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Die of the Dead - A KickStarter preview

2-5 Players, apx 40min, dice manipulation/area control, Radical8 Games Designers: James Allen and Mark Stockton-Pitt Artwork: Rusembell AS EVER THIS IS NOT A PAID/REIMBURSED PREVIEW, C&P just like the game a lot! Halloween in the UK means cheap masks at Asda, not answering the door for 5 days after 6pm, and eating all the bagged sweets you bought with no intention of ever giving out. For me as a sound designer and composer, it also means hours upon hours of sitting in front of a sequencer from August onwards creating sounds and characters with the sole intent of scaring the behecksus out of the general public. This year is going to be a weird one, with that little viral beastie still kicking around, so a few game nights playing monster and ghost games might be on the cards instead. We like to think of Halloween as a big deal in Europe and N America, but for residents of Central and South America, the end of October is a much more cultural affair. Nov 1st &  2nd sees the celebration of Dia de Muertes – The Day of the Dead. What strikes you first about anything to do with the celebration is the sheer splendour of colour and design. Just about everything involved with the celebration is a panoply of vibrancy, echoing the central philosophy of the holiday of celebrating, not mourning, the souls of those who have passed. What also struck me, was the playfulness of the festivities which often include sharing not just good stories of beloved friends and relatives, but often the funny and ridiculous, even foolish stories of their lives too. Though cultural misappropriation is a very lively topic in boardgames at the moment (and rightly so – 3Minute Boardgames’ current work on respectful handling of the Māori culture in games is a good example, as well as the many discussions over slavery portrayal as part of the #BLM dialogue). The joy, colour and playfulness of Dia de Muertes lends itself more comfortably as a subject for a potential boardgame to me – and yet, there are surprisingly few. Two in a relatively short list are the new version of Skull (though in design only), and the 2017 card game Dia de los Muertos. ARTISTIC DESIGN/COMPONENTS So, loving the aesthetic of the celebration as I do, I was drawn immediately to a small table at Airecon this year where an explosion of colour greeted us to the game Die of the Dead from Radical 8 Games. Die of the Dead is a dice manipulation / area control game where players take the roles of friendly spirits, gently guiding the souls of the departed up the marigold steps and back into the land of the living for the festival. The first player to have one of their souls reach the village step of the altar, is the winner. I’m shameless in my admission that I’m going to be more interested in a game that looks great – I know, but I can’t deny it. Die of the Dead had me hooked immediately. It looks utterly beautiful and features some astonishingly original components. What I hadn’t realised until I dug a little deeper, was how far-reaching this design goes. Radical 8 have not merely lifted a beautiful design aesthetic from a cultural phenomenon (unlike many who slap on sugar skull make up for Halloween, blissfully unaware of any deeper significance), but have done this game – properly. The design, the gameplay, the mechanics, and the components are all deeply inspired by the celebration and in an impressively respectful way.

Just taking the components as a starting point: The tokens – incense, candles, bread and marigolds are all significant gifts laid on the beautiful altars during the festival – the marigolds or cempasủchil especially are highly significant, their scent said to guide souls back to their family homes, an idea echoed in the mechanical use of the token. The 3D stepped altar (or ofrendas) – is highly suggestive of both the domestic and public stepped altars that are laid out with colourful gifts for the dead, again, echoed beautifully in the game. The player boards – these are holding sites for souls before their ascendency. The dice – are representations of the souls themselves and their movement around the board is highly thematic of the journeys that friends and relatives’ souls make over the festivities. The caskets – are both beautifully rendered solid boxes, but also functional as dice shakers / hidden resource boxes – each highly thematically and individually decorated.

It’s truly difficult to know where to start with this game as it has all been done so very well. The press pack for the forthcoming Kickstarter even cites the involvement of a cultural advisor and a Mexican artist, Rusembell on the project, and it shines through on everything to do with this game. It’s a lot of time, trouble and thoughtful effort that should be envied by many other designers.  No opportunity to reflect the splendour of the festival has been wasted at all in the design of this game, and Radical 8 should be very proud.

GAMEPLAY But no game is really safe from scrutiny of its mechanics, no matter how beautiful it is, and happily, Die of the Dead does not disappoint here either. In Die of the Dead, the players are each trying to guide their supply of souls (dice) from their home player board, via the caskets, to their final destination on the 3D altar at the end of the play area, back to the land of the living. Players will prepare their souls, add them to caskets, undergo a number of ‘area control’ style comparisons and finally, ascend their souls onto the steps of the altar where they may be rewarded with gifts or abilities.

The 4 caskets are the real heart of the game. It is here that most of the player interaction takes place, and it uses a clever and unique little mechanism to transport souls from the first casket to their eventual goal on the altar steps. Players will be adding their dice (souls) to the open first casket and from there on, the caskets are in constant motion. A player will take one action on their turn, by selecting a casket and carrying out the action associated with it. Each casket location has a different action, and these are noted on cards numbered 1-4 underneath the caskets themselves. Each casket also has a secondary ‘consequence’ action at the bottom of the card. Casket position 1 – players can add 3 prepared souls or 1 ‘free’ (unprepared) soul. If there are 2 players’ souls in the casket, the casket is shaken, if there’s a 1 rolled – move the casket along.

Casket position 2 – players may prepare 2 souls. The casket is then shaken and the souls compared (a variant on area majority) and the winner prepares another soul. If a 1 is rolled, the casket moves along.

Casket position 3 – the casket is shaken straight away, any duplicate souls are removed leaving 1 soul per player min in the casket. The player then takes a token, allowing additional abilities.

Casket position 4 – the casket is shaken and the souls compared again. 2 of the winner’s souls are ‘ascended’ to the altar steps. The casket is then either: moved along, a power soul gained (more later) or 1 of your own souls ascended to the steps.

Once again – this shifting and constant play for majority also feels very thematic to me and reminiscent of the playfulness of the festival itself “Oh our Uncle was so argumentative, he could have a fight in his own coffin!” I only noticed going through the rulebook that this was actually reflected in the artwork on the action cards, but when I was playing the demo I recall thinking that each of the locations was a little like a different aspect of the soul’s journey. Arrival, sorting, a little tussle with your neighbours and finally ascendancy. Always nice when a game rewards you like that by confirming you got the idea right! The use of the dice is interesting and once you get your head round the travel of the caskets, can provoke some immensely strategic decision making. Only 3 dice can be held in preparation, so the timing of free slots for preparation or potential return of dice from losing roll comparisons in the caskets makes for some very complex chain decisions (which then, of course, can be overturned in a second by another player’s actions). Dice in your pool are considered ‘free souls’ and usually have to be prepared before the caskets, but Casket 1 allows a free soul a ‘bye’ which is useful if you have no prepared souls or have no empty slots. There are also ‘Power Souls’ which can be won on the altar or selected by the Casket 4 action. These have a skull in place of the 3 & 4 and are considered wild in comparison rolls. Ascending souls means bringing them into the family altar – the very cool 3D steps at the end of the table. The first ascended soul goes on an empty space on stair 1. A player may select which bonus space would be best for them. The more players land on stair 1, the less choice of bonus, until the final player in a 5 pl game, who has to use an empty space with no bonus. As soon as a soul is placed on the 9th step, the game ends and the player who owns that soul is the winner (ie not the person who placed it – who may well be different due to Casket 4’s secondary action) This feels like a game that warrants replay to improve your strategy each time, though you are still delightfully at the whim of player interaction. This sort of ‘out of my hands’ game really appeals to me, it prevents run-away leads, often levels play a little and makes for much more fun for less experienced players. I like that skill is rewarded, but that it is not the sole way to win. The tokens are won either from Casket 4 or again as an ascendancy bonus. The tokens boards are double sided: Side A being a generally simpler action; Side B for a more strategic game. Eg The Candle on side A allows the caskets to simply be moved along, however, Side B allows 2 adjacent caskets to be swapped. Again, this allows for some much deeper strategic gameplay – especially tokens which allow ‘peeking’ into the caskets. I have a notoriously terrible memory and lost track of what souls I had in what caskets very quickly so a mitigating token I could use at just the right moment was really useful.

CONCLUSION York-based Radical 8 don’t have a huge back catalogue as yet, but Die of the Dead deserves to do really well as it’s an absolute belter and hopefully the start of great things to come. I’m not going to lie, there were a few times during the shortened demo, where the game was a lot to take in, but that’s as much about the way I learn games as the game itself. I learn best from going step-by-step thru the rules whilst shuffling pieces around and there just isn’t time for that in the scope of a convention demo (though the guys were amazingly patient and very clear with their explanation) – I did keep running to the casket ability cards during the demo though, so I have to hope they might put a small set of player aids in the box for 53 yr olds who are sat at the end of a 5pl table (hint). The game packs a satisfying amount of gameplay into its relatively small box, and the quality of the components is insanely good. I would happily play the handmade version from Airecon, but I’m guessing the final production will be even better.

