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A Gaming Life
App Review – Dominion (Steam)
(Edit: 1/25/24: Update on pricing, from Temple Gates Games. The expansion bundle is $99.99 USD on Apple/Google. On Steam it’s a ‘complete-the-set’ bundle with a 15% discount. Later on in the expansion, you could buy individual expansions, apparently (after I stopped playing) and thus you may already have some of them)
I have to admit it right up front.
I’m not a huge fan of the classic deckbuilding card game, Dominion (published by Rio Grande Games).
I know a lot of people love it, and it is a classic for a reason.
But I’m more of a fan of the (admittedly more random) “a row of cards that you can buy/defeat which is then replaced by a random new card” like Ascension or Shards of Infinity.
If I am going to play a deckbuilding game with pre-arranged stacks of cards to buy, I’d like it to have something more, like Trains (somebody please make an app for this, or implement it on Boardgame Arena, please?).
Why am I talking about this?
Because the app for Dominion, published by Temple Gates Games, is coming out on February 1 and it is simply amazing.
I had access to the beta version of the game a long time ago (a long time…it was in beta for a while) and really enjoyed it. But I kind of fell away from it after a while.
Temple Gates graciously gave me a copy of the game and all 15 expansions (along with promo packs) to test out and give a fair and honest review.
I’ve played multiple solo games and also am in a couple of online games and I have to say that it’s working really well.
Whatever bugs were around during the beta appear to be gone (though as I said, I’m not an expert on the game so can’t comment on any rules bugs).
Let’s take a look under the hood!
Read MoreCombat Commander – After Action Report – Scenario 69 – Compagnie Scamaroni II
Some days it just doesn’t pay to get out of bed and play one of your favourite games of all time.
Ok, sure, it’s always fun, especially when you have a cool and entertaining opponent.
But as for the results?
Well…let’s get the preliminaries out of the way first.
Welcome to another tale from the Combat Commander Ladder.
The Ladder, run by the inestimable Patrick Pence (he of Patrick’s Tactics & Tutorials fame, a Youtube channel you should really check out!), is a monthly game of Combat Commander where you get to play the game online with an awesome person once a month (and a different person each month, at that!).
Ok, out of 100+ people, I guess the odds say there must be somebody who is terrible…but not that I’ve experienced!
The January scenario is out of the Resistance expansion and pits members of the French Resistance against an assaulting German force in Caen, France, in mid-July 1944.
(Don’t forget that you can click on a picture to blow it up)
My opponent was David P, a fellow Canadian and really good player (we were No 13 and No 14 on the ladder…until this one, anyway).
The Germans (grey, David) set up on the left side of the board. Then the Partisans (Yellow, me) set up 12 hexes deep from the right side of the board.
For the Germans, exit VP off the right side of the board are doubled, while for the Partisans, elimination VPs are doubled.
Guess which one came into more prominence! Or was used at all!
A few special rules.
First, it’s a Night action, so the German discard ability is only one card. That can be punishing!
Not today…but it can be!
Secondly, for fire attacks, the range between the two units is subtracted from the final attack strength.
This is supposed to make it easier for the Partisans to close to melee range, where they excel.
I wonder if I took advantage of that?
The other major special rule is where the huge number of German reinforcements come in after the first Time trigger.
You draw a Smoke counter.
On a 1-3 strength counter, they come in at the top.
On a 4-6 counter, on the bottom.
On a 7-10, the German gets to choose.
So the Partisans kind of need to be ready for both sides.
Needless to say, I wasn’t (look at that terrible setup!)
If not for completion’s sake, I was considering not even writing this up.
I may not be as detailed as usual, just giving more of the highlights.
We’ll see!
(Ok, after writing this, I can see that I lied here!)
With that caveat, let’s get started!
Read MoreTop 50 Games Played of All Time – 2024 Edition (#40-31)
Two weeks and two entries into this list.
Maybe I’ll be able to actually do this weekly, unlike in 2022!
It was interesting doing a Top 50 rather than a Top 25. Some games have fallen enough that they wouldn’t even be listed if I was just doing a Top 25.
