December Games

As with November, this is a scheduled post... 

I've started scheduling these posts, so they go up just before midnight on the last day of the Month. That way you can find the December Games post as the last post in December in the Blog Archive (over on the left if you're looking at this on a desktop computer... I have no idea where it is if you're looking at this on your phone...!?).

I can edit it throughout the month, adding games as I play them... 

If this post shows up with NOTHING in it other than this description... it's because I didn't end of playing ANY games this month. And I'm probably very, very sad. 

(or I've gotten so out of practice at doing this... BECAUSE WE HAVEN'T BEEN PLAYING GAMES AS MUCH ANYMORE.... that I just FORGOT to add to the post) 

The former seems more likely though...

I've done the same for LOOKING BACK AT 2023 post and the GAME PLAN 2024 post, which will be posting shortly after this!  

Anyway, here's what I (hopefully) got up to, if I got up to anything at all:

Saturday, 2 December 2023

Played another game of Five Parsecs From Home, online, with Chris and Christian. This was the second week in a row - which was nice, because we'd cancelled SO MANY games the previous month... 

You can read the full report of that game here:

Five Parsecs From Home - Online Campaign - Round Three - Space Pirate Raid

Thursday, 7 December

Thursday I got a new Ikea Kallax assembled and recruited #2 to help me haul some games downstairs. During said ordeal, they noticed our copy of Loonacy and felt like they hadn't played that in a while and suggested we play... 

We ended up recruiting Amanda, as well - who had just returned home from work.

We played three games

I won ALL OF THEM!?!?

I mentioned Just Desserts... so we ended up playing a game of that as well.

I won that one too.. 

yeah. 

On the weekend, Amanda had disassembled, moved, and reassembled this shelf in the basement as well... there is still a LOT of organizing to do... and still SO MANY MORE GAMES spread around the house... 

I didn't end up running a Five Parsecs from Home game on Saturday as we all went out to see Keiran in their high schools musical! (Mean Girls: The Musical - Keiran played Ms. Norbury - and did almost all the costuming and so much of the other set building and stuff!)

Thursday, 14 December 2023

One week later... Keiran and I were back at it. 

This time we played a game of Kingdom Builder. We played with the Hermits, Lords, and Farmers Kingdom Builder cards, on the Tavern, Oracle, Oasis, and Paddock boards. I won (by a little bit). It's been a while since Keiran played - August of 2021, I think...? And the time before that was in 2019... so, they did pretty good all things considered. More importantly, FUN was had and they said they'd like to play again! 

Wednesday, 20 December 2023

I got in my first game of Warhammer 40,000 (10th Edition)! I can't remember the last time I played a full game of 40k. I think it was just after the release of 9TH EDITION!?! I only ever bought two of the Codexes for 9th Aeldari and Imperial Guard... and never made use of EITHER of them!? There were enough changes to the core rules that all the previous codexes were instantly useless upon the release of 10th Edition, so Games Workshop has uploaded PDFs of ALL the Data Cards for ALL the models of ALL the factions, as well as the core rules... So... so far, I have not spent a penny on 10th edition... It MIGHT be handy to pick up the Index cards, though... 

The game was fun, I like whats going on in 10th edition - even if the scnenarios seem a little convoluted, with the constant fluctuation of goals every turn... 

You can read a full report of the action here:

40K10E - Exercise WOLF HAMMER 

(this was also the first game in the freshly - like THAT AFTERNOON) cleared out Game Room, post renovation! There is still a fair bit of organizing to do in the rest of the basement and all over the house... But we're playing games down there again! 

Finnegan ran his first D&D game in the Game Room on Friday.

I was supposed to run a game of Five Parsecs From Home Saturday... but no one responded to the message I posted midweek to our Discord to confirm we were playing... so... 

Sunday, 24 December 2023

Our friend Brent and Barb came over on Xmas Eve to play Wingspan! It was nice to see these two - and nice to play Wingspan! I feel like it's been forever since I played... though it's still one of the most played games for me this year! 

Round End Goals

My tableau at the end of the game - almost full! 

I felt like it was the best game I'd played in a long time - so much kind of all came together for me... still came in third... 

Monday, 25 December 2023

Could not get the kids to play games with us... are we THAT OLD!?!? So Amanda and I sat down and played a couple of games of Abyss. 

Took a bit to remember how to play... it's been TWO YEARS since we last played, apparently (according to my logged plays!? I figured it might be a year... but TWO!? Covid TimeWarp, I guess...?). 

Because it was set up and the first game kind of felt more like practice, we played a second... 

Clearly I need more practice!? 

