Expo '17: The Haul - Part #8

Next up from this years expo haul is Creature College. A board game of battling monsters for 2-6 players; designed by Orhan Ertughrul, and published by Happy Otter Games.

Creature College is a game that in essence tries to capture elements of the very popular Pokemon franchise; and bring them together as a board game. Specifically the acquisition of battling of fantastical creatures.. Which could have been a nice little game had the designer stopped there.

Instead however you are bidding in auctions, rolling dice, collecting cards, gaining both positive and negative VP, and tracking resources.. In short, it's a real cacophony of mechanics; and even the beautiful illustrations of the creatures on the cards isn't going to save a game from that level of "noise".

At this point, I had thought that I would go through a turn step-by-step in order to illustrate my point; but it does occur to me that making a noise about the noise is just, well, noisy. So instead I found the below YouTube video.

Once you've given it a watch, I'd love to hear your thoughts; so please feel free to comment below.

Experimental Playground - Check It Out!

Experimental Playground is an awesome little blog that I have been following for years, and when I noticed a couple of weeks ago that I had somehow neglected to add it to my blog roll; I made myself a mental note to correct that oversight.

It has however been a mental couple of weeks! What with getting everything ready to start my new job, coupled with being seriously short-staffed in the role I was filling up until Friday past; I have been spread pretty thin. It's been exhausting to say the least and something had to give. So blogging unfortunately got put on the back-burner for the most part.

Don't get me wrong, I got a few posts up. Just nowhere near as many as I had expected to, and it also hasn't escaped my attention that I have fallen behind in a number of other blog related areas (10 x 10 Challenge, One Man And His Dice write ups, etc).

Things are calming down now though, and I am hoping that over the next few weeks I can get back on top of things and begin to clear this backlog.

I digress though. This post isn't about me or the many plates that I currently have spinning. It's about Experimental Playground; a great little blog that I wanted to share with you all and, that I highly recommend checking out.

What's so great about Experimental Playground?

Well, Experimental Playground has an excellent range of print and play games that are all free to download; the vast majority of which will require only a single piece of A4 card to print off their components, and look just fine in black & white.

The games are also really quick to assemble, typically taking only a few minutes to cut out all of the pieces you'll need to play. Couple this with learning the rules, and finding a couple of dice; and you'll often find that this means that you can be up and playing within the space of an hour of your download.

That's an impressive turnaround! Particularly when I compare that turnaround to the time it would take me to get into a typical game picked up from the store. With longer rulebooks, cards to sleeve or tokens to punch (sometimes both), it might take me days to get going.

Does this mean that these are lesser games in some way then? Not at all! They're just simpler, and more economical games than something you might typically pick up at the store. They have smaller footprints, require less components to play, and keep the rules short and sweet.

Basically, what we have here are mini games. A concept within gaming that has become very popular in the past couple of years, with notable titles such as Tiny Epic Galaxies, and Harbour by Scott Almes. So, if mini games are your thing, or you're a big box gamer just curious about them, then Experimental Playground could be just what you're looking for.

Last but certainly not least in the list of reasons why I like this blog, is that the bulk of their games are intended to be played solo. As a largely solitary gamer, this is a big plus; but as I see it, it really works for the group gamer too. The reason for this conclusion being that it makes their games far more accessible to any of you who are curious and decide to download a game or two to try.

That's the beauty of solitaire games. You don't have to wait for your gaming group to meet up or, for a friend to pop by to give them a go. They're just there. Ready to play when you are. So to combine that freedom with print and play games that are ready to go in next to no time, is a winning formula in my book.

If this post has piqued your interest at all (and lets face it, free games are generally worth a look to the avid gamer), the authors over at Experimental Playground have compiled a list of links to all of their games here for ease of use, including links to their roleplaying systems that you can also freely download.

A Nice Surprise

When I woke up today, I was a little disappointed with myself.

For a start it was the afternoon, and I had planned to be up no later than mid morning. That was on me for having an early night when I could do with an earlyish start; which I wanted so that I could have a game of no holds bared gaming. That was the plan, and I'd already cocked it up before the day had even begun.