A couple of others, even with a big increase from last time, they wouldn’t show up because they didn’t jump enough!
It’s also heartening that I’ve played enough games that I can actually do a list like this.
In addition, it helps to have fans who are actually waiting for these posts.
Thanks, Clio!
Anyway, we’re at the second installment in my Top 50 games played of all time.
The first section was already interesting to me, seeing the movement from last time.
This one is even better!
Yes, that is just my take. Yours may differ.
However, the typical caveat.
I have only played just over 500 games, so there are many great games that I just haven’t played.
So they won’t be on this list!
You Star Wars: Rebellion fans, you’re just going to have to find a way to play the game with me before you get all hot and bothered!
Also, many of these ratings are after only one play, so there could be a lot of movement the next time I do this list.
You’ve been warned.
On that note, let’s begin!
Read MoreFriday Night Shots – Great TV Shows to Watch
Good evening!
Welcome to an extremely rainy Vancouver, washing away all of the snow we’ve received over the last few days.
This snow thing is really unusual for us. We’re not used to it! We don’t know how to deal with it.
But it’s beautiful to look at, and it won’t be around much longer.
Anyway, have a seat at the bar and let me get your your libation of choice.
It’s just you and me here. I suppose I should probably advertise the place if I want to get more customers, eh?
Let me turn down the jukebox. I don’t know how the Collected Sonnets of Cookie Monster actually got on the jukebox.
I shall investigate…
How about we take a minor break from board games (despite the fact that I took a minor break from them earlier in the week) and talk about some great TV shows that I’ve watched or been watching?
Most of these are streaming. I’ll identify where they stream for me but you may need to check on their availability where you are.
Read MoreGuild Academies of Valeria – Storage Solution from Folded Space
Sometimes you just have to get on top of things right at the outset rather than waiting for things to settle down.
That can also be the case with storage solutions for board games!
Ok, probably not all the time, but in this case it is.
Hell, I haven’t even really talked about Guild Academies of Valeria, from Daily Magic Games, much yet! Sure, I mentioned it in my OrcaCon post, but the more detailed discussion will be in the New to Me Games – January post coming in early February.
Unless I happen to play it enough to review it first.
Even with all that, though, I now have bought and put together the Folded Space insert for it.
I’ll talk more about it below, but spoiler alert: this is probably the best Folded Space insert I’ve bought so far.
Even though it was one of the more challenging ones too!
How does that go together?
Let’s take a look.
Read More5 Great Books Read in 2023
Just like last year, I wanted to do a post talking about books I’ve read that I would really recommend to people.
These aren’t going to be the “Top 5 books” or anything like that. I don’t want to restrict myself.
When I’m reading books, I tend to hop around between genre fiction (I’m an avid reader of Star Trek books, as well as Inspector Lynley mystery novels and I read Loren Estleman’s novels religiously when they come out) and history books, along with the occasional “current events” or sociological book as well.
After I’ve finished a deep history book, I like to do a deep cleanse and read something “simple” (in the sense that I plow through it, enjoying it immensely all the while) like Lee Child’s “Jack Reacher” novels.
Just like in 2022, I did do a Goodreads Reading Challenge.
Last year, I read 57 books (my challenge was 55), but again I did read some novellas and novelettes to make up some of that quota.
It’s a bit of a cheat.
But I think it works for me.
Still, I read 61 books in 2022, so it was a bit of a down year.
But I read a lot of longer, harder books that take me longer to finish.
There are a couple of honorable mentions that I will reference at the end.
These were great books but I already did a review of them, so I won’t list them here (other than as, well, the honorable mentions, so I guess I will list them!).
On that note, let’s begin!
Read MoreTop 50 Games Played of All Time – 2024 Edition (#50-41)
It’s only been two years, but it’s that time again!
The 2022 edition of my “Top Games Played of All Time” was predicated on my having played just over 400 games.
As of the end of 2023, I had played 534 games in total.
That means it’s time for a new list!
