April Games

There were quite a few games played through the First Quarter of the year... though most of them were Warhammer Underworlds - which is fine, but I was thinking I needed to try and play some OTHER games as well... with some other people! 

So I decided to try and to establish a semi-regular Game Night on Fridays. Previously, I had been thinking I might try making it out to Skirmish Game Night at the Warhammer store on Fridays, now that the weather was getting better. So the plan was kind of to do this on alternating Fridays - which coincided with when Shannon and Kevin had their respective kids...

Wednesday, 3 April 2024

Started the month off with a game that WASN'T Warhammer Underworlds!

Our friends Ryan and Andy came over to play Wingspan! We broke out the new Fan Art expansion (just a set of cards with different art). It was supposed to be for Amanda's birthday, but since she was going to be out of town for her birthday, I figured we might as well crack them open NOW! 

Some of the art was cool... Some of it was... okay... did I need to buy this...? Probably not... but I did, so I guess we'll play with them from time to time...? 

Friday, 5 April 2024

Our first Friday game night of the month (and... year, I guess...) 

Shannon brought along Tokaido, which neither Amanda or I had ever played, and I'm not sure Kevin had either..? Each of us played a traveller on the "East Sea Road" in  Japan. Taking in the panoramic scenery, buying souvenirs, eating food, meeting people, visiting temples, and such. 

It was okay. I'd play it again. Not going to buy it myself. 

 

I played Hiroshige - who was very good at collecting panoramic thingies? Painting them, I guess... I did okay. Didn't once get to visit a hot springs!? 

Amanda played a food blogger or something and started with WAY MORE MONEY and got cheaper meals. She won. 

Afterwards we played Castles of Mad King Ludwig.

I love this game. It's one of my favourites. You get to design mad castles. They always end up looking alarmingly similar to the structures I spent so many hours drawing on graph paper as a kid. 

Sunday, 7 April 2024

Sunday we were back to playing Warhammer Underworlds! 

We started off with a game set in Shadespire (only using boards from Shadespire/Nightvault) 

I wanted to try out the freshly painted Sons of Velmorn with their own Rivals Deck on (Katophrane's Reliquary board). Amanda wanted to play Elathain's Soulraid again, still just using their own Rivals Deck (on The Cursed Oubliette). Nic was playing Grashrack's Despoilers with a Nemesis deck using Break Neck Slaughter (on The Ruptured Seal). And Orion was playing the Sepulchral Guard with a Nemesis deck using Rimlocked Relics (on The Cursed Oubliette)

Orion, once again, just trashed all of us, scoring 23 Glory Points!? I did... okay... scoring 15, Amanda wasn't too far behing me with 12, and Nic (who was tabled in the second round) only managed to score 9 Glory. 

For our second game we played in the Beastgrave

I decided to change things up and broke out Wurmspat with a Nemesis Deck using Break Neck Slaughter Nemesis Deck (on Pool of Fangs). Amanda continued with the Idonth Deepkin but switched to Cyreni's Razors, just using their own Rivals Deck (on Hive of Sacrifice). Nic tried out Sons of Velmorn with own Rivals Deck (on Ravaged Hall). And Orion continued to use Sepulchral Guard with the Rimlocked Relics Nemesis Deck (on Abandoned Lair)

I took Wurmspat because I knew there was a fair chance I'd have to duck out a bit early to get to my book club. I thought I'd just suicide charge them at... whoever... but after the first round it looked more like Amanda's warband might get wiped out (by ME!?), so I suggested she could play my warband when I had to leave. 

Later Amanda reported to me that both her Thrall AND Fecula survived to the end... but, again, Orion scored 23 Glory... Nic scored 10, Amanda scored 9 and the Wurmspat scored only 7... 

A brief description and a few more pics of the game can be found here:

Warhammer Underworlds: Battles in Shadespire and the Beastgrave

Sunday, 14 April 2024

The Following week Nic and Orion were back for some more Warhammer Underworlds! 

The first game we played was set in Shadespire (because I wanted to used my fancy new Soul Refractor terrain bits. 

I played Skabbik's Plaguepack, Amanda played Elathain's Soulraid, Nic tried out Da Kunnin' Krew, and Orion played The Chosen Axes with a Voidcursed Thralls Nemesis deck. 

Nic one this game... I think it may be the FIRST game they've won!? 

