My Top 9 iOS Boardgame Apps

apps, iOS

The end of last week saw some of The Dice Tower crew (Tom Vasel, Zee Garcia, and Mike DiLisio) do their Top 10 Boardgame apps.

You can watch the video below and get all the chit chat that goes with the list.

Or you can just look at the following screen grabs if you think life is too short.

The Dice Tower Top 10 Boardgame Apps

There was also a Top 10 viewer list at the end of the video as well. I won’t put that here and leave you to discover that at your own leisure if you are so inclined.

I did watch the video, and like so many who have done the same, thought “what about…?”

So here are my Top 9 iOS boardgame apps. It would have been 10 but that doesn’t fit conveniently into a 3×3 grid.

My Top 9 iOS Boardgame Apps

Here are three iOS boardgame apps that very nearly made the list.

My Top 3 Runners Up

The nice thing about this sort of video by the Dice Tower is it gets you thinking about the apps you already have, let’s you know about app versions you never knew were out. For instance I never knew Cartographers or Railroad Ink had app versions. You can bet they are now on my iPad waiting to be played. Particularly Railroad Ink is a cheap way to try the game before “investing” in the physical version.

What app versions of boardgames make your top ten/nine?

It’s bloody cold outside

Fenland Gamers, game night, The Thing

After the failed attempt to play The Thing the boardgame with Nathan during my recent visit. I was wondering when or even if I’d get it to the table.

But after creating an event on the Fenland Gamers discord server, and limiting the player count (because it would be a learning game) I had a date and time set to get it to the table.

Last night saw that plan to get The Thing the boardgame to the table come to fruition.

Luckily our player count for the game (four) was enough to learn the main game rules. For player counts less than four The Thing becomes a co-op boardgame.

Like Scythe and any other game I’ve organised a session for I’m there early to get things set up. We were using the neoprene playmat for the game, plus the plastic character and alien minis. No cardboard standees in this game.

Setup seems fiddly. But it’s not really. It’s just parts of it are dependent on knowing the player count. I initially setup for a four player count. Although it was potentially possible that we’d have six! It stayed at four.

Once everyone had arrived and selected the character they wanted we started playing.

Characters played

I was the starting leader.

After drawing an infection token to see what our secret role was. We got down to the task of surviving long enough to escape the alien. Or in my case remain undetected long enough to infect the others. Oh yes I was the alien.

There was a definite Battlestar Galactica/Dead of Winter vibe to The Thing! Which isn’t a surprise considering they are all hidden traitor games. The Thing is closer to BSG than DoW. DoW has a story element that the other two don’t.

Once you have had a couple of rounds the turn sequence becomes familiar. They aren’t actually overly complicated turns. We actually skipped the third turn the whole game because no alien was revealed until the very end.

Although we did have fun. I think the game like the other two needs the higher player counts.

In our game no testing of players took place because we didn’t get to the laboratory more than once, nor did we have both parts required to perform a flame test.

We spent our time trying to keep the boiler and generator repaired, finding keys and getting the odd weapon. Initially I did try repairing the radio, and take food from the pantry. But between the four of us we really didn’t have enough actions to do everything except try and keep on top of things and maybe escape via one of the bases broken vehicles.

With the higher player count more actions could be done around the base.

In the end it turned out everyone had been infected as an alien. Which under the rules meant the last human infected lost the game, and the aliens win! Although the aliens won twice as they were on the escape vehicle too! Which is when we discovered everyone was infected. Then it became a question of who was the last person to be infected.

We did enjoy The Thing enough that we want to play it again. Especially with a higher player count. A Saturday session for sure.

A saga and a half

Rivals, Vampire the Masquerade Rivals, vampire the masquerade: rivals

It’s been one of those weeks.

It started last Sunday when not one of a dozen eggs I was given survived the journey home.

That set the tone for the week.

I’ve changed shift patterns at work and also one of my days off to cover people being off on holiday or training. Which has meant I’ve had to move a planned game of Tapestry twice as my stint on the new shift got extended after changing the initial date.

