Hot Heart

PART FOUR! Firstly and most importantly, though: my friend made brie and bacon baguettes. They were AWESOME. Terra Mystica The game my friend reviewed for Roll 6 or Die but one I'd never played before, because it's not the sort of thing you really cram into an evening unexpectedly. I can see why really heavy eurogamers like it since there's a lot going on and the mechanics are fairly innovative; I can see a great deal of replayability. You have double-sided boards which represent different races (both share the same colour), each with slightly different development bonuses and special abilities as well as the type of terrain they can build on. You'll spend turns using workers and money to convert terrain or build extra buildings, trying to create towns for extra bonus effects. And the combination of buildings moving off your player board reveals different spaces, which affects the income (workers, money, priests, etc.) you receive next round. There's a whole other magic system thing as well involving cycling purple pips between bowls and it's also affected when people build adjacent to you, but cost you points. And these pips can be reset for different bonuses and unique round abilities, plus there's round-specific bonuses and a cult track thing and there's a thing about 'shipping' which allows you to maintain a joined settlement down rivers, and there are these bonus tiles you swap around when you pass and... Problem is, it's so dry and boring and confusing, with stuff all over the place. So many micro-mechanics for very simple things and the constant "I wanted that" frustration. Plus, it's far too easy to bring your whole setup to a grinding halt because you're one-short of something, so you wind up passing for the rest of the round (game has a set number of 6). Experience will probably iron out those tactical blunders, but with too much downtime, wafer-thin theme and not enough interesting decisions I wouldn't find it worth persevering. So, yeah, smart, deep game but not for me, thank you. 7 Wonders: Cities Confident that my group had grasped the base game enough, I introduced this expansion. I'd heard Leaders was good but tended to railroad your strategy, whereas Cities opens everything out. You've got debt, peace treaties (sit out the combat phase, make other neighbours fight each other) and espionage as well as a bunch of other interesting effects and new guilds. Definitely felt some variety in this game as military no longer dominated. The extra turn really allows you to achieve loads more and just makes it a lot more satisfying. I stormed away with a scientific victory (36 from that alone) thanks to some smart play, but a heavy dose of luck with my Wonder (build cards from discard pile for free each stage), the science cards synching with free miltary development just enough to keep my neighbours in check, as well as some guilds I didn't expect to see come back around (or get discarded). Thanks to some debt, I ended the game with 69 points. If you've got the base game, I highly recommend this expansion. A surprising amount of extra stuff/layers without confusing rules or a greatly increased playtime. Hyperborea First "long" game with five people! I randomly drew another 'off-the-board' race and got to work. Another mixture of smart play and luck here. The above picture shows my killer tech setup ("golden combo") which meant I got an extra gem each time I generated that effect. With four other techs generating that effect and two spaces on the board doing it, I became unstoppable. Luck came in nabbing the techs, being quick enough to kill ghosts, some 'extra cube' ruin tokens and my neighbours not beating me down quite enough. The yellow race's A power is also really cool: once per reset, sacrifice a gem to instantly generate a choice of effect (move x2, attack, draw x3 or... something else). Worked wonders! All in all, an enjoyable season of games with good friends and I'm sure there's still more to come!

PART THREE! Played Colt Express with my sisters. They were worried about being able to understand it, but they picked it up pretty quickly. Lots of shooting and punching and laughs. Actually came to a tiebreaker between two of them, decided by spent bullets. They enjoyed it, but for a while afterwards they were pretty annoyed with one another over the shooting and punching. Family friends came round and we played my sister's purchase Gogglebox. Based off the TV show I don't watch, so I was no help on the actual scoring questions. Not a great game anyway (just a bunch of easy TV trivia), and our insistence on a parent/children team split, saw us at a disadvantage. A disadvantage that would carry over into our next game Logo with some 'Best of British' question set. A more interesting game where you can question-steal and jump ahead (wach question relates to a colour on the inward spiral). Lost that one twice, but was still entertaining. Unfortunately, one of my sisters is a really sore loser.

To be fair, it can be a total hassle to get a USB stick in the right way round first try. Wears you right out.

