Battlestar Galactica play recap

Here's how it goes down. I was playing Bill Adama. Streetz played Gaius Baltar. Jessica played Kara "Starbuck" Thrace. Nathan played Chief Galen Tyrol. Scott played Saul Tigh. Alex played Lee "Apollo" Adama. So I started out as the Admiral and Gaius was the president.

When we started there was a basestar and some raiders. Starbuck and Apollo were flying out on vipers, protecting cilivian ships and shooting down the toasters. Tigh ordered our guns to attack as well. With the first crisis we discovered that there was a cylon in our midsts, and I knew it was either Gaius, Chief, or Apollo. We cleaned out most of the raiders just in time for another basestar and more raiders to show up. Galactica took two big hits before we were able to jump away (leaving a ship behind) to safety on a barren planet.

While there we repaired the ship, and dealt with food and water shortages. We also attempted a rescue mission as well. We were able to jump once again with too much trouble, but our fuel levels were now in the red.

Once we reached our new destination, empty space, Starbuck was thrown in the brig for being a cylon sympathizer. She learned her lesson, so her release was ordered. She had planned on fingering Chief as a cylon, but he revealed himself as cylon before and threw back in the brig before being sent to the resurrection ship. Soon after a basestar appeared and launched raiders and heavy raiders at us. We were able to protect the civilian ships but galactica was boarded because of it. In the scuffle, Tigh was accused of being a traitor and thrown in the brig. We finally were able to jump early out of the fight, avoiding some incoming nukes but still leaving some ships behind, and ended up in an asteriod field.

We had traveled a total distance of 7, (needing 8 to get to Kobol), but the recent appearance in an asteriod field cost us a fuel refinery ship and fuel levels were dangerously low, as well morale. Food and water were now in the red as well and we were faced with some tough decisions. Peaced was maintained and Tigh put up a protest to being locked in the brig but to no avail. With no support, he left to rot in his cell. Soon after he showed himself to be a cylon traitor and joined his kind on the ressurection ship. Humans were in a bad situation with fuel down to 1 and population down to 4. But a miracle arrived in the form of a legendary discovery, which took 1 step closer to our destination. All we needed was one more jump. Baltar rushed to the FTL control and jumped us early. We lost 2 more population in the rush, but had finally made to Kobol

Battlestar Galactica game

Last night I played the Battlestar Galactica boardgame with a group of friends. There were a total of 7 of us, but only 6 could play (plays 3-6), which was fine because Emily wasn't interested in playing for as long as she knew it would take. This is not to say that it's necessarily a long game, but it was the first time to play for all of us, so of course it would take some time before we got into the groove. I could see it taking around 2-3 hours if people are familair with the game.

The way it works is each player picks a character at the start. Then at the begining of their turn they draw the number of skill cards their character card says they can. They move to anywhere on the board they want, and complete one action (the action can be found on one of their skill cards, their current location, or their character card). After the action has been completed, they flip over a crisis card and everyone deals with the crisis. The interesting part is that someone (or someones) is a cylon (traitor) and they can attempt to sabotage the crisis and prevent everyone else from passing it. After this, Galactica may or may not move one step closer to jumping. When Galactica jumps a distance of 8 and completes one more jump, then the humans win. If they don't, for any reason, the cylons win.

It's not an overly complicated game, it just provides the players with a lot options and most of them aren't that helpful, which makes sense. Life was not fun on Galactica. It ends up being a lot of trying to choose the least awful option.

Most of the fun of this game is from the interaction between the players. All the accusations and double talk and insuations that get thrown around during the course of the game. The fun isn't really from the game mechanics (some is but not nearly as much). There is also some enjoyment from being a fan of the show, because you can make jokes about the characters you're playing and the actions they're taking.

Personally, I had fun playing it. I could see myself getting this game and playing it on various occassions. It has a lot of small pieces so it's hard to take anywhere (liek camping), but I think it's easy enough to set up where it doesn't take up a huge amount of table space to play.

If your a fan of the show and/or a fan of more social games where the fun is in large part from the people you're playing with, I would recomend this game.

Fun Times.

Paintball was fun. We played a bunch of games and are still trying to equalize the field. I did get shot in the neck, which still stings a little this morning, but it was definitely a fun time.

Speaking of fun, tonight is game night, and I'm not sure how many people are showing up tonight at 7pm. It seems like there could be quite a few. It's possible that there'll be up to 10 people or so, all looking to play Battlestar Galactica, but it only plays up to 6 players. I guess I could set-up Rock Band, or have some other game going on the side. Scott said he could bring over Wii Sports Resort, which would be another fun option. Then again, how often is it that everyone shows up you said they would right?

