Jellyfish

This afternoon I took Deb and the girls to Suttons Beach at Redcliffe for a walk along the sand and a paddle in water. It was low-tide and one of the things I noticed was several types of stranded jellyfish.  The one in the image below appears to be a Blue Blubber Jellyfish (Catostylus mosaicus).  The sting can be painful but generally poses no risk to humans.

Australia has many species of jellyfish which can affect humans. The Australian Box Jellyfish is the only proven lethal species but there are many others which can give you bad stings.

In the images below is another type I found.  I have no idea what it is.  I decided to pick it up, wash the sand off it, and take some 'arty' photos. Enjoy.

Roman Battle Tactics

A parcel arrived for me today. Don't you love it when a parcel arrives addressed to you? It's like a little mini-Xmas or birthday. On opening the well-wrapped package I found that it contained the last of the twelve Osprey books I'd recently won in a competition run by Osprey Publishing through their blog. By the way, if you're interested in military history then you should definitely check out their blog and main website.

A legionary century charging

This was one that I had been eagerly waiting for - Roman Battle Tactics 109BC-AD313. Not only do I enjoy playing war games (both miniature and board) set in ancient times, I also enjoy reading about the history.

This book examines and illustrates the tactics employed by the legions of late Republican and early Imperial Rome, from the evidence of ancient writers.

Some good reading ahead for me.

Gaming With Grandma - 78

Another Saturday morning gaming session with my mother (AKA Grandma) and my elder daughter, 7 year-old Maddie.

Maddie was playing with her little sister Georgia, so it was just myself and Grandma for the first game. Grandma suggested Scrabble. I checked my stats and found that it had been just over a year since I last played this great game.

Turn 1 [Mum] KEN 14, [Me] GI(N) 8
Turn 2 [Mum] (K)EN 7, [Me] VA(N) 14
Turn 3 [Mum] H(E)/H(I) 18, [Me] DI(VAN) 9
Turn 4 [Mum] D(I)P 12, [Me] REARS/(DIP)S 19
Turn 5 [Mum] B(R)OOd 18, [Me] D(A)VIT 18
Turn 6 [Mum] (G)AG 5, [Me] HAIR/H(A)/A(G) 27
Turn 7 [Mum] (GIN)NY 17, [Me] G(AG)E 12
Turn 8 [Mum] SULLY/(HAIR)S 32, [Me] (T)OOLER 21
Turn 9 [Mum] FA(Y) 13, [Me] (A)WE 14
Turn 10 [Mum] NOT(E) 8, [Me] J(O)IST 24
Turn 11 [Mum] Swapped 5 tiles, [Me] OW(L) 14
Turn 12 [Mum] PU(T) 11, [Me] (JOIST)s/sAIL 21
Turn 13 [Mum] (S)AME 12, [Me] (O)X 17
Turn 14 [Mum] COI(R) 12, [Me] (GAGE)R 8
Turn 15 [Mum] M(E)/M(AN) 15, [Me] RO(V)E/(D)O(ME)/(P)E(N) 19
Turn 16 [Mum] DI(E)/(B)I(D) 14, [Me] Z(E)A(L) 23
Turn 17 [Mum] F(O)B 16, [Me] CU(P) 7
Turn 18 [Mum] (J)A(W)/(F)A(T) 19, [Me] E(L) 2
Turn 19 [Mum] TIN(T)S/T(rove) 15, [Me] QUEE(N) 28
Turn 20 [Mum] (I)T/T(O) 4

Grandma ended the game by playing her last tile. I was left with an E for minus 1 point from my score.

Final scores were me 304 for the win and Grandma 262.


By this time Georgia had gone down for a nap so Maddie joined us for our second game of the morning. I chose The Settlers of Catan.

Now this is a game I purchased over three years ago but had been waiting for an opportune time to play. One of the reasons we had not played before was because I'd been waiting for Maddie to be of an age where she was a competent reader. I was also waiting for a time when she was mature enough to play a game of this relative complexity and length. Now was the time.

Maddie was red, Grandma orange and I was blue

I'd only played The Settlers of Catan once before, but that was over two years ago on 12 June 2006 and I didn't really have a good idea of the rules and strategies at the time. My first game had been with the Catan 3D Collector's Edition owned by Friendless so I was hoping it wouldn't spoil my appreciation of the stock components in the standard game.

