The final morning with Nath always seems to always fly by.
It never seems long enough.
After breakfast of warmed croissants and coffee, as I finished writing the previous post about what the outdoors means to me Nath played a bit of Overlord on his XBoxOne.
We played a final couple of games of Star Wars Unlimited using our updated decks. Mine is definitely working better than Nath’s. Although I did notice he is playing with a sixty card deck. So next visit we will have to look at what cards can be removed.
Afterwards it was time for me to pack my things before heading off back.
The good bye is always tinged with a bit of melancholy. But before I pull out of the car park I call mum to let her know I’m on my way.
The journey home was a little longer than it should have been because a major road I usually take was closed. So I needed to turn to Apple Maps to get me a route from the M1 to the A1.
The new year can’t come soon enough for me before I return. But first I have to survive December and the insanity at work.
I’m currently reading Rewild Your Mind, Use Nature As Your Guide To A Happier, Healthier Life by Nick Goldsmith.
I’ve been watching some of Nick Goldsmith’s YouTube videos (his channel is no longer active) for a few months now. But in his good bye, so long and thanks for the fish video. Nick mentioned he was writing/written a book about the outdoors. So I thought I’d see if he’d finished putting pen to paper. Indeed he had so I ordered a copy of the book.
In the opening chapter, first paragraph even! Nick wrote:
“Time out in a hammock somewhere wild or sitting at the base of a tree has become an essential part of my daily routine. In Japan, this is almost an art form, known as shinrin-yoku, which roughly translates as “forest bathing”. However, no water is involved, and you can keep your clothes on! Forest bathing involves completely immersing yourself in nature and in the moment.” p27, Rewild Your Mind, Use Nature As Your Guide To A Happier, Healthier Life by Nick Goldsmith
That struck a cord with me. The whole chilling in nature.
I’d stumbled into that years ago through the wolfpack and getting in to hiking and backpacking.
Very longtime readers who were with me here when this was an outdoors blog and for some reason remained. Will remember often at weekends with the wolfpack I’d find a quiet spot whilst out with them and brew up (often filming whatever stove I was using).
Whilst I was brewing up the dogs would chill as well. They’d be taking in the new smells, finding sticks, never going very far, always in sight of me.
Probably the one thing I miss from living in Farnborough is being within such easy access to places like Fleet Pond, Frimley Park, or the army land such as Caesar’s Camp near Aldershot. I particularly miss Frensham Little pond. I still recognise the trees! when the place is used as a location in movies.
I have nothing even remotely close to what I had in the Fens. Sandringham or Thetford but they are a lot further away. More a day event than a quick get away.
Plus most of the access in the area is busy bridle ways. Whether it’s foot traffic of dog walkers, or equine. It’s very hard to find that quiet spot to just experience nature.
But Nick is right about the benefits of this timeout from the rat race, and all the stress and pressures of everyday life.
I think I can best illustrate this with when I was made redundant in 2008.
I was working for a financial software house in Surbiton at the time. A couple of years earlier the company had opened an “offshore” office as they called it in Bangkok. At the time we all knew what the future held for us. The employees there had less rights than us. The office was open 24/7, the employees worked shifts, got paid less, had less holidays. You get the picture. It was inevitable that one day management would scale back things in the UK.
One day late July, early August (I can’t remember precisely) a company meeting was called and it was announced they were cutting back and there would be some redundancies.
Well you could imagine the atmosphere, the shock and worry that people felt. I wasn’t really surprised or particularly worried. This would have been my third redundancy over the years. I knew it wasn’t the end of the world. But for some it was their first time. Naturally the uncertainty of what the future would bring, meeting financial commitments etc was a major factor on everyone’s minds.
The rest of the day was spent by management calling staff into meetings to inform them they were at risk of being made redundant. I was one of those “unlucky” ones. It was just before lunchtime when I was called in and sat down to be told I was at risk of being made redundant.
I don’t particularly remember feeling anything at the news. Almost indifferent. But when the manager said they understood this was shocking news, and offered me the opportunity to go home early to process things. I jumped at the chance to leave.
