This weekend I played my first CCG (collectable card game) in many a year. The game is a relatively new one, Dinosaur King.
A bit of research on the web has shown that the game is supported by a cartoon series and is also an arcade video game. The arcade game apparently is still a card game... A card game in the arcade is pushing my understanding of video games, but then I haven't been in an arcade for many a year.
So the game itself. It was the first game for both me and my son.
We layed out the playmats and set a couple glass beads each onto the health and turn tracks and placed our decks there as well.
We drew our starting hands. My son opted to swap his entire hand, I just kept what I had as it was a reasonable mix.
He started off dropping a level one beasty in front of himself but opted to not attack straight off.
I didn't have any level one dinos, so basically just drew the extra cards.
On his next turn he laid down another dino.
I now had a low level dino so played that out. I also had a reasonable move card so decided to make an attack as well. He countered with a move card that won the fight for him and my only dino was consigned to the discard pile.
The turn track was climbing and so we played on being able to lay out bigger and bigger dinos, and making bigger and bigger attacks.
At one point I had two strong dinos in my hand and a couple of weak ones on the table but was reluctant to play them as each attack with them would cost me a life point!
Another interesting point was when my son had out a 2000 point dino that was totally unassailable by any card combo I could play. So I had to sit back waiting for good cards and watching him slaughter the dinos I had worked so hard to get into play.
I did come back from this and even took out his big 2000 pointer by playing a special move that combined a grass dino with a grass move for an additional 700 points. It was just as well I managed it as each attack he made with it gained him another health point back!
But alas, the game started as it was destined to go on. Each time I hit him he came back stronger and he finally took my last health point and I had only reduced him to 7.
For a first play it was pretty cool. Turns out that a couple of starter decks work perfectly and I dont see a big investment in extra cards here :D
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Playing Cheese Chasers
I reviewed the free game Cheese Chasers a while back. Well now I've gone a step further and put together a video of me playing a session...
... as you'll see it's a very simple boardgame and plays very quickly. A fun light filler I guess. Might work in a classroom as a project to make study and play
... as you'll see it's a very simple boardgame and plays very quickly. A fun light filler I guess. Might work in a classroom as a project to make study and play
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Memoir '44 dice roller
After the release of my Doom Dice roller I was inspired to take the concept a little further. The dice that came in my copy of Memoir '44 are already wearing out. On a couple of the dice you can barely see the flags.
So It seemed appropriate to take the same concept and produce a Memoir '44 dice roller as well.
Sadly of late my game playing has been somewhat curtailed and I'm missing it quite a bit.
This weekend the family got around the table and we played a couple of hand of the Sherlock Holmes card game. This game was produced by Gibson Games back in '91 and is really very good for mass produced game. At one point this game was in all of the shops but then just disappeared from the shelves and has not be reprinted since as far as I know. Such a shame.
When the players are familiar with the cards it plays very quickly and is a nice bit of fun for the family or gamers alike. I got mine cheaply from EBay and there are quite often copys of the game on there going for reasonable prices
After that we played three player David and Goliath, my son had dropped out after his Sherlock Holmes win, obviously wanting to go out a winner. As usual when we play this game, my wife stormed into the lead by taking practically no cards at all until the end of the game. I'd love to know how she manages to kick my butt every time but she does!
So It seemed appropriate to take the same concept and produce a Memoir '44 dice roller as well.
Sadly of late my game playing has been somewhat curtailed and I'm missing it quite a bit.
This weekend the family got around the table and we played a couple of hand of the Sherlock Holmes card game. This game was produced by Gibson Games back in '91 and is really very good for mass produced game. At one point this game was in all of the shops but then just disappeared from the shelves and has not be reprinted since as far as I know. Such a shame.
When the players are familiar with the cards it plays very quickly and is a nice bit of fun for the family or gamers alike. I got mine cheaply from EBay and there are quite often copys of the game on there going for reasonable prices
After that we played three player David and Goliath, my son had dropped out after his Sherlock Holmes win, obviously wanting to go out a winner. As usual when we play this game, my wife stormed into the lead by taking practically no cards at all until the end of the game. I'd love to know how she manages to kick my butt every time but she does!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Cheese Chasers - Review
I played Cheese Chasers for the first time this weekend and I fear I may be in danger of becoming addicted to this solitaire game. It is a very neat little game.
The theme of the game is cats, mice and cheese. The artwork is a very good cartoony style that will have an immediate appeal for kids, but dont let that put you off. As I'll explain it's not just for kids.
When you download the game ( it's free Print and Play ) you get one PDF of the rules. These only cover a single sheet which is formatted in a pocket-mod format so that you origami it into a tiny booklet. This little booklet explains the rules and even manages to squeeze in 7 diagrams explaining play.
The next two PDFS are a single page each and contain the tiles you use in play. One page is entirely made up of Mouse tiles, these are the good guys, you will use them to generate your score.
The next PDF contains a mix of tile types, including the Cheese, Cat and Mouse Trap tiles.
The final PDF contains tile backs. When I made my copy of the game I didn't bother with tile backs as I used a plain card backing for my tiles.
Setting up to play is simplicity itself, turn the tiles face down and shuffle.Then you draw a tile and place it face up in the middle of the table.
From here on you simply draw a tile and must place it adjacent to the previous tile, either diagonal or orthoganal. That's very simple, but you have a descision to make with every tile based on what your've drawn and how the tiles in play are already laid out.
The non mouse tiles all have different effects on play.
A Cheese tile when in play is a way of gaining a lot of points. If you manage to orthoganlly surround the Cheese with Mice you get a bonus 10 points. Wether you surround it or not each mouse adjacent to the Cheese gains a bonus point.
There are four mouse trap tiles in the deck. If three of these come into play and aren't deactivated the game ends immediately. You can deactivate a trap by orthogannly surrounding it with mice. So you must deactivate one or two of these in order to play all of the tiles.
The last tile type is the Cat. A Cat tile will deactivate any mouse ties that are orthoganally adjacent to it. If those mice are deactivating a trap then they no longer deactivate it, if they are surrounding a Chees they no longer count for that either. Furthermore the poor mouse doesn't score you any points.
