Hot Heart

Apparently, they're monitoring "suicide pacts" but, you know, some people might just suck... I'll be on around that time, Dean.

Deadpool It's really good. Moves along at a reasonable pace, has more heart than you'd expect, and there's inventiveness in its action scenes. Ryan Reynolds is a perfect fit and Morena Baccarin is great. However, it throws out so many quickfire gags during certain bits that I'm sure I just missed some or maybe didn't fully appreciate the references (not being that familiar with the comics nor older American culture). The Rosie O'Donnell reference is still there, but not any of the others that would suggest some of it takes place in the '90s (it doesn't). Of course, now that we've reached the "post-modern" part of the genre cycle, superhero films must be on their way out/ready for a complete reboot to "classic"...

I have a problem. I've backed the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles board game on Kickstarter (it looks amazing, and is from a renowned designer) and then figured, "With a Kickstarter due soon, and Scythe coming out the middle of this year, and having just managed to snag a copy of the classic Buffy game, I don't really need more games." ... then I bought Flick 'Em Up I've had my eye on this for a while and almost bought it over Christmas. A Wild West-themed dexterity game in which you build a town on your table and then move your little meeple gunslingers around, shooting at each other; all by flicking bits of wood. There are all sorts of scenarios included such as robbing a bank or rescuing someone from a hanging (as seen above) and then you can get things like dynamite and a more accurate rifle (gives you a cardboard guide for flicking the bullet piece). You even get into duels when you both enter a building (7:30 is my favourite bit of this review). Sounds like great fun that almost anyone can pick up (and flick) and enjoy. No more new games (for a while) startinggggg... now.

Godamnit. So they're guaranteeing you get a 320 light ghost if you play 7 matches in this Crimson Days doubles thing. Just when I was going to take a break from the game. I've been stuck with a 319 one for months. ... anyone care to be my Valentine?

That is one epic Fear Multi-Takedown.

I hadn't heard much from Kasich or Christie (before he tore Rubio a new one) because most of what I've seen in terms of coverage is along the lines of how Jeb Bush (who "PIN numbers his own name") is a loser, Trump is a dangerous idiot freak and Cruz is a dangerous freak.

Hypothetical here. Most Americans who plan to vote Democrat, which of the Republican candidates would you prefer to run for President? I don't mean this as an, "I hope they choose this clown, so they lose" pick, but more of an, "If we have to have a Republican president, at least it's this person..." Because, quite frankly, they all seem goddamn terrible people. Maybe Christie was slightly more left-leaning, but I hear he has withdrawn now.

The fuck is wrong with you guys? You're supposed to capitalise the S in PlayStation. Show some respect.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpk8eSpRBnY

#TeamHashtag

That was me. Great series. Also, since the TMNT board game based on the IDW comic series is currently funding through KS, the comics themselves are on sale on Comixology if anyone's interested. https://www.comixology.co.uk/Teenage-Mutant-Ninja-Turtles-Sale/page/2964 I think they're real good in an "Ultimate Turtles" way (i.e. no previous decades of canon knowledge required, combines elements from multiple incarnations)

Just sharing this because I am a huge fan of TMNT, so this has got me pretty excited. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/idwgames/teenage-mutant-ninja-turtles-shadows-of-the-past-b It's a really cool-looking little skirmish game with a smart dice-sharing system. Basically, you have action dice that determine your available actions and/or the "power" of them and because the turtles are individuals that work like a team, each has their own custom dice but they share their outermost dice with their neighbours. So the player to your left shares your left-most die, and you share their right-most while the player to your right shares your right-most die while you share their left-most one. The actual game itself reminds me a little of Sentinel Tactics but I think the overall design is better and far more adaptable (it's from the original designer of Descent, who loves TMNT and asked to do this project).

I was just giving you a hard time. Oh, I know. I just needed to show you the reality, and I'd uploaded the video anyway.

I bought some Nike trainers in a sale a few years ago when I started playing sports regularly again and they were great (I have wide feet) so I was trying to find the same style. This is Revolution 2, but not quite the same. Looks good though. Maybe I should've bought two. Also, this was £5 while I was buying work stuff and I'd heard good things and Y: The Last Man was excellent.

Hadn't listened to MxPx in a while and I forgot how charmingly simple their stuff was at its best.