I barely spoke to anyone as I returned to my desk, just muttering I was off home. Looking back I remember the odd guilty look. Survivors remorse maybe. I grabbed my things from my desk, and was waiting for the next train home fifteen minutes later. Little did I know at the time apart from one more occasion that was the last time I’d set foot in the office.
Within an hour and a half I was home, changed, brew kit packed, and in the car with the wolfpack on our way to Fleet Pond.
We parked in our usual spot and about half way round our regular walk wondered off into the trees to find a spot to chill.
After making a brew, I sat there sipping coffee and processing the days events, as the dogs did their thing. I let the healing power of being away from it all wash over me. Here for a brief moment in time I had a respite from all that was happening. It doesn’t solve the problem, the problem doesn’t magically disappear. Once you get back into that car reality returns, as does the stress and problems of modern life and whatever else is going on in your life.
But you feel recharged, refreshed, a little bit stronger to face whatever the world is throwing at you.
Over coming months I had no idea how important these dog walks would become for my mental heath as life was about to throw another major curve ball at me. But the continuation of this story is for another day.
However that sums up what being outdoors means to me, what health benefits I get from it. Yes life over recent years has meant I’ve not been doing that. But as you know from other posts my return to the hills is in “progress” and so is trying to get out more locally in the fens. The hunt for that special spot is on.
In the meantime I’ll end with another quote from the same chapter of Nick’s book.
“Everyone has their own individual problems and concerns, but the joy of forest bathing is universal; there isn’t a more gorgeous way to destress and process.” p28, Rewild Your Mind, Use Nature As Your Guide To A Happier, Healthier Life by Nick Goldsmith
After visiting the ex with Nath (there was a conference call both of them had to be on) and a round about journey back (stopping at a show home and a lunch stop at KFC and McD).
Nath and I played on my Switch OLED. We started out with Nath thrashing me on Mario Kart. Followed by a quick death match on Doom. The honours were just about even with Nath edging victory. Followed by a return to Mario Kart and a fun random battle mode game.
After a break I broke out the WWE Dice Masters.
I was a little disappointed there was no Stone Cold or Undertaker. I think they were left for the rivals and tag team packs.
But it had Mankind and Triple H so I was placated a little by the choices Wizkid made.
We played two games Nath winning the first and I won the second.
After packing away Dice Masters I got out the Star Wars Unlimited cards from the first two sets for Nath and I to upgrade our decks.
So a little time was spent doing exactly that.
Afterwards we played a game with our modified decks. Which saw my deck edge it for the victory.
Nath’s back was hurting so we ended up chilling in front of the tv watch some episodes of Supernatural season 1. Nath has recently started working his way through the series. It’s a long project because if memory serves me right Supernatural had 15 seasons.
Yesterday morning was spent house viewing. I’m not moving (see imminent big news post) however economically it makes sense for my ex to sell the flat Nath is currently in.
So between them they are looking at options for him.
After the two viewings it was time to hit Basingstoke town centre and its gaming shop.
As the photo below shows the latest Star Wars Unlimited set Twilight of the Republic got more than a few of my hard earned pennies.
I also bought Nath his own copy of Lord of the Rings Duel for Middle Earth. I knew he’d like it once we played it. So I jumped the gun a little.
Mistakes were made
I also got Nath copies of Zelda Breath of the Wild, and Tears of the Kingdom to play on my old Switch Lite.
After pigging out at Burger King we headed home.
Once back at Nath’s we started cracking open the boosters. I think Nath enjoys opening the packs and seeing what cool cards we get. It is addictive.
After a little break from that excitement I set up LotR Duel for Middle Earth. Nath played Sauron and I played the fellowship.
We really enjoyed the game. It was familiar but new!
I love the art by Vincent Dutrait. I love his style. He really captures Tolkiens world.
By luck I grabbed a victory by completing the Quest of the Ring track when I completed a tile that allowed me to go through the discard pile and play a card for free. In that discard pile was a three ring card that allowed me to move the final three spaces I needed to reach mount Doom and destroy the ring.
We followed up by playing the two new starter decks for SWU Twilight of the Republic. They didn’t disappoint. I was expecting them to showcase the new token spamming and they did. Just like the previous starter decks they were fun to play. I won this game.
