February Games

This month also got off to a slow start and I thought it might be a repeat of January... but things picked up about halfway through... This probably COULD have been split up into two pots... but by the time I realized I should have, the month was almost over... so... 

Sunday, 6 February 2022

Almost a week into the month before we played any games... 

Amanda and I played Wingspan - with ALL THE EXPANSIONS!? 

Sometimes, when playing with just the two, I try the goal board that's point per/max five, rather than points for most. Sometimes it works better... sometimes it's just to easy to get five... Like this one... 

My sanctuary at the end of it all... 

Tuesday, 8 February 2022

On Tuesday, after school, Keiran actually asked ME if I wanted to play a game?! Well I wasn't going to past THAT opportunity up! 

We played Splendor and they were delighted to WIN - for the first time EV-AR!? 

After Amanda got back from teaching yoga, we played For Sale. (Which we haven't played in a long time!) 

Didn't get Amanda in the playing picture... so here are the two of them with the box. 

Friday, 11 February 2022

Played with Ellysium and Prelude

Amanda (red) played Inventrix with Ecology Experts and Research Network - took Ecologist Milestone.

I (blue) played Credicor with Io Research Outpost and Mining Op - took Tycoon and Generalist Milestones and Desert Settler Award.

I actually won a game of Terraforming Mars! Yay! 

Saturday, 12 February 2022

If playing Terraforming Mars on Friday weren't enough, we played again TWICE on Saturday evening!?

The first game we played on Hellas 

Amanda played Credicor with Nitrogen Shipment and Power Generation - took Diversifier and Energizer Milestones and Cultivator Award.

I played Vitor with Supply Droop and Metals Company - took Polar Explorer milestone and Space Baron Award.

I won this game as well. 

Amanda suggested "best two out of three...?"

I'm not sure she understands how that works... as I'd already won two!? 

In the second game, Amanda played Tharsis Republic with Bio Lab and Society Support. She took Gardiner and Planer Milestones and Banker Award

I played the Mining Guild with Acquired Space Agency and Self Sufficient Settlement and took Mayor Milestone and Miner Award

Both tied for Scientist Award.

I had SO MUCH steel production... and just couldn't draw any building cards!? It was ridiculous!? 

Friday, 18 February 2022

Some friends, Kurtis and Tania, came over on Friday to play games.... They're both co-workers of Amanda and both recently started dating each other (Though I've known Kurtis for longer than he's been working in Amanda's office) 

We started with Wingspan. 

Of all our games, I don't think we've used the Food Cost of Played Cards goal before!? 

My Sanctuary at the end of the game. SO close to filling the board. my bonus card awarded 2 points per card in the row with the fewest... so would have been cool to get two more.. but it just wasn't happening. I had one more I COULD HAVE played, but went with eggs for my last activation instead... The card was only worth two points... and it would have taken two eggs to put it into play - so, net zero... Or I could gain eggs, discarding food or card for an extra one... for four eggs and four points... IF I'd played the card I would have also not had to share the round end goal... but that would have only gained two points... so... still better to do the lay egg action. 

Afterwards we played a quick game of Azul. I think Kurtis had suggested it because he thought Tania might like it. She did. She totally crushed it... 

THEN we played Bananagrams - which Keiran owns and we haven't played in AGES... but Tania is a bit fan 

This was mine at the end of the game. 

Saturday, 19 February 2022

Friday evening, Amanda and I played Terraforming Mars again. 

Amandas mess of cards at the end of the game. She played Thorgate with Mining Ops and and Galilean Mining... She took all three milestones: Diversifier, Energizer AND Rim Settler.. AND took the Cultivator and Eccentric Awards... (after I sponsored the Cultivator!?) 

How it all looked at the end. I had a LOT of cities and got a lot of points from them... but not nearly enough to catch up... 

I was playing Tharsis Republic with Acquired Space Agency and Martian Industries and trying to build a lot of space stuff... I almost single-handedly heated up Mars... A lot of Amandas points were from the milestones and one card (I forget which) that she got out on the first turn - along with a couple that gave her, like 8-10 power generation - which scored her 2VP/turn by spending energy resources... it was crazy. 

Sunday, 20 February 2022

Sunday we played Terraforming Mars again... 

