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!

May Games

Another month gone by... a few more games played...

Amanda was off at a conference in Quebec City for the first week of the month. I thought we'd get more games in... I guess we did get in a few more games than we did for the rest of the month...

Wednesday, 2 May 2018



Started off the month's gaming with Century: Golem Edition. Freaking kids just wouldn't let me pick up scoring cards - three times in a row I was one move away from getting one... and they'd go and scoop it... the third time it was Finnegan ending the game with his fifth card... fiends. Finnegan absolutely crushed it scoring 80, while The Girl and I were back in the 40s...


Friday, 4 May 2018

On Friday we played a few games starting off with Railways of Mexico



My rail baron wasSebastian Lerdo de Tejada, Finnegan was Patrick Henry Cooney, and The Girl was Pancho Villa!? Wait... Pancho Villa?! A RAIL BARON!? Actually according to his wikipedia page, as governor of Chihuahua he did rebuild the railroad south of Chihuahua City - which is what his bonus was for - building from Chihuahua to Brownsville!?

The Girl was off to a commanding lead early in the game but then ran out of things to deliver and both Finnegan and I caught up. I only stayed ahead because I managed to not take as many bonds. Finnegan ended the game with 22 bonds (he ended the game with 70 points - well ahead of both me and The Girl - but then dropped to 38 because of all the bonds)!! The Girl had 7 and I had only 6. Once again of the two Rail barons I had to choose from at the beginning of the game I had the one that gave six points for having the lease bonds at the end of the game and I've always thought "that should be easy to do", but it's NEVER worked for me, so I discarded it and took the guy that gave me 2 points per line I owned going into Mexico City. Finnegan didn't get any bonus points (his was six for having the most track laid - he didn't The Girl ended up with the most). The Girl did get her bonus points, but it was only three for a stretch of line from Chihuahua to Brownsville.

In the end I won with 56, The Girl wasn't far behind with 47 and Finnegan trailed a little further behind with 38.



Later we played a few more games of Century: Golem Edition. Finnegan just kept rocking this game.. . Beating The Girl and I both times.



The Girl was so close to winning one of them, but then Finnegan scooped an 18 point card the turn before she was able to get it, then I ended the game picking up a fifth card before she could change things around and claim one of the others... she'd worked so hard to get all those gems to get that card... would have been an entirely different game.



I got all excited counting up these cards and discovering I'd scored 69 points... only to have Finnegan count up his four cards and proclaim he had 71!? GAH!? CO CLOSE!!! The Girl has 61.


Saturday, 5 May 2018

More Century: Golem Edition



The Girl ended this game and scored 60 points.



Finnegan had only four - but he also had four of the bronze (or copper?) coins (why are they worth more than silver?) and just crushed us both. He is just rocking this game.



Once again, I trailed behind at 58...


Sunday, 6 May 2018

I went over to Emily and Aaron's to play play in Bob's Numenera game (along with Bruce and Adelle). My character, Rocking Rick - a Craven Jack who is Trying to Get the Band Back Together, did very little.... I think I gave a few autographs and then got confused about some commands given to me by a mind-controller and while I was told to go find someone names Roxwulf, Rocking Rick has decided he was told to Rock the Wolves - and had headed off back to the woods to find some wolves to rock... The next scheduled game was to be on the long weekend and it ended up being cancelled as no one was really available. The next game is supposed to be this Sunday... but Amanda and I are currently down with really nasty colds and I'm not sure if either of us will be able to make it...


Monday, 7 May 2018



AGAIN with the Century: Golem Edition!? I FINALLY got a smaller deck going that worked nicely together BEFORE someone else picked up five victory cards - and did it EVER work well!



I scored 89 points! The kids had 59 and 47!

(I kind of almost feel like the kids are getting sick of this and LET me win, though...?)


Wednesday, 9 May 2018



We decided to switch things up and play some Race for the Galaxy - which we haven't played for some time!



I had a pretty solid Alien Theme going. Finnegan started off going for mining stuff, but ended up just with production and consumption and prestige... He ended with 71 points, I had 64, The Girl had 32..?


Friday, 11 May 2018

Amanda was back from her conference and took the Friday off.



She played Just Desserts with the kids while I made them all pancakes for brunch. Then pancakes probably seemed rather boring after all the discussion of all the tasty desserts... I guess with enough maple syrup pancakes an sort of be like dessert...

later in the evening Bob and Bruce came by to play in our 40K/Rogue Trader game. No tabletop action this evening (like our previous game). This was all pretty much straight role-playing. Everyone recovered from their wounds and, having saved the Imperial Commander, gained access to her extensive archives. The crew negotiated a deal to find a planet for some pilgrims from a hive world in the core of the Imperium. The navigator found some references to a few promising worlds in the archives. The loaded the Pilrgims up in the hold and took off. During the voyage there was considerable tension between the crew and the pilgrims - which got worse and worse as they journeyed through the warp. Eventually they came out the other end and discovered a planet in the system that was suitable for human survival... but it turned out to already be inhabited by at least two advanced cultures...

