Gaming With My Son While the Gaming is Still Good

I realize that I haven't been posting anything or reading other blogs for a while. I've been taking a bit of a miniature gaming break, buying and playing some collectable card games and other board games with my son before he graduates college next May and doesn't have as much free time as he used to. (Actually, his Spring semester is loaded because he got an internship and a fellowship plus his last classes.) We've also been going to Disney World quite a bit. You know, it will feel strange when he leaves because he has been my hobby buddy since he was a few years old--I was lucky that he has liked everything that I like, from trains to