Hello good people. It’s time to blather, or rather, let us all gather and I’ll get in a lather about something or…ather…yeah this is where the whole thing falls apart folks.
I am in a SOMEWHAT less blah mood this week. There is still a general feeling of blahness, but it’s not as strong of a blah as last week so that’s progress.
For one thing, I finished Stuffed Fables yesterday. It is such a wonderful family storybook game. Plaid Hat Games knocked it out of the park as far as I’m concerned. The story is geared towards a younger crowd, but I definitely appreciated it. And the game was surprisingly challenging. We had to settle for the “lesser” ending in most of the chapters and there’s even an episode that we outright failed and had to start over. Then in the final chapter, things REALLY went our way. We unwittingly played the scenario harder than we should have and still were able to get through relatively unscathed, But the one time we really would have liked for the little girl to wake up, she didn’t. And so we got the bittersweet ending. I didn’t read the other ending, but it’s pretty easy to figure out what happens in it.
We played the game at Les Dés Truqués and I was told by the store owner and his girlfriend that it’s fun to listen to me read the story which was a nice thing to hear. I really got into it, using different voices and everything. I especially liked reading Lumpy’s lines. At times I got a little self-conscious as other people came in to play other games and I toned it down a touch, or at least dialed my volume down.
After finishing Stuffed Fables, I was able to give Legendary Encounters: Firefly and Dale of Merchants a try. I give both a thumbs up. I’m leaning towards backing the new Dale of Merchants expansion on Kickstarter. It’s a clean and simple deckbuilder with cute animals. Yup. My style of game all the way. My biggest gripe with Legendary Encounters: Firefly is the same problem that I have with the Legendary system as a whole. The set-up is a bear when compared to the actual gameplay, which is simple yet solid. It offers a good challenge which is what you want in a cooperative game.
David also introduced me to Dinosaur Island which is really fantastic with its garish 90s colours. It’s not a game that I was attracted to in the slightest when I saw it online. Having played it though, I enjoyed it. I felt it presented interesting choices, few, if none of which felt really substandard. There was also very little down time, which was a big plus. The component quality is excellent as well.
I started the X-Men flashback set last week. I got really into it too. I worked on three pieces. One is complete, the second I have to add shading to and the third one is yet to be coloured. I’m thinking it’s a good revisit so far.
This Sunday will mark seven years of working on Age of Animus. I’ll talk more on this in next week’s blog.
Speaking of next week’s blog, have a good seven and we’ll do this all again then. I’m out!