Power Grid Game - Euro Game

It just goes to show that you make a game out of anything, including the US Power Industry which must make it kind of the ultimate resource management game. No panzer tank but plenty of cut-throat competition (see below, the USA with the "potential" power infrastructure shown, each player starting up their budding empire with a "state-sized" company in search of lucrative markets):

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2651/power-grid

Coal, oil and nuclear are the opening options with more greener variants emerging later in the day (see below, energy wattage of power consumes resources, some non-renewable which creates a conflict sensible resource management versus profits - a dirty, cut-throat bidding war can easily emerge):  

One interesting feature is a fixed hand of assets (three power plants) which can be upgraded but you have to decommission one to bring a new one on and you can get locked into markets which will ultimately run out of natural feeder resources (see below, the expansion phase is about to leap into action, routes to population centres and careful financial planning required as you easily go boom and bust): 

A trial run of the game was attempted in Covid, now post Covid real world energy struggles are all in the news, albeit in the national actor arena. Maybe time for another run!

A Tale of Peasant Farming: Agrigola

One of the things I got from the Connections UK Wargame Conferences is a hit list of Bucket List games to get. In 2016 Nick Drage's presentation from Aleph Insight mentioned Agrigola as one such game. Therefore I am glad to announce I bagged this from a recent visit to Blackwell's Bookshop Game section in Edinburgh (see below, Agrigola - analysis of my peasant farming skill awaits): 

So far I have got as far as the unboxing, but it just goes to show you don't have to have "tanks" in a game for it to be "good" ;)

Purchase Number 2: Hero Quest Expansions

As I picked up Warlord Games Epic Napoleonic I came across a "must buy it or regret "scenario. I have acquired an original Heroquest but the revamped re-edition has also pushed out the two expansions .. and an irresistible force met my wallet (see below, no regrets .. even on the figure count it was worth it .. and there was some cool dungeon scenery bits too):  

The beasties inside need painting and I now feel as if I have enough undead zombies to chase unwary adventurers through the catacombs) .. Game On!

Good Old Fashioned Board Game Fun: Stratego

Well, this was a 'second chance impulse' buy. I first saw it in a local "Yorkshire Store" shop, one sells all manner of goods, with a rambling toy section [sometimes useful for picking up cheap "counters" and the like for games] - I had it in my clammy hands but put it back down. Driving home, I regretted it, though I was in a little bit of a quandary as to what it actually was (and for £20 was I going to just get a pile of "plastic tat?"), A fortnight later I was in the same store looking up at (probably) the same box and it was a case of "green for go in my head" <the sound of the cash register follows or rather a "beep" in these modern times> - done deal, item bought (see below, I opened it up and was well satisfied that it was not the feared "plastic tat" but a nicely presented, mounted board, with good plastic playing pieces, simple instructions and even better, "something" that could be extended in traditional maverick Wargames Design fashion): 

But who would play it with me "out of the box"? My youngest son (11) started but he then aborted after a few moves, sad emoji. Next I tried my "old sad puppy dog eyes" on the wife and much to my surprise she acquiesced and we played a couple of games, in the wings my eldest son (16) eyed events with interested curiosity but it was my (14) daughter who took up the gauntlet - egged on by the wife ("you go beat him" [I gave no mercy in my games with the wife]) and I'll be damned if she nearly did and took me to the wire (I was facing a "female team" at this point). Great fun, great fun, so it looks like the dark nights will be partially filled with more than a few battles. Thank you Yorkshire Store and Jumbo Games ;) 

Update: The daughter expressed an added interest to move onto chess :)   

Bucket List Item: Accomplished - Catan (The Settlers of)

It was bought, but yet to be played. Then it was played and really enjoyed (see below, the game I saw Chandler play in The Big Bang Theory and knew, just knew I had to play. Also note, the nearby "Nurgles" were an unrelated simultaneous painting project): 

Not only was it played, it was played over three generations. My son, his father (me) and the grand mother! It was enjoyed by all and .. even better .. there are expansions!