It scratches a lot of gaming itches for me: variations in play each turn; lots of decision making; huge numbers of routes to winning; a nice bit of player interaction; and a decent chunk of screw-over and luck that means you can always blame someone else for your bad gameplay. I like the attempts to make for a simpler initial game, especially as there is a lot to keep track of in your first game. The player boards are actually doubled sided allowing an asymmetric start bonus for each player, and of course, the Token cards are double sided also. I appreciate efforts such as these as I think it helps newer gamers, slow learners (like me) and more casual gamers alike. I also appreciate the Open Casket variant which allows potentially for some much more devious play. However – there’s always a dark side, and it wouldn’t be fair to let this go in a balanced overview. Yes, the game has a fairly steep learning curve and a lot of concepts to take in from the get-go, but any game with a lot of strategic depth can have that same issue and so long as you don’t mind that, this game is no different from many others. But, my big issue is the one that has dogged mine and ‘Ers gaming life for years – 2 player variants. Die of the Dead does class itself as 2-5 player, and honestly, without going too much under the hood, I can’t really see a reason why it shouldn’t work normally at 2 players, but that’s for the designers to tell me as I’ve doubtless missed something. But…. The solution suggested in the box is one of my least favourite ways of solving the 2pl issue – effectively a dummy hand. My feeling on this solution has always been – if a game needs a dummy hand, then it doesn’t actually play at that player count. Especially here, as there is actually little stopping the dummy hand from winning. Nothing says you played a crap game more than the dummy hand actually winning. I’m genuinely hoping Radical 8 can come up with a much better solution for this between the KS campaign, and the final release. It’s worth it as it strikes me as an ideal 2pl game. It also feels to me like a great ‘strategic beer & pretzels’ game – of which I guarantee there are very few. It’s not far off as far as I can see, which is why the current rulebook 2pl solution feels so clamped on with my sort of standard of welding.  It seems particularly odd especially when so much variation in the game has been offered for higher/lower strategy. I only have a preview copy of the rulebook at the moment, and I had to read it thoroughly to make sure I’d recalled the game correctly - and I know there’s a lot of time between now and delivery, but it’s already a pretty decent rulebook and one that I’d feel confident learning the game from scratch from. It’s very clear and describes some quite complex ideas very clearly. I sincerely wish Radical 8 well with this on Kickstarter when it launches on August 25th 2020. The price looks to be about £27 + shipping, which feels like an absolute bargain for a game that’s been this well presented. It’s a lot of game for your money both design-wise and strategically and I would heartily recommend at least paying the page a visit. Happy gaming y’all!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/radical8games/die-of-the-dead

Photo attributions: Beautiful game pics - Ross Connell (moregamesplease) @moregamespls Catrina image - By Paolaricaurte - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 Altar image - By AmbarCCPM - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 Artwork: Rusembell @Rusembell rusembell.deviantart.com Other images – official rulebook and our own.

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RocketBook Flip - a rare review and it’s not a game!

Before I go any further, I feel I must point out that I don’t have any financial connection to RocketBook whatsoever – this isn’t a piece that was requested or courted by RocketBook or affiliates and I’m not receiving any reward or sponsorship either in product or direct payment for this article. I just like the damn thing and love it when an innovative piece of tech (in this case quite low key) just works. Hi I’m Paul, and I have a bit of a problem with notebooks – A4 lined, sketch, reporters, Black & Reds (ohhhh the sheer number of B&Rs), goofy ones, serious work ones, battered ones, pristine ‘for best only’ ones – and they all fill at an alarming rate. I make notes on everything. Working as a sound engineer and designer, there’s always mix notes, soundscape plots, ideas, VO notes and scripts, SFX ideas etc etc. At home it’s a very different story – it’s much worse. Game notes; blog notes; hurriedly scribbled quiz questions spurred by watching another episode of Mental Floss’ 500 facts about cheese; RPG notes and story ideas; my own script writing; world building; sketches; other creative ideas; song/music notes and ideas; and that’s before we get to to-do lists; and the dreaded ‘things I must remember’. So my journal life is many, varied and plenty. The usual issue is… ‘what frakking journal did I put that amazing idea in????’, and that’s way before we get to the utter horror that is possibly losing a whole journal or forgetting to bring one home from work. I’m 53, I forget more than I recall, and journals help bring some semblance of order to a massively chaotic and fertile brain. What I’ve needed for a long time is some way of organising all this info or centralising it in some way. Sure I’ve looked at apps – I used Things, Evernote, Notes, and One Note for years, and they are really, really good, but they relied on either having a charged device exactly when I need it (yeah – me too) or net access, which for a new-ish theatre, is surprisingly a bit of an issue at work. And the most important part – I actually enjoy the physical act of handwriting long-hand. I still write actual physical letters to people, it’s adorable and a bit creepy in this age, but I call it charming and leave it at that. Handwriting, for me, allows me time to think and process in a way that typing just doesn’t. Handwriting is slower, I rarely cross anything out, and so I always have the whole of the thought. So what I’ve ideally wanted for years, was a reliable way of organising all my notes and storing them electronically so I have access even without the actual journal, with OCR so they’re editable, and still being a tactile handwritten experience. I’m naturally a sceptic (I actually subscribe to Fortean Times – yeah – I card carry!) and so online ads and particularly FaceAche ads are a field day for critical thinking triggers. I don’t think I’ve ever received from Wish, exactly what I ordered from Wish. And so when an ad from RocketBook constantly kept popping up on my timeline a few weeks ago, I was naturally “it’ll never work” But their website looked legit enough – they had a dedicated UK shop, it was relatively steep to buy in but not so wild that if it didn’t work I wouldn’t be crying too much about the money wasted, and at the end of the day it was a 10th the price of a ReMarkable 2 which is actually what I thought would solve my problem. I’m furloughed at the mo and though I could argue the case for £300+ notebook (test me, I could), I just couldn’t justify it now. And RocketBook had a good summer intro offer. I ordered on the Wednesday, and the impressively glitzy and graphic-design-playbook poly package was dropped on my doorstep just 2 days later by my cheery postie who yelled up the drive “Package for ya, looks very exciting!!!!” I like that our postal service is still invested in the hopes and dreams of their customers. It was exciting. All the instructions for getting started with my new Teal RocketBook A4 Flip were right there before you even open it. The main body houses the pad and a cleaning cloth, and a clever little side pocket houses the supplied Pilot Frixion pen.

RocketBooks come in several models, all configured slightly differently. I have the Flip which is a top spiral-bound softback pad with 21 double sided ‘pages’ giving 42 pages in total. The Flip has lined paper one side, and dot paper on the reverse (great for D&D maps, impromptu tables, mixer channel plots etc)

DELIVERY & FIRST IMPRESSIONS The pads are nicely made, with sturdy covers (available in some really nice colours too) and a solid, thick plastic ring binding. Initially, The RocketBook does feel a bit odd. Its ‘pages’ are actually a synthetic polyester blend and feel quite shiny to the touch. The sort of surface you just instantly feel is not going to be great for ink! Each page is edge-to-edge lined or dotted with a heavy black border. At the bottom is a prominent QR code used for scanning and some very feint icons. These 7 icons are the key to the ease of use of the RocketBook series. But more later.

THE APP

The pads work with a companion app, that is absolutely free and available for Apple & Android. In fact, RB even do downloadable printable pages so you can try the whole system absolutely free before you buy – I didn’t, I just bought one, y’know. The app allows you to set up your destination locations, your preferences and does the actual scanning. Just one quick note, I have the app on both my phone and iPad and had to set-up the app the same for both, there appears to be no way of swapping preference settings between devices, though I can see why this may be intentional.

Currently, the RocketBook allows you to choose from the following locations to send files to: GoogleDrive, box, EverNote, DropBox, slack, OneNote, iCloud, OneDrive as well as simply to an email (or multiple) addresses and iMessage. Impressively, these are not fixed either, so you could choose your 7 destinations to be 7 email addresses of team members. These 7 locations are the icons at the bottom of each page. To select a destination for your file, you just make a mark in that icon box (tick, circle, something unsavoury) and that page will be sent to whichever you select. This makes the system very flexible indeed as not every page is necessarily sent to every destination. You always decide every time you fill a page. Change your mind on a second revision? No problem, add or change icons at any time and re-upload.

There’s a really handy table on the inside front cover for you to note what icon sends what where. This is also wipeable, so can be changed anytime.

I have mine set by default to:

Rocket > main email address (either as PDF, JPG, OCR embedded or as separate txt file)

Diamond > GoogleDrive (you can specify exactly what folder too)

Apple > iMessage

Bell > OneNote

That actually still leaves me 3 spare: shamrock; star; and horseshoe.

The app took me maybe 20mins to set-up, that included decision time for destinations and setting up a few target folders. It also included a few ‘test firings’. I didn’t get everything right first time and a few things didn’t send, but crucially, a tiny bit of digging revealed very simple troubleshooting (including the aforementioned issue with no sync’ing of phone and iPad), and all in I was finding the files in all the right destinations within about 30 mins. The website, FAQs and community are immensely helpful with any other issues as well. I had a tiny issue with OneNote seeming to take ages to sync, but I think that’s an issue with my OneNote settings, everything else was almost instantaneous. You can also handily set the app to auto-send as soon as it scans, or allow for manual review.

CLEAN UP ON AISLE ROCKETPAD The main reason I wanted to look at the RocketBook was the issue of reusability. My journal shenanigans are by no means the biggest ecological disaster on the planet, but if we are to believe Tesco (who probably issue as many receipts at our local Tesco Express in a day as journals I’ve ever used), every little helps. If I could find an ecologically better solution, I should at least take a look. The RocketPads work by partnering with Pilot pens called Frixion. The really clever bit is RB’s paper technology and how it works with the Frixion ink. At present, the pads only work with the Frixion pens – except the RB Colour which works with Crayola’s dry-erase crayons. When you write on the ‘paper’ with a Frixion pen, it remains wet for a few seconds and then dries pretty quickly. There’s no smudging whatsoever in transit, which is pretty cool. From then on, it may as well be permanent, until you have transmitted your page and decide you don’t want the text anymore.  To wipe the page clean, you can dampen the supplied cloth and just wipe the surface clean, it’s weird but it works! But then damp cloth in your bag? So I use kitchen roll to dampen, then wipe dry with theirs. Others even have an adorably kitsch spray bottle in their kit. RB reckon if you are not going to use the pad for a few months, to clean the pages as the ink can get trickier to shift after a long time, but for day-to-day use, I’ve tried writing and wiping well over 20x and the page hasn’t become discoloured or tarnished at all. The only pad different in the range is the Wave which cleans by microwaving! Do NOT do this with any of the others, bad things will happen. The ink doesn’t take scrubbing or any time to come up, I clean my pages in about 10-15s. The page can feel a little tacky when it’s damp, but leave a minute or so and the page will be back to normal. RB do say that odd things can happen if the book is left near a heatsource or in a hot car, vis-à-vis, the ink can completely disappear horrifyingly enough. They say that putting the pen or the pad in the freezer for a little while will actually restore the ink, but I’ve not tried it yet so can’t confirm or deny how that goes. Handy for spies in hot countries though, so there’s another target market. If you are always going to send your pages to the same places, then don’t erase the marked icons, and the page is ready for new notes straight away, otherwise, scrub them too.