Then I nearly lost a work pda. Which if I had done would have been embarrassing and also just the icing on the cake.

But last night after work Diego made my week.

I’ve not moaned about it on here. But getting my pre-order copy of the latest Vampire the Masquerade Rivals expansion Shadows and Shrouds with the promo alt art cards has been an epic tale that is still on going.

Way back when Renegade opened the pre-orders for it I ordered two copies. One for me and the other for Diego.

The idea is that we get these cool promo alt art cards of a couple of the new vampires, plus the expansion itself a week it so before it hits the shops.

It didn’t happen that way for this expansion.

Retailers had their copies and were selling them two weeks before the Renegade UK Warehouse were rush sending out the UK pre-orders. The rush was on so that apparently UK players would have their copies before the first ever Prince of the City event in the UK.

Some didn’t. I was one of them.

But let me say this before continuing that this expansion should never have been legal for the UK Prince of the City event. It put those that had pre-ordered their copy from Renegade at a disadvantage to those that got theirs from a retailer.

After two weeks my pre-order still hadn’t shown up, and Renegade marketing head honcho Matt Holland got involved and started chasing things up on my behalf.

The UK Warehouse then “resent” my order. Although I suspect it was never sent in the first place. I’d had no shipping notice. And they never provided a shipping number to trace it.

However what arrived was only half of the pre-order. A single copy of the expansion and promo cards.

Really?

Naturally this had to go to Diego. It was the right thing to do.

Matt chased it up. They were meant to have sent the missing expansion. But the tracking number they gave was for the one that had already arrived!

This was followed by a wall of silence from the UK Warehouse. Who I honestly don’t know how they are still employed. Their incompetence, not answering emails, etc would see them going through disciplinary processes and seeking new employment in most other places.

The whole saga is about to go into its eighth week. Allegedly the UK Warehouse has sent/will be sending the missing half of the pre-order any day now. Nada on the shipping notice front.

I suspect the UK Warehouse is once again blowing smoke up Matt’s bum (to use a colourful expression).

However Diego surprised me yesterday by giving me a copy of the new expansion.

I was gobsmacked by his generosity and kindness. My eyes nearly leaked.

It really did make my day, and end a week where if it could go wrong it would, on a high.

What will I do with my pre-order copy when it eventually comes?

Obviously I don’t need two copies. So I’ll use it as extra prize support for our organised play.

In the meantime I have a deck to build!

D&D Grp 2 Session 5 Planning #2

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

Our sponsor for this post insists that I issue the following warning.

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.

After having to cancel the last session due to unforeseen circumstances. This weekends up and coming planned meet up is on.

I still have the bit of prep to do for it that I discussed in that first planning post. The plan is to do that Friday on my next day off.

In the meantime there is a remote chance that the Lazy DM Companion and spiral bound Lazy DM Workbook might arrive by then. At the tail end of last week delivery addresses were locked. So the sending out of pledges should be any day now.

I was going to say I got nada at UKGE rpg related. But I did in fact get something. The Little Book of Battle Maps was being given away free by the publisher to attendees of the expo. Probably to the annoyance of one particular stand that was trying to sell it for £9.

I’m a fan of the Battle Map books. I have two already. The big dungeon themed one lives in my DM bag. My last two sessions have used it as a generic battle map.

I’ll write another update Friday once I’ve finished the prep.

UKGE 2022

UKGE

Yesterday was the first day of the UK Games Expo 2022, and the only day I would be attending out of its three day duration.

Previously pre-pandemic I had attended all three days. But this year I wasn’t able to justify to myself the time and cost of attending all three days. Especially since I had long missed the small window of cheap hotel prices.

The day started real early, nearly up for work early. I was on the road to Birmingham by 5am. Coffee and pain au chocolate providing me with that start of the day kick and nourishment the body needs.

On the road omg it’s early time

I arrived at the NEC parking at 7am. There were some vehicles already there. But the advantage for me was I could park very close to the car park entrance and the exhibition halls themselves.

