October AND November Games

I didn't play a LOT of games in October...

I know it looks like there are a lot of has-marks on the 13th and 14th - but that represents one or two plays of the same game, each logged separately, with a few expansions being use with each...

As previously reported, I played a few games over the (Canadian) Thanksgiving weekend.

I got in a couple of games of Necromunda with Amanda (Escort Mission and Rescue Mission) 

and one with Finnegan (Battle for the Bronze Gates) 

...And then some Not-so-Necromunda games with the family...


Friday, 11 October 2019

Unstable Unicorns

Race for the Galaxy


Saturday, 12 October 2019

Century: Golem Edition

and Splendor...


Tuesday, 22 October 2019

The only other games I got in through October were a couple games I played with Bruce (the Paisley Wizard) on the 22nd...

First I introduced him to Century: Golem. I won the first game, and then he crushed me in the second... 

and then I introduced him to Splendor... 

I typed this up at the end of October... but really didn't feel like there was much there and didn't post it...

So... November... 

Things didn't really get going until we were already a week into the month. Thereafter games were kind-of-mostly just played on Friday and Sunday evenings... More than in October... but less than other months...


Friday, 7 November 2019



On the 7th I played a game of The Pikeman's Lament (well... sort of... there were some fantastical elements added in from Dragon Rampant!). I initially set up the game for my friend Bruce, who, at the last minute, was unable to make it... so I played it out on my own... a full report of the ensuing escapades (with LOADS of pictures!) can be found elsewhere on this blog:

Whit's Fur Ye'll No Go Past Ye

Over the Remembrance Day weekend, we got in a few more games...


Friday, 8 November 2019



Starting with Friday evening, Amanda, Keira and I played Castles of Burgundy. I finally feel like these games are starting to go a BIT quicker (still not anywhere close to the reccomended game length, but still.... quicker than we've played it before...)



I played, like, my BEST GAME EVER and totally won! Woo!


Saturday 9 November 2019



Saturday evening Keira ran us all through character generation for a role-playing game called Epyllion - where we all play young dragons (sort to like Tales from the Loop... but Dragons?).



 I'm playing a lean, red, daredevil dragon with lots of spines, a barbed tail and an overbite.



I also have a burrowing horse-armadillo-alligator companion animal... It seems we are all genderless vegan dragons that like to eat cottonhoney (wait... is cottonhoney vegan? Maybe we're not Vegan... but we apparently don't terrorize humans or eat them or their livestock, so... ethical vegetarian dragons?).



Finnegan's playing a green naturalist dragon and Amanda's playing a black seer dragon.

It's kind of weird.

I kind of dig it.

I was really looking forward to playing the first adventure the following week... but that kind of didn't happen..

There had been a plan to play Necromunda on Sunday... And another plan for a game Monday evening... but both kind of didn't happen either...


Friday, 15 November 2019



Friday evening our friend Laura came over to play games. We started off with Race for the Galaxy - with only the first expansion (as I think it only added cards and no new rules). It was actually really fun to play this way again!




Afterwards we played Kingdom Builder... I was so wrapped up in the game I forgot to take a picture until we were done and had put it away... We played with Lords, Citizens, Merchants
Oasis, Boats, Standing Stones and Inns... or at least that's what I noted in the BGG entry. I forget which is which - the first three are what we got victory points from, the latter four are the boards we played with...


Saturday, 16 November 2019



Kids playing in Finnegan's D&D game - they play every Saturday. I just don't always take pictures and I never log the games on BGG - because I'm not playing with them! But occasionally I remember to mention that these games happen!



We had so much fun playing with the very basic Race For The Galaxy the previous evening, we played TWO MORE games on Saturday evening!



Keira bailed on the second one...



In the second game I had a pretty sweet Gene/Uplift theme going on... but I just couldn't find the 6 cost developments that could have gave me loads of points for such a theme...



THESE are the cards I needed...


Sunday, 17 November 2019



Sunday evening Orion came over to give Necromunda a try.



He played my Cawdor gang and I played the One-Eyed Red Snakes (Delaque gang)

The ensuing shenanigans were fully reported on here:

For All Those Who Seek Redemption

Since this game Orion has picked up the new boxed set and is busily working on a team of Enforcers! Hopefully we'll see them cracking skulls in the under hive sometime in December!



Friday, 22 November 2019

Our friends Bruce and Adele came over for supper and games.



Adele was running a bit late, so Amanda Bruce, and I started off with a 3-player game of Century: Golem Edition



Totally crushed it! Yeah... that's over 100 points!



Then we played a few more games when Adele showed up.



After that we recruited the kids to join in a six-player game of 7 Wonders. (forgot to get a picture of the game while playing... again.. so this is us putting it all away!?)

I played Menneken Pis, which is really weird.... I ended the game with 41 points. Amanda Plante Played Olympia and scored 49 points. Adele crushed it with Stone Hengescorring 61 points!
Bruce played Ephessos and scored 48 points. Finnegan played the Great Wall of China and ended with 44. Finally, Keira played Rhodes and came in second with 54 points.