It then became apparent I'd have to go out too else I'd be screwed for toiletries, when I had planned to spend the whole day in the house.. More time out of my planned gaming. Again, it was on me though. I wouldn't normally let supplies get so low; but with how crazy-busy things have been the past few weeks it completely slipped my attention.

I'm usually pretty good at planning my time, and there are few people I know who can match me in terms of organisation. So, hence the disappointment. I'm my own worst critic.

I'm also not one for letting the little things get to me. It needed to be done, so it was going to get done. There would still be plenty of time for gaming later after all, and as it had been a while since I did the rounds; I decided to pop into my local charity shops.

I've had some great success in them in the past, picking high ticket value boardgames such as The Last Night On Earth, Elder Sign, Ticket To Ride: Europe, The Key To The Kingdom, Lost Valley Of The Dinosaurs, Heroquest, and ZOMBIES!!! from them at greatly reduced prices. Always at a fair price mind, and often above their ticket price; as I'm not in the business of screwing over the needy.

Taking this more ethical approach also means that I have a good rapport with the staff, and they'll often hold stuff they think I may be interested in back. They also know that if I decide not to buy, I'll appraise it for them; so they can fetch a better price in their stores. It's a good working relationship, and I'm only more than happy to help.

Back to today however, and my nice surprise.

Doing my rounds, nothing was really standing out. There wasn't even a lot in the way of boardgames in a lot of the stores. It was nice to pop in and say hi; but there wasn't looking like much prospect of finding a diamond in the rough.. Then I spotted a box that looked rather familiar on the top shelf. It was a copy of Turbo.

Turbo is nothing special, but I have fancied picking up a copy ever since I saw Larry and Stuart running through it on YouTube. It was only a few quid, which seemed about right; and upon getting it home and checking it over, my copy doesn't seem in bad nick. There's only one piece missing, which is nothing critical to gameplay;  and the board itself is pristine.

Granted, it's not like I found the Zelda boardgame in a charity shop, but it is a nice little find; and I am perfectly happy with what I have received. I've wanted a copy for a few months, and now I have it!

10 x 10 Challenge #2: One Step Closer

It took a while, but I finally have a short list of the games that meet the criteria that I outlined in my last post..

100 Swords: The Blue Mammoth's Dungeon, 100 Swords: The Red Dragon's Dungeon, 12 Realms, 51st State: Complete Master Set, 8-Bit Inc., Addiction, Arctic Scavengers, Asgards Chosen, Backpacks And Blisters, Castle Dice, Castle Panic, Chrononauts, City Of Zombies, City Of Zombies: Times Square, Cosmic Run, Dark Dealings, Death Angel: The Card Game, Dice City, Dungeon Fighter, Dungeon Roll, Dungeon!, Dungeonquest, Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game, Dungeons & Dragons: Temple Of Elemental Evil Board Game, Dungeons & Dragons: The Legend Of Drizzt Board Game, Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath Of Ashardalon Board Game, Eight Epics, Elder Sign, ElfQuest Adventure Game, Emergency Earth!, Encounters: Bravest Warriors (Blue Set), Escape Of The Dead Minigame, Flash Duel: Revised Second Edition, Flash Point: Fire Rescue, Flip City, Friday, Galaxy Command, Gears Of War, Goblins Drool, Fairies Rule!, Harbour, Hit Z Road, Horde Of The Dead Version 2, Hostage Negotiator, If I'm Going Down…, Imperial Settlers, Into The Forest, Labyrinth, Legendary Encounters: An Alien Deck Building Game, Mr Game, Munchkin Panic, Muses, Ninja VS Robot, OGRE: Pocket Edition, Oh My Lair!, PAX, Planet Run, Pleasant Dreams, Port Royal, Progress: Evolution of Technology, Project Dreamscape, Race For The Galaxy, Random Encounter: Plain Of The Troll King, Red November, Run, Fight, Or Die!, Runebound, Sentinels Of The Multiverse, Shadow Of The Elder Gods, Shadows Over Camelot: The Card Game, Side Quest, Small Soldiers: Big Battle Game, Stak Bots, Stand & Deliver, Stowaway 52, Suburbia, Super Fantasy: Night Of The Badly Dead, Super Fantasy: Ugly Snouts Assault, Take It Easy!, The Eye Of The Idol, The Isle Of Doctor Necreaux, The Manhattan Project: Chain Reaction, Thunderstone, Tiny Epic Defenders, Tiny Epic Galaxies, Tiny Epic Kingdoms, Tiny Epic Western, Upon A Fable, Warhammer Quest: The Adventure Card Game, Xenoshyft: Onslaught, Zombies Keep Out

I say short. It's still 89 games long, which is still way larger than I want or need it to be for the 10 x 10 Challenge. But it's a start I guess, and represents some good headway. Now I just need to make my actual selections.

