Friday, September 25, 2009

Quasimodo FTW

A crippled, diseased, wounded beast-man, scorned by all, wanders into Baghdad ... and wins! During the game I'd also been ensorcelled, imprisoned, and exiled. Needless to say, I quickly obtained the master level of "Enduring Hardships." Dennis almost won, since his years spent in the oubliette made for a good story. But he was merely wounded and pursued, and that don't compare with Quasimodo.

Meanwhile, Pat became fabulously wealthy and the King of Thieves (proving her worth by robbing a princely sum from a beggar!), found the valley of diamonds, the land of the Djinn and several treasures ... but she forgot that no story is meaningful unless you tell it in Baghdad, city of Peace. No doubt that bout of insanity played a part.

There aren't many decisions in TotAN, but lots of bad things can happen to you. So it's got that going for it.

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Thursday, September 24, 2009

In the name of gaming

(The compassionate, the merciful). I have a bunch of new games and I'm gone saturday (and monday night!). So tomorrow night we'll throw open the house at 6pm for game night. On the plate -- Arabian Nights. And maybe Shadow Hunters. And FITS ... RSVP in the comments. And if there was bonus gaming Saturday night, well, I'd like to hear about it...

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Sunday, September 20, 2009

Just your typical monday planning post



I'll be there are the normal time... who else?

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Saturday, September 19, 2009

Space Crunk

Chris and I were talking about a Professionally Painted Space Hulk being sold on ebay. The bidding was set to start around $500. Chris wasn't sure it would sell. I saw the hits counter at the time which was in the 3000+. I told him, "dude, it will sell, and for more than that". I was right, but I didn't know how RIGHT I was going to be.

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Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Folk Rock Band

OK, not gaming related at all -- but since there seem to be a few folks who like music, I'll throw it out there. Amy and I are hosting a concert at our house this Sunday night, Sep 20th, 7pm, $10. And this isn't some fly-by-night, unknown local artist either - it's a national artist that's critically acclaimed but unfortunately not so well known -- Bill Mallonee (formerly of Vigilantes of Love).

He's an incredibly talented singer/songwriter. His music ranges from Folk-Rock/Americana to Southern Rock. Billboard magazine says "Dylan-tinged vocal and introspective lyrics that spin out big-picture stories imbued with chilling small details." Anyway, according to me at least, he's a pretty Big Deal, and we're thrilled to host the concert.

Enough with my spam - if you're interested in coming and need directions, let me know - my BGG id is seanp. If you'd consider coming, but the money is keeping you away, please come anyway. We're not doing it for profit, and won't break even regardless, but most of all just want to share the music we really love with others. Visit Bill Mallonee's website for a sample of his music.

Sunday, September 13, 2009

While any weekend ...

... where you beat a new song (or two) on Rock Band is hardly wasted, gaming lacked. So I'll be at Dragon's Lair on Monday to make up for lost time. Now I just have to deal with *#$@# Dream Theater.

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Friday, September 11, 2009

Warhammer... it brings out best in gamers...

His reviews are not very informative, but man do I enjoy his style.

DowntimeTown Episode 7: Space Hulk from Robert Florence on Vimeo.



DowntimeTown Episode 6: Chaos in the Old World from Robert Florence on Vimeo.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Get Back To Gaming?

I know that Chris said he couldn't host on Saturday ... is anything going on this weekend? I mean, apart from that new video game thing ... (and having "All you need is love" for a $2 download a mere day after the game's release is somewhat insulting, even if $1.40 goes towards charity. So, I am insulted, and $2 poorer).

I think we'll all agree that George is the Cylon.

So, what's up this weekend?

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Monday, September 07, 2009

Games Played on Labor Day

Let's see -- we had dice through the Ages and in the middle ages, Uruk and Uruk-Hai, Masters of Venice, and some Ubongo. And pizza.

Now that I've finally got the rules for Masters of Venice down (with a few pending clarifications) I'm happy with the purchase. I can see several ways to make money/VPs (and you'll probably wind up doing a bit of everything, but focusing on one or two ways). The turn order auction and selection mechanisms are brutal. It takes about a half game to get the mechanisms down, but it's certainly doable. Despite it being Scott's first game, I won on tie breaks ... after having taking the start player auction from Chris on tiebreaks (which gave me the extra VPs). There's a lot of mechanisms to learn in your first game, and while this lacks the elegance of other economic games, it's stealing ideas from the right kinds of games.

As for the other games, well, I'm sure they'll be showing up in future gaming sessions as well.

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Saturday, September 05, 2009

Reminder -- Labor Day Gaming

For those of you who haven't fallen off the face of the earth, there's labor day gaming at my place tomorrow. NOTE -- We'll be starting at 1:30, not 1pm. (Update--confirmed 1:30 it is). For those who can't make sunday, we'll start at 9am on monday, as well. RSVP in the comments. And in other news, here's a LOLCat.

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Thursday, September 03, 2009

Friday night DL?

Anybody willing to set something up tomorrow night at DL? I'm really wanting to play some Middle Earth Quest. Hopefully I can find 2 or three other gamers willing to join.

Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Monday Night Recap

When I arrived, four people were involved in Roll Through the Ages. It was a typical SABG game, in that there was much complaining that Brian was getting all the rolls, and Michael won despite constant protestations that he was getting killed. Part of my wants to try the game, but another part of me can't shake the image that everyone playing it looks like they are taking the SAT.

Next came five-player Snow Tails. I snuck around the first corner, blew down a tree, and took a two-move lead over Brian. But trouble ensued at a tricky spot near the end, where the track narrowed to one lane, then widened with an obstruction in the middle and a 4-speed limit immediately after. I came in at high speed (dogs 5/5, brake 2) but one lane left of center, and no combination of cards would get me through the choke without brazenly violating the speed limit. The solution was to play a 4 on the left dog, shift into the middle lane, and then slam into the obstruction at ludicrous speed, taking a second dent. I then had the right cards to squeak around it and reach top speed again before crossing the finish just ahead of Brian. I still like the puzzle aspect of the game, but it felt cheesy to use a giant rock as a speed brake with so little repercussion.

Next was my 12th Pegasus game. Jon was the early Cylon, using a Critical Situation and Zarek's one-shot to drop population before revealing and brigging Michael. After two jumps for three distance, every ship in the game came out (no joke, even the heavies), costing several population, destroying Pegasus, and adding two boarders. Jon drew the sleeper Cylon and handed it to me for an immediately reveal. But the humans killed the boarders on the last possible turn before a loss, and made it to New Caprica with the dials at 2/4/6/4. At this point Scott had to leave, so Jon played both Cylon hands and I became human again. Jon pushed occupation forces hard to blow up ships, and our first few crises were jumpless. But thanks to high food and morale, we were able to use the oft-ignored "drop the highest dial for a jump" space twice. Jon's inbound nukes brought us to the brink, but thanks to everyone drawing XO's, we evacuated the last ship and jumped with the dials at 1/2/4/1 for possibly the tightest human win ever.

Thoughts:
- That's twice we've nearly called a game due to hopelessness, only to see the humans hang on by their fingernails on New Caprica. Awesome.
- Humans are now 7-5 in my 12 games, with only one failing to reach New Caprica.
- Have we played Pegasus with the Kobol destination yet? I'd like to try that.
- Having gone from human to Cylon and back to human, am I happy or sad that the humans survived?

The last order of business was to covet my Space Hulk pretties. I'll have them assembled this week, but painting will take a lot longer.

Also played: Statis Pro Baseball, Rum & Pirates (at least a little), Merchants of Venice, presumably other stuff after 9pm.