For the second game we played in the Deathgorge - as I now had FOUR boards for that setting, having just picked up Wintermaw the day before!

For this one I played the Thricefold Discord. Amanda went back to her roots and dug out Morgwaeth's Blade-Coven (and the Paths of Prophecy Nemesis deck she'd cobbled together). Nic played Da Kunnin' Krew again and Orion played the Thorns of the Briar Queen. 

Amanda won this one... but I wasn't too far behind!  

A brief description and a few more pics can be found here:

Warhammer Underworlds: More Battles in Shadespire - and DEATHGORGE!

Friday, 19 April 2024

On Friday Shannon and Kevin were back for the second of our hopefully regular bi-weekly game night! 

We started with Robo Rally... because Amanda was in San Fransisco... and she does NOT love the game. 

Shannon was in the lead for the first bit, but then ran off a conveyor belt into a pit after misjudging the direction her robot would be facing. Kevin and I got close to the second marker and ended up blasting each other a few times - not because either of us were playing particularly aggressively... it just kind of turned out that was. I ended up taking more damage (5!) and Kevin had gotten turned around on a conveyor belt and was being carried off in the other direction, so I powered down and repair, thinking he wouldn't be turn around quick enough to get to me... He DID get turned around and came back very quickly... and caused me some anxietly but then the conveyor belt carried him off the board when he turned the wrong way... 

My robot made it to the third marker just as Shannon's was getting to the second and Kevin was still struggling near the first where his replacement robot appeared, again, I was a little anxious he might come over and blast at me with his laser or try and push me away... but he didn't.. Just not that level of cutthroat competitive, I guess! 

Which I am totally fine with, generally, I'd much rather play with people that are chill and don't do dick moves just to fuck with other people when it becomes clear they can't win or whatever... but in Robo Rally... I've kind of always played with people where anything is legit and fair and kind of... EXPECTED! I mean we're racing. If he could have pushed me into that pit or just one space off of my planned moves so I just drove myself into the pit, or onto a conveyor belt which could carry me off the board, I would respawn at the previous marker and it would suddenly be. a real race again! 

Usually in Robo Rally I spend my first few registers turning back and forth, so I end up following others when I finally move off the start space... and shoot them in the back with my laser all the way to the next marker! Because this was their first game, I did none of those kind of dick moves or purposely try to push anyone off their programmed route... it happened, but not on purpose! 

I LOVE Robo Rally. I haven't played it in SEVEN YEARS, though... Largely because Amanda has no interest in it... 

Afterwards, we played a quick game of Century: Golem Edition. 

Kevin ended the game by taking a sixth point card, but Shannon won! 

Sunday, 28 April 2024

On the 21st Amanda was still in San Fransico and Nic and Orion were getting they're hair done... but on the 28th everyone was back and looking fabulous... so we played some MORE Warhammmer Underworlds! 

In the first game Amanda played Cyreni's Razors, Nic played the Crimson Court, Orion played the Sepulchral Guard, and I played the Thricefold Discord. Orion won, with, like, 19 Glory!? But this was probably one of the higher scoring games for all. No one had less than 13 Glory!?

In the second game Amanda played Magore's Fiends , Nic played the Crimson Court, Orion played the Hexbane's Hunters, and I played the Thricefold Discord. Orion won again. Again with 19 Glory!? The rest of us did.... less well... 

And... that's it for this month... 

Not so many games played as the last few months, but I'm not about to complain. In total I played:

• Warhammer Underworlds x6
• Castles of Mad King Ludwig v1
• Century: Golem Edition x1
• RoboRally x1
• Tokaido x1
• Wingspan x1

So far this year, I've played FORTY-TWO games of Warhammer Underworlds!?

The Warhammer Underworlds Warbands I played this month were:

• Thricefold Discord x3
• Skabbik's Plaguepack x1
• Sons of Velmorn x1
• Wurmspat x1

May Games

With demolition going on in the basement, the Game Room has been closed and will probably remain so until the fall... but that didn't stop us from playing games! I ended up playing games at three friends houses and even managed a few at home - where we could. 

Finnegan has shifted his D&D games back to the kitchen table. I kind of forgot how loud they can be! It's probably a bit louder still as a couple players have returned from University in other cities for the summer and attendance at game nights has been up! He's currently running TWO different campaigns - one on Saturday evenings and one on Monday evenings.