I CAN’T READ YOUR WRITING – ARE YOU A DOCTOR? Initially, the RB pads send their files as scans of the pages in high contrast monochrome (colour is available) when you snap the page in the app (which auto-frames for you and takes maybe 10s to capture). The formats are either as images or PDF. If that had been it, I would have been quite happy, but the RB pads have another trick up their sleeve. Firstly, they have a function called ‘Smart Titles’ which allows you to name your files directly from the page by writing a filename between double hashtags ie ## this is my scrawl 24/8/20 ## and the file will pop up in your destinations with the filename “this is my scrawl 24/08/20” – this is insanely handy – there’s no protocol except your own and the hashtags, and it makes your files super easy to search. You can even send groups of pages as a single PDF. But the notebooks go even further. They actually offer full searchable OCR which the app can be set to send embedded in the PDF or image, or more usefully, as a companion separate .txt file. Now, my handwriting isn’t the neatest, but it’s not bad so I was prepared for some editing to be necessary, but impressively again, the OCR was about 90-95% accurate. In a page of text it missed maybe 3 or 4 words and even those not badly. This is all considering their full OCR is still only in beta! It gets confused with diagrams on the page, but that’s to be expected.

Text Generated by OCR: ## Blog post och test Aug 2020 ## This is a little demonstration of the OCR capabilities of the Rocket Book pads and app. I've told the lovely people that the hit rate is about 90-95% so please dant let me down here flip pad. Hopefully the file name will also prove another point further up in the section and not make me look like some charlatan or snake-oil salesman.Hope you enjoyed this demonstrahen, now go away and leave me to write the next great novella.Bye!

HOW MUCH? On average, I pay anywhere from £4-8 for a decent A4 notebook/journal, so at £30-37 (dependent on model), the RocketBook pads are not a whim purchase. That said, I get through a lot of journals in a year, and given that I would expect to easily get 2-3 years out of a RocketBook pad, then I’ve saved money. Will it replace all my notebooks? No. You need to be thinking of carrying this round as a kit: pad, Frixion pen (at least 2), and cloth.  RB do a series of portfolio sleeves for the pads but it does push the price up a bit still, but for a rep, engineer or salesperson, this still makes sense. They’re less bulky than a normal A4 pad too. What I would say is Tesco and Sainsbury’s currently stock Frixion pens and at much better prices than buying them from RB directly, I just paid £3 for 3 pens on offer at Tesco compared to £10 from RB. You get one pen with the pad, but you’re going to want more soon, so stock up next time you’re shopping for truffle oil crisps. If you use whiteboards a lot, RB also have you covered. Instead of the pad, £16 will get you a 4 pack of ‘beacons’ – little self-adhesive triangles that effectively do the same thing as the QR code in the pad. You don’t have the icon options obviously, but if you’re looking to distribute quick meeting or group notes, this would be a boon. CONCLUSION Considering this was a fairly speculative purchase on my part, my early experiences with the RocketBook Flip have been really impressive. The flexibility, the ability to store every page in a different location if you really wanted to make it fantastic for organising my notes, which can save me hours of finding the right ^^$&^$&$ notebook in the first place, then scouring that for the one paragraph I was looking for etc etc. The searchable text facility, in-app history for re-sending etc and last but no way least, functional handwriting OCR, makes the RocketBook not only novel, but actually useable! Would I buy another? As a second notebook – yes. I look forward to seeing what the actual longevity of the product is once I come off furlough and start cramming my day bag with all my junk and a notepad again, but yes, I’d probably just have one at home, and one for work, but make the last 5 mins of each day, scanning and sending work notes so I have them with me wherever. Impressively, the RocketBook Flip just works and it works well. ‘Er Across The Table has already sold several folk at her work on the idea and she doesn’t even have one herself yet! I love it. It’s taking a little adjusting to, but it’s all good. The most important thing though is the writing experience, and I have to say, the combination of the Frixion pen/ink and the polymer technology of the Flip, again, just works. It’s smooth, doesn’t skip or smudge for me (I know some right to left users and left handers have reported some issues) and feels great to write on. If anything I have to slow down a bit as the contact is so smooth that your writing can get a bit ahead of you! RocketBook have produced a cracker of a product. It might not seem like much, but if practical working journals are your thing (ie not create and keep things) then I can highly recommend the RocketBook series.

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9 Board Game YouTubers I Follow & Why (plus a few others)

In the literal dim and distant past when I started boardgaming (honestly, the biggest threat was tallow wax on your board), the internet was still accessed by whatever IP address you could remember off the top of your head (there’s no place like 127.0.0.1 as they sayI) - and the only TikTok was the clock ticking, waiting for half of Louise Nurding’s left leg to download only to realise it was Anne Widdecombe and you’d hit the wrong link on a BB. Boardgames had some quiet and shady corners of the internet, in those same Bulletin Boards, there was one for HeroQuest and Space Crusade when they came out. But sadly, if you wanted to see a boardgame being played or learn the rules, you either had to go round to your friend Tim’s house where he had a new chits-for-days wargame going, or sit down and actually read the rulebook yourself. As a result, I bought some interesting games in my time, including a game called Operation Overlord - a mighty chit-tastic WW2 N African campaign monster that I bought in desperation from the Games Workshop in Manchester on the first morning that it opened in 1979 (?) as we were so far back in the queue that there wasn’t a space marine to be had for miles. But now, we have a plethora of kindly folk available on our blistering shiny Windows NT 486sx machines to inform and delight us in full 8-bit glory. Everything from reviews, buying guides, rules tutorials and even painting & crafting guides, we can be bathing in just about whatever aspect of board or wargaming we so desire in an effort to stave off the clattering realisation that it’s been over 3 months since we spent any quality time with another breathing soul outside our houses. The question gets frequently asked on boardgame FaceAche forums “What YouTube channels are worth my time and why?” so in an effort to throw my own towel into that controversial ring, here’s my pick of probably 9ish, maybe more by the end, but let’s start with 9 in no particular order..... 1) 3 MINUTE BOARDGAMES

One of the first board games ‘er across the table (TM) and I bought together was a copy of Gloom from a little games and comic shop halfway round the world in Hamilton NZ, Mark 1 Comics. As we were achingly close to moving to NZ a few years ago, we’ve kept up with many aspects of what might have been our life over there, so it was a delight to discover Jarrod (and now Stephanie) on YouTube, a friendly and familiar accent reviewing board games. But it’s not just the NZ vibe that I love, Jarrod does a great job of cutting thru the hyperbole and bloat often associated with trying to keep YouTube vids ‘long for the algorithm’ (ugh) and just gives very pragmatic reasons for a game either joining or leaving his collection. He has a great approach, and it’s nice to see him finally on camera instead of the disembodied voice. Great reviewer, and Stephanie is utterly hilarious. 2) THE BROTHERS MURPH

Mike & Nick are two of the most engaging brothers on YouTube let alone just in the boardgaming community. Their series on thrift shop finds has dredged up some hilarious and often tragic specimens from the grand days of Palitoy, MB and Parker Games.  They are also masters at ‘speed reviewing’ often piling reviews of 50 or 60 games into the same number of minutes. I think I favour the ‘don’t outstay your welcome’ approach to YouTube in general, and the Brothers Murph are at great ease with this philosophy and yet they take on simple party games thru to the heaviest euros with the same distillation equipment, and yet their reviews are never trivial or throw away. We had the chance to chat to Nick at Airecon this year and he was a lovely guy, slightly blown away by the fact that people liked his channel. He’s also an awesome artist too.

3) ACTUALOL

There are many reviewers on the web who have cost me a fair amount of money, the worst being Zee Garcia, however, a close second is Jon Purkiss aka Actualol. Jon has a terrifying gift for finding games, and especially ridiculously affordable games, that I buy on spec and then end up absolutely loving. Jon has a light and breezy style which is instantly engaging - I also really want his comfy chair (surely in exchange for a nice review on here Jon???). His videos are tidy and concise and yet still convey a deep enthusiasm and joy for games. His reviews very clearly portray what the setting of the game is and what you’ll be doing, without getting embroilled in the rules. He always has great footage of the game on the table (please reviewers - look at the ratio of your face to the game you’re talking about - less than 10% game and i’m walkin’) and often favours the less pricey end of the market which suits me fine. Brilliant games I love thanks to Jon include: Second Chance, Magic Maze and Ninja Academy

4) OUR FAMILY PLAYS GAMES

There’s not much to be said about Mik & Starla Fitch that cannot be gained from watching a mere 3-4 minutes of their channel. For sheer exuberance aimed squarely at a love for bringing families together via our glorious hobby, you cannot top these guys. If you are ever - EVER - feeling slightly lacklustre about gaming or losing your mojo for whatever reason - heck if you are just feeling slightly down, treat yourself to 10 minutes in the company of these two excellent human beings. Their reviews and playthru’s have all the humanity you need in a game and after five minutes you are thinking “Is the US too far to go just for a gaming evening?” We’d both utterly love to sit across the table from these lovely people and just play, and I can’t say that about every reviewer, I’ll be honest. Their reviews are often centred around unloved classics (watch their vid dedicated to why they love Catan as an example - you’ll be clicking Buy Now before your know it) and also some great quirky unknowns that I’m trying to hunt down even now. They’ve just had a brilliant couple of boosts from both a spot of Good Morning America recently, and becoming reviewers for the mighty Dice Tower. I’m immensely grateful for a tweet by Rodney Smith for pointing me in their direction, my social media is a much brighter place with the Fitch family in it.