We were supposed to play again past weekend, but I was coming down with this cold I have now, so we'll have to wait until later this month to find out how it all turns out...


Saturday, 12 May 2018

The Girl had a few friends over on Saturday for a birthday party. (her birthday wasn't actually ON Saturday, it's just when her friends were available...)



She set up and ran a game of Mysterium for them. I think they actually won in the end!



Later they broke out Exploding Kittens and added in the Imploding Kittens expansion she got for her birthday and played that. As the Birthday Girl, she got to wear the Cone of Shame! The boys obviously play a lot of Exploding Kittens and have actually developed some strategy to this game and just crushed the kids...


Sunday, 20 May 2018

We didn't play anymore games until the long weekend. Originally I'd thought we'd end up playing a LOT of games over the long weekend... but in the end we only played a few on the Suday afternoon. The rest of the weekend ended up being devoted to binge-watching TV shows on DVDs borrowed from the library...



On Sunday we did get in four games of 40K with The Boyz... a full report of that afternoon of excessive violence in the grim, dark future can be found here:

The Battle for Brind's World Rages On


Friday, 25 May 2018



Later in the week my friend Brent came over to have another crack and Nautilus.



It'd been a while since we played and so there was some refreshing of the rules and it took me a while to sort out any kind of strategy. You really have to balance your efforts between getting little researchers into various capsules and finding goodies out in the deep as the two scores are MULTIPLIED by each other at the end of the game!



I only ever got one sub out there and concentrated on building modules and collecting money from the other players who wanted in on them... I only had one sub out in the end (while I think everyone else had at least two, and a couple of them, I think, had three!). My problems were exacerbated when I finally did get out with my own sub I kept finding treasure chests - which is great early in the game as it gives you straight money and you need money to keep your subs going and building models and all sort of stuff. At the end of the game it is worth come points, but it's straight points added to your total AFTER you've multiplied the other tow totals... Brent ran out of money, but he picked up a LOT more underwater discoveries and ended up tying the game with The Girl at 77! I had 58 - but 31 of that was just from the cash I had left at the end of the game. Finnegan trailed behind at 47!



Later in the evening we were supposed to play our 40K/Rogue Trader game, but I ended up cancelling as it was pretty clear I was coming down with a really nasty cold. The family somehow talked me into propping myself up at the table to play another game of Harry Potter: Hogwart's Battle.



We were taking our first crack at Book Seven and everyone was in pretty high spirits when we started off... Our characters had all gotten significantly better for this last scenario... but then there was the Horcruxs...



And there was lots of cool new cards... but the were all pretty pricey and mixed in with the rest of the deck we kept getting markets like this from the get-go - where everything was so expensive, we went for turns with no one being able to buy ANYTHING!? This is my biggest complaint about the game - there is no way to refresh the market when you get stuck like this...



Despite the horcruxs and the too expensive marketplace we did take out eight of the villains... before we lost...

I was really hoping for a bit of luck so we could be DONE with this game and move on to one of the other campaign games we were hoping to play this year (Mice & Mystics,  Hero Realms/The Ruin of Thandar Campaign, Shadowrun: Crossfire, etc...)


Saturday,  26 May 2018

The following evening we had another crack at Harry Potter: Hogwart's Battle.



The starting market.... how is anyone supposed to buy any of this on the first turn!? Unless you get ALL of your Alohamora cards in your first hand!?


Despite not being able to buy cards for turns on end, we dragged this one out a little longer...



Midway through the game, some of those same cards still sitting there... I think two or three of them were still there at the end of the game...



This time we were able to take out TEN of the villains and ALL of the Horcruxs before losing the game...

Ugh.... now we have to play it AGAIN...


Tuesday, 29 May 2018

My other friend Bob was in town for the evening, so I set up a little game of The Pikeman's Lament.



It was great fun - a full report of that action (with loads more pictures) can be found here:

Beating Up Quarters


Thursday, 31 May 2018

Finally, yesterday, on the last day of the month, the kids decided it would be fun to play Monarch.



It's a fun little game and doesn't take too long to play. The Girl started off pretty strong, picking up the Might card that allows you to buy all might cards at a discount AND another might card and seized the might banner - all on her FIRST TURN!

I brought the game to and end with 7 cards in my court, but Finnegan crushed it with loads of points multipliers and piles of Bounty cards in the realm... He ended with 47, I had 41, and The Girl had 33. Maybe should have covered up some of his improvements!

As always, I wished we could have got a few more games in... but the games were played were pretty fun. Although the last couple games of Century: Golem Edition people were starting to get pretty cranky about others snapping up the cards they were woking so long on to try and get the correct gems... I think it's good we've taken a bit of a break from that...


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog:

As I indicated in the post earlier today, I've finally started work on the Warhound Titan(s). Hopefully I'll get some time to work on them over the weekend and finish them up early next week.