Another point to keep in mind is that if you can get two or more Cheese's orthogannly adjacent and then surround them all with mice they count double.
It all sounds rather simple, but in play you'll find yourself trying maximise points and avoid pitfalls with every tile you lay.
It plays quite quickly, just a few minutes really and when all of the tiles are laid, you count up your score. 100 points is a good target but in this game your always trying to beat your best score.
I would suggest this as a great "hand crafted present" for your friends and a great addition to your own collection.
The theme of the game is cats, mice and cheese. The artwork is a very good cartoony style that will have an immediate appeal for kids, but dont let that put you off. As I'll explain it's not just for kids.
When you download the game ( it's free Print and Play ) you get one PDF of the rules. These only cover a single sheet which is formatted in a pocket-mod format so that you origami it into a tiny booklet. This little booklet explains the rules and even manages to squeeze in 7 diagrams explaining play.
The next two PDFS are a single page each and contain the tiles you use in play. One page is entirely made up of Mouse tiles, these are the good guys, you will use them to generate your score.
The next PDF contains a mix of tile types, including the Cheese, Cat and Mouse Trap tiles.
The final PDF contains tile backs. When I made my copy of the game I didn't bother with tile backs as I used a plain card backing for my tiles.
Setting up to play is simplicity itself, turn the tiles face down and shuffle.Then you draw a tile and place it face up in the middle of the table.
From here on you simply draw a tile and must place it adjacent to the previous tile, either diagonal or orthoganal. That's very simple, but you have a descision to make with every tile based on what your've drawn and how the tiles in play are already laid out.
The non mouse tiles all have different effects on play.
A Cheese tile when in play is a way of gaining a lot of points. If you manage to orthoganlly surround the Cheese with Mice you get a bonus 10 points. Wether you surround it or not each mouse adjacent to the Cheese gains a bonus point.
There are four mouse trap tiles in the deck. If three of these come into play and aren't deactivated the game ends immediately. You can deactivate a trap by orthogannly surrounding it with mice. So you must deactivate one or two of these in order to play all of the tiles.
The last tile type is the Cat. A Cat tile will deactivate any mouse ties that are orthoganally adjacent to it. If those mice are deactivating a trap then they no longer deactivate it, if they are surrounding a Chees they no longer count for that either. Furthermore the poor mouse doesn't score you any points.
Another point to keep in mind is that if you can get two or more Cheese's orthogannly adjacent and then surround them all with mice they count double.
It all sounds rather simple, but in play you'll find yourself trying maximise points and avoid pitfalls with every tile you lay.
It plays quite quickly, just a few minutes really and when all of the tiles are laid, you count up your score. 100 points is a good target but in this game your always trying to beat your best score.
I would suggest this as a great "hand crafted present" for your friends and a great addition to your own collection.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Another Print and Play video
I've just uploade another Print and Play video to YouTube. In this case it shows how I went about making a free game called Cheese Chasers
Friday, March 13, 2009
DOOM dice roller
As you may or may not know, the game "DOOM : The Boardgame" came with some rather poor dice. The special symbols were printed onto the sides and very quickly wore off!
My dice wore out after only 3 games but a quick email to the wonderful support people at Fantasy Flight Games soon had a replacement set winging their way through the post to my door.
In the meantime I needed a die roller to replace my worn out dice. So I wrote a web based die roller. I've now posted this die roller to my web site so anyone with worn out dice or who has perhaps lost a die under the fridge or even to the cats stomach can still play DOOM.
DOOM die roller
.
My dice wore out after only 3 games but a quick email to the wonderful support people at Fantasy Flight Games soon had a replacement set winging their way through the post to my door.
In the meantime I needed a die roller to replace my worn out dice. So I wrote a web based die roller. I've now posted this die roller to my web site so anyone with worn out dice or who has perhaps lost a die under the fridge or even to the cats stomach can still play DOOM.
DOOM die roller
.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Well And Donkey - Review
On my podcast this week I reviewed a free Print and Play expansion for the well known and very popular game Carcassonne.
The "Well and Donkey" is a story that originates in the city of Carcassonne itself and in particular focuses on the big well found in that city.
The well itself is huge and of course when tourists see it, they have to walk over and have a look in. It's not just tourists, everyone feels drawn to look in and maybe that's where the story started, springing as it were from the mysterious drawing power of the well.
The story goes along these lines. A bunch of archers were carousing loudly in the city one night and went as far as swearing against the saints. They spotted a donkey passing by with a really swanky bit of cloth on its back, and one of the archers couldn't resist jumping on its back. Then another archer did like wise, great fun! In the end all of the archers jumped onto the donkeys back! Then it set off running through the city, only pausing next to a graveyard where the graves opened and the dead sang a lament. Then the donkey ran to the big well and jumped in taking the archers with it. Of course it wasn't a donkey, but was really the devil!
So enough with the background what about the game bits etc?
There are 8 tiles in this PDF, which by the way is available in the files section of the Carcassonne page at board game geek. Two of the tiles feature the Well and Donkey, these are city tiles. These two tiles have a drastic effect on gameplay. When a city gains the Well and Donkey, the meeples in the city are removed from play! That's it they are gone for good, and you get no score out of it.
The other 6 tiles in the set are pretty average nothing special type things. This is good because obviously you're always going to be able to tell the home made tiles from the ones that came in the box when you brought the game. These extra 6 tiles effectively "water-down" any decision related to taking one of the new tiles.
What effect does this have on game play? Significant. Until both of the well and donkey tiles have been played players are reluctant to claim cities because they know that as soon as they do then their opponents are going to zap them by dropping the well and donkey into the city!
This reluctance to leave meeples in cities means a lot of very tiny cities get built which in turn means farmers and farming becomes immensely more important. The playing of farmers has always been a major strategy in my gaming group and this expansion intensifies that part of play and makes it very enjoyable.
When we play we always have the tiles in stacks on the table so players can choose which tile they are going to play ( only from looking at the backs of course! ). With these cards in play it is obvious which ones they are but as I said only two out of 8 are the killer tiles, so you have to make a choice, do you keep picking the expansion tiles to get rid of the donkey tiles as soon as possible or do you try and save them to attack with later, but if you do that, will your opponent beat you to the tiles!
