Tabletop Games

It took us a little over two years to play through the twenty-five scenarios of Jaws of the Lion. But we enjoyed every single one of those twenty five. Covid, real life, and the occasional other game (mostly Terraforming Mars) got in the way of finishing this prequel to Gloomhaven in any reasonable amount of time. Sometimes, months would go by between plays. But we always came back. Our time with Gloomhaven and Jaws of the Lion gave us a reason to come together and just lose ourselves in a world where certain doom seemed to lurk around every new scenario. ...

I’d love to travel as much as this game has travelled. Poland (not Portugal), Germany, all over the Eastern USA… Can’t wait to play it! Star Scrappers Orbital I’ll have more to write about it once we get it into a game night…!

It’s that time of the month when I pull out the old atlas and scour the world for my Kickstarter projects! Where could they be this month??? Let’s find out together! Star Scrappers Orbital First up is Star Scrappers Orbital, a game designed by the same fella that designed Terraforming Mars, a game that we have had hundreds of hours of fun playing – it’s right up there with the top board games I have ever played, and a purchase I never regret. It’s described as an “engine building, worker placement” game, which only means that it’s made in Europe, where they love that kind of stuff. This game is being shipped to me from Portugal, and is currently sitting somewhere in a warehouse in Köln, waiting for a jet to the USA, I assume. It’s scheduled to arrive next week, sometime. ...

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”. ...

My sister and her family recently moved from Texas back to Connecticut! Yay! So she’s living now on the coast, just 45 minutes away! More yay! We’re going down for a visit in a couple of weeks to see how she’s settling in! Maximum yay! Just one concern I have… which board game should I bring? First I had to find the place. So naturally, I hopped into Microsoft Flight Simulator to quickly fly from New Haven to where her house might be, on Long Island Sound. ...

It could be. I’ve been playing a lot of it. But, it isn’t. It’s about finding the motivation to blog, which, from what I gather, is this week’s theme. When blogging was at its biggest, blogging meant something. So many people that I followed at the time turned their blogs into real jobs. I turned my blog into two real jobs – one at an insurance company (where I still work), and a short gig blogging with Massively. I met a lot of really good friends, including my boyfriend, blogging. ...