 

Friday, 5 May 2023 

Friday evening Amanda and I rolled over to our friend Shannon's new place to check it out and play some games. She was actually having a house-warming party the following evening, and had invited us... but I don't love parties, especially where I don't know who is going to be there and a large proportion of them are likely not going to be people I know... so we went over the evening before and played some games with Shannon and her boyfriend, Kevin. 

We started with a tiny little game called Tinderblox, which Shannon had brought over as a gift for Amanda's birthday a few weeks earlier. 

It's a fun little dexterity game that fits in a little tin box that can fit in your pocket. 

You draw a card from a deck which shows the orintation of one or more blocks which have to be stacked in the orientation specified on the card, and then added to the fire without knocking anything over. 

We played a few times! 

Afterwards Shannon and Kevin introduced us to Boss Monster. You play a Boss Monster (like, in a video game) and build dungeon to lure adventures into and try to kill them. I ended up with a pretty kick-ass dungeon (largely due to luck of having drawn some powerful cards that worked really well together!?) 

Saturday, 6 May 2023 

As I mentioned, with the renovation well underway, and the game room is closed for the next few months, Finnegan was back to running his Saturday D&D game on the kitchen table, amidst all the mess of stuff in boxes that were dragged out of the basement. That's left the rest of us unsure what to do... THIS Saturday we ended up playing a few games on the corner of the desk upstairs... 

Amanda and I started off with a game of Century Golem Edition

Keiran joined us for a second game. 

Afterwards we played Azul. 

Finally we played a game of Splendor. 

We didn't play any games the following week, but the week after that... 

Thursday, 18 May 2023

Finnegan and I rolled over to Brent and Barbs to play a few games. Jasper joined us there as well. 

The first game we played was Clank! In! Space! Neither Jasper nor I had ever played the game and Finnegan had played it once, years ago, at ToonCon. It was an interesting game - there's deck-building element and moving around a board doing stuff and kind of a race and trying to keep yourself alive... a LOT of moving parts. I died... Then Finnegan did. Both Jasper and Brent made it out alive and scored. 

It was a bit of a bummer as when I died, it was my move next and I easily would have gotten to a place and healed half my injuries... and into the end area where, if I then died, I'd have still scored points... I only had 65 points accumulated. I guess making it to an escape pod would have gotten me another 20 and I might have picked up a card or two with points in the final round or two it would have taken me to make it TO the escape pod... would have been close... alas. 

Afterwards we played Cyptid. The name sounded cool and both Finnegan and I had visions of cool cards with pictures of crazy monsters on it... Unfortunately the only monster illustration was on the cover of the box and it turned out to be a very abstract game of deduction... 

It kind of hurt my brain. We accidentally played with the ADVANCED RULES (by selecting a black bordered card, instead of a white one) It's a little like clue, everyone has ONE clue about where  the Crytid could be hiding in. You win by figuring out what everyone's clue is... and then finding that ONE HEX on the board that meets everyone's criteria!? 

Saturday, 20 May 2023

Saturday I wandered over to Kurtis' to play some games. Eli drove into town for his birthday to play some games. They're played a few before I got there. 

Brent had also showed up and the four of us played a game called Beyond the Sun. We each played a faction trying to develop technologies and/or colonize other planets.

There are a lot of moving parts to the game. 

By the end of the game I felt like I was starting to get a sense of what was going on and how to play the game... but then it was over. Probably should have leaned a little more into developing technology and worried less about snatching up planets earlier in the game. 

After that Eli had to take off... 

We were joined by Joe and played Castles of Mad King Ludwing. 

I love Castles of Mad King Ludwig. I just love making weird castles - that are strangely reminiscent of the hundreds of castles I drew on graph paper in my youth. How did I not end up being an architect?! 

After that we played Imhotep. 

I've played it once before (also at Kurtis'). I could take it or leave it... 

Finally, Brent and Kurtis and I played Shakespeare. 

This was kind of interesting. You have to recruit artisans and actors to build a set make costumes and put on a play. 

Wednesday, 24 May 2023

The following week Jasper and I rolled over to Brent's again and played some more Clank-In-Space! We had talked about playingVinci, but Brent suggested it was better with four and we should wait for a week when Finnegan was available. 