Tuesday, 26 December 2023

I got up early to head to the Dragon's Den Boxing Day Sale... Usually an annual tradition, I've gone later in the week in 2020 and 2021 (to avoid the crowds!) and didn't even go at all last year! 

It is silly getting TWO MORE boxes of Warhammer Underworlds when I HAVEN'T PLAYED THE GAME ALL YEAR?!?! But I really like the game and I'm hoping with an organized game room, we'll get back to playing games more regularly (at least that's what Amanda keeps telling me!?) - and hopefully back to playing Warhammer Underworlds.

I decided to get myself a miniature version of the new 40K10E rules - saving myself $50 over the hardcover... but then realized the printing in it is VERY SMALL!!! I'd difficult to read even with my reading glasses!? Ah, well... 

I picked up Warhammer 40,000: Wrath & Glory, Threat Assessment: Xenos because I'm still really excited about the idea of Wrath & Glory and am hoping to get a game of it going in the new year... 

The Wingspan Fan Art Pack...  it's all the cards for Wingspan, but done by 300 different artists?  When I heard about it I thought "well, that sounds interesting... but..." I'm not one that often buys different versions of things that I already have that are still completely useful - for board games, usually. But when I saw it in the store and the price, I kind of thought, why not? (I somehow expected that it would cost a LOT MORE!?) 

Later in the evening we managed to talk Keiran into playing a game of Splendor! 

Amanda won... as she does... 

Wednesday, 27 December 2023

Amanda was at the hospital all morning and afternoon for some tests. 

In the evening our friends Ryan, Andy, and Jasper all came over to play Terraforming Mars. Because Amanda was still sedated - we all had a CHANCE!!!

We really Terraformed Mars!!!

This was my Tableau at the end of the game - before doing the last generating resources bit. 

I was trailing in the points - Dead last for Terraforming Rating (26)... I did get a milestone (builder) and an award (thermalist), but that just kept me up with the rest. I fell back a bit when we counted greenery and cities... but holy makerel, did I ever have a LOT of points on CARDS!??! TWENTY FOUR!? Which catapulted me into the lead (by three points!)! Wow! 

There was seven points on Pets alone - because I got it out at the beginning of the game and there were SIXTEEN cities built! 

Fun game! Great to see all of these guys again! 

Thursday, 28 December 2023

On Thursday we somehow got Keiran to play a game with us AGAIN! 

This time we played a quick game of Kingdom Builder! 

We played with Merchants, Lords, and Citizens Kingdom Builder Cards - which kind of worked together. We played on the Oasis, Oracle, Farm, and Harbour boards. I eeked out a win, but largely because of luck of card draws. Amanda was totally set up to absolutely DOMINATE the game if she'd drawn either a valley and/or grassland in the last turn or two... 

Friday, 29 December 2023 

On Friday Orion was back to play some MORE 40k and try out Warhammer Underworlds! 

You can find a report of the ensuing shenanigans here:

40K10E - Exercise WOLF HAMMER II

Afterwards I walked them through a game of Warhammer Underworlds. It was so great to get playing Warhammer Underworlds again. They played the Thorns of the Briar Queen, and I played Ironskull's Boyz. I've really missed playing Warhammer Underworlds. I was incredibly rusty (despite having reviewed the rules over the two days previous) and feel like I didn't do the greatest job explaining it... But Orion is super quick on the uptake and figured everything out right away and totally beat down Ironskull's Boys 11-8!? 

There is a brief report of the action here:

Warhammer Underworlds: Return to the Nightvault! 

Earlier in the day we got my new semi-permanent painting station set up in the new TV room - Keiran's old bedroom... The desk looks ridiculously huge and... ostentatious...?  The desk was part of Keiran's bed-over-desk thingie and would not fit in their new room, so Amanda REALLY wanted me to repurpose it for a new painting station... Otherwise we'd be just tearing it apart and pitching it out.... So... GIANT PAINTING STATION FOR ME!? 

Saturday, 30 December 2023

In the afternoon, Keiran actually suggested playing Set - and I will never pass up an opportunity to play a game with either of the minions if they suggest it! The two of us played a game and Keiran won... They were off to a quick lead as my brain took a moment to catch up and remember how to play... but not quick enough..

Amanda got roped into the second game which Keiran just DOMINATED. Amanda did get two sets in the end, but about half way through said "thanks for inviting me to watch you play a game..." because she was so utterly lost!? 

She does do so very, VERY well at games that require planning (executive functioning) but just lost when it comes to pattern recognition - that's where the Autistic/ADHD weirdos in the family SHINE!! 