Amanda played Cheung Shing Mars with Power Generation and Self Suficient Settlement. AGAIN she scooped three milestones before I could get any - took Terraformer, Planner and Builder milestones. She also won the Thermalist award

I played Phoblog with Biolab and Business Empire... got off to a slow start and Kind of knew I wasn't going to win by the second or third turn when Amanda took her third milestone!? In the end I won Scientist (with 10 tags!) and Landlord Awards and put a LOT of greenery and cities out there... but just couldn't catch up. 

After supper, Keiran suggested they'd like to play a game and settled on Azul. 

They just crushed us... like 64 points to Amanda's 49 and my 40!? WTF!? 

Finnegan and I stayed up STUPID late and binge-watched all of Space Force season 2. 

Monday, 21 February 2022

Monday was Family Day in Saskatchewan (and the beginning of public schools February break) so everyone was at home and, theoretically, not working or having much to do... so we did get in a few games. 

Amanda and played Carcassonne. 

Afterwards Keiran suggested we play Azul again. Amanda suggested we try on "the OTHER side".

She refered to is as "the hard side".  Without the pre-printed pattern, she had a really hard time figuring out where things could go without messing things up. 

I didn't find it particularly challenging. You can basically follow the same sort of pattern that is printed on the opposite side... but start with whatever is easily available the first round or two and then follow that patter. Yeah. Totally rocked this one. Keiran also did really well.

Friday, 25 February 2022

Friday was my birthday. I'd really hoped to host a weekend of in-person gaming, but the way things have been here in Saskatchewan in terms of Covid, that didn't seem like a great idea... Which was a bit of a downer. 

And then the whole Russia invadine Ukraine thing... ugh... 

Despite all this... I tried to stay positive and have a good time. 

We went and got donuts from Darkside Donuts and a non-dairy "ice cream" cake from Fable Ice Cream - both located just a block away! 

The cake we had with lunch. Actually there was a lot left over and it would last a few days! 

It was delicious. 

Then Amanda played a game of Terraforming Mars with me. I played my 50th game of Terraforming Mars on my 50th birthday! 

"Oh, you thought I was going to go easy on you? Think again! 

Pretty much from the get-go, it was pretty clear I was going to lose - Amanda just got an AMAZING group of cards to start with and scooped up all three milestones in the first few turns and was generating just piles of money and resources... 

She was playing Point Luna with Metals Company and UNMI Contractor.

I was playing a game of catch up the rest of the game. 

I did not catch up... 

I played Ecoline with Early Settlement and Mohole.. 

We Terraformed Mars. I got a lot of greenery and cities out there. I did a fair bit of the temperature raising. But Amanda has SO MANY cards in play - I think she had 39 points of cards to my ten or eleven...? And then the three milestones!? She ended with 150 points and I had... maybe 120...? 

After Terraforming Mars we nipped downtown to pick up some supper from Seasoned Fusion. 

We had the donuts from Darkside for dessert. 

In the evening, the family joined in for a few more games. 

Everyone joined in for Splendor.

I think they LET me win... 

(this also happened to be my 40th game of Splendor!) 

Then we Finnegan dug out Five Tribes - which we have apparently not played in 3.5 years! They very definitely did NOT let me win this one... I was dead last. 

Saturday, 26 February

I tried to run a game of Wrath & Glory online. I didn't have much prepared. We spent most of the time discussing the situation in Ukraine. We did develop the background a bit more. Everyone arrived on Xoxigar Secondus. One of the tank crew died of Space Herpes and had to be replaced with fresh meat from the Reserve Squadrons.... that's about it... 

And that's it for February.... 

How are things going for  GAME PLAN 2022 Q1...?

Well....

The miniature-game-a-week-plus-game-report thing hasn't happened so far... 

5x5 Challenge...? 

So far I have played:

• Terraforming Mars x6
• Azul x3
• Wingspan x3
• Carcassonne x2
• Splendor x2
• Wrath & Glory x2
• Bananagrams x1
• Five Tribes x1
• For Sale x1
• Marrying Mr. Darcy x1
• The Silver Bayonet x1

Terraforming Mars is done and looks like a contender for a 10x10 by the end of the year. We'll probably play two more games of Azul and Wingspan in March to get in five of those... Splendor might make it to five (seems kind of lame having two short an easy games on the challenge - Azul AND Splendor...) Maybe Carcassonne? 

