One game genre/mechanic I love playing is hidden movement games. But to be fair I don’t play them that often. I actually own only three games that feature hidden movement as the main/feature mechanic.
Out of those three I’ve played two of them. The third sits on my pile of shame.
I’ve played Letters from Whitechapel a couple of times. Plus the two player Mr Jack. Both owned by Jonathan and you might notice they share a common theme.
I’ve played on both sides of the screen. Do I have a preference? No I just love the experience both sides give. Whether it’s the planning, information sharing, deduction of those hunting. Or the adrenaline rush of slipping through the net as the one hiding.
After watching a YouTube video a couple weeks back for Mind Mgmt I was reminded how much fun these style of games are.
Before I knew it I was searching for a deluxe copy of the game, and buying it.
As I was doing that I remembered I had never bought the stand alone expansion/sequel to Spectre Ops that came out.
So while I was in a searching mood I also tracked down a copy of Spectre Ops Broken Covenant. Sadly the copy I found was going to have to come from the US of A.
I’m not sure how I stumbled upon Sniper Elite the board game but that to looked interesting. The Second World War theming was appealing. So I’ve kinda gone all in on this. The core game and expansion were bought together off eBay. The deluxe upgrade kit preordered from the publisher. And the new expansions plus a storage box “preordered” on Gamefound.
So in a matter of two weeks I’ve doubled (once they all arrive) the number of hidden movement games I own.
The full list will be as follows: Fury Of Dracula; Mind MGMT: The Psychic Espionage “Game.”; (new) Nuns on the Run; Sniper Elite: The Board Game; (new) Specter Ops; Specter Ops: Broken Covenant. (new)
I’m liking these semi-regular round ups of the games I’ve played. I may do a longer post on a particular game from time to time but that’s going to depend on how lazy I feel and whether I think the game warrants it, and I have lots to say about it.
This round up seems to be all new to me games or in the case of SWU decks.
Let’s get on with it.
Star Wars Unlimited: with the new set Legends of the Force being released came two new spotlight decks. The leaders for these two new decks are Darth Maul and Qui-Gon Jinn. Like previous spotlight decks they are meant to showcase new mechanics in the latest set. I really liked the first spotlight decks of Han Solo and Boba Fett. They seemed evenly matched. Something I felt these two decks were not. I was playing the Qui-Gon Jinn deck, while Dave was playing Maul. I got my butt kicked by the Maul deck. We played five games. It wasn’t even close. I wanted to play multiple games to rule out poor card draw, bad decisions etc. I’d love to see the play test data for these two decks, and how they even thought these were evenly matched.
Vantage: the latest Stonemaier Games release. A game eight years in the making by Jamey Stegmaier. You can certainly see the influences on this game from rogue likes, to choose your own adventures, and games like 7th Continent. The game plays 1 to 6 players. But I don’t think I’d want to play it at the higher player counts. Marcin and I played this together using my pimped out copy (upgraded tokens, coins, and player boards). We had a blast playing the game. Yes in reality it’s a solo game with minimal player interaction. But I liked the shared story telling experience, the other player reading out from the storybooks, describing what you see on the bit of the planet you are on. It almost had a ttrpg feel. A shared story where you get snippets of information. The hype is real (if you like this style of game) folks.
Galactic Cruise: this game did seem to get a lot of buzz upon release. Worker placement, hand management. I liked when playing you can combo cards that you play.
Citizens of the Spark: card drafting with the strength of an action you take determined by the number of that card you have. I like that you are able to follow other players actions if you have that card, a bit Eminent Domain like. Well that’s the first game I thought of with that mechanic. This a nice quick game with a bit of take that. Well if you select the right cards during setup. Which reminds me you can tailor the type of game you want during setup. Which is very cool, and reminded me of the Sushi Go Party setup.
Innovation Ultimate: a civilisation card game. A game I really enjoyed that had plenty of player interaction and a bit of take that. We played the recommended first game, ie no expansions. This is definitely a game I want to play more.
Money: a quick bidding, set collection game. It was an enjoyable experience where I hadn’t really cottoned on to the scoring. That cost me in the end. But still very tactical on the bidding.
That’s it for this round up that technically should have been posted about a week ago. But work, tired. You know the story.
Ok this latest photo of Diogo was sent to me at the weekend. But I’ve waited until today to share it with you. No reason except maybe laziness.
