Well, this ended up being late because I was so busy on Sunday and earlier today with board game-related things! Let me explain …
This week in development
Files for Mech Combat-Ible are coming, I promise! While I’ve not been sorting them out, I’ve been hacking away at the mechanic I’ve developed for action selection. What I’ll use it for, I don’t know yet.
Mainly, I’ve been busy working out my ideas for a new game: The Lion & The Unicorn. It’s a card game about collecting animals. It came to me almost fully-formed and then I spent the last couple of days working everything out.
I’ve even already got design work done and some print-and-play files ready! (Though they’re not ready for anyone else to see yet, as the rules only exist in my head.) Unfortunately, I can’t playtest it yet as I need more card sleeves.
I’ve also had a party game idea, but that’s not got very far.
This week in games
On Wednesday we convened for the usual Waterstones night. We started off with Geek Out: Family which was better than expected. The questions are more general knowledge than the original, which almost made them harder. I found myself sitting there, desperate to remember any literary character who wore glasses other than Harry Potter.
Then we broke out Elevenses, which is always pleasing. I managed a handy win in the third round after gambling on getting my tea trolley and servants out early.
Then on Sunday afternoon, I first took in the delights of Board Game Smackdown as part of Leicester’s comedy festival. Very entertaining playthroughs of Snake Oil, A Fake Artist Goes to New York, and the forthcoming Champion of the Wild (which will feature an event card art-directed by me!).
Then it was off to see Alex for some 2-player action! This meant I finally got a chance to try Okiya, which was satisfying, even if it is really just more complicated noughts and crosses.
Then we took on Onward to Venus, which I’ve had half an eye on for a while and finally couldn’t resist when I saw it for £13.99 for the limited edition. I really should have picked it up earlier as it was very enjoyable. Though I made the mistake of not travelling far enough out from Earth and missed out on some easy points.
We finished off with Kokoro: Avenue of the Kodama, which is a game where you can blame the card draw for screwing you over, but really it was your own poor planning.
This week in everything else
Right now I’m reading Gods of Love by Nicola Mostyn. The start is feeling a bit cliché, but maybe that’s just because I read a lot of comic fantasy about gods living on Earth? You can’t really call the premise cliché …
I also read through the second volume of Kathryn Immonen’s run on Journey Into Mystery the other day. There are a fair few negative reviews of it on Goodreads, but I adored it. But I am a bit of a sucker for Sif/Beta Ray Bill …
And finally, this week a trawl through YouTube recommendations led me to discover Red Handed Denial, who sound like Protest The Hero with a female vocalist. Right up my street.
I can’t get enough of this cover.
-AD