After the Andersons took off, Amanda Keira and I played a quick game of Carcassonne - with just the basic set. I just squeaked out a win over the others by FARMING - had it not been for the couple farmers I put down, the Grrlz would have both been waaaaaaay ahead of me! I probably won't get to do this again... assuming we play again soon enough that they REMEMBER!


Sunday, 24 November 2019



This week Jacob came by to try out Necromunda.



We played another game with Cawdor and Delaque gangs.

Retribution!

I think I may have him hooked - he's already planning an Orlock gang!



Friday, 29 November 2019

Friday evening we invited more friends over for supper and games. This week it was Darrin and Jackie. We haven't played games with Darrin in, like, forever!? And we've never played with Jackie - honestly I didn't even know she played games - but she actually brought along a few of her own!

We started off with Anomia - on that Jackie bought. I'd never heard of it. It's a pretty like word association game.



After we played Set - again one she brought along (though we do have a copy and have played it a lot - though not recently - and we were feeling woefully out of practice!). Amanda started off by lamenting that she NEVER wins this game... and then crushed us!



We played a round of Exploding Kittens... I'm not a HUGE fan of the game - but we played with the NSFW deck mixed in, which I hadn't played with before, so that brought out a few laughs as I read some of the new (to me!) cards...

Finally we played Dixit (which Keira loves playing - but I will only play if we have at least five players - and we had five players in the house last night!).

November ain't quite over, but I'm pretty sure we're not playing any games this evening, so I think that's about it.

I like that Friday is, at least, finally becoming BOARD GAME NIGHT - and we've even been getting other people to come over. I'd hoped Saturday would become Family RPG night... but that just hasn't happened...YET! And I'm excited that Sundays are becoming SKIRMISH SUNDAYS and I've been getting in some games of Necromunda!

I've got another Necromunda game planned for tomorrow. There won't be a Board Game Night next Friday because it's the Rosebud's Burlesque Clubs annual XXXmas Show... But the following Friday we do have plans to have another couple over for supper and games AND another group of friends coming over on the Saturday that weekend. I'm sure there will be LOTS of gaming over the Holidaze! Stay tuned!


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

As mentioned, I do have a Necromunda game planned for tomorrow, so I'll probably be posting a game report of that on Monday (or maybe later Sunday evening - if it's SUPER fast and bloody!!)

Still have more Necromunda gang posts to finish up...

Should have some Hellboy miniatures coming up in the next few weeks! 

September Games - Week One

As I am planning to play a game every day through the month of September, I thought I'd do weekly updates, rather than a monster post at the end of the month. As noted in my Fall Plans, I am continuing the tradition of 30 games in 30 days for September, but instead of making the kids play all of the games with me, I'm just doing it on my own. Oh, surely they will play SOME of the games with me, but the challenge is a personal one, and some of the games will be played with people other than my own family members.

I'm also not making any requirements that every day be a different game, as we have some years. So, there may be a few days where I do play a quick game of For Sale with the kids, just to get a game in before going to bed.

Here's how the first week went!

Sunday, 1 September 2019



Sunday afternoon Brent came over to play Nautilus with me and Amanda. The funny thing is the game used to belong to Brent! He won it at Fallcon (in a raffle) played it once with his kids, years ago, then is sat on his shelf for years... So a couple years ago he brought it as his contribution to the prize pool for Freezerburn and I won it. Every time I've played it, Brent has come over to play it with me - so he's gotten to play the game MORE since he gave it away.

I've played it with the kids (and Brent) a few times, but never got in a game with Amanda. I figured she'd like it so suggested it as an option when Brent was asking if we'd like to play some games over the long weekend.

It is a fun little game - we got to build an underwater research station and send little subs out to look for things on the bottom of the ocean. I like the mechanics as you gain points for developing the station and you get points for finding things out in the ocean, but your final score is the product of these two numbers! So you REALLY have to balance the two of them or you will be left in the dust (can you be left in the dust in a game involving water...? Left in the wake, perhaps...?)



I ended up with nine points for research and eleven for stuff I collected up under the sea for 99 points (plus four for the remaining money I had) for a total of 103. Amanda had a lot of stuff she'd collected up from the sea bottom, but did less developing of the station and ended up with only 56. Brent totally rocked it scoring 165!!!



After Brent left Amanda and I played a quick game of Century: Golem Edition. For some reason this is the ONE game that Amanda doesn't totally trash me at... I'm not sure why....?



I ended the game with 99 points!! I think this may be my highest scoring game yet!!!

Amanda once scored 93 - one of the two times she's won. We've played this game 27 times, so far. I'd say it was definitely one of the most fun for dollars spent deals we've gotten!



While I was making supper, Amanda and Keira sat down and played a quick game of Patchwork.


Monday, 2 September 2019



Monday evening Amanda and I played 7 Wonders Duel again.



We actually TIED with the points!



I ended up winning as the tie-breaker is points in Civic (blue) buildings! Woo! She had so much money at the end - so glad she didn't get the Moneylenders Guild that popped up at the beginning of Stage Three - otherwise she'd have gotten ANOTHER SIXTEEN POINTS!!!