I’d love to be able give a home to the other dogs in the photo behind Diogo. But poor life decisions and not being born into lots of money mean I’m unable to.
I can’t wait until Diogo is finally here taking his place as a little monster.
Even on my days off I’m still wide awake early. Well I have to be to give Nico his first dose of heart medicine for the day.
So after going back to bed for a couple of hours, and then having a relaxed first mug of coffee I decided Dolly and I were long over due a “proper” walk.
After getting our stuff together and in the car we were on our way to somewhere undecided. Yep what seems to be our norm, no set destination, decision made enroute.
All I knew was I wanted to avoid honey spots such as the coast, possibly Thetford. It’s the start of the school holidays and I just wanted to avoid the holiday crowds.
Dolly and I somehow found ourselves in the Roydon Common car park.
I set us the target of finding out what the mystery structure was that we have seen in the distance in Grimston Warren during previous visits.
We were going to cut out doing the upper fields and head straight to our target.
Our path across the common was the “high” path that Dolly and I originally tried taking back in February. However we had to turn back and use the lower one because of grazing ponies.
You’re not more than 20ft higher than the bottom of the common as it runs along the boundary of the nature reserve. But still you get a nice view across the common it as you walk the length of the common.
Bawsey Church ruin and QE Hospital wind turbine in distance
Being on the “high” ground meant that when we crossed the bridle way between nature reserves we remained on the “high” ground as we followed the edge round towards our target.
In parts it felt more like an animal track we were following with heather scratching my calves and probably whipping Dolly in the face. It was hard to tell with her walking behind me on this very narrow track.
But we did make it to our objective.
Sister tower in the distanceThe Grimston Warren military observation tower
It turns out the mysterious structure that had teased us from a far was in fact a WWII military observation tower.
Less than a stones throw from the observation tower are a couple of information boards. One handily pointed out one or two of the structures I could see in the distance. Such as the ruins of Bawsey Church and QE Hospital wind turbine.
It was by these information boards Dolly and I stopped for a bite to eat snd and a brew.
My stove today was a newly arrived MSR Pocket Rocket Deluxe. It worked really well with the Jetboil 1.5L cook pot. I like this combo.
Once again the caffeine fix was the British Army freeze dried coffee granules.
While Dolly had her usual walk treat of beef jerky, I had some ramen.
The MSR Pocket Rocket Deluxe Our brew stop
I did get a little fancy using a sea to summit folding bowl, and a Boundless Voyage titanium Chinese soup/ramen spoon! I also added some dried shrimp this time.
One thing I learnt from the information board was directly below us were the remains of a Victorian tram line.
From our vantage point it was obvious where the path of the tram line had been. I could also see what looked like possible remains of the line itself.
After packing away Dolly dropped down to investigate.
The two pieces we had spotted did indeed look like rusted tram line.
I can guess that the tram line went to Kings Lynn. But where did it go to? Maybe one day I’ll be curious enough to look into this bit of Norfolk history to find out.
Path of the tram lineRemains of a Victorian tramway
The remains of the tram line bought us out at the junction that Dolly and I took that lead us the bog bashing on our first visit here in February.
We headed back towards Roydon Common. Once there we took the lower path across the common with the “higher” path on our left.
About three quarters of the way long a deer ran out from the heather ahead of us, across the track, and into the heather the other side. I think the deer was a roe deer. Dolly was oblivious to this, or if she had seen it didn’t care.
Back at the car we packed away our gear, got in and headed home.
It was nice to be back out enjoying nature, the weather was perfect, we got to destress. Just what the doctor ordered.
This is kinda a still alive post but focused more on those four legged little monsters that I live with.
First up I’ve been sent a new photo (see below) of our latest recruit from Peru, Diogo. Yes I know in the post announcing his recruitment he was called Durin. However I decided to rename him in tribute to Diogo Jota who died tragically along with his brother in a car crash at the start of July.
I’m a Liverpool supporter. Have been since the age of 7. OMG it’s just clicked that’s 50 years now.
The parting of our Forever 20 hit me harder than I thought. I think the only other two times the death of someone I never knew but they still meant something to me hit me hard was Steve Jobs and Elvis.
