We found out today that there will be no pay rises or even any bonuses for me this year. Bummer! I do understand the economic conditions we're in but it feels like my excellent year's appraisal and over achievement against my objectives was for nothing this year. It's not even as if I can carry them forward until next year! How am I going to afford to import German designer board games now?
Anyway, in unrelated news our fat ball has gone missing!
This was the ball that hung by the shed and got ignored by the birds. Then got squashed by the builders and left untouched. Hung on the new pergola and ignored again. Finally taken down by me, poked around a bit and suddenly the birds are all over it! Well at least they were. This morning it was gone!! So either a) the aliens have got it, b) there's a really strong pigeon hanging around or c) a fox/cat has taken it although how they got it over the fence I don't know!
Showing posts with label Games. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Games. Show all posts
Friday, May 22, 2009
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Calm before the Storm
Apart from a few odds & sods (collapsing bed & cot, taking legs off sofa, wrapping TV, emptying last remnants from fridge etc) I think we're almost there.
To be honest I thought I would feel more sad at leaving our house of nearly 7 years (our first) and moving away from Ipswich where we've lived for nearly 8 years now. I don't know whether its because of the trauma of moving but it hasn't given me chance to stop and think about the things I'm going to miss. Since having Z I gotten so fed up of stuff everywhere that at this stage its almost a relief to be moving.
What will be nice is that we can come back for holidays to Suffolk. There are some lovely places along the Suffolk coast but never far enough away to justify holidaying there when you live so close by.
The coming week is likely to be mental...not least all the unpacking and getting new furniture to put on the unpacking on/in. We've tried really hard to sort stuff as we've gone along and loads has gone to the tip or to charity, but I fear we're still going to have too much stuff for the new house. I sense a really serious cull is in order even if it means getting rid of some boardgames! We found an old copy of Atmosfear in the loft yesterday and part of me wants to add it to my collection on BGG but then another more sensible part says that since the video player is in storage why am I keeping a game that relies on a video to play? I think its time to be brutal (and of course brutality means I can justify buying new games to replace it! Ones that we'll actually play!)
To be honest I thought I would feel more sad at leaving our house of nearly 7 years (our first) and moving away from Ipswich where we've lived for nearly 8 years now. I don't know whether its because of the trauma of moving but it hasn't given me chance to stop and think about the things I'm going to miss. Since having Z I gotten so fed up of stuff everywhere that at this stage its almost a relief to be moving.
What will be nice is that we can come back for holidays to Suffolk. There are some lovely places along the Suffolk coast but never far enough away to justify holidaying there when you live so close by.
The coming week is likely to be mental...not least all the unpacking and getting new furniture to put on the unpacking on/in. We've tried really hard to sort stuff as we've gone along and loads has gone to the tip or to charity, but I fear we're still going to have too much stuff for the new house. I sense a really serious cull is in order even if it means getting rid of some boardgames! We found an old copy of Atmosfear in the loft yesterday and part of me wants to add it to my collection on BGG but then another more sensible part says that since the video player is in storage why am I keeping a game that relies on a video to play? I think its time to be brutal (and of course brutality means I can justify buying new games to replace it! Ones that we'll actually play!)
Saturday, June 07, 2008
June!
Its been an odd week for me actually. I think having a baby around the house has slowly caught up with me physically. The slightly less sleep every night for 3 months has started to take its toll. The stress of trying to move house isn't helping either.
Its hard to believe that Z is 3 months old now...I can remember first holding him in the hospital. He's still massive but thankfully the growth is slowing now...no need for new clothes every 2 weeks. The only problem is all the advice we keep getting from all corners. Its hard to keep focussed and confident with what we are doing without all the opinions but then I suppose it shows people care.
The slow build up of exhaustion is affecting my work somewhat in that I just cannot be arsed to do any! Had a meeting in London on Wednesday and was hoping to cruise by on autopilot but with so few attendees I had to contribute, and the bit where my PC Lead put me on the spot and said "As Knowledge Management Lead Leigh, what do you think we should do next?". Fortunately despite my empty mind I managed to come up with something and agreed to write up a project plan for next week. My boss will be back as well expecting to see great things from the P2 data that I should have ready and reconciled back to the system...hmmm I think I'm going to have a busy Monday!
We did actually have a house viewing this week! A call at 16:45 yesterday with people wanting to come around straight away...fortunately K managed to negotiate 17:30 and we set to work clearing up the shit hole! They seemed to like the house but had others to see and may well want a second viewing today. From their feedback the fact that our house doesn't need much big doing to it (e.g. double glazing, central heating etc) is a big plus as far as they are concerned. We shall have to wait and see. The other bonus is that all the weekend housework was crammed into 40 minutes and is all done now!
The impending house move (it will happen eventually) has brought into sharp focus how much less money we'll have floating about once it happens (and especially when the maternity pay dries up). I have responded in my usual way to get all anal about it and demand to see all K's receipts for the money she spends each month! (not quite, but thats not a bad idea!) I have also resolved not to spend any money on new board games, books or video games for this month and see what I have left at the end of the month (the theory being that this could be used to plug the gap when we move).
So far not too bad...although things that I ordered months ago and ready in June have thrown a little spanner in the works. I've resolved that Super Smash Bros Brawl will be the only video game purchase, despite the delicious looking (and 2 player) Lego Indiana Jones. I'm consoling myself with the music from Smash (downloaded here).
Also annoyingly my ipod's select button has stopped working which renders my ipod unusable! Fortunately its pay year end this month so there should be a bit of a bonus winging its way towards me. I'm stuck with whether to replace my iPod nano with a new nano (now with video) or go all flash and get an iPod touch. The web browsing, email checking is appealing on touch but the size is off putting, I don't want another phone sized item to carry around with me. Plus the fact that the touch is double the price!
