Tickle Me Tikal

Holy smokes! It's mine! It's finally mine!! ( ::Happy Snoopy Dance:: )

Thanks to the generosity of Scott Lewis, the game that has been on the top of my "To Get" list for years finally resides in my household. Of course I'll be sending a game to him as well (Shhh! It's a secret - not the fact that I'm sending him a game, just which one it is).

If I was a little puppy you'd have to put newspaper down - I'm so excited I could squirt! However, I shall endeavor to maintain some semblance of decorum. Between this and the other game trades this past month, plus the Dark Tower find, this is pretty close to a Golden Age of Gaming for me as ever.

The only blot on that picture, however, is the lack of a gaming group. Yes, I play most of my games with my family - which is quite enjoyable - but I'm thinking of (GASP!) being proactive and start putting up flyers around campus. (School this semester is going incredibly well by the way - helps being an old fart who loves what he is studying.)

Life is GOOD !

More Go...or Go More?

I've complained fairly recently in the past about being terrible at Go. That hasn't changed. I'm ranked at 29? Kyu on the KGS. That being as it is, why do I keep playing? What is it about Go that makes me play again. Certainly chess doesn't have that kind of pull on me - and neither does any other abstract game for that matter. In fact, I have a rather strong dislike for abstract games in general...but why not Go?

Log it in the "Mysteries of the Unexplained."

I've been slowly working through the Sensei Library beginner section http://senseis.xmp.net/?BeginnerStudySection and while some of it makes no sense to me, I think I have improved because of it. My absolute highlight was in the last ranked game I played on KGS, I invaded my opponents territory and consciously made a "live" shape that I had seen on the Sensei Library. Granted, had I been playing against a more experienced opponent, it probably never would have worked - it would have been too obvious - but for me it was an important victory for my morale (btw, I still lost that game by a huge margin).

All in all, it is strange that I should keep going with something at which I am really quite terrible. Perhaps I'm finally getting to the point of being "teachable".

Many Mini Minis and Me

Saturday morning I was taking some time for myself and wandered over the Hobbytown USA where they sell (hardly any - maybe 10 different titles) board games. As I was walking toward it I noticed that the hallway of the mall just outside the store had about 10-15 long tables with tons of awesome scenery and minitures lined up along the edge (apparently getting ready for battle) - but there was NOBODY sitting at the tables.

So I wandered into the store with the intention of asking what was going on. There was a small group of guys sitting in there talking - one of the employees caught sight of me and came over with a big grin. "How ya doing? Can I help you with anything?"

"Came in to look at board games."

Boom. Smile disappears. "Oh. Ok." And he walks away without another word. I guess I was no longer welcome - and I didn't even get a chance to ask about the tables...

I guess I found out where all the college kid gamers hang out. Maybe they thought I was going to be an old grognard with stories to swap. Sorry to disappoint. Don't get me wrong, I think miniture battles are really great looking, but I'm not going to get involved for a couple of reasons.

First, I'm a terrible painter. I just don't want to spend the time to get good at it. Too many other things on my plate. I think that is why Mage Knight originally appealed to me - I didn't have to paint the stupid things.

But then I found out reason #2 that I'm not going to get into minitures. I want hexes, I want grids, I want SOMETHING that shows me EXACTLY how far my units move. I don't want to deal with measuring. I'm too anal for that - I'd make it too fiddly for my own enjoyment.

That being said, I could WATCH a battle with painted minis and nice terrain for a long time. I do enjoy that...as long as I don't have to get all pent up about my units.

Too bad being a board gamer automatically makes me an outcast in this part of the gaming world...

Friday the 13th and I Win a Game of Go

Does it get any more scary than that?

Trade? Trading... Traded!

My very first entry of my journal I mentioned that I could no longer purchase any more games. While that has not changed one bit, I have managed to get more new games (well, at least new to me) in the past month than I have in any comparable amount of time (sure, a lot of them are card games - but it's not about "dollar value", it's about "fun volume"!). How was that possible?

Game Trading!

I love it! In the past month, I have gotten Hera & Zeus from Mike Frantz (chuckles2000), Cities and Knights of Catan from Caleb Diffell (cnd_77), Coloretto and 6 Nimmt! from Nate Sandall(Cavedog_pdx), and now a mystery game from Scott Lewis (gamegarage)!

Hera & Zeus - I have already played several time with my wife. We both enjoy it even though I've managed to lose EVERY time.

Cities & Knights - I loved Seafarers but I know this one is going to be very different. I'm excited to try it out.

Coloretto - Haven't played yet. Nice to have a lighter card game to pack around now.

6 Nimmt! - Played many games online. Looking forward to playing face-to-face.

As for the unknown game, I'm excited to see what it is. Has it been a good month or what? Lots to look forward to - so now I don't have to mock myself in my solo gaming sessions of Barbarian Prince!