December Games

 Still not painting miniatures much, but I have been doing character portraits - which I've posted on my Art Blog:

Tim's Art Blog: December - Part One - Character Portraits

I did get in a few games - mostly within the last week... 

Saturday, 5 December 2020 

Finnegan ran another game of Four Against Darkness for us again this week - Christian joined us and make a swashbuckler character - Herbert Quornfeld - Accountant of Adventure - he fighted with a giant stamp and a brutally sharp letter opened. There was just no end to the accounting jokes and receipt writing (or demanding). 

As before, I was playing Gronq the Barbarian, Jon was playing Felquis the Cleric, and Chris was playing Leif Qdingleberries the Elf. With Herbert joining us, Quincy the Halfling left the party - figured he was too good for us lunkheads who didn't respect him and the 2nd level he gained... 

Only one of us got to try and level up this game, and the group decided it was my turn, and, carrying on the tradition of ineptitude, I rolled a "1"... the only thing I could roll that would not let me advance to level 2... just like Jon and Chris had done the previous game... so ridiculous. 

Other highlights of the game- we swindled a giant out of all his gold, killed a trolgre (half ogre, half troll - it was NASTY!) and killed a pair of Witch Hunters and I befriended their warhounds and took them as my own. Also added an emerald necklace to my collection of "bling". 

I did a rough sketch of a comic logo - inspired by the old Marvel Comics Conan the Barbarian comic. 

I had been thinking of doing a Character portrait of Gronq - as I've been doing the Wrath & Glory game (that we aren't even PLAYING right now!?) - but then had the idea of doing it like a comic book cover. I even thought of doing short comics about the adventures we go on each week, but then realized that would be WAY to much work... or... would it? Maybe it would be the sort of "challenge" I need right now to get me producing a LOT of drawings, quickly!? 

Son't hold your breath... 

Saturday, 12 December 2020 

Another game of Four Against Darkness.. 

Friday, 25 December 2020

Despite University staff being off a week earlier than ususal, we didn't get any gaming in all week. Probably had something to do with signing up for Netflix. 

Xmas day I actually convinced Amanda to play Terraforming Mars with me. Guys, it must have been a Christmas Miracle. or something because I WON!? Against AMANDA!? 

(there have been allusions to her "throwing" the game, but I think more likely the terrible things the greasy left-over take-out food was doing to her bowels that threw her off her A-Game).

This was one of the LEAST covered boards of any game we've played this year! 

I was playing Point Luna with ... I ended with a TR of 

Initially we thought we'd tied - and then Amanda won the tie-breaker with cash, but then we noted that we'd double counted a few of Amanda's points - I'd counted some points for water next to her Capitol, and she'd counted those same points as point awareded by a card - so I eked out a win by two points!? WOO!!!

Saturday, 26 December 2020

In the afternoon the kids played their weekly game with friends on Roll20, in the evening finnegan ran us through another game of Four Against Darkness. 

We finished up clearing out the dungeon we'd been in. Met some dwarfs on the way out and billed them for vermin removal and headed back to town. After partying there for a while we headed out on our next adventure which involved some cross-country travel. 

I'm not sure if this is what Finnegan had in mind, but I'm pretty sure this is how the rest of us envisioned the Dual-Axe-Wielding Undead Dwarf Mini-Boss we encountered this Saturday. I have to say I was a little sad when we crushed it's bones into dust. I'm sure we all felt, at that moment, the music died... again... some more...

...and then the cleric failed to make it to second level for the FOURTH TIME IN A ROW!? Seriously!? Who rolls that many ones!?

Monday, 28 December 2020

Despite no painting or miniature gaming for the last six months (or maybe it's been five? it was the summer...), I headed over to my FLGS and picked up some boxing week deals. I guess I was feeling hopeful for some return to miniature gaming and painting in the new year... 

My hope is that with the Shadow & Pain box I'll be able to add a bit to my Daemon Army for 40K as well as being able to field it in Age of Sigmar at a Hedonites of Slaanesh army - and also get a solid Daughters of Khaine warband for Warcry. The deal is, though, I don't get to open the box until I a) Finish the Game room and b) finish the last of the minis from Wrath and Rapture I got LAST YEAR!? 

Later in the evening, Amanda and I played Century Golem Edition: Eastern Mountains. After five games, she's finally figured it out... which pretty much means I'm never going to win again... Ah, well... 