Because we play openly this effects our play. When the tiles are drawn hidden, from a bag or some such, players feel they can risk bigger cities and that is fun to play as well. Imagine it, your opponent has a meeple in a four tile city and you draw a Well and Donkey tile, oh how you can tease him/her...
The tiles in the PDF are well drawn and print very well. Mine were printed to thin card, and mounted with spray glue onto thick card. The PDF does contain tile backs, but provided your mounting material is plain, then they are not really required.
An alternate rule that we've played with, that you might also like, is where rather than removing the meeples in the poisoned cities you simple score nothing for the city when its closed, at the end of the game, or for farming it.
All in all this a good expansion, it is simple and straight forward, no complex rules to remember. It makes enough difference in play to make the game interesting and of course that tease factor has to be worth a few points. If you've never made a print and play add-on, this would be a good first one!
The "Well and Donkey" is a story that originates in the city of Carcassonne itself and in particular focuses on the big well found in that city.
The well itself is huge and of course when tourists see it, they have to walk over and have a look in. It's not just tourists, everyone feels drawn to look in and maybe that's where the story started, springing as it were from the mysterious drawing power of the well.
The story goes along these lines. A bunch of archers were carousing loudly in the city one night and went as far as swearing against the saints. They spotted a donkey passing by with a really swanky bit of cloth on its back, and one of the archers couldn't resist jumping on its back. Then another archer did like wise, great fun! In the end all of the archers jumped onto the donkeys back! Then it set off running through the city, only pausing next to a graveyard where the graves opened and the dead sang a lament. Then the donkey ran to the big well and jumped in taking the archers with it. Of course it wasn't a donkey, but was really the devil!
So enough with the background what about the game bits etc?
There are 8 tiles in this PDF, which by the way is available in the files section of the Carcassonne page at board game geek. Two of the tiles feature the Well and Donkey, these are city tiles. These two tiles have a drastic effect on gameplay. When a city gains the Well and Donkey, the meeples in the city are removed from play! That's it they are gone for good, and you get no score out of it.
The other 6 tiles in the set are pretty average nothing special type things. This is good because obviously you're always going to be able to tell the home made tiles from the ones that came in the box when you brought the game. These extra 6 tiles effectively "water-down" any decision related to taking one of the new tiles.
What effect does this have on game play? Significant. Until both of the well and donkey tiles have been played players are reluctant to claim cities because they know that as soon as they do then their opponents are going to zap them by dropping the well and donkey into the city!
This reluctance to leave meeples in cities means a lot of very tiny cities get built which in turn means farmers and farming becomes immensely more important. The playing of farmers has always been a major strategy in my gaming group and this expansion intensifies that part of play and makes it very enjoyable.
When we play we always have the tiles in stacks on the table so players can choose which tile they are going to play ( only from looking at the backs of course! ). With these cards in play it is obvious which ones they are but as I said only two out of 8 are the killer tiles, so you have to make a choice, do you keep picking the expansion tiles to get rid of the donkey tiles as soon as possible or do you try and save them to attack with later, but if you do that, will your opponent beat you to the tiles!
Because we play openly this effects our play. When the tiles are drawn hidden, from a bag or some such, players feel they can risk bigger cities and that is fun to play as well. Imagine it, your opponent has a meeple in a four tile city and you draw a Well and Donkey tile, oh how you can tease him/her...
The tiles in the PDF are well drawn and print very well. Mine were printed to thin card, and mounted with spray glue onto thick card. The PDF does contain tile backs, but provided your mounting material is plain, then they are not really required.
An alternate rule that we've played with, that you might also like, is where rather than removing the meeples in the poisoned cities you simple score nothing for the city when its closed, at the end of the game, or for farming it.
All in all this a good expansion, it is simple and straight forward, no complex rules to remember. It makes enough difference in play to make the game interesting and of course that tease factor has to be worth a few points. If you've never made a print and play add-on, this would be a good first one!
Friday, March 06, 2009
Two games, one lunchtime
Yesterday lunchtime was a blast of gaming! Two of us had three quarters of a lunchtime to play. Out came Stratego slapped it down and played through a very quick game. I lost, but feel I can blame that not on tactics but on the third person watching.
Mr Third person is not a gamer he just wanted a break from his desk so wandered over and watched and asked a few questions. This is where I became doomed to be a loser. He started asking questions while chomping on his pasty. “What’s the number one called?” he asked, and I told him. Then “What do bombs do?”, with a gesture of a chin to my right side of the board. I wasn’t too worried at this point I usually spread out the bombs. I told him what bombs do. Then it happened. “What does a flag mean?”, again with the chin gesture to the right side of the board. I told him, with a saddening heart. When we play this game, it’s all about bluff and watching the opponents eyes. You know hovering your hand over a bomb or even the flag as if your about to move it, and looking for a slight cringe in the eyes as you attack a piece near the flag. So I know full well my mighty opponent hadn’t missed the gesture. I said nothing.
Suddenly all of the attacks came down the right side and I knew it was all over, but I carried on. There was no point trying to cover the flag as that would really just confirm its location, so I launched an attack down the left. Alas it was a forgone conclusion. Two scouts and one bomb later my flag was defeated.
Then we rushed onto a two player basic game of Carcassonne at hyper speed. In the end we only overran lunchtime by a couple of minutes and it was worth it, as I could end the session with a win. Mr Third stuck around, and tried to make sense of the game while we played. I could see him getting confused as we scored cities and so on. My opponent is an expert on joining his farmers into my fields so I was wary of that and got two farmers into my main field as soon as possible as an attempt to put-him-off, as he’d have to put three in there to take it away. This actually seemed to work for me so I might well try this again in future. I cant put too much hope in that tactic though because the terrain ended up dividing into two major farming areas with a major road network in the centre.
A good lunch time, a loss and a win, and as a bonus, we managed to show a non gamer that we don’t go-off-and-play-dollies at lunchtimes.