Afterwards we played our own decks in which I won the first game and came close to winning the second but Nathan managed to hold on and grab victory.
We finished off the night watching the latest Alien movie, Alien Romulus. It wasn’t a bad entry in the series.
The day started off with the usual travel prep of getting in the supplies for mum and the furballs. I usually use that shopping trip to pick up bits and pieces for Nath and me too.
Once back home and the shopping put away it’s time to start getting the stuff together for my visit. Clothes, games, food, and gadgets. I hope I have packed everything as it goes into the car. There is a calm acceptance of the fact I know I will have forgotten something.
All packed it is time to say my farewells to the two apex predators and mum. I left Nico in charge.
Three hours driving south with the latest Jack Reacher novel keeping me company. I managed to avoid the potential traffic queues at the expected spots on the M25 and M3.
While Nathan was out babysitting his niece for an hour I decided to make tea after repairing the hole in the bag in my copy of Splendor Duel.
Earlier whilst I was shopping I had an idea for a dish to cook for us and had bought the ingredients. It was time to see how that idea worked out.
I chopped up an onion and softened it in the pan. Added chopped chorizo to release the paprika infused oil from it. Then a good squeeze of tomato paste, salt, pepper, mixed herbs, garlic powder, smoked paprika, and onion powder were added. After a minute I added two cans of chopped tomatoes. Followed by drained cans of beans (pinto,black,black eye,cannellini,kidney, and butter), sliced cottage sausage (a Central European pork sausage), a splash of Worcestershire sauce, a pinch of sugar, and some vegetable stock.
I don’t know what you’d call this. It was kinda like a casserole/stew. I wasn’t following a recipe. I was just making it up as I went.
I was pretty happy with how it turned out. The balance was about right. I thought that there would be a strong almost overpowering taste of tomato. But there wasn’t.
The aim was to create something hearty, and healthy. I think I achieved that. Although you could argue the sausage and chorizo aren’t that healthy.
I served it with some sliced tiger bread. Ideally a fresh french stitch or tiger baton would have been used. But I used what was at hand.
Nath isn’t a big fan of beans. But he did enjoy it.
There was plenty left for the next day, and to freeze.
Afterwards as I sleeved LotR Duel for Middle Earth Nath played on his Xbox.
Yes no board games got played. But I’d done some needed game “admin” so things were ready for the next day.
Official it started 1pm yesterday when my shift ended.
But I didn’t get to lie-in and enjoy a lazy relaxed start to this week off work.
I had to get up early to help a relative replace the felt on my downstairs toilet. It’s been leaking during heavy rainfall for a while now.
The leak was due to rotted felt under the tiles. The tiles themselves were still doing their job.
So 8am this morning we stripped the roof of the tiles. Removed the old batons and rotted felt.
It was then time to lay the new felt, new batons, and re-lay the tiles (once I’d cleaned the moss off them).
We got that done by lunchtime.
Tomorrow some cement work needs doing and once dry some sealant stuff (that’s about as technical as I get on this diy stuff), and it’s all good as new.
What this means is that my visit to Nath is going to be at the end of the week.
And hopefully before I see Nath I’ll have some big news to share with you.
Next week sees Twilight of the Republic, the third set for Star Wars Unlimited (SWU) released to the world.
Obviously I’m keen to try the new starter decks, and start building Twin Suns decks with the new cards, or even upgrading my existing decks.
With Twin Suns being our preferred format for SWU. Allowing Dave, Marcin, and myself to play a multiplayer game. It is the SWU Commander.
However one thing I’ve noticed from our games is how they rarely go pass round seven.
Which means that it’s hardly worth even including any cards that cost seven or more. You won’t get to play them.
I’ve nearly arrived at the opinion that even six cost cards, possibly even five cost are dead cards in the deck. That the space in the deck taken up by anything that costly should be filled by lower cost options (if there are any).
I’m finding that these more expensive cards are more often when drawn placed face down as resources.
On rounds five and above being able to play two or three cards on the current phase is massive. You have options. Hopefully you have the cards in hand to respond to what your opponents are doing.
Do the Twin Suns rules need a tweak? Maybe double the health of the base, or add ten to the base health so the games (maybe) last a round or two longer.
