An Expected Journey (some spoilers)

I didn't mess the title up. Nine years ago, after coming out of the midnight showing of The Return of the King, I expected I'd eventually be making the journey to see Bilbo's journey through Middle-earth happening on the big screen. Friday morning at 12:01 am, I did and so here are my thoughts on The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.

First, going into this movie, I was expecting to watch a hobbit themed fantasy adventure film and honestly this was much more than just it felt very Hobbit! This surprised me and maybe Jackson will wander more from the book in the next two installments (he did in LotR), but for this first one I thought he stayed pretty close to the book and had several direct quotes from it, including the cleaning up song by the dwarves and my favorite direct quote about how the game of golf was invented by Bullroarer!

Second, I was really worried that they were going to make a Gandalf/Galadriel love connection. Thankfully they didn't. They just showed how much Galadriel cared for and comforted Gandalf which is true to form, since she really wanted him to be the leader of the White Council. Either way, though I don't think the hand patting and hair brushing had to be in the movie, I do think it wasn't done romantically, so I'm just fine with that.

Third, the music is awesome! I absolutely love the dwarven theme music. The Misty Mountain song is great, they continue having different sounding music for the different locations that the scene is in, and Howard Shore has once again invoked an epic sound to the world of Middle-earth.

Fourth, I like the dwarves. I like them a lot. The dwarven culture is my favorite from Middle-earth (I know everyone likes elves and hobbits, but I like me some dwarves) and I think Jackson did a very good job with them. There are a 13 of them, so I understand making them a have a different beard and profile, even an old orc axe in the head of Bifur. I'm not extremely impressed with their beards though. Fili's beard is pretty much non-existant. I understand getting rid of their colorful hoods, but dwarves need beards! Out of all the beards to mess with, the biggest and most important one not to "fix" is Thorin's, and as I said a year ago when they released the first trailer, he looks like a salsa dancer. At least his beard does. He is going to be King Under the Mountain. He needs a king's beard. Okay, rant over.

Fifth, the Riddles in the Dark scene is absolutely awesome. It is funny, it is scary, it is disturbing, it is exactly what it should be. Gollum is excited to have someone to talk to and remembers games he played with his grandmother, yet at the same time he is evil. I thought it was great.

Finally, go see this movie! If you are a LotR fan, go see it. If you have yet to get into the great Tolkien universe, go see it. It is a fun, entertaining movie, that sticks relatively close to the story from the book (I'm sure this will change in the next two movies) that shows how Bilbo earns his place as the 14th member on the Quest to Erebor!

P.S. I'm going again, who wants to go?!

Best Christmas Movies

Just a quick thought on great Christmas movies and maybe a few on some not-so great Christmas movies. Let's try for the top 5 Christmas movies. I think I can do 5.

1. The Muppet's Christmas Carol. I remember first watching this at the Strand Theater in Shelbyville with my dad. We watched it on their smallest screen, which was about the size of many TVs today. I don't remember liking as much then as I do now. I guess it has grown on me. The sly comments, the fun Muppets, and Michael Cain as Scrooge is just great. My personal favorite scene is when the Book Rats are asking for more coal. Scrooge gets angry and they quickly say, "It was the frog's idea!"

2. It's a Wonderful Life. I just really like the movie. It is good clean entertainment with a deep message of how a single individual's life can change the lives of many people around them. Jimmy Stewart is one of the greatest actors of all time and he shines in this. My favorite scene from the movie is right after George is back on the bridge from his adventurers and Burt the cop comes up to him and George realizes that Burt knows who he is and starts screaming, "My mouth's bleeding!" That's good stuff.

3. White Christmas. Well, it's in TechniColor! Why else would I love it? I think because White Christmas is my favorite Christmas song, so that has to do with me liking this movie so much. Perhaps also watching it a lot as a kid. I think though it is honestly Danny Kaye. He makes the movie with his humor, dancing, and singing. My favorite scene, probably is actually the very first one, when they are all celebrating Christmas at war in Europe.