Mr Third person is not a gamer he just wanted a break from his desk so wandered over and watched and asked a few questions. This is where I became doomed to be a loser. He started asking questions while chomping on his pasty. “What’s the number one called?” he asked, and I told him. Then “What do bombs do?”, with a gesture of a chin to my right side of the board. I wasn’t too worried at this point I usually spread out the bombs. I told him what bombs do. Then it happened. “What does a flag mean?”, again with the chin gesture to the right side of the board. I told him, with a saddening heart. When we play this game, it’s all about bluff and watching the opponents eyes. You know hovering your hand over a bomb or even the flag as if your about to move it, and looking for a slight cringe in the eyes as you attack a piece near the flag. So I know full well my mighty opponent hadn’t missed the gesture. I said nothing.
Suddenly all of the attacks came down the right side and I knew it was all over, but I carried on. There was no point trying to cover the flag as that would really just confirm its location, so I launched an attack down the left. Alas it was a forgone conclusion. Two scouts and one bomb later my flag was defeated.
Then we rushed onto a two player basic game of Carcassonne at hyper speed. In the end we only overran lunchtime by a couple of minutes and it was worth it, as I could end the session with a win. Mr Third stuck around, and tried to make sense of the game while we played. I could see him getting confused as we scored cities and so on. My opponent is an expert on joining his farmers into my fields so I was wary of that and got two farmers into my main field as soon as possible as an attempt to put-him-off, as he’d have to put three in there to take it away. This actually seemed to work for me so I might well try this again in future. I cant put too much hope in that tactic though because the terrain ended up dividing into two major farming areas with a major road network in the centre.
A good lunch time, a loss and a win, and as a bonus, we managed to show a non gamer that we don’t go-off-and-play-dollies at lunchtimes.
Monday, March 02, 2009
Slogging on
Not a lot of games played recently, I just haven't had the spare energy. I just had last Monday off giving myself a long weekend, but, no, it wasn't for rest and relaxation and a few friendly games of Carcassonne.
No it was for one of those three word combos I'm coming to hate. "Do It Yourself!"
Move the furniture up that end of the room. Lay half a floor. Dismantle a Foldaway bed so it'll fit in the car for a trip to the tip. Take a trip to the tip. Build a bed. rebuild the bed because I didn't follow the instruction properly. Move the furniture back. Move the furniture from the other end of the room. Dismantle a broken down old bed, saving some good bits of wood against future need. Lay half a floor. Remove a shelf and two coat hookey things. Paint the walls to cover the marks where the stuff was removed. Build a bed, right first time. Move the furniture back. Study the layout for a while. Move the furniture again. Spend a total of 8 hours doing various shopping expeditions.
Collapse into bed Sunday.
I really do prefer it when I play games instead of doing it myself.
I have manged to lay out the prototype boards for my Stronghold game during my lunch breaks. There's only a couple of hours development work left in this prototype game before I release it to any playtesters who want to try it. Yet at this time, I dont know when IF EVER I'll get the chance to finish it. Too much DIY!
No it was for one of those three word combos I'm coming to hate. "Do It Yourself!"
Move the furniture up that end of the room. Lay half a floor. Dismantle a Foldaway bed so it'll fit in the car for a trip to the tip. Take a trip to the tip. Build a bed. rebuild the bed because I didn't follow the instruction properly. Move the furniture back. Move the furniture from the other end of the room. Dismantle a broken down old bed, saving some good bits of wood against future need. Lay half a floor. Remove a shelf and two coat hookey things. Paint the walls to cover the marks where the stuff was removed. Build a bed, right first time. Move the furniture back. Study the layout for a while. Move the furniture again. Spend a total of 8 hours doing various shopping expeditions.
Collapse into bed Sunday.
I really do prefer it when I play games instead of doing it myself.
I have manged to lay out the prototype boards for my Stronghold game during my lunch breaks. There's only a couple of hours development work left in this prototype game before I release it to any playtesters who want to try it. Yet at this time, I dont know when IF EVER I'll get the chance to finish it. Too much DIY!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Free Trader = session report
Tonight I finally got round to playing a game of Free Trader using the professional quality cards I recently bought from ArtsCow.
My trader started his travel on the central world of Corolis. Everything seems a little too expensive and without much chance of making a killing so I opted to jump to nearby Nu-Earth without purchasing any cargo.
At Nu Earth agriculturals were going cheap so I invested in a couple of them. I opted to jump back to Corolis as it looked like a prices were going to make me a profit. I jumped and checked the prices... Khaaaaaaaaaan! They had just shut the agricultural warehouses.
With only 1 Vectorium in the tanks I jumped to Kailing and was immediately attacked by a small Pirate, he shot, missed and I shot back getting a kill and earning a vectorium. Here I sold the cargos but only managed to get myself back to 5 Vectorium.
Once again the best bet seems to be Agriculturals to Corolis, I bought 2 and made the jump ... straight under the guns of a huge Pirate ship. Money being so short I decided to fight it out. Ka-blam! Kapow! Fzzzz! Zapoong! After trading a few shots and not getting anywhere I lost my nerve and emergency jumped to Tanist. Fortunately the jump went safely, but sadly another Pirate was waiting at the jump point. We started trading fire and in the middle of it the bank came looking for funds I couldn't supply.
My trader started his travel on the central world of Corolis. Everything seems a little too expensive and without much chance of making a killing so I opted to jump to nearby Nu-Earth without purchasing any cargo.
At Nu Earth agriculturals were going cheap so I invested in a couple of them. I opted to jump back to Corolis as it looked like a prices were going to make me a profit. I jumped and checked the prices... Khaaaaaaaaaan! They had just shut the agricultural warehouses.
With only 1 Vectorium in the tanks I jumped to Kailing and was immediately attacked by a small Pirate, he shot, missed and I shot back getting a kill and earning a vectorium. Here I sold the cargos but only managed to get myself back to 5 Vectorium.
Once again the best bet seems to be Agriculturals to Corolis, I bought 2 and made the jump ... straight under the guns of a huge Pirate ship. Money being so short I decided to fight it out. Ka-blam! Kapow! Fzzzz! Zapoong! After trading a few shots and not getting anywhere I lost my nerve and emergency jumped to Tanist. Fortunately the jump went safely, but sadly another Pirate was waiting at the jump point. We started trading fire and in the middle of it the bank came looking for funds I couldn't supply.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Game design and Artscow
Rather than repeat what I've already posted over at board game geek I thought I'd just drop a note here with a link letter you guys know that I've posted a thread that details my first rough-out of a boardgame design based around the idea of the computer game Stronghold. the BGG thread.