Already I can see a few gems that'll definitely make the cut, and I'm getting more and more excited with every passing post.

Who knew that admin could be this much fun!?

10 x 10 Challenge #1: Where To Start?

I'm all fired up and ready to go.. But where to start?

How do you pick ONLY 10 games, when you own this little lot..

10 Days In The Americas, 100 Swords: The Blue Mammoth's Dungeon, 100 Swords: The Red Dragon's Dungeon, 12 Realms, 51st State, 51st State: Complete Master Set, 8-Bit Inc., A.D.A.P.T, Abduction, Addiction, Afrikan Tähti, Age of Mythology: The Boardgame, Air Charter, Archer: Once You Go Blackmail, Arctic Scavengers, Are You A Werewolf?, Asgards Chosen, AT-43: Operation Damocles, Backpacks And Blisters, Batman Begins: Shadow Assault, Batman Fluxx, Battle Knights, Battleship, Battleship, Beowulf: The Movie Board Game, Black Box, Blood Bowl, BoardGameGeek: The Card Game, Boss Monster 2: The Next Level, Boss Monster: The Dungeon Building Card Game, Bottlecap Vikings, By Jove, Campaign, Card Of The Dead, Castle Dice, Castle Panic, Chez Dork, Chez Geek, Chez Goth, Chrononauts, Chupacabra: Survive The Night, City Of Zombies, Claustrophobia, Cluedo Card Game, Convoluted, Cosmic Run, Cthulhu Dice, Cthulhu Fluxx, Dark Dealings, Dark Tales, Dead Panic, Death Angel: The Card Game, Descent: Journeys In The Dark, Dice City, Dig Mars, Dino Hunt Dice, DOOM The Board Game, DOOM The Board Game Expansion, Dracula, Dragon Strike, Dragon's Gold, Dungeon Fighter, Dungeon Roll, Dungeon Saga: Dwarf King's Quest, Dungeon Twister: The Card Game, Dungeon!, Dungeoneer: Tomb Of The Lich Lord, Dungeonquest, Dungeons & Dragons: Castle Ravenloft Board Game, Dungeons & Dragons: Temple Of Elemental Evil Board Game, Dungeons & Dragons: The Fantasy Adventure Board Game, Dungeons & Dragons: The Legend Of Drizzt Board Game, Dungeons & Dragons: Wrath Of Ashardalon Board Game, Dungeons Of Demus, Eco Fluxx, Eight Epics, Elder Sign, ElfQuest Adventure Game, Emergency Earth!, Encounters: Bravest Warriors (Blue Set), Ergo, Escape Of The Dead Minigame, Exploding Kittens: NSFW Deck, Expolding Kittens, Flash Duel: Revised Second Edition, Flash Point: Fire Rescue, Flip City, Fluxx, Focus, Forbidden Desert, Fortress America, FRAG, FRAG: PVP, Friday, Galactic Strike Force, Galaxy Command, Gears Of War, Geek Wars: Battle For The Con Deck #1 - RPG Gamer, Goblins Drool, Fairies Rule!, Harbour, Have At Thee!, Hedgehogs Revenge, HEDZ, Heroes Of The Maze, Heroica: Draida, Heroica: Fortaan, Heroica: Nathuz, Heroica: Waldurk, Heroquest, Hit Z Road, Hive Pocket, Horde Of The Dead Version 2, Hostage Negotiator, Hotel Tycoon, If I'm Going Down…, Illuminati, Impact, Imperial Settlers, Imperial Settlers: 3 Is The Magic Number, Inn-Fighting, Into The Forest, Journey To The Center Of The Earth, Jurassic Wars, Kamisado Max, Kan-U-Go, Killer Bunnies And The Quest For The Magic Carrot, Kittens In A Blender, Labyrinth, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Angel Of Darkness, Last Night On Earth: The Zombie Game, Legendary Encounters: An Alien Deck Building Game, LEGO: Create-It, Let's Do Lunch!, Logan Stones, Lord Of The Rings, Lost Cities, Lost Legacy: Flying Garden, Lost Legacy: Fourth Chronicle - The Werewolf & Undying Heart, Lost Legacy: Second Chronicle - Vorpal Sword & Whitegold Spire, Lost Legacy: The Starship, Lost Legacy: Third Chronicle - Sacred Grail & Staff Of Dragons, Lost Valley Of The Dinosaurs Game, Machi Koro, Mag Blast: Third Edition, Mars Attacks: Dice Game, Martian Fluxx, Match And Move, Mijnlieff, Minotaurus, Monopoly, Monopoly Deal Card Game, Monopoly Junior, Monopoly Junior (Shuffle Game), Monopoly: Star Trek The Next Generation, Monster Fluxx, Moop's Monster Mashup, Mr Game, Munchkin, Munchkin Apocalypse, Munchkin Axe Cop, Munchkin Bites!, Munchkin Cthulhu, Munchkin Deluxe, Munchkin Fu, Munchkin Gloom, Munchkin Legends, Munchkin Loot Letter, Munchkin Oz, Munchkin Panic, Munchkin Pathfinder, Munchkin Quest, Munchkin Steampunk Deluxe, Munchkin Treasure Hunt, Munchkin Zombies, Munchkin: Christmas Lite, Munchkin: Conan The Barbarian, Muses, Narnia: Risk Junior, Neopets: Adventures In Neopia, Nerf, Nexus, Ninja VS Robot, Nuclear War, Numerix, NUTS!, Office Scandal, OGRE: Pocket Edition, Oh My Lair!, Operation: Aliens, Oz Fluxx, PAX, Pirate Fluxx, Pirate Versus Pirate, Planet Run, Pleasant Dreams, Port Royal, Port Royal: Unterwegs!, Portable Adventures: 8th Grade, Portable Adventures: Lair Of The Rat-King, Progress: Evolution of Technology, Project Dreamscape, Project Pandora: Grim Cargo, Province, Quantum, Queen Bee, Race 3000, Race For The Galaxy, Random Encounter: Plain Of The Troll King, Rattle Snake, Red November, Risk, Risk: Lord Of The Rings, Romans, Rumble In The Dungeon, Rumble In The House, Run, Fight, Or Die!, Runebound, Scorpion, Sentinel Tactics: The Flame Of Freedom, Sentinels Of The Multiverse, Shadow Of The Elder Gods, Shadows Over Camelot: The Card Game, Shave A Sheep, Side Quest, Small Soldiers: Big Battle Game, Smash Up, Space Crusade, Space Hulk, Stak Bots, Stand & Deliver, Star Fluxx, Star Munchkin, Star Munchkin Deluxe, Star Trek: The Final Frontier, Star Wars: Battle Of Hoth, Star Wars: Death Star Attack, Stargate SG-1, Stowaway 52, Suburbia, Super 3, Super Fantasy: Night Of The Badly Dead, Super Fantasy: Ugly Snouts Assault, Super Munchkin, Table Soccer, Table Tantrums, Take It Easy!, Teenage Mutant Turtles Game, Temple Run: Danger Chase, The Chronicles Of Narnia, The Eye Of The Idol, The Haunting House, The Hen Commandments, The Hunger Games: District 12 Strategy Game, The Isle Of Doctor Necreaux, The Key To The Kingdom, The Manhattan Project: Chain Reaction, The Order Of The Stick Adventure Game: The Dungeon of Dorukan, The Power Game, The Settlers Of Catan, The Simpsons: Slam Dunk, The Warlock Of Firetop Mountain, Thunderstone, Ticket To Ride: Europe, Tiny Epic Defenders, Tiny Epic Galaxies, Tiny Epic Kingdoms, Tiny Epic Kingdoms: Heroes Call, Tiny Epic Western, Top Trumps: Buffy, Top Trumps: Dinosaurs, Top Trumps: Guide To Gogos Crazy Bones, Top Trumps: Lord Of The Rings, Top Trumps: Lord Of The Rings - The Two Towers, Top Trumps: Marvel Max, Top Trumps: Nerf, Top Trumps: Star Trek, Top Trumps: The Simpsons Game, Transformers, Treasures And Trapdoors, Ulcers, Upon A Fable, Vampire, Warhammer Quest: The Adventure Card Game, Warlock, Wildlife Rescue, World Of Tanks: Rush, WWI Battle Card Game, Xenoshyft: Onslaught, Yvette Fielding's Ghosts, Zombie Dice, Zombie Fluxx, Zombies Keep Out, ZOMBIES!!!, ZombieTown