4. Home Alone. I laugh a lot every time I see this movie. The bandits just make it hilarious too me. Sure, it's Three Stooges humor, but it is still extremely funny. The story about Christmas with family is good and all, but I watch this to laugh when the bandits step barefoot on ornaments, burn their hands, get hit by paint cans, and everything else that happens to them. My favorite scene...I don't know. Any of them that makes me laugh, so a lot of them.

5. The Grinch Who Stole Christmas. The one with Jim Carey. I like the song Where Are You Christmas. I like the humor for the most part. I like the Whoville crazy looks and I like they made a whole movie out of a poem. My favorite scene is when the Grinch is going through the phone book declaring his hate for all the residents of Whoville.

There is the list. What'd I miss? I'm sure there has to be something I didn't think about that would've made it. Now for the bad Christmas movies:

1. The Santa Claus 2 & 3 - Horrible.
2. Anything on the Hallmark Channel about some lady that who lost her boyfriend/husband to an accident or some other misfortune and then finds true love on Christmas.
3. Elf. I don't get the love for this movie. It probably shouldn't be on the bad list, but I'm putting it there out of spite to even out all the great lists it'll be on.

Opening Weekend

I guess I like doing things on an annual basis. Let's go down through the list in chronological order starting in January. Okay, never mind, we'll start in March I don't have anything for January or February. There is IndyCon, Softball (sorta), Geekway to the West, vacation with the Schwirtz's, GenCon, Labor Day Badminton, 13th Tribe Extravaganza, Opening Day Deer Season Camping Trip, Christmas Eve Shopping, and finally New Year's Eve Gaming with the Sheltons. That's a lot of annual events, this time around let's talk about opening day of deer season.

For the past 5 years, Dad and I have been going camping and hunting on opening day of deer season, and it has become something I look forward to more and more. It is a time that I know I'll look back on when I'm old (that'll be in about 5 months when I turn 30) and think of with a smile. Most years we've gotten something, at least a doe, but this year was the best time we've ever had.

A family friend who hasn't hunted very much, Greg, went with us this year. After setting out tree stands up, we went back to the camp site, cooked a potato and steak for each us, slathered them in butter (that's right both the steak and the potato), and ate out side like men. Later of course I had my chai tea and Nutella like an European or Indian man, the steak and potato was Mid-west man. During this time we saw, what we'd call redneck humor. A camper pulled up, some fellas got out and set their beer and other important things on the picnic table. They then opened the camper door, brought out a bunch of firewood (we though this odd as the back of the truck was empty) and then next started to roll a tire out. It went down one step, then the second step, and then hit the ground. You see where this is going, the tire just kept rolling, down the hill from the camper and the slightly over weight, cut off flannel shirt guy, trying to keep his pants up while chasing the tire yelling "Oh S&#!" and hoping to stop it before it went pummeling another campers site. It was a good laugh for us.

We then played  a couple games, which I've brought on this very trip before, in which Greg used his cunning to defeat us at Small World. Then he took a real liking to the bottle in Bottle Imp and was disposed of. It was getting late about this time, say 8:30 at least, so we turned in for the night. We woke up the next morning at 4:45AM and took off to kill some deer.

I was in my tree and ready to go at 6:46. About 7 o'clock I saw a silhouette on the top of the hill, heard the deer walking around a bit, but never saw him. I continued to wait patiently and about 8 o'clock, among the war sounds that is opening day on public ground, I once again saw a silhouette going the opposite direction at the top of the hill. I thought he had gone on by, but as luck would have it, he did an about face, stepped into my line of sight for a brief moment, and without hesitation I shot a 6-point buck at about 65-70 yards. I was excited! I waited 45 minutes or so, continuing to hear coming from the direction of Dad and Greg, and then texted them (yeah, we're high tech deer hunters) about 9 saying, I was going to get down and clean my buck. I looked up from texting and now see a doe, padding her way towards me, looking over her shoulder (on opening day the deer are a bit skittish and I don't blame them). She heard a shot, paused for about ten minutes behind some brush, I couldn't get a shot on her. Finally, she moved and I was able to take her as well at about 25 yards. Two deer in one day! Never thought I'd do that.