We used the standard layout for our first game. Although the red pieces should not be used with three players, as Maddie wanted to play red I just swapped red pieces for the white player's starting position. The pieces are wood and the cards and hex tiles are all very nice.

I can now see why Settlers ranks so highly. It didn't take Maddie and Grandma long to pick up the rules and very soon we were all having a really good time. Although some may see the element of luck in the dice rolling as a negative, I found that the luck evens out and it certainly does create excitement as we waited to see who got what resources each turn.

We played with the resources and development cards open-handed for this first learning game. Next time we'll play with closed hands which will add to the fun. Grandma took an early lead with her ability to get grain/wheat which helped her a lot. Maddie built and kept the longest road and also was good at building settlements. There wasn't that much trading in the early stages of the game but there was some in the mid-to-later game. Grandma and Maddie mostly targeted me with the robber while I targeted Grandma when I could because I felt she was always in the winning position.

And guess what? It was Maddie who actually won! Final scores were Maddie 10, Grandma 7 and myself 5. Naturally Maddie was very excited at winning her first game of Settlers of Catan. Both Grandma and Maddie enjoyed it so much that they both requested we play it again the next time we game together.

Thermopylae 480 BC

I arrived home from work this afternoon to find a parcel waiting for me on my doorstep. On opening the parcel I found that it contained one of the twelve Osprey books I'd recently won in a competition run by Osprey Publishing through their blog. If you're interested in military history then I recommend checking out the blog.

I'd already received ten of the twelve books and was waiting for two which were temporarily out of stock, this book, Thermopylae 480 BC, and also Roman Battle Tactics 109BC-AD313.

Last stand of the 300

I now have some more enjoyable reading for my train journeys to and from work.

Gaming With Grandma - 77

Saturday morning usually means gaming with my mother (AKA Grandma) and my elder daughter, Maddie, who is seven years old. During these gaming sessions my wife is at work and my younger two year old daughter Georgia is usually watching a DVD (Dora the Explorer is her favourite at the moment).

Our first game of the morning was For Sale which was Maddie's choice. This is a great little auction game that is fun and plays fast. Maddie is usually quite good at this game and today was no different with her taking the win. Final scores were Maddie $76K, Grandma $65K and myself $62K.

It's fun to bid on properties!

Our second game was also Maddie's choice - Coda. We all enjoy this quick little deduction game. I took a couple of hits early on in the game but managed to come back and guess all of Grandma's tiles in one turn (she was winning at that stage). I then moved on to Maddie on my same turn and knocked down all her tiles but one. To win the game I had a 50% chance of guessing the correct tile. I guessed wrong and Maddie went on to win on her turn.

A brilliant little game of deduction!

Maddie decided to quit while she was ahead and went out onto the back deck to play with her younger sister.

I then pulled out Lost Cities from the game cabinet in our dining room. I hadn't played this game in over a year (last time was 28 July 2007) so it was about time it hit the table again. I always enjoy the agonising decisions one has to make in this game. We played three rounds. The first round was Grandma 2, me 148. Second round was Grandma 34, me 60. Third round was Grandma 3, me 58. Final scores were Grandma 39 and me taking the win with 305 points.

Looks like I'll be doing some deep sea exploration...

After that, Grandma and I joined Maddie and Georgia on the back deck for some fun of blowing bubbles.

Two year old Georgia blowing bubbles

Red-rumped Parrot

I spotted a beautiful parrot on the back fence at my Dad's home at Caboolture. I've never seen one of these before but one of Dad's neighbours informed me it was a Red-rumped Parrot.

A male Red-rumped Parrot

Red-rumped Parrots are medium-sized, slender parrots. The adult male is bright green, with a blue-green head, a red rump, and yellow shoulders and belly. The female is a duller, olive-green, with a green rump and faint yellow or light green scales on the belly.

Unfortunately, in the photo I took above, you can't see the small flash of red feathers that gives the parrot it's rather odd name. For such a gorgeous bird it does have a pretty lame name. Then again, I guess Red-rumped Parrot is much better than being called the Cherry-assed Parrot, Scarlet-butted Parrot or the Ruby-bummed Parrot.

The Planting Has Begun

I'm stuffed. Spent most of the day pulling weeds, digging holes and planting plants in the back yard. You see, we had our pool built four years ago and it's only today that I finally started the landscaping.