Other things I'm obsessing about are:
1. If we get an offer on the house, should I lower the offer we're making for the house we want in Long Eaton since the average house price has fallen 5% in the last 2 months. But what if they then accept someone else's offer!
2. D&D 4th edition. This looks great and I'm tempted to buy the rule books even though I have no-one to play with! Listening to a podcast over at Penny Arcade/D&D website and the new rules sound fantastic. Am wondering if I could get a group going when we move back to the Midlands...I wonder if K will want to play?
3. Cradle Cap. I shouldn't be allowed to hold a sleeping baby who has cradle cap...too tempting to pick until 've picked it too much. Fortunately the Nurse Prac. at the surgery wasn't too worried and just gave K some Coconut Oil so we're giving that a whirl.
Its hard to believe that Z is 3 months old now...I can remember first holding him in the hospital. He's still massive but thankfully the growth is slowing now...no need for new clothes every 2 weeks. The only problem is all the advice we keep getting from all corners. Its hard to keep focussed and confident with what we are doing without all the opinions but then I suppose it shows people care.
The slow build up of exhaustion is affecting my work somewhat in that I just cannot be arsed to do any! Had a meeting in London on Wednesday and was hoping to cruise by on autopilot but with so few attendees I had to contribute, and the bit where my PC Lead put me on the spot and said "As Knowledge Management Lead Leigh, what do you think we should do next?". Fortunately despite my empty mind I managed to come up with something and agreed to write up a project plan for next week. My boss will be back as well expecting to see great things from the P2 data that I should have ready and reconciled back to the system...hmmm I think I'm going to have a busy Monday!
We did actually have a house viewing this week! A call at 16:45 yesterday with people wanting to come around straight away...fortunately K managed to negotiate 17:30 and we set to work clearing up the shit hole! They seemed to like the house but had others to see and may well want a second viewing today. From their feedback the fact that our house doesn't need much big doing to it (e.g. double glazing, central heating etc) is a big plus as far as they are concerned. We shall have to wait and see. The other bonus is that all the weekend housework was crammed into 40 minutes and is all done now!
The impending house move (it will happen eventually) has brought into sharp focus how much less money we'll have floating about once it happens (and especially when the maternity pay dries up). I have responded in my usual way to get all anal about it and demand to see all K's receipts for the money she spends each month! (not quite, but thats not a bad idea!) I have also resolved not to spend any money on new board games, books or video games for this month and see what I have left at the end of the month (the theory being that this could be used to plug the gap when we move).
So far not too bad...although things that I ordered months ago and ready in June have thrown a little spanner in the works. I've resolved that Super Smash Bros Brawl will be the only video game purchase, despite the delicious looking (and 2 player) Lego Indiana Jones. I'm consoling myself with the music from Smash (downloaded here).
Also annoyingly my ipod's select button has stopped working which renders my ipod unusable! Fortunately its pay year end this month so there should be a bit of a bonus winging its way towards me. I'm stuck with whether to replace my iPod nano with a new nano (now with video) or go all flash and get an iPod touch. The web browsing, email checking is appealing on touch but the size is off putting, I don't want another phone sized item to carry around with me. Plus the fact that the touch is double the price!
Other things I'm obsessing about are:
1. If we get an offer on the house, should I lower the offer we're making for the house we want in Long Eaton since the average house price has fallen 5% in the last 2 months. But what if they then accept someone else's offer!
2. D&D 4th edition. This looks great and I'm tempted to buy the rule books even though I have no-one to play with! Listening to a podcast over at Penny Arcade/D&D website and the new rules sound fantastic. Am wondering if I could get a group going when we move back to the Midlands...I wonder if K will want to play?
3. Cradle Cap. I shouldn't be allowed to hold a sleeping baby who has cradle cap...too tempting to pick until 've picked it too much. Fortunately the Nurse Prac. at the surgery wasn't too worried and just gave K some Coconut Oil so we're giving that a whirl.
Monday, May 05, 2008
Lazy Bank Holiday
Updated with successes!
After having 2 great and social, busy days (see here) I've decided there's only a few things I want to do today...
1) Sit on my arse Spent much of the day doing this
2) Do some WiiFit exercising (I seem to have gained 4 pounds in 2 days) Had to drag myself to set it up to just do the body test. Once I'd done that though I was keen as mustard and managed 33 minutes, mainly Step Advance & Rhythm boxing
3) Play some more The World Ends with You as once GTAIV arrives tomorrow I'm likely to be a little distracted. Yes played this and ignored the cries of my son
4) Have a roast chicken dinner. Looking out of the window I see sun and blue sky (and not the rain originally forecast) so I think it will be roast chicken, salad and roast potatoes instead of veg and gravy. This was delicious, potatoes roasted in with the chicken and turned into chewy chicken flavoured lumps
5) Play with Zachary to make up for a nail clippers/finger incident this morning. Done and I think he's forgiven me
6) Play new boardgame 1960: The Making of the President Played while handing crying baby back and forth. K rewrote history with a historic win for Nixon, I'm not sure how she did it but I think I focused too much on the large states and not the middling ones
7) Maybe get dressed Barely did this...shorts, t-shirt and flip flops
After having 2 great and social, busy days (see here) I've decided there's only a few things I want to do today...