Later in the evening I actually assembled the Bloodmaster - first hobby thing I've done in nearly 6 months! 

Tuesday, 29 December 2020

In the morning I made another trip to the Dragon's Den and picked up a couple of the Faction Books for Warcry... 

In the evening Amanda played a couple more games with me, between watching episodes of Shadowhunters with Keira. After five years and nearly 30 games... Amanda finally figured out Farming in Carcassonne.... I will probably never win another game. (Which is actually totally fine, I mean, the whole reason I like Carcassonne so much is because I LOVE making maps! Winning has always been secondary to making a map that looks nice!) 

After another episode of Shadowhunters we played a quick game of Azul. Like, REALLY quick! I think it's the fastest game we've ever played!? It was pretty low-scoring compared to most others too!? 

Wednesday, 30 December 2020 

Another game of Carcassonne. 

Another big win for Amanda gaining 65 points at the end of the game from a combination of Farming anf Goods (from Traders & Builders) 

I went a little overboard with a massive re-basing/reorganization project to make old minis into Warcry Warbands (and maybe Age of Sigmar ARMIES?!) 

More on that in the Game Plan 2021 - coming in the next day or so... 

Thursday, 31 December 2020

Last day to get in games in 2020 - and for the final Quarterly Challenge

I got in two quick games of Azul with Amanda in the morning. 

Man, I was ON FIRE - totally rocked the first game! 99 points! (Amanda was doing pretty good too, she was only a few points behind!) 

Second game went even quicker, but was a bit lower scoring. 

After Azul, Amanda participating in an online dance thingie, so I went out for a ride and popped by Dragon's Den for one last little treat for myself. I don't actually HAVE Beastgrave - or ANY of the Warhammer Underworlds games... and I'm not really planning to GET any of the Warhammer Underworlds games... but I have a friend who does (I've painted all of his warbands for him) and this pandemic will end SOMEDAY and I thought it might be fun to try it out and have my own warband to play with.... AND the set includes five unique Daughters of Khaine miniatures that I will be able to use in Age of Sigmar and/or Warcry. 

Later Amanda and I played ONE LAST GAME of 2020 - another game of Carcassonne! 

I robbed her of some Farming points this time... but it wasn't nearly enough to deal with... 

ALL THE DAMNED GOODS she scooped!? 

I did score 40+ points from farming... which made it a much closer game that it had been all along... 211-208... but, yeah, she just crushed it all week with Carcassonne! 

And that was it for December. Oh, there are a few hours left in the month - and the year - but no more games are going to be played - the evening plans mostly involve supper and Netflix. So... 

This kind of rounds up Q3 of 2020... I didn't really have a plan, per se, at the start of Q3, but in a later post suggested I could "retroactively" pick out five games to play five times for the Quarterly Challenge - just to keep up with THAT part of the plan. At the time I suggested I'd probably go with Fate Accelerated (as I'd already played six games by that point!), Century: Golem Edition – Eastern Mountains (we'd played four games) and then Azul, Carcassonne, Codenames: Pictures, or Monarch (as we'd played two or three of each). I also considered Four Against Darkness an option, as I knew Finnegan would jump at the opportunity to play that with me. 

In the end, I played the following games over the last three months:

• Fate Accelerated x6
• Century: Golem Edition – Eastern Mountains x5
• Azul x5
• Carcassonne x5
• Four Against Darkness x4
• Century: A New World x2
• Codenames: Pictures x2
• Monarch x2
• Terraforming Mars x2
• Abyss x1
• The Castles of Burgundy x1
• Century: Spice Road x1
• London x1
• Patchwork x1

So... I didn't play five games five times... There were five games that, between them, I played 25 times...? And, in total, I played 38 games!? I like the Quarterly 5x5 Challenges - it's a little more flexible than a 10x10 Annual Challenge, but the same number of games (in total, 100) get played. I think I will continue this tradition. 

I do have a Looking Back at 2020 post in the works, but if I don't happen to finish that up before midnight (and anyone happens to be reading this evening) I do want to thank you for popping by and taking an interest in what I've been up to - and everyone else who stopped by all year long - especially those that commented and were so positive and supportive through a very rough time - you are fabulous people and I can't thank you enough. I also want to wish you all the very happiest of new years and sincerely hope that 2021 is less of a dumpster fire for everyone.