A job well done, if I do say so myself

Deb picked up a great selection of plants and palms for well under half-price at a local market two weeks ago. I've now planted half of them. I plan to plant the rest next weekend.

Did I mention I'm exhausted? I have blisters on both hands and pain (though a good pain) throughout the muscles of my arms, shoulders, back and legs. I'll definitely sleep well tonight...

Fish & Chips by the Ocean

This afternoon we attended my father's 70th birthday celebrations at his home at Caboolture.

On the way back home we decided to take a detour and stop for an early dinner of fish & chips at a park near the entrance to Newport Marina at Scarborough on the Redcliffe Peninsula.

Deb dropped myself, Maddie and Georgia at the park while she drove to Morgans Seafood. I'd brought the kite with us so while I was getting that ready, Maddie and Georgia were running around on the grass. There was a brisk sea breeze blowing so it was easy to get the kite up and keep it aloft.

Sunset at Scarborough

When Deb arrived back the sun was setting so we laid out some blankets and sat down to our dinner. Mmm...fish & chips by the ocean.

Georgia and I eating fish & chips

GenCon Oz Part 8

This is Part 8 of my day at GenCon Oz on Sunday 6 July 2008. Here are links to Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6 and Part 7.

After wandering around the collectable miniatures and cards area, I strolled past the roleplaying games area. Roleplaying games (RPGs) were my main gaming interest from my early teens to my early twenties. I've played many RPGs over the years including Dungeons & Dragons (Basic, 1st and 2nd editions), Gamma World, Top Secret, Boot Hill, Shadowrun, Star Wars, Traveller and Star Frontiers. If GenCon Oz had been held twenty years ago then it would have been in the RPG area that you would have found me.

Part of the RPG area

Most gaming conventions I've attended have been either at schools or universities and roleplaying sessions were usually held in closed rooms. I was initially unsure at how distracting it would be for players sitting at tables in an open area. However, the GenCon convention hall had a very high ceiling and the background noise wasn't that bad at all. I didn't get a chance to chat to any of the RPGers to see how they found it, though the majority of them seemed to be having a great time.

These people look like they're having fun

Viewing the roleplaying area brought back fond memories of my early gaming days with my friends at high school. We used to play D&D after school almost every day. I lost touch with a lot of school friends and in my late teens my interests turned to other social activities. In my early twenties I got back into roleplaying through a friend at work. We had a group of five of us who were of similar ages and interests and we met regularly every couple of weeks at one of our houses. We'd usually start playing around 10.00 am on a Saturday, stop for a BBQ lunch, continue playing, maybe order pizzas for dinner, continue playing, and finish up around 2.00 am on the Sunday. Those were the days.

I remember one night of particularly exciting gaming while we were taking a break to have a couple of beers and play a few hands of Hearts. I made the comment, "Guys, remember this night, savour it and enjoy it because in a few years we'll probably be married with children and won't be able to do this sort of thing any more." A few of us had girlfriends at that time and there were some knowing nods. For me it was a poignant moment. I was a couple of years older than them and realised that this time of mateship and little responsibility would eventually come to an end.

And so it did. They've all married or moved interstate. Some have little kids like myself. We've transitioned into a new phase of life where all day and all night gaming is a rare thing which must be planned months in advance, if it happens at all.

Anyway, enough of my reminiscing! Back to my day at GenCon Oz. I had noticed that Wizards of the Coast had a couple of demo tables set up to show off the recently released Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition. As it was nearing the closing time of the last day of the convention I eagerly made my may over to that area to see if I could join in.

I'll cover that in part 9.

Father's Day

It was Father's Day on Sunday. We decided to drive out to Scarborough on the Redcliffe peninsula for lunch in the park. I spent my childhood and teens living at Redcliffe so I'm very familiar with the location. Of interest is that Redcliffe holds the distinction of being the first European settlement in the state of Queensland.

Our first stop was the Scarborough boat harbour where we met my father and step-mother (Poppy and Nanny to our kids). We found a nice spot under a tree in the park just opposite Morgan's Seafood to set out some picnic blankets.

Maddie and Georgia playing in the park

And it was to Morgans that we went for a lovely take away lunch of fish and chips and a kilo of prawns. I had a particularly scrumptious piece of barramundi with my chips.

Georgia in the park

After lunch we drove a short distance to another park on the foreshore of Moreton Bay. We'd brought a kite with us as I'd wanted to show Maddie how to fly it.

