Stately Play
Alex sent me this pic for the header and I don't even know what game it's from. How's that for a gaming website editor?

Stately Scrying: What we’re playing this weekend

November 16, 2018 David Neumann Feature 0

Well, this has been a hell of a week. We need to apologize for the disaster that befell our previous forums, but then ask you to put your hands together for the one, the only, Kelsey for figuring out how to piece together a solution. Thus, we have new forums. You’ll need to sign up again if you haven’t already and, please, make sure you monitor your spam folder when you’re looking for that activation email. I’m currently looking at how to get everyone’s Patreon badges working in the new space. Please contact me (dave@statelyplay.com) if it’s been a few days and your title and badge still haven’t been applied. Oh, and if you don’t have a badge because you don’t support our Patreon, why not give it a go? [nice slide into sleazy barker mode, loser -ed.]

After the break you’ll spy everything that the writers and I will be playing this weekend. Or at least hope to play. It’s volleyball tryout weekend, so I’ll be driving and sitting in gyms most of the weekend meaning I’ll probably be on my Switch. I can’t wait.

Das Geisterschiff, Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock and more

I set my tithe at the feet of Priestess Black, a mere mortal prostrate before Lady Time herself.

This weekend will mostly be continuing with the usual suspects. With the additional Anabasis trappings towed at sublight into Battlestar Galactica: Deadlock, I’m continuing on with my expanded campaign run. My Helios Beta flotilla, the oldest in the colonial fleet, are cherished veterans, with vessels nearing a half-ton of confirmed kills. Ships that have seen over sixty engagements around the Cyrannus system. I feel the same way about these dogged warships as people do their XCOM squads, special cogs with teeth as sharp as ever.

My only wish, and it is a dangerous wish at that, would be for some sort of degradation over time. In much the same way aircraft have a limited number of years before retirement, I’d love to see these hardened, patched-up, slapped-about, busted-open beasts of the void follow in the eventual demise of Galactica herself. You can only repair a ship for so long. Cylons might for a time claim dominion on immortality, but this cannot be true for the old warhorses of Caprica, of Tauron, of Canceron and the rest. Let there be a time, where a forlorn shipwright turns from the maintenance report to say that the old girl can no longer hold the line without extreme liability.

Elsewhere, Das Geisterschiff continues to impress. It’s not something I need to play every day, but when I do, it feels right. It runs on the scent of an oily rag, so if you’ve a weak little tablet kicking around, and grungy mecha Wizardry sounds like a Good Time, jump in.

In my recent spiel about said game, I mentioned the marvellous Genki PSX opus, BRAHMA Force. I’m deep in emulator paradise again, having left the warping, jittering crunch of ALIEN Resurrection alone for a while. BRAHMA Force is getting a fresh play-through, and with any luck, I might pen a little something-something for SP. It’s an interesting game, and certainly one I’d love to find a true successor to. Plumbing the depths of a derelict space station in your battlesuit, it feels at times like a proto-Metroid Prime. Auto-lock aiming, lots of Golden Era mecha sound effects, all manner of science-fiction deliciousness wrapped in good Game Feel.

Oh, and I snagged that Space Rangers: Legacy ‘game’ on Android on a lark and long-time fan of Space Rangers 2. Bugger me, it’s everything that should be good and apt for a phone, but the aggressive IAP business is exactly why phone and tablet gaming has — for moi — run aground. Yeah, yeah, sustainability, yeah, yeah, only buy premium…I get it, but there’s a good game in there, set upon by the F2P pirahnas. And what drags itself up onto the bank, half-eaten and bleeding, is a shadow of something I’d otherwise pay full price for.

All hail the Priestess. Long may she favour us.

-Alex Connolly

West of Loathing, Golan ’73, and a lot more

We’ll be hosting in-law Thanksgiving this weekend, with a plethora of under-5s in the house, so I’m likely looking a weekend of Go Away, Monster! and Animal Upon Animal. We also recently picked up Age of War for restaurant play, and my son has yet to lose (suspicions of dark pacts have begun casting a cloud over his reign), so he’s pretty excited to play that more, and may get his wish. West of Loathing  absolutely did its job this past week, and I’m delighted that my daughter has taken it up, but I’ve only a few side quests left to explore. Fortunately, the PS+ games for November are out, and I recall having some interest in Burly Men at Sea. I just gave it my first try, and, while I dig the music, the control system doesn’t feel natural to me at all (partly because the cursor speed appears to be unalterably fixed and uncomfortably high), and I seem to have inadvertently run away from every attempt at adventure and rapidly reached an end. But that seems like a fine basis for a second go, and the game has a rogue’s likeness, if you will.

I’ve finally finished my Carcosa campaign in the AHLCG, and found myself surprisingly willing to allow the final scenario to end in abject failure. Gave the whole thing a very different feel, which made disassembling my player decks at the end oddly thrilling. My next plan for solo gaming is learning FAB: Golan ’73 by playing both sides, which isn’t ideal for a block wargame but should be adequate to help me learn the rules well enough to evaluate the suggestions for solo play on the BGG forums. I was all set up in my game room, but have had to put it away again in advance of small children sleeping there. It’s a good thing I love kids, because I’m pretty excited by what I’ve read about the FAB system. And, of course, hidden away and waiting for Christmas, driving me slowly and appropriately mad, is the unopened copy of Cthulhu Wars I have for my daughter. It may require me to pursue a woodworking project to add removable extra space to our 3’x4’ table.

-Kelsey “Forums” Rinella

Diablo 3, Civilization VI, and, maybe, board games?

So, I’ve already bitched enough about my failure as a gamer when it comes to Diablo 3 and Switch, but that doesn’t mean I’m giving up. It just means I’ll need to find a way to control my rage when I’m killed (again) by a lowly goatman. Anyway, I’m going to be away from home most of the weekend, so I see my Switch being my main source of gaming. That means Diablo 3, Civ VI and whatever else I have on there (too many games to list, most unplayed). I’ll also have my phone with me and, thanks to Asmodee, have been enjoying the Terraforming Mars beta for iOS by playing asynchronous games with my kids. Terraforming Mars has become my teens’ favorite tabletop game to play, so being able to play a board game with them (instead of JS619 who keeps kicking my ass) is a nice change of pace. The TM beta is still pretty rough around the edges, but the game itself is so much fun I don’t really care.

If I do manage any gaming time at home this weekend, I’m going to try and crank out some of the board games that keep stacking up in my basement. Seriously, it’s annoying as hell that I don’t have time to give these new games their due. I’m hoping to get the new version of Brass out on the table at some point as well as Too Many Bones, which I’m hoping to solo. I’ve dropped more money than I dare admit on that game and have yet to play it. Thanksgiving weekend might be the perfect time.

-Dave Neumann

 

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