5) RAHDO RUNS THROUGH

“Heeeeey Everybody”. One of the first board game reviewers I ever caught on YouTube was the inimitable Richard Ham aka Rahdo. And I’m so glad I did. I would genuinely never sit down and try and learn a game from one of Rahdo’s playthrus, they are what I imagine being in a wind tunnel full of 50 tonnes of feathers is like. BUT and this is crucial - if I want an idea of what a game is going to feel like to play, there is no finer deliverer of the remote game experience than Mr Richard Ham. His unique ability to explain how a game is going to work, turn by turn; the decisions you will make; the things you’ll have to consider; the short and long term goals; are all brilliantly covered in one of Rahdo’s videos. His ability to make different choices for his ‘ghost partner’ Jen (who does exist in real life, we have bought jewelry off her, she’s lovely) also adds a real dynamism to the games, showcasing the flexibility in a design for different play strategies. Rahdo tends towards 2 player games and usually at the heavier end of the scale, but if there’s a game you are thinking of buying, check Mr Ham out first! 

6) WATCH IT PLAYED

It’s often been said that Canadians are some of the politest folk on the planet, but when it comes to ranking Canadians, well, I’m sure they’d be too humble to rank each other so I’ll have to. Rodney Smith is the loveliest man in the world. There, end of article. But it’s true. We’ve been watching Rodney since we first got confused about the rules for Mice & Mystics (which we still got wrong but that wasn’t Rodney’s fault) and his ever chirpy, ever positive approach to his rules rundowns is utterly remarkable and frankly, enviable. And it’s his attention to detail and clarity for explaining rules that have rightly made Rodney one of the most important resources in the gaming hobby. If you have ever struggled over a rulebook and haven’t raced to Watch It Played, I will guarantee you will have spent far longer on that rulebook and lost way more hair than you ever needed to. We had the great honour of playing Rajas of the Ganges with Rodney at Airecon in 2019, and I mugged up on the rules sooo much. Regular imbibers of this rag will know my sloth for reading rulebooks is legendary but fortunately ‘er across the table (TM) loves them. But, for the 3 days running up to our trip to Harrogate, I did nothing but read that rulebook - this was THE Rodney Smith, you can’t get a rule wrong with Rodney. But of course, nerves kicked in and I could barely remember the rules of Snap, but the nicest man in the world could not have been nicer. Really, quantum mechanics has proved it. He was just the same man off the computer telly. Funny, engaging, warm and happy to chat as well as play (which I was also really nervous about doing!), if you don’t watch Rodney, are you really internetting?

7) TABLETOP MINIONS

“Pachow” From boardgames to wargames. As well as my slight addiction to cardboard, my other opiate overlord is 28mm plastic miniatures. Specifically those involved in tabletop skirmish games like Malifaux, 7TV, Fallout Wasteland Warfare, GuildBall and a smattering of others. Though recently more focused on the frankly insane amount of content being released by Games Workshop, Tabletop Minions is presented by the splendid Uncle Atom. (In fact, I identify his content so much as Uncle Atom’s stuff that I honestly had to double check the name of the channel for this article!). My plastic habit uncle (sounds so wrong, but so true) has possibly the gentlest delivery of anyone on the internet. It’s not so much content, as therapy. I know the net is awash with AMSR channels at the mo, but if you don’t want to listen to some overmonetized southern californian with some bubble wrap and a large capsule condenser mic, just hop over to TTM and listen to the Uncle for 5 minutes. He’s like a soothing bubble bath of content about painting figures, philosophy of the hobby, general art & design principles, and great life advice. He also wears a fez.

8) GIRL PAINTING

“Hello Tchoobies!” I painted my first 28mm figure when i was about 12ish - it was, ironically, a space marine of some sort - the old clunky Ral Partha ones. It looked terrible, but each model got a bit better till I stopped for some reason a few years later. When I got into Malifaux a few years ago (ie decades, several of them, later), I knew I was going to have to get back into painting; heaps of grey plastic does not a skirmish game make. (Little did I know I would have to revisit my microscopy days either when assembling damn Bayou Gremlins!)  Two channels were recommended to me, the Esoteric Order of Gamers (more later) and Girl Painting. EOG put me on the path to believing I could paint again, but Alexandra at Girl Painting actually made me believe I could learn to do it well. GP’s approach to painting figures, terrain and vehicles is based on solid art theory. Her explanation of colour relationships and the colour wheel is something I can quote to this day. All of the techniques that I lean on so heavily in day to day painting both for table and display I learnt from Girl Painting. Correct use of washes, wet blending,  non-metallic metals, shading, drybrushing, highlighting, model reading, all of it from studying intently, often with a brush actually in my hand while watching the channel. I cannot recommend GP enough if you want to put paint to plastic. Whatever your ability, you will learn something from this hidden gem of a channel.

9) ESOTERIC ORDER OF GAMERS

Another dang fine antipodean and another slightly unusual channel. I have a terrible, terrible memory when it comes to rules. In our early days, we also had a a lot of games with seemingly very over-bloated rulebooks - FFG games basically. I suddenly realised what I wanted was to lift the lid of a box and find in the lid, a summary of the important stuff i needed to remember about the game. Apparently I was not the only one. In 2013 a chap known as Universal Head started publishing an amazing series of rules summaries which condensed down some of the bloatiest rulesbooks down to often one or 2 pages of A4. It was a (pardon the pun) gamechanger for me. I can’t count the number of games in our collection that have a friendly sheet of A4 now as the first thing you see when you open the box. They are brilliant. And he’s still doing it to this day. I would argue that the more useful leg to his activities is the website rather than YouTube channel, but his channel does have the aforementioned brilliant figure painting tutorials, unboxing videos and some crafting stuff. The website is definitely the place for the rules summaries and also a fantastic resource for build-it-yourself foamcore box inserts. Though Folded Space have now made box inserts pretty affordable, there’s still no feeling like the satisfaction of building your own, and I would argue that some of EoG’s designs actually make more sense than some of the Folded Space ones anyway. AND THE OTHER ONES (Who probably don’t really need the exposure, but hey, only 11 people probably read this so......)  Why aren’t these on the list above? Just because I wanted to highlight some of the more marginal channels above or more specialist rather than the pure reviewers. SHUT UP & SIT DOWN Possibly my favourite channel on YouTube, whose name sounds more like a menacing Yorkshire greeting than a boardgame channel. SU&SD seem to be a real Marmite issue on the board game communities. And I genuinely don’t understand it. Yes, their reviews are often really funny but honestly, if that’s all you take away then you are missing some amazingly detailed and thought provoking work. Quinns and crew’s reviews are some of the most measured and balanced reviews in the gameyverse. Their reasoning for the conclusions they come to are incredibly well thought through and often very surprising based on the tone of the rest of the review. They have steered me to some games I would never have looked twice at and steered me away from some very shiny games that I might have blown a lot of money on otherwise. Flagposting great alternatives is also a signature of their reviews, and that again has often lead me to some fantastic games. We don’t always agree (their recent review of 10 Oink Games was savage imho) but we always disagree for the right reasons. Again, I would argue their website is actually a better overall resource, especially their podcasts which are superb, but all their content is fantastic.

in a highly similar vein I would add NO PUN INCLUDED. Efka & Elaine produce some of the most thoughtful and intelligent boardgame review content today, and often for some of the deepest and most complex games. The joy of boardgaming is that it is highly subjective and there are lots of times when NPI like/dislike a game that I do/don’t, but they are engaging and warm enough as presenters to hit you with a gentle subtext that says “It’s ok - I know we like this game, we get that you don’t, it doesn’t make any of us bad people, just people y’know, have a sandwich with us”  Efka criticising a game reminds me of when Dennis Healey once described an argument with Geoffrey Howe as being ‘savaged by a dead sheep’, though not in the cynical manner of the original. The criticism is loaded with that crucial dose of ‘hear me out’ that is sadly lacking in 90% of all other reviewers out there. Efka & Elaine are no GoggleBox reviewers, they are the real deal - they genuinely understand how games work and why. The sheer moral turmoil that Efka expressed over the cultural issues in Rising Sun was some of the most thoughtful YouTube content I have ever seen. I just wanted to do a little shout out to Johannes & Sunniva at BOARD GAMING RAMBLINGS - I don’t have as much to say as they are relatively new on my radar, but I have really enjoyed their content so far and find them to be like one of those adorable gaming couples that you might see every once in a while at your gaming group and have a blast with, and then not see for months and go “Awh - I really miss Johannes & Sunniva - where’d they go?” that feeling, you know the one. Adorable, with a hint of the esoteric. Also, a quick but important mention to the other titan of boardgame rules explanation that is Paul Grogan of GAMING RULES!. Like Rodney Smith, Paul is meticulous about rules explanation and is really clear and simple to follow, even for very heavy games, which Paul tends to do more of than Rodney, which is probably why I end up watching Paul slightly less, but certainly not for any less quality. Paul has such a reputation in the industry that he now works closely with many designers and publishers to help craft the best rulebooks around as a consultant. So that’s it - congrats for making it through folks. Didn’t think it was going to run this long, but turns out.... I quite like a lot of the YouTubers I watch - who knew? Until next time... happy gaming y’all.

