Darlene and I joined Bill, Stan and Jon for our yearly ski vacation week, this time in Tahoe in early March. We hit up Northstar and Palisades Tahoe during the week, with lots of board gaming in between of course. On Saturday, Stan and Jon joined us at Homewood with Troy and Aiden to enjoy a bit of new snow.
And a little VR demo-ing:
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We got our gaming group together in Tahoe in early February for a few days of skiing and board gaming. Geof and Nacho joined me on the slopes at Tahoe Palisades while Jennifer, Adriana, Laurie and Richard checked out the lake and old town Truckee – and Laurie got in an afternoon at Northstar.
We had exploding potions in Quacks of Quedlinburg, color confusion in Hues and Cues, pushed our luck in Diamant, placed our bets in Wits & Wagers, rolled for the top in Mountain Goats, intercepted secret codes in Decrypto, managed our tricks in both The Crew and Instinct, swam with sharks in Survive: Escape from Atlantis!, built up a map of cities and roads in Carcassonne, dodged avalanches in Slide 5, and laid out our “stained glass” dice windows in Sagrada.
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Starting with the wonderfully imposing monolith from Return to Dark Tower:
…and continuing with clan conflict in Inis, a jungle race in The Quest for El Dorado, city planning in Suburbia, back-stabbing cooperation in Cutthroat Caverns, murderous philosophy in Trial by Trolley, breeding pea plants in Genotype, holding back the inevitable dike failure in Lowlands, interstellar warfare in Cosmic Encounter, rail building in Iberian Gauge and feeding your friends to sharks and sea monsters in Survive: Escape from Atlantis!
More gaming in early February at the Tahoe house: Gamers Gone Skiing.
March update: Surviving an alien infestation in Nemesis, wheeling and dealing in Chinatown real estate, running around an Istanbul market, building power plants in Power Grid, working the financial markets in Speculation, evolving your sea creatures in Oceans, getting your pirates out in Cartagena, reaching the dramatic end to our months-long campaign in the The King’s Dilemma, arranging a group photo in Picture Perfect, betting and cheating on horses in Long Shot: The Dice Game, surviving in the paleolithic in Paleo, fighting foes in Return to Dark Tower, pulling off a difficult heist in Burgle Bros and racing crazed camels in Camel Up.
Also lots of game sessions without pictures: horse racing bets and cheats in Long Shot: The Dice Game, maneuvering a Parade of Alice in Wonderland characters, deducing the murderer and motive in Deception: Murder in Hong Kong, serving up beer in Taverns of Tiefenthal, shooting it out with Finger Guns at High Noon, more clan conflict in Inis, and a bunch of sessions with The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine and The Crew: Mission Deep Sea.
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More pictures from our gaming sessions, including in costume for Halloween and for our ongoing King’s Dilemma council meetings:
Some of the many titles we’ve played recently: Cascadia, Burgle Bros (1 and 2), Chinatown, Pan Am, Cosmic Encounter, The Bloody Inn, Wiz-War, Mountain Goats, Plague Inc., The Search for Planet X, Maglev Metro, Near and Far, Gùgōng, Decyrpto, King’s Dilemma, Pandemic Legacy: Season 0, Bargain Quest, Nemesis, Obsession, Inis, Deception: Murder in Hong Kong, Barrage, Evolution: Climate and Flamme Rouge.
Update (11/29/2021): Added pictures from some more gaming sessions in November: Villainous, Unicorn Fever and Chinatown. I forgot to take pictures during our very long but surprisingly truly funny game of Forgotten Waters. D’oh!
Update (12/17/2021): Clay joined us in December on a visit: Die of the Dead, Power Grid, Flamme Rouge and Settlers of Catan — it was Darlene and Adriana’s first time to play Catan! We also got together later in the month at Nacho’s for Bargain Quest and For-Ex.
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In early August, I met up with Darlene on her way back from Wisconsin and we spent a few days hanging out (and playing games) with Dave and Martha at their home in Conifer, Colorado. We then headed out in the camper van to wander around exploring a bit of Colorado for most of a month. On our return, Darlene kidnapped Martha and brought her back to California to stay with us for a few days.
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I decided to try a relatively quick and simple wash painting of the miniatures from my Nemesis board game, focusing on giving the creatures (or “intruders”) a nice scary look. They came out great!
It took just a few steps but still most of a day. I coated the originally gray plastic figures with a black spray-on primer (Rust-oleum Flat Black) and then, after that dried, I sprayed white primer from above (Rust-oleum Flat White) to create a sort of highlight/shadow effect over which to apply a wash. (A wash is a very diluted mix of paint that you brush all over a figure – it tends to collect on edges and pool in crevices bringing out detail and definition, depending on how you brush it.)
I used three color washes from this Citadel Shade Paint Set. The primary shade was blue (Drakenhof Nightshade) and then I blended a bit of red and green washes here and there (Carroburg Crimson and Biel-tan Green) to give it a more interesting look. I did a little bit of detail painting in the fleshy parts around the creatures’ open mouths and then painted in the floors and bits of equipment on some of the stands. To keep the project short and simple, I just applied several coats of different solid color washes to each hero character corresponding to the player colors rather than painting all the little details realistically.
Last step was a spray-on, matte clear coat (Krylon Matte Finish) to protect the painted figures from handling while playing the game.
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With everyone fully vaccinated, starting in mid-June we were able to get together for in-person board gaming again – and so much more fun than the entirely virtual meetups during the past year.
Some of the titles we’ve been playing recently: The Crew, Now Boarding, Near and Far, Burgle Bros., Sagrada, Azul, Nidavellir, Viticulture and Viticulture: Tuscany, Mechs vs. Minions, Covert, Cartographers, Acquire, Cloudage, Captain Sonar, Railroad Ink, Pret-a-Porter, Bang!, Smartphone Inc., Crazy Karts, Kanban EV, Sidereal Confluence, Between Two Castles, Vindication and Brass: Birmingham.
Update: We got together again on the last day of the month for Shikoku, Steampunk Rally, Cosmic Encounter, Feierabend, Betrayal at House on the Hill, Master Word and Villagers.
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Despite the upheaval that is 2020, the gaming continues with Near and Far, Elfenland/Elfenroads, Ecos: The First Continent, Cryptid, Galaxy Trucker, Streetcar, Memoir’44, Covert, Now Boarding, Great Western Trail, and a few Clank! expansions: Sunken Treasures, Temple of the Ape Lords, and The Mummy’s Curse. Then there’s our new favorite trick-taking game, The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine.
We also played a number of titles from the Exit: The Game series, but I don’t recommend them – they’re often a rather mixed bag and sometimes annoying in their puzzle designs.
