Vacation Return

Back on the ground in the Big O! following a week in New Hampshire.  The Other Half had been wanting to go for years and we were finally able to make it out.

Look At The Colors!

The Other Half On The Lake

The Flume!

More Pics can be found here!

Didn't get much gaming in, but The Eldest and I played a round of Pandemic and Settlers of Catan Card game when I got back.  Hope to get in a board game night soon this week.

jp

Games! I can play games!

On Monday I conned Steve over with an offer for dinner and some games. We had chicken stuffed with spinach and ricotta, veggies and potatoes, and we talked games all the way through dinner. It was very romantic. :) The Other Half was in the front room watching her 'stories' as she was 'starved' when she got home and ate quickly. Steve and I discussed the Space Battle game I've been fleshing out as well as other game geek topics.

After dinner we headed to the basement and looked at the collection for something two player. We decided on the Settlers of Catan Card Game. It is a pretty straight forward interpetation of the board game using square cards that you rotate for goods and have cities/settlements. I took the first game while Steve swept the second pretty soundly.

Tuesday I made it to Warmachine Night at the Shoppe. Wow... I need to do something to re-juice the community. Very light turn out. Adam played hookie and we played a great game of merc on merc action. Adam played an Agenda contract and had Magnus with a pair of Renegades, a big unit of Idrians with the attachment, Boomhowler, Orin from the Inquisition and Stanis the cavalry solo Steelhead. I ran a Four Star list with Gorten w/ Gun Bunny, Dirty Meg w/ Mule, Kel B., Ogrun w/ Gorten, Rupert the Piperman, Croe's, Lady and Holt, and Steelheads. (Just a quick side note. I ran the list in Tabletop Commander and it seems I must have miss counted at the Shoppe. My biggest apologizes to Adam. I played at 502... My win is hollow and I feel shame!).

Adam's Idrians did a great job of sweeping in a picking off Steelheads and pretty much collapsing my left flank, plus an obliterator shot nailed the Ogrun on the head and took him out. I moved Gorten forward using Solid Ground until both the obliterators were used, but they were pretty effective just the same. Some how Adam got one of the renegades up to kill Kel and then get engaged with Lady and Holt, by which time the Idrians had began to sweep to the right.

It took my entire right side to kill one dang Steelhead Cav solo... With Gorten doing the final shot. The Mule never hit a thing in the game except one of Boomhowler's boys with his mace, in fact, Meg shot more with her rivet gun then the mule did. Shessh.

In the end it came down to Gorten Vs. Magnus. The higher armor saved Gorten and he had wittled Mags down with two 'both barrels' so when they got toe to toe Gorten had the advantage on hit points. Mags swung his sword four times, hit three, but couldn't break the 22 armor. Gorten returned the favor with his hammer and got Mags on the first hit.

Solid game, except that I cheated by two points... Feel bad about that... Takes away that come from behind feeling!

On a last note, I am still looking for folks to take a look at the Space Attack game... About five or six pages of rules at the moment... Lots of details to flush out, but always open to feedback. Let me know!

Thanks again Adam!

jp

I like games!

So, what are you playing?

On Sunday the gang got together for another round of the Thunderspire. We had solid turn out with the usual suspects in place. The party headed straight for the Well of Deamons to confront the Gnolls that were in kahoots with the rouge mage Paldemar. Rumor had it that a Gnoll cleric, Maldrick Scarmaker, was also going to reconsecrate the temple to Yeenoghu. The party encountered a nasty set of lurkers that was hard to take down, but did get through the Gnoll Defense force in place in the front of the temple pretty quickly.

After a rest to 'Ding' the party made it into temple proper and met three previous adventures that didn't fair as well. From them they learned what is transpiring and how to get past the magic barrier. Undaunted, the gang hit the first challenge and was surprised by the magic that was entrapped in the room. Teleporting heroes and raging pillars of doom messed up the standard plan of attack and made the team improvise a bit.

In all the night went pretty well. We got five solid encounters in the 7 or so hours of play. The one challenge encounter in the area (three fallen previous party) needed a lot of work. It just didn't flow and become more of a RPG conversation vice a challenge to earn xp. Come on, impress a ghost with a test of strength in the middle of the dungeon? Really?

"Lift this heavy weight three times! Oh your strong, here is a clue!"

Not to be mean, but that was just dumb. We did a bit of role play on it to get the salient points across, but the challenge 'as is' was just badly written. I'll need to do a better job of proofing it before we try another encounter like that.

On Monday, Privateer made the 'Big Announcement' that Warmachine Mk II was hitting the streets in 2010. I think this will be fine in the long run. Many of the ideas will help simplify the game and streamline the rules, but still keep the game its lovely combo-licious self. More to follow I am sure!

