Against the Goblins

Cursed Panorama

Battle at the G8

During tonight's episode of Villains & Vigilantes, Northern Shield, our supergroup, was tasked with rescuing Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin from a group of nefarious mercenaries. We rescued Trump, but the kidnappers got away with Putin. I...don't know how to feel about any part of this outcome. 

On the Precipice of Disaster

On tonight's exciting adventures of Northern Shield, the villainous Lightning Bug and perfidious Dr. Apocalypse put our heroes, shackled and helpless, at the edge of a boiling pit of lava for "pest disposal." They escaped with seconds to spare - but was it all a ploy? The last -minute salvation seemed a little too easy...

Sean's Dice

The Fallen Hero

Return of Villains & Vigilantes

Some months ago, Sean and I and Jeff and Jeremiah Pitts supported a Kickstarter for the third edition of Villains & Vigilantes, a game we'd all enjoyed back in the - gulp - 1980s. Last night we gathered, along with Jeff's son Connor, for the first game of V&V we'd played in many years, save for a short one-off adventure back in 2007, part of my bachelor party. My character, seen here in the foreground, is the Mirror Maniac, a young man with reflective powers and the ability to turn himself into different inanimate objects. (I'm using a HeroClix Invisible Kid to stand in for my character while I await my custom-built miniature in the mail.)

Last night's short adventure saw the four of us attempt to stop a robbery on Whyte Avenue. I was in my civilian identity, shopping at Chapter's, when the call for help rang out. I quickly changed into my costume and dashed across the street--but I failed to look both ways, and was hit by a passing car. I was flung 30 feet and lost six hit points. It was an ignominious debut for the Mirror Maniac, but we managed to capture the villains and recover the artifact they'd attempted to steal. Huzzah! 

Saturday Night Settlers of America

 

I visited Sean today to play board games, emerging victorious at Railways of the World and Puerto Rico but losing very badly to Jeremiah Pitts at Settlers of Catan spinoff Settlers of America. Despite being confined to a static map of the lower 48 U.S. states, I think I enjoy Settlers of America more than the basic version of Catan, though not as much as that game's Seafarers expansion. Whereas the original Settlers encourages players to rack up points via building cities and roads, the object in Settlers of America is to deliver all of your goods to competitors' cities, a dynamic that requires a lot of planning and investment. "Go West, young man," is essential advice for winning this game - advice I could have used instead of building cities on the Gulf and east coasts. 

Of the three new games we tried today, though, I think Puerto Rico is my favourite. Sean's anniversary edition includes high-quality playing pieces (such as "doubloons" made of real metal coins) and gorgeous artwork on heavy card stock. The game's rules are elegant and easy to learn, requiring players to choose a role (settler, captain, mayor, prospector, etc.) each turn to develop his or her island and promote economic growth for the colony as a whole. More often than not, your choice of role will benefit your competitors as much or more than yourself, but if you're clever you can choose the right role at the perfect moment for yourself and the worst possible time for the other players. This is a gorgeously rendered, very rewarding game.

Saturday Night Star Skirmish

Once again the peace-loving citizens of the United Federation of Planets were called to battle tonight, and once again they went down to defeat, guns blazing, to the rapacious Klingon Empire. This time around both the Excalibur and the Encounter were destroyed, though not before the Encounter blew up one of the Klingon ships. This time around Jeremiah joined Sean , Steve and I in the melee, and it looks like he'll be building a fleet of his own. 

After the initial Federation vs. Klingon Empire skirmish, Sean and I each took command of a Romulan vessel to oppose Jeremiah and Steve's pair of Klingon intruders. For the first time we learned how the game's rules treat cloaking devices, and I put mine to good use, nearly destroying Jeremiah's ship. Unfortunately I blundered my opening move, leaving my ship too damaged to withstand Steve's vengeful retaliation. My ship went kaboom, leaving Sean to fend for himself. He very nearly managed to finish off Jeremiah's ship and even survived a withering assault from both Klingon crews. 

Thus far I've gone down to ignominious defeat four times in this game, but I'm learning something new each time. Maybe I'll survive a battle intact in our next encounter.

Platanium

This may be one of those "you had to be there" moments, but last night, as Sean and Jeremiah and I played Power Grid, Jeremiah's tongue slipped while he was trying to say "uranium." He wound up stuttering "plat - uh, uranium," to which Sean immediately responded, "Platanium, the most valuable element!"

I laughed.

Last Friday Night on Earth

 

Tonight Pitts the Elder and Woods the Elder faced Pitts the Younger and Woods the Younger in a rousing match of Last Night on Earth. The elder team controlled the zombies, while the younger waded into action as the heroes. It was a slaughter, with dozens of zombies brutally butchered by the time the sun rose. The four heroes escaped with four grateful survivors in tow, as Jeff and Earl shook their heads in defeat.