To make a long story shorter, Dad also got one that day, so we had 3 deer to check in and drop off at the meat locker. We were all so tired and worn out from dragging and driving, we decided to call it a successful weekend and packed up to hit the road home. So after 5 years, I'd say camping and hunting has become a great tradition with my Dad and I. Maybe it'll continue with myself and Kaylee or maybe the tradition then will be going to some American Girl doll convention. Whatever it is, family traditions whether during the holidays or just the regular days are good things.

The spoils. That's three deer you see there or as I like to think of it, that's some good eatin'.

Every 100 Games Series - Star Wars: The Card Game

My 3,600th game played (okay, it was more like 3,603rd game, because Invasion was played a lot in there) was Star Wars: The Card Game. Being a huge Warhammer: Invasion fan, which is how I got the Star Wars game by attending the World Championships for Invasion, I'm glad this was the next game destined to be reviewed by me.

Components
Like all FFG games, the components of the game are top notch. There are focused counters, shield counters, damage counters, and the cards themselves of course. Personally, at least compared to Netrunner and Invasion, I think the card design is sorta lack-luster and boring. The art is okay, but nothing amazing and the cards functionally do the job. I do wish they'd included some kind of force marker, rather than just have Vader and Luke cards for this, to indicate when a unit has the force. Nothing really to complain about here and with the FFG Star Wars sleeves, they'll look really cool.

Game Play
This is a Living Card Game, so each player will eventually have customized decks of cards that they use to compete against each other. The cards are made up of objectives, which have some text on them, a damage amount, and resources players can spend each turn to play cards from their hand. Cards also include the usual types of cards in these games of units (the fighters), support cards (I think you know what they do), and action cards (one time play cards).

On a players turn, they focus a resource such as on an objective, support card, maybe on a unit and use that resource to pay for a card to play from their hand. The focused card gets a token on it to show it can't be used again until that token is removed. Once all the cards are played that they want to play, the player can choose to attack one of their opponent's objectives, the opponent chooses who'd they like to defend with, then the edge battle happens. In this players play cards face down, add up their edge value, and see who wins the edge. According to who wins the edge, different card abilities trigger. Finally, one at a time, players focus their units, do some battling and try to destroy the objective they are attacking.

The Light side wins the game if they can destroy 3 objectives. The Dark side wins by getting their Death Star counter to 12, which is done by destroying objectives (the more you destroy the faster it moves to 12) and by having the game last longer since it advances by 1 every turn no matter what. I've of course, left quite a bit out, but that should give you a good overview of the game.

Strategy
There is plenty of strategy in this. First, of course, from the deck building portion before you ever play. With the Core Set, you don't really have a lot of options but there will be plenty of expansions on the way. The neat part about the deck building rules is that you don't choose individual cards. Rather you choose an objective and 5 cards come with that objective. You are allowed to have 2 of the same objective in your deck and at least 10 total objectives.

Then in the game play itself there is plenty of strategy on when to defend, when not to, who to focus, how much of your resources to spend this turn, and general good decision making. That being said, if you get a good big card out early, it can be devastating to your opponent such as Yoda or a Destroyer. There is also quite a bit of strategy and bluffing when it comes to the edge battles, because those can really devastate your hand and make it difficult to defend if you lose.

My Thoughts
Okay, this is where I may get in a little trouble. I wasn't happy with the game. That being said, I don't think it is a bad game, it just isn't want I wanted out of a Star Wars LCG. Star Wars is a great theme and with card games like this, though theme isn't everything, I think it is more important than say in a Euro game. They really mess the theme up in my mind in two ways.

First, characters such as a rancor, or Ewok, or Luke can fight against ships. So I have a ship, flying around in space, and your rancor is going to destroy it? Umm....okay. In that case, I better watch out for those Ewoks, because we all know how good they are at throwing rocks into space! Second, the Force is given to up to three units that you control. I'm okay with that. The problem is, that you can give the Force to Luke (that makes sense), but you can also give it to an X-Wing (now that doesn't make sense). If X-Wings have the force, why didn't Luke's just pull itself out of that swamp anyways? Both of these things really disappointed me this game.