It WON'T be Wrath & Glory as we are only scheduled to play every other week... so we'll probably only get two games of that in. 

Everyone had a lot of fun playing Five Tribes... could we play it four more times in March?!

I'd LOVE to get some miniature games going on... but I just haven't had the energy. I also haven't been painting much. Usually it's the PAINTING of miniatures that gets me excited about PLAYING with them... no painting... no playing... which is ridiculous, because I have SO MANY, FULLY-PAINTED that I could EASILY set up any number of games in any number of periods... bah. 

Maybe the new Eldar Codex coming out next week will get me motivated to play some 40K...?

Interest in Silver Bayonet has waned and unlikely to recover. Neat idea, not enough there to keep my interest. So many other systems I could do the same thing in and have more fun and better campaign rules. Song of Blades and Heroes... Savage Worlds... I'd actually thought about replaying the last game we played USING Song of Blades and Heroes to see how it compares... but just didn't get to it. 

August's Games

Well.... we got a few games in through August...

Wednesday, 1 August 2018

Some new friends finally made it over for a visit and a couple of games...



We started off with a game of For Sale.  I think I ended up with the Sky Scraper, but Finnegan or Taotao got the space station...



Next we played a couple of rounds of Codenames: Pictures. Both games were Girls against Boys. In the first round Finnegan and Amanda were the spy masters. Amanda and the Girl totally beat us down. Taotao had berated Finnegan a little bit and did a lot of face palms at his "clues" - which I didn't think were THAT bad. We played a quick second round - I suggested Taotao should be the spymaster for us that time so he could see it wasn't so easy... but then the girls guessed the assassin spot on their FIRST CLUE... and so he really didn't get a chance...


Thursday, 2 August 2018

My old friend Joss, whom I have not seen in YEARS (probably over a Decade! Maybe TWO!?), was in town and we managed to meet up to play a game. Joss is an absolutely fabulous guy who I met while I was working at the original Colllector's Edge in Saskatoon (before it burned down). (That weren't me). In addition to playing Magic: The Gathering, Joss actually played a lot of obscure CCGs which he introduced me to - Dune and . I think we also played a bit of Illuminati: New World Order (which I probably introduced him to. He also introduced me to Roborally - which was kind of the first non -military/historical warfare boardgame I think I ever played. Well... other than Monopoly and Payday and Game of Life and all those rubbish games I played as a kid...



We ended up playing Viticulture, as it was one of the few games I had that Joss had not played and he wanted to give it a try. There were no complaints from me or The Girl as we both really like the game too.



It was a super close game... well.. for Joss and The Girl - they had 22 or 21...? I think The Girl won in the end. I scored the very first victory point, but my lead was VERY short-lived. I ended the game with 15 points... I was only just getting my ducks in a row. If there'd been one more round I'd have been right up there with them... of course THEY probably would have scored more points and then I wouldn't have been up there with them...? Still love the game, even if I am crap at it!


Friday, 3 August 2018



After three and a half years I FINALLY got all of the miniatures painted and we played a game. This would be bad enough if it was my own game, but it was actually given to Finnegan as a birthday present with the promise I would play it with him as soon as I got the minis done (Worst. Gamer. Dad. EVER!)



We played Scenario 1: Beachhead. Marine victory was to have 7+ surviving marines and all rooms cleared of genestealers at the end of turn twelve. Genestealer wins if less than five remaining marines at the end of turn twelve. Any other outcome is a draw.



The game was INTENSE! I played the marines and lost three of my guys in the first three rounds!! Losing one more meant I could not win the mission - only make it a draw! I forged ahead, though, and eventually started to feel like I was getting the upper hand - then, on turn ten (out of twelve) I lost a fourth and fifth marine.... I managed to save the rest of the crew and bring it to a draw, however...

There is a full report of this game here:

Space Hulk – Game One - Beachhead


Saturday, 4 August 2018

On Saturday, Amanda and I wandered over to our friend Kurtis' for his birthday celebration - and some games!