Since I’m now over 500 games, I thought I would expand a little and talk about my Top 50 instead of Top 25. It’s still less than 10% of the games that I’ve ever played, so it seems logical.
It also means I get to talk about more games, which is always a good thing.
How did I compile this list?
By putting all 534 games into the PubMeeple listing engine and doing comparisons.
Over 2600 comparisons!
My fingers were pretty tired after that.
A few notes before we begin this initial installment.
First, many of these games I’ve only played once.
My friends at the Discard Pile podcast recently did their Top 50 and many games that had only been played once or twice were excluded from it because they were just too new to them.
Considering my game-playing, if I held myself to that standard, I’d never do one of these lists!
So many of these ratings could change with future plays.
Secondly, because I’m only at 534 games played, there are many highly-rated games that I’ve just never played. Hell, I’ve only played 53 of the current Top 100 games on Boardgame Geek anyway.
That means you Gloomhaven fans are just going to have to settle for the fact that it’s not on this list.
It just won’t be!
Finally, this list was compiled on January 1, so doesn’t include anything I’ve played this year (which is currently just from OrcaCon, but that’s 12 new to me games right there!).
In a welcome change from the last two times I did this list, no well-deserving game is being left off of the list because I played it shortly after compiling it.
As we begin, let me just say that there has been a ton of movement since I did this in January 2022.
And long-time followers of this blog will see some surprises, I’m sure.
Big ones.
One thing that’s not a surprise?
Lucky Loop is still at the bottom, at #534
With that, let’s begin the first ten!
Read MoreFriday Night Shots – Game Promos – Yea or Nay?
Welcome to the new year!
Sorry that the bar was closed last week, but I was off doing something much more fun than trying to figure out what I wanted to write about that week.
With last week also full of other posts, I didn’t want to try and squish a FNS post in as well.
It’s 2024 and the bar’s still as empty as it usually is. But I love it that you’ve graced it with your presence.
Have a seat and let me get you a libation of your choice.
Crap, let me unplug the jukebox too. Somebody came in and locked it down on the 90s boy band channel.
I’ll get that fixed tomorrow!
Anyway, let’s talk about board game promos.
Read MoreExpansion Review – Ark Nova: Marine Worlds
One of my favourite games out there is Ark Nova. For some reason it just scratches a whole bunch of itches (ok, maybe that came out wrong) and I really enjoy playing it.
I’m in 2-3 games of it on Boardgame Arena and I’ll always play it if it’s offered at a game day (unless there’s something new that I’ve been dying to try out).
It was our New Year’s Eve game, for heaven’s sake!
Last year (it still feels weird saying that about 2023), Capstone Games came out with an expansion for Ark Nova.
Ark Nova: Marine Worlds was also designed by Mathias Wigge with artwork by Steffen Bieker, Loïc Billiau and Christof Tisch. It was published in 2023.
It adds a bunch of new ideas and mechanisms to the game, and it makes an already amazing game even more amazing.
I don’t know!
Let’s take a look at it and see.
Read MoreOrcaCon 2024 Retrospective
Another year, another OrcaCon has passed.
I first went to OrcaCon in 2020, but then some world-wide event that I can’t seem to remember stopped me from going again until last year.
I wish it would come to me.
Anyway, this last weekend was my third OrcaCon, and once again it was amazing!
One of the great things about OrcaCon is how inclusive it is. It’s really a safe space for all kinds of different types of people. The people who run it are amazing and fun, their Discord channel is really helpful as well as being nice to follow when talking about games.
They care about their attendees, and it really shows.
The convention is held in Bellevue, Washington, the first weekend in January every year. It’s held at the Hilton hotel, the same one as Dragonflight (but being in January, the rooms are a lot cheaper!).
This year, it wasn’t raining on my trip down, for the most part anyway.
That made for a much more pleasant trip.
I made it down around 11:30 or so after stopping for an awesome breakfast.
I didn’t quite do it like that, but I felt like it!
Then it was time for the fun to start.
Read More
Dude! Take Your Turn! 