ups. Memory fails me as to how I knew about them. It was either from a gaming magazine or a player guide at the time. Not knowing for sure which it was will haunt me. It will eat away until my mind convinces me that I had the player guide. I think it was a player guide, a small pocket one that was once on the cover of one of the magazines at the time. Just not that fancy official one.

I’m not going to succumb to the dark side. I don’t need cheats to be with my old friend.

I press start, and select almost without thinking “Hurt me plenty” and “Knee-deep in the dead”. It’s almost second nature. Muscle memory.

E1M1 Hangar

The screen fades away…

“Hello darkness, my old friend” Sound of Silence, Paul Simon

Within moments an alien corpse, and a barrel lie in front of me. A view that has greeted me countless times.

“And the vision that was planted in my brain Still remains” Sound of Silence, Paul Simon

It seems strange that I can remember this first level along with the next two perfectly. The remaining levels I remember but not in as much detail.

I pick up the stat bonuses lying around the room and it’s connecting chamber. I take the chance to look out the window onto the Martian landscape and the beckoning “courtyard” promising a reward if I can get there.

After opening the first door I need to take out the marines in the next room with the pistol I’m armed with. I pick them off at a distance. Dodging any bullets they manage to fire off in reply before dying.

I need to take a raised path through acid pools that has an imp firing fireballs at me from a ledge at the far end of the room, and a marine charging towards me.

I dodge the fireballs and take out the marine, and then the imp.

It’s now safe to cross the room and take the secret exit outside to collect that promised reward.

Back indoors I open the door and take out the awaiting imps before they can land a fireball on me. I press the button to lower the platform the imp was on in the previous room.

Back tracking to the previous room I can now get the spoils revealed by the lowered platform. I have the shotgun.

Returning to the other room I press the button to open the exit and trigger the end of the level.

Still after all these years I only get a 66% complete on the secrets. There is one secret room I always miss. You’d think after all this time I’d be getting 100% and remember where that remaining secret room is.

E1M2 Nuclear Plant

The door opens and I have a room full of marines to clear.

I shoot the barrels. It’s a cliche decades later. But I still shoot the conveniently placed barrels in the room to help reduce the number of marines I need to shoot.

After I clear the room of threats I find the secret room before taking the stairs.

I like the way you can look out side and see tantalising power ups or cool weapons like the chainsaw sitting seemingly unreachable on top of pillars. Usually guarded by numerous enemies that you will have to fight through to get them. The hard part? Finding the secret door to allow you outside.

On reflection I think this is my favourite level of Doom. I get a lot of satisfaction playing it. Whether it’s the level design itself, or just the way it makes me feel. Maybe it’s the familiarity. I just find the level so comforting and enjoyable.

With the chainsaw in my weapons inventory it’s time to move onto another great bit of level design.

E1M3 Toxin Refinery

After blasting the marines that were waiting for me after I opened the door I head to the left and the only door I can open.

This first part of the level introduces the pinkish coloured demon. But before I get to meet this new hellish adversary I have to fight through a classic bit of game design that sees me grabbing a blue key card, the room going dark, and imps appearing en masse from secret rooms.

Doom isn’t one of those games you can play in silence.

The audio design is just as important as any of the visual clues.

For example on this level as you enter the passage way leading to one area you trigger a secret door opening. But your only clue this is happening is the audio of the door opening and closing in the distance.

Unless you run, you can’t get to the open door in time to get the revealed secret room.

But other audio clues you get are the almost grunting like noise the imps make. Often that’s the first clue you get that somewhere in front (or behind) of you awaits a fire ball.

“Set the demons free and watch ’em fly” KISS, War Machine

I love the level design in Doom. From the moment you start the game in E1M1 Hangar, where you are introduced to some elements of the game such as the use of height, lighting, lifts/platforms that go up and down. Which historically tell you this ain’t no Wolfenstein 3D.

Each level introduces some new hellish enemy, some new mechanic. It’s almost a gentle introduction that culminates in the later more complicated and deadly levels.

During the week it strikes me I played Doom on one platform I’d forgotten about.

I think describing it as played is a bit misleading. I had a play around with the Doom piano.

Me as the Fist of Awesome bear playing the Doom piano.

The Doom piano was this incredible project where a real piano had been converted to play Doom. Pressing the keys on the piano controlled what happened you did in game.