First we played Portal: The Uncooperative Game of Cake Acquisition

All I really remember was that it was really quick, and Brent won...

Next we played Condottiere.



It was also kind of quick... I kind of gambled picking the next location to be one that was next to one of Kurtis' two adjacent territories, hoping everyone would team-up against Kurtis to keep him from winning and they'd all waste their cards in the process so I could sweep in and win... Yeah, that kind of failed..
 

Finally, we played a game of Century: Spice Road.  Kurtis ended the game picking up a fifth card - everyone else had four. It was SUPER close Now won with 71, I had 67, everyone else was in the 60s. Despite having 5 cards, Kurtis ended up being last at 62!

It was a fun afternoon of games.


Sunday, 5 August 2018

 

Amanda, The Girl and I had a quick game of Kingdomino in the evening.



I totally crushed it with 58 points! Woo!


Wednesday, 8 August 2018

Finnegan and I got in THREE games of Space Hulk in the afternoon.



First, we played the first scenario again, switching sides. I played Genestealers, Finnegan played Marines. I won in three turns...



 I had some insanely lucky rolls, coupled with some really bad rolls on Finnegan's part at critical moments...



Took down this Sergeant with the Thunderhammer and Lightning Shield... and it was all downhill from there.



Next, we played Scenario #2: Suicide Mission. I played the marines, Finnegan played the genestealers. I made it to the end of turn four, and about half way to the objective room.

Then we switched it around and played Scenario #2: Suicide Mission again.  This time I took the Genestealers and Finnegan took the Marines. He made it to the end of the fourth turn. Around the end of the third turn he was feeling a little deja vu...

There is a more detailed report of these games - with loads more pictures here:

MORE Space Hulk - Three More Games


Friday, 10 August 2018

On Friday we played Another game of Space Hulk in the afternoon.



We played Scenario #3: Exterminate. This was a bit longer of a game and SUPER INTENSE!! I played the Marines again and Finnegan the Genestealers.



So close... I got to turn 11 then everything went to shit for the marines...

A full report and LOADS of pictures can be found here:

STILL More Space Hulk


Wednesday, 15 August 2018

WE finally got in a game of Kill Team!



My friend Other Tim stopped by and I set up a game for him and Finnegan to play. Finnegan played Orks. Other Tim played Space Marines. They played the Gathering Intel mission from the book. Finnegan's Ork team was broken by the end of Turn Three.

There is a full report of this action over here:

Kill Team - First Game!


Friday, 17 August 2018



Friday evening I FINALLY got to finish running Blessings Unheralded - the Free RPG day Quickstart rules and adventure for Wrath & Glory. It was great fun.



At one point Bob, who was playing Pater Naemoris, the Ministorium preacher, lead the faithful in prayers to the Emperor for the swift recovery of their ailing friend in the hospital.

For the final showdown, I used one of my handy new Sector Imperialis boards from Kill Team. 

Amanda, playing the Battle Sister, making some sort of declaration or oath... 

They succeeded in defeating the big bad guy, but only after he contaminated the distribution facility. Amanda was able to shift two exalted icons in her tech roll to attempt to shut the facility down before the contagion spread, so I said only a few hundred died due to starvation while a small part of the facility was decontaminated...

So looking forward to the full release of this game and running a campaign later in the fall... 

Saturday, 18 August 2018

Taotao popped by for a few more games Saturday evening... 

First we played Exploding Kittens. Luckily I was first out of the game. I LOVE the Oatmeal... but loathe Exploding Kittens... 

Then we played another game of For Sale, which Taotao and Finnegan tied with $62000. 

Finally, we tired to get in a game of Century: Golem, but it was cut short by Taotao's mum's arrival. 

Sunday, 19 August 2018

Two more games of Kill Team! 

We introduced the game to Da Boyz - a couple of the kids friends...

The first game went waaaaay longer than it should have, the second game was much shorter. 

There is a full report of the afternoon's shenanigans over here:

MORE Kill Team

Monday, 20 August 2018

 I finally got in a game, myself. I fought with my Tallarn Desert Raiders against Finnegan's Orks.



It went poorly for the Guard...