On another front I've just received my first delivery from ArtsCow. This Online company offers print on demand service. Nothing that unusual in that, however one of the services they offer is custom card decks. That's 54 cards printed to your own specification, put your own images on the front and design a your own back. 54 individual cards!!!!
The cards can have the normal suits printed on them or not, as you choose. Now add to this that they frequently run specials. I just printed up a copy of my game Free Trader for £5.88 ! The cards arrived today and I am really impressed with the quality, they are just like standard playing cards and they look splendid.
On another front I've just received my first delivery from ArtsCow. This Online company offers print on demand service. Nothing that unusual in that, however one of the services they offer is custom card decks. That's 54 cards printed to your own specification, put your own images on the front and design a your own back. 54 individual cards!!!!
The cards can have the normal suits printed on them or not, as you choose. Now add to this that they frequently run specials. I just printed up a copy of my game Free Trader for £5.88 ! The cards arrived today and I am really impressed with the quality, they are just like standard playing cards and they look splendid.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Brewing again
In the last couple of weeks I've had a very limited number of opportunities to get any gaming done. Firstly the weather ( ice/snow ) stopped me getting out, and I've been busy recording. I was invited to record a story for the Drabblecast a few weeks ago and that has lead to be being asked to also do recordings for Escape Pod and Starship Sofa.
I've been blown away by how much time this recording work takes. Im my Librivox recordings and those for my own podcasts I usually just rip through the recordings, fixing the gaffs as I go. I haven't been able to do that for these other podcasts. They are dramatic readings! So I record, then decide the tense is wrong, and re record then find the levels are different and then have to record again and so on. It's taken so much time.
Then there's the other reason I haven't been playing too much. I installed "Stronghold" on my computer and have been buried in that game for hours on end. It's been about 5 years since I had any games like this on my computer and I'd forgotten what a time-sink they are. I've lost a number of evenings without ecen realising it.
Is this computer time wasted? No, not in this case. I've been running my game-designer brain over and over the game brewing up ideas on how to turn this into a board game. I'm almost at the first stage of putting a prototype together. There's a lot in it. Collecting resources, tech tree, building things, building troops, using troops. All of these on a single board seems a little unreasonable so I'm thinking that each player will have two boards. One for the home territory being stronghold and surrounds, and another for management of the stronghold, the resource gathering and allocation etc. There will also be a board between the players representing the distance between strongholds. I think this is going to be a big PnP game.
I've been blown away by how much time this recording work takes. Im my Librivox recordings and those for my own podcasts I usually just rip through the recordings, fixing the gaffs as I go. I haven't been able to do that for these other podcasts. They are dramatic readings! So I record, then decide the tense is wrong, and re record then find the levels are different and then have to record again and so on. It's taken so much time.
Then there's the other reason I haven't been playing too much. I installed "Stronghold" on my computer and have been buried in that game for hours on end. It's been about 5 years since I had any games like this on my computer and I'd forgotten what a time-sink they are. I've lost a number of evenings without ecen realising it.
Is this computer time wasted? No, not in this case. I've been running my game-designer brain over and over the game brewing up ideas on how to turn this into a board game. I'm almost at the first stage of putting a prototype together. There's a lot in it. Collecting resources, tech tree, building things, building troops, using troops. All of these on a single board seems a little unreasonable so I'm thinking that each player will have two boards. One for the home territory being stronghold and surrounds, and another for management of the stronghold, the resource gathering and allocation etc. There will also be a board between the players representing the distance between strongholds. I think this is going to be a big PnP game.
Monday, February 09, 2009
Biological Invasion
A few days ago I had to spend a lot of time and effort in de-moulding my bedroom. I noticed mould around the window, then under the window then along the skirting...behind the bedside cabinet, then under the bead. So all of the furniture had to be moved, the bleach like mould spray put to use and much wiping sweating and even a little swearing.
Next to the bed I have a number of card and plastic folders that contain a lot of Print and Play games. I opened one up to find a splotch of the blummin mould. I also noticed that the paper and cards in the folder felt a little damp.
So today I've had to open all of the folders and spread out the contents to dry. I'm currently sitting surrounded by printed games! It would be great if they weren't all in danger of being eaten my the dreaded mould.
The plan, is that once dry I'll put them all in baggies.
Here's a little story. A few years ago I used to live on the road in a camper van, moving from lay-by to lay-by. We noticed that many of these locations kept having stripped abandoned caravans left in them. These caravans had the number plates removed, the sinks, cushions, gas and electrical items removed leaving them as hulks. Obviously someone was buying cheap caravans stripping everything of value out of them and then abandoning them around the county.
As I walked the dog I would pear into these things to see what had been taken and what had been left. Let's face it, there wasn't a lot of entertainment on the road.
Then one day I saw "stuff" in the back of one of the caravans. I opened the door ( lock was removed along with all of the other fittings ) and would you believe that inside I found a couple of rubbish bags filled with what looked like garden waste.
When I moved one of the bags there was a treasure underneath. There was a ream of photocopier paper and joy of joy, an A3 baggie stuffed full of baggies just bigger than A4. At least a hundred of them! Those two items mysteriously found themselves in the locker of my camper van.
Tonight I'll be using those big baggies to store my Print and Play games, safely away from the creeping mould of game-death.
Next to the bed I have a number of card and plastic folders that contain a lot of Print and Play games. I opened one up to find a splotch of the blummin mould. I also noticed that the paper and cards in the folder felt a little damp.
So today I've had to open all of the folders and spread out the contents to dry. I'm currently sitting surrounded by printed games! It would be great if they weren't all in danger of being eaten my the dreaded mould.
The plan, is that once dry I'll put them all in baggies.
Here's a little story. A few years ago I used to live on the road in a camper van, moving from lay-by to lay-by. We noticed that many of these locations kept having stripped abandoned caravans left in them. These caravans had the number plates removed, the sinks, cushions, gas and electrical items removed leaving them as hulks. Obviously someone was buying cheap caravans stripping everything of value out of them and then abandoning them around the county.