As I got near to the entrance for halls 1 and 2, next to the lake, was the medieval reenactment camp. Which was nicely framed with the rear end of a helo and aerial trapezium (from the smaller Bear ‘glorified stunt man’ Ghylls Adventure Show).

The aerial trapezium reminded me of my early years in Aldershot, and the one that the paras had to use.

Surprisingly there were already 10 people queuing up waiting for the ticket office to open up.

7:20am and I had been beaten to the front of the ticket queue.

I hadn’t realised the show was opening up earlier this year. The doors were opening to the public at 9am.

So after getting my ticket at about 8am, it was time to start another queue at the top of the stairs! But only after a very quick exchange of cash for a copy of Ghostbusters 2 the boardgame that had been arranged.

It was here that Jonathan finally caught up with me.

After a couple of photos and banter it was time to go in.

There was a great freebie as we entered the show of copies of The Little Book of Battle Maps being given away. I grabbed a couple of copies.

My show purchases on my very limited budget were the following:

  • 5 tile bags
  • A copy of Regicide
  • Sushi Go Party
  • Ghostbusters 2 (a pickup at the show)

The highlights of the day were the encounters I had during the day.

Within minutes of the doors opening I met Brian a friend from the Chatteris Warlords gaming group. Later on I bumped into Dean also from the same gaming group, and MtG opponent.

Then there was the lunchtime Fenland Gamers club photo of those attending the show.

I even met some-one new! I had a great lunchtime chat with iplayred (on Instagram) and her partner.

Otherwise I felt the show was a little flat. Not yet back to its glory of the pre-pandemic days. I know the SUSD folks were at the show, as were the OnTableTop crew (they even had a live streaming booth! Very E3 video game channel like). But there was no Dice Tower crew over, no big boardgame Youtubers. Airecon got the Watch It Played lot over. But UKGE couldn’t get their big names over? Or were OnTableTop and their setup meant to be it?

The Wise Wizard Games demo area had no one from the company there as far as I could see. I think it was just a third party doing it for them.

It almost felt like the American presence was reduced.

I had an enjoyable day. But glad it was just a day I was there for.

Visiting Nathan

father son gaming, Game day, game night

At the start of the week I got a chance to spend a couple of days with my son Nathan.

Naturally we got some gaming in while I was visiting.

Our first game was an introduction to roll/flip and writes for Nathan with Cartographers.

I set up the game using the play mat for it, the two skills mini expansions, and the ambush mini expansion.

The benefit of the mini expansions is more variety when playing, particularly with the ambush cards.

The skills mini expansions was the first time playing with them. They add an extra thing you can do each season, such as draw a 1×1 square and fill it with a particular terrain type. The skills have a cost, and you can only use one of them per season. I like what this brings to the game. It’s an extra decision to make during a season, it’s not a big overhead at all.

Cartographers

Our second game was Libertalia Winds of Galecrest.

I know Nath really liked the game as he asked to play it again straight away after finishing our first game. The second game we used the stormy tiles.

Libertalia Winds of Galecrest

Another roll and write hit the table next, Dungeons, Dice & Danger.

This was new to both of us. We used the novice Annoyed Animals map.

Dungeons, Dice & Danger and The Cousin’s War 2nd Edition

I really liked this. I think Nath did as well, and might be keen to try one of the other maps.

Our final game of the day was The Cousin’s War (Second Edition). This was the first time playing the game since I bought it three (?) years ago at the UK Games Expo.

We experienced both types of plays you can have with this game. Our first game was over in 5 minutes (maximum) after one round. With the second game going to 30 mins and all 5 rounds.

Who Won What

Our last game of my visit was to introduce Nathan to one of the more complicated roll and writes out there, the combotastic (can you guess what it is yet?)… Three Sisters. Just for the lols I added in the mini weather expansion as well.

Nathan agreed this had a lot more going on than the other roll/flip and writes we had played.

I really do like when an expansions adds very little complication to a game mechanic wise. I like how it makes use of the last die left on the rondel to select an additional minor rule for the next round.