Tuesday, 3 September 2019



Tuesday evening, Amanda and I played a quick game of Patchwork.



Oh yeah, I totally played my best game so far! This was before I removed buttons for empty spaces - so my final score was 22! Woo!



Amanda just couldn't get buttons on her quilt... so when she scored she didn't pick up all that many and just didn't have enough to pick up the pieces she really wanted all game. At the end there was a piece Che could have fit in that would tie us up (at least for the number of empty spaces) but she just couldn't afford it...

Not that I'm developing any sort of killer strategy or anything - I think it had a lot to do with luck (for me, anyway...).


Wednesday, 4 September 2019



Back over to Kurtis' to play another game of Perikles, less John (who was there when we played two weeks ago).



Playing with less than five was a slightly different experience as you got to pick up five influence tiles  instead of four... which put more influence in cities and gave you more armies to put out for battles... mind you, it gives your opponent the same, so...

The first two rounds I didn't get elected in ANY cities, so I got to play the Persians. It seemed like it might be an interesting strategy, as you don't have any cities that will suffer losses... mind you, you don't get any statues erected in any cities either, which can make your end point tally suffer... Ugh... just not getting this game. I like it, but I'm terrible at it... Kurtis, Brent and Darrin scored 57, 55, and 53 respectively.... me? 35...


Thursday, 5 September 2019



Thursday evening I played a quick game of Necromunda with Amanda - just to introduce her to the rules BEFORE we start our campaign on Sunday!



It was a quick 6-on-6 tunnel fight in Sector Mortis.



Both trying out our gangs for the first time. She's playing Escher, I had Delaque.



Smoko bombs and photogoggles means I can see you, but you can't see me!!

I took down her leader on the first turn... it went downhill from there... Not as quickly as one might assume, however, this is Amanda we're talking about - they all went down kicking and took two of my gangers with them (actually I only took three out of action, the other three bottled out and called it a day...).

Super stoked to start the campaign on Sunday!!


Friday, 6 September 2019

Friday our friend Laura came over to play a few games with the family. We started off with a game of  Monarch just before Amanda got home (who had stayed pretty late at work... because... Amanda...).



Once Amanda was home and fed, she joined us all for a couple of games of Dixit. I've had to play a few games of dixit with the kids and, I gotta say, Dixit sucks as a three player game. I won't play it with less than five. But with five or six it's a GREAT game! Keira rocked the first game leaving us all in the dust.



By the second game I got into my stride (or... got lucky!?) and totally took that one!

Are there any games that you will ONLY play with a certain number of players (even though the game can, in theory, be played with more or less)? Which ones? Why?



Afterwards Amanda, Laura and I played another game of Monarch.



I started off going for Culture, but ended up with all the pretty dresses and felt pretty fabulous about that! I also ended up tying with Amanda! It was a SUPER close game, with Laura only being a couple points behind. I am always amazed with how quickly she picks up games and does terrifically well at them!


Saturday, 7 September 2019



Saturday Afternoon, Finnegan ran the second session of his new D&D campaign. Only half of the players were able to make it today. He was originally going to run a one-shot of something else - so they other players "didn't miss out on anything". I suggested that They should be aware they're going to "miss out on things" if they can't commit to showing up on a regular basis. Those that DID show up, showed up to play D&D - if that's what THEY want to play... that's what he should probably run for them, since THEY made the effort to come out! I understand when a player whose character is key to success in a particular adventure can't make it (though I generally try to devise adventures that DON'T REQUIRE any one in particular to show up - unless I know it's someone who will ALWAYS be there... or if only one player shows up...)

What is YOUR Role-Playing Game Quorum? What is the minimum number or percentage of the party/group that you will run a game for? I feel like it's two... Or I was thinking maybe for groups of six or more, (x/2)-1 where X=number of players in the group? (which is still two at 6 players... and I'm really NOT excited about running a game for MORE than six players)

In the evening I played a couple of games of Patchwork with the Grrlz.



First I played with Amanda - and I think I played my best game - so far - at least in terms of coving up the board!



I only had eight empty spaces. It was pretty awesome! Although I ended with only 25 buttons - less the 16 points for the empty spaces was 9 points. But it was enough! Amanda ended the game with 32 buttons, but had 14 empty spaces and so her final score was only 4!! Woo!



My celebration was short-lived, however, because my next game was against Keira, and she's like a little Patchwork Shark!



Ugggghhhh... just couldn't fill spaces OR get buttons... ended with 13 buttons, but FIFTEEN empty spaces for score of (-17)! Yikes!

(Actually looking at our boards we ended with the same number of buttons on our quilts - but she got more earlier and I picked up most of mine later in the game...).



Keira, on the other hand, ended with 30 buttons... and only seven empty spaces (even LESS than I had in that previous game, of which I was so proud) and ended with a score of 16 points!

Well played, little girl, well played....

And that was my first week of the September Game-A-Day Challenge! Success!


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

Necromunda!! I'll probably have a report of the first games in our Necromunda Dominion Campaign we're starting Sunday (tomorrow!) evening... Plus a whole post on the background for the campaign and info on our starting gangs!