Five stars rating .. even though my son beat me!

The Nights are getting Darker .. which means the Season of "Family Games" Approach'eth ... Winter is Coming!

Game, game and more game to come out of the cupboards. From the 'crowd pleasing' (see below, "Beat the Parents" - the grans and granddads can be quite smug at this one):

To those games that teach important 'life skills' - like learning to lie convincingly to friends and family (see below, "The Pretender"):

So important in fact it is usually played at least twice at Xams (see below, moving from dining room to kitchen table): 

Then there are the specialist "themed" games .. such as "Escape from the Dark Castle" (see below, collaborative play at its best - selfishness gets you killed): 

Edging along from tense encounter to tense encounter until the final "boss fight (see below, by this time the "party" of escapees are usually very battered and bruised - a good game rule though being "all out alive" or no win, except that is for the survivors of the "boss fight" - but eternal shame on those who try to hang back [they will miss dessert!]):  

Conversely if you want to learn "how to lose friends" then "Munchkins" is for you (see below, nervous clenched fists reveal all - mothers and fathers are turned on their sons and daughters): 

Then there is also "Pandemic: The Cure" which is the theme of the year for the whole world (see below, the ideal end game position - four deadly diseases cured - we could do with those 'good dice' just now):  

There are also tense "bad dice" moments too (see below, that is definitely not a "cure" roll - even by teh scientist):

All in all a very clever game or rather series of games (see below, nice game mechanics that always seem to mean a tight game that is touch and go until the last turn): 

Cometh the hour cometh the Scientist with pipette and test tube .. is there a cure for the forth disease on the final turn (see below, "arghh .. we're doomed!"):  

Family "bubble time" approaches, you have been warned!

The Blackstone Fortress Unboxing

It came (see below, a birthday present to myself which I will play with the kids, but make no mistake I will be the biggest kid): 

Behold the land of sprue all of which looks totally compatible with standard 40K stuff, so Warhammer Quest is my excuse for me to make use of GW 40K miniatures I buy "for no apparent reason other that I have to have them" - so I may indeed by their target audience (see below, the adventurer sprue was most beguiling, though some of the baddies were "yuppy" too - spindle drones coming immediately to mind and a nice Chaos Lord):  

Lots of deck cards and fancy dice too (see below, nice, I am resisting the temptation 

Ah, reading material (see below, be sure to read this soon, before unsealing the cards and popping teh playing boards but after the miniature assembly): 

Ah, multiple books .. my eye fixates on the "assembly instructions" (see below, I shall try not to be drawn into the depths of the background - I just noted that there seemed to be many "Black Fortresses" floating around, a bit like Space Hulks from Space Crusade perhaps): 

First impression on unboxing .. looks very good! Winter is coming and this may just keep me entertained during the dark nights ,, the Imperial Robot has already "caught my eye" as a painting project!  

Birthday Present - The Black Fortress

I am still a big kid, so a shiny toy in a sale for my birthday treat is a no-brainer (see below, a current GW offering that is a mix between Hero Quest and Space Crusade - family fun [it is my birthday and I chose which games to play, you can hear the groans already] and there are plenty of toys to put together to paint later): 

Watch out for a game report coming soon.

Lego Harry Potter Game from the Loft

Rummaging around in the loft and I came across this little gem I had completely forgotten about. I think I originally just got it from a charity shop as a cheap source of Lego pieces and forgot about it, saving it for a rainy day or rather a Corona-virus Lock-down! First of all it has a nice Harry Potter Hogwarts feel to it but secondly it has an innovative playing surface, completely smooth and shiny on one side which allows flat Lego pieces to slide around on it as the "maze" changes. In this way it reminds me of one of my favourite kids games Labyrinth! (see below, complete with original "Harry Potter game box-lid"): 

A close up of the game itself, there are sixteen sliding pieces contained within the walls of Hogwarts. Four teams compete to grab four items and make it back home to win (see below, the only hassle I see  are the relatively fiddly pieces to a cumbersome fat-fingered adult hand):  

It literally is another "game in a box" almost like Bob Cordery's 'Portable Wargame in a Pizza Box' game! 

