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A Gaming Life
Kickstarter Review – Like Cain and Abel
I like card games a lot.
Short, punchy 2-player card games are even better, as you don’t need a lot of time and they work in almost any circumstance.
Even better is when they do some innovative things with the whole genre.
Like Cain and Abel is an 18-card, 2-player trick-taking game designed by, with artwork by, and published by J.L. Reid. It’s going to Kickstarter on April 30 and the campaign is running until May 23.
J.L. graciously offered me a prototype copy of the game in exchange for a fair an honest review, and I jumped at the chance.
Keep in mind, though, that since this is a prototype, the components will change some, especially from a quality perspective. The pictures below don’t represent the final product.
How is Like Cain and Abel innovative and how does it get in its own way, at least a bit?
Let’s take a look.
Read MoreFriday Night Shots – Update and Rules Mistakes
Welcome back!
I know it’s been a little while since my last post, and that was after me saying how proud I was that I haven’t had more than a week in between posts in a long time.
Then I go and let 10 days go by.
It’s not from being sick, which is usually the case.
No, this was a full mental health and just not feeling up to writing issue. I did not feel like writing at all, and once again started wondering if it was worth it to continue this blog.
Not only did Grant give me the side eye again (that can be terrifying), but I also just thought about it.
Seven years of work, why would I stop now when I do ultimately enjoy it?
So I gave myself a bit of a rest, playing the Marvel/2K Midnight Suns video game instead, and just trying to relax.
It’s been a stressful month.
But that part’s been fun!
It’s an interesting game.
Anyway, I’m back and hopefully recharged, with a few posts that I really want to get done.
The bar is reopened!
Here, have some cool, delicious milk.
Wait, come back!
Let’s get back to chatting about board games.
Read MoreCombat Commander – After Action Report – Scenario LoM #12 – Red Sector A
What’s this?
Two months in a row where I actually do my Combat Commander ladder game report early?
That’s unheard of!
There must be something in the water.
It’s time for another tale from the ladder! The ladder is a Combat Commander monthly tournament run by the unshakeable Patrick Pence, he of Patrick’s Tactics & Tutorials Youtube fame.
You should really go and check that channel out! Especially if you like exciting VASSAL wargaming content.
And tutorials!
If you’re new to Combat Commander, definitely check out Patrick’s tutorials on it.
Before I go any further, allow me to welcome Kai Jensen to the ladder. Kai has been intimately involved with Combat Commander since it’s inception and is playing (or maybe already has played) her first ladder game this month!
It’s an honour to have you as part of our group, Kai.
This month’s scenario is from the Leader of Men battle pack of tournament scenarios.
Red Sector A has the American army trying to breach the Siegfried Line by taking the city of Aachen. The scenario has a group of Americans trying to break through German lines on the outskirts of the city.
My opponent this month was another rematch! Dave D and I last played a ladder game in December 2022, where he defeated me quite handily.
Would I get my vengeance?
Or get pummeled again?
(Don’t forget you can click on an image to enlarge it)
The German defenders (grey, me) are arrayed in the two objective buildings (circled), trying to prevent the Americans (green, Dave) from exiting off one of the three road hexes (red arrows).
Needless to say, all three road exits were mined.
However, one of the special rules in the scenario is that the Americans have two Engineer squads.
If they enter a Minefield hex, if the mine attack roll is doubles, then the roll is multiplied by 2 before being applied.
But if it’s not doubles, then the mines are gone and have no effect!
The other special rule is that the German satchel charges are actually panzerfausts (helpfully already showing as panzerfausts in VASSAL, but they didn’t actually adjust the range to 2 hexes). They can only target units in at least +1 cover.
Finally, the Americans can only exit through the road hexes, as mentioned, and the Germans can exit but get no points for them (as opposed to some scenarios that don’t allow exiting, where anybody leaving the map is just eliminated).
These scenarios are known for being light on the special rules, and that’s all we have!
So let’s begin and see what happened, shall we?
Read MoreFriday Night Shots (Saturday Edition) – Auction Games
Apologies for the bar being closed last night!
It’s been a bit of a struggle the last couple of weeks getting stuff written as I’ve been suffering from a bit of imposter syndrome, wondering again what the heck I’m doing with this thing.
I’m already sensing Grant giving me the side-eye.
I’ve managed to not miss a complete week, though, which I’m happy with.
So now the bar is open again (even though we have no customers) and I’d be happy to serve you up a drink while we chat about boardgames!
I’ve made you this!
I don’t know what it is, but I’ve heard it’s good.
On the Internet, don’t you know.
Let me turn down the jukebox. I’m not sure how the collected works of William Shatner got on there, but there will be words with the technician in the morning.
I have been able to get some Sunday gaming in recently, and March ended on a great note with four games played, including one new to me!
One great old standby, though, and what prompted tonight’s post, was another play of the brand new edition of Reiner Knizia’s age-old auction game, Ra.
It made me want to talk about more auctions.
Read MoreMarch 2024 Gaming
February was a very slow month for gaming, but that was ok after a really fast January.
However, March actually beat January like a rented mule!
Ok, actually, there were fewer games played in January, but more plays (because I played a few games so many times in January).
March was an awesome month with the Terminal City Tabletop Convention garnering a number of plays, plus some lunchtime games at work and not missing a Sunday at all (except for the convention, which of course really added to the plays!).
Let’s take a look at what I actually played.
And here are the games in grid form!
Though I actually played 26 games, but only 25 fit on the grid.
The odd one out was Surfosaurus Max.
That’s right. Twenty-six games played in March!
That was amazing.
Not only that, but the quality of games played was really up there too.
Sure, some of the Terminal City games were a bit meh, but overall, I really loved most of the games I played in March.
Why don’t we take a look at some of those highlights?