Also, I'm not so sure what I feel about the 3 different factions on each side. I think it would've been better served by just having the Empire and Alliance or just the Dark/Light side and leaving it at that. In the end, Star Wars feels shoved on to this card game, rather than a card game designed around Star Wars.

A say all that though, obviously not extremely keen on the game, knowing full well that this game will do really well because of the Star Wars license. That is and has been the biggest temptation for me to get into the game, because when it comes down to it, what makes these LCGs fun for me is the competition and Star Wars is going to draw way more players than Invasion, Netrunner, Cthulhu, and probably A Game of Thrones.

My Recommendations
Potential Living Card Game Player - I'd recommend any LCG before a CCG, so there is that. This is coming from a Warhammer: Invasion fan, so I'm of course going to recommend it first, because I think it's mechanics are the easiest to pick up. After that, I'd probably recommend Netrunner, because of the way the theme integrates with the game play and also because of the uniqueness of it. Finally, I'd recommend Star Wars. If you are a huge Star Wars fan, then perhaps it'd be above Netrunner. I'm not even considering Lord of the Rings Card game here, because it is co-op and it has been so long since I've played my 1 game of A Game of Thrones that I can't say where it would be.

Star Wars Fans - It doesn't matter what I recommend here, because lets be honest, you are Star Wars fans and will buy it anyways. I hope when you do, you aren't disappointed and enjoy it, perhaps just having a Star Wars card game that is absolutely trash will be good enough for you all. I'm wondering though, if the above theme disconnect bothered me, who isn't a very huge Star Wars fan (it's LotR for me all the way!), then will it bother those uber-fans of the movies?

Dads with Boys 12+ Years Old - You might want to look into at least the base set for them. The game itself is more difficult than say Dominion, but it isn't completely out of this world difficult either. So if you boys (or girls) are all about the Star Wars legos, movies, and books, this might be a good option for you to connect with them in a way that you get some gaming and they get some of that Star Wars fix.

Myself: Keep this on your radar, because you know Invasion will likely not last forever, but be glad you sold your copy on eBay for now. If Invasion ever goes away, then consider this and the probable player base before getting into another LCG. These aren't the cards you are looking for...(I'm sorry, I couldn't resist).

*Every 100 Games Series - Back in March of 2006 I began tracking each session of the various board and card games I play. I soon got the idea to write a review on every 100th game I played, one because I like writing reviews, and two because it is interesting to see what game I review next. You can find a list of all of them here: http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/66896/every-100-games-series-reviews

FFG World Championship

Last weekend, I drove a total of 1500 miles to go to the Fantasy Flight Games World Championships. I got a free pass for the weekend, since I won the North American Championship for Warhammer: Invasion. That combined with them interviewing me and even inducting me into their Hall of Heroes (Yeah, a boxing pose, they edited down the picture I sent). This of course stroked my ego enough to drive all that way to attempt to become world champion.

Part of the deal for driving that far, was to drop Krista and the girls off in Wisconsin to see her parents, which added an hour or two each way, but was well worth it for the girls to see Nana and Papa. Once I dropped them off and caught some sleep, Friday morning I drove the rest of the way and got to Roseville, MN in the afternoon. I grabbed a sandwich at Quizno's (shout out to Tom who was awesome there) and then went over to FFG's Event Center to learn Netrunner, another card game I wanted to play in the Worlds, since I'd drove all that way. Problem is I barely knew the game and had to borrow decks from a friend. After a quick refresher the tourney started and they stuck me at the feature table with Nick. Nick was a great guy, we had a good time, and the *TV crowd (that's right, I was on TV!) even caught us making a mistake in the game play. Nick got the victory that round, but as the day progressed I got a little better and ended up finishing 15th overall, which wasn't bad for my 12 games of Netrunner.

The Feature Table

Saturday morning, after some eggs at the Remigers, I drove and met Sarah and Ryan for some Starbucks. It'd been at least a couple years since we've seen each other and it was great to catch up and meet their awesome boy Zeke. Now with my chai tea drank, my friends hugged, it was time to get down to business for the feature of the weekend - Invasion!