The first game I was just one move away from scoring any points... when I died... Had I been able to play one more hand I'd have made it across and scored around 125 points. Instead I scored ZERO and Brent won with 95. I think Jasper also died without scoring. 

We had time, so we played a SECOND game adding in stuff from the Apocalypse expansion. 

The second game I died one move away from an escape pod... 

GAH!? SO CLOSE.... 

So, I won this game with 76 points... because no one else made it far enough to score before they died!? 

The game is pretty brutal. 

Tuesday, 30 May 2023

This week Finnegan was available so we arranged to play Vinci... but then Jasper sent a note at the last minute saying he couldn't make it... Since Brent had set it up, we played with three anyway. It was interesting. I've never played, but I'd heard about it. It's a moderately historical game that Small World was based on (a game I have played a LOT of!) I had thought there might be specific empires - Greeks, Romans, Celts, Saxons, Vikings, Franks, etc, etc - like History of the World and a few other similar games - instead each new empire just had some random generic strengths or abilities - VERY MUCH like Small World! 

Finnegan found Brent's d100 in a container full of odd dice and delighted in trying to roll it... or... more to the point, getting it to STOP rolling!? 

We got through Vinci quick enough that it was decided we should play Clank-In-Space! AGAIN! 

Once again, I died just before making it to an escape pod. Brent AND Finnegan both escaped! 

And that's about it for this month... That's 32 games I've played so far this Quarter and 76 so far this year! I'm pretty excited about this Kill Team: Ashes of Faith box, I'm hoping in the next month I'll be able to knock out enough figures to play the campaign included in the box! I hope I can convince Finnegan to play out the campaign, I think it's seven games... six campaign games then a finale...? Seems doable through the summer! 

What's everybody else been playing? Let me know in the comments below!

December Games - Part the Second

 And thus began our Holidaze.... ...

The kids finished up skewl on Friday. And Amanda took MOST of this week off... She went in Tuesday, because she had to go to campus to teach a yoga class anyway... But took the rest as vacation or used up a small amount of the excessive accrued overtime... and a personal day... Next week, between Xmas and New Years, the university is closed and EVERYONE has the week off - except for a few essential staff that need to go in to take care of critters used at the Vet college, etc... 

Lots of time for GAMING! 

Friday, 17 December 2021

Kicking things off, Keiran, Amanda and i sat down to play a game of Carcassonne - we added in Traders & Builders and Inns & Cathedrals. Amanda cleaned up with the trade goods - scoring 30 points for having the most of the wine, grain AND cloth! But then I got 64 points just from farming - which kind of won me the game! 

Afterwards Amanda and I watched The Expanse with Finnegan and then just the two of us watched Wheel of Time together. 

Saturday, 18 December 2021

our Friend Kurtis came by for an evening of gaming. We finally tried playing the Century Golem Edition with ALL THREE games combined... It was a little much... It was interesting, I guess, to see the way they incorporated the mechanics of three different games into one. But there were a LOT of moving parts. 

Since it was so much work to set it all up and figure it out... We played it again. 

I like each of the games on their own. Mixing two together was interesting. All three was a bit much. 

Afterwards we played a couple of games of Kingdom Builder. EAch game used two of the new(-ish, to us) Marshlands edition boards and cards. 

In the first we played with the Hermits, Captains, and Geologists Kingdom Builder cards and the Tower, Fountain, Canoe, and Barn boards. This was the first time I saw the Canoe being useful. It seems like it could be a VERY powerful Extra Action... but only really if you can get BOTH. 

The Game was CrAzY close - Kurtis and I tied at 42 and Amanda has 41!

I the second game we played with Scout, Miner, and Messenger Kingdom Builder Cards and the Temple, Harbour, Farm, and Refuge boards. Only one of the extra actions allowed putting down additional settlements (the farm), the others only allowed up to pick up and replace settlements. I grabbed two farns quite early on so for most of the game i was placing five settlements every round to the three that Kurtis and Amanda were placing... and I just cleaned up!? 

That long orange line across the board, alone, gained me 44 points from Messengers... thats more than any of us scored in TOTAL in the previous game!? 

Monday, 20 December 2021

Monday evening we played a quick game of The Hanging Garden. Keiran had suggested it, so I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity. We haven't played it since June of last year. 

Keiran and Amanda started clearing away their garden while I was laying out my tiles!? So I didn't get all three extended gardens. 

