April Games - Part One

Weekly...? or Fortnightly...?

I guess weekly for now...

It's been exciting to see so many things on so many blogs - people being really productive at the moment... I'm feeling exactly the opposite. There are so many things I'd LIKE to be painting right now, but I just can't seem to muster up the energy or... I don't know... focus...?

I have got in a few games in the last week, so how about I tell you about that...


Hmmmm... I feel like it was more than that...

I was sure I'd played Terraforming Mars five times in the last week...

A little more searching indicates it was 23 March 2020 when I played the fifth game - so five games over 2 weeks...


Saturday, 4 April 2020

Finnegan did run his Saturday D&D game (and ran his Wednesday game on the 1st). There has been less technical issues as they get things figured out...



While they he was playing his game, Amanda and I set up a game of Terraforming Mars. We played on the Hellas board. I played Phoblog, with the Experimental Forest and Orbital Construction Yard from Prelude.



Amanda played Teractor with Dome Farming and the Io Research Outpost.



Didn't look like we'd done much terraforming by the time we were done.



I took the Polar Explorer milestone and the Cultivator award (awards don't seem to be as worthwhile in a two player game... especially for the cost of of the later ones...)

Amanda took the Diversifier and Rim Settler milestones and the Venuphile Award.

It always looks like I'm way ahead on the Terraforming rating and stuff on the surface of the planet... and she complains about this all game ("Oh, you're going to just crush me... I've TOTALLY los this... there's no catching up now....") but she always seems to focus on putting cards in play and will have 20-30+ points in cards!?

At the end of the game I had a Terrafoming Rating of 55 and Amanda was at 38... a 17 point lead. (That was before Awards and Milestones were counted). I had 10 points for greenery and another 11 for cities 12 for Awards/Milestones, and 9 from cards... for a total of 96... Amanda had 4 for greenery, 6 for cities, 20 for Awards/Milestones... and 22 from various cards - for a total of 90!! So... yeah... I DID win... but it was really close!

It's always a little deflating when we play games and I spend so much time thinking (OVERthinking) every move and considering all the possibilities and permutations of each card purchase... and Amanda claims she has no idea what she's doing and just "wings it"... and then either wins, or loses by a few points.

Am I THAT much of an idiot - or is this game REALLY just all about luck of the draw!? It FEELS like strategy is involved?!


Sunday, 5 April 2020

The next morning Amanda decided we should play again. I'd chided her about putting so many cards in play and never actually DOING any of the TERRAFORMING... so she said she was determined to "Terraform Mars this time!"



This one we played on the board from the base box. I played the Tharsis Republic with Power Generation and Dome Farming from Prelude. Amanda played Morning Star Inc with Biosphere Support and Experimental Forest.



Partway through the game - actually getting some cities and greenery down on the surface! But still SO MANY CARDS!? I don't even know HOW she gets the money to put so many cards into play!?



By the end she'd actually put out MORE greenery than me! (Though I had more cities!)



I took the Mayor and Gardener Milestones, and she took the Planner (SO! MANY! CARDS!!!) and the Venuphile and Thermalist awards.

While I ended the game with 13 more Terraforming Rating than her (50-37) it was a SUPER close game - closer than the previous days game - 96-94!!!



We took a break while Amanda lead a remote Yoga Dance class for some friends of ours and their kids... and then she wanted to play again!



This time we tried out the Elysium board. I played Point Luna with Martian Industries and Biofuels. Amanda played Robinson Industries with UNMI contractor and Mohole Excavation.



This time I tried putting more cards in play... it totally did not work for me...



Amanda totally crushed it... I took the Ecologist Milestone, but Amanda took the Generalist Specialist Milestones, as well as the Benefactor and Celebrity awards. Ended with a Terraforming rating of 58 to my 32... after all was counted up, she had 128 points to my 102.

She passed it off as a "fluke" and said I won "all the time"...

THIS is EXACTLY why I started keeping track of game stats on Board Game Geek - the family always makes me out like I some sort of Game Shark that just crushes them all the time... So when they complain that I "Always" win, I can go in and say... "um.. you've won just as many or more than me...". So, I went and tallied things up for all the games we've played together! Of the 19 games we've played together, I've won seven and she's won six... one more than her... (other people won the others - the kids... friends...) BUT... tallying up all of our totals - her combined points total over the 19 games were 1323 and mine was 1234! So I've won slightly more games than her - and they're always very close games... but when she does win, she wins by a LOT MORE!!!