1) Sit on my arse Spent much of the day doing this
2) Do some WiiFit exercising (I seem to have gained 4 pounds in 2 days) Had to drag myself to set it up to just do the body test. Once I'd done that though I was keen as mustard and managed 33 minutes, mainly Step Advance & Rhythm boxing
3) Play some more The World Ends with You as once GTAIV arrives tomorrow I'm likely to be a little distracted. Yes played this and ignored the cries of my son
4) Have a roast chicken dinner. Looking out of the window I see sun and blue sky (and not the rain originally forecast) so I think it will be roast chicken, salad and roast potatoes instead of veg and gravy. This was delicious, potatoes roasted in with the chicken and turned into chewy chicken flavoured lumps
5) Play with Zachary to make up for a nail clippers/finger incident this morning. Done and I think he's forgiven me
6) Play new boardgame 1960: The Making of the President Played while handing crying baby back and forth. K rewrote history with a historic win for Nixon, I'm not sure how she did it but I think I focused too much on the large states and not the middling ones
7) Maybe get dressed Barely did this...shorts, t-shirt and flip flops
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Under duress
I'm updating my blog because K wants to read it. Not sure I've got much tp blog about but there you go.
Been an interesting couple of weeks and the weekend promises to be a challenge too. We're going to look at houses in Long Eaton & Kegworth tomorrow and we have to get up, dressed and out by 9 and then hope Z doesn't cause a super fuss on the way there. He was as good as gold this morning but has done nothing but cry and eat this afternoon/evening. He's finally asleep and we even managed to wash his hair without any complaints.
There's been plenty of gaming undertaken too. Shadows Over Camelot saw some action (and we actually managed to win!) Hopefully adding the possibility of a traitor in the midst will spice things up even more! Hive and Mr. Jack are two good 2 player games as well. K has been playing a lot of Professor Layton and the Curious Village and I've restarted Pokemon Diamond and I'm determined to finish it this time. We've also been playing a lot of Mario Kart Wii (although K does get a little frustrated)
Also this is far too addictive/cute...
Been an interesting couple of weeks and the weekend promises to be a challenge too. We're going to look at houses in Long Eaton & Kegworth tomorrow and we have to get up, dressed and out by 9 and then hope Z doesn't cause a super fuss on the way there. He was as good as gold this morning but has done nothing but cry and eat this afternoon/evening. He's finally asleep and we even managed to wash his hair without any complaints.
There's been plenty of gaming undertaken too. Shadows Over Camelot saw some action (and we actually managed to win!) Hopefully adding the possibility of a traitor in the midst will spice things up even more! Hive and Mr. Jack are two good 2 player games as well. K has been playing a lot of Professor Layton and the Curious Village and I've restarted Pokemon Diamond and I'm determined to finish it this time. We've also been playing a lot of Mario Kart Wii (although K does get a little frustrated)
Also this is far too addictive/cute...
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Tips
A quick tip for all you people who like to sleep...don't ever sign up to play online Werewolf. Especially with a baby in the house where the importance of sleep only goes up!
Essentially a group of people with some as werewolves and some as villagers. The wolves know who each other is but everyone else is clueless. Each play cycle sees the villagers voting on who they think is a wolf (who then gets lynched) and then the wolves vote on who to eat. The dead players are revealed including what roles they were so everyone always knows the ration of villagers to wolves. The villagers win when the wolves are all killed and the wolves win when thy reach parity (same number) as the villagers.
So far in the game I'm playing in we've managed to lynch 2 villagers in a row! And we're down to 3 villagers and 2 wolves! In the mix is a potential sorcerer who will vote with wolves! Nightmare!
Thanks to BoardGameGeek for making this possible!
Essentially a group of people with some as werewolves and some as villagers. The wolves know who each other is but everyone else is clueless. Each play cycle sees the villagers voting on who they think is a wolf (who then gets lynched) and then the wolves vote on who to eat. The dead players are revealed including what roles they were so everyone always knows the ration of villagers to wolves. The villagers win when the wolves are all killed and the wolves win when thy reach parity (same number) as the villagers.
So far in the game I'm playing in we've managed to lynch 2 villagers in a row! And we're down to 3 villagers and 2 wolves! In the mix is a potential sorcerer who will vote with wolves! Nightmare!
Thanks to BoardGameGeek for making this possible!
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Still no sign!
After a great weekend away we're now back to a holding pattern of waiting for baby to arrive!
The final bits of clothes have now been washed (including a "I love my Daddy" jumpsuit for when baby comes home). I'm really looking forward to it but there's nothing to be done but wait.
I must admit its going to be a little odd though as all the important people to tell about the birth have all said that they only want to know when it's all done with (i.e. when the baby has arrived). Hopefully the labour won't be too long otherwise I'm going to have no-one to tell other than K (who presumably will be aware what's going on!)
Managed to resist the urge to spend more money on board games today...it helps that we've already instigated the "Leigh pays for everything policy" and I can see what's left in my account to spend on frivolities. Its really good actually as some of the games I've bought over the last 2 months I have probably only played once! I'm not even going to mention the video games I haven't even put in their prospective video game consoles!
The final bits of clothes have now been washed (including a "I love my Daddy" jumpsuit for when baby comes home). I'm really looking forward to it but there's nothing to be done but wait.
I must admit its going to be a little odd though as all the important people to tell about the birth have all said that they only want to know when it's all done with (i.e. when the baby has arrived). Hopefully the labour won't be too long otherwise I'm going to have no-one to tell other than K (who presumably will be aware what's going on!)
Managed to resist the urge to spend more money on board games today...it helps that we've already instigated the "Leigh pays for everything policy" and I can see what's left in my account to spend on frivolities. Its really good actually as some of the games I've bought over the last 2 months I have probably only played once! I'm not even going to mention the video games I haven't even put in their prospective video game consoles!
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Saturday, February 23, 2008
High Adventures in a World of Magic
BGG reminded me of an old game I used to play when I was much younger HeroQuest. Thanks to the joys of ebay and everyone's desire to sell off stuff to buy videogames I was able to pick up a cheap second hand copy!