I remember being told at work by a friend of Jota’s passing. I was date coding yoghurts when he came up to me and asked “had I seen the news about Jota?” I was expecting him to tell me Liverpool had accepted an offer for him. Instead he told me he had died in a car accident. I really did find it hard to continue our conversation, it felt like I’d start crying any second. There was definitely emotion in my voice as I spoke. To say I continued the rest of my shift in a bit of a daze was an understatement. My fellow Liverpool supporters at work couldn’t believe the news. We were in shock. It was hard to express what we were feeling, even to talk about it without breaking down in tears.
So it seemed natural that I’d want to do something to remember Diogo Jota. Hence the renaming of Durin to Diogo.
Diogo looks a little pissed to me in this photo
The other little monsters news is that Nico had a heart scan Tuesday and the heart murmur detected is actually two faulty valves. He has been prescribed a heart medication that he needs to take every 12 hours for the rest of his life.
The good thing is that he wasn’t experiencing any of the health issues that can be related to his heart problem. But if they do start they can be treated.
UPDATE: since writing this post this morning I’ve received another photo from Peru of Diogo and just had to share it here.
On a gaming front the quick visit to see Nath was a blow out.
I took Vantage and Machi Koro 2 with me.
I think it’s best to describe Nath’s living arrangements as between homes at the moment. He is moved out of his previous place and waiting to move into his new place.
Which means currently he is stopping in a “granny” flat at his mother’s place.
This temporary accommodation doesn’t have a suitable table to play on. Space is at a premium and the very small table is being utilised for other things.
I even had to sleep on the floor. Something I’ve not done since the last couple of years of Striders life. Luckily I had my Swiss army blanket, and British Army artic sleeping bag. I used my woobie in its stuff sack as a pillow. So Dolly and I were comfortable. She ended up sleeping on the sleeping bag. But it was warm still during the night so I didn’t need it.
I did get to see Nath’s new home and help a little getting it ready. Well I put a bed side cabinet together for him.
Dolly really enjoyed her stay because she was able to just wander in and out as she wanted. And she really liked having access to what must be nearly an acre of lawn. I did notice Dolly doesn’t like gravel. She went around it whenever possible to avoid it. I kinda felt guilty that she doesn’t have this freedom or sized garden at home.
Yes our visit was way shorter than intended. But is was great to be with Nath again.
There is a plan that I see Nath very briefly when Diogo arrives. But that will be an overnight stay. The majority of that holiday will be helping Diogo settle in to his new forever home.
Now I have a couple of days before returning to work.
Nath decided that the possibility of getting wet from the rain and not wanting to borrow one of my ponchos was enough to stay at home whilst Dolly and I headed out on her walk.
Today I was taking Dolly to Frensham Little Pond.
I loved walking the wolf pack around Frensham Little Pond. So I was excited to be taking Dolly to this spot that I have such fond memories of.
Now Frensham Little Pond and its surrounding area are famous. You will recognise bits of it from films such as Gladiator, Thor, Captain America, Eden Lake to name a few. It’s even been seen in the Witcher tv series.
Even though it’s been over 15 years since I was last there I still recognise it when I see it in something I watch.
Naturally with such a long period of time having passed there has been one or two changes.
The first was having to pay for parking. In the intervening years the National Trust have introduced parking charges for none members. Yes you are correct NT members can park there for free.
Secondly there is a cafe there now. That definitely did not exist back in my days of visiting.
There is more signage round the pond, gated off fishing pitches, hides for bird watching, and one or two more benches.
FrogletsFroglet The medieval damGreylag geese?Dolly vs Greylag geeseLunch view over the pondThe medieval damThe ancient oaks view of the pondA 250+ year old OakAnother oakChecking out the fisherman Dolly:”My professional opinion is whatever did this was big”
At the start of the walk there was a little drizzle but not enough to worry about or even get wet. So I didn’t even bother putting on a poncho.
Even with there having been rain it was still quite humid. This influenced my choice of route. Instead of heading off towards and along the ridge I decided Dolly and I would stick to a simple circuit of the pond.
As we worked our way round (not a hard navigation challenge, I just needed to keep it on my right) there were lots of froglets on the path.
I don’t ever remember there being froglets before. The sight of them and the walking challenge they create (ie not stepping on them) reminded me of the ponds at the nature reserve near Crook.
I’d never seen so many frogs, frog spawn, or froglets in my life up there. The share number of froglets back then made the path seem to be a living, moving thing.