PART TWO! Firefly: Blue Sun My friend comes from Burnham. It's definitely gone downhill. First go with the new expansion with my group of friends and one of the new story cards. This one made for a pretty exciting game as we had to take a job from Mr. Universe and the goals meant we had to kill crew members even when succeeding. It was pretty close between 3 or 4 of us as well and I only just lost out because of one of the friggin' misbehave cards that requires River. Really fun session and definitely dig the new additions. My favourite was probably buying the hovering mule - the vehicle that "won't run with five" - and fitting not one but two vehicle-mounted BFGs onto it. We also played some more Descent and I think we annoyed the overlord with our laborious planning, especially when I think he'd realised a tactical error early on so was jus waiting for us to hurry up and win. Also played some more 7 Wonders and military won yet again. Hmmm... The following weekend, there was only four of us on one day, and we got through a ton of new games... Panamax A game about transporting stuff through the Panama Canal. If it looks hecka confusing, that's because it is... though not as confusing as first appearance? It's an economic eurogame at its core but there's some interesting stuff with loading cargo onto other people's ships and how you spend movement points across all the various options. However, there's just a bit too much going on with all the micromechanics and I'd misunderstood something, completely screwing myself over on my last turn when I didn't want to (if I could have done nothing whatsoever, I would've) and giving someone else the win. As it turns out we'd played a vital rule wrong the whole time which completely changed everything anyway... OH WELL Scoville A friend's kickstarted game which was actually a success (other friends tend to dislike everything he gets). Really smart game about planting peppers to yield more coveted peppers in order to fulfill market requests and special recipes. Multi-faceted game with bidding and planting and harvesting, where you might want to go first to ensure you get what you want in auction, earn a plaque for planting a certain pepper and make sure you beat others to the punch in cooking a recipe but might actually miss out on everything when someone else blocks you during harvesting. It's fun just moving around the 'board' you create, collecting different coloured peppers depending on the combination your worker passed between; and it will play differently every time. Also, I crushed everyone in that first game. Assault on Doomrock Something I got via indiegogo. Big adventure in a little box, with a really smart combat system involving activating abilities on dice rolls and carefully coordinating with your party to maximise their effectiveness. It's also hard as balls as we just about limped away from our first battle (game features only three, with each ramping up) against a vicious gang of exploding tomatoes then died while adventuring not long after (whoops!) Oh, yes, if the name and character created above didn't give it away, it's got a humorous slant. Even your typical characters get a special 'trait' like my Erratic Ranger who flipped out everytime he was attacked, earning extra attacks. p.s. it's translated from Polish, so there are some funny little quirks/errors ("loose" seen above). Sushi Go Simple little card-drafting game. If you've played 7 Wonders, you'll grasp this, just that there's no combo-ing across rounds or assessing costs. You pass around hands of cards, pick one to play each turn, try and collect sets worth the most points. Perfect little filler with some nice artwork.