I think it was the Eurogamer expo or something like that down in London circa 2013/14 when I helped promote a video game called Fist of Awesome by being dressed up in a bear outfit.

Throughout the weekend folks could have a photo taken fake punching me the bear. Which was then shared on social media promoting the game.

Oh the game was a retro style side scrolling beat ‘em up in the style of Streets of Rage, where as a lumberjack you fought against the ruling bears!

It was a great weekend. I met some awesome developers. Plus I got to play around on the Doom piano.

For the first time in the game I have a decision to make that effects the path I take through the game. Press the button in front of me or track back and press the other one. If my memory isn’t letting me down I haven’t back tracked to the other button in a long long time.

I know the buttons take me to different levels. But which ones I can’t remember. Like so many times before I press the button in front of me instead of back tracking to the other one.

Onto the next level…

Two Kickstarter no brainers for DM’s

D&D, DM/GM Tips, news, RPG

Just thought I’d share a couple of no brainer kickstarters a DM should be backing at the moment.

The first is by Kelsey at The Arcane Library who has created her own rpg called Shadowdark RPG: Old-School Gaming, Modernized.

The tag line goes “Classic adventure gaming for 5E and old-school players alike! One book, all you need to play.”

I’ve wanted to try the old school stuff with some of the classic D&D adventures I have. I think this is the system I’m going to go with.

It looks rather cool. Plus you can try before you back as well with the FREE Digital Shadowdark RPG Quickstart Set that is available on DriveThruRPG.

You can back it here on kickstarter.

The other no brainer is the latest in the Lazy DM series of books, Forge of Foes.

This is not a bestiary. This is a 128 pages by Mike Shea and friends that is all about creating your own monsters and running them.

Just like the Lazy DM Companion Kickstarter there is a 30 page (can’t remember the exact page count) sampler that is useful and allows you to create your own monsters right away.

You can back Forge of Foes here.

Both of these kickstarters are at a point where they are virtually ready to send to printers. So I’m expecting to get digital copies of these goodies not long after the campaigns complete.

D&D Grp 2 Session 13 Planning #1

D&D, D&D Grp2, RPG, session planning

SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign/session. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one. REMEMBER you have been warned.

So the Bagman has been seeded in the campaign. Which means I will need stats at some future session.

In Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft (where they introduce the Bagman) they use the stats for a troll (from the Monster Manual) as it’s base.

Taken from the srd 5.1 2023 covered under the Creative Commons

Then they do the following to make the Bagman unique, and feel like the Bagman.

“With tactics and traits in mind, you think of your troll as an abductor and give it the Grappler trait of a mimic and the Amorphous trait of a black pudding so it can sneak in anywhere. Finally, you don’t think of the troll as a minion, but you give it the Alien Mind trait to reflect its tormented psyche.” Page 225,Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft

Here are the relevant bits from the srd and Van Richten’s for those traits.

“Grappler. The Bagman has advantage on attack rolls against any creature grappled by it.”

With this trait I do need to remember this rule from the Monster Manual for any player the bagman is trying to abduct and is trying to escape.

“GRAPPLE RULES FOR MONSTERS
…
A creature grappled by the monster can use its action to try to escape. To do so, it must succeed on a Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check against the escape DC in the monster’s stat block. If no escape DC is given, assume the DC is 10 +the monster’s Strength (Athletics) modifier.” Page 11, Monster Manual

“Amorphous. The Bagman can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing.” Taken from the srd 5.1 2023 covered under the Creative Commons

“Alien Mind. If a creature tries to read the minion’s thoughts, that creature must succeed on a Intelligence saving throw with a DC equal to 10 + the minion’s Intelligence modifier or be stunned for l minute. The stunned creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.” Page 225,Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft

However in the Dragon+ issue 37 article about the creation of the bagman they drop the following that the “bagman should be an entity with high Stealth”.

So in addition to the additional traits that the WotC designers gave the Bagman I’m tempted to also give the Bagman this additional trait.

“Sneaky (Trait). This creature has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks.” Page 12, The Lazy DM’s Forge of Foes sampler.

Plus an additional skill of Stealth +7

Which I think gives the Bagman that high stealth ability they thought he should have. So that the Bagman can recreate the idea of “nothing’s more disturbing in a horror movie than when something horrible is in the background and the main characters don’t see it.” Dragon+ 37

Going by the “MONSTER STATISTICS BY CHALLENGE RATING” table on page 274 of the Monster Manual the proficiency bonus for the Bagman is +3.