Corona Virus: Things you find in the back of cupboards - Long lost chess pieces

It is amazing what turns up when you have time on your hands to go rooting through the back of cupboards (Corona Virus post again). I am convinced these have been missing for a decade or more (see below, not the Isle of Lewis chess pieces but still a welcome find nevertheless):

Thankfully I also know where the board is!

Getting Ready for The Xmas Rummicub "Battle Royale"

With the pending arrival of the Scottish in-laws it was time for me to brush up on the rules - I had already "gone over the rules" with a colleague at work so felt half prepared (see below, getting familiar with the playing pieces):

Note: Please don't be alarmed at the bright red, fake "cap" gun laying on the table, it was something absently minded left on the table by my youngest - so nothing to do with a high-stakes gangster gambling den.

Rummicub is a cross between cards and dominoes it plays an entertaining game. I was to discover there can be regional rule variations - Newcastle to Edinburgh variants, all subject to the subtle interpretation of the English/Scots language. The Scots lore took precedence, something I will pass back to my Newcastle colleague. In the long rule my "rule discussions" with the mother-in-law served to focus the attention of my wife who swooped in to win and be hailed as Christmas House Champion!

Update: Won first game of Rummicub (thanks to wife showing me how I could get out with an "Orange 4"). Technically "Reigning House Champion" but another game is scheduled after dinner and I fear my performance may be alcohol affected!

Back to "Escape from the Dark Castle" for me then!

It is the Season of Party Games: "Munchkins", "The Pretender" and 'Pandemic: The Cure'.

Unexpectedly or rather totally unplanned on my part, I notice it has been a canny while since I last bogged, as this December seems to have been a most hectic affair, but in a good sense. I seem to have dropped out of the blogging habit (partly because I find one of my kids constantly in front of the family computer) but on the plus side too I have been "doing" plenty of "stuff," just not getting to report it. It does also seem to be the party game season. Two separate instances of old friends bringing their families together with mine caused much hilarity through 'Pretenders' and 'Munchkins' (see below, 'Pretenders' is a family favourite as one player has to guess what the others are miming before it's their turn to mime, so are you faking it or just bad at miming?):

'Munchkins' is the deadliest of games, addictive and unforgiving - a D&D spoof as it is a race to get to 10th Level through a combination of kicking in doors, killing monsters, looting treasure, stealing treasure off other players or cursing other players and basically getting lucky at other players expense. "You are dead to me!" is a frequently used phrase in our games as backstabbing and mischievous double dealings are 'normal behaviour' (dystopian or what). The game really assumes its best form when the players "go dirty" in a bare knuckled free for all, running away and dying (getting busted back to Level 1 with no possessions) is all par for the course (see below, a pile of 'door cards' and a pile of 'treasure cards' and a foursome of players adventuring around them):

The third of the trio of games is my personal favourite genre, that of collaborative problem solving, "Pandemic: The Cure" which a remodelling of the original Pandemic game using smart (intelligent rule driven: dice and cards) playing pieces to reduce the 'required pre-game reading' and rule memorisation. Instead of small car manual it is reduced to eight A4 sheets of large print rules and diagrams. Good job by the designers as the play flowed smoothly (see below, the game is in progress, we are three players trying to find the cure for four diseases, you can sense the game mechanics are finely mathematically balanced between winning and losing):