If you have played SWU Twin Suns what are your experiences? Do your games last longer?
I took a bag of games on the lighter side. Amongst them was the recently arrived English edition of Strike! from the US Amazon store. This was a replacement for the european language version I had and was unable to find at home.
It’s the usual story for me. I’m unable to find something. Spend ages looking for it. Then over the following days the thought about it just naws away in my mind. Forcing me to keep looking at the oddest moments. Eventually to stop this driving me mad I have to order a replacement.
Then after the replacement item has been dispatched and can’t be sent back. Magically the missing item turns up in precisely where I’d been looking for it. This is how I’ve ended up with three copies of Knizia’s dice games book.
It was as I was leaving last night that the european version of Strike! turned up.
So now I have two copies. Not a total disaster. I could run a mini Strike! tournament at a future club night.
With only five of us able to make it. Or to put it another way. Only five of us with no social life outside playing games for this time of year could make it.
Yes the whole American Halloween fixation and traditional fireworks means a lot of folks have social commitments this time of year. So having five of us able to make it was a miracle in itself.
We started off playing Castle Combo. A frustrating experience at times. Some of which I’m sure was expert level trolling. Some of which was just annoying analysis paralysis. But still it’s a fun game. Despite Dave’s coin strategy, Marcin won with having a lot of keys.
Our next game saw Strike! getting to the table for the first time.
Strike! has been a thing for the Rolling Dice Taking Names guys for a few years now. Marty and Tony are split on their opinion on it. Is it dice in a bowl or gladiators in an arena? So to decide who is right they hold a yearly contest with listeners of the podcast split into two teams representing the opposing viewpoints at Gen-Con. The winning team means Strike! has to be referred to the opinion they represent for the year.
The reason I wanted to own and play it was as part of the research for my game idea. That is on the back boiler but not forgotten.
We had a blast playing Strike! In the end we played five games of it. There was laughing, banter, incredible dice rolls. For such a “simple” game of just throwing dice into a bowl it was so much fun and addictive.
Our final game of the evening was Sushi Go which saw Anthony win this card drafting, set collection game.
Autumn is well and truly upon us. The clocks have gone back, and the English fascination with the weather and the many ways to describe rain kicks into high gear.
October was an ok month for gaming.
Two of the new games I tried during the month ended up with copies in my collection. In fact a third has just been ordered after looking at the 3×3 below. I decided to google if it was possible to get a copy, and before I know it I’m getting a Korean/English version off eBay!
I played Phoenix New Horizon (PHN) last Friday on the clubs get it to the table night. But decided not to say anything at the time. I had a good time playing it. However at the end I was left feeling a bit meh! It was fine.
It’s a worker placement game with a paper thin theme. PHN is meant to have a post apocalyptic theme. For this the theme could really be anything. I felt it didn’t come through.
The action select had a new twist with its upgrading the worker mechanic that also saw more powerful actions becoming available.
The game just didn’t knock my socks off.
Anyway enough waffling. Here’s the raw stats for October.
I’m writing this post on my scheduled day off at work. Which means I have five more shifts left that are broken up by another day off before I start a much needed week off.
My plan is to go and visit Nathan for a couple of days (with the usual recovery time for mum at the end, apparently looking after two attack chihuahuas is stressful!)
But what games am I going to take with me?
I think the most obvious is Star Wars Unlimited. We have our respective decks to update and play. Plus I’ll take the starter decks. I think also whilst I’m there that the third set Twilight of the Republic is released. So that might see us getting some stuff from that.
I’m also going to throw in the bag the Gears of War card game. I’ve not got this to the table yet. Nath and I both like the video games. So hopefully we’ll get this to the table.
Nathan loves 7 Wonders Duel. I bought him his own copy, including the expansions, and pimped it out for him with the metal coins. So even though I’ve not played it yet I know that we will both love The Lord of the Rings: Duel for Middle Earth. So that will definitely be in the bag as well.
Finally I will throw in the WWE Dice Masters set.
I’m also going to try out a new coffee gadget with Nath that is arriving today. But I’ll reveal more about this new gadget whilst I’m at Nath’s.