Three Sisters Result

Movies watched with Nathan:

  • Dune (2021)
  • Jurassic World
  • Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

I still had to slum it on the coffee front. But at least I got to cook for Nath. I tried to impart recipes to him. But he had no interest. However he did like my chicken noodle soup, and my sweet and sour chicken.

I can’t wait to visit again. Soon hopefully.

May 2022 Gaming Stats

by the numbers, gaming stats, stats

A new month and time for that brain dump of useless info about my gaming for the previous month.

As per usual for these posts I’ll just post the info with no waffle.

Here we go…

My Top 9 Played Games for May 2022 as a 3×3

Now the “raw” data.

List of games played

Finally an update on the progress made on my gaming challenges.

My Challenges Progress

Flashback to May 2016

Blast from the past, flashback, gaming stats, stats

Another month nearly gone, which means I’ll be sharing the monthly gaming stats with you in an imminent post. But before then it’s time to jump in that ol’ Delorean and revisit May 2016.

My Top 9 Played Games in May 2016

Yep we were still working our way through the Pandemic Legacy Season 1 campaign. Still enjoying its twists and turns.

The stand out game of this month looks like a game only a select few have played and that’s Ladybug Lunch. An enjoyable little card game. For the record the game was designed by Jonathan so contractually I have to say that. If I remember correctly his daughter has a card named after her in it. Which is scant consultation for knowing I am and will be forever the reigning Fenland Gamers Bohemian Villages champion.

And that’s a nice segway into saying we played Bohemian Villages this month. For some reason this game never got the love it deserved. It definitely flew under the radar. Which is a shame. It’s a great little game.

Nations the dice game I enjoyed (it’s still in the collection) and was part of a small trend at the time of producing dice versions of a particular game.

Traders of Osaka was a purchase after seeing Wil Wheaton and pals play it on a Tabletop episode if memory doesn’t fail me. Once again a nice game that should get to the table more often.

Ok time for some stats…

Stat Insights for May 2016

And now for those that like lists here is one.

That’s about it for this post see you around the same time next month for another flashback.

UKGE 2022 Plans

UKGE

Next Friday (Queen’s Platinum Jubilee bank holiday), Saturday and Sunday sees the UK Games Expo return to the NEC.

I’m expecting the Friday (the day I plan to be going) to be just as busy as a Saturday usually is, because it’s a bank holiday.

The plan is to pick up the second hand copy of Ghostbusters 2 the board game that I’m buying off another member of the Board Game Trading and Chat UK Facebook group. This was arranged a few weeks ago.

Lunchtime those of us from Fenland Gamers that are at UKGE are meeting up to have a group photo taken. Which I’m sure will be accompanied with banter and talk about our expo experience so far.

There will not be lots of new games bought at the expo. I just don’t have the budget. Having to get four new tyres on the car have stopped anything like that happening. The budget is very very tight. So unless there is an amazing bargain in my very restricted budget range, there will not be one of those “here is my expo game haul” photos.

Who knows maybe I’ll see the attraction of the open gaming at the expo this year!

Paranoia One Shot Prep #3

Paranoia, RPG, session planning

Short post, and no warning!

I had to cancel the session for this evening. Plus also the D&D session tomorrow.

Life as we all know has a way of throwing a spanner in the works.

Which it did Wednesday when I got home from work.

I had just walked through my front door, when mum called out from the conservatory (her side).

She had just fallen over hitting the wall on her way down.

After lifting mum back onto her feet, and checking her over. I told her off for not using her walking frame.

Her actual injuries were some bruising above an eye, couple minor cuts above her lip, and a badly bruised finger.

There appeared to be no concussion or broken bones. So it was making sure mum rested and took things easy. Whilst keeping a close eye on her.

Luckily I had Thursday off.

But to give mum time to recover I thought it best to give her a break from looking after two very demanding little fur balls this weekend.

The bruising is starting to go down. Especially on the finger.

So there we have it. No role playing this weekend. I do have to set a new date for the Paranoia session. The D&D will roll over to our next scheduled session.