With the exception to "Pretender" which is a classic pick up and play in 30 seconds, the other two "Munchkins" and "Pandemic" had to be first played with a dry-run round (or two) to get the feel for the rules and a sense of what the strategies were. In fact richness in the "Munchkins" cards and interactions were revealed with more and more play. Being nasty (for "Munchkins") was a characteristic of play that had to be learned (counter intuitive in many ways to be so overtly nasty and in your face). We were not getting the rules wrong (the sequence of play was very simple) but combinations of cards "worked". "Pandemic" is a little more frustrating because after playing it four times I "think" I have the rules now .. and the designers did a good job making it simple .. something about how the dynamics pull together. It makes me think I should make better of You Tube instructional videos and the like, games like Chain of Command fro the Two Fat Lardies unashamedly use it wisely. The classic statistic from the 1970's/80's Avalon Hill/SPI period was that 55% of games never got played - those that did, I wonder how many were really played correctly? Are we any better off now in getting games played?

Munchkins: D&D but not as you knew it ... Brilliant Family Fun

I am feeling really  happy that I finally "discovered how to play" this little classic board game. First, at the after-hours "Gamers Club" at work and then immediately when I brought it home and played it with the family. Certainly not a "cooperative game" but the fun is also in the 'sneaky thief' stab-in-back aspect to the game. It gets quite murderous in the "end game" phase as many tall-poppy fell making bloody scenes from "Game of Thrones" look like Kinder-garden Cop by comparison (see below, the iconic art work from Steve Jackson Games - note there are also many differently themed variants out there, such as Warhammer 40K):

Despite coming "a joint close second (just when I thought I was in with a chance a female warrior ran past me wearing 'slime armour' to ace it to Level 10)" in the friendly Work Game, I was roundly beaten by the superior wit and cunning intelligence of my eldest son in the no-holds barred "Home Tournament" game (see below, the game nearing its end phase - a two player duel for Alpha male dominance in which I duly lost, being a Dwarf Wizard with a "singing sword" was no match against a Munchkin multi-class [wizard-warrior], multi-race [Elf-Dwarf] tooled up killing machine with a sword in both hands and a scary bandanna, not to mention "the boots of butt-kicking"!): 

The Home Game: The final score card shows the hectic frenzied finale. To his credit it was a well earned victory with him overcoming many adversities as he was finally crowned House Munchkin Champion (see below, "First to Level 10 wins"): 

The game was so much rip-roaring fun (we made a lot of noise in retrospect, which included my son developing a Germanic accent for some unexplained reason), the wife even expressed more than a passing interest in playing; the eldest's Dungeons and Dragons school friends will soon be exposed to this D&D Lite event (the shouting from which I expect to be very loud and boisterous)!

Family Christmas Games Night will be fun this year!

Command and Colours: Ancients

It came to pass, perhaps old hat to everybody else but I have never played it and it seems to be a stalwart of the wargaming community. In fact I think it a transition game between miniatures and board-games. Indeed the likes of Tim Gow uses the (modified) rules with hex based boards and his miniature armies (see below, not cheap but full of kit - a game to be played though):

It starts with Rome and Carthage which means a bit of background reading is required by me, as most of my ancient knowledge is based around Greeks to Macedonians beating up the Persians. That stuff is in later expansion packs (which I see as perfect birthday and Christmas presents). I see a long journey ahead of me. I am hoping perhaps to get the family involved because of the blocks and ease of set up. However I see myself moving to figures in the mode of Tim Gow.

Perhaps the Best Family Game Ever?

It seems to be part of a family tradition to buy a Family (or Euro) Game. Last year it was Hare and Tortoise, this year Ticket to Ride (see below, truth to be told I had had my eye on this one for quite a while - I was tempted by the Europe themed one but in the end I went for the original game thinking they were on to a winner given the freedom of the US of A, the Eurpean game had to cross water and navigate the Mediterranean): 

And I bet most of those Seven Million copies of the game that were sold were definitely played and thoroughly enjoyed. I am thinking that giving "games" is a perfect Xmas present to close friends and family .. although best think twice before giving "Cards Against Humanity" and be sure to read the small print (ahem, NSFW version of Exploding Kittens!) first. 