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Just updated the links page with a couple of new cons (that obviously we can’t got to yet) and a few new bricks and mortar shops as well.

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...and 2 I forgot..

Hey happy gamesters, in yesterday’s post I banged on about 8.5 games that I always grab to take to (now imaginary) game evenings, but crucially (and mainly because they were sat on another shelf when my addled brain was listing them) I missed out 2 other games that also (used to) go with us just about everywhere. In some respects, they are probably guilty of their own familiarity, so I’m not entirely to blame....

IN A BIND (now Yogi) - Stuff By Bez  Behrooz Shahriari  Apx £9  In the olden days, if we wanted to get all physically twisty and generally uncomfortable, we’d either go to Yoga run by our sadist friend Nigel, or play the classic game for making folk who don’t know each other well and yet physically engage with them more than on a 5th date, Twister. What Bez has done with the brilliant and hilarious In A Bind is to distill down what was funny and engaging about Twister, and yet strip away that uncomfortable grinding with a stranger. I’ve written much more about the brilliant Bez and her games here, but in essence, In A Bind is a set of cards which demand of the player to make life difficult for themselves, such as “Place this card between thumb and forefinger” or “Cover your left eye” or my most feared one “Elbow above shoulder” (honestly, try it, it’s a nightmare). In the next round, you draw another card (if you still can) and crucially must still fulfill all the criteria of your previous cards. This quickly gets out of hand (NPI) and has in past games led to people getting on tables, under tables, cards in clothing, under glasses, tucked into bra straps - you get the idea.  For the picky, In A Bind does rely on some degree of trust to ensure that everyone is still keeping track of what all their cards say, but honestly - no-one cares. Everyone will be laughing so hard and having so much fun, that it just doesn’t matter. Most folk will take the cards waaay further than they were intending, and strangely often make life actually more difficult for themselves than less. Simple rule, if you drop a card, you’re out. This can be a blessed relief sometimes and so this is the ONE game where I break my golden rule that I hate elimination games. Going out allows you to sit back, relax, rub on your favourite muscular salve and just carry on watching your friends keep torturing themselves more than a session with a physiotherapist called Patricia with a chip on her shoulder about why Brian left her for a dental hygienist. What Bez has created with In A Bind is a stroke of no minor genius. It is a game that immediately engages everyone round the table; doesn’t make anyone feel emotionally uncomfortable (unlike the bumping and grinding in Twister); doesn’t overstay its welcome, and will genuinely leave you with some of the happiest gaming memories you will ever have. The first time we played In A Bind was at UKGE a few years ago: we couldn’t find a table one evening for love nor money and so we ended up with a group of us (some we knew, some we didn’t) in a corridor near the bar, and we just went for it. Very soon we were all doubled up and helpless with laughter and looking like we were all auditioning for Quasimodo roles at Disneyland, and John Robertson (The Dark Room) wandered past. I know John, he’s a lovely and gloriously strange guy, and he looked at the scene, looked me in the eye and quietly said “You guys are weird” - yes, this game prompted John ‘Ya Die Ya Die’ Robertson to call someone else weird. It’s a great game, and deserves to go down as an utter classic. Sidebar: A while ago, In A Bind got picked up by Gigamic and re-released as Yogi, but I have a feeling if you find Bez at cons (and you really should meet Bez, she’s one of the loveliest people in gaming!) you might still be able to win one of the rare original versions with Bez’s brilliant handdrawn artwork. Bez has the best competitions and booths at any con.

COCKROACH POKER - Devir  Jacques Zeimet apx £8 I was first introduced to this devious little whelp of a game again, in the bar at UKGE (why do so many games come from random meetings?) several years ago, and it has become a staple of games evenings ever since. It has also become a nemesis of a game between me and muh good friend Dave. I love that I have friends who know me massively well, but it does make playing games sometimes intensely difficult - especially bluffing games, and bluffing is pretty much the modus operandi of Cockroach Poker. The premise is simple, players have a hand of bug cards and must try and give their cards away. This can be done honestly, or ideally by lying thru your teeth about what you are handing off. Players may call you out immediately, if they are wrong, they keep the card and place it in front of themselves, if they’re right, you keep it. They may also pass the card to another player and so on. If you end up with 4 of any one bug type in front of you, you’re out. It’s brilliantly tense, usually hilarious, and refreshingly short, maybe 10-15mins per game. It’s one of those games you don’t just drop in a bag, but take with you almost everywhere. Dave knows my most hated phrase is “Paul, this is a scorpion” because it always is, unless it isn’t. It’s cheap, it’s hilarious, the artwork is great and sufficiently abstract and cartoon-y that I don’t think I’ve ever known an otherwise bug-phobic player to have a problem, but it’s worth considering. Both these games are brilliant, pack a real game punch for a tiny investment of both money or time, and have years of replayability. I’d recommend both of them highly for pockety goodness. Sidebar: Please note, if you are following the link to my previous article on Bez, since writing that article some years ago, I have become aware of a change in Bez’s personal pronoun and therefore the older article features what is now an error. I must apologise to Bez for this, and if I can find the original article to correct it I will, but apologise for the error until then! Sorry Bez! Happy gaming y’all 

#cockroachpoker #boardgaming #inabind #bez #poker #fun

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Top 8 Grab & Go Games...