As I walked the dog I would pear into these things to see what had been taken and what had been left. Let's face it, there wasn't a lot of entertainment on the road.
Then one day I saw "stuff" in the back of one of the caravans. I opened the door ( lock was removed along with all of the other fittings ) and would you believe that inside I found a couple of rubbish bags filled with what looked like garden waste.
When I moved one of the bags there was a treasure underneath. There was a ream of photocopier paper and joy of joy, an A3 baggie stuffed full of baggies just bigger than A4. At least a hundred of them! Those two items mysteriously found themselves in the locker of my camper van.
Tonight I'll be using those big baggies to store my Print and Play games, safely away from the creeping mould of game-death.
Friday, February 06, 2009
Nandeck
I just realised that I've never mentioned the Nandeck software on this blog. Considering I use it all of the time that's quite an oversight. What is Nandeck you ask?
Simply put it is a FREE piece of software that allows you to quickly build decks of cards.
There are all kinds of reasons to build a deck of cards, here's one , a real one that I used it for only the other day. I was making up a copy of a game called Pond Hockey. The game is kind of in its embrionic Print and Play status. The board is done the rules are done... but some cards are missing. The game only needs 20 cards in two sets of ten numbered 1 - 10.
So finding the cards missing I brought up Nandeck wrote the script to make the cards and KaBoom! The cards are done in a nice PDF ready for printing.
Here's another reason, suppose your army cards in Manoeuvre get torn or worn out, or heavens forbid you lose a card! Well you could whip out Nandeck and make up a replacement set of cards.
Here's another use, one I'm engaged in right now. I'm designing a card game I've built the deck in Nandeck and I can quickly change the script and change all of the cards in an instant. For instance, suppose your deck of cards had the games name at the top of each card, that would be a single line of Nandeck script, so if you decided to rename the game, you would edit just one line and all of the cards would be updated!
Nandeck allows you to put images on the cards, text and numbers in any arrangement you want, it's very versitile. As a bonus the designer of the software is always answering questions that people post and the Help section of the web site is superb.
So enough of my gushing, go download it today!
Simply put it is a FREE piece of software that allows you to quickly build decks of cards.
There are all kinds of reasons to build a deck of cards, here's one , a real one that I used it for only the other day. I was making up a copy of a game called Pond Hockey. The game is kind of in its embrionic Print and Play status. The board is done the rules are done... but some cards are missing. The game only needs 20 cards in two sets of ten numbered 1 - 10.
So finding the cards missing I brought up Nandeck wrote the script to make the cards and KaBoom! The cards are done in a nice PDF ready for printing.
Here's another reason, suppose your army cards in Manoeuvre get torn or worn out, or heavens forbid you lose a card! Well you could whip out Nandeck and make up a replacement set of cards.
Here's another use, one I'm engaged in right now. I'm designing a card game I've built the deck in Nandeck and I can quickly change the script and change all of the cards in an instant. For instance, suppose your deck of cards had the games name at the top of each card, that would be a single line of Nandeck script, so if you decided to rename the game, you would edit just one line and all of the cards would be updated!
Nandeck allows you to put images on the cards, text and numbers in any arrangement you want, it's very versitile. As a bonus the designer of the software is always answering questions that people post and the Help section of the web site is superb.
So enough of my gushing, go download it today!
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Hour of Glory - Session Report
In case you haven't heard Hour of Glory is a "sneak -em up", you take the part of agent trying to sneak into a WWII bunker or the part of the German Commander trying to protect the secrets therein. It's fantastic, and available as Print and Play or as a full prodution game. There are also a number of expansions for it and free PDF magazines. Onto the session...
The British agent attempted to Breach the entrance, failed!
The Commander (rolled a 5) sprinted down the corridor.
The agent attempted to Breach the door again, failed!
The Commander ( rolled another 5 ) sprinted down the corridor.
The agent breached the door and moved into the corridor, moving up the the door of room 8.
The Commander, slowed down to get his breath back but was already closing in.
The agent entered the room, leaving the door open and spyed around finding some good intelligence.
The Commander turned the corner and spotted the open door...
The agent tried to dash for the other door, sneakily.
The commander came into the room, the agent tried to dive for cover but was spotted, then takes a poorly aimed shot at the Commander.
Pulling his pistol the Commander take a shot back, but misses.
The agent fires again, but gets rather miffed at hitting the German who simply shrugs it off.
The Commander fires and once again misses.
The agent rushes forwards, taking another shot and at last killing the Commander.
Stepping over the body the agent leaves the room he came in by and heads west.
The newly promoted replacement Commander leaves his new office and follows the path of the previous incumbant.
The agent turns north at the next junction heading for the first door.
The Commander stops to chat with the fat Sentry who's blocking his way.
The agent closes on the door.
The Commander suggests to the sentry that he really should cut back the sausages!
The agent breaches the door to the south western room.
The Commander leaves the sentry shaking his head and moves towards the crossroads junction.
The agent spys out the room finding a map. Excellent now he knows where the other intelligence is to match the piece he already has.
The Commander turns west but another large sentry is in the way.
The agent breachs the northern door in the room and exits, the Commander is busy dresssing down the sentry so doesn't see him sneak into the westernmost corridor heading north.
The Commander reaches the intersection and turns north parrallel to the agent.
The agent has turned east, then sneaks through the intersection and heads north.
The Commander heading north, thinks he sees something ahead in the gloom ( agent evades ).
The agent hold his breath reaches the junction at the very north of the complex, and steps out of sight
The Commander is not sure what he saw, he rushes forwards.
The agent reaches the door to the room containing the intelligence he wants.
The Commander rounds the corner spots the agent and raise the alarm, the door next to the agent is thrown open revealing the guards. One strikes out at him but only cuts his clothing.
The agent knocks the guard to the floor but the other two guards are ready to take his place, he runs east hoping to lose them in the corridors.
The Commander heads back the way he came, leaving the guards to follow the agent, he's hoping to cut off the agents retreat.
The Guards are obviously worried about how dangerous this man is as they follow very slowly.
The agent runs west, then south into the juntction but is heard by the sentries who catch him in a crossfire knocking him to the floor his brains splattered up the walls.
The clock only had 21 minutes left.
