March Wrap Up

Sù-Jián on the prowl...

It's the end of the month so let's see what kind of stuff I've been up to then...


Mini and Board Games

• We had a board game night over at Anders' place where we started off with a four player game of Runewars which was a lot of fun! I really do like that game a lot and I've finally got around to ordering the expansion which I'm eagerly looking forward to. Anyway, I played as the humans this time around and managed a win during the fifth year I think. I wasn't too far ahead of the others at this point, but it was a fairly solid victory nonetheless.

• After Runewars we debated wether to continue or go home and sleep. Of course, sleep lost out to Anders' latest aqcuirement: Rex: Final Days of an Empire. As you probably know it's a new release from FFG which is a retheme of the old Avalon Hill Dune board game. They couldn't get the rights to the Dune IP though so instead transplanted it into their own Twilight Imperium universe, something I have absolutely no problems with (although I found it hard not to think of factions and game mechanics using the Dune names. Will try to rectify this). Since we were only four players we didn't get the full experience and missed out on some of how the factions interact (like playing Chaos in the Old World with less than four players) but we had a great time even so. I played the evil Letnev who have access to lots of traitors and lots of sneaky weapons, but I was out of luck as I didn't get to use a single traitor and I got all the right cards too late. In the end we had to call it a turn early with no clear winner, although it looked like Sol had the strongest position. Really looking forward to playing again with the full six players! Although I think our group needs to learn to be more flexible and not so vindictive when it comes to alliances etc. The same goes for when we're playing A Game of Thrones. haha!

• And finally, yesterday I played in a small (though ITS registred) Infinity tournament. It was a lot of fun and I did fairly well. I managed fairly large victories in my first two games and then lost my third on points due to some bad desicions by me when I had already routed my opponent. Then I had to bow out of my last game as things had taken longer than expected. My final position was four out of five but I'm looking forward to next time where I'm sure to alot a few hours more for the event. More on this tournament in a separate post.

Painting and Modelling

This month has been fairly quite on the hobby front I'm afraid.

• I finished my two Guiláng and has started prepping the next batch to be painted. There are some specialists (doctors and engineers), heavy infantry like the Hsien, a remote and Father Sforza lined up. Oh, and another Tiger Soldier. However, just as I finished basing and priming them I finally got my MAS bases so now I'm thinking I should rebase them first.

• The French have been released for Dystopian Wars have been released and I'm sorely tempted, but I'll try to hold off a bit longer.

Video Games

There was a fair amount of videogaming this month (which might explain my lack of painting. Hehe!).

• Me and my friend Anders have been talking about getting Borderlands for ages but we haven't got around to it until now. What finally got us going was that Micke got an Xbox and was eager to join and another Martin (who've had an Xbox for a long time) was eager to get back into the multiplayer part of gaming. So off we went and bought us each a copy of Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition. So far we're only about level 10-11 but we're having lots of fun even though there's been quite a few deaths. Hehe! Fun game with a nice mix of FPS action and MMO-esque looting and levelling.

• I also played through L.A. Noire in its entirety. I actually got it during some special offer at play.com several months ago but hadn't played it until now. For those of you who don't know the game it's James Ellroy mixed with Grand Theft Auto, and although it has its share of flaws I had a great time with it! The facial mo-cap (or whatever they call it) is outstanding although it does bring to light the contrast between the living faces and the stiff doll-like bodies. The clue finding bit gets a bit long in the tooth after a while, but I always enjoyed interrogations. And the environments (and cars!) are simply beautiful. It can get a bit samey and it would have been nice with some more player driven choices, but overall I think L.A. Noire was a great experience. Especially since it's so unique! Both the time period and even more so the actual gameplay concept. I don't think there has been a game about police procedural like this before. Give it a go!

• And finally... there is of course Mass Effect 3. For some reason I didn't anticipate ME3 as much as I did ME2. Sure I was going to play it, but I didn't pre-order or anything. I'm not quite sure why but suspect it had something to do with most trailers and previews concentrating on the action part. Sure, that is fun but I mainly play it for the story. Anyway, I got it and after a couple of hours in I came to the moon of Palavan where I really got hooked again. First off the action gameplay has again been tweaked and is now on par with tripple A action titles like Gears of War. I found myself loving the multiplayer as well where I tried some different classes and races but what really made me go "Wow!" was the human Vanguard. You use your biotic charge to slam into your enemies like a freight train and then when the survivors try to get on their feet you release the energy of your shield in a nova, hitting like a tonne of bricks! So yeah... a freght train delivering a tonne of bricks. That's ouch for ya! There's been lots of talk about the ending and some fans are really angry about it. I view it a bit differently I think, but want to avoid spoilers so won't go into it here. My advice is to look closer at the ending and what is happening, and not take everything at face value. Also, Minority Report.

Other Geekstuff

Let's see...

• I still haven't finished The Naked God. There's still about 1/5 left and things are starting to approach critical mass! I'm undecided on what to read next though. L.A. Noire got me into the mood of re-reading the L.A. Quartet but I would also like to get back to reading Alastair Reynonlds. Hmm...

• I watched a few movies; Insidious which I thought was great during the first half (reminded me of The Others) and then it just took an entirely unexpected left turn and headed straight into the woods! Don't get me wrong, it was an interesting ride and I appreciate what James Wan was trying to do, although it just didn't quite work in the end. I recommend it though, there's a lot of good stuff in it too! In the mood for some more horror I came across the remake of John Carpenter's The Fog which I thought might be interesting... but no. Just no. I watched the original as a kid and I love it but this whole thing was just a big mess from beginning to end and even Selma Blair and Maggie Grace in panties doesn't help. Finally me and Micke went to the cinema and watched John Carter (of Mars), in 3D as regular old 2D wasn't available. I was sad to read that it "flopped" in the US as had a great time! This is classic sci-fi where it's borderline fantasy and I just liked the whole feel of the movie. Like Conan mixed with Dune or something!

• I'm sure most of you have seen the trailer for Battlestar Galactica: Blood and Chrome by now and I understand why the fanbase is excited. It does look rather spiffy! While I wasn't one of the people who wrote angry letters to SyFy-channel demaning more space battles in the original (reboot) series I certainly won't pass it up. Hehe! Was surprised that they'd copied/ripped off/homaged Fincher's Dragon Tattoo trailer this soon though, complete with Trent Reznor's cover of Immigrant Song. It's a great trailer with its own voice (which is rare these days) so I can understand why they did it, but still. Then again it's supposed to be "leaked" and NBCUniversal has asked for it to be removed, so maybe for internal use only.

And that's about it! I should get some more painting done next month and I'm looking forward to trying more Rex and Runewars with the expansion. Me and Jimmy have been talking roleplaying again so there's that as well...