Sunday, February 2, 2020

Monthly Summary for January, 2020


Games Played
  • Three plays of Keyforge with my brother, giving my decks from the newest expansion a run.  I end up going 2-1.
  • War Room - Three sessions, all part of one play of this game that started in the new year.  I am playing as Germany and Italy in this play, with Mark as Japan, Rob as the United States, Dan as the UK, and Scott as the Soviet Union.  The game started with everyone pouncing on me, blunting me mightily, and I am fighting back, but things are definitely going downhill, as I've already dropped one stability level, and am one stress away from dropping again.
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Card Game - Two plays with Joey.  I was running Boromoir, Legolas, Beravor, Joey was running Eowyn, Aragorn, Theodred.  First we play The Dead Marshes- we actually blow through this in no time. Gollum ends at five resources, 10 is commited on the Escape test, 9 is drawn, and we get through it with very few actual challenges. Score: 110.  Then we play Return to Mirkwood- we get hammered early, we get hammered late, but we cling on, and manage to not threat out long enough to win. Score: 142.
  • Marvel Champions: The Card Game - Two plays by myself.  First game was Justice Captain Marvel and Aggression Spider-Man against Rhino with A Mess of Things. I blow through it, and win before being seriously threatened.  Second game was Justice Spider-Man and Protection Iron Man against Risky Business w/ The Doomsday Chair. I end up winning, but ended up struggling quite a few times as I just couldn't manage the Threat effectively.
  • Warmachine/Hordes - Two games.  First game was 75 points against Joey using Asphyxious1 in Dark Host against Butcher1 in Armored Korps.  I threaten the scenario, he comes up to fight back, and I end up assassinating him.  The second game was a 25 point game against Matt S, using Trollbloods, to learn them some.  I take Minions, I feed him my army, so he gets to see his army in action, and end up losing.
  • X-Wing Second Edition - One game against Joey, taking Resistance against Empire.  I flow my YT-1300 off the table when it was down to one remaining Hull, but I manage to keep my T-70s in the fight long enough to wear him down and win.
New Arrivals
  • Pocket Landship - Newly arrived from Kickstarter.  Primarily a solo game.  Small, and looks like a blast!
  • Imperial Assault: Heart of the Empire - The last big expansion for Imperial Assault that I didn't have.  Now, I just need to start finishing out those small expansions.
  • A bunch of new Privateer Press miniatures- Boomhowler, Solo Artist and Black Bella, Duchess of Dread for Riot Quest, Strike Fighters and a Rocket Chopper for Monsterpocalypse, and Scrap Thralls, Lord Longfellow, and a Tormentor for Warmachine/Hordes!
  • X-Wing: Rebel Alliance Conversion Kit - Figured it was time to finally get caught up on 2.0, haha.
  • The Battle of Hue! - From Flying Pig Games, as part of Yaah Magazine #13.  Don't know much about it, but it might be interesting to play this and compare it to the Battles Magazine game on the subject!
  • Root - Received from Kickstarter, this is a game I really enjoyed the one time I played it, some time ago.  With the recent Kickstarter, I decided to back it, and ended up getting it and all of the expansions.  Such a cute game! 
  • Descent into Avernus - An Adventure book for Dungeons and Dragons.  Figure if I'm going to run a campaign, may start grabbing some resources.
  • Some LCG packs - The Journey of Rhosgobel Nightmare pack and Escape from Mount Gram for Lord of the Rings, The Red Wedding for Game of Thrones, Space & Time and H.A.M.M.E.R. for VS 2PCG, and Heart of the Elders for the Arkham Horror card game.
  • The new version of Cataphract from GMT Games.  This is the last game in the Great Battles of History series I was missing... and I finally have it!  Finally!   Just, super, super exciting.
  • The new World at War 85 game from Lock 'n Load, via Kickstarter.  I loved the first version of this game, several years ago- what a cool theme!  WWIII starts hot in 1985 with a Soviet push into the Fulda Gap.  Great fun, and looking forward to getting this new version on the table.
  • Space Infantry: Resurgence, also from Lock 'n Load, via Kickstarter.  A solitaire game with both head-to-head an cooperative modes, this game looks awesome!
Miniature Assembly/Painting
  • More assembly- I'm really getting into getting my Infernals assembled, and attached my Wretches to their bases.  For Blackstone Fortress, I have three of the explorers assembled, finally.  And for Marvel: Crisis Protocol, I finished Red Skull.
Reading
  • Finished The Great Pretender by Susannah Callahan.  Here is my Goodreads review: 4/5 - "Received as a Goodreads First Reads.