But does the Bagman need to be an “elite” monster? An “elite” monster as described by Mike Shea in his uncovered secrets volume 2 (a pdf for patreons of stuff that didn’t make it into the Lazy DM Companion) “elite monsters are equivalent of two characters of their level”.

“Elite monsters have the following additional traits:

  • They have double the listed hit points.
  • They inflict double the listed damage.
  • They have one use of legendary resistance per day, letting them turn a failed saving throw into a success.

For that last one Mike describes Legendary Resistance as:

“Legendary Resistance (3/Day). If the monster fails a saving throw, it can choose to succeed instead.”

Let’s face it the Bagman will not be taking on the party with the aid of minions or any other creatures. So when they do finally face off against the Bagman he needs to be tough enough to last longer than a single round.

I think making the Bagman “elite” does that.

So that’s my initial thoughts for a hopefully easy to run Bagman. Now to just fit that all onto an Arcane Library blank monster card!

Cake, Mars, and Crows

Fenland Gamers, game night, life, the universe, and everything, still alive

I know my usual posting schedule has once again gone out the window.

Despite having had a half term to recharge the batteries. This past week I’ve been particularly tired in the evenings. Often falling asleep whilst watching something.

I’m not sure folks appreciate how draining the day can be. Especially when you are still adjusting.

However yesterday was the end of the week and once again the fortnightly Fenland Gamers Friday game night.

Which means I go straight from work to where we meet up and play some games. Well that’s the new routine for club night considering the time I finish on a Friday, and it’s on the way home.

Plus it means I get there early, and have time to get something to eat before the majority arrive. I also get to set up the tables ready for some gaming.

Last night I got to play a four player game of Portal.

I’d been wanting to play the game with more than two players.

Our game was shorter than I expected and not as cut throat. But I put that down to one of our players not being a “gamer” and not really paying attention to what was going on. More importantly putting all their eggs into one basket so to speak by having both of their test subjects in the same test chamber. Which opened them up to Ben placing a turret in that chamber and ending the game. At that point in time Ben had the most slices of cake out on the laboratory. Giving him the win.

The second game of the evening saw Ben grab his second win of the evening when he won Alien Frontiers.

The latest edition to the collection, Murder of Crows was my final game of the evening.

The game had only arrived the day before. So naturally I hadn’t had time to read the brief rulebook.

So as I shuffled the cards Ben quickly read the rulebook, and was first player. After all first player was meant to be the most shady looking person!

Murder of Crows is a nice light take that card game, that plays in less than thirty minutes.

It definitely has a spot in the roster of filler games in my collection.

Harrison won the game.

It was a good evening of gaming.

“Hey, not too rough” #2

Doom, fps, nintendo, switch, video games

In the previous post I kinda introduced this series of posts and covered the hardware that I first experienced Doom on.

So let’s look at how I’m playing Doom this time around.

The hardware I’m playing on this time around is so different.

I’m playing Doom on a Nintendo Switch Lite.

It’s not the first time I’ve played Doom on a portable game console or device. Over the years I’ve played it on platforms such as the GameBoy Advance, and Windows PDA’s (do you remember them?).

Depending on where I’m playing Doom I’ll either be using the built in speakers of the Switch Lite itself or my VANKYO C750 Bluetooth active noise cancelling headphones. Which are over ear, Hi-Fi Stereo, and apparently deep bass.

The whole setup is light years ahead of the old Amstrad 16Mhz 386sx laptop I first played the game on. This old laptop was 7kg in weight! My backpack with 2 days food for the TGO Challenge was around 10 kilos.

Sitting on the memory card for my Switch are the digital copies of Doom, Doom 2, Doom 3, and Doom 64. Priced at £3.99 each, they are incredible bargains.

Obviously I’ve played Doom on numerous occasions and platforms over the years. Doom 2 has also been played before on at least two platforms, but not nearly as many times as Doom. Doom 3 I have played. But it was only the 360 version if my memory doesn’t fail me. Plus I got nowhere near to completely it. As for Doom 64, I’ve never played that. I’m looking forward to doing so.

Back in the day when I first played Doom I was single. No love interest in sight. I had my first home, a two bedroom flat in the middle of Guildford.

