No painting lately, but some boardgames

   Partly a result of having left town for ten days, and recovering from same afterwards, I really haven't done much painting lately. I'm going to try to get back into it this week.

   I did play a few games over the past few weeks. I beat my wife in Scrabble, a classic. I got in Triplanetary from the Kickstarter but haven't had a chance to get to play it really. I did practice some of the maneuvers - the vector system takes some getting used to, really. 

   I purchased Fallout, the boardgame. Played a game of that solo trying to figure out how it works. Managed to win, and enjoyed the solo play of it. I am looking forward to playing with others.

   Finally, my buddy Zach, his son, and I played a game of Zombicide: Green Horde, which he went all in on with the Kickstarter. Tons of stuff. TONS. We played the first scenario, and managed a win. Those orcs are tough! Not so much to kill, but man they chew you up if they get a a chance to hit you.

MillenniumCon XX Flash Report

   Just got home from Round Rock. Overall, I had a really good time at the convention. Photos will follow soon (ish). Highlights:

• My game went really well. A few bumps, but everyone seemed to enjoy it, and I got some good feedback for a future refinement... this one may return.

• I played in five games. Of those, I won four (one was a co-operative win). The other was determined a draw.

• Bought a good deal of new toys.

• Met a lot of new people, mainly gamers from Texas.

• Ran into a lot of people I have met over the years at various other stores and conventions.

• Best of all, I ran into someone I knew a long time ago. Tim was one of my fish buddies when we were in the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M. We are both Class of '94 members of Company A-2, 7th Btn, 1st Reg't. We hadn't seen one another in almost 24 years, but we got a chance to catch up some while we played a game of OGRE together. Information exchanged.

   Basically, I have to say that MillenniumCon is the best small convention I have ever attended. The atmosphere is fun and relaxed. The venue is good (could use food service) and clean.

   That's the FLASH report.

Recent Purchases

   Since the storm I have been engaging in a great deal of retail therapy. I know it's probably not real healthy, but I've spent a fair amount of money lately on a wide variety of games and accessories. SO, just to keep it in my mind, and give you faithful few an idea of where my madness has been leading me lately...

Rulebooks...

• Frostgrave Thaw of the Lich Lord

• Starfinder RPG Core Rulebook

• Bolt Action, 2nd Edition
• Armies of Germany

• Gothic: An Expansion for In Her Majesty's Name
• FOW 4E: Desert Rats

And Accessories...

• FOW 4e: Desert Rats Command Cards
• FOW 4e: Desert Rats Tokens

• Dystopian Wars: Cards
• IHMN: Tokens/markers
• Vallejo Paints and Brush On Primer

And boardgames...

• Machi Koro: Bright Lights, Big City

• SmashUp: Big in Japan
• SmashUp: Monster Movie Mashup
• SmashUp: Cease and Desist

And minis...

• Red Vectors Martian Skiffs (x2), custom scaled to work for 15mm.
• Trollbloods Starter Battlegroup

• Circle Oroboros Starter Battlegroup (old)

• Dystopian Wars FSA Valley-class Airship
• Ogre Miniatures: Hover Trucks and Light Artillery Drones (x3 each)

• Ogre Miniatures: Paneuro GEVs (x6)
• WH40K: Necron Canoptic Scarab Swarm (x6 bases) for use as Automaton Insects
• Bolt Action BEF Vickers MMG Team
• Bolt Action Home Guard Blacker Bombard Team

• Bolt Action BEF 3" Mortar Team

And a lot of terrain, too...

• Battlefield in a Box: Pacific Landing Mats
• Battlefield in a Box: Extra Large Dune
• Battlefield in a Box: Desert Escarpments

• Battlefield in a Box: Desert Scrub
• Battlefield in a Box: Desert Administration Building
• PlastCraft: Colored Desert Building Set (x2)

• PlastCraft: Colored Desert 2-story Desert Building
• PlastCraft: Colored Desert Dwelling
• PlastCraft: Colored Desert Dwelling with Stairs
• Ainsty 28mm wooden jetty
• Four Hirst Arts molds and plaster

   Ummm... I may have a problem.

Pandemic

   Hey all. I played a new boardgame last night, and enjoyed it a lot. My usual Tuesday night Pathfinder game was canceled because the game master is in DC for a couple of weeks for work. So some of us got together and played boardgames. Anyway, Steve brought his favorite game, Pandemic. It was my first time to play it, and it was fun, but kind of tough.

   Players take the roles of various members of an epidemic control team. The goal is to come up with a cure for each of four plagues (blue, red, black, and yellow) before time runs out or a worldwide panic ensues. It's a cooperative game, so everyone wins or loses, like Arkham Horror. In our first game, we lost, because one of the diseases began a series of outbreaks and we couldn't keep up. Our second game of the night we won, but only just before time ran out.