When it comes to packing for anything it's safe to say I'm atrocious. I overpack for even a simple evening away (sorry, for those still following the 20th C, 'evening away's are something we used to do before we took up as permanent residents of our soft furnishings). I've often had this discussion with friends and colleagues - the simplest one is "how many pairs of pants do you need for x-time away"?  The obvious formula here is xdays + 1 for emergencies, but this thinking is waay too simplistic and covers a pitiful array of contingencies. I would argue that a sudden and catastrophic change of weather to downpour conditions needs to be considered, as does an unexpected drive-by of a large lorry thru an adjacent puddle, fall in a stream/burn or river, being unexpectedly caught in a fountain based celebration etc etc etc. This immediately doubles or even triples the amount of basic layers - pants, socks, trousers, tees etc. And then, we can relax into actual choices for formal vs casual, sudden wedding invitations whilst away and national or academic award ceremonies. It's a minefield. Unfortunately, this approach to covering the bases has translated thru to my boardgaming. I blame Ikea. Frankly their big blue bags allow the simple transportation of many, many titles, including some decent sized heavyweights. Never tried it, but I'd reckon you'd have a reasonable shot at getting TI4, Gloomhaven and possibly 7th Continent in just one of Ikea's capacious holdalls. As a result, I used to turn up to games evenings at work with at least 2 Ikea holdalls of big box games (for an evening that in honesty, we'll only really have time for 1 or 2 games), but with the added bonus bag now which includes what I call my 'grab shelf'. Games that are my usual suspects, these are usually my filler or party games designed to give us warm-up plays or while we're waiting for others to arrive at 7. (We did say 7 didn't we: I'm sure we said 7... was it definitely today?) So here's my round up of the games that we rarely leave home without - we actually do keep them on the top of a bookshelf in the games room and sort of 'scoop' them into a bag if we're in a hurry! These are in no particular order of favour, and most probably just what I can recall from the shelf next door, there will also be some crossover with a list I wrote a while ago on 'little' games...... 1) POINT SALAD - AEG Molly Johnson, Robert Melvin, Shawn Stankewich apx £16 This deceptively simple card game has become a house favourite since we were invited to play it at Airecon one night in the hotel. It's a simple set collection game with a little twist. The vegetable cards to collect have scoring criteria on the other side. A scoring card may be flipped and converted to a veg card once in your hand but not back to a scoring card. The scoring cards are achievements like 'lowest number of lettuces =10pts', 'pepper+lettuce+onion = 5pts per set' etc. The 'market' starts with 3 rows of cards, scoring side up and 2 cards are flipped to veg side next to each. Players will take either one scoring card or 2 veg. The game is tricky enough in terms of optimising your own tableau, but factor into that if you start paying attention to what your opponent is trying to do, the game soon gets highly strategic and gratifyingly dirty. 2) DEEP SEA ADVENTURE - Oink Games Jun Sasaki, Goro Sasaki apx £15 Oink Games produce some of my favourite small box games. They are usually simple, bright, fun and challenging. Though I would put in a good word for other titles in their range like: Moneybags, Fake Artist, Troika and Nine Tiles Panic, it is Deep Sea Adventure that stands out. Players are all treasure hunting divers departing a submarine, diving as far as they dare before their joint oxygen runs out. As a push-your-luck game, DSA is genius. It's that joint oxygen that is the real trick here, as your greed may end up costing other players the chance to get back to the ship safely. The deeper you dive, the more oxygen you use, and your treasure is collected blind for its value, so all your risk may have been for very little eventual reward. If the oxygen does run out, any unrecovered treasure you are carrying goes in a pile right at the bottom of the sea, adding to the temptation even more. DSA is a brilliant joint screw each other over game, and may be best avoided with very intense and serious players, but with an easy-going fun group, it's a true gem. 3) LOST EXPEDITION - Osprey Games Peer Sylvester apx £18 I'm a big fan of co-op games, and finding a small box filler co-op is always interesting. We bought the game for its artwork as 'er across the table was a fan of the Blake & Mortimer graphic novels which share a design ethic and The Rainbow Orchid which is by the same artist here, Garen Ewing. This game is beautiful to look at, but savage to play. Players must chop their way thru an Edgar Rice Burroughs style jungle to reach the lost city. Along the way they must face a relentless series of challenges that will demand careful management of very limited resources. The players are aided by explorers with useful skills, but limited health, and by the end of the journey it is entirely possible you will have had to have sacrificed at least one of your explorers to meet the demands of the jungle. It became even more horrifying to discover that these explorers are based on actual historical characters, so that choice to sacrifice the lovely little old lady Ines, is actually choosing to leave a real life character to the fate of leeches, tigers, swamps or quicksand! Another group favourite and a great pub game due to its fairly small footprint. This is also available as Judge Dredd - Cursed Earth which also features some very neat solo play rules. 4) DINOSAUR TEA PARTY - Restoration Games Rob Daviau, JR Honeycutt, Justin Jacobson apx £16 Restoration Games have been doing an amazing job the last few years refreshing classic older games and turning them into great new games. They are probably best known for the highly successful Kickstarter for Fireball Island, and their great new version of Downforce. Dinosaur Tea Party id probably their smallest game, but it's big on fun. At its core, it's basically an elaborate bonneted dinosaur version of Guess Who. The utter joy of this game comes when a really cool group goes for it and roll plays the social interactions of these wannabe socialite reptiles. There's a couple of extra little twist rules thrown in like dinosaurs who might always lie, always give the wrong answer etc, and these do spice up an otherwise straightforward deduction game, but honestly, when you are looking for a very light, simple, bright, and funny filler or end of evening game, you can't go wrong with this adorably drawn game. 5) CROSSING - Asmodee Yoshiteru Shinohara apx £9 Known fondly to our group as 'The Pointing Game', The Crossing is a brilliant yet almost painfully simple push-your-luck game with no downtime at all. Players vie for gem treasure on several mushrooms in the centre of the table by pointing at them. If only one player is pointing to a pile, they win it and place it in front of them. If two or more players point at the same pile, nobody wins any gems and the pile grows bigger next round. On the second round, players can either point at a new mushroom or point at the pile of won gems in front of another player. Players may also cover their won gems instead of pointing and thereby convert won gems to stored gems where they're safe. Not impossible with smaller player counts, but the game becomes utter chaos at higher player counts and games rarely end without collapse into hilarity all round. Each round plays in about 2 minutes and the game ends when the gems in the bag run out. Points are awarded for sets of colours, rare white gems and single points for any other gems. Crossing is tense, full of 'dagnammit' moments and gets played to death when it hits the table. Highly recommend though I understand it can be a little tricky to get hold of at the mo. 6) MONIKERS - Palm Court Alex Hague, Justin Vickers apx £20 It takes a lot to take an eye-rolling party game and transform it into something a bit special. Monikers basically takes the game of Charades and treats it to a much more anarchic edge. Starting with the topics to be guessed, Monikers is shamelessly nerdy and often needs a little more of a deep nerd-dive into net and popular culture, citing popular memes, channels, phenomena and personalities. Nyan cat, lightsaber kid, and Bob Ross all make appearances in the card decks. Monikers is a team game, and starts with a simple description round where players are not allowed to use the title on the card or any words in the description. Round 2 moves this to a single word, and round 3, merely a gesture (there are some hilarious community suggestions for other rounds eg glove puppets and shadow fingers). Again, with the right group, this game is brilliant, but I accept with the wrong group, could fall flat as a pancake. There are a couple of expansions which effectively play as stand-alone games, but I can highly recommend the completely insane Shut Up & Sit Down Nonsense Box as a good starting point. 7) CELESTIA - BLAM Games Aaron Weissblum apx £21 Sometimes a good filler game comes in a slightly larger box, especially if it features and adorable 3D skyboat! Celestia is a beautiful game to look at, and a brilliant semi co-op push-your-luck game. Each round, a new captain tries to convince the passengers on their ship to stay aboard and venture to lands anew. The further the ship goes, the higher the reward but the much greater the risk. Passengers have to decide if the de facto captain for that round has the resources in their hand to meet the challenges rolled on the dice for that journey.  Passengers can decide to leap off if things look too dodgy and gain lower rewards, but there's also betrayal and nefarious shenanigans to be had with skyhooks, rocket packs etc which may allow passengers to throw other players off the boat, or even the Captain using a jetpack to abandon ship. Celestia is a classic game, and though the rulebook can take a little interpretation at first, the game is fun, solid and a great filler game. 8) RAILROAD INK - Horrible Guild Hjalmar Hach, Lorenzo Silva apx £16 We play a lot of roll/flip/draw and write/build/draw games in our house and this slot could be filled by quite a large number of them which I might save for another list, but some notables are Welcome To, Roland Wright, Rolling Ranch, Dino World and Cartographers. However, despite all these great games, we keep coming back to one nose ahead title, Railroad Ink. We have the Blazing Red edition, but honestly, they are all great including the two new KS versions that recently funded: Forest Green and Desert Yellow. Each set has its own little foibles and unique mechanisms, but the core of these games are the same. What I love about Railroad Ink is that it constantly feels like you have a little more control in this game than some others, which is a 2 edged sword as therefore goofs also have a greater sense of ownership too. Scoring can be a little tricky to decipher the first couple of games, but the production of the game, wipe clean boards, and unique usage make this a stand out favourite. 8.5) An honorable mention.... I didn’t include this one in the list as it probably belongs better in the Roll & Write list, and it’s also more of a ‘big box’ game, but we nearly always take SUSHI ROLL everywhere with us now. It’s the R&W version of the Sushi series and is genuinely brilliant. The dice for a start look almost edible themselves, and it features some really smart little dice drafting that mimics the mini conveyor belt that caused so much hilarity in ‘that’ episode of Miranda. It’s a great theme, it’s immediately engaging, has great player aids and is one of those rare games you immediately want to play the minute you finish as you’s sure you can do better next time. I hope there's some games here to poke your interest glands and become your next favourite filler or "dinner's a-cookin" game. Happy gaming y'all

(Apologies - no idea why Tumblr suddenly won’t let me add images after posting, but if anyone knows, please get in touch!)

#boardgames #quick play #bgg #pointsalad #celestia #railroadink #lostexpedition #crossing #deepseaadventure #monikers #dinosaurteaparty

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well, this post didn’t turn out as intended.....

As we hit mid June 2020 and all breathe a collective sigh of relief that our lizard overlords have yet to start their inevitable overthrow of all Earth governments and revel in the brief diastema that Monday thru Wednesday of next week will bring before, presumably, the next globally paradigm shifting event hits our small blue marble; I'd like to reflect just for a brief moment back to the heady days of early March when we still 'did things', 'went places' and 'saw folk'. Like just about everyone else in our little hobby I am crushingly missing my little circle of gaming and RPG buddies, and though we are doing our best to meet up on Zoom pretty frequently for a lovingly created series of quizzes, games, RPGs (one-shots and campaigns), JackBox nights and the ever morale-crushing StarTrek Bridge Crew (the Ghost Stories of video games if you will), it's really just not the same. I miss hurling cards and resources at my friends; trying bizarre sweets and snacks that we've spent days scouring small supermarkets for; laughing like a drain at each other's unhinged brains and generally sharing that most precious of things - each other's love & friendship round a table. I'm pretty lucky - most of these folks are also people I work with and though we have our usual sparks and frictions that any human has from time to time, I value their presence in my life often on an equal par with the very air that I breathe. Oh - that's cool - this was supposed to be my list of top 5 'grab & go' games, but to heck with it - that can wait, human stuff is always more important. Anyone who's read this blog before will realise there has been a bit of a slow down and even hiatus in posts for the last couple of years and the reasons are various and complicated.  I have suffered from often severe depression for nearly 30 years, a good half of that formally undiagnosed and untreated, which led to a few interesting and pretty crappy years, but happily over the past few years my Black Dog has been kept under control with a mix of tools I spent years in counselling developing, early warning systems, and an amazing group of friends and colleagues who at times have without understatement, kept me grounded and in extremis, alive. One of the remarkable happy coincidences has also been my deep diving into our beloved gaming hobby, which has played a major role in my walk with depression as well. Things came to a head a couple of years ago when I had a complete cataclysmic meltdown on the morning of Airecon 2018. Jane & I have grown to love Airecon, and Mark Cooke and the team have done an utterly amazing job in keeping the feel of the con from when it started in Mark's front room (also the last time it was actually on the Aire!). I love that Mark still walks round the con looking more than a little headlighty rabbit at times, it's adorable. So, when my fritzy wired brain betrayed me that morning, that little dog barked at me that not only was everything my fault (his usual chorus), but the fact we were going to be missing Airecon now was just adding to his litany of guilt piling. Jane was incredible. Weirdly, driving quietly can be one of the things that can slowly start to unlock my psychological straight jacket. No idea why, just can. So, we came up with a plan - we would take a slow drive up to Harrogate, and even if we got as far as the car park under the HIC, and I still didn't feel up to it, we would turn around and drive back again (we live about an hour's drive from Harrogate). We didn't. We went in, and we had an awesome afternoon of playing games, sampling game demos, meeting lovely people; some old friends, some brand new, but all welcoming and encouraging. No-one there, with the possible exception of J would have had any clue how much our hobby saved my brain that day, and does on an almost daily basis. Gaming, gaming discussions, research and media have all made such an astonishing difference to the walk I walk with this odd brain of mine. There have been times when my brain has screamed not to go to a games evening, RPG session etc, but I've dragged my sorry butt there and it's always been at least therapeutic, and often life changing. My friends are amazing and at once accommodating and also unpampering (new word because I can't really explain the feeling well enough). One of the more icky side-effects of this brain wired by someone in boxing gloves is Imposter Syndrome - honestly, it's a treasure at work (aka olden times) as a sound engineer, but also since that meltdown before Airecon a couple of years ago, it hit me hard as a someone who enjoyed writing  a board & video game blog ie this. What happens in my brain is that everyone else, EVERYONE is better at doing this thing than I am and therefore there's no point whatsoever in me doing it because it will be a steaming pile of poohickey. Everyone gets more likes, more followers, more attention, so why bother? And though some would argue that actually everyone on Twitch, YooToob and Tweety should really ask themselves that question anyhow, I actually did. And I decided that I was going to furlough this blog. I was convinced no-one wanted to read it, no-one cared. But then a few folk started asking where it had gone. A few people (and it was only a few, I'm not being falsely modest here) said they really enjoyed reading it, and so recently I've thought... Hey - it's not just them. I actually enjoy writing, it's good for me, it helps, it's therapy and even when it isn't, why not just write. If no-one wants to read it, they don't have to anyway (something I wish more YouTube viewers/creators would realise). So I've decided to see how it goes. See whether Card&Pixel is still in me somewhere. And it's great, there's no demand to 'smash that like button' (my most eye-rolling phrase in media currently), subscribe to anything, no 'dinging that dong' - if you want to read this, great, it's good to be back. But if not, thanks for landing on this page, but I'm happy if you decide to read or watch something else. Since this weird world retirement practice started I've found some amazing new content makers and writers and I will be doing a blog about them separately soon. But for the moment, Hi - I'm Paul, aka Card&Pixel, and it's kinda nice to be back........... Happy gaming y'all. www.itsoktosay.org

#boardgames #depression #airecon #blackdog #furlough

[cardandpixel]

Dear Donald....