This area was very popular for recreational water activities.

A couple on their surf skis




A small yacht




A quartet of jet skis

In the distance, across the bay, we could see the famous Glasshouse Mountains. These mountains are actually the hardened lava cores of ancient volcanoes and were formed 26-27 million years ago. Of interest is that the famed Australia Zoo of the extinct Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin is located nearby.

The Glasshouse Mountains in the distance




A closer view of the Glasshouse mountains

There was a nice sea breeze blowing and it was easy to get the kite up into the air. I haven't flown a kite for many, many years and I'd forgotten what a joy it was. I handed over the controls to Maddie and she had no trouble keeping it aloft.

Maddie flying the kite

Poppy and Maddie watching the kite

It was such a simple pleasure being outside on a beautiful afternoon, with the sea air and flying a kite. I got such a kick out of it that I've promised the girls I'll take them down to our local park to do some more kite flying next weekend if the weather is fine.

What a great day.

Our kite soaring majestically in the breeze

RIP Goldy

Our pet goldfish, Goldy, died today. Goldy had been a part of our family for about four or five years. Both girls have fed Goldy many times over the years. I have fond memories of holding little giggling Georgia over the small aquarium tank as Goldy 'blew kisses' at her.

I asked Maddie how she felt. At seven years old she obviously recognised the significance of the event.
"This is the first pet I've seen dead," she said quietly.

I wondered how two and a half year old Georgia was taking the news.
"Goldy died," I said to her in a sad voice.
"Goldy dead," Georgia smiled back at me.

RIP Goldy

Gaming With Grandma - 76

Last night my daughters Maddie (7) and Georgia (2.5) helped me put together the map board for the 'Fall of the Dumutef Bridge' scenario from the Road to the Forgotten Forest HeroScape expansion set. This was a fun little family activity because both of them wanted to be involved in creating the battlefield that we were preparing for Grandma's visit the following morning. I'd first give one terrain piece to Maddie and tell her where to put it and then I'd give another piece to Georgie and show her where to put it. They then took it in turns placing the terrain until the battlefield was completed.

I was holding the left bank and the bridge. Grandma and Maddie were on the right bank and had to take the bridge to win.

This morning we got to play on it. In this particular scenario, Maddie and Grandma each had 350 point armies and were allied. Their goal was to try and take the bridge before the end of round 10. I also had a 350 point army. I had to hold the bridge. This was a particularly good scenario as it had a piece of terrain as an objective and wasn't just another 'kill all the other guy's army' type of victory condition.

Now normally two players versus one is not very fair. However, as the player holding the bridge, I did get reinforcements at the end of rounds 2, 3 , 4 and 5. The amount of points of reinforcements was determined each time by the roll of a d20 (20-sided die).

Grandma's army consisted of Crixus, Izumi Samurai, Thorgrim, Syvarris and the Warriors of Ashra.

Maddie's army consisted of the Nakita Agents, Raelin, the Ninjas of the Northern Wind and the Tarn Viking Warriors.

My initial army consisted of two Dumutef Guards, Anubian Wolves, Khosumet the Darklord and Mimring.

I'll just run quickly through the highlights of each round.

Round 1 - An Izumi Samurai dies trying to cross the river (roll a d20. 1 - figure destroyed, 2-4 - figure takes 1 wound). Grandma rolled a 3 (hehe!)

Round 2 - Mimring fries one of the Tarn Vikings. Syvarris shoots dead one of the Dumutef Guards. An Izumi Samurai kills off the second Dumutef Guard. I roll a 17 on a d20 for 175 points of reinforcements. I choose Me-Burq-Sa, Marro Warriors and Zettian Guards.

Round 3 - Mimring fries another two Tarn Vikings. An Anubian Wolf rips open an Izumi Samurai. A Nakita Agent shoots down an Anubian Wolf. I roll a 20 on a d20 (woohoo!) for 200 points of reinforcements. I choose Krug, Marro Drones and a Swog Rider.

Round 4 - An Anubian Wolf kills the last of the Izumi Samurai. I roll a 14 on a d20 for 125 points of reinforcements. I choose Grimnak.

Round 5 - A Ninja of the Northern Wind finishes off Mimring. Krug smashes Syvarris into pulp. I roll a 15 on a d20 for 125 points of reinforcements. I choose the Minions of Utgar.