   Anyway, it was a lot of fun, and the cooperative aspect made for a very social game. 

Tabletop Gaming Day 2017

   Last year I participated in a a local Tabletop Gaming Day event put on by a nice guy named Curtis. He invited me back again this year, and I went. I even brought a few other people, four guys from the Pathfinder group I am playing in now.

   I stayed a lot later than planned. Like, until midnight.

   Played a lot of games, some for the first time, some not. I did okay in wins/losses, too, which is unusual for me. I usually lose a lot more than I win, but have fun playing the game anyway so that's what matters most. Here's what I played, and my thoughts about the games.

• King of Tokyo: Played twice, showing one guy how to play for the first time. I won both times.

• Tsuro: Played twice, the first time for me. Okay with two players, but would probably be more fun with three or four. Very Asiatic and Zen in its play. Follow the path...

• Dominion: First time. Played against three other people. The owner of the game, who was showing the rest of us how to lay, won handily. Still, it was fun. He had some expansions to the basic game in there as well.
• Smash Up: I really like this game a lot. We play at home fairly often. I brought my copy with three (or is it four now?) expansions. I was the only experienced player of the seven (that's right, 7!!) playing. I played a new combo, Ghosts and Zombies. It was my first time playing Ghosts, and I didn't like them much. I still won, but it took FOREVER with that many new players. Like three hours.
• Machi Koro: A neat Japanese deck building game where you try to finish off your city's landmarks. I played with three other people, I think the Bright Lights, Big City edition with the Harbour expansion as well. It was a lot of fun. I also won, which doesn't hurt the fun factor.
• Cards Against Humanity: A group of about eight of us played. When we quit, I was tied for the lead with five cards. I'm a little ashamed of myself...
• Werewolf: In this game, you have people who are secretly werewolves, and the rest of the players are villagers (well, some are special villagers). We played twice, with about 15 players each time. I was killed in both games, but the villagers discovered the werewolves the first time around. The second time around, I was the last villager and two werewolves got me. Oh well. It was a lot of fun, but I think it needs a lot of people. Playing with only five or six would be dull, and with less than four would be pointless.

   The cost for the event was a $5 door fee. They held raffles, and I won a $25 gift certificate to a local game store. They also provided food and non-alcoholic beverages all day, including donuts and pigs in a blanket in the morning, lunch of home smoked bbq brisket sandwiches, a variety of sides, a killer buffalo chicken dip, and pizza in the evening.

  All in all, considering I got three meals and made $20 while having a good time for about 14 hours, I would say it was a great day of gaming. Can't wait until next year!

Zombicide Black Plague: First Game

   One of the things I received for Christmas this year was a copy of Zombicide Black Plague, the fantasy/medieval version of the hit boardgame Zombicide. I'd played it once before, last May I think it was, and had enjoyed it a lot, so it went on the list for this year.

   Today we broke it out and played for the first time. The players were myself, my son Dane, his girlfriend Elysia, my friend Zach, and his son. Setup was pretty quick. I ran through the rules with everyone (it took about ten minutes to explain the basics to everyone), and then we set off on the Tutorial Quest.

Not us playing - but it is the tutorial quest

   It took a bit longer than anticipated - about an hour, as opposed to the projected 45 minutes - but we made it through the quest, all hale and whole. We moved on to the first 'real' quest (there are ten in the rules). 

The 'dashboard' - one of the things I like about Black Plague

   We had two objectives, either of which would win the game for us: activate all the objectives, thus finding the laboratory, or killing one of each Necromancer and Abomination. We started with the objectives. Things started off well for us in the quest to destroy the laboratory of the foul Necromancer. We cleared a couple of objectives, and then... Dane (playing Ann the Battle Nun) went off by himself and pulled an objective - the laboratory! Which caused a Necromancer to spawn there. And his zombie protectors. Down went Ann. The Necromancer then proceeded to attempt to escape from the board, as they are supposed to do.

   Luckily, we had one player running two characters, so we just put that character (Samson) under Dane's control. Lesson learned, we did our best to stay in a fairly tight group, especially when an Abomination spawned. In our tight group, we ran away from it, because we had nothing that could stop such a terrible monster. At least not until we found a vial of Dragon Bile! Luckily, we moved faster than the Abomination, so we kept out ahead of it. In the meantime, the wizard, played by Elysia, cut down a Necromancer, meeting one half of our objective. Change of plan! Now we wanted to find that Dragon Bile, kill the Abomination, and win!