Since there was only 2 of us K had to play as all the 4 heroes while I took on the role of the Evil Wizard! K picked some inspiring names for her characters (Dwarf - Niles, Elf - Bob, Wizard - Leigh, Barbarian - Brutus) and barely made it out of the practice dungeon (The Maze) alive. The next dungeon (The Rescue of Sir Ragnor) went a little better and next time we'll swap roles and K can be the evil one (a part she was born for).
I was ready to go back to reading or lolling on the sofa but K wanted to play some more games. And not being one to miss an opportunity I picked up Alhambra and San Juan. Alhambra is always good value and we had a good game (this time remembering all the Dirk rules) but much to K's shame she lost out to Dirk!
I managed to win at San Juan today, thanks to my Palace and I do like a game with an enforced time limit (in San Juan's case when 12 buildings have been built).
Also managed to get some gardening done (the front) and will try to do the back garden tomorrow (assuming the baby isn't here, K seems to be having Braxton Hicks quite regularly at the moment!)
Since there was only 2 of us K had to play as all the 4 heroes while I took on the role of the Evil Wizard! K picked some inspiring names for her characters (Dwarf - Niles, Elf - Bob, Wizard - Leigh, Barbarian - Brutus) and barely made it out of the practice dungeon (The Maze) alive. The next dungeon (The Rescue of Sir Ragnor) went a little better and next time we'll swap roles and K can be the evil one (a part she was born for).
I was ready to go back to reading or lolling on the sofa but K wanted to play some more games. And not being one to miss an opportunity I picked up Alhambra and San Juan. Alhambra is always good value and we had a good game (this time remembering all the Dirk rules) but much to K's shame she lost out to Dirk!
I managed to win at San Juan today, thanks to my Palace and I do like a game with an enforced time limit (in San Juan's case when 12 buildings have been built).
Also managed to get some gardening done (the front) and will try to do the back garden tomorrow (assuming the baby isn't here, K seems to be having Braxton Hicks quite regularly at the moment!)
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Speedy Limbo
Its 11.30am on saturday and the weekend is stretching ahead with nothing more pressing to do that decide what to eat and put some stuff in the loft. The bed has been changed and I've been out and had my haircut (although not very well and I'm too British to say so to the hairdresser). K is sat by my side reading her book and I'm just frittering my time away on the interwebs.
My boardgame obsession is still going strong with new games arriving almost daily. My only justification is that once the baby is here I'll have a much reduced disposable income so I won't be able to spend it so I may as well do it now. My fixation has had an odd effect on K though as she now seems to be dreaming about games! It seems like my plan to corrupt her is working!
We are now 3 weeks away and time seems to be moving both very quickly and very slowly at the same time! I can scarcely believe its the weekend again but the baby seems to be taking forever to come out. I think we're both ready now....come on baby! we want to say hello!
My boardgame obsession is still going strong with new games arriving almost daily. My only justification is that once the baby is here I'll have a much reduced disposable income so I won't be able to spend it so I may as well do it now. My fixation has had an odd effect on K though as she now seems to be dreaming about games! It seems like my plan to corrupt her is working!
We are now 3 weeks away and time seems to be moving both very quickly and very slowly at the same time! I can scarcely believe its the weekend again but the baby seems to be taking forever to come out. I think we're both ready now....come on baby! we want to say hello!
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
CAPLE GAME-A-THON
The dining room cleared, the floors vacuumed, the washing-up done and the cardboard taken to the tip and everything was ready for the first CAPLE GAME-A-THON!
We decided on 8 games (perhaps we should have picked an odd number) with 2 of them card games (taken from my new book Blazing Aces) and the rest an agreed mix. We settled on Alhambra, Boggle, Carcassonne, Dungeon Twister, Lost Cities and Ticket to Ride: Europe. Space was made on the table and we were ready for the off!
1st CAPLE GAME-A-THON, 03/02/08, L & K
Each game was written on a piece of paper and put in the exciting ‘Chalice of Destiny’ (green cereal bowl).
Round One – Card Game 1
We plumped for a new game from our book and settled on ‘Sitting Bull’. A poker based game where 2 players try to form poker hand combinations from a reduced 32 card deck with 7 cards removed. Players alternately play cards to form a 5 x 5 grid with one player scoring horizontal rows the other vertical columns.
Result – With 8 points (to K’s 6) I emerge victorious and take an early lead.
L: 1 K: 0
Round 2 – Boggle
After drawing another card game from the Chalice we agreed to put it back and pick another game. This time out came Boggle. Good for me as I’m quite good at it!
After 3 very close rounds including words such as Streets, Tenets & Tresses we had a winner!
We managed to get 35 words (between us) from this selection in 2 minutes. Can you do better?
Result – With 61 points after 3 rounds, K is the winner (to my measly 51 points). So much for my gaming prowess at Boggle.
L: 1 K: 1
Round 3 – Alhambra
Hooray! We both really enjoy this game and it's usually quite close so we got ready for a nail-biting one. It's a combination of getting sets and laying tiles in a pattern to build up your palace. It's great because you have to ensure that you get first place in some sets but try to get second place in others. Winning by coming first in a set is not enough if you've focussed on that exclusively.
After getting to almost the last tile in the bag with no second scoring card in sight we realised that we’d forgotten to remove a quarter of the currency cards! K was gutted as her Alhambra wall was big and it looked like a victory was guaranteed. We agreed to abandon the game and have a rematch.
Interlude
But first we popped out for lunch! Off to Nando’s, chicken wings for me, and halloumi/portabello mushroom pitta for K. Yummy!
Round 3 – Alhambra – Take two!