Zeke and I

I played several warm up games with Brian (a guy who I met online before the weekend) as he tried to get caught up on Invasion, similar to how he caught me up on Netrunner the day before. It was great fun meeting him and playing cards over the weekend. Of course, I also played some against Steve from Louisville and his crew, while Leon and I discussed the merits of Blue and Pink Horrors (that's geekspeak for...well...nevermind). Then around 4pm the tourney began for real.

One side of the Event Center

The other side of the Event Center

I got a bye, along with all the other regional and national champions, played Brian some more since he was using my High Elf deck, and then finally got to play my first round. I played Rick, who was from right there in MN and sneaked a victory against him, making me 2-0. Next up was Christian, a German card player, who from talking to him has been to the US several times thanks to various card games and tournaments he as one. He played excellent, defeated me soundly, and moved into the Top 4. Next up was Brian, a guy I'd met at GenCon and who'd been really welcoming me to in Minnesota as he is a native Roseville player. We were both playing similar decks and this was by far the most fun round for me, as it was played as Invasion should be played, smash mouth and lots of attacking. I was able to get the win against him, which propelled me in the Top 4! I'd lose in the semi-finals to the eventual tournament champion and called it a night.

For making the top 4, I got an uncut sheet of cards (cheap guy that I am, I cut it up to use the cards), and some cool plastic capital boards. The next morning, I had some great breakfast with my cousin, met his girlfriend, and said goodbye to them and my aunt and uncle and hit the road for Wisconsin and then Indiana. It was quite a trip, had a really fun time seeing family and friends, and making some new friends while competing in a game I've really come to enjoy!

Capital Boards for Invasion

*By TV, I mean justin.tv which apparently has a bunch of stuff that nobody watches on it, but it is TV, it is live, and I was on it.

Every 100 Games Series - Quo Vadis?

My 3,500th game played was Quo Vadis? and here are my thoughts on this game. First off though, let's get the obvious question out of the way, what exactly does Quo Vadis mean? It is a Latin phrase that means, where are you going? A very apt title and question for this game, because the game is all about trying to get into the Senate of Rome.

Components
This is a pretty old game and so the components aren't from this era of awesome quality. The box itself looks more boring than a 2-hour meeting at work discussing required training. The board itself is also very drab. The representative pieces however, are very unique and interesting. They are really tall plastic pieces, with wide bases, which makes for some easy moving and seeing who is where. Too bad they don't have green or I'd be even more excited about them.

Game Play
On your turn, you can do one of three things. Place a representative in the bottom row of the board, move a representative to the next level of the board if you can get enough votes, or move Caesar who goes between two levels. Caesar allows you, if he is still there next time around, to move a representative without enough votes (though you don't score points when you do this). When you move up a level, you get the points in-between those levels.

Strategy
The whole game is about negotiation and working with the other players. Trying to get as many points as you can, while not giving away all the points when you "buy" other players votes. I've found that just being willing to vote for someone is important, as you get a VP for that every time regardless, if you don't trade it away of course. At the same time, it is always good when you are able to position yourself so that you don't need the votes from others and can just move your representative up a level based on your own votes.

Yeah, I added the tie. Thought he should have to wear one, since he is going to the Senate.

My Thoughts
This 20 year old game surprised me. I first played it at Geekway to the West in 2012 and immediately looked to trade for it. Now that I own it, I'm really glad I do. I enjoy negotiation games, even though because I'm loud and in your face about them, I tend to lose them a lot. This game plays very quickly, it has the nice twist that many Knizia games do by eliminating anyone that doesn't get into the Senate, and yet it still gives you quite a bit of control if you position yourself accordingly. This is one that'll be staying in my collection. The only real downside to this one, in my opinion, is that it doesn't play 6 players.

My Recommendations
Deep Strategy Gamers - You are probably going want to look elsewhere. I consider myself a strategy gamer, but that is just part of the games I play, so I'm okay with this one. But if you want a deep game about getting into the Roman Senate and making this big huge plan and seeing it come to fruition, this isn't for you. You have to depend on others so much in this one, that one person getting upset with you or making sure you don't win can destroy all those beautiful plans.