I was working in Byfleet. The software department I was in had an average age less than twenty five. We were a young immature team.

But when Doom came out we were addicted and drove each other on to get further into the game, and complete it.

In the intervening years so much life has happened.

Most definitely one or two of the plays of Doom during those years would have been whilst married, as a step parent, and on the daily commute to Surbiton.

I think the last time I played Doom to completion was probably on the Xbox360 when I was living up in County Durham, in a small town called Crook.

I had not long moved up there.

My failed marriage still very raw.

I was most definitely in a very different place in my life emotionally than any previous times that I had played Doom.

Doom is a familiar distraction. It doesn’t solve or heal what’s going on in my life at the time. But like the other activity I enjoy, hiking. It gives a brief respite. It helps me get through what’s going on.

Today once more I’m single. I’m renting instead of owning. I’ve just returned to teaching after a break of three or more years. Emotionally I’m still in a raw place but for different reasons.

So this time around of playing Doom nearly thirty years later from that magical first time some of the surrounding factors/influences are similar. But there is no way of recapturing or replicating that first time. I’m not trying to.

How do I replicate that competitive spirit for instance? I don’t think any of my colleagues at work or my friends are into video games. Maybe Nathan? But I’m not sure he’d be that interested in this project.

I’m very much a different person to the one that first played Doom in the early nineties. All those experiences will effect my play through and how I view things now.

Obviously I’m really into boardgames now too. And as previously mentioned I now have a copy of the 2004 edition of the FFG Doom board game. So during this play through of the video game I’m going to be hopefully getting that to the table and not only discussing how it stands as a board game. But also on how well it captures the video game.

As I work my way through the game I’m listening to the Audible version of Masters of Doom by David Kushner, and read by Wil Wheaton (yes that Wil Wheaton), on my daily commute into work. I do own the printed version, and I originally read the physical version.

At various points I’ll be diving into DOOM:SCARYDARKFAST also.

I know there are Doom novels, and I’m pretty sure I owned and read the first one. However I’m not going to be reading these as part of my overall Doom experience. But I am going to be watching the two Doom movies.

To be honest I’m not sure how this project will develop, what directions it will take. I’m not sure I’m even capable of doing this whole thing. But I’ll give it a shot and see how it goes.

D&D Grp 2 Session 12 Planning #1

D&D, D&D Grp2, RPG, session planning

SPOILER ALERT TO MY ADVENTURERS! The following post contains spoilers for the up and coming campaign/session. You may want to avoid this post and join me in a future one. REMEMBER you have been warned.

In a weeks time we should be holding our twelfth session of this campaign set in Sly Flourish’s City of Arches.

We should be back on track now for having the session fortnightly with the change of job.

After the last session turned into a side quest for those that could make it. It did give me the opportunity to give a bag of holding to the party. Which means I can start seeding in a session or two the bagman.

But at the moment I think the session will be an improv session.

At the moment the party are having a long rest, no idea what they want to do next.

I need to get some adventure seeds planted with them, and progress the main one about the cult, maybe even have the rival to Adel popping up.

In between lesson prep, and the #dungeon23 stuff I need to get my head round the direction of some of these potential threads.

I don’t know about you, but these session planning posts are very useful for me to go back and review what I was thinking.

I’m sure there will be at least another prep post this week. Catch you there.

The cakes a lie #4

nintendo, switch

IMPORTANT FACT! This post was started some months ago and has been sitting in my draft folder ever since waiting to be finished. That is until now…

A fourth post about such a short game!

It has shocked me that I’m writing so much about it.

These posts are certainly interesting for me to write. They are getting me to think more about what I’m playing. Especially in a more critical sense, and applying my limited knowledge of game design.

I hope you are enjoying this deviation from the regular boardgame content.

In the previous post I inelegantly looked at the length of the game. A major critism about it. In this post I’m just as clumsily going to look at the story and audio side of Portal.

Portal has you playing Chell. You wake up from your relaxation chamber at the Aperture Labs, ready to participate in a series of tests. We even get a little warning that there may be a risk of injury. Followed by a bit of equipment breaking. A foreshadowing that all may not be right. We seem to alone. No one else present, except for the metallic voice of GLaDOS.

We have no other option but to go forward taking part in the tests…

As we progress through the tests the facade starts to crumble. The tests start to get more deadly, we stumble across graffiti containing warnings, GLaDOS finds it harder to appear helpful, and comes across more insincere, less interested in your safety.

