Greetings from the Toddler Zone

I send greetings from the land of chaos, mirth, and general destruction called Toddler Zone. I have been an all but totally absent feature at recent gaming events, and my blog posts have been few and far between. So, I thought I'd use this brief nugget of naptime respite to report on my recent gaming activities:

Dwarf Fortress 2
This game is so vast in scope, complexity, and wonder, its hard to describe. Essentially, its a real time entire fantasy planet simulator, where an entire Lord of the Rings-sized saga is unfolding around you, and you control either a single dwarf settlement or just an individual adventurer. I've been putting a fair amount of time trying to get into this game, but I still feel like I barely understand what is going on or why my kingdom gets horribly destroyed or some of my dwarves literally get so upset they commit suicide. Nonetheless, if you can tolerate the ASCII, there is amazing depth here. In any event, its totally free.

Dungeon Crawl Stone Soup:
I've posted enough about this wonderful Rogue incarnation that I won't repeat myself. The variety of classes, races, religions, plus random instances and encounter vaults interspersed throughout the dungeon make this my current favorite masochistic pleasure. Rogue-style games should be a required component of any anger management program, as having your level 25 character you have carefully nurtured for the past 4 hours insta-killed with no save recovery because you made a stupid split second decision will teach one iron self control. Hey wait.. I think I just repeated myself.

Halo: ODST:
Its like Gears of War 2 Horde Mode, only better.

Hellenes, and latest two Command and Conquer Ancients Expansions:
These should arrive any day now... Between these, the first two C&C: Ancients Expansions, FAB: Bulge, Asia Engulfed, and 1805: Sea of Glory I probably have something like 1,000 wooden blocks to sticker. I think this calls for a fresh, new exacto knife...

Race for the Galaxy: AI
Speaking of soul crushing.... Wow, I suck at this game! But, man... this AI solo version is great fun. I was actually able to dominate the AI incorporated into this guy's earlier Blue Moon game (which is still well worth the download), but I clearly need some Race practice. This game is making my lunch hours at work something I get quite excited about these days.

GeoDefense and GeoDefense Swarm
The most deliciously frustrating tower defense games I've played in a long time. I enjoy the high tech, vector-style graphics that will melt your retinas when they start going wild at high levels. Well worth the $0.99 cost for each.

Storm Over Stalingrad
Do we really need another wargame about Stalingrad? Yes! Two titanic armies throwing everything into a meat grinder. Easy, pretty, and engaging, this is the right kind of game for my current lifestyle. Good job MMP!

Okay, that's enough chatter for one post. Hope to see everyone soon, or at least at BGG.Con!

Initiating teleport back to Toddler Zone!