Tag: Secret Hitler

A Relaxing Trip

On 20th October 2016

To help celebrate my birthday, myself, Lindsay and Megan booked up a nice weekend away at a lodge in Otterburn. My plan had been to chill out and play games all weekend, the girls proffered the idea of visiting some places.

So Friday morning we feed and watered the animals and set off to spend a few hours in Rothbury a picturesque little town to the north northwest of Newcastle, where we had a nice little walk along the old fashioned ships and finally having some lunch in a little cafe. After this we set off to Otterburn and our lovely little lodge for the weekend.

And it was a really nice lodge, nicely decorated with comfortable furniture and best of all a hot tub! We had pizza that night and played Joking Hazard a game I backed on Kickstarter from the team behind the Cyanide and Happiness comic and it was a pretty good little party game.

The next day we drove up to Alnwick where we wandered round the market and Megan bought some mead from the Lindisfarne Mead shop. We had a nice dinner at the Dirty Bottles smokehouse and then went home via Barter Books, who to my dismay did not have an RPG section! That evening we had hot dogs and played a game of Munchkin Gloom.

The Sunday was dedicated entirely to games, starting out with with a nice game of Firefly Fluxx, after a lovely fried breakfast lovely prepared by Lindsay and Megan. Then we cracked open our copy of Tokaido Collectors Edition, another game we Kickstarted, the first one that we as a household Kickstarted together. We got it back in June, but it was only completed recently when we got the missing parts we needed. That was a fun game, which I won, but only because I decided to play as the game designer Antoine who wins all ties!

Then we moved onto Munchkin: The Nightmare before Christmas, a game which we had to import from America because USAoploy don’t publish their games in the U.K., but we enjoyed this version of the classic, I would have won, but Lindsay and Megan ganged up on me, wasting all the cards they had to mess with other players which then allowed Megan to win because there was noting Lindsay could do to help me stop her.

After lunch, Megan wasn’t feeling too well so she sat and watched some David Attenborough whilst me and Lindsay played Thunderbirds with the Tracey Island expansion, which is one of my favourite games. We managed to win that one, but it was close, another couple of turns and we would have lost because of of the missions was going to be so difficult to achieve.

Finally before bed we played a few rounds of Love Letter, which is always a favourite, me and Lindsay did want to play Carcassonne Star Wars Edition, but Lindsay wasn’t taking in the rules so we ended up not playing, which was a shame, I would have liked to have played more games that day, but the girls had a pace they wanted to play at. But we did have plenty of dips in the hot tub though!

Megan was sadly quite sick through the night, so we ended up leaving a little earlier than planned on the Monday to get her home quicker so she could recover for her trip to her Nana’s down in Oxfordshire.

On Tuesday I was due to play a 2500 point game of 40k but annoyingly the car decided to break down on the way to club, we did manage to get the car moving again before the RAC dude came out, and he found a fault on the booster pressure sensor, but the garage aren’t too worried about it, but we are taking him in next week to get looked over anyway, hopefully it’s just a one off, one in a million fault that won’t reoccur.

What I am Modelling

Got my Millitarium Tempestus Kill Team ready to go. I went with the Kapic Eagles colour scheme because I actually quite like it and it’s easy to do following Duncan’s painting guide. I am seriously thinking of entering it into the Warhammer 40,000 Open Day Kill Team Tournament. I figure it will keep my busy, and not spending money, for much of the day, and I might actually stand a chance as not many players use the Millitarium Tempestus and thus they have a little bit of an unknown factor to them.

My list consists of the following

+ Troops (95pts) +

Millitarium Tempestus Scions (95pts) [2x Tempestus Scion (24pts), Tempestus Scion w/ Hot-shot Volley Gun (22pts), Tempestus Scion w/ Plasma Gun (27pts)]····Tempestor (22pts) [Bolt Pistol, Close Combat Weapon]

+ Fast Attack (100pts) +

Taurox Prime (100pts) [Taurox Missile Launcher (20pts), Twin-linked Autocannon]

The Scion with the Hotshot Volley Gun gets Relentless as an Indomitable Specialist, the Scion with the Plasma Gun is a Guerrilla Specialist and takes Preferred Enemy and one Scion with a Hot Shot Lasgun gets Sniper as a Weapons Specialist.

Hopefully this small elite team in the comfort of a Taurox Prime will manage to do some damage.

I have also started to paint up a Blood Angels Kill Team as well, but I will talk more about them next time.

