Friday, May 1, 2020

Monthly Summary for April, 2020

Oh, what a month.  All month at home, with my in-laws living with us, led to a lot of stress, and a lot less free time than I would've liked.  They've gone home now, so at least my home time should be a bit more relaxing.  I hope that translates to me actually getting more done though.

Games Played
  • Root - Three plays, amounting to a single full game.  This was a five player game on Tabletop Simulator.  I took the Marquise de Cat, Dan took the Eyrie Dynasties, Rob took the Underground Duchy, Mark took the Lizard Cult, and Kaitlyn took the Riverfolk Company.  I had never taken the cats before, but they seem like the easiest faction, so I felt like I would be fine.  I did okay, although I never did expand much past the Keep clearing, and the three adjacent clearings, as at different times, the Duchy and Lizard Cult came and cleared out any attempts to expand further.  Overall, I'm pretty happy with how I did.  I ended the game tied for second with 21 points, with Kaitlyn winning handily.  I had a chance to keep the game running, by clearing her last trading post on the map (meant she could've only gotten to about 28 points instead), but I rolled double zeros in two straight combats, and couldn't get enough done to finish things.
  • Cat Lady - Two games against my wife, with each of us winning one game.  I don't really remember more details of the individual games, sadly.
  • Triumph & Tragedy - Two plays of one continuous game on TTS, with me playing as the Soviet Union.  Rob is playing the Axis, and Dan is the West.  At the end of the last turn, the West and Axis are at war, and I'm actually slowly building with few things challenging me.  I don't know if we will continue this, sadly, but if so, I'm in pretty good shape!
  • Expedition Altiplano - One play with Marina, but we didn't finish.  Marina wasn't super into the game, and since she would likely be the only person I would ever play it with, I ended up throwing it out after playing :(.
  • Jenga - One game with Marina, on the floor, with our cat... helping, I guess?  Anyway, Marina ends up winning.
  • Star Wars: Rebellion - One game with Rob on TTS.  I play the Empire, expand aggressively, and put him on the run.  I carefully limit how much I have on its own, trying to negate potential easy victory points for him.  He flees once, but misremembers where, and I make a comment towards the end of the game that he can only be in one of two places- one I could get to and conquer, and one I couldn't.  He realizes he's messed up, and concedes.
New Arrivals
  • A package from DiscountGames, with a bunch of Privateer Press stuff- Great Princess Regna Gravnoy, a Void Archon, a Power Plant for Monsterpocalypse, Gorman the Mad, and Scythe.
  • Old School Tactical, Volume III, covering the Pacific Theater!
  • Some paint and superglue.
Miniature Assembly/Painting
  • I have been making steady progress on my Infernals army, my Riot Quest minis, and what I need for both Blackstone Fortress and Monsterpocalypse.  Good, steady, assembly work.
  • I've also been painting some!  It's slow going, but I'm working on my four Stalkers, for my Cryx army!
Reading
  • My reading through the Dungeon Master's Guide, Simulating War, and Design Patterns is all ongoing.  I finished no additional book this month, sadly, although I'm almost done with the DMG.
Kickstarter
  • Filled out the Pledge Manager for Successors.  Going to get the new game, and the upgrades to Hannibal.
  • Completed the Pledge Manager for Warcaster.  My wife gave me some additional money (I begged :) ), so I was actually able to spring for the big reward level, giving me a playable army in every single faction!  I can't wait to see this one start delivering!
  • As mentioned above, Volume III of the Old School Tactical Kickstarter arrived!
Resolution progress
  • Painting Points: Currently 0/10.  I have actually made good progress on some minis (see above), so I should be able to add points soon.
  • Number of Unplayed Games: Unchanged- this was a rough month to play games, and really, none of the people I play online seem interested in anything I own.
  • Warmachine/Hordes games: No games played this month, but really, this isn't my fault.
  • Number of Books Read: I am still at seven books for the year, but I'm close to finishing one, and hopefully can finish two this weekend, which would put me back on pace nicely.
  • Weight lost: Down 14 pounds on the year!  This is one resolution where I seem to be doing well!