... I am 52 years old and identify as male. I have had a mental illness for about 30 years of that 52 to the best of my knowledge, and have been playing video or adventure games for about 40 of them. Many of these games have involved violent content. Many have required the player to fight to survive in often very violent ways. In all my 52 years, I have lashed out in physical anger ONCE. I was 16. What I hit (fortunately) was an oak wardrobe. It did not come off well against my fist. It hurt. But I also realised that if that had been a person, they would have fared even less well. And so, at the impressionable age of 16 I DECIDED to renounce violence as a way to solve matters. I was brought up in a less than comfortable financial environment. My parents scrimped and saved and went without just to get me through school. We didn’t have a car, hell, we didn’t even have a home telephone till I was 14 - just in time for me to somehow develop a girlfriend, much to my father’s despair with regard to the phone bill.

I survived the excess of the 80s still as a hippy and a socialist, believing that the world would be ok if we could all just be nice to each other. I don’t follow a theistic belief system either. I identify as a Humanist, in that I truly believe that a human being is entirely capable of sorting out what is right and wrong for themselves without a giant invisible friend telling them what to do. Or as Penn Gilette more succinctly put it.. “When I’m asked as an atheist, what stops me from going out and murdering people, I answer, because I don’t fucking want to!”

But here I am today. 52 and hearing that, according to your sagely research, I should be surveilled because of my mental illness, and have my video games taken away because you believe they have both turned me into a raging fireball of pent up anger, rage and potential lethality who could take up a semi-automatic weapon at any time and mow down a bunch of fellow humans.

But here’s the thing Donald. They haven’t. And nor, do I suspect, for the majority of your fellow Americans who are also staggered this week by your misplaced and misguided rhetoric. Here’s the thing. Since that fateful day (for my wardrobe at least) when I was 16, I have harboured LESS violent thoughts and desires to do harm to another human than I have heard you profess from a rally platform both as a nominee and, more shockingly, as the President of the United States of America. And do you know what? That should really bother you. I have heard you want to forcibly remove people from your rallies merely for disagreeing with you; profess to want to punch a detractor in the face; agree with a heckler when they suggested you should solve the border immigration issue by shooting immigrants (remember your Panhandle speech Donald?); threaten entire countries with horrific consequences before diplomacy; and treat the option of nuclear warfare less soberly than choosing the interior upholstery for a new car. You have poorly hidden your thoughts on sexual assault and shocked a nation with your assertions of what you could ‘get away with’, hidden under the banner of ‘locker talk’. You have called for the national repatriation of elected officials based solely on the colour of their skin, ignoring their actual nationality and citizenship, whilst conveniently forgetting the naturalisation of members of your own family. You have separated children from their parents, potentially giving those children future cause to fight against a system that damaged them irreparably - somewhat ironic given your stance on what creates a mass shooter in your mind.

There is a proven and demonstrable link between gun accessibility and the eventual usage of them Donald. Your friends at the NRA may try to cover it up, but it’s provable in both directions I’m afraid. More guns = more gun crime. Less guns = less gun crime. I know you’re good at listening to ‘they’ Donald. You might do well when ‘they’ tell you the data on that one.

So here’s the thing Donald. I’m writing this because I’m angry. Angry that there have been 250+ mass shootings in almost as many days so far this year Donald. Caused by people with guns. Some of them shooting at people YOU whipped them up to rail against. I’m angry because you aren’t blaming the right mechanisms. I’m angry you aren’t listening to those in your own government who are giving you options and who are saying ‘enough is enough’. I’m angry because you would rather belittle students whose friends were brutally murdered in front of their own eyes and who will have to live with that the rest of theirs, rather than listen to them, engage with them, stand with them and give them hope for the future. I am angry because you are useless and dumb and bad for your country, and the whole world. I am angry because you cannot grieve with the people of Dayton and El Paso - hell, you can’t even remember what cities the tragedies actually took place in. And yet.... I do not wish any harm to you. But I do hope you are removed from office as quickly as possible and let someone do the job properly. Though you probably ought to count yourself lucky you’re not an oak wardrobe.

Can I get back to talking about boardgames now?……………

[cardandpixel]

Another amazing model launches today from Sarissa Precision - this derelict mansion is beautifully rendered and as usual for Sarissa features highly playable features like splittable floors. We’re just in the process of building a new Fallout board for the new minis game from Modiphius and this would fit in perfectly.

[cardandpixel]

Those paying attention will know that I’m now writing for Zatu Games as well, and my latest review for them, Vast, is now up online. I will be posting an extended review on here soon, but if you want a quick sneak-peak, then head on over to Zatu for a read. Of course, you can always order some games off these lovely peeps as well. It won’t help me any, but they are very nice folk.

#strategy

[cardandpixel]

A not so unfortunate event - The Awful Orphanage

Right, you can all read this article later, but for now, just nip onto KickStarter and just back The Awful Orphanage from Workhouse Games, you can thank me later. Go ahead, I'll wait...

(Hold music - something in the early Stevie Wonder oeuvre)

Back? And backed? Great, I'll tell you why now.

I'm a massive fan of dark comedy, it's probably got me into more trouble in my life than I'd care to recall, but I worked for years in the medical industry and saw a lot of things and met a lot of folk whose approach to life was refreshingly pragmatic and humorous. Not until me and 'er across the table ventured to New Zealand a few years back did we realise there was an entire country of folk who thought this way too. They're awesome.

It's not surprising that my media and literature consumption has also been tinged by the same influence. One of my favourite book series is Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, the tales of the luckless Baudelaire orphans and their frankly appalling relatives.

So, when I first found out about the new project from WorkhouseGames, I was hooked straight away. I'll also put my money where my mouth is - you know when I asked you to go and back the game? That's exactly what I did at the same time.

In The Awful Orphanage, 2-6 players will take the roles of another bunch of hard done to orphans, and your job is to try and escape the grim establishment to freedom.

I contacted WHGames a few weeks ago for their description of the game, I loved the response:

The Awful Orphanage is a mildly devious tabletop game for 2 to 6 players.

Take control of a unique Orphan and navigate the ever changing rooms and corridors of Ms. Prendergast's Home for Wayward Children uncovering loot, avoiding orderlies and escaping from the nefarious Gaunt & Sinister Man!

Players take it in turns searching rooms in the hope of finding Ms. Prendergast's Flintlock Pistol which you can use to murder the owner and escape to freedom!

Use items including Pots & Pans, Bricks and Bottles to fight the Orderlies then ruin your friends turn with tricks including Bags of Marbles and Itching Powder all whilst dodging the Orphanage employees! Whatever you do, always look over your shoulder when trying to escape The Awful Orphanage!

Yep, even while trying to escape the clutches of the evil staff, you still have a time to screw your friends over a little! You are basically competing against each other and there will be a winner, but there's no harm in helping each other along the way from time to time.

The game is played on a modular board, dungeon crawler style. There are 26 beautifully rendered room tiles and 70 corridor tiles, so your board will change every time. There are nearly 70 loot tokens to be argued over with your friends and 60 'stuff' cards which also include the all-important Trick cards to delight and amuse your fellow orphans with (your words, not theirs obviously).

All this would be nice enough, but it seems these days that a Kickstarter isn't a Kickstarter without a decent slew of minis (Monumental, I'm looking at you). The Awful Orphanage doesn't disappoint, with 14 stunning sculpts to field during the game, including the 6 orphans (all of whom have asymmetric abilities, another plus in my book), orderlies, Mrs Prendergast and the utterly delightful Gaunt & Sinister Man who will send the chilly-willies to anyone who recalls the Gentlemen or Kinderstodd from Buffy The Vampire Slayer.

The game plays in 30-90 minutes, and is recommended for 14+ due to the slightly more mature & dark content. WHGames haven't released a rulebook yet, but it is likely more details will come out as the campaign rolls out. 

The base game buy-in is a refreshingly slim £45 with the game shipping for only £7.50 in the UK, (all stretch goals included). WorkHouse are UK based and it's good to see a high quality campaign such as this competing well against the mini-laden epic games from across the pond at the mo.

So really, don't be miserable. Treat yourself to an inspection of the facilities at the Awful Orphanage.

Grim gaming y'all.

[cardandpixel]

AireCon 2018 Round-Up - The right con by the wrong river

It is a truth universally known, that a gamer in seek of new games, will eventually gravitate to a convention somewhere at some point. And as a gamer, you are starting to get spoilt for choice. Just in the UK, there are a growing number of what used to be quite small gatherings that … well… basically, just got a bit out of hand. The biggest in the UK (and now officially 3rd biggest in the world), UKGE started from very humble origins to a con pushing a projected 20,000 unique visitors this year.

