Game Night

Two short scenarios for last night’s Jaws of the Lion campaign: First was “The Heist”, where we investigate a sewer branch that led directly beneath some rich dude’s mansion. Second was the Red Guard’s personal quest. Both were harrowing races against time. We were recovering from our last adventure in the Beguiling Sewers at our home base, the Sleeping Dragon Inn, when in burst a messenger, panting and looking a little wild-eyed. “A message! For! A Red Guard! Seen in this area!” he panted, looking around, but not seeing us at our usual table in the back corner. ...

Last week, we saved the forest with apple pies in My Little Scythe. Now we have to save the world – or at least 1920s Eastern Europe – in Scythe. Both “My Little Scythe” and “Scythe” have similar game play. In both, you choose from among a certain amount of actions, that are upgraded as the game progresses, in order to boost your faction and reach a set number of goals. Scythe takes that basic template and bolts on asymmetric gameplay, where each faction plays a little differently from the others, with different advantages. I played Crimea, which also grabs parts of both what would be Ukraine and Russia in today’s world, and utterly controls access to the Black Sea. Crimea’s special ability is built around farming combat cards and using them to make itself a more formidable opponent, as well as one that is deadly in a fight. ...

In yesterday’s Game Night, we eased my sister deeper into the world of board gaming with “My Little Scythe”, and tested out Game Toppers’ “Watson” gaming surface and mat. One of the first things my sister Vallerie showed me when I first visited her in her new home nearby was a battered copy of “Settlers of Catan” she’d picked up second hand. “I’ve been seeing your posts about your game nights on Instagram,” she said, “and I want in.” ...

Spoiler alert: They’re in China. Last week, game developer Todd Walsh and publisher Mike Gnade held a live preview of their new game expansion, “Set a Watch: Swords of the Coin”. During the Q&A session afterward, they expanded on how difficult it is to print games with lower print runs or custom components in the US or the EU. So, everyone goes to China. But with world shipping in upheaval, getting the games from China… that’s an issue. Rock Manor Games had to do a Go Fund Me (it was some other fundraising site, but same diff) to raise money to get the games out of China. ...

I buy too much stuff on Kickstarter. And so can you. Might be fun to look into some of the recent projects I’ve backed… especially since I can’t reliably connect to DCUO since the patch so I am practicing mandolin and backing Kickstarters… and one of them is too horrifying to talk about. The other one is about giving your money to strangers. Hangin’ with Dr. Z: Season 2 Starting off with the one in the header, “Hangin’ with Dr. Z: Season 2”. Back last winter, I think it was, my boyfriend put on the Simpson’s “Planet of the Apes – the Musical” episode and all either of us were doing for the next few days were singing bits of “Doctor Zaius Doctor Zaius… Doctor Zaius”. ...

I’m kind of worried about the next time when we play “Jaws of the Lion”, as we’ll be confronting cultists again. I don’t really know if I’ll be able to fight against the Blue Oyster Cult… I do try to print as much of the game as I can. I really have been slacking off, lately. I started out wanting to print all the hex tiles for all the dungeons, but the scenario book is so much more detailed… ...

Terraforming Mars, the big box game by FryxGames, is a long-time favorite board game at our kitchen table. As the name implies, it’s a game about making Mars habitable by humans. But, what if Terraforming Mars, but a fast-paced card game? That’s Ares Expedition. Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition shares a lot of elements with the board game. There’s a board representing Mars, divided into hexes. Players represent corporations building generation-long projects, which are cards in both games. Players have their own player boards, on which they track wealth and resources. What’s changed? ...

It’s a game about rolling up a character for a tabletop fantasy RPG. You just roll up the character. That’s it. It’s amazing, though.

Gamers gotta game, even on Christmas Day…

I really want to apologize for the gaps in game blogging. I’m still gaming, as much as ever. I have a lot to write about with EverQuest II, the PlayStation 5, and especially Assassins Creed: Valhalla, and I will try to get to these things :-) As well as streaming again. But for now, here’s our latest adventures in Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion. When the pandemic hit, we stopped having game nights. When Connecticut flattened the curve in the summer and things eased up again, we started meeting and playing the new Gloomhaven game, Jaws of the Lion, every other Game Night, which we hold every other week. It used to be weekly before the pandemic, but we want to space them two weeks in case anyone is sick without knowing it. ...