Had three or four major gaming days over the holidays, so gonna try and remember what I can. PART ONE! A Star Wars version of Descent. Only played the tutorial so far, but it shows promise. Future scenarios should show more dynamic events occurring during the mission, and I think the overlord has a few more tactical options at their disposal. Main change is that turns alternate, so the overlord doesn't have to wait around while all four heroes decimate their forces in a carefully coordinated plan. The back-and-forth and shifting nature should set it apart from Descent, although I'm not sure if we'll be playing both that often... Adventure Time: Munchkin I didn't get to play this because I had to rush off and give someone a lift home, but that's cool because I'm not really a fan of AT, nor Munchkin. That said, from what I observed of it by the time I got back, it should please fans of AT and there seems to be a lot more going on compared to regular Munchkin; loads of extra items and things in play, and it wasn't necessarily down to that final "everyone at level 9 until bad effects run out so next person wins". Pathfinder: Adventure Card Game The game my friends had been raving about. I probably need to play it more to become more invested, but really not seeing any great appeal. You have your character (I have to admit, my one above looks like a badass) and they have a deck which is also their health, then you choose to 'explore' locations, flipping and resolving cards in order to ensnare and confront the scenario's villain. There's a bit of coordinating with your party as they can play other cards to help on your turn or you try and lock down locations so the villain has nowhere to run. I do find it odd that my friends don't like Sentinels but find this one of their favourites. Can't be the theme because they completely ignore that and just look at the maths. There's still a lot of keyword and stat-tracking, but I guess it's a little lighter and you don't always feel as locked out on your turn. I don't know... Played Hot Rod Creeps again, and built our own course. Although, maybe we didn't build the best one because it was easy to nitro around it. Problem might be that the toughest corners don't actually cause damage (card discards, run out you go back to pit stop) but make you discard upgrades after you've moved. I never relied on any. I won though, that's the important thing. Even if it was very close and based on a blind card flip. Had a go at 7 Wonders for the first time with this group. I relayed the advice that "If in doubt, build resources or military". Seemed like that is a very powerful strategy as one friend stormed away with military while the other neighbour (not me!) kept paying to use his resources. I tried to keep up but I guess I was spread too thin... and those hands where you receive two military cards so have to pass one on. Small World. I like this game... except when everyone beats up on you, even if one person is clearly the leader and you're not even the closest threat! Ah well. Things were late and things started getting a little heated with "mock impressions" of one person who was clearly identifying the points leader. Ashamed to admit that I joined in a little with the joke. p.s. fuck that stupid reinforcements die. Never went my way! All in all, it was a fun day and we got through a lot of games.

Well, I could probably 'play' Destiny (as in story mode), but it wouldn't be productive because of the MMOness.

I'm annoyed because Xur's there in Destiny with an upgrade for my super powerful rocket launcher and he's only there until early Sunday morning. Plus, you know, I CAN'T FREAKING PLAY DESTINY

American Hustle The film looks real nice and has some great performances all round, but you can't help feeling, "That's it?" by the end. A case of too much style over substance. And sheikh is pronounced 'shake', you morons! Though I want to start calling microwaves, "science ovens."

Besides The Wolf Among Us and The Walking Dead: Season Two, I've not really played any new video games except Destiny, and though I've played it a fuckload, it doesn't feel right calling it my GOTY. On the board game side of things, it's got to be Dead of Winter, Heroes Wanted or Hyperborea (or A Study In Emerald, which released last year). Right now, I'd go with Hyperborea though the others are equally awesome (just won't see as much playtime, if any, with my close friends)

Both on Android. Wanted some mobile stuff for the holidays. First sounds like a fun little app from the people who made Sorcery. So it's a sort of 'choose your own adventure' except I think it has some more developed mechanics as well now. Looks lovely. Second is actually based on a board game I've been wanting to try but never have. Sounds great, especially since this app has a single-player campaign mode which seems to be really expansive. And a steal at £1.90 (an introductory price, I believe)

If you stare into a mirror and repeat it three times, it will appear.

Actually, you said it on the previous page. GET IT TOGETHER ETHAN YOU SHIT MOD

The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies Possibly my least favourite of all the Middle-Earth films. Just about scrapes a 'good' rating. The "Like butter scraped over too much bread" thing really started to show this time, I felt. Not that there wasn't a bunch happening, and it actually felt like a different film, but it was somewhat disjointed and back and forth with the lack of cohesion present in the earlier films. Lots of fun, cool, creative action as usual, but the slightly dodgy effects really undermined certain bits more than in the past. I'm a big fan of Legolas, but his action scenes maybe went too far into God of War videogamey territory. I do think the Bilbo stuff worked rather well though, and there was a nice ending.

In what looks like seven and a half hours between the two posts, I'm guessing that yes, Amazon sold through highly-regarded board games, most of them half-price, in the run-up to Christmas.

Not a huge selection, but a lot of highly-regarded games. 7 Wonders and Guillotine are great. Others might like Love Letter, Power Grid, Splendor, Dixit and Dominion. Cash & Guns sounds ripe for hilarity if you find the right group.

Everything I've seen makes it look more like a launch title that's more tech demo than anything new or exciting. LOOK AT THESE NEXT GEN MOUSTACHES AND BEARDS.