Round 6 - One of my Anubian Wolves rolls a 1 for its Unleashed Fury special ability. Normally this would destroy the figure. Luckily I had Khosumet the Dark Lord in my army because he allows a +1. I still lose an Anubian Wolf to the blade of one of the Warriors of Ashra.

Round 7 - I'm starting to worry about getting my reinforcements up to the bridge. I only have three actions per round to my opponents' six. A Warrior of Ashra slays the last of my Anubian Wolves. The only figure of mine still holding the bridge is Khosumet the Darklord. I move my Marro Warriors and Minions of Utgar towards the bridge. The Ninjas of the Northern Wind have crossed the river and are moving around the rear of the bridge. One of the Ninjas kills a Minion of Utgar. Khosumet kills a Warrior of Ashra. A Minion of Utgar kills a Ninja.

Round 8 - A Nakita Agent shoots a Minion of Utgar who had just landed on the bridge to support the lone Khosumet. One of the Ninjas kills one of the Minions of Utgar protecting the rear of the bridge. I only have Khosumet the Darklord on the bridge. He is facing three of the enemy. Maddie flies Raelin (her favourite character) to land behind Khosumet. Raelin slays Khosumet and wins victory for her team.

Raelin slays Khosumet the Darklord to claim victory!

Board Games are Booming in Brisbane

Well, maybe booming is too strong a word, but board games, particularly Eurogames, are starting to make an appearance in some of the larger mainstream toy stores here in Brisbane, Australia. Just a year or so ago you really couldn't find any Eurogames at all unless you visited one of the very few specialist game stores.

Today I visited Toyworld in the city. Toyworld has over 170 independent toy stores nationwide. It's been a couple of months since I last visited this store. Previously I'd been impressed that they were stocking Blokus, Carcassonne and Cosmic Encounter. I couldn't believe my eyes today when I found a section of their shelves containing the following games:

• Puerto Rico
• Ticket to Ride
• Caylus
  
• San Juan
• Carcassonne
• Carcassonne - King & Scout
• Carcassonne - The Princess & the Dragon
• Mr. Jack
• Wings of War - Miniatures
• Alhambra
• Zooloretto
• Travel Blokus
• Cosmic Encounter

I didn't have long to browse but those above were definitely there. I'm fairly certain there were others but those above are all that I can recall.

I suspect that not every suburban-mall Toyworld is carrying Eurogames though. This particular city store is one of the largest and it also stocks items that the other stores do not, such as massive ranges of die-cast model cars, action figures, and models. Still, for the board gamers of Brisbane it's a positive sign.

The Roman Invasion

I was very excited to find a large parcel waiting for me when I arrived home from work this afternoon. It was some games that I'd had on back order - Commands & Colors: Ancients, Commands & Colors: Ancients Expansion Pack #2: Rome and the Barbarians, and Commands & Colors: Ancients Expansion Pack #3: The Roman Civil Wars.

As I'd previously received Commands & Colors: Ancients Expansion Pack #1: Greece & Eastern Kingdoms, this now completes my collection of C&C Ancients and all the expansions...until GMT releases another that is!

C&C Ancients was the only game I'd rated a 10 on BGG that I didn't own - until now!

Gaming With Grandma - 75

Another Saturday morning gaming session with my 7 year-old daughter (AKA Maddie) and my mother (AKA Grandma).

Our first game of the morning was Chateau Roquefort (I have the Burg Appenzell version). In this game players are mice searching for cheese within the castle. The cool aspect of this game is that the box forms the playing area of the castle. There are plastic wells sitting below the sliding tiles of the game board. When tiles are moved by inserting a tile into the side of the box this pushes other tiles in a line. This can sometimes send a mouse falling into one of the plastic wells (dungeon) as a tile with a hole in it is moved under the mouse.

"Cheese! Gimme Cheese!"

On your turn you have four action points to spend on movement, lifting a roof section to reveal the room(s) beneath (and the cheese!) and also to slide a tile. The aim is to collect a piece of cheese by having two of your mice sitting on the same type of cheese at the same time. As only one mouse can be in a space at the same time this obviously means you will have to find two of the same type of cheese scattered throughout the castle. The first person to reach a set number of cheeses is the winner.

