Happy New Year!

I cannot believe it is 2009 - where do the years go?

I had a lovely Christmas spent lots of time with my family and friends and caught the obligatory cold. Still suffering as CFS makes minor illnesses into major ones, but staying happy playing with all my Xmas presents :o)



The latest board game to add to my collection is CARCASSONNE, no miniatures with this one, just little wooden men called "meeples" by those on the BGG. The edition I received includes the River Expansion. It is great fun, really easy to learn and quick to pick up and play, although it can become quite complex depending on the strategies and tactics you develop. Average playing time (2-player) is 45-60 minutes. It plays extremely well 2-player but is also a game for all the family (2-5 players, age 8 up), the 4-player game we had was fun for all and required different tactics than 2-player. As it has been such a hit (even with those people I can rarely convince to play games) I expect I will be obtaining some of the other expansions/versions of this great game in the future.



The latest computer game to add to my collection was the old cult classic PLANESCAPE TORMENT. I have been after this game for years since I missed purchasing it when it was first released. I am not sure how my boyfriend managed it, but he got me an unopened original two-disc edition that was in a dual pack with SOULBRINGER, I think it might of been the American release. Planescape is loaded up and runs fine, sure the graphics are a bit dated compared to the latest RPGs but the depth of the story and the dialog are amazing. The game uses the BioWare Infinity Engine - the same one used in Baldur's Gate (one of my all time favourite RPGs) and it has a similar look and feel. It uses the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons system (which I am very familiar with as it was the version of D&D I played the most in my youth) set in TSR's Planescape campaign setting. Character generation is quite different though - you are the "Nameless One" and you can set your starting stats but you do not choose a class, instead you start as a fighter and develop your characters class and alignment by your actions and dialog throughout the game. As your character is human he can be any single class at a time, but can change between fighter, thief and mage according to the multi-classing rules of AD&D but with the twist that he can keep changing between them if he talks to the right people. This gives the game great depth, as you can become a thief and do a quest the sneaky way, then change into a mage to suit a quest that requires magic to solve. Great for indecisive players or those who like to try everything! I am having a blast with it at the moment, not sure how large it is (I am avoiding finding out too much about the game on-line until I have completed it) but it seems pretty big as I have been playing for quite a while and there seems to be lots to do - I have not even joined a faction yet.

I got lots of other great stuff including some DVDs and a Rubik's cube (remember them!), so a great big thank you goes out to everyone :o)

I hope that you all had lovely Xmas and New Year celebrations and wish you all the best for 2009.