Oh, I thought of another gift for emily, a sewing machine.

Kung Fu Panda

We finally watched Kung Fu Panda last night. I had heard good things about it and I must say that I wasn't disappointed. I thought it was a very good kung fu movie as well as a beautiful looking animated movie. It was pretty funny and I really enjoyed the action sequences. I did feel that they didn't really get into the personalities of the Furious Five, which made me wonder why they hired big celebrities to voice them. I guess that's what the extra dvd is for, which I believe I might have seen on television before this.

Oh, while I'm thinking about it, the drawn animation was gorgeous as well as the computer. They both convade the appropiate location and time frame. I especially liked the way they had the credits scroll sideways instead of from top-down. It was details like this that really showed how much care went into this movie. I would definitely recommend seeing this if you haven't yet.

Busy-ness

Boy did my week fill up quick. Tonight is movie night with Emily, tomorrow I have paintball, then it's game night, and then its Friday (which, surprisingly is still open), and Saturday I've been invited to a friend's game night. Oh, and I also still need to read my book club book and go through our stuff to sell at my sister-in-laws yard sale she plans to have in 2 weeks. It's pretty crazy.

I came across an old friend's blog and I've been trying to catch up on old posts. I've finally done it and I'm all caught up. Yea!

Why does Tricksy feel the need to push things with her face? Really it's more like "Why does she feel the need to push things off the table/counter with her face?" because she doesn't seem to have the same face rubbing thing that Oscar has. It's annoying, especially when she breaks dishes we like, like bowls made by friends or family or glasses gifted to us. I wish I knew how to stop her. Although I think it might be due to the fact that David spoiled her with attention while he lived here.

Oh, David sent us some gifts in the mail recently. Totally unexpected! It was pretty awesome. That boy's not that bad of an egg.

Speaking of gifts, I'm going to list some gifts Emily would like so I have future reference: standing fan (preferably with remote), netbook, clothes dryer, new stove/oven, clothes washer, and that's all I have for now. Oh, no, wait, a composter as well.

Comic Con (Haiku)

Now it is over.
I did not go. Wish I had.
Hopefully next year?

Ramble on

Yesterday was fun, in a way. I vacuumed, washed some dishes, played through another chapter of Half Life (1 not 2), and had some wine and conversation with Chris and Hortensia. It was good. I did notice that I now have trouble relaxing during movies and conversations, not so much with games. I'm not sure why, but the whole time I was doing either, I kept thinking about doing other things, instead of just being in the moment, even though the moment was enjoyable. Hurm.

I have trouble sleeping. Wait, let me rephrase that. I have trouble waking. I feel like it could be that I don't get 8 hours of sleep, but if I want to wake up at 6am, I'd have to go to bed at, what?, 10pm. That means be asleep by then, and that just seems an impossibility. We usually end up getting ready for bed around then, so it's not all bad, but it's not a full 8 hours either. Maybe I should try to reschdeule the day instead. Make plans assuming that I wake up at 6:30 or even 7.

Ok, I'm calling it now: we're playing Battlestar Galactica on Thursday. Even if it is just Emily, Alex and myself. Even if, for some strange reason, 10 people show up (it says it plays from 3-6 players). We are playing it. We'll make it work some how.

Morning Pages

As I have mentioned before, I have trouble with mornings. In the book The Artist Way, they talk about morning pages to help clear your head each day. Basically you just write down whatever's in your head. It seems easy enough, so why not give it a go right? I'm not saying I'm going to do it everyday, but maybe. And it almost never will be the 2 pages it asks for either, but something's better than nothing.

Last night we played D&D. I'm the GM and we've been going through the Keep on the Shadowfell module. My players finished off the story, defeating Kalarel in the end which helped reseal the rift to the Shadow realm. I noticed I need to work on my storytelling skills. At some point they thought they had to travel to Thunderspire to stop him, but that was a hook to another adventure. Maybe they're not used to hooks popping up that lead to other stories while fighting in the middle of one. Anyways, it was a long battle but our heroes pervailed. Now I have to buy the next module to continue the story. I'll be honest, I think these early modules could have used a little more polish, at least this first one. I haven't checked out any of the more recent ones, but I hope that they're a little more fleshed out.

I know that yesterday would be considered a "fun" day and so that would make today a "work" day, but I want to play some video games. Although, I would also like to get the dishes done and vaccuum the living room. Kids can really make a mess. But then again, so can cats, so it's not like we're not used to it. You know I can probably get all of those done today without much strain.