Monday, 6 April 2020

After putting in her hours of work at home, Amanda decided we should play again "to see if she could win again and if it wasn't just some fluke!"



Back to the Hellas board, and somehow I was playing Phoblog again (with the Bio Lab and Galilean Mining from Prelude!). Amanda played Aphrodite with Nitrogen Shipment and Early Settlement.



It was a LONG game... I had almost NO heat production for MOST of the game and that chugged along very, VERY slowly... I also had no desire to put out Oceans as Amanda was getting piles of free plants everytime I did... so I did other things... Like putting out PILES and PILES of greenery and cities.



It was really satisfying to fill the board with stuff!



Amanda was ahead in Terraforming Rating for most of the game, I only shot ahead near the end - once I started generating heat and putting the last few oceans out (and a few cards that actually improved TR).

In the end I'd taken the Energizer and Rim Settler Milestones and the Cultivator Award - but just barely! Amanda took the Polar Explorer Milestone and the Venuphile Award - AGAIN!? Today was my turn to just crush it - with all those cities and green tiles! I need with 136 points to Amanda's 120!

She's decided we've played enough of that.

We didn't get in a game on Tuesday. I didn't do any painting.

On Monday I pulled a BUNCH of games off the shelf in the living room - in the Q2 Plan, one of my "Challenges" was to play five new games - games I've bought, but never got around to playing. I pulled about a dozen of them off the shelf and asked Amanda and the kids which, if any, they'd be interested in trying out. Amanda was keen to try just about any of them. There were a couple Keira said she'd play. Finnegan... showed a distinct lack of interest. He said he WOULD play any of them, if we MADE him...

On Tuesday I just stared at the pile and couldn't motivate myself to read any new rules. I'm sure if I'd asked Amanda would have played Blackstone Fortress, but even setting up THAT seemed like it'd be too much effort.



Also on Monday my good friend Other Tim dropped off a box of old RPGs. He's moving and downsizing and just giving stuff away. Finnegan spent a good few hours just looking through the old RPGs and making characters for them. He was particularly interested in Paranoia! He does LOVE his role-playing games. Not sure what his total aversion to playing any board games with the rest of us is all about...?

So...

What have YOU been up to!?

Getting in any games?

Painting? I have seen a few more posts from a few of you with blogs posting pics of your newly painted minis!

Watching any good flicks or TV shows?

Let me know in the comments!

We signed up for Amazon Prime. Keira has been in the depths of despair since the Library closed. She spent I-don't-know-how-many hours every week searching through their databases and requesting books - for a while I was picking up 20-30 a week through the winter when I was making library runs on Saturday while she was at a dance class Amanda took her to... she cooled it off a bit when we started making library runs on Fridays and I made HER haul her own damned books home! But she was still taking out a dozen or so books a week. And DVDs. Mostly Supernatural - like, the TV series. So we aren't buying books from Amazon for her or anything, but we are feeding her Supernatural fix through their streaming service.

And since we have it, the rest of us have been checking out a few other series. The Family has been watching The Boys - and really enjoying it. Amanda and I just started watching Jack Ryan (I actually saw season one a while back - borrowed DVDs from the library - but I'm watching it again with her). I'm also looking forward to catching up on The Expanse. I did watch the first episode of Tales from the Loop too.... I wasn't overwhelmed by it... I'll give it a few more episodes - just because I LOVE Stålenhag's work so much!

I also got to see Danger Close - an Australian film about Australians and New Zealanders in Vietnam - particularly, the battle of Long Tan in 1966. Aussies do make good war films. The only other one I can think of about Vietnam is Odd Angry Shot - to this day, my favourite Vietnam war movie.

Back on the subject of our Crafty Teenage Supernatural Superfan... This is something she's been working on over the last week:



It's a Devil's Trap Skirt - she did get the idea from a pattern she saw on the internet, but the execution was all her. A Devil's Trap is often used in the show painted on the ground (or sometimes on a ceiling) to ensnare a demon when they walk into/under it. I guess if they were wearing this they'd be trapped too!


Coming Soon to Tim's Miniature Wargaming Blog: 

Ummm....? Another update on the games we're getting up to in a week...? If I can motivate myself to read some rules...?