The British agent attempted to Breach the entrance, failed!
The Commander (rolled a 5) sprinted down the corridor.
The agent attempted to Breach the door again, failed!
The Commander ( rolled another 5 ) sprinted down the corridor.
The agent breached the door and moved into the corridor, moving up the the door of room 8.
The Commander, slowed down to get his breath back but was already closing in.
The agent entered the room, leaving the door open and spyed around finding some good intelligence.
The Commander turned the corner and spotted the open door...
The agent tried to dash for the other door, sneakily.
The commander came into the room, the agent tried to dive for cover but was spotted, then takes a poorly aimed shot at the Commander.
Pulling his pistol the Commander take a shot back, but misses.
The agent fires again, but gets rather miffed at hitting the German who simply shrugs it off.
The Commander fires and once again misses.
The agent rushes forwards, taking another shot and at last killing the Commander.
Stepping over the body the agent leaves the room he came in by and heads west.
The newly promoted replacement Commander leaves his new office and follows the path of the previous incumbant.
The agent turns north at the next junction heading for the first door.
The Commander stops to chat with the fat Sentry who's blocking his way.
The agent closes on the door.
The Commander suggests to the sentry that he really should cut back the sausages!
The agent breaches the door to the south western room.
The Commander leaves the sentry shaking his head and moves towards the crossroads junction.
The agent spys out the room finding a map. Excellent now he knows where the other intelligence is to match the piece he already has.
The Commander turns west but another large sentry is in the way.
The agent breachs the northern door in the room and exits, the Commander is busy dresssing down the sentry so doesn't see him sneak into the westernmost corridor heading north.
The Commander reaches the intersection and turns north parrallel to the agent.
The agent has turned east, then sneaks through the intersection and heads north.
The Commander heading north, thinks he sees something ahead in the gloom ( agent evades ).
The agent hold his breath reaches the junction at the very north of the complex, and steps out of sight
The Commander is not sure what he saw, he rushes forwards.
The agent reaches the door to the room containing the intelligence he wants.
The Commander rounds the corner spots the agent and raise the alarm, the door next to the agent is thrown open revealing the guards. One strikes out at him but only cuts his clothing.
The agent knocks the guard to the floor but the other two guards are ready to take his place, he runs east hoping to lose them in the corridors.
The Commander heads back the way he came, leaving the guards to follow the agent, he's hoping to cut off the agents retreat.
The Guards are obviously worried about how dangerous this man is as they follow very slowly.
The agent runs west, then south into the juntction but is heard by the sentries who catch him in a crossfire knocking him to the floor his brains splattered up the walls.
The clock only had 21 minutes left.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Another YouTube video - Hour of Glory
This time a look at a boardgame I put together last year and what materials I used while putting the game together.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Stratego ( again )
This lunchtime I got into a rematch at Stratego, this follows on from the previous session report where I totally won!
I placed my pieces with some planning. A couple of bombs near the flag along with my top man and the spy. The rest of the bombs were scattered around fairly randomly. I tried to get a mix of the middle men in the front rank.
Things were starting well. My opponent came in on the attack across a broad front. Once again I tried down the right flank. I used a scout or two to identify some targets on the right before following up with the middle men to kill off those I could.
The mix of middle men meant I was able to fend off or at least deal with the intruders as they advanced.
A good few turns later I had cleared a section on the right flank and there was in fact a couple of his base line spaces clear. I sent a scout down there into that gap and attacked right and lost. One of middle men went down the same gap to deal with the enemy that had been revealed and took it out with a mutual death attack.
Now it got interesting. The right flank was fairly clear so I shot a Scout down to his base line right next to a block that hadn't moved and I deliberately watched my opponents face looking for a tell-tale. There was nothing, so I assumed that I wasn't threatening his flag.
Then I got mixed up in a dance around the middle of my base line. The enemy had noticed that I wasn't moving my back row in the middle of the board and started down. I won an attack but this revealed my top guy. He started moving a piece quickly towards it, so I dodged it around and brought him into a position from where my spy could attack and it did, taking out his top guy. Around the same time A scout of his shot over to my base line threatening my flag, but I had a bomb on that side so didn't worry, until his scout took it out leaving it open.
The attacks around here kept coming and he wore me down and took the flag from the undefended flank. Then the real kicker. He revealed his flag HAD been adjacent to the scout I'd sent across the board turns ago! I had been sitting next to it for minutes!
I'm not quite sure if using your "Poker Face" in Stratego is cheating :) I'm warming to this game.
I placed my pieces with some planning. A couple of bombs near the flag along with my top man and the spy. The rest of the bombs were scattered around fairly randomly. I tried to get a mix of the middle men in the front rank.
Things were starting well. My opponent came in on the attack across a broad front. Once again I tried down the right flank. I used a scout or two to identify some targets on the right before following up with the middle men to kill off those I could.
The mix of middle men meant I was able to fend off or at least deal with the intruders as they advanced.
A good few turns later I had cleared a section on the right flank and there was in fact a couple of his base line spaces clear. I sent a scout down there into that gap and attacked right and lost. One of middle men went down the same gap to deal with the enemy that had been revealed and took it out with a mutual death attack.
Now it got interesting. The right flank was fairly clear so I shot a Scout down to his base line right next to a block that hadn't moved and I deliberately watched my opponents face looking for a tell-tale. There was nothing, so I assumed that I wasn't threatening his flag.
Then I got mixed up in a dance around the middle of my base line. The enemy had noticed that I wasn't moving my back row in the middle of the board and started down. I won an attack but this revealed my top guy. He started moving a piece quickly towards it, so I dodged it around and brought him into a position from where my spy could attack and it did, taking out his top guy. Around the same time A scout of his shot over to my base line threatening my flag, but I had a bomb on that side so didn't worry, until his scout took it out leaving it open.
The attacks around here kept coming and he wore me down and took the flag from the undefended flank. Then the real kicker. He revealed his flag HAD been adjacent to the scout I'd sent across the board turns ago! I had been sitting next to it for minutes!
I'm not quite sure if using your "Poker Face" in Stratego is cheating :) I'm warming to this game.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
My First Video
No this isn't a post about a game called "My First Video" it's a post about the first game related video I've made. No glorious moving pictures I'm afraid, I've thrown a bunch of stills together added some titles and a narration.