One stand out moment that shows GLaDOS has a dark side is when you are forced to euthanise a companion cube to complete a test.

I don’t think there can be any debate that the story in Portal follows the Three act structure. The debate if any is over where one act finishes and the next begins.

For me the second act starts around test chamber 9. Until now we are still being introduced to new game mechanics. From now on we start to get less subtle hints that things ain’t right.

The third act, the resolution of the story, is obviously our confrontation with GLaDOS and our escape, which starts at test chamber 19. Which sees GLaDOS try to incinerate us before we escape into the maintenance areas, and ultimately take on GLaDOS.

In the previous posts I’ve harped on about the use of the environment to help tell the story. It’s a standard part of the first person developers toolkit.

Between using the environment and bits of audio via GLaDOS we start to build up a picture all is not as it seems.

Through the use of Easter eggs in the environment Portal is linked to the world setup in the Half-Life series of games.

The majority of the time when I’m mobile gaming (which is basically what I call playing on my handheld consoles) I have the sound turned off. Mainly because in the past that gaming was on public transport such as my daily commute to work, or lunch breaks. Yes I could have used headphones but I was usually also listening to a podcast on my iPod (remember them?)

That habit of playing with no sound has continued now onto the Switch. Or it’s evolved as I have the sound on low sometimes as to not distract from the show on in the background.

However I do use headphones with the Switch when I particularly want to get fully immersed in the game. For this I use VANKYO C750 Bluetooth active noise cancelling headphones. Which are over ear, Hi-Fi Stereo, and apparently deep bass.

It’s this evolved usage and use of headphones is how I’ve experienced the sound whilst playing Portal.

Throughout the game radios play an instrumental version, even faster tempo version of Still Alive.

Otherwise the sound we get are the sound effects of the test lab, and whatever equipment/devices are in the room, and the voice of GLaDOS.

For me apart from the Jonathan Coulton Still Alive none of the other music in the game seems memorable or stands out. In fact when it came to remembering the other tunes I couldn’t. Maybe that says more about me than the music, and what I’m focused on as I play the game.

I think this is the last post I’ll write looking at the video game. It’s been a blast revisiting an old favourite. The final post in this series will be about the board game. Then once the Doom project is complete I’ll look at coming back to Portal 2.

See you in the next one.

A roll & write trilogy

game night

Last night whilst some club members were playing Railways of the World or team choo choo as I named them. Ben, Charlene and Harrison joined me to play a roll and write trilogy of games by the designers Ben Pinchbeck and Matt Riddle.

We started off our evening of rolling dice and crossing off boxes with Ben and Matt’s first game in this series Fleet the dice game.

I had not played Fleet or Fleet the dice game before. So playing this was a first for me. But one I was keen to play as I enjoyed the other two games in the series.

Fleet the dice game is all about running a fishing fleet. Well that’s the theme.

But let’s face it with a roll and write you aren’t playing for the theme. It’s so hard to do theme in this genre of game.

This game of Fleet the dice game was just the core game, no thrills.

Having played the other two games in the series there are common elements that run throughout them all. So picking up the game was a cinch. You just need to know how it varies from the others.

In this case it’s the flow of the round, the two sets of dice that get rolled at different points in that flow. Plus what is generating you points and when.

There were some pleasing combos in this game. But I didn’t feel the game was as combotastic as Three Sisters.

Ben bought the most fish home for the win!

Next up was the follow up to Fleet the dice game, Three Sisters.

Our play of Three Sisters was an all in game. That’s not just the weather expansion. But also the new rock garden pad that was an extra on the Motor City Kickstarter.

This was a first for Ben, Charlene, and Harrison playing with these expansions. They’d played Three Sisters before. And a first for me with the new pad.

I like the new pad.

Completing a row or column in the rock garden gives you a bonus. You complete a row by marking off a number that matches the die you chose off the rondel.

This gives you an additional factor to consider when choosing that die. Now it’s not only which rondel action you want and the garden you are planting or going to water, but also what you need to mark off on the rock garden to get that bonus.

And you do have to consider things as you won’t fill the rock garden. At best you will fill eleven spaces, but more likely up to eight.

Somehow I managed to win our game of Three Sisters.