The other trigger for ending the game is for one player to lose three of their four mice to the depths of the dungeon. This actually happened in this game. I'd already used the tile sliding feature to send two of Grandma's mice tumbling to the bottom of the box. Maddie took out her third mouse. At this point the game ended. Grandma couldn't win even though she was leading with two pieces of cheese. The player with the highest total of cheese would then win. As Maddie and I both had one piece of cheese we were tied. In a tie-break situation it is the player who had been waiting longest for their turn that won. As that was me I ended up winning! A very short game but it revealed a new tactic that none of us had previously considered.

Coda - always fun!

Our next game was Coda. This is a fast, fun game of deduction which we always enjoy. We decided to play three games, taking it in turns to be the first player. I was very impressed with Maddie's improving powers of deduction. She almost won the first and second games. Grandma almost won the third game. However, it ended up that I won all three (but only by the slimmest of margins).

Our final game of the morning was another family favourite - Der Schwarze Pirat. In this game each player blows their ship around the board with a rubber bellows to try and enter the bays of islands to claim treasure. Dice are rolled each turn to determine where gold is placed and also how many squeezes of the bellows a player can use on either their own ship or the Black Pirate. There was only one pirate boarding in this game, and that was me boarding Maddie's ship. I only got one gold out of that. All the other times the pirate ship was used as a substitute ship to sail to islands to claim the gold.

Maddie's pink ship sails in search of treasure

Grandma did very well in this game (the wind gods must have been with her) for she went on to take the win with 18 gold. Maddie and I shared second place with 9 gold each.

The Return of my Xbox 360!

My Xbox 360 arrived back from the repair centre yesterday. It only took seven calendar days from the time I posted it off to the time it was delivered back to me. Apart from the initial shock of seeing the Red Ring of Death I found dealing with Xbox 360 Customer Support and the whole repair process to be easy and hassle-free. I'm very impressed at how quickly they fixed the problem and returned my console. Most of all I'm pleased it didn't cost me any money.

Safe and sound with an extra bonus for me

They even provided me with a complimentary one month Xbox Live Gold membership card. This will give me the opportunity to check out Xbox Live though I'm not sure if I've got the spare time to fully take advantage of it.

I was a little anxious hooking up the power lead and re-attaching the hard drive to my Xbox 360. However when I turned it on all was well.

That's what I want to see when I turn on my Xbox 360!

The Anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan

It was my father-in-law's 65th birthday today. We had a small family celebration of a barbecue and some beers at our house this evening. It also happens to be the 42nd anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan. This battle is arguably the most famous battle fought by the Australian Army during the Vietnam War. The date the battle began, 18 August, is commemorated in Australia as Long Tan Day, also known as Vietnam Veterans' Remembrance Day.

Coincidentally, my father-in-law spent his 23rd birthday on 18 August 1966 only about 1000 metres from the battle. He was part of the 1st Australian Task Force stationed at the Nui Dat base. He'd only arrived in Vietnam a week prior to the battle. Where he was dug-in on the perimeter of Nui Dat was right in the path of the advancing Viet Cong had they not encountered D Company of the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment (6RAR).

It was interesting talking to him over a few beers. Although he didn't take part in the actual battle, he was close enough to hear it and had been on the receiving end of incoming mortar fire on the preceding night. He was also part of a small detachment which searched and buried the bodies of the enemy dead on the morning after the battle. I'm going to have to find some time in the future to properly interview him and capture his memories of his time in Vietnam for our family history.

In other news, this morning I checked my service request number online which shows the status of the repair of my Xbox 360. Apparently it has already been repaired and posted back to me. When I got home I found a card in the letterbox stating that they'd tried to deliver it to me today. Wow! I only posted it off seven days ago! That's quick service.

Gaming With Grandma - 74

My mother (AKA Grandma) dropped by for her regular Saturday morning visit and game session. Today I decided to try one of the games I'd recently picked up in a math trade - Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers. I've played the original Carcassonne several times before but this was my first experience with Hunters and Gatherers.

Hunters and Gatherers is part of the popular Carcassonne series but instead of being set in medieval France it's set in the stone age. Players build a prehistoric landscape with tiles depicting forests, rivers, lakes and meadows. They then send out members of their tribe to hunt, gather, fish and establish fishing camps. It includes many of the familiar mechanics from Carcassonne but with a few new options.

A close up of the board in play - I was green and Grandma was yellow

As my wife was at work and my daughters Maddie and Georgia were busy watching Alvin and the Chipmunks on DVD, that left just my mum and myself to play Hunters and Gatherers.