It's a companion video to the latest episode of my podcast "Print and Play". Take a look if you have nothing better to do.
It's a companion video to the latest episode of my podcast "Print and Play". Take a look if you have nothing better to do.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Stratego - Session Report
I was gifted a copy Stratego just after Christmas by a work buddy. He picked it up from a charity shop and it's in pretty good condition.
Today I had my first game, I dont think I've played it for twenty years or so.
We were both "new" to the game and so our placement of the pieces was very rough. I threw my flag on the back row and dropped a couple of bombs around it.
The game started fairly slowly we were both reluctant to make the first combat. This soon wore off and we started whittleing down each others pieces. The strength of the pieces was all over the place as neither of us had really planned any moves. I tried to make a strong move up my right flank basically because I didn't know what else to do.
I managed to thin the herd a bit on this side and by the time we had done this we were both starting to pay attention and started playing clever.
We had both realised that moving your scout more than one space was just like commiting suicide as it gave them away. My worthy opponent also boxed clever and sent a sapper up against a unit he had seen me moving around. He had correctly guessed that it was a bomb.
About this time he made a serious gaff and used a spy thinking it was a rank 5 unit, and I blew it away. At this point I was in a good position to defend my flag as the only unit left that could beat my top guy was his own top guy who I had knocked out earlier.
The speed of the game increased rapidly as we were both moving units up from the back of the board, turns were literally half a second or less.
I was lucky enough to have scout left, so I was able to shoot it right across the board to reveal a unit, the scout died but I then spent about ten turns moving up a unit to kill the unit he had revealed.
My opponent now knew that my flag was one of two or three pieces and tried to make a two-unit run at the group. I had my top piece (general?) in front of these units for defence and knew he could not beat it. I moved a useless piece in front of one of these to slow the pair down and this allowed me to take out both of his pieces. At this point he had nothing left and we just played out the remaining turns in a few rapid ten's of seconds. In the end I ran a sapper over to his side took out a bomb and got the flag.
I dont often beat this guy so was quite happy with myself. We both agreed that the game does have a lot of stratergy in the middle and end game and that all of the pieces do really have specific uses that you should save them for, The clever way the pieces interact has peaked our interest and we will be playing again, this time being extra careful with the initial placement.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Who designed this house!
Okay so I’m sitting at work twiddeling my thumbs waiting for some files to copy to a remote computer. I am unable to do anything while this is going on as the “Cisco” software prevents me from accessing anything else, so what do I do? I start looking through my draws for anything to occupy the time.
In my left bottom draw is a copy of Carcassonne, recently returned after lending out for Christmas, but I can’t play that, too big, too obvious, and no one to play with. Same goes for Stratego which is sitting in the bottom right draw (gifted to me from a co-worker just after Christmas and it hasn’t made it home yet.)
Then I spot a little “Black Magic” chocolate box in my top right draw, Ahha! No, I’m not going to eat, inside there is my copy of Zombie in My Pocket!
I pull the draw out as far as possible, pile all the rubbish in there at the back and I have a play-space, HUZZAR!
On the sly I shuffle the cards and tiles, place the first tile, place a plastic Shaggy ( from the Scooby Gang ) on the starting tile and begin.
From the Foyer I move North into the Kitchen, a good start. North again into the Bedroom. West into the Family Room, West into the Storage Room. A stinking dead end! Back through the Family Room, back through the Bedroom and into the kitchen. Now West from there into the Dining room. By now time is ticking by, Zombies have been swamping me, I’m real tired. Out of the Dining Room into... the Bathroom and another dead end. Zombies smash through the west wall I beat them down with a Golf Club and crawl through the hole to find the Evil Temple. Grabbing the Evil totem I go back through the hole into the Bathroom into the Dinning Room and out onto the Patio.
Storming southwards I trip over the Graveyard where I have to dispose of the Totem... but it’s too late. The witching hour has caught up with me. Muh!
So now I’ve entertained myself heartily in the office , when I take a look at this house. What a freak! The kitchen is next to the Dining room, that’s good. The front door enters into the Kitchen, that’s odd. Then to get to the family room you have to go through (thru) a double bedroom! Of course, having an Evil Temple behind the Bathroom wall and a Graveyard in the Garden are just normal practice in this game but surely the architect needs to be fired.
The World is lost due to a badly designed house
In my left bottom draw is a copy of Carcassonne, recently returned after lending out for Christmas, but I can’t play that, too big, too obvious, and no one to play with. Same goes for Stratego which is sitting in the bottom right draw (gifted to me from a co-worker just after Christmas and it hasn’t made it home yet.)
Then I spot a little “Black Magic” chocolate box in my top right draw, Ahha! No, I’m not going to eat, inside there is my copy of Zombie in My Pocket!
I pull the draw out as far as possible, pile all the rubbish in there at the back and I have a play-space, HUZZAR!
On the sly I shuffle the cards and tiles, place the first tile, place a plastic Shaggy ( from the Scooby Gang ) on the starting tile and begin.
From the Foyer I move North into the Kitchen, a good start. North again into the Bedroom. West into the Family Room, West into the Storage Room. A stinking dead end! Back through the Family Room, back through the Bedroom and into the kitchen. Now West from there into the Dining room. By now time is ticking by, Zombies have been swamping me, I’m real tired. Out of the Dining Room into... the Bathroom and another dead end. Zombies smash through the west wall I beat them down with a Golf Club and crawl through the hole to find the Evil Temple. Grabbing the Evil totem I go back through the hole into the Bathroom into the Dinning Room and out onto the Patio.
Storming southwards I trip over the Graveyard where I have to dispose of the Totem... but it’s too late. The witching hour has caught up with me. Muh!
So now I’ve entertained myself heartily in the office , when I take a look at this house. What a freak! The kitchen is next to the Dining room, that’s good. The front door enters into the Kitchen, that’s odd. Then to get to the family room you have to go through (thru) a double bedroom! Of course, having an Evil Temple behind the Bathroom wall and a Graveyard in the Garden are just normal practice in this game but surely the architect needs to be fired.
The World is lost due to a badly designed house
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