So, this is my best performance ever. I'm not brilliant because sometimes my decision-making is whack, but I did manage to get the Phantom medal as well (7 kills without taking any damage. I actually managed 8). There's probably a heap of luck in there too. Ethan and Dan were criticising my "team/mode play" based on the end screen (which shows 0 captures for either team, and 0 carries by myself). Thing is, it's the usual thing where achievements or whatever fuck over proper playstyles. In this case, Iron Banner has that weekly bounty where one part involves coming first in a match. The only way to guarantee that is to be grabbing the spark as much as possible. So when you see that there's someone who's grabbed it 4 times, you know exactly what they're doing. Either way, yeah, it was tight contest, with some really well-matched teams, and people were trying to grab the spark prematurely before clearing out enemies. Plus, our team went the same route every. fucking. time. Also, I didn't believe my cousin when he swore how good SUROS Regime is (again) so I decided to try it on a fairly open map where MIDA probably would be better (I think I did turn out a better game using it some other time). I used Tlaloc for some, but there's no denying it is, once again, legit. (The bit just after 6:45 is my favourite. They lined up for me!) I think the stun is really good, plus you've got the "spinning up" perk which can really just pip it for you if you're pre-firing and that chance of health regen.

Haha. I love Markiplier.

So, I had my doubts about this Iron Banner, but it's actually been pretty fun. It also seems like the "meta" for PvP is the most diverse it's been for a while. I've been killed by all sorts of weapons (although, a lot of 1000-Yard Stares...) and I'm switching up my loadout (critically, I have gone from Stormcaller back to Ram-wearing Voidwalker). I'm absolutely wrecking with MIDA (switching to Tlaloc when I have my super) on bigger maps and SUROS Regime (at my cousin's suggestion) on the smaller maps. I guess it's a mixture of gametype and player base currently, but I'm getting K/D ratios between 2.00-4.00 on a regular basis. Even when I'm losing, I'm managing a 1.0. It's insane. I guess I never really tried scouts much in Crucible, but I was "raised" on Vision of Confluence and Fang of Ir Yut as well as past Halo games, so why it never occurred to me... I'm not even struggling to get special kills now (switched from shotgun to sniper this time). I've got to share some pretty funny videos. One where I just happen to pull out my sniper just as two guys run for some heavy ammo and stand right next to each other so I get a twofer. Another where a stormcaller wipes out everyone in front and I have just enough time to pull out my sniper to make this one shot count as he bears down on me... That said, I think matchmaking really can't cope with a game like Rift. I've never seen so many one-sided matches. I love close games but too often it is utter domination (get two or three of you coordinating in Rift and you should own).