    There is three aspects to this book, each of which I feel like needs to be talked about.

    First, the discussion of Dr. Rosenhan's study, which I have to admit, felt a bit disappointing. This is a book with this as the primary subject, and sure, she's doing research about it. But as you find out during the read, there's a lot we still don't know regarding the study. How much was made up? How much wasn't? There's enough evidence to suspect that there's quite a lot to be suspicious about, but really, the book went on and on, and given what was (or really, wasn't) discovered regarding the study could've been told in a much shorter way. The discussions with the pseudo patients she was able to reach was very very interesting, however.

    Second, her (and the interviewed professional's) feelings on the direction of mental health care felt a tad out of place, although I guess it somewhat follows from the above. I felt that this kind of meandered a bit, unfocused, and was probably unnecessary.

    Third, a look into investigative journalism, and its process. I actually found this the most interesting part of the book, honestly. Some of the paths she uses to try to get information, going out and talking to people, even just basic internet searches... I don't know, I found it interesting!

    Overall, the book is fine, and it is pretty interesting. It is a bit all over the place in structure and content, which did make reading it a bit of a chore at times, but I'm glad I managed to make it through."
  • Finished In the Blood by Michael Lynes.  What I posted on Goodreads: 4/5 - "This is a prequel novella about a Demigod (a son of Prometheus), his magic sword Betrayer, and his interactions/challenges/I'm not sure what you'd call it with a part of the pantheon. It's a short book, so there isn't too much to say. The writing style is fine, the character and his development over the course of the (very short) story is fairly bland. It's a quick, enjoyable read though, so I can't say too much bad about it."
  • Finished Memoria by David Van Horne.  What I posted on Goodreads: 3/5 - "I received this as a Goodreads first reads.

    So.... this one was okay. The world building certainly seemed compelling, the characters were interesting, and sure, they were developed, but needlessly so, truthfully. The story.... well, it felt basic. Really basic.

    One thing to note- time travel is part of this book, and the narrative jumps all over the place. In some books, this can be really awesome, and done really well. I would not say that is the case for this book. It really really feels like the chapters of this book were dropped on the floor, shuffled, and printed in the order they ended up in. It makes the book feel... a bit scattered, honestly. I know I've seen this done effectively in some books, but this isn't one of them.

    Anyway. It was okay. If you like scifi, you'll probably find enough in the book to enjoy it."
  • Started book three of the Aftermath trilogy by Chuck Wendig.
Kickstarter
  • Received Pocket Landship, as mentioned above.
  • Received Root plus all of the expansions, as mentioned above.
  • I backed Car Wars, at one of the Double Ace levels.  It looks like a blast, looks like it will be good value, and my friend Mark is backing it, so I'll have someone to play against! 
  • Received World at War 85, as I mentioned above. 
  • Received Space Infantry Resurgence, as mentioned above.
Resolution progress
  • Painting Points: Currently 0/10.  Behind schedule, but I expected that so far.
  • Number of Unplayed Games: I gained five new games.  Going in the very wrong direction.
  • Warmachine/Hordes games: Two total.  Slightly behind schedule, but not horribly so.
  • Number of Books Read: Three, so I'm on pace here.
  • Weight lost: 0.  I'll get there :)

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