April Games

 I actually played GAMES in April! 

Well... not until the second half of April (after my projects and final exam were finished!)... and it wasn't a LOT of games... and there were no miniature games... or war-games... but there were still games!? So that's something! 

Saturday, 18 April 2026 

MORGAN actually suggested doing something Saturday evening - which was surprising in itself, as they usually want little to do with us! I can't remember the last time they played a game with us - let alone the last time THEY SUGGESTED playing a game!!

We played a pretty quick game of Carcassonne - with just the base game... Despite Amanda and I splitting a 50-point megalopolis, Morgan ended only a few points behind! I just snuck ahead of Amanda at the end of the game by ruthlessly cutting her out of the farming... 

After wards we played a few games of Retro Loonacy. I won the first game. Morgan suggested we play two more - best two out of three...? It's like they didn't even CONSIDER that Amanda could possibly have won a game... As it turned out Morgan won the second and I won the third. While Amanda very often DOMINATES at a lot of other board games... Loonacy is not one of them. 

Afterwards we all watched a couple episodes of Resident Alien! 

Friday, 24 April 2026

Initially we'd planned to have friends over on Friday to play Wingspan - which we have not played in ages.... Amanda had played it a couple times last year with some of her friends... but I have not played it since June of 2024!? (Despite that, I did finally pick up the latest Americas expansion for Amanda's birthday earlier this month! It is still one of our MOST PLAYED GAMES ever!) 

But there was a late-season snow storm on Friday (THE THIRD ONE in as many weeks!?) so that got cancelled... but since Amanda had slated that time in as "play board game time" I convinced her to give Sagrada a try... 

I picked up Sagrada a while back. It was on sale... I realized later it was probably on sale because there is a slightly newer version out now... but I think it MOSLTY plays the same...? Earlier in the week I'd watched a how to play video. 

While she was eating supper, I tried a couple of quick solo games - the solo play version is very quick and easy enough to play, but difficult to win! I totally didn't read how to determine the target score for the first game so wasn't even remotely close... 49/109

The second game I scored lower... but was closer to the target score... 44/73

After Amanda had finished supper and ran some of the pizza I made over to Morgan who was house-sitting for a friend a few blocks away and busy studying for their final exam for English the following morning... we sat down to try out a game. 

We got part was through the second round and realized Amanda had been doing placement all wrong... (Started in the wrong place... didn't place the next few panes adjacent to already placed panes...) So we called them "practice rounds" and started over again... 

So much fun was had utterly destroying me the first time, Amanda decided we needed to play a second game... which she also won... 

Amanda suggested we bring it on our little vacation together the following week... though I wasn't entirely sure WHEN she was hoping to play as the "vacation" was her going on a work conference and me tagging along for fun... and, looking at the itinerary, I'm pretty sure she was supposed to be doing stuff from 7am-8 to10pm, depending on the day. The spa that the conference was held at seemed an odd choice, considering the very full itinerary, I'm not sure when the participants were supposed to make use of the spa facilities... maybe they figured most of the participants would be men and they'd be  bringing their wives and the wives would want to make use of the spa facilities...? I wasn't entirely sure what **I** was supposed to do for the four days...!?

And again... that was it... 

Maybe next month I'll get out the toys and play with them! Seriously, it's gotten to the point where I'm thinking about solo games again! 

We'll Always Have Paris...

And... maybe Amsterdam...?

So... plans have changed and it seems we may not be travelling to England after all... I've been kind of bummed out about that, as it was the part of the trip I was MOST looking forward to... 

This kind of came about because Paul from Wargaming and Other Distractions (who has been posting lately about a recent Mordhiem campaign you should really go and check out!!) was kind enough to point out that the UK had had some very recent policy changes that we might need to look into regarding dual citizens and entry into the UK... The VERY short version of a long and ridiculous story ends with Amanda being Amanda and deciding to get to the bottom of it, which ended with her speaking to someone in the Home Office in the UK and after GIVING THEM HER NAME AND PHONE NUMBER explained the situation and they said, 'Oh, yeah, you are for sure a dual citizen and will need a British Passport to enter the UK from now on"... 

Unfortunately, Amanda does NOT HAVE a British Passport and we weren't 100% sure she was going to be able to get one in time... so we decided to drop that leg of our planned journey... 

We are still heading to Paris (for Amanda's conference!), and Amanda, not wanting to be short-changed on her vacation time, has decided we need to tack on a visit to AMSTERDAM!? (and a couple MORE days in France!) 

In other news... I am finished school for the term, so hopefully there will be more hobby happenings and a bit more activity on this blog! 

If you want to read about how school went, head on over to the Art Blog:

English Robin on a Brake Cable - a post on the Art Blog about a final project and things I've been up to for the last little bit! 

(I have a couple more books about Canadian battlefields in the Great War inbound, but I'm not sure I'm going to make it to too many... Vimy, for sure, though!) 

Bolt Action - Hungarians Head East!

Last fall... in, like, October...!? Vera and I played a game of Bolt Action. I took a bunch of pictures and planned to do a game report... and this has now been sitting in my drafts for... almost six months...!? 

So I thought maybe to have one less thing in the drafts folder, I'll just go ahead and publish it with minimal commentary! 

I was playing Soviets, Vera was playing a mix of Hungarians and Germans. 

The Soviet force that I used. 

I didn't get a picture of her force.

Hungarian armoured car rolled on and shot up totally hidden snipers, killing the observer... because... that's a thing that happens...? 

Bulk of the Soviet force advancing to meet Hungarians moving through the area. 

More Soviets on the flank. 

Soviet Artillery catches the Hungarians in the open! 

Soviet AT guns light. up one of the Hungarian tanks! Whew! Lacking any armour of my own, it would have been super not great if this tank had been allowed to roll around knocking out my AT guns and then roll around knocking out EVERYTHING else that had no real method of dealing with it! 

Then it was the Soviet's turn to get caught in the open by artillery... probably the Hungarian/Germans... but could be the Soviets... who knows.. 

Soviet right flank takes position in the woods. 

Soviet right flank also taking position in the woods, while AT gunners hide behind their sunshields in the open! 

Super-duper pinned Soviet Sniper just won't leave! 

POW! Soviet AT Gunners light up the Hungarian CV-33! 

Luckily one of the crew was able to bail... 

Hungarians rush the Soviet centre positions supported by an armoured car. 

This roll looks really bad. I have no idea what it was for... probably something important! 

Having suppressed the Germans and Hungarians opposite, Soviets on the right flank move up rushing from one covered position in the woods to another. 

Fire from the Hungarian armoured car and infantry taking its toll on the Soviets in the woods nearby. 

Soviet Infantry on the left flank move to support the center. 

Savage close fighting in the woods between Hungarians and Soviets! 

Soviets on the right flank keeping their opposites pinned down. 

More Soviets rush into the woods to help hold the center of the line! 

AT guns exchange fire with a Hungarian MG team that finally dragged their gun to a firing position in the woods opposite. 

Weight of numbers carries the day in the center! 

Soviet AT Rifle and Hungarian armoured car exchange fire.

The fire-fight on the Soviet right flank intensifies as Hungarian paratroops, who were seriously pinned down in the initial Soviet artillery barrage, finally rallied and made their way through the woods to join the remaining Germans. 

I'm not sure how this ended... seemed like things went well enough for the Soviets...? I have a feeling, though it likely ended up as a draw as so many Bolt Action games have - as you need to be ahead by two or more victory points to claim victory. 

It's been a while, but I still think about digging out some of the WW2 projects started (or pick up again) a year ago... but I find I have limited time these days and so many Age of Sigmar things that are a more pressing concern! We'll get back to it some day!