I won Compile: Main 2, Aux 2, and a playmat from a giveaway.
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Yunnan and SwitchTo arrived, as did Ra: Acrylic
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Shiny!
Going to try for them at Essen, but probably wonāt make it in time.
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For some reason a spate of these popped up at reasonable prices recently. I have long had a hankering for it but kind of missed it before for no good reason. I hope itās good and the Iello presentation is very jolly.
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Horseless Carriage for $25 seems ridiculous.
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Well, these came in today! Friendly not-no-local-but-super-friendly-and-always-cheaper game store (FNSLBSFACGS for short) was having an 11th-anniversary sale and so I pounced:
SETI has been bugging me for a while, and SS&P is our latest obsession. Huzzah!
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If anyone interested it looks like Game in the UK (and sports direct oddly) are selling off the Twilight Inscription roll and write for Ā£13 plus 4.99 postage in the UK.
Bought on a whim at that price - we will see if they deliver ā¦!
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Theyāre all in Frasers Group, owned by Mike Astley and got caught underpaying workers in their Swandlincote warehouse.
The do take a ājumble saleā approach to selling stuff.
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The new Twilight Imperium expansion (Thunder Edge) includes a bunch of Inscription expansion stuff.
And I really like Twilight Inscription. It doesnāt lack for ambition!
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Also one of the Zatu bloggers got a cheap playmat for Expeditions there, so it seems to be several game-related items.
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Hah - order cancelled by sports direct. Apparently no longer in the warehouse. Or they worked out they were selling it too cheap ā¦.
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Bought Colt Express 10th anniversary box
And also Fungi
(Both in foyles)
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I just recalled that I had not mentioned some games that made it into my collection. This wasā¦ erm, back in late June and early July. Iām not sure what Iāve been doing in the mean time, but whatever it is, itās been exhausting.
Local No-Ship Math Trade
There was a no-ship math trade conducted at the gaming convention I try to attend each year- Iāve been able to attend the last couple of years, but really just as a way of being in the vicinity of people gaming and without actually having the time to play anything, much less arrange other players to join me. This year I did manage to get some time to play a game with my daughters, Tales & Games: The Hare & the Tortoise (as much as I like the game, Iām not sure Iāll write any more about it since itās been so long)
However, in the math trade, I got one really exciting trade and also, well, another game to try
Received: LIttle Alchemists
Gave: Astro Knights
Iāve been a big fan of Alchemists for a long time. A deduction puzzle bolted onto a tight euro experience. I didnāt even realize there was a ākidsā version until I saw it in the listing for the math trade. As far as Astro Knights goes, I was really let down by my 1 play of it and, while it does things I enjoy, I strongly prefer Aeonās End and canāt imaging wanting to play AK instead of AE.
Received: Crystallo
Gave: Firefly: Shiny Dice
Firefly: Shiny Dice is likely the worst modern game Iāve ever played. It was a struggle to get rid of it in math trades; Iām glad I finally got it off my shelf. Crystallo could be interesting; Iām thinking it may be an activity I do with my daughter(s) rather than sitting down to play a solo session alone.
Otherwise
For my birthday this year, my partner and I went on a day-date to the local boardgame cafe and played Dorfromantik: The Board Game and part of a game of Juicy Fruits (unsure if Iāll write about it. Dorf was fun but too random for my tastes. Juicy Fruits was overwrought; we were just about to start making interesting decisions (I think?) when we had to go home and relieve the babysitter.
On our way out the door, I stopped to browse the clearance shelf and found
Waterfall Park
I had intended to simply skip this game and continue to hang onto my as-yet-unplayed copy of Chinatown. But in a store that regularly sells at or above MSRP/RRP, my ghast was absolutely flabbered when I saw Waterfall Park marked down to $20. Thatās cheaper than a plate of nachos at the attached gaming cafe! I simply couldnāt resist.
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Looks like FFG have made LOTS of Arkham Horror the LCG out of print forever (including very recent boxes), along with the oldest 3/4 of Marvel Champions. (Theyāre not even reprinting X-Men! X-Men!)
So I bought the barely-a-year-old MC Age of Apocalypse expansion box from ebay from somewhere in Europe that will take a month to deliver, because itās out of stock literally everywhere online. And itās the 2nd most recent box.
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I could genuinely write a 2000 word post about why this is the last thing an LCG company should ever do, and how it shows that FFG either have no clue what theyāre doing or have been overruled by corporate (who have no clue what theyāre doing).
It drives away 4 of the main 5 types of your buyers (especially those who buy the most) and the remaining 1/5 are mythical (people who buy a core box and then only one recent hero pack, which is the new business model).
āOh, I like Winter Soldier, Iāll buy that. But despite being a WS fan, I mysteriously donāt want to ever be able to buy Capt America or Falcon or any of WSā closest allies from the movies and Iām fine with thatā. Doesnāt exist. Itās more like āAll the X-Men are already out of print? I wonāt start this game then.ā Absolute madness.
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The X-Men thing may be part of the licensing deal. I believe the entire X-Men wave had to happen all together because of something to do with the licensing, so they may not be allowed to print more of it.
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Bought Cosmolancer because who doesnāt want to take photographs of space whales?
