HoodedHawk

Inspiration hit; I saw some cute bentobox lunches online and decided I’d try my hand. This past week the kids had these for lunch:

For Wednesday game night, Rob, Pete and I played Cuba Libre. I played the Revolutionary Directorate (Directorio, “Student Uprising”, Yellow). Pete was the Government (Blue), and Rob was the 26July faction (i.e. Castro/Che, Red). The Syndicate faction (Green; Organized Crime) was played by an AI. The AI system (flowchart, dice for some decisions, etc.) worked well, and we definitely had to watch out for the Syndicate. As it was, the Syndicate AI player beat me…

This was the first time play for me (and I think Rob also?) but Pete had played a couple of solo games to get the feel. He did a great job teaching us. I’ll definitely play this one again.

This is the 2nd in the COIN (“CounterInsurgent/Insurgent) series from GMT. I have “A Distant Plain“, the 3rd in the series and this play of Cuba Libre *really* makes me want to get ADP to the table!

Rating: 8/10.

Just finished reading Anthony Doerr’s historical novel, All The Light We Cannot See. This was a wonderful reading experience; Doerr’s writing is so expressive and beautiful. The book is the story of two parallel lives just before and during WWII. One is the story of a German boy, Werner, “recruited” into Hitler’s Nazi Youth. An orphan, he is accepted into an elite school because of his genius with radios. It is there he is trained as a soldier (he is 14 when he starts ) and hones his electronics skills.

Meanwhile, the other parallel story is about a blind French girl, Marie-Laure, and her life with her father and uncle during the same period. WWII starts, and thus the lives of both Werner and Marie-Laure intersect and change drastically. Such wonderful, evocative prose; I could not put this book down. Highly recommended.

Saturday I hosted my first Game Night. Unfortunately the timing was a bit off, as Euroquest was this past weekend as well, and many from my gaming group were there. But Pat and George came over and we enjoyed a game of Dead of Winter and then Nexus Ops. Sat around for a bit after Nexus Ops just chatting. The guys ended up leaving ~2AM.

I never did hear (or see) the kids, but in the morning Olivia said “Dad, last night I heard dice rolling and laughter!”. :)

We got in a four-player game of Hyperborea last night. This was my second play; first play was last weekend vs. Dylan. I lost to Dylan, so I figured last night I’d play the faction he played (Blue). I lost again. But it was a fun time. At least Steve said he’d like to play again (and he already picked his next faction: Yellow).

The game is a twist on the deck-builder game, where here you build a collection of “cubes” of various colors. You blindly pick cubes from your collected supply out of a bag; these are used on your turn to take actions. You place cubes on either your player board, or “Advanced Tech” cards in order to do actions. You continue to do actions on your turn (any order) until you have no more you can or wish to do. You then draw 3 cubes for as prep for your next turn (so you can attempt to plan during downtime) and play moves to next player. We played a “medium” length game, where the end game is triggered when 2 of 3 possible conditions met (12 gems collected, 5 adv. tech acquired, or all your minions on the board.). I hit 12 gems first, then Steve, and Steve ended the game by acquiring 5 tech.

There is some “attack” ability in the game, but isn’t very complicated: simply use an “attack” action while in the same hex as your target. Done. Unless the target placed a fort in the hex on their previous turn – the fort soaks up one attack. But forts were rarely placed this game.

Now that I have the mechanics down, and have a better idea of strategy, my next play should end more favorably. :)