About 5 years ago, Mark Cooke and a bunch of friends decided to make the most of a their partners being away on a hen weekend, and met up in Mark's front room for the first AireCon. Even the name started as a bit of a joke. When I spoke to Mark in the peaceful little haven of the bar area yesterday in the portion of the Harrogate International Conference Centre that used to be an old Morrison's supermarket, he has the gentle air of a guy who's really happy with seeing about 1800 folk all just playing games and having a lovely time, but with that unmistakable reflective glance that screams "How the &^*& did this happen????!!!"

I'd not met him before but he's a lovely guy to chat with, and he and his team (many of whom were delightfully familiar faces from my days of volunteering as set-up crew at UKGE) are to be heartily congratulated for what they have created in this joyous games meet-up that is now by the wrong river (having begun in Bradford) but in exactly the right place to serve a vibrant community of games enthusiasts.

AireCon has a very different feel to UKGE. Obviously, it's much smaller and therefore feels very much more laid back and intimate, but most importantly, it's the shift in emphasis that really strikes you. There are tables everywhere. And nestled into little voids, the trade stalls, the RPG area, play testing and food. What you see as you look out over the Con from above predominantly, is folks doing what we do - sitting with each other and playing games. There are intense euro-games, party games, dexterity games, silly games, minis games, card games, frankly quite odd games, kids games (some of the hardest fought obviously) and even games that don't exist fully yet. What started off as mates in a living room, has pretty much stayed that way. Mark just has a lot more mates now……

[cardandpixel]

(I have redacted names as this is still fresh news and some may not have found out yet, and the internet is a hateful way to do so.)

Yesterday, I received the shattering news that one of my oldest friends of 30 yrs had passed away in his sleep. There was no warning, no lead up, he was just gone. My immediate reaction was utter brokenness for those around him, who in recent years had known him much better than i. Every thought in my head was for them. Yesterday was busy. Five minutes after I ended the call in which I received the news, I was sat at my theatre mixing desk, wrangling sound out of 20+ nuns and clergy in an amateur version of Sister Act. (The irony of being faced with a stage full of fake versions of those that we might turn to at times like these was not lost on me.) As the show ended , it was time for an impossibly tight turnaround for the evening show, and still i couldn’t find 5 minutes to clear my head and start to process this utterly awful news, a long get-out furthered hampered thinking time. I have lovely colleagues and I let them in on what had happened just in case I had a sudden meltdown during the show! So the first time I had a chance to start letting things sink in was this morning. I walked into my studio to do some trivial computer catch-up stuff and saw my bass sitting in the corner, and started playing, for Tim. Tim was one of the wisest, kindest and gentlest human beings I have ever had the privilege of knowing in my life. He was the still, small voice that I trusted deeply and the counsel that often helped changed the way I thought about things. It could often take Tim a good long while to contemplate answers to problems or questions, and he’d usually just fold his arms, breath in deeply and sit in a transfixing gaze for a good long while before venturing his opinion or answer on a matter. There are nowhere near enough of those people in the world, and it taught me very early in my adulthood, that the quick and loudest answer is seldom the best. Colleagues at work will often comment that I often seek others’ opinions on solutions to trickier technical problems rather than just relying on my own instinct. It’s a humility I can trace straight back to Tim. But where Tim excelled, was as a music critic for my written and musical work. I seldom let anything out in public without Tim hearing it first. I would play him tracks that I thought were amazing, and Tim would often sit at the back of whatever studio we were in, fold those same arms, breathe deeply again, and just say something along the lines of “Yeees, i think i see what were you trying to do?” and I’d know. I’d go away and rework something, something raw, hoping next time it would fare better through the Tim filter. This year, I’d set myself the goal of writing a brand new album after a few years writing shedloads of music for other people in the interim. And having not caught up with Tim for a while, one of the things I was looking forward to most, was sending the raw ideas and mixes to Tim for him to do the arms crossed silent treatment on. It was our commonest ground as friends, and a job i only trust a very small handful of people with, and none more than Tim. So this morning, I picked up my bass, started playing something rambling, chaotic, shabby and loose, and knew that it was exactly the sort of thing I would have trusted Tim’s scrutiny on, before turning the seed of an idea into something much better. So Tim, here it is, raw, a bit crap, unedited, straight off the DAW, just the way you like to hear things. I cannot begin to tell you how much I will miss your presence and influence on this world. Travel well gentlest spirit. My ever warm and peaceful wishes and thoughts are with those who knew him better and will miss him infinitely more painfully than I. My heart-deep condolences to you all.

[cardandpixel]

Escape Rooms - The Wattle & Daub Edition

Hand-in-hand with the rise in popularity of real-life escape rooms,  board games have kept right up to date with a number of immensely popular cardboardy versions.  On the whole, these are great and offer some really nice mechanics, but the one thing they all suffer from a little is any replayability at all, which is why there's a thriving 2nd hand market for these titles at the mo.

 Apparently themeborne games had a stand at UKGE last year, and despite scouring every inch of the trade floor over 3 days last year, apparently I wandered round with my eyes closed as I completely missed the launch of this brilliant title now in retail - Escape The Dark Castle.   

EtDC as it shall be known from hereon in, is a deeply grim, grimy, dung-infested, weevil laden dungeon crawler for 1-4 players and plays in about 30-45mins. Far from the oil-chested barbarians and slyph-like Elven heroes though, EtDC has an altogether more 'pedestrian' group of adventurers. 

Players get to choose from The Tanner, Cook, Smith, Miller, Tailor and the improbably bearded Abbot as their alter-egos.

EtDC is pitched as a light introductory adventure game, but honestly, I think themeborne are selling themselves short. There are some very smart mechanisms in the game that many other developers would do well to have a look at.



There are no minis, maps or scenery, but EtDC still engages players quickly and presents them with some tough choices very quickly.

The 'campaign' is set up by shuffling the deck of pleasingly oversized tarot cards and selecting 15 cards to form the encounter deck. A 'boss' is randomly selected for the end encounter and the top intro card is added.

Each of the 'heroes' has 3 statistics, one for each of Might, Wisdom, and Cunning. Players will work together, carefully selecting which team member is the most appropriate to use for a challenge based on their stats.

Challenges on the encounter cards are solved by rolling dice. Each of the heroes have their own differently weighted dice making choices for combat etc quite important. Players can pick up bonus items along the way which usually boost stats and improve success in combat.  Players can carry an item in each 'hand' apart from two-handed items of which they can only carry one.

Combat is pretty simple. Each foe has a number of dice faces that must be defeated, plus often players must each roll additional dice to defeat dependent on the number of players.

Defeat all the encounter cards and the Boss and you win. Lose a single team member down to zero health points and you all lose. Simple.

We can have a tendency in the gaming community to be a little judgemental when it come to the words 'light' and 'simple' (gateway also has a similar problem). Complexity and heaviness in games can be seen as a bit of a 'badge of honour'. A heavy euro that takes 9 hours and requires players to gnaw their arms off is somehow considered 'proper' gaming whereas a simple card game that takes 10mins and makes you laugh like a drain for all of them is seen as inferior somehow.

There is nothing wrong with light or simple games - in fact, I wrote an entire post about games that have simple  rulesets but surprising depth.  

In Escape the Dark Castle, the fun springs from the sheer grimness of the game. The artwork is grim, the foes are grim, the chances of winning are grim. If there was ever a Blackadder fantasy series, this would be it.  And we loved every miunte of it.

themeborne have crafted a very clever and deeply enjoyable game here and we are looking forward to the forthcoming expansions. There's plenty in the box to last you a while and the dungeon is randomly chosen each time so it will feel fresh for a good long while. However, we got utterly trounced by the first game, and far from being discouraged, we immediately wanted to play it again. 

We did, and we won by a very narrow margin and had a blast doing so. It takes minutes to set-up, about 10mins to learn and about 30-45mins to play.

And it's all wrapped up in some nice design too. They even provide pencils and score sheets! It's great value too, at £24 it's barely the price of one you going through a real-life escape room, and you won't have to pose for an embarrassing promo photo afterwards. Grim gaming y’all.

[cardandpixel]

Moonlighting against myself

It's nice here. Cosy. Frankly, I like what I've done with the place. Sure over the coming months I'll put up some curtains, maybe add a few pot plants and perhaps a jaunty little sign over the door "You don't have to be mad to live here..." etc but for now, it's home.

But, some lovely people at a relatively new kid on the board company called Zatu Games, based in Norfolk, have foolishly expressed a desire for me to write some review pieces for them. So...... I've agreed. It's not you.... it's me. I just need to try new things and meet new people. I'll still be here, I promise, I'll bring you something nice......

Where was I?

So, the first article they asked me to look at was of my favourite game, which I chose to be Descent 2e, and you can read why here.

It's nice to be supporting a retailer who wants to do something with their online presence, more than just telling customers what new games they should spend their wage packets/fiefdoms/money earned from some shady deal in the Caimans on.

Zatu is staffed by folk who love board games and who have committed to running both an online and Bricks & Mortar shop. Please check out their website for more info.

I'll be writing a few articles for them over the coming months and obviously I'll post the links to them here as well.

So don't panic, I'm not abandoning these shores. I'll be home for dinner around 8.

[cardandpixel]

I've never been a massive fan of Warhammer in any of its incarnations, but I've always had a soft spot for using nurglings or piles of nurglings as useful stunt monsters for RPGs and other minis games etc. However.... Games Workshop have smashed it out of the park with this new model. I have never laughed so hard at the name of a model before and it may have to become my goto comedy name from now on!

[cardandpixel]

If you’re going to play Lost Expedition, play it like our friend Dave....