I quite enjoyed Hunters and Gatherers as a two-player game. I liked the incentive to close off forests containing gold nuggets to be able to take a bonus tile. I liked the scoring of rivers better than the scoring of roads in the original Carcassonne. I liked the sabre-tooth tiger mechanic of eating a deer in the same meadow. In fact, there were a lot of little things I liked that have made me wonder if I really need the original Carcassonne and expansions (the River (included in the base game) and Inns & Cathedrals) in my collection.

In our game this morning I was able to grab all the points for the largest hunting area (36) by having one more hunter than Grandma in the same meadow. My huts scored 16 to her 13. I went on to take the win with 117 points to her 73.

Enhancing Tigris and Euphrates

One problem I had when I opened my new Tigris and Euphrates game from Mayfair Games was the off-centre tiles. This was fixed by notifying Mayfair Games who sent me replacement sheets of tiles.

Another problem with the components was that two of my monuments (both green) did not hold the centre step piece that is supposed to fit snugly within the monument piece. I was sick of them falling out every time I picked them up. I decided to fix it this afternoon by applying some PVA wood glue to all of the monuments to ensure they would be secure.

A little bit of glue solves the problem

The other thing that I thought would improve this game was repainting the boring plain wooden treasure cubes. I decided to paint mine gold to really represent their importance and value within the game. I gave them a white undercoat and then a gold finish. After they'd dried I gave them a gloss spray clear coat for protection. I'm very pleased with how they turned out.

The results of my mini-project to enhance my copy of Tigris and Euphrates

Red Ring of Death

My Xbox 360 console died two weeks ago on 26 July 2008. Yes, when I turned it on that morning all I got was the infamous 'Red Ring of Death'. These three flashing red lights is the Xbox 360's way of informing you of a general hardware failure.

Nooooooooooo!!!!

I was aware of the Xbox 360's rumoured unreliability. I'd done a fair bit of research and had seen posts in forums of gamers bemoaning the loss of their Xbox due to the 'Red Ring of Death', or RRoD as it is commonly referred to. While I believed that some units could be faulty I suspected that the RRoD problem (which is believed to be due to overheating) was more than likely contributed to by overplaying and poor care of the console by these gamers.

I purchased my Xbox 360 only seven months ago on 17 December 2007. I'd even delayed my purchase by several months to ensure I bought one with one of the newer 65nm CPUs (codenamed Falcon) which meant there would be less heat build-up within the unit. The one I got had only been manufactured the month before in November 2007.

So for the last seven months I've been enjoying my Xbox 360 immensely. I took care to place it in a cool, stable area and never played it for more than a couple of hours at a time. I believed if I took care of it and didn't allow it to overheat then I'd get many years of play out of it. How wrong I was. My Xbox 360 was only eight months old when it died (So young...so young. Sniff!).

I've since read that it is believed that there is about a 10% failure rate with the new Xbox 360 Falcon chipsets. Apparently Microsoft don't release any information about the failure rates of their consoles so it's hard to get a clear picture. I do know that due to this problem Microsoft published an open letter on 5 July 2007 recognising the console's problems, as well as announcing a three-year warranty extension for every Xbox 360 console that experiences the "general hardware failure" indicated by three flashing red LEDs on the console (AKA RRoD).

So I called the Microsoft number and they assured me they will fix my Xbox 360 free-of-charge. All I have to do is package up the console safe-and-sound and then post it to the local repair area. They'll cover the cost of postage.

My Xbox 360's 'coffin'

So I'm hoping to get it back in around two to three weeks. I'm also hoping this is the last time I'll ever see the 'Red Ring of Death'.

Gaming With Grandma - 73

Another Saturday morning gaming session with my Mum (AKA Grandma) and my 7 year-old daughter Maddie.
Our first game of the morning was King Me! This is a game I received from BGG user Mark_Owen_Reich in the first Australian national board game Math Trade back in May and was the first time any of us had played it.

This game is all about scoring points for the final ranking of each of six characters players are secretly assigned at the beginning of each of three rounds. After taking it in turns to place the 13 characters on levels which not only represent their closeness to the throne but also what victory points they'll receive, players then take turns picking one character to move up a level. If a character is moved up to the top level (the throne) each player then immediately secretly votes to see if that character is crowned using Yes and No cards. It only takes one No vote to eliminate that particular character from the game. Although your Yes card is returned after each vote, your No cards are limited and not returned. This is where the bluff aspect of the game comes to the fore. Do you vote Yes to a character you don't want to be crowned in the hope that someone else will vote No, or do you use one of your precious No votes to ensure they don't get crowned?