Anayway, here's what my garden looked like at the end of it - along with all the tiles I'd collected... 

Amanda won. By lots. 

Tuesday, 21 December 2021

Tuesday Amanda went into work for one last day this year - and stayed very late!? When she finally did get home, we all played Codenames: Pictures. We ended up playing six games - every one had a chance to team up with every other member of the family and within each pairing, each took turns being the Spymaster and the Field Operative. 

In Game One, Amanda and I were the Spymasters. I was paired with Finnegan and Amanda with Keiran. Amanda and Keiran won when Finnegan accidentally selected THE ASSASSIN!  

Game Two - Keiran and i were partnered up and Amanda Played with Finnnegan. Keiran and Fnnegan were the spymasters. Amanda and Finnegan won this round. 

Game Three - Keiran and Finnegan remained Spymasters, but we switched partners again. Amanda and Keiran won. 

Game Four - Back to Amanda and me being Spymasters. Kerian and I won - but only because Finnegan, again, accidentally picked THE ASSASSIN! 

For the last two games Amanda and I were partner and the kids were partners. Finnegan and I were Spymasters first. The kids won. 

Then Amanda and Keiran took a turn at being Spymasters. Again, Finnegan and Keiran won, despite Amanda and me haveing a pretty commanding lead to start... 

Good fun. Wish we played this more. It is very quick! 

Afterwards, because we are heathens and there was zero chance we'd be doing our traditional family get together on the 24th... we just opened up presents on the Solstice. 

Wednesday, 22 December 2021

Got the whole family together again to play O Zoo Le Mio

We haven't played this in YEARS, but played it a fair bit about 6-7 years ago. It's a fun little game where you play a zoo (or... the Zoo Manager) trying to build bigger better attractions at your zoo - by matching up tiles to make bigger enclosures. Fairly simple, very clever and not too long.. 

Out little zoos at the end of the game. 

Thursday, 23 December 2021

Initially, a friend of Amanda's was initially supposed to come over and play Wingspan... but kind of bailed on us. 

So Amanda and i just played on our own... 

This was the THIRTIETH game of Wingspan we've played since Amanda got it for her birthday in may. 

It was all festive colours.

(and apparently failing at math...) 

Friday, 24 December 2021

For many years we used to go over to my folks place on the 24th for our family gathering - spend the afternoon and evening there. presents were opened, games were played, puzzles put together and FAR TOO MUCH FOOD was consumed. Because of the pandemic and my parents current situation, this was just not feasible. 

I did get out for a bike ride in the early afternoon, despite feeling a bit run down (probably from the Covid vaccine booster I'd had the day before).

When I got back we played some games. 

Managed to wrangle the whole family into playing Kingdomino again (because it is QUICK!) 

Did I mention that Keiran got rainbow hair the day before...?

 Oh, they got rainbow hair all right! 

The game was SUPER close and everyone built lovely little kingdoms around their castles. 

I ended up winning. I thought I had done well, but then when everyone was telling me their scores I was amazing they'd all scored 10-12 points MORE than me... then they reminded me about the bonus for not having any blank spaces and for ending with the castle in the middle! That bonus fifteen put me in first with 64 points, Keiran had 63, Amanda had 61, and Finnegan had 60!? 

Afterwards, Amanda and i played Castles of Burgundy. Amanda by the end of the first round Amanda was about 50 points ahead of me and stayed well ahead for the rest of the game. I ALMOST caught up at the end with bonus points... but not quite... 

After I post this I think we'll be settling down to watch the new episodes of The Expanse and the Wheel of Time. Loving the Expanse. Indifferent to Wheel of Time. After we are done the latter, I think we'll check out The Witcher... 

I still need to play two more games of Kill Team to finish off ten games of that for my 10x10 challenge... I'm not sure what I'll do for the tenth game... The easiest might be to just play four more rounds of Codenames: Pictures. It might seem lame to add that in to a 10x10 challenge... but I've played THIRTY games of Wingspan... THIRTY!!! I think we've done okay for playing games this year! 

I hope everyone out there is having a happy, HEALTHY holiday season - and I do hope you get in a few games! I expect there will be a few more games we'll be playing this last week (and binge-watching shows on Netflix), as we all have the week off and won't be going out much at all - with the Covid numbers skyrocketing again!