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I won a copy of Memoir 'Long Time Ago (aka Battle of Hoth) today at Wellycon! It was the only thing I played from the Play To Win table and, as someone who has ignored Star Wars since the prequel trilogy, Iām not sure Iād even have picked up the box were it not for Anticipated games - #917 by COMaestro which caused the title to ring a bell for me. I could immediately see what it was from the picture on the back of the box, so I grabbed it and set up the first scenario at a table and, as fortune would have it (as itās been a while since Iāve played Memoir), someone turned up who knew the system better than myself (and who had already bought Battle of Hoth but hadnāt had a chance to play it, so was super keen). We quickly agreed to reject the first scenario (which has only infantry on each side), and set up a scenario with more variety.
The scenario had the rebels trying to locate a downed enemy ship and transmit data, and the empire sending in swarms of troops to prevent that from happening ā in this mission, every eliminated empire unit comes back (following an intervening turn without them) as reinforcements at the edge of the map. So the rebels are trying to get the job done before theyāre completely overwhelmed.
Per M44 tradition we played it both ways, and on balance either we drew or else I took a narrow win (I know that they beat me 5 to 4 when I played as the rebels in the second round, but I canāt remember whether theyād had 3 or 4 medals to my 5 when I won the first round playing the empire).
The damned AT-AT nearly ruined me in the second game. It only takes one hit to take it down, but youāre only rolling potential hits with the initial dice, and then you re-roll any of those potential successes to see if you succeed again. I attacked it with three units, rolling a total of nine dice, with 4 or 5 potential hits, and never got the result I needed on the re-roll. I wasted one additional turn trying to eliminate it, before giving it up as a lost cause.
(In hindsight, this was not an improbable outcome. Thereās a 1/3 chance of a potential hit (two of the die faces qualify), but only a 1/6 chance of a re-roll doing the damage. Soā¦ if it needs (on average) 6 re-rolls to get the desired result, then weād need (on average) to be rolling 18 dice initially!? Which Iām sure is more than I expended on it in total. I can only imagine how good it must feel when, with nothing better to do with a card, you take a single-die punt at one of those things and actually manage to take it down!)
Another fun feature of this version is the āleadersā ā each side includes 3 leaders, each of which provides 3 powerful cards, and you choose one of those sets to add to your deck. With team play, each player has their own leader, so will have the opportunity to do uniquely powerful things.
First impressions were great. If you like Star Wars and you like the Command and Colours system, I reckon this is well worth a look. Do note that itās a stripped-back version of the system when compared to even the base game of M44, with a smaller map and only three unit types each. I donāt think this is a bad thing ā that size and simplicity makes for a very quick play time, which feels to me like a nice alternative ā I was delighted to bring it home with me! YMMV though.
And hereās an enthusiastic review from a C&C superfan if thatās of interest.
(I would also be stunned if there are not lots of expansions and scenarios planned to increase the options; and their approach to allowing for larger maps is that the flip-side of the board forms half of a double-sized map for āepicā scenarios using two copies of the game (but only one epic scenario is included in this base set). Pretty sure theyāre going to milk this for all itās worth! And itāll provide a good gateway to other C&C for many players, no doubt.)
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A buddy (who had never played any of the C&C games) and I took it for a spin last week. We played the first 4 scenarios in order, and he (as the Empire) won the first two before the Rebels rallied and took games 3 and 4 by narrow margins.
One of those saw my last Snowspeeder get a point-blank shot (4 dice) at his AT-AT and manage to take it down. Very, very satisfying!
My only complaint is the default number of units isnāt super varied, but Iām not sure how much they can really add without it becoming a bit silly. Flamethrower snowtroopers, fine, and AT-STs would be thematic (if not canonical, I believe?), but that means the Rebels would have to get (sigh) Tauntauns (Iām sorry, but cavalry?! On a snow planet!? I justā¦ I canātā¦) because other than thatā¦ I suppose they could expand the window and allow Rebel Saboteurs, Commandos, and Sappers without it being too far-fetched.
Just as long as they donāt ever bring in Rebel AT-RTs. Iām sorry, simply the stupidest vehicle ever designed for a warzone. āLetās put an unarmoured person ABOVE all the cover in a completely exposed position without any useful armour plating or shielding!ā
Ugh, it makes me mad just thinking about it. Itās almost as bad as those WH40K mechs that they strap the pilot to outside the vehicle IN THE FRONT. At least there they have the excuse that itās 40K and the vehicle exists as a weapon platform to kill heathens AND punish the pilot as much as possible. Still stupid, but diegetically āmakes sense.ā
Anyway. Yeah! Battle for Hoth is great! Canāt wait for a few expansions!
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Brought back from Essen:
- Flash Point Legacy plus the board box
- Compile Main 2 and Aux 2
- Deluxe arena for Kabuto Sumo Sakura Slam, and another promo.
- Tinderblox Storm
- Deckers (the new Renegade)
- Diamonds
- Invincible (coop superhero game, basically an Astro Knights reskin), and expansions
- Map Masters
- Ticket Gagnant
- Earth Abundance plus Weather
- Terraforming Mars Dice: Missions
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