On other gaming fronts, I picked up a copy of Pandemic board game. I got to play a few games before the holidays and it is a great co-op game. I haven't gotten a chance to force the Eldest to play yet, but I think she will dig it when we do. We did play a few games of Race for the Galaxy and a game of Settlers of Catan Card Game. Both games were fun and the Eldest and I hadn't 'hung out' since she found some friends in the local area. Glad she found friends, now she just needs to learn to control the spending on going out.

Tuesday I got to go to The Game Shoppe and play two games of Warmachine in the Call to Arms league. I was second from the bottom from the previous weeks adventures and hoped to maybe get one win this week.

I played Adam a 500 point game to start. He had Magnus, 2 Renegades, Mangler, Crowes Cutthroats, and Iradians all under an Agenda contract. I had Lt. Cain and a Squire, GMA w/ the Dude and a Hunter, Sword Knights with a Cent, and Rupert. I had a great game. Systematically took out the Cutthroats with Arcane Inferno under snipe, then had a quick dual between Obliterators and Hunter rounds. Adam had some great uses for Magnus that usually don't get shown on the table and when they do usually don't work. He did two Rain of Steels that hit plus an Arcane Bolt. Totally shmushed Cain with arched spells FTW!

Second game was against Erik and his Khador list. We played 750 so I added Lady and Holt, an Ogrun, Lancer for Cain (?), Capt Finn, Trencher Chain Gun and Cannon (only things I had to add... Didn't have the rest of my stuff!). Erik ran Epic Sorsha with two winter guard units, one with UA, the other had Uncle Joesph for support, two mortars, full unit of demolishers, Gray Lords, Yuri the Axe and two compatriots and widow makers. I won this game on scenario. I kept mentioning the scenario conditions... Like a lot, but Erik didn't take actions to prevent me from securing the needed spaces. I felt kind of bad as his list was getting ready to steamroller right through my lines with little I could do to stop it.

No RPG this weekend as the gang is doing a Flames of War Doubles Tournament. I think I may get some painting done, but will most likely piss away the day. Maybe I'll work on the Runes of Gallidon adventure some more.

Watchmen in a week!

jp
Connoisseur of Fine Games since 1967

Christmas in November

Good day to you!

So, the Basement Purge of 2008 has been financially rewarding. I've been selling some old game stuff that I will most likely never miss over at eBay. Since I took the cut in pay, the other half has suggested* that I should use these funds for my game purchases in the future. This combined with a 20% off for points at The Game Shoppe, I purchased several board games on Tuesday.

I got the following games:

• Race for the Galaxy with the Expansion
• The New Formula D
• The Red Dragon Inn
• Settlers of Catan Card Game
• Monty Python Flux

On Wednesday the Elder was off work, so I finagled a few of the new games. We started with a game of the Settlers Card Game. It was pretty easy to pick up and the mechanics were fun. I enjoyed the building aspect as well as the way they handle trading. Second we tried MP Fluxx. Not the best two player game, but I was really hoping to show her the mechanics. That went OK. Like I said, not the best two player. She was embarrassed to do the ridicules accent or to sing songs. We finished up with a game of RDI. This is fund, mindless game, also better with four players then two, but it was still playable. The setting is post adventure, when the 'characters' are drinking and spending their gold. Kind of silly, but fun.

On Thursday and Friday nights, I fought my way through the solo version of RftG. It is an interesting mix. I haven't beat the solo game yet as it can out earn VP on me pretty quick. I've played about 5 times, and each time I keep finding something new. It is nice to have a good solid solo game as well for those nights.

Other exciting news on the home front...

• We went down to basic cable. I don't watch TV at all to be honest except for Lost, but I get that on the basic tier. Saves us a bit of money, but...
• We signed up for NetFlix to fill the void. We still end up ahead over the cable bill by about $15ish a month, but we can choose better shows. The other half picked a few comedies, I got Dexter Season 1 and Gotham Knight. The plan we are on offers two DVD's at a time plus unlimited internet viewing. I would be interested in finding a way to send the streaming to the regular TV. Anyone got any ideas?
  
• Privateer Press sort of announces they are shifting to plastic for some larger models. This did light the fire storm of doom. Typical cycle for the PP Boards: Announce --> DOOM! --> Release --> COOL! Given the quality of the GW plastics have achieved, I have little doubt that PP's will be the same. Besides, between the lines looks like that 'Jack boxes will have multiple weapons layouts for the same chassis. So you can use the magnets to make an Iron Clad, Defender, or Storm Clad. That alone is cool.

jp
I like big games and I can not lie...