Our third and final game of the evening, and the latest to join the series (having only just been sent out to backers) Motor City.

Like Three Sisters this was an all in game.

So we had the unique certificate tiles, plus the Bob’s expansion.

What I like about the expansions in both Three Sisters and Motor City is that they can be added with very little additional over head to the actual game.

Obviously the unique certificates adds no overhead at all, but gives each player a unique sheet. I don’t think I’ll play without these.

The Bob’s expansion uses the auditor die to select a couple of bonuses that can be claimed during a round.

I do like how in both this game and Three Sisters a die is used by the expansion. There is no overhead in using it except remembering to do it.

Harrison won our game of Motor City.

I know for Charlene and I think Ben their favourite of the three is Fleet the dice game. But with the caveat that they need to play Motor City a few more times.

But for me Three Sisters is still my favourite. With Motor City not far behind. Fleet the dice game needs more plays, and to be back in print so I can add it to the collection.

This really was a great evening playing the trilogy. Something I hope we are able to repeat in the near future.

A Pleasant Afternoon of Half Term Gaming

Game day

Tuesday saw a gaming session that would most likely not have happened if I hadn’t changed jobs.

In all likely hood I would have had a shift.

It sounds and looks like I’m hating on my old job. But I’m not.

I loved being a shift leader, and really loved the folks I worked with. And I miss them a lot.

It’s just that days off during the week shifted around, and usually when others were not free. It played havoc with getting together for D&D.

But this post is about the games we played Tuesday.

As this was a weekday daytime gaming session we needed to host the session somewhere other than our usual place (it’s closed during the day). Charlene very kindly opened up her home and played host.

We started off with a game of Trekking Through History.

There was only one way to describe how well I did in this game. Pathetic.

Lucky I enjoy playing the game. Despite doing really badly score wise I did take some really cool treks through time.

I do love that element of the game, and the stories you can tell with the cards. One moment you are painting in caves, the next helping write a play with Shakespeare.

But those history books will show Marcin won the game.

Our next game was one of the current hot games of the moment, Flamecraft.

Charlene’s daughter joined us for this game because she really liked the game.

I know Charlene said her husband was very competitive when playing games. But experienced gamers are a different type of competitive.

This would be a learning experience for the daughter.

I really liked Flamecraft.

The copy we were playing was a pimped out retail version. Which meant it looked pretty cool on the table. From the lovely plastic dragon figures to the wooden resources. I did like the gold coins. They had a nice weight to them.

But to pimp out the game like this takes it from an affordable, value for money game, to a too expensive for what it is game.

It’s definitely a gateway game.

Which if it looked like this at the retail price would be a must buy, and sell even more copies especially to non-gamers. But I can’t help feel that a non-gamer playing this pimped out version (or Kickstarter version) would feel cheated when they opened their retail copy.

Having said that I think this game easily stands up there with classic gateway games such as Catan or Ticket to Ride.

I like how completing an objective makes the shop you are currently in more rewarding the next time you or another player visit it.

I would like to see a bit more variation in the dragon powers.

Overall it’s a nice game that Jeff won.

How did Charlene’s daughter get on against three ruthless gamers? She held her own. But learnt that when given a resource we ain’t being generous. Especially when she can’t keep the extra resource because she already has the maximum allowed. So we get the bonus/reward and she gets nothing. I’m hoping in future games she uses that tactic herself.

We finished off the afternoon with a game of Dune Imperium with both expansions Rise of Ix, and Immortality.

I really do enjoy playing this game. Even more so despite it being a space hog on the table with the two expansions.

Since getting the Rise of Ix expansion this game saw the most tech tiles bought in a game. I think this was more to do with the tiles that came out.

None of us used our house token to reset the trade row this game. But this is something I’d house rule if I was just playing the base game. It fixes a complaint some have about the game.

I did trigger the end of the game with one round to spare.

My emphatic victory with 13 points was not only the highest score for all the games I’ve played to date.

It was made even more sweeter because I took an alliance token from Jeff. That point swing is massive in Dune Imperium where victory points are hard to get, and scores so tight.

Plus earlier when I got to take a random intrigue off of Jeff the one I got scuppered Jeff’s end of game scoring plans and gave me one to aim for. Which I was able to pull off with a slight change to my plans.

I had a great afternoon gaming with friends. And a really big thank you to Charlene for opening up her home to us, and for providing pizza.