Determined not to make the same mistake again, we double-checked that the extra currency cards had been removed. They had and so we were good to go! The game proceeded much better this time and we got to the second scoring card with many more tiles still left in the bag! It was at this stage however that we realised we had forgotten to give Dirk his second set of tiles at the previous scoring round! D’oh! With so much at stake neither of us was prepared to leave the game as it was so we were forced to abandon the game for a second time!
Round 3 - Alhambra - Take Three!
To be honest I was crushed! After the first round I was beaten into 3rd place by Dirk (the shame!) (K11, D9, L4). The second scoring round saw me claw back some dignity and draw level with him (K43, L32, D32) and finally I edged ahead and beat him by 1 after the final scoring round (K132, L114, D113). Bear in mind that Dirk doesn't score for the length of his Alhambra wall (worth around 15-20 points) and you'll see how badly I was doing.
Result: K 132, L 114, Dirk 113
K started to take an early lead! L: 1 K: 2
Round 4 - Ticket to Ride: Europe
Another really enjoyable game but it can sometimes feel a bit like multiplayer solitaire with only 2 players (not a great deal of interaction, just focussing on your own routes). But a nice steal of Riga to Petrograd thwarted K's ambitions of having the longest route (and resulted in a station being played for the first time).
Despite this, a canny choice of destinations at the start of the game meant that K scored more bonus points and took the victory.
Result: K scored 108 (and getting Lisboa to Danzig really helped) and I only got 103 (my tactic of discarding my long route didn't help!)
It was starting to look like a whitewash!
Round 5 - Dungeon Twister
I was relieved when this one came round. We've only played this once before and I won so I was confident going into it. It's a fantasy based dungeon crawl but does not have any luck elements to it. Strategy and a clever guessing of what your opponent might do will win the game.
I secured an early lead with my wallwalker and goblin by getting them out of the dungeon with some treasure. I then cemented this by polishing off K's goblin for the final point and the win!
Result: My 5 points saw off K's 2 (but she was just glad to have scored some points!)
Finally regaining some dignity I started to draw level. L: 2 K: 3
Round 6 - Another card game
This time we played a game called 'Portland' where each player has a 52 card deck and has to win successive rounds with the highest poker hand. The twist being that each new card must be played on top of one of your existing 5 until you are happy with your hand. The winner of the round scores a point and all the cards are discarded and the next round begins. It becomes a question of whether to lose early rounds (worth less points) to preserve the cards in your deck for later rounds that are worth more points as the cards discarded i each round are removed from play in subsequent rounds!
After losing the first 3 rounds I managed to win the last 3 and take the victory!
L: 3 K: 3
Round 7 - Lost Cities (3 rounds)
Another fun one that has the benefit of being addictive and very quick! The trick here is to play enough of each set of cards to score points before the draw deck runs out. The tricky part being once you've played a number card you can only play higher ones afterwards and that you must play a card each turn. Added in is the ability to draw from either the deck or the 5 shared discard piles mean it's quite tense towards the end!
Not enough cards on the Stonehenge pile means I scored -4 points for this set!
Another trouncing by K with a combined score of 124 vs 36 for me after 3 rounds!
L: 3 K: 4
Round 8 - Carcassonne
After deciding to remove the River expansion we settled down to this great game that we haven't played as a 2 player in a while. Remembered how much fun it is (especially without the river) I didn't want it to end! And I had to win to force a draw otherwise the first GAME-A-THON would end in embarrassment for me!
Fortunately a clever placement of my farmers meant that come game end I had sufficient extra points to secure the win...phew!!
Final tally, me on 138 (those extra 32 farmer points really helped) and K on 116.
*drum roll* The final verdict of the 1st CAPLE GAME-A-THON....
A great result all round and a great way to spend a few hours!
We decided on 8 games (perhaps we should have picked an odd number) with 2 of them card games (taken from my new book Blazing Aces) and the rest an agreed mix. We settled on Alhambra, Boggle, Carcassonne, Dungeon Twister, Lost Cities and Ticket to Ride: Europe. Space was made on the table and we were ready for the off!
1st CAPLE GAME-A-THON, 03/02/08, L & K
Each game was written on a piece of paper and put in the exciting ‘Chalice of Destiny’ (green cereal bowl).
Round One – Card Game 1
We plumped for a new game from our book and settled on ‘Sitting Bull’. A poker based game where 2 players try to form poker hand combinations from a reduced 32 card deck with 7 cards removed. Players alternately play cards to form a 5 x 5 grid with one player scoring horizontal rows the other vertical columns.
Result – With 8 points (to K’s 6) I emerge victorious and take an early lead.
L: 1 K: 0
Round 2 – Boggle
After drawing another card game from the Chalice we agreed to put it back and pick another game. This time out came Boggle. Good for me as I’m quite good at it!
After 3 very close rounds including words such as Streets, Tenets & Tresses we had a winner!
We managed to get 35 words (between us) from this selection in 2 minutes. Can you do better?
Result – With 61 points after 3 rounds, K is the winner (to my measly 51 points). So much for my gaming prowess at Boggle.
L: 1 K: 1
Round 3 – Alhambra
Hooray! We both really enjoy this game and it's usually quite close so we got ready for a nail-biting one. It's a combination of getting sets and laying tiles in a pattern to build up your palace. It's great because you have to ensure that you get first place in some sets but try to get second place in others. Winning by coming first in a set is not enough if you've focussed on that exclusively.
After getting to almost the last tile in the bag with no second scoring card in sight we realised that we’d forgotten to remove a quarter of the currency cards! K was gutted as her Alhambra wall was big and it looked like a victory was guaranteed. We agreed to abandon the game and have a rematch.