Bionacles - Robot Warfare: Fathers versus Sons, Men versus Boys ... "There will be Tears!"

Bionicles are fun to assemble - albeit rather tricky to balance in an upright position. There are two types "shooters" and "brawlers" [hand-to-hand specialists] .. shooters possessing ranged fire and a little hand-to-hand skill. Both move the same rate (see below, the lower squat models having a distinct advantage over their lanky cousins):

From the yellow bin of robotic parts an intimidating battle-line is formed (see below, I like to think "Spartan Red - with a funny Green dude to the left" [aka "The Dad's Team] looking imposing and imperial):

They faced a motley crew of haphazard designs that had escaped various research facilities and experimental weirdos no combat unit would want to use (see below, lanky shooters and claw armed crushers ["the Kid's Team"] looking unconventional and liking black paint jobs):

Both sides advanced fearlessly (see below, note the professional close grouped formation from the Dad's Team, with a lone gun man out left, contrasted with the "zig-zag" jumble from the kids):

Things start to go awry for the Dad's Team as a long range shot is deadly accurate and a Spartan goes down. Never under estimate the ability of a small child to throw a "six" with the accuracy of a sniper (see below, "man [bot!] down", early days "Don't Panic" as Corporal Jones and the Hitch-Hikers Guide to the Galaxy reassuringly says):

Oouch! They are good at this shooting lark. Another Spartan falls. The Spartans are down to two shooters and one last "claw" (see below, OK start to worry a little bit 3:5 odds and more rounds incoming expected any second):

Carnage as the Spartan "claw" de-claws and kills his opponent, that's the spirit! 3:4 are slightly better odds for the Dads Team (see below, the Green Dude has taken a hit but is still standing, but two nasty "black claws" are exploiting an open flank):

The Green Dude is mercilessly targeted and losses limb after limb, like the Black Knight in Monty Python's Holy Grail, but is still fighting (see below, the art here was keeping him in the game by balancing him on one leg (see below, I just hope the centre of gravity is not compromised by an extra dust particle settling on one side):

Carnage "Take II", I am not sure who is still standing, but there seems to be more Spartan body parts lying on the floor. Not a good sign (see below, I think the last Red Spartan bows out being unable to stand of it own accord, the symmetry of the enemy hits coming on one side did for it - good grouping by The Kids):

Left unopposed the "Black Leader" heads towards the "take-out coffee cup top" button which represents a game "kill switch" (see below, no mercy and no quarter is shown in this battle-bot tournament):

"Game Over!" A devastating win for the Kids (see below, ever more the impressive because the Dads thought they had it in the bag - over confidence breeds hubris when you are facing a fearless seven year old!):

The Re-Match (see below, The Dad's were keen for revenge and to right past historical wrongs - it was also fast approaching bed-time so things had to be done fast):

This time more mutual carnage (see below, The Dads had improved their battle algorithms, but to no overall avail as the Kids triumphed once more):

A "black shooter" this time calls time and trips the "kill switch" (see below, the untold hidden story here is a mid-battle substitution when the seven year old called on his twelve year old brother for help, this would be genius "Ender" [see Ender's Game] employed tactical skill combined with good dice rolling to be The Dad's undoing):

Two - Nil. Battle won and war over. Congratulations to the winner (and bed) and commiserations and another beer for the losers!

Cluedo - The Classic Game with a Big Bang Twist

My youngest loves Cluedo and he loves The Big Bang Theory too so this was a natural match. It makes a change from hunting a murderer (or WMD Terrorist if you go to CoW). Sheldon is upset. A crime has been committed. Was it "the dog-eared comic", "the stain on the sofa cushion", "the wiped equation board", "a broken Shelbot", "the toothbrush" or "wiped hard=dribe of the laptop"? (see below, the classic board game with a new twist):

As ever, I still remain to win a game of Cluedo, the wife beating me this time (despite her efforts at re-writing the rules) but happy to play again, anytime and anywhere! A five star family classic!