The day after saying I hadn't played much new, I played a couple of new (to me) games and then some more the other day. First up, Planet Steam An economic Steampunk-y game. Yay, my favourite. That said, once we got into it and had all the rules explained... as we went. I can't say it's any better or worse than Power Grid or Black Gold. Even if I don't particularly like a game, I'll try and play to the best of my ability rather than be the grumpy jerk who's ruining it for everyone. Basically, you build "tanks" (generators would make more sense, since they're not for storing stuff) on those city spaces and then upgrade them and power them to generate resources like water, ore, quartz and power. With these you can then further upgrade things like carrying capacity (in blimps... which are you storage things) and manipulate the market with what you buy/sell. There is also some element with bidding for the different roles each round, which also governs turn order. Winner is the one with the most money after four rounds. And I almost won as well. If I'd known a building licence I'd received from an auction could be used on the white "blocked off" spaces I would've been $10 richer and won by $4 (you either take $15 then or get a space worth $25 at the end). Anyway, it takes a good while to set up and play and everyone else was kind of bored by it. You... might like it? Next, we tried A Study In Emerald (Second Edition). The first edition (no longer in print) is one of my favourite games, and one I reviewed for the site. Problem is, it takes a good while to play and even longer if you have to explan it each time because you haven't played it in months. This one was meant to simplify things and play much quicker, so I was keen to give it a try. After everyone complained about not knowing certain vital rules in Planet Steam, I wanted to go over each possible action to cover all the little queries that can arise (something still present in this edition). Everyone started getting fed up, so we moved things along (and then they later got annoyed when they missed a crucial bit of information that I had told them. You can't win). This version is certainly quicker but it also loses a lot of what makes the original great. The secret allegiances, bidding wars and assassinations are still there, but everything zips along at breakneck pace. The biggest problem I can see is that city cards are too powerful because they can no longer be taken back; you win one and then you have a whole heap of points that you can never lose with far less preparation or risk than assassinating royalty. Of course, with experience, people will recognise this and the bidding will probably become more competitive, but I always liked that element as a sneaky area-control side part of the game rather than an attention-grabbing event. Also, things like zombies barely got a look in because things ended so fast; the game end trigger this time was reaching a point score, which I've never before witnessed. Worth trying again sometime though. Pairs (Goddesses of Cuisine) A filler card game in which there is one loser rather than winner (although, you can play it over rounds, I guess). You take turns drawing cards from a deck or passing and taking the lowest number card on the table. People keep going until someone draws a pair, which then scores them that many points and keeping one of those cards out of the deck. The aim is not to reach/exceed the score threshold based on how many players than are, so you're essentially pressing your luck and weighing up the odds (there is 1 card of value 1, 2 of value 2, etc.) Only real problem is that, because the score threshold is so low, it's really easy to get screwed over if you're dealt high numbers earlier on; you either pass and take a lower number card (which could be at least 1/4 of the score threshold) or take your chances. So, yeah, it's alright. The pictures are pretty. Coup Someone in our group who strongly dislikes games with an element of social deduction and bluffing bought this. Really surprised by that. Anyway, I knew about this game and had played it at a games event over a year ago. Except that was 3-player and it sucked. Fortunately, with 5 it is a lot better. Each person is dealt, face-down, two cards from the deck of 15 (three of each of the five powerful people) which bestow certain actions that can be taken legitimately since that player has an "in" with that member of the upper echelon of Coup's society. The aim is to be the last player with remaining influence (at least one of your cards face-down). On your turn, you can actually take any of the actions in the game. It's up to the others to suss out whether you really have the card that enables you to do so and decide that they might challenge you. There are all sorts of interactions with challenging people and how they have to reveal and then shuffle and draw a new card (which means they might get the same card back) so I won't go into that. Anyway, it's a really tight design since the money element helps speed the game towards and end (7 coins means automatic influence loss for a player of your choice) but also introduces a press your luck (bluff) element. And you can go with different "playstyles". I won the first game by playing completely honestly and letting the others tie themselves up in knots; the second game was won by someone who kept drawing so much money unchallenged despite not possessing that card. At five players, you've got enough cards out among the players that it's slightly easier to deduce who might have what, and turns don't go on too long. Fun game. We finished with a couple of rounds of One Night Ultimate Werewolf (which the Coup-owner sat out). The first game, we all lost because, post-Coup, we didn't trust each other that no one was a werewolf. The second game was another one of those instances where I get a cool power like Seer and discover some vital information (one werewolf in the central three and the troublemaker) only to have that fucked up by some Robber shenanigans that were too hard to detect (where one person was the werewolf and doesn't realise they no longer are).

I finished Mr. Robot. I kinda liked it, but also the tone or just certain cartoonish elements reminded me too much of House of Cards, which I really could not get into. I'd like to say I'm sort of interested to see where it goes, but so much is open and directionless, I find it hard to care.

Yes, that is a Buffy the Vampire Slayer board game. Yes, that is a blurry photo from the seller on eBay. There are actually two Buffy board games. One is the typical "roll and move" kind of crap that you'd expect Hasbro to churn out for any licensed game. This, however, is an early version of the "one person plays the villain, the rest the heroes" style of game from designers who would later go on to have a hand in Betrayal at the House on the Hill, Risk Legacy and Pandemic Legacy. People with an interest in telling stories with their games. And that's what this does. It features four different villains with their own scenarios, while the Scooby gang tries to survive and stop them. The heroes run around trying to research things and find weapons while the villain manoeuvres their own servants (Spike, etc.) and vampires/other creatures around Sunnydale, trying to stop them. There's daylight/nighttime phases (relevant to vampires and werewolves) and the chance that a good player can be turned into a vampire. Sounds p fun all in all. This auction also came with the Angel board game but that really does sound like the aforenentioned licensed rubbish. Fortunately, the whole lot wasn't too bad a price and I expect this should hold its value anyway.