My brother was here for a week. That was loads of fun.

I’ll have some pictures up later. We played a lot of games, computer games, board games, war games you name it.

Also, there be tweets.

Arkham Horror

Arkham horror is a board game based on the stories of H.P. Lovecraft. It is set in H.P. Lovecrafts New England town of Arkham. The player takes the role of an investigator who try to stop a massive alien being from invading our place of existence and destroying life as we know it. It’s an interesting game in that even though everybody is on the same team, there is some competition except between the investigators for loot, special abilities and weapons. It’s also a long game, it takes a little while to set up. The game last night took about 4 hours play, partly because there was a bit of a learning curve for the new players. But once we got into it The turns just flew by and it wasn’t long before we had all the gates closed. It was a fun game and I look forward to playing it again in the future.

Rock Band

The game of Arkham Horror was bracketed with Rock Band. Rock Band is amazing. When playing with other people you genuinely feel like your in a band. One of the things that really surprised me was the easiness of the singing. Everybody had a go willingly. A lot more and a lot better has been written about it. All I’ll say is that after finishing up last night at 3 in the morning, I decided to call in to a local 24 hour Walmart and pick up my own copy. I played until 6 in the morning and all day to day. Lots of fun.

This is the deck I drafted.

Draft Deck 1 9 Mountain 1 Plains 8 Swamp 1 Blazing Blade Askari 1 Bonesplitter Sliver 1 Deadly Grub 1 Drudge Reavers 1 Evil Eye of Urborg 1 Fury Sliver 1 Goblin Skycutter 1 Keldon Halberdier 1 Lotus Bloom 1 Melancholy 1 Mindlash Sliver 1 Mirri the Cursed 1 Mogg War Marshal 1 Nether Traitor 1 Rift Bolt 1 Saltcrusted Steppe 1 Shivan Wumpus 1 Skirk Shaman 1 Skittering Monstrosity 1 Two-Headed Sliver 1 Viashino Bladescout 1 Watcher Sliver

18 Creatures. That’s way more than what I usually use.

First game was pretty easy. I had Fury Sliver, Mindlash Sliver and Two-Headed Sliver in my opening hand. I put all those guys out, controlled the board a little bit and one pretty handy. In the second game the roles were reversed. I started by taking a mulligan and then I couldn’t get stuff out with out them being killed. I lost that one fairly quickly and it was onto the third game. The pressure was on. Who ever one this match was at least getting a booster. Skirk Shaman was the MVP in this match his red version of Fear couldn’t be dealt with and he was there in the final turn swinging in for 2. Yes thats right. I had one the first round.

Between games in the first round I made a couple of side board changes which ended up making the deck a little faster and deadlier. I removed the splash of white (which shouldn’t have been there in the first place really) and put in a second deadly grub. I did this after seeing just how scared my opponent was of this card. He wouldn’t let it come out at all.

While waiting for round 2 to start 24 came on. I knew this was going to make playing this match difficult as I owe Jack Bauer my life. I think that my opponent was also watching 24. It took him a long time to react to stuff. Some would say too long. In the first game I came out with a strong start of Swamp, Lotus Bloom, Mindlash Sliver. Imagine then my surprise then when my opponent came out with a sliver of his own. It was as they say On.

Again my opponent wasn’t able to deal with the never ending string of beef and in the end succumbed to slivers he couldn’t block. With a second round won I was now walking away with 2 boosters minimum. And possibly with 4. I started to dream.

But I didn’t have long to dream as it was straight into round 3. 24 was over so I was able to give it my full attention. In my opening hand I had a Lotus Bloom and a Watcher Sliver. This was the little guys chance to shine. Funnily enough he wasn’t coming out until turn 4 anyway but I knew that when he did the game would change. And friends change it did. In the turns before he came out I dropped a Skirk Shaman. It was removed. Then came Blazing Blade Askari. He was sacrificed. Finally it was time. Watchy (I named him Watchy) swung in for two and the hurt just kept coming. Mirri the cursed sealed the deal and I was a game up in the final of a 4-2-1-1 draft. I could taste victory. Even though watchy had done the job for me in game one I sided him out. His work for the day was done and other creatures needed a chance to show what they could do.

The second game begun. It went fast. I played hard. My opponent didn’t have enough creatures. I had done it. I won 4 boosters. I couldn’t believe it. I finished the last game with 20 life. This was the exact same amount I had started with. If I had been playing street fighter announcer man would have said “Perfect“. If I was playing Mortal Kombat he would have said “Flawless Victory“. And it was.

Tomorrow I shall play again. Hopefully I’ll be able to repeat my success here today. If not I’ll be pouring my life essence into “Oblivion“. As that is what is required to keep the demons happy.

The tournament itself was a single elimination sealed deck. I could have built a better deck but I kind of panicked. I won the first round by continuosly pecking away at my opponents life, but I lost it in the second round. For my troubles I got a deck box.

I won’t be going next week. It’s extended and I don’t have the cards but I’m sure that I will be back.

Update: I forgot to mention that it wasn’t sanctioned either.