Interlude
But first we popped out for lunch! Off to Nando’s, chicken wings for me, and halloumi/portabello mushroom pitta for K. Yummy!
Round 3 – Alhambra – Take two!
Determined not to make the same mistake again, we double-checked that the extra currency cards had been removed. They had and so we were good to go! The game proceeded much better this time and we got to the second scoring card with many more tiles still left in the bag! It was at this stage however that we realised we had forgotten to give Dirk his second set of tiles at the previous scoring round! D’oh! With so much at stake neither of us was prepared to leave the game as it was so we were forced to abandon the game for a second time!
Round 3 - Alhambra - Take Three!
To be honest I was crushed! After the first round I was beaten into 3rd place by Dirk (the shame!) (K11, D9, L4). The second scoring round saw me claw back some dignity and draw level with him (K43, L32, D32) and finally I edged ahead and beat him by 1 after the final scoring round (K132, L114, D113). Bear in mind that Dirk doesn't score for the length of his Alhambra wall (worth around 15-20 points) and you'll see how badly I was doing.
Result: K 132, L 114, Dirk 113
K started to take an early lead! L: 1 K: 2
Round 4 - Ticket to Ride: Europe
Another really enjoyable game but it can sometimes feel a bit like multiplayer solitaire with only 2 players (not a great deal of interaction, just focussing on your own routes). But a nice steal of Riga to Petrograd thwarted K's ambitions of having the longest route (and resulted in a station being played for the first time).
Despite this, a canny choice of destinations at the start of the game meant that K scored more bonus points and took the victory.
Result: K scored 108 (and getting Lisboa to Danzig really helped) and I only got 103 (my tactic of discarding my long route didn't help!)
It was starting to look like a whitewash!
Round 5 - Dungeon Twister
I was relieved when this one came round. We've only played this once before and I won so I was confident going into it. It's a fantasy based dungeon crawl but does not have any luck elements to it. Strategy and a clever guessing of what your opponent might do will win the game.
I secured an early lead with my wallwalker and goblin by getting them out of the dungeon with some treasure. I then cemented this by polishing off K's goblin for the final point and the win!
Result: My 5 points saw off K's 2 (but she was just glad to have scored some points!)
Finally regaining some dignity I started to draw level. L: 2 K: 3
Round 6 - Another card game
This time we played a game called 'Portland' where each player has a 52 card deck and has to win successive rounds with the highest poker hand. The twist being that each new card must be played on top of one of your existing 5 until you are happy with your hand. The winner of the round scores a point and all the cards are discarded and the next round begins. It becomes a question of whether to lose early rounds (worth less points) to preserve the cards in your deck for later rounds that are worth more points as the cards discarded i each round are removed from play in subsequent rounds!
After losing the first 3 rounds I managed to win the last 3 and take the victory!
L: 3 K: 3
Round 7 - Lost Cities (3 rounds)
Another fun one that has the benefit of being addictive and very quick! The trick here is to play enough of each set of cards to score points before the draw deck runs out. The tricky part being once you've played a number card you can only play higher ones afterwards and that you must play a card each turn. Added in is the ability to draw from either the deck or the 5 shared discard piles mean it's quite tense towards the end!
Not enough cards on the Stonehenge pile means I scored -4 points for this set!
Another trouncing by K with a combined score of 124 vs 36 for me after 3 rounds!
L: 3 K: 4
Round 8 - Carcassonne
After deciding to remove the River expansion we settled down to this great game that we haven't played as a 2 player in a while. Remembered how much fun it is (especially without the river) I didn't want it to end! And I had to win to force a draw otherwise the first GAME-A-THON would end in embarrassment for me!
Fortunately a clever placement of my farmers meant that come game end I had sufficient extra points to secure the win...phew!!
Final tally, me on 138 (those extra 32 farmer points really helped) and K on 116.
*drum roll* The final verdict of the 1st CAPLE GAME-A-THON....
A great result all round and a great way to spend a few hours!
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Calm before the Storm
With nothing on at the cinema and nothing else taking our fancy and with no prior commitments the scene is set for the first (in hopefully a long line)....
CAPLE GAME-A-THON!!!
And who will emerge victorious? Only time (and this blog a bit later) will tell!
CAPLE GAME-A-THON!!!
And who will emerge victorious? Only time (and this blog a bit later) will tell!
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Old skool gaming
You may have noticed the new widgety thing at the left side of my blog...this is a helpful tool from BoardGameGeek showing a random selection from my game collection. Not video games but BOARD games...I've gone all old school!
Spurred on by a marathon (well 4 in a row) games session with Em & Paul at Christmas (the excellent and very reasonable Carcassonne if you were wondering) my interest in board games has been reunited.
Despite toy shops (I'm looking at you Toys R Us) now focusing on electronic gadgets it would appear that the board game world is still going strong and I've been immersing myself in it once more (and rapidly filling up that space saved by shipping out all my old board games to my parents).
Current games on the bought and enjoying very much list are (in no particluar order)...Zooloretto, Lost Cities, Alhambra, Ingenious, Ticket to Ride Europe and others. Most of these work quite well as 2 player games (especially Lost Cities & Alhambra with the mysterious 'Dirk' sticking an oar in) but I'm itching to teach others and play totheir full potential...consider yourselves all warned! But bearig in mind that these games are all designed to be learnt in about 5 minutes (it took less time than that to teach my sister -in-law how to play TtR:E, so it must be easy!)
I may add a few to the collection in Feb but then its a case of no spending for the foreseeable future! With K having only maternity pay I'm going to have to stop buying crap! Ohh the responsibility!
Spurred on by a marathon (well 4 in a row) games session with Em & Paul at Christmas (the excellent and very reasonable Carcassonne if you were wondering) my interest in board games has been reunited.