It's by Ryan North, creator of Dinosaur Comics, so it should be pretty funny. I heard his Adventure Time comic stuff was good, but I haven't seen it or really taken an interest in AT.

Played another four-player, regular game of Hyperborea, trying out a different race. Still loving it, but I'm yet to try an 'on-the-board' race (Red, Purple and Green are more focused on exploring and controlling hexes, and killing ghosts while Yellow, Orange and Blue are more about getting tech, gems and more cubes) or the 'long' game. Still keen to do that when we get all five of us together. Then had a crack at Machi Koro, with its comically-large box that looks ripe for expansions. Simple game in which you roll dice (one at first) which will trigger effects on certain cards for earning more money or stealing off others. From that, you focus on building up your own city with all sorts of establishments while working towards purchasing all your main landmarks, which also grant extra abilities and effects (like rolling two dice). First to purchase all four landmarks wins. Things start off simple as you grab bakeries, ranches and wheatfields then onto things like convenience stores, TV stations and mines. It gently ramps up as you debate saving up for a big landmark but risk having someone else steal loads with a bad roll against going for another building to amplify other effects or 'cover all the bases' (die values). Honestly, was not impressed with my first game, simply because leaving such a large element of the game down to die rolls makes it so swingy. Others had seized on ranches, which paid out every time a 2 was rolled, whereas I'd stuck with wheatfields that do the same on 1s. So when lots of 2 rolls are coming up, you already start to fall behind. Fortunately, there are later cards that build off of either of those options, but again... it's die rolls and, of course, the one that works with ranches is the only card that activates on a 7 aka. the value you have the most chance of getting. It was no surprise to see the person getting 12+ coins on their turn going on to win. Then, it was still close, as a bad roll did see everyone else rob him blind the previous round. Then we played a second game. Now I actually observed what others were doing, focused on an actual strategy and eked towards victory. I spent most my turns rolling just 1 die because I'd bought loads of bakeries and cafes and something else on a roll of 4, that were all buffed by a landmark, with only a roll of 3 punishing me (what actually led me to purchase more bakeries to overcome it). Later, as others unlocked the ability to roll 2 dice, I purchased the cafe's bigger brother, a family restaurant, to punish them on rolls of 9-10. This very aggressive approach kept the "lucky 7s" player's repeated strategy in check, too. So, yeah, actually a surprising amount of depth and scope in there but, like any die-rolling game, can be a little too luck-driven for some people's taste.

Yeah, I would've been fine paying whatever the regular new price was, but just figured I'd check eBay every now and then to see if I could save anything on a 'second-hand but mint/like new' version. That's the best I saw

It's as good a deal as I was going to find considering none of your thrift stores are local to me... Sounds like your roommate got a great deal though, good for them.

Poor Revanchist. Why else would you be reading the Daily Mail?

Decided to buy my own copy since I think my friends will like it (I know one does already). Got a sort of deal on eBay, in that I got it for just shy of £30 whereas everywhere else is £35+ (every little helps!). The card packs are unopened, so it's unplayed too, plus it includes a promo (though I think that's now included in the new Wonder Pack anyway)

Honestly, I wouldn't. You'd have to drag them through the story missions and get them past level three to even get purple packages anyway. It's not as bad as I thought because a) you only need commendations for the helmets, chestpieces and weapons, and b) the new weapons aren't that vital. Level is far more important for keeping up with the other content. I went and got some new gloves and boots and I was back to level 29 in no time. Plus, I'm finding I'm getting bounties and other things done pretty quickly and regularly, so I'm already 3/4 to next rep level after reaching it last week (whoops). Funny thing is, I kept the purple package at the postmaster and saved a load of engrams, but it looks like they were rolled from the old loot list. Shame because I was getting tons of purple things even from blues. Got the Zombie Apocalypse HMG (when I needed an arc HMG, too!), the Vanquisher AR, Lord High Fixer, boots for more Scout rifle ammo...but most importantly, a Shadow Price with a better sight and two decent perks for PvP (radar always active, bottom half of mag does increased damage). Almost as good as a SUROS...