   Two turns later, we found some. I already had a torch to light the stuff, so off we went, through the subterranean vault to get near the monster. Elysia gave me the Bile, and we lured the Abomination closer. Just as it got close, I threw the bile and touched it off with the flaming brand in my hand! With a roar, the intense flames flashed up, instantly burning the Abomination to ash, and ending the game.

   At this point we called it a day. The game is lots of fun, and I have already been given three expansions to it, including the Deadeye Walkers (zombie archers!) and two of the Guest Star packs of heroes (Joven Nerd and Paolo Somethingorother). Maybe we will try to work some of those into the next Quest.

Game Day Today...

   Today was a really busy game day for me.  I attended a sort of mini-convention near my home. My buddy Zach went along and we spent the day playing a variety of games - more games combined in one day than I've played so far this year.

   First up was an Infinity demo. Zach is quite keen on this game, having played in one other demo previously. I took a small Nomad force and he took a PanOceania force. The terrain was pretty heavy - something I understand is pretty important for the game. I ended up winning by eliminating three of his four troopers at the cost of two of my own. We kept to just the basics, but it seems like a fun game. I'll have to talk him into buying some terrain. Maybe if I offer to paint it for him... Anyway, thanks to Duncan and Curtis for helping put this together.

Lots of nice terrain for Infinity - laser cut MDF from various manufacturers.

   Next we played a couple of games of Zombicide: Black Plague, which is the medieval fantasy themed version of Zombicide. The first game ended rather abruptly as our victory conditions required that all six of the survivors (players) had to exit the board through a particular space. One of the survivors was killed, ending the game for us. We re-played the same scenario a second time (the fifth scenario "The Commandery," if you are familiar with it). We succeeded this time, despite one player doing exactly the same thing he had done in the first game that led to his demise the first time around!

Hordes of zeds headed our way in Zombicide: Black Plague.

   After that I went and played a few games of King of Tokyo. This is a fun, relatively quick game that combines kaiju monsters, Yahtzee-like dice rolling, power-up cards, and 'king of the hill.' I lost the first game, but won the second on Victory Points. Judicious use of a power-up card (Wings) kept me from being eliminated by some pretty heavy attacks.

   The last game in which I participated was a weird little card game called Exploding Kittens. Essentially, you don't want to draw an Exploding Kitten card. If you do, you're out. Last man standing wins. You play cards to make other people draw cards, avoid having to draw them yourself, steal a card from their hand, and so on. It's alright, but maybe a little odd in terms of art and card titles and such for me.

Monterey Jack Saves the Day

   I am speaking, naturally, of the eminent archaeologist of Arkham, not the cheese.

Monterey Jack interacts with Amazonian Locals

   We played another game of Arkham Horror this week. This time we added in the cards from both the King in Yellow and Curse of the Dark Pharaoh sets. Our Ancient One was Nyalarthotep. I drew Monterey Jack as my investigator, which is fine, because he is one of my favorites.

   This was one of the fastest games we have yet played. The Investigators triumphed by closing all the gates. Monterey Jack, after having a great deal of trouble in the Other Worlds (especially being delayed three times in the Abyss) used an Elder Sign to seal the final gate in the eighth turn of the game. And, thanks to the luck of the draw on gate locations, there were three turns in which a gate failed to appear because the location was already sealed with an Elder Sign. The Stars Were Not Right.

 

Shub-Niggurath Awakes! Investigators Devoured.

Shub-Niggurath, from Art Ogre Studios

  Zach, Dane, and I played another game of Arkham Horror yesterday afternoon. The Ancient One drawn was Shub-Niggurath. We've never faced her before. Yow! Tough one, and we lost.

  We added in the King in Yellow expansion this time as well, using the Permanent Production and Herald options. This was a first for us (it was an early Christmas gift from Zach), and it went... not well. Not that it made the game less fun - far from it! I appreciated the extra encounter cards and the new items and spells and such. It does increase the difficulty level a bit, though. One reason we lost was the Herald and those darned Yellow Signs tokens! These are used whenever the Terror Track increases, and you have two options: advance the Doom Track or accept a Blight, which is sort of like a universal, permanent, negative Ally. We only had the Terror Track creep up on us twice - we are pretty good at keeping monster numbers down - but the advancing Doom track and the Blight we drew might have done us in.

  It started off so well. We each sealed a gate in the same turn! Only three left, we thought... Ashcan Pete (me) managed to get a second gate closed, finally, for a total of four. And then, just as I was ready to pop back into Arkham from the Great Hall of Celeano with five Clues, disaster struck: a Blight. And this particular Blight meant that it would take six Clues to seal the gate. SO much for that brilliant plan.