Despite toy shops (I'm looking at you Toys R Us) now focusing on electronic gadgets it would appear that the board game world is still going strong and I've been immersing myself in it once more (and rapidly filling up that space saved by shipping out all my old board games to my parents).
Current games on the bought and enjoying very much list are (in no particluar order)...Zooloretto, Lost Cities, Alhambra, Ingenious, Ticket to Ride Europe and others. Most of these work quite well as 2 player games (especially Lost Cities & Alhambra with the mysterious 'Dirk' sticking an oar in) but I'm itching to teach others and play totheir full potential...consider yourselves all warned! But bearig in mind that these games are all designed to be learnt in about 5 minutes (it took less time than that to teach my sister -in-law how to play TtR:E, so it must be easy!)
I may add a few to the collection in Feb but then its a case of no spending for the foreseeable future! With K having only maternity pay I'm going to have to stop buying crap! Ohh the responsibility!
Saturday, December 08, 2007
Gaming Update
Xbox just had its autumn update and with it came Xbox Originals, stuff that you can download that you might have missed the first time around.
Downloaded Fahrenheit and Pyschonauts and enjoying them both so far. F is a moody mystery thriller so far that starts off with your character clearly under some kind of other control killing a man in a diner bathroom. From there you need to decide whether to mop up the blood, hide the body, escape the diner etc. The action has just shifted to the lead cop and I have been questioning witnesses. Great stuff!
Pyschonauts is a game that I've heard about but not really known what it was about. Simply it is a platformer/collectathon but it seems like there's real effort been put into the story and characters. Its set in a kind of American summer camp setting and so far quite enjoyable...but after playing Super Mario Galaxy (105 stars) the controls don't feel nearly as tight or responsive! Although I suspect that's pretty much going to be the case for everything other than SMG now!
Looking forward to what Christmas has in store gaming wise! I suspect I have Orange Box & Mass Effect coming. I think I may also be getting Link's Crossbow training as well as Pit & Rummikub! Gamerariffic!
Downloaded Fahrenheit and Pyschonauts and enjoying them both so far. F is a moody mystery thriller so far that starts off with your character clearly under some kind of other control killing a man in a diner bathroom. From there you need to decide whether to mop up the blood, hide the body, escape the diner etc. The action has just shifted to the lead cop and I have been questioning witnesses. Great stuff!
Pyschonauts is a game that I've heard about but not really known what it was about. Simply it is a platformer/collectathon but it seems like there's real effort been put into the story and characters. Its set in a kind of American summer camp setting and so far quite enjoyable...but after playing Super Mario Galaxy (105 stars) the controls don't feel nearly as tight or responsive! Although I suspect that's pretty much going to be the case for everything other than SMG now!
Looking forward to what Christmas has in store gaming wise! I suspect I have Orange Box & Mass Effect coming. I think I may also be getting Link's Crossbow training as well as Pit & Rummikub! Gamerariffic!
Monday, February 12, 2007
The Games Genius
The visitation of the in-laws (Becks & Ralph) at the weekend allowed me to engage in a couple of my passions.
Firstly the cooking I had decided to do couldn’t be put off as it was going to form part of the meals that we would be eating. Usually I spot a couple of recipes to cook at the weekend and then can’t be bothered to cook them in the end!
We had a nice lunch of ‘bits’, a kind of help yourself selection of cold meats and salad and bread and things. We followed this with a Rhubarb & Star Anise Crumble. Very nice, although I didn’t tell Becks what was in it until she’d eaten it. We did have a shaky moment when she asked whether she liked rhubarb or not. Fortunately the rest of us all rolled our eyes and I wasn’t left to mock her on my own!
I also made a Lamb & Leek pie for tea (just me & K) and to be honest was not really impressed. The lamb was minced with herbs and layered with leeks in a hot water pastry and then cooked in the oven. To be honest the lamb didn’t really taste of anything and kinda just boiled inside the pie. I usually like lamb but cooked like this was not nice. The pastry was good though.
Since it was raining we just sat around in the afternoon, putting all the new furniture to good use and drinking tea, eating Crème Eggs and playing games, my other passion.
We aimed for short easy games so we could play a few. Each of us picked a different game.
Chronology was first. It’s a nice gentle game of guessing dates and putting them in the correct order. Ralph won. (Still chance for me to save some face)
Next up was Fluxx, an interesting card game where the rules change each round depending on what is played. Ralph won. (Grrr! No matter there must be something good coming up)
Yahtzee – a game of skill and strategy and a bit of luck. Ralph won. (Damn that pure fluke!)
I picked Carcassonne to play, a game of city building in medieval France. Ralph had never played before, Becks sat out. Ralph won. (Bum!)
Finally we played Mille Bourne, another French game, cards this time, where you play in pairs. Ralph (and Becks) won! (Sob!)
Saturday, October 28, 2006
Stuck on YouTube
Great, great game! Shame more people didn't play it.
And some of those rascally rabbids...roll on Dec 8th!
And some of those rascally rabbids...roll on Dec 8th!
Monday, October 02, 2006
Speed Blog
Neil over at Dogwood Tales has got me onto this idea, so I'm going to try it out as I recount my weekend in Norwich.
Saturday
Got up. Watched IGN Weekly. Got in car. K drove the entire weekend (bless her) which helped me a lot. Listened to radio, discovered Jessica Stevenson has an 8 year old child (although she is 34 so). Arrived in Yarmo and helped the Brown girls empty black sacks of crap from under their old beds, ate lunch and then drove to Norwich. Failed to find new shoes, dithered over and then bought manbag, bought chocolate, bought unfeasibly expensive, metrosexual personal grooming products, bought Carcasonne. Discussed origami and wedding table decorations and decided on a Day Flower & Lily combination with lobsters and boats as extras.