The answer. Not easily.

So, I think the best course of action is to probably set myself some criteria. What is going to make my 10 x 10 Challenge unique to me?

Well one thing that strikes me is that whilst this challenge isn't difficult, it is a commitment. So I probably want to take as much control over this as I possibly can. If I'm committing myself to this, it is with the intention of completing the challenge.

To this ends I'm only going to pick games that can be or, where only intended to be played solo. That should narrow the list down some. I'll also endeavor for at least half of the titles to be games which I've bought and am yet to play; as taking a dent out my offerings to The Cult of the New was a big part of why I wanted to take up this challenge. Not to mention it's kind of sad to think of games not being played. It is all their raison d'être.

Time to do some sorting, and some thinking.

I may be some time.

Hello World... It's Been A While

Years in fact!

Writing is a fickle muse though. Whether it's a blog , a novel, or even a journal; very few people write consistently. There are breaks and blocks, and it's all par for the course. Even when the fire burns dim however, the spark is never lost; and a writer is always a writer. They just need inspiration.

Mine came from a random Google search. In truth, I can't even remember what I was Googling, but what I found was to set in motion a chain of events that would lead me here. Now.

I found.. The 10 by 10 challenge (I bet you thought it was Jesus with the melodrama I cooked up there).

Whilst I can't find the original blog, or the original post that inspired me (if you know where I can find it, I'd love to give credit); I do remember the gist. It was a discussion around what the author described as "The Cult of the New", which I also consider myself a fully paid up member of, and how they were going to use the challenge to tackle the mountain of games that they'd bought but were yet to play.

I also remember thinking that this would make for some pretty solid blogging content.

When I made the discovery however, it was September 2016, which left little in the way of time to pick up the gauntlet. It did however give me plenty of time to plan ahead for 2017.. And here we are!

It was also only the beginning!

Since I last blogged anything in 2013, a lot has changed. I've learned new things, my lifestyle has changed, and so has my outlook on life. So, I've decided to give this blog a wider scope than my previous efforts. Instead of just talking about Tunnels & Trolls, and the occasional boardgame; I'll be taking the opportunity to share the things I've learned, and to my share my life with you all.

So in addition to the Tunnels & Trolls content (because it wouldn't be me without it), I'll also be blogging about..

• My Life - People say "write about what you know", so inversely maybe through writing I'll get to know myself better.. Plus you wouldn't believe some of the weird and wonderful things that happen around me day to day.

• The 10 x 10 Challenge - I'm really looking forward to this, as I have a LOT of games that I'm just itching to break out.

•  Better Living - Diet, lifestyle, and anything else that falls into the remit of making life, well better!

• Techy Stuff - I've learned a lot about technical stuff in the past couple of years. Some on the job, some at my leisure; but all of it useful. So, it'll be good to pay some of that forward. For those of you wondering if it'll be for you though, the general areas covered will be Gamemaker and Doom modding (the original game, not the 2016 reboot).

• Movies and TV - I did a stock take the other day, and found that I had 265 unwatched DVD's.. So I'm sure I'll be writing about those too.

• Random Stuff - Never limit yourself! So expect the unexpected, and the unknown unknowns.

Well, I'm sure you'll agree that's more than enough to be getting on with, and I still have a few tweaks I need to make to the blog before the day is through. Stay tuned, and if any of this sounds like your cup of tea why not follow this blog? (or bookmark it if you're not a blogger yourself). I hope to see you in the future.