About three quarters of the way round Dolly and I stopped for a brew and lunch.
Naturally I had noodles using ingredients I had put together. Whilst Dolly had some beef jerky.
Just added the noodles The finished mealThe Jetboil 1.5L Ceramic FluxRing Cook Pot, SOTO Windmaster Triflec Pot Support, CAMPINGMOON Compact Foldable StoveThe condiments for my noodles
Although water boiled very quickly using the setup mentioned in the caption above. The pot did not sit easily on the pot support I was using with the stove. It wasn’t wide enough for the pot to sit on, and fractionally too wide to fit inside the ceramic ring.
Despite the incompatibility of the pot and stove I did manage to boil water.
First up was water for a coffee.
I think it’s obvious what a coffee snob I am. I do not drink instant coffee. And most definitely don’t buy it.
But due to an economic anomaly when purchasing army wind proof matches and water purification tablets I’ve ended up with some British Army ration pack coffee, sugar, and whitener, among other things.
So that is what I was trying today. It was actually not bad for instant coffee.
My noodles were amazing and a great lunch. The British Army ration pack chili sauce packet (part of that anomaly) I used added a nice touch of heat and flavour. But not enough to over power and take away from everything else.
It was probably best that Nathan never came with us because I hadn’t packed enough biscoff biscuits for us both. There were just enough for me to finish the coffee off with.
My vacuum packed noodle ingredients and flavouring
After clearing up and packing away it was a short walk back to the car. I even resisted going into the cafe. Ok that decision was made easier by the fact not five minutes earlier having just finished our lunch. Although I’m pretty sure Dolly would have been up for it.
I can’t wait to come back here with Dolly and take her on the longer route that takes in the ridge line.
A bit of a mouthful but the posts title says it all really.
Since the last round up just over a week ago I have managed to play some games. Not many granted but still some games have hit the table.
Much of the gaming I briefly talk about below were played because we ended up with six players at this weeks club night.
Rebel Princess: Probably my favourite trick taking game at the moment. I just love the variable player powers. Granted some more useful than others. I love the changing rules each round. These two factors help keep the game fresh. Add in the first expansion that adds in more of both, and the variety increases.
Celestia: Push your luck with a very light theme. Ok if you are the captain you have to keep going until you crash the airship or make it to the end (which early on is nigh on impossible). But as a passenger you have to decide if you stay on the airship or jump off. Obviously the longer you stay on the higher the points are when you get off. However if the airship crashes with you on it you get nowt. A nice intro game.
The Flow of History: It has been a very very long minute since this last hit the table. Seven years to be precise. I do like this civ themed game. I like the semi auction mechanic used to reserve a card you want. Throw in a bit of engine building and you have a nice light civ like game.
Faraway: The game that plays with your brain! Yeah I like Faraway, and I’m glad a few of us at the club feel the same way making it easier to get to the table.
That folks is all the gaming I’ve managed since the last update.
I believe the Met Office calls the current hot weather our third heatwave of the year so far. But it feels like one big long heatwave, with the odd day or two of respite.
Yes on those cooler days I’ve managed to get Dolly out for a walk. But not on the longer more scenic walks. Those more tolerable summer days have fallen on days that I had to work.
I’ve also not got over the con crud I picked up from the UKGE. Even after getting a course of antibiotics from the doctors. Yes it had got that bad.
Vantage the latest game by Stonemaier Games was launched for sale on their website last Wednesday. And yes I did order a copy along with the upgraded components and player mats. Oh plus the Vantage Rolling Realms promo pack.
I’m expecting Vantage to arrive tail end of next week. So it will be after my visit to Nath next week.
Yep after tomorrow’s shift I’m on holiday for a week and a half.
What has arrived in time is Railroad Tiles (with a damaged box).
Wave three of Halo Flashpoint with the Banished is arriving Monday. Closely followed by my Enlightened Equipment Revelation Apex custom sleeping quilt on Tuesday.
So next week is looking like a big week on the arrivals front.
Going back to my visit to Nath I have not decided what games I’m taking with me yet. I’m taking his house warming present which is a copy of The Witcher board game. But other than that I’ve not made my mind up.
I do know I’ll be taking my walking stuff so we can have (heatwave permitting) a chill walk with a coffee stop.