There is a full report of this game too:

STILL MORE Kill Team


Tuesday, 21 August 2018

ON Tuesday we played Flashpoint: Fire Rescue



Keira's been asking to play this for a while. Just playing the basic intro game - as those are the only rules she's read and I've read none of them.



It was a very near thing half the house was ablaze by the time we ended the game. We DID manage to rescue seven (I think) before too many perished in the blaze. Those two markers at the bottom of the picture would have been toast...

Friday, 24 August 2018

On Friday Finnegan offered to run a role-playing game for the rest of the family.

 

He ended up running and introductory game of Dungeon Crawl Classics. I have to admit, I've been bored to tears by fantasy games for some time now, but this was genuinely fun. Maybe it was just because I was playing with my very favourite people in the world. Or Finnegan's totally enthusiasm. Whatever it was, I had a good time. We each started by rolling up FIVE level 0 characters!



It was a short dungeon we bashed our way through, losing a few of our characters along the way. Perfect for a single-envening one-shot adventure.



All of my characters.

I'd play it again...


Sunday, 26 August 2018

In the afternoon, Taotao stopped by to play games again.

 

We all played a game of Railways of the World. Taotao picked up the game very quickly and totally won, beating Amanda by a couple points...

Afterwards Amanda went out to play Numenera. I've dropped out of the group because... well.. Numenera's just not doing it for me. I don't know if it's the system or the setting or a subtle combination of the two, but I was having a really hard time caring about it at all and was looking upon each session with dread, feeling like I HAD to go... Then I got to thinking - Why am I doing this if I'm not really having fun? So I dropped out. Amanda's still going, though.



The rest of us played a game of Kingdomino. Which Keira utterly thrashed us at!


Monday, 27 August 2018

This past Monday was the beginning of our Kamp Kill Team Campaign! For the last week of summer vacation I ran a short campaign of Kill Team for the kids and a couple of their friends. Monday through Thursday we played a couple of games of Kill Team each day and on Friday they were to play 40K with a force with a Power Level equal to the resources their team had remaining at the end of the campaign.

There are full reports of each days activities - Day One can be found here:

Kamp Kill Team Campaign - Day One



Tyranids vs Harlequins



Orks vs. Chaos Space Marines



Tyranids vs Chaos Space Marines



Orks vs Harlequins


Tuesday, 28 August 2018 

Day Two of Kamp Kill Team

Kamp Kill Team Campaign - Day Two



Orks vs Tyranids



Harlequins vs Chaos Space Marines



Tyranids vs Harlequins



Orks vs Chaos Space Marines



It wasn't ALL Kill Team - I did get the kids doing a few other things - climbing on the climbing wall, painting, running around like maniacs in the yard...


Wednesday, 29 August 2018

Day Three of Kamp Kill Team

Kamp Kill Team Campaign - Day Three



Tyranids vs Chaos Space Marines



Orks vs Harlequins



Chaos Space Marines vs Harlequins



Orks vs Tyranids


Thursday, 30 August 2018

Day Four of Kamp Kill Team

Kamp Kill Team Campaign - Day Four



Orks vs Harlequins



Tyranids vs Chaos Space Marines

Friday, 31 August 2018 

Day Five of Kamp Kill Team - though we didn't actually play Kill Team today... Teh kids played a couple games of regular old 40K with Power Levels equal to the total resources they had at the end of the campaign.



The Girl's Harlequins faced the Forces of Chaos



Finnegan's Orks Faced the forces of Hivefleet Haemorrhoid.

A full report of these two epic games can be found elsewhere on this blog:

Kamp Kill Team - Day Five - the Final Battle




After the 40K games Finnegan had to run out for a quick appointment and Keira got Da Boyz to play a quick game of Just Desserts with her!


Whew! That WAS a lot of gaming - especially this last week!


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

September... Usually in September we have a Game-a-Day Challenge. We've done this for the last four years, I think...? the last few, we added the extra stipulation that it should be a DIFFERENT game each day... I'm thinking this year, to try and get caught up a bit on the 25/30x5 gaming challenge, we might select six games and play them five times each - 30 games, 30 days... I'll probably do weekly updates through September.

Other than that expect the usual painting updates, which will likely consist of Kill Team terrain and teams as I ramp up to run another campaign with the family and prepare for the Learn-to-Play I am running at ToonCon this year.