King Me!

King Me! is a fast light filler that can take up to six players. We all enjoyed it and I'm sure it will get a lot of table-time in the future. Final scores were me 1st on 68, Grandma 2nd with 55 and Maddie 3rd with 54.

After that Maddie went off to player with her younger sister Georgia which left Grandma and I free to play Tigris and Euphrates.

We picked up an error we made in the last game. I thought the scores were abnormally high and it turns out we were assigning victory cubes from monuments to both players at the end of each turn rather than only the active player receiving them.

I suggested we play with a 2-player variant I got from the BoardGameGeek site. In this variant the four corner temples are removed, as well as removing 14 red tiles, 9 blue tiles, 8 green tiles and 8 black tiles. All other rules apply except that the game ends when only 1 or zero treasure cubes are left. This variant seemed to work fine.

Board layout at end of game

No catastrophe tiles were placed this game by either of us. I guess I'm still learning the strategy around when and in what situation these should be used. There were less monuments built in this game (only three). We had some great internal and external conflicts. I actually ended up winning 12 to 5. [Wayne: Red 13, Blue 29, Green 20, Black 12 - Grandma: Red 18, Blue 5, Green 14, Black 13]

300th Post, HellBoy II & Osprey Books

This is my 300th post since starting this blog back on 25 December 2006.

I saw the movie Hellboy II: The Golden Army in the city after work this evening courtesy of GenCon Oz who kindly offered up free tickets to GenCon Oz attendees. I've never read any of the Hellboy comics but had rented the original Hellboy movie just recently so that I had a bit of an understanding of the characters and history prior to seeing the sequel. Overall, the movie was fun, action-packed, visually-stunning and with a vast array of incredible creatures. There was also a fair bit of humour which had the audience laughing at times. I was glad I went along to see it.

I arrived home just before 10.00 pm and found what I at first thought was a rubbish bag just inside the door. My wife had probably left it there for me to dump in the wheelie bin outside. When I looked more closely I saw that it was actually an overseas delivery.

What's in this sturdy plastic bag?

I'd recently won a competition on the Osprey Publishing blog of twelve of their recently published books. This looked like it might be them.

Alright! My prize awaits!

It was pretty exciting opening the box. The Osprey books were very well packed so had survived the international shipping unscathed.

Here is the selection that I picked for my prize.

ACE 77 Albatros Aces of World War 1 Part 2
ACE 78 SE 5/5a Aces of World War I
ACE 79 Bristol F2 Fighter Aces of World War I
AEU 26 Jagdstaffel 2 ‘Boelcke’ Von Richthofen’s Mentor
CAM 188 Thermopylae 480 BC Last stand of the 300
CAM 182 Granicus 334 BC Alexander’s First Persian Victory
DUE 7 Sopwith Camel vs Fokker Dr I Western Front 1917–18
GNM Alexander the Great at War His Army - His Battles - His Enemies
GNM Rome and Her Enemies An Empire Created and Destroyed by War
WAR 124 Teutonic Knight 1190–1561
ELI 155 Roman Battle Tactics 109BC–AD313
GNM Knight Noble Warrior of England 1200–1600

Osprey books are not only informative they also have fantastic artwork!

Unfortunately I only received ten of the twelve books. Thermopylae 480 BC Last Stand of the 300 and Roman Battle Tactics 109BC-AD313 were temporarily out of stock. Hopefully I'll receive these soon.

With ten new cool books I know what I'll be busy doing over the coming weeks. Thanks Osprey Publishing!

HeroScape Card Lamination

I like to take care of my games. I also like to enhance them where possible. For example, this morning I laminated 29 HeroScape cards using my el cheapo hot laminator. I then carefully trimmed them using a craft knife and metal ruler. A pair of scissors was used to round the corners. This will protect the cards from being torn by exuberant kids or damaged if drink is spilt on them. Hey, I can now set up a HeroScape game outside without fear of it raining. If I wanted.

Three hours work but worth it

I think my next game-enhancement project will be to paint the plain wooden treasure cubes from Tigris and Euphrates in a gold colour.