What I am Reading

I have finished Ahriman Sorcerer, which was quite good, I liked how the story built up to the battle, but I was disappointed with the deaths of the characters who has supported Ahriman in the first book, it felt like they got very little in terms of appearances before they were summarily gotten rid of.

I have also been listening to some of the short stories around the Drop Site Massacre as I have been Modelling, stories you forget about like Strike and Fade, Veritas Ferrum and The Phoenician, and I am currently listening to the Crimson Fist, which I enjoy as Alexis Pollux is one of my favourite characters.

What I am Playing

A lot more than I have been of late, other than my trip to the lodge this is what we played.

Last Saturday night, me, Lindsay and Megan played a game of Bohnanza, a really cool game by Uwe Rosenberg, which is an old favourite of ours. It’s all about planting, selling and trading beans to make money, trusts me it’s better than it sounds. As usual Megan dominated the game, winning with 40 coins to my 24 and Lindsays 22.

The next Sunday, whilst Megan was at her sisters with her parents, me and Lindsay took a trip to Consett Tabletop Gaming Society, which meets on every second Sunday of the month. There we played a game of Ticket to Ride on the United Kingdom map, and I got bested very convincingly by Lindsay.

Then we cracked out Secret Hitler and we had 8 cracking games of this incredible hidden roles game. In the first 4 games I had the same Liberal card for all of them which cracked me up so much at the beginning of game 4 we had to redeal the role envelopes.

As when playing with Drew’s print and play set, I had an amazing time, it really is a game that gets your pulse racing. In one game we had passed 5 Facist laws and 4 Liberal laws and failed to elect a government 3 times, so we had to pass the first law from the top of the deck, unbelievably and statistically unlikely, it was a Liberal law wining the game for the good guys, but that game really did have my heart pounding.

The game went down very well with the Consett guys and I can certainly see them buying a copy for their collection.

What I am Backing

At the moment I am backing another project by my old friend, Sliced Quarterly. The stories in t you can read online so you get to try before you buy and they really are some very interesting stories and ways of telling these stories.

What I am Spending

A lot less this week, simply because I have put money into Christmas presents, like an awesome Lego train set for one of the bairns. I did pick up another set of Lascannons to go with my Blood Angels Devastator Squad that Lindsay bought me for my birthday, so I can equip the whole squad with Lascannons and have them sit back and fire off laser death shots!

I also picked up as a birthday treat to myself a box of Blood Angels Assault Terminators, these guys are going to be equipped with Thunderhammers and Storm Shields and form part of my Archangels Orbital Intervention Force, I have a squad of standard Terminators already, so I am going to add another squad of Assault Terminators but give the second squad Lightning Claws.

Secret Hitler Has Arrived

By michael

On 1st September 2016

In Blog

On Tuesday my copy of Secret Hitler arrived, its a hidden identiy game from the guys behind Cards Against Humanity, I spoke about it in my last post. And boy was I pleased with the result, its absolutly amazing.

I got the version that came with the nice wooden box, and that is nice and hefty, ok so the catch and the felt on the bottom could be better, but the box itself is brilliant. For some reason I thought the wood colour would be darker, more like a cherry wood, but its cool as it is, the inlaid logos are lovely to just feel with my fingers.

Inside the wooden box, is the game box, which is quite long for a small game, but this is beacuse the legislative board are single boards as opposed to ones which fold up to make the box smaller. This means they are always flat and its this kind of attention to detail which convinced me to back the game in the first place, and those boards have lovely foil in them as well so they really do pop.

The cards are printed on very good card stock, not sure of the core, and I ma not going to tear one apart to find out, but I suspect its black core card. The biggest highlight for me are the two plaques for the goverment positions, those of Chancellor and President, they are both solid wood blocks with the instructions for each role on the back.

They could have made the whole thing with much cheaper components, but they didn’t they spalshed the $1,479,046 they raised back in December, and it shows.

I can’t wait to get a group of 5 together to play this game, becuase the PnP version is good, so the physical; edition is going to be a bit better still.

What I am Modelling

Not much, I just really seem to have lost my mojo, I did a bit of edge highlighting on my Word Bearers Contemptor Dreadnought tonight, but I suspect I need to do something to get my mojo back.

Last time I was in such a position, I built and painted a 1850 Space Wolves army in a month, perhaps I need a project like that to get back into the swing of things.

What I am Reading

Too much of forums, Facebook and Twitter, I find myself getting angry with people on the Internet at the moment, especially with people who have been calling for a ban of the burkini, or demanding that Caster Semenya be reclassified as a man for her races.