Read MoreNew to Me – March 2024
Aloha! (Saying this for my friend who’s out on a cruise, even though she’s not technically going to Hawaii but somewhere just as warm).
You may be wondering.
“Dave, why are you wearing socks with sandals?”
I would say that you should just keep your damned opinions to yourself, you young whippersnapper.
You may also be wondering why it’s been almost 2 months since a “New to Me Games” post.
That’s because I played nothing new in February!
I did note that…were you paying attention?
Anyway, with a convention in March, I knew that things would take a drastic change for the better this month.
Lots of games to talk about!
While it wasn’t as bad as OrcaCon in regards to making this post super-long, it was still a great month for them.
So, without further ado (all of my ado was used to seal the joints of a Viking warship anyway), let’s begin!
Read MoreReview – Shipwrights of the North Sea – Redux
What do you do if you love ships but you’re afraid of being out on the water so you can’t actually go sailing?
Especially if you’re a Viking?
You get a job building them instead of sailing them!
That’s the premise of Shipwrights of the North Sea – Redux (ok, maybe without the “I’m afraid to be out on the water” part; I might have extrapolated too much there).
Shipwrights of the North Sea – Redux (from now on, just assume I’m talking about the the new Redux version and not the original that has a really bad reputation, ok?) was designed by Shem Phillips way back in 2014, but the new updated (and supposedly much better) version came out in 2024.
It has art from Mihajlo Dimitrievski and was published by Garphill Games and Renegade Game Studios.
It’s a card-drafting, simultaneous action game that plays in an hour or so once players know what they are doing, which makes it a perfect lunchtime game, or “filler” game at the beginning or end of a game night, especially if you have 5 players.
We all know about 5 players, right?
But you can with Shipwrights!
Does it play well, though?
Let’s take a look.
Read MoreFriday Night Shots – Player Aids
Welcome to another end-of-week social gathering where it’s just you and me!
I’d say I’m enough to make it social. Wouldn’t you?
Well, anyway, hop on a seat at the bar and let’s chat!
I do have to say first, though, that you are running up quite the bar tab here.
Are you going to pay it tonight?
You do have a week still…
I kid!!!
For you, everything’s free.
But only you. Don’t tell anybody else.
Let me turn the music down because it’s kind of echoing in the emptiness.
I apologize for whoever the heck remade that upbeat Beatles song into a dirge.
I will have to fire the jukebox guy.
What shall we talk about today?
How about player aids in games!
Are they necessary? Unnecessary? A murderable offense if they’re not included?
Read MoreTerminal City Tabletop Convention Retrospective – 2024
It’s a few days after another great convention experience, so let’s talk a little bit about Terminal City Tabletop Convention – 2024.
This year, it was held at the Vancouver Convention Centre which is right on the water in downtown Vancouver. It’s a beautiful site, and also the same venue as SHUX was held in…I don’t remember the last one (hey, let’s link to a blog post that might refresh the memory).
They didn’t reserve as much space as SHUX, obviously, but it was still much better than 2023 where space was so much at a premium that we went to get food in shifts because we couldn’t afford to give up our tables.
They also avoided the Daylight Savings Time weekend, which meant that we didn’t lose an hour of sleep while trying to attend.
So a win-win!!!
The thing I like about the Convention Centre is that it’s a 20-minute walk for me. It gives me good exercise but it’s also not too far away.
Of course, I’m not taking my huge bag of games like I did last year, but they have a great library and I have friends who bring a bunch of games (they’re driving from further away) so that’s also a win-win!
And I still got one of my games played, so a win-win-win!
There are plenty of food options in the Waterfront Centre food court, which makes eating pretty easy. Though you technically can’t bring outside food and drink into the hall, which makes things difficult.
Didn’t mean others didn’t do it (and I think I brought the remains of a bottle of pop in on Saturday and maybe Friday night), but it’s policy apparently.
I don’t remember that being an issue with SHUX, but maybe it was?
(Edit: I’ve since been informed that it was a policy imposed by the Convention Centre)
Another new thing this year was that the convention was open from 3:00 on Friday until Sunday. Previously it was only Saturday & Sunday.
That was great!
There was some miscommunication about when it opened, though. They said that it opened at 3:00 pm, but then it came out that you could pick up your badge at 2:00.
A lot of people thought that meant that you could get in at 2:00.
Nope! You could line up to pick up your badge, but then you had to leave again and line up to get in at 3:00 pm.
Nothing too major, but a little annoying.
Overall, though, kudos to those volunteering and running the con, as (from my perspective, anyway), it went off without a hitch.
How were the games?
Let’s talk about Friday-Sunday games played!
I assume so!
Let’s get started, as there are a lot to talk about!
Read MoreBook Series Recommendation – “Berlin Wartime Thriller” by Simon Scarrow
Simon Scarrow is a historical thriller author who’s best known (I think) for his novels set in Ancient Rome. His “Eagles of the Empire” series starring Quintus Licinius Cato, a former imperial slave, and centurion Lucius Cornelius Macro, is now at 25 books!
I’ve only read one of them, though I found another one in a thrift store and skimmed the first couple of chapters and was very impressed.
I wanted to start at (or near) the beginning, but I finally succumbed and read Book #19 (The Emperor’s Exile) just to see what I thought.
And it was good!
While I am still wanting to start near the beginning before reading further, I stumbled upon another small series of books by Scarrow, this time completely removed from Ancient Rome.
The Berlin Wartime Thriller series (what a weird title, but it is accurate!) just consists of two books right now, but both are really good.
The series takes place at the start of World War II and the main character is Horst Schenke, a Criminal Inspector for the Berlin police (Kripo) who has no sympathy for the Nazi regime but just wants to see justice done.
Let’s talk a little bit about them.
Read More
Dude! Take Your Turn! 