  At that point, we only had two spaces left on the Doom Track. Shub Niggurath awoke. We fought, but... without appropriate equipment or bonuses, defeating Shub-Niggurath was just not possible. We were all devoured, the Ancient One rampaged across Arkham, and it was a Bad Day for Massachusetts.

  Next time we are adding in the Innsmouth expansion. That was my gift to Zach. Great minds think alike, I guess. It looks diabolically difficult as well. Those Ancient Ones need to stay sleeping!

More Horror in Arkham

Fittingly for the month of Zomtober - um I mean, October - I've played two games of Arkham Horror in the past couple of weeks.

In both cases, the Elder God (Ithaqua and Nylarthotep, respectively) were thwarted.

  Ithaqua actually awoke, but Our Heroes managed to put his physical form in great distress, and he returned to the icy dimension from which he came. Nylarthotep, thankfully, never awoke.

Also, I keep meaning to obtain photos of the few zombies that I have painted in recent weeks. Only four of them, but I like 'em. I promise to keep trying to remember. Maybe one of them got my brains already and I just haven't noticed? That's possible. All to likely, even.

More Arkham Horror...

   My sons and I took advantage of the unexpected day off from school today and played another game of Arkham Horror. Our second attempt to stop That Which Man Was Not Meant To Know was successful! And the game went much more smoothly this time, with one game under our belt.

   This time around, we went up against the Grand Old Thing Itself, Great Cthulhu! He got close to waking up, too. One bad thing about facing this particular Elder God is that everyone playing has both their primary stats (Stamina and Sanity) reduced by one. I played the Researcher, Greyson was the Private Investigator, and Dane reprised his role as the good Doctor.

   I sealed a gate in the Woods, which turned out to be very helpful in keeping the Great One slumbering. Several more cards were drawn that would have poured forth gates or monsters into the sleepy Massachusetts town had that site not been permanently sealed.

   The game went very well until what looked like the last turn. We had five gates sealed, and only needed one more to save the day. My researcher sat poised to re-emerge from the Great City of Ceanos, seal the gate, and win the game. Then, a minor disaster struck: the Mythos card for the turn before I could emerge from the portal created a new environmental condition: no gates could be sealed while it continued. And if I were to leave the location of the gate, then I would have to go back through the gate all over again before I could seal it. All we could do was to wait, and hope, as Cthulhu crept ever closer to wakefulness...

   Luckily, we finally turned over a new environmental condition when the Ancient One was one turn away from arising. That allowed me to close the gate, seal it permanently, and end the game.

   It's a fun game, but it does take a while, especially with only three players. I'm thinking I might want to get an expansion after one or two more games.

Elder God Defeated! Citizens of Arkham Rejoice!

Arkham, Mass.-- The terrified citizens of the small town of Arkham, Mass., can breathe a sigh of relief. After days of strange happenings, peace and quiet have returned to their once-idyllic village, thanks to the efforts of three brave investigators.

  "I'm just your normal, run-of-the-mill, archaeology professor/world traveler/treasure hunter," said Monterey Jack, one of the investigators, when asked how he came to be prepared to fight an otherworldly horror and its monstrous minions. "I mean, anyone with nerves of steel, muscles of iron, and a cast-iron stomach would have done the same. Now, if you'll excuse me, there's a bottle of Bushmill's that needs rescuing from that liquor store."

   Doctor Vincent Lee, of St. Mary's Hospital, was also instrumental in the investigation. It was his well-timed hail of buckshot that thrust the unimaginable horror back into the cold and dark from whence it emerged. He was also responsible for the death of respected local businessman Hugh Bottoms. Mr. Bottoms was dressed in outlandish robes, spouting gibberish, and viciously attacked Dr. Lee in Uptown. Dr. Lee pronounced him dead on the scene after shooting him. Twice.

  Doctor Carolyn Fern, a resident psychiatrist working at Arkham Asylum, counseled the other investigators during the course of these unsettling events. Her stellar work insured that the other investigators remained sane and capable.

  "These 'monsters,' you see, are merely a projection of your own fears and anxieties into the world around you. Once confronted, they hold no terror for anyone, really. Except the ones that look like spiders. Those ones are evil, and should be destroyed immediately," she said.   

  A parade is scheduled for tomorrow, and the Mayor will speak. The investigators will be receiving the key to the city, a coupon for "Buy One, Get One Free" at the General Store, and an all-expenses paid tour to the Unvisited Isle. Light refreshments will be served, $1 cover charge. 

   The boys and I finished our first game of Arkham Horror this afternoon. We all had a lot of fun, and we managed to defeat the big baddie, Ithqua (actually, one of the weaker adversaries) after he awoke. So, chalk that up as a win, even though we didn't quite manage to seal enough gates to prevent his arrival in the first place...