In the evening I finally got together with the online RPG group again and we played through one last adventure for the crew of the Æthelwulf this year. 

I will probably get to post ing a game report at some point... but that might not be until sometime in the new year! 

Sunday, 31 December 2023 

And that brings us to today, the last day of the month - and the year!?

I somehow got the WHOLE FAMILY to play games with me today... this might have been the only time this whole year... (I don't think I even got everyone to play on my birthday!?) 

We started off with a game of Splendor - which Keiran won (and they were VERY excited about that because of the fifty or so games we've played.. I think this was their second win!) 

Then we played the FASTEST game of Loonacy that we've EVER played - Keiran won in less than ONE MINTUE!? 

We played a considerably longer game of Lords of Waterdeep. Keiran played the Silver Stars secretly led by Larissa Neathal, Finnegan played the City Guard secretly led by Khelben Arunsun the Black Staff, and Amanda played Knights of the Shield secretly led by Nindil Jalbuck

I played the Harpers lead by Fiergeiron the Paladin

Keiran won this one too! Ending the game with 123 points! 

Finally we played another quick game of set... which Keiran ALSO WON!!! They ended with ELEVEN sets and I was next highest with six! 

And that was it for this month... and this year!? 

Usually at the end of the quarter, I look back on what I got up to... but as I'm going to publish a whole post looking back at the entire year in a few minutes, I'm not going to do that here. 

Off to a slow start, but I ended up getting in a few games over the Holidaze!

What have YOU been playing this last month?! 

August Games

Mondays and Thursdays, amirite?

Sunday, 1 August 2021

Amanda and I played another game of the Arrival. 

That's four times I've played it, so I think that's going on the 5x5 challenge. 

Tuesday, 3 August 2021

Finnegan and i played a game of Age of Sigmar... I'd have a link to a game report here... if ever I had FINISHED the game report... still sitting as a draft.... 

whoops.

Wednesday, 4 August 2021

Another game of Necromunda with Orion and Nic. Full report can be found here:

Necromunda - Of Spiders and Scavvies

Saturday, 7 August 2021

After a year and a half, Finnegan finally got to run an in-person D&D game. I think it was a bittersweet reunion, as it was one of the players last game. She graduated from High School this year and will be going off somewhere to college in the fall and just got a job for the rest of the summer and has to work on Saturdays... 

He's currently running two other D&D games - every week - but not all the players in those games are fully vaccinated, so he's not inviting them over just yet. Maybe in September. Or, maybe we'll all be isolating in September again and he'll be back to running ALL his games online again... 

I'm trying to stay positive and hopeful, but there are SO MANY people refusing to get vaccinated around here, and it seems like everyone just thinks it's "over". There have been festivals every week since restrictions were lifted and there have been just crowds and crowds of people and hardly a mask in sight... Numbers going up...

Wednesday, 11 August 2021

Keiran actually suggested playing a game and I wasn't about to pass up that opportunity! 

We played Just Desserts which is a quick and fun little game, though it makes me very, very hungry... 

After nearly a month of 30+°C temperatures, it dropped into the 20s this week and suddenly it's all sweaters and toques! 

Friday, 13 August 2021

Friday Night - Game Night

I've been trying to re-establish Friday Nights as GAME NIGHT around here. Around supper time, as I was about to ask if anyone wanted to play, Keiran actually asked if we could play Retro Loonacy!? 

We played six games in the end. Usually I take a moment and organize my cards, but this time I just started throwing down the first ones I saw and the game was over in less than a minute!? Everyone was just kind of shocked. I actually ended up winning three of the six. 

Keiran won this last one. Won it before I even put a card down. Mind you, I was busy trying to take a picture! 

After Loonacy, we played a game of Splendor. Amanda won. Of course, if you know anything about us and our history of playing Splendor, you would have already known that by the fact that Amanda is sitting at the table with a game of Splendor in front of her. Keiran was close... but I had, like, 7 points...? 

Saturday, 14 August 2021

Saturday evening i finally got in a game of Warhammer Underworlds. I think it was the first game we've played since Amanda got Wingspan in May.... There are more pictures and a brief report here:

Warhammer Underworlds - Return to the Nightvault

Tuesday, 17 August 2021

Speaking of Wingspan... 

We introduced some new friends to Wingspan - super fun to play some new people - and birders! 

This was the 21st game we've played since May. 

Friday, 20 August 2021

Friday Night - Game Night

Kids weren't interested in playing anything, so Amanda and I played another game of Warhammer Underworlds. This time I tired out Ironskull's Boys. They played a little better than the Sepulchral Guard, straight out of the box.... but I still totally lost... More pics and a full report can be found here:

Warhammer Underworlds 

Saturday, 21 August 2021

Saturday evening I got the gang back together and we made some new characters...