Anyway stuff like that is dragging me away from reading books, I did get started on two chapters of Praetorian of Dorn, and I have put a few more serious science fiction books onto my Kobo, but I must read more!

What I am Playing

Because Lindsay was unwell Tuesday night I never got the Durham Raiders and with the next two weeks being dominated by looking after my nana whilst my cousin is on holiday, i won’t be getting any war games in, I will try to get something in on Sunday, but I may have left it too late to arrange a game.

I will however play a game with Megan in the daytime tomorrow!

What I am Backing

This week I backed Ultimate One Night Alien, yeah I know it’s not the worlds most sophisticated game, but I have the rest of the Ultimate One Night games as well as Ultimate Werewolf Deluxe and I do enjoy these games. Though I do confess Ultimate Werewolf Deluxe rarely gets a run out as I don’t often to get to play games in groups the size of what it needs and even then, Lindsay and Megan prefer the one night version and make thier feelings on that very clear.

Anyway the One Night games are a favourite when we go to Consett Tabletop Gaming Society and have lead to several classic moments, my favourite still being when Lindsay declared that Megan couldn’t be a Werewolf becuase she and Emily were, though I may have gotten the names wrong there. Its a game that gets a gaming session started and gets people in a good mood, and at the end of the day thats what counts isn’t it.

Its up on Kickstarter until the 28th September, so take a look and if you fancy it, go back it.

What I am Spending

I got my PIP this week so I have spent a bit of money, I paid for entry to the Durham Dakka Warhammer 40,000 tournment, hoping to take my Adeptus Mechanicus, but the Space Wolves will be a back up if I don’t get those painted up in time.

I also paid Harry of Mackem Productions for the work he will soon be doing on my Harlequins from Death Masque, as I said, I don’t think I could do them justice so I am handing them over to him to paint in the Veiled Path scheme from Warriors of the Laughing God, simply because I think it looks amazing.

One thing I have done when not in a good state of mind is spend some money I didn’t need to spend, I don’t know why,. but for some reason I purchased another copy of Deathwatch Overkill, I already bought it when it came out in March so why I would buy another copy is a loss to me. It really worries me when things like that happen, I am like my mother, when I am down and depressed, I spend money, usually money I can’t afford to spend. I belived up unitl this Tuesday that I had it under control, but clearly I haven’t.

Lindsay and Megan are normally pretty good at spotting when I am in a funny turn like that, but in this case it was missed, it’s possible it happened while I was in Cardiff as that’s where the shop is I ordered it from, but I did manage to sell it for not too massive a loss to a guy at Durham Raiders.

Headaches and Diabetes

By michael

On 27th August 2016

In Blog

It’s been a slow week, not much has happened at all and I haven’t done very much at all. The weather can’t make up its mind, one day it’s miserable and raining cats and dogs, the next it’s far too hot for me to do anything.

But the one constant thing about this week has been a stabbing constant headache, they started Tuesday and have continued since, I would go and see the doctor, but they will probably blame it on my diabetes.

It’s quite annoying really, every little thing I need medical assistance with, the doctors blame on diabetes, I know it’s a serious disease and I ought to take it far more seriously than I do, but when everything that can go wrong is said to be because of diabetes it’s gets a bit dull.

“Doctor I have been stabbed”, “Well that could be your diabetes” “Doctor I have been throwing up after eating some questionable meat yesterday” “Probably the diabetes” “Doctor my foot fell off”, well actually the last one could be diabetes, but you get my point. Given that I had a head injury when I got run over a couple of years ago, it’s quite irritating when they ignore that as a possible cause of any of my neurological issues.

I did actually get some success with the doctors when my new one decided that the last doctor diagnosing me with CFS could have been premature, so she ordered more blood tests and found I had undetectable levels of Vitamin D, which is probably because I am usually in too much pain to go out much and the sun kinda burns, when I go outside, plus there is nature and stuff. Anyway I now get monthly injections of something and a lovely tasting Vitamin D pill three times a week that honestly doesn’t taste like old feet.

So back to the headaches, and yeah I am not sure what I am gonna do about them, it could be a caffeine related. I haven’t had a cup of tea in about a month, but that caffeine has been replaced with that from cans of Pepsi Max, so I tried having a caffeine free day (so long as Tango Sugar Free doesn’t have caffeine in it), and was I wrong, the headache was just as bad, but then j got hit by a headache of caffeine withdrawal, something I haven’t experienced since the last Nineteen Day Fast I actually participated in, diabetes means I don’t take part in the fast!

