F:AT Thursday - Return to Andor and Android: Netrunner

The small red dome offers solace. It gives the eye something to focus on. A feature to keep the mind from snapping as it searches for anything to occupy it other than the horrible white. The  nylon sides snap and crackle as the winds blow unimpeded across the wasteland. 

The man wipes away the flakes from his goggles with one heavily gloved hand, adjusts the fur lined hood of his parka and trudges on. Not too far to go now. The tracks left by his shuffling feet are soon obliterated by the layers of snow that continue to fall from the sky. "Perhaps now and forever more", muses the man.

He reaches the dome and kneels down and fumbles with the zipper that traces a semi circle in the shelter's side. In frustration he uses his teeth to pull the glove from his hand. His fingers feeling the burn of the metal  before going numb. With a wrench of his arm he unseals the tent and crawls inside.

The warmth is almost painful after his time outside. Around the small heater three others are seated and waiting.

One looks up from the board before her and asks "Cold enough for ya?"

It's F:AT Thursday

Having been informed by reliable sources in the media that everyone living in the North East was soon to be obliterated by the "STORM OF THE CENTURY", the true believers gathered for one last fling. When you are facing the end of the world, what better way to spend it than playing games with some good friends?...Ok, not counting having sex with the one you love most, or cuddling your children, or going on a killing spree. If you rule all those things out, games are what's left.

This week we returned to Legends of Andor.

"But wait," you say in that incredulous and somewhat disappointed tone, "didn't you guys play that last week? How am I to feign interest in your blog unless I am presented with new and fascinating experiences?"

To which I would reply after a long moment of reflection and contemplation..."Shut the fuck up."

We started by replaying the scenario that bested us last week. We made short work of it this time. Knowing how the game works this time was a big help and allowed us to make much better decisions but knowing what surprises were in store was a far bigger help. 

Then we proceeded on to Adventure 3. There is some randomization of monsters and objectives in this scenario so perhaps not all will suffer the lack of re-playability that the second one, by our ease of victory, displayed.

We were doing very well, working together to bring down the gor, and skral and trolls (who made their first appearance in this scenario) and, though we were cutting things close, we seemed to have everything in hand. That is until the boss monster was revealed. Some abhorrent super-charged Gor.

He lured us out of the castle by making us think we could crush him easily. He's a gor! He's a punk! At least that's what we thought. But a gor powered by dark magic is more than just a gor, let me tell you. We were just about to teach him a thing or two about the kind of heroes Andor can produce when he pointed over our shoulders and laughed. We looked to see three of his buddies shutting the door on the castle and locking it behind them.

We lost due to the castle being overrun. But it was close and tense. That "throw your hands up in the air, oh my god, wtf" moment when you flip over a card and the scenario throws some real pain your way is great. It does reinforce my belief that the game is better, a whole lot better, your first time through the adventures.

We did have one minor issue with the board and that is the numbering system. Each space is numbered but sometimes it doesn't make sense.  For instance when 18 is not next to 17 and 19 but rather is placed in-between 30 and 32...well that is annoying. Like I said MINOR issue.  

The meeting of the minds portion where we solve all of Earth's problems was as varied as ever. Some of it was of the "too much information" variety. I did feel compelled to berate Shellie for recommending the movie "O" to me. As my recent 5 Second Review relates, I was not a big fan. Turns out she's buddies with the screen writer so she was biased about it from the beginning. We also got a laugh out of discussing the phenomenon of the Super Bowl and how if you tell some people you just don't care about it, their brains get sort of locked up. It just doesn't compute for them.

"You don't care about the Super Bowl? You mean your team isn't playing?"

"No, I don't care about the Super Bowl. I don't have a team."

Or the people that refer to "we" when discussing their favorite team. That always makes me laugh.

"We've worked really hard this year..."

"We? You feel that sitting on the couch watching TV while stuffing your face with chicken wings was a positive influence on the team's performance?"

...............................

My age is such that I never really got into Magic: The Gathering when it first came out. in 1993  I was no longer in school and was busy working, riding motorcycles, and going out to bars to really have even known of it's existence.  And I think that is for the best because I do enjoy that kind of game but the marketing model of a CCG coupled with my semi-addictive type personality would have had me dumping metric shit tons of money into that sink hole. You know, rather than the sink hole of Budweiser beer and aftermarket exhausts for a motorcycle.

In recent years, the LCG model has been coming on strong. I think this is a vast improvement allowing you to know exactly what your buying with the booster packs. It's still a sink hole but one I'm far more comfortable with. So I have attempted to dabble with a few of them.

I bought a big lot of cards for A Game of Thrones LCG, enough to make intro decks for each of the factions. There are a couple problems though. If I play with my friends who are not invested in the game I must teach it every time I want to play. That isn't really a big deal but casual play limits the experience to most superficial of levels and if there is one thing about these games is that they are much much better once you can begin to sense and work with the subtleties and deeper strategies. If I want to play with experienced fans of the game, I'd first have to find them and then commit to being all in. Keeping up with the new cards as they come out. At least if I want to be competitive. I'm certainly not at a point where I wish to devote all my gaming time to one game nor do I want to spend tons catching up on a game that's been going on for a long time.

That's where Android: Netrunner comes in. First and foremost, the game is good. Real good. The asymmetry of the sides, the bluff and counter bluff aspects are great. It's just a whole lot of fun. Josh is also really excited about it so I have a ready opponent. And it's just getting started with the base game and only two expansion packs released as of today so catching up is a non-issue.

I've played it quite a bit and I'm really pleased. So much so that I'm actively looking forward to more cards being released.

"Hey there, Repo", you caution "Didn't you mention a fear of semi-addictive personality leading to impoverishment due to over commitment to a bunch of cards?" Well, yes but they are only putting out one new pack a month and on line prices are $10 or so which I internally put into terms that make it easier for me to relate.

A pack of Netrunner is about the same price as a Double Whopper meal at Burger King and far healthier. So really, I'll be hurting myself to NOT buy the new cards.