We were using the Savage Worlds Fantasy Character Generator Toolkit. It's a book that lets you roll up a totally random character for a Savage Worlds fantasy game. I've always had a lot of fun using this - it doesn't always make playable characters - and you can't really use it hoping it will create a party that has any business knowing each other - let alone adventuring together... but we're making them for a one-shot adventure that I'm expecting will be rather tongue-in-cheek... 

I backed the Lost Tomb of the Bitchin Chimera sometime last year (I've been a HUGE Dead Milkmen fan since Big Lizard in my Backyard came out when I was in high school... so... how could I NOT!?) and I was just notified that it has finally shipped (I've actually had the PDF for some time.. but haven't really bothered to look at it..). The adventure is written for D&D5E, but I figured rather than learning a whole new system, I'd just use Savage Worlds which I used for years for every setting I felt the urge to run a role-playing or skirmish game in!

The plan is to do another round of character making the following week and maybe pick the best one - or the one that seemed funnest - and I'm going to run the game in September. After that, I'm kind of hoping to get back to Wrath & Glory - possibly picking up the campaign where we left off. 

Tuesday, 24 August 2021

And look what showed up on Tuesday. (Well... technically it showed up on Monday... but they didn't bother delivering it to me, just dropped it at the local Post Office and I had to go pick it up on Tuesday... but... whatever...). I spent a good chunk of the afternoon reading through parts of the adventure and giggling. I'm not sure if anyone else is going to get all the references. But it was entertaining enough just to read. 

In the evening Keiran suggested playing a game and we weren't about to pass on that opportunity. There was a bit of what-do -you-want-to-play-i-dunno-what-do -you-want-to-play, but eventually Kingdom Builder was settled on... 

Amanda had had a LONG day - getting up to attend a live, online conference that was being hosted in the Netherlands... When we started it was like she had never played and had to have EVERYTHING explained to her at least twice... three times, for some of the things... 

And then she proceeded to win, scoring almost as many as Keiran AND me COMBINED!? (In the picture above, those are her Orange settlements screaming across the board. 

I just couldn't get it together this game. Maybe it was because I spent so much time explaining and reexplaining I didn't really have any time to think things through... maybe it was because the first three cards I pulled were grasslands and I just coudn't get OUT of the area I was in. We each had one bonus action on the first turn... but the only other one I even got close to was snapped up by the others - by midway through the game Amanda had FIVE of them, and Keiran had three. And, being locked into one little area, I coudln't even really make USE of the one I had!? 

As I'm sitting here typing, I realized we forgot to add in points for castles... and that probably woudl have given enough that she WOULD have had more points than me and Keiran combined. 

Wednesday, 25 August 2021

Nic and Orion stopped by for another quick game of Necromunda! 

You can find the full report and a bunch more pics here:

Necromunda - Sump Croc Hunt!

Friday, 27 August 2021

On Friday evening, at the suggestion of Keiran, we played Lords of Waterdeep!

Amanda played the Silver Stars and Durnan the Wanderer. I played the Harpers and Kyriani Agrivar. Finnegan Played the Red Sashes and Piergeiran the Paladinson. Keiran played Kinghts of the Shield and Nindl Jalb. Playing with four is HARD as you only get two agents to start off and a third part way through the game it's really hard to DO some of the high point quests, but if you can pull one off, it pretty much secures you the game. I had a hard time as my Lord gave bonuses for Piety and Arcand quests... but there were NONE available for the first half of the game!? I did manage to pick up three later in the game and finish them off - which brought me up from trailing by 35+ points to... well... I was still about 20 points behind Keiran  and Finnegan... but only 14 behind Amanda, who's had a pretty commanding lead for much of the game.  

Saturday, 28 August 2021

NEW KILL TEAM!!!!

Later in the evening, we did Round Two of character-making with the Savage Worlds Fantasy Character Toolkit.  Everyone was there. Hilarity ensued. I actually posted the characters we rolled up on Savage Timmy's Playhouse - the Savage Worlds blog that I haven't posted on in over a decade. you can see them all here:

Savage Timmy's Playhouse: Lost Tomb of the Bitchin Chimera Characters

Next Saturday I'll be running the adventure! 

Tuesday, 31 August 2021

Finnegan and i got in our first game of the new Kill Team this afternoon. Took a bit of figuring out, but I have a feeling it will play MUCH faster when we do get it sorted and is going to be SUPER FUN!!!

Stay tuned for a game report! 

And more game reports! I have three more games lined up this week!