Lifeboats Fans - Lifeboats is a negotiation game where players vote each other off the boat and into the sea. It is a game that you have to warn the players that everyone will still be friends afterwords. Quo Vadis? doesn't make you warn others to still be friends. Both games give a lot of similar negotiation, but for some reason not voting someone into the Senate seems less mean than voting to send someone to swim with the sharks. I say this to say, I like both games about equally, but if you hate Lifeboats like games, you should still try this one, because it isn't as mean.

Quiet and Shy Player - This isn't the game for you. You have to talk, you have to try and convince your buddy to give you the lift you need, and you have to be willing to trade something for that. Just sitting there quietly and not doing anything but trying to move your pieces will not get you any enjoyment out of this one.

Non-Trading Monopoly Player - You know who I'm talking about. That person who won't accept Baltic Ave for Park Place, because they hate trading or negotiating at all. Not that they don't act like they enjoy negotiating, they do, but they never actually will come to any type of an agreement. Nothing is a good enough deal for them. The point of this game is to make deals and so don't play this game with those that won't make deals. This is what makes the game fast and fun.

*Every 100 Games Series - Back in March of 2006 I began tracking each session of the various board and card games I play. I soon got the idea to write a review on every 100th game I played, one because I like writing reviews, and two because it is interesting to see what game I review next. You can find a list of all of them here: http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/66896/every-100-games-series-reviews

It's Been Awhile

It's been awhile. I don't really have something specific to write about, so let's just do some bullet points.

• Since winning the North America Championship for Warhammer: Invasion (a card game I play), I've been waffling on whether to attend the World Championship, but I'm thinking now that it is an opportunity I should take. Won't be a yearly thing, but I'm sure it'll be fun to do. We even had 8 people at our last Invasion Night here in Indy. Thanks to Meetup.com. If you've never been to that website you should check it out.

• We're back on Wednesday nights with Youth Group while Kaylee and Ella are attending Cubbies & The Kids Room. It's been nice to get back in the groove for that. I taught the other night, didn't do too well, but still enjoyed it and hope God used it somehow. The small group of guys that I'm leading are real fun too, with Freshmen through Seniors in it. I'm excited to see how they grow and change over the year.

• Kaylee and Ella are playing more with each other. Kaylee especially tries to include Ella in a lot of things such as taking a "nap" on the welcome mat on the front door or playing Barbies. Speaking of playing Barbies. I did that.

• It's cold enough now that I think I'm done fishing. Didn't get to go as much as I would've liked to this year, but what year do I? The times I did get to go were fun and I did catch a couple nice small mouth, which just makes me happy. Next year, I'm for sure going to go more on the White River in Noblesville. I want to at least try it.

• I was going to cut my hair, Krista said I shouldn't. Usually I do what I like with my hair (read buzz it), but since she asked me not to I think I'll relent this time. It's getting a bit longer. We'll see how long this lasts. Maybe long enough for dreads? 

• I've made an Essen Resolution. That's something I just came up with. I'm only going to purchase 2 board games and 1 expansion for a year. That's right, until next October not many new games. If I can trade for games, that is fine. If I can sell games, then use that money to purchase new games, that is fine. I just don't want to grow my collection much more. Running out of room and not getting to play everything as much as I'd like. This of course doesn't include Invasion expansions, which is starting to become a separate hobby of its own. I make the rules for Essen Resolutions, so don't judge me.

• I listen to Talk Sports Radio more now than I listen to Country Music Radio

• I'm reading in Acts right now, read about Ananias and Saphira, the people who held back money from the church. Then read Acts 5:13 which says, "Yet none of the rest dared join them (the church), but the people esteemed them highly." My thought on this is how serious this was taken. Joining up meant a lot and people respected those that did join, even if they themselves weren't willing to commit. Just interesting.

Okay, that is all the random catch up stuff. Now back to your regularly scheduled blog reading.