Walked into Norwich, went to a great restaurant (Pinocchios) and had a superb, very reasonably priced meal (K's pasta was especially delicious). Walked back through Norwich and discovered that the Saturday night clubbing scene is the very cess pool of humanity (and this was only from walking around it to get back to the house). Drank water, pinched-punched everyone (by this time it was first of the month) and went to bed.
Sunday
Got up, ate porridge, watched New Popworld (frankly terrible) and deflated bed. Walked to Morrison's, bought Afro comb, discovered Argos sell the GPS I'm after but only do home delivery. Drooled over flat screen LCD TVs (we want to go smaller and flatter) and walked home through the throngs of Norwich City supporters going in the other direction.
Was driven home, looked on the internet, beat K at Carcasonne (althoughh it was close), watched Prison Break, caught up with Lost, played some Ludo on the DS and revisited The Dales.
Saturday
Got up. Watched IGN Weekly. Got in car. K drove the entire weekend (bless her) which helped me a lot. Listened to radio, discovered Jessica Stevenson has an 8 year old child (although she is 34 so). Arrived in Yarmo and helped the Brown girls empty black sacks of crap from under their old beds, ate lunch and then drove to Norwich. Failed to find new shoes, dithered over and then bought manbag, bought chocolate, bought unfeasibly expensive, metrosexual personal grooming products, bought Carcasonne. Discussed origami and wedding table decorations and decided on a Day Flower & Lily combination with lobsters and boats as extras.
Walked into Norwich, went to a great restaurant (Pinocchios) and had a superb, very reasonably priced meal (K's pasta was especially delicious). Walked back through Norwich and discovered that the Saturday night clubbing scene is the very cess pool of humanity (and this was only from walking around it to get back to the house). Drank water, pinched-punched everyone (by this time it was first of the month) and went to bed.
Sunday
Got up, ate porridge, watched New Popworld (frankly terrible) and deflated bed. Walked to Morrison's, bought Afro comb, discovered Argos sell the GPS I'm after but only do home delivery. Drooled over flat screen LCD TVs (we want to go smaller and flatter) and walked home through the throngs of Norwich City supporters going in the other direction.
Was driven home, looked on the internet, beat K at Carcasonne (althoughh it was close), watched Prison Break, caught up with Lost, played some Ludo on the DS and revisited The Dales.
Saturday, August 19, 2006
Games
Not sure what it is about Games that makes me love them so much.
I was going to try and differentiate between different games and what I meant by my first sentence in the context of me, but as I tried to think of the types of games I didn't like I realised I couldn't think of any!
Take the Olympic Games. I'm not really one for sport to be honest and wouldn't watch the athletics usually but when its part of the Olympics something happens to me. I watch it and enjoy it. The same with the Commonwealth Games. There's just something about the bringing together of people from around the world in friendly competition. This may be countries who are at war, physically or with words, but when they are on that field or in the pool or whatever, they are just people united by a dream. I know that sounds weird but it's something about the word 'Games' tacked on the end that make them so special to me. Pretty pleased with London hosting the Olympics in 2012 and I am hoping that we'll be able to go to some event in 6 years time (assuming they'll built everything of course!)
The other one that sprang straight to mind (pardon the repitition) is Mind Games. Just you ask K, my 30 year old wife how much I like those.
As I type this I'm waiting for an opponent in an online game called PoxNora. It's kind of like Magic The Gathering but with a map and pieces that you move around. Its free to try but then you buy online expansions and play other people. Great fun but a bit temperamental at the moment, I'm sure they'll iron out all the bugs. The only free game is with someone of rank 5, so I'm avoiding it as my rank of 9000 suggests he'll spank me good! Hmm just played a rank 300 and was forced to surrender...not very good at this game!
We went to Coleens garage sale this morning and although we didn't buy anything I was offered a soup tureen (spelling?), a marble rolling pin and some other tat. In the end we just liberated a cribbage board, Pass the Pigs and a game called Verbosity. My collection keeps on growing!
I was going to try and differentiate between different games and what I meant by my first sentence in the context of me, but as I tried to think of the types of games I didn't like I realised I couldn't think of any!
Take the Olympic Games. I'm not really one for sport to be honest and wouldn't watch the athletics usually but when its part of the Olympics something happens to me. I watch it and enjoy it. The same with the Commonwealth Games. There's just something about the bringing together of people from around the world in friendly competition. This may be countries who are at war, physically or with words, but when they are on that field or in the pool or whatever, they are just people united by a dream. I know that sounds weird but it's something about the word 'Games' tacked on the end that make them so special to me. Pretty pleased with London hosting the Olympics in 2012 and I am hoping that we'll be able to go to some event in 6 years time (assuming they'll built everything of course!)
The other one that sprang straight to mind (pardon the repitition) is Mind Games. Just you ask K, my 30 year old wife how much I like those.
As I type this I'm waiting for an opponent in an online game called PoxNora. It's kind of like Magic The Gathering but with a map and pieces that you move around. Its free to try but then you buy online expansions and play other people. Great fun but a bit temperamental at the moment, I'm sure they'll iron out all the bugs. The only free game is with someone of rank 5, so I'm avoiding it as my rank of 9000 suggests he'll spank me good! Hmm just played a rank 300 and was forced to surrender...not very good at this game!
We went to Coleens garage sale this morning and although we didn't buy anything I was offered a soup tureen (spelling?), a marble rolling pin and some other tat. In the end we just liberated a cribbage board, Pass the Pigs and a game called Verbosity. My collection keeps on growing!
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