Anyway so I currently have no idea why I am getting these headaches or what to do about them, if they are still here on Tuesday I will reluctantly make an appointment to see the doctor, even though it know they will try and blame them on diabetes.

What I am Modelling

Currently I have a few too many projects on my desk, the headache means that it’s been rather difficult for me to do much work, though I have managed to do a little work on a Contemptor Dreadnought for my Word Bearers, it’s going to be armed with two twin linked Volkite Culverins, simply because I think they are such a cool weapon. I airbrushed the majority of the model Mephiston Red, then washed it with Nuln Oil, then doing a little tidying up with Mephiston Red again. After this I dry brushed it with Astorath Red, Ryza Rust and finally Hexos Palesun, which I think has given a nice set of red armour, and this is a scheme I will replicate for the rest of my Word Bearers vehicles.

What I am Reading

I finished Angels of Caliban, which I quite enjoyed as it reached it conclusion, it had the civil war really come to Macragge and showed that Lion El-Johnson really is a ruthless general. The focus on the Dreadwing of the Dark Angels was also pretty cool and got me wondering how this could be represented in the game, but I had to stop myself there because I am not starting another army, I don’t have the room!

I then digested two short stories, Blackshield by Chris Wraght which was very cool and introduced to the fiction an interesting character from Betrayal, as well as giving us an insight to why some Astartes would become Blackshields.

The other story, Myriad by Rob Sanders, which followed up the novella Cybernetica and picked up a thread from that which was left hanging. This story I felt was more like classic more serious sci-if, despite being a Warhammer 40k story, and it really felt extremely fun as the characters were almost strong armed into breaking their own moral code for the greater good. As well as that it had characters straight from the Skitarii codex, giving me hope that maybe we will see the Skitarii become usable units in Heresy games.

I haven’t really listened to any audio books this week because it’s been hard to concentrate, so I have mostly been listening to pod casts instead.

What I am Playing

The headache has jet me from playing much, I was going to play Forbidden Island with Megan on Tuesday but the headaches started that day and I wasn’t much good that day at all. I have played some more Pokemon Go, though less than most weeks due to a mixture of headache and few Pokeballs, though last night it was mine and Lindsay’s monthly date night, so we went to the Metrocentre, ate at Ed’s Diner and then went Pokemon hunting. I currently have saved up candies to perform about 20 evolutions, so plan to camp on a Pokestop and put a lucky egg on to do all those evolutions tomorrow.

My aim for next week however is to play at least two games of something.

What I am Backing

At the moment noting new, although the new edition of Braggart looks very tempting, it really depends on money, my hobby budget this month is going to the extremely talented, Golden Demon finalist Harry Welsh of Mackem Productions for him to paint the Harlequins from Death Masque for me, and I also need to put £50 into the conventions account, so money is tight again. Doesn’t help that I bought a 4 months supply of deodorant from Costco today either.

But it looks like my copy of Secret Hitler is being delivered to me on Tuesday, a game which I am really looking forward to get it. The production quality on it looks phenomenal, and of course I got it in the wooden box, in the few games I have played, it’s been brilliant, it’s a hidden identities game which solved issues that games like The Resistance had that I didn’t even realise they had. And even the print and play version was very nice, though it probably helps that Drew (from The Boardroom podcast) did a great job with his printing and mounting of it on good quality cardboard.

What I am Spending

Ok I bought a Dominos work lunch for me Megan and Lindsay on Thursday as the kitchen was a mess and neither me or Megan was in any state to tidy it up, but it has been a good week for not spending. I did buy two pots of paint, Fenrisian Grey and Evil Suns Scarlet because I had run out of them, and I picked up my available comic subscriptions, that being the August edition of the Munchkin Comic and the next two issues of the Marvel Ultimate Graphic Novel Collection. Oh and I got a brand new sealed copy of The Amazing Spider-Man 2 on 3D Blu-Ray from eBay for £2.99, for various reasons, I haven’t seen it yet, I know it’s going to be terrible, but hey it was a bargain!

I did see a few games in Travelling Man I am very interested in, The Networks from Formal Ferret Games and Moops Monster Mashup from Steve Jackson Games, but like with comics the price of Brexit has really set in and games that would have been £20 for example, before the referendum, are now £24 or £25 which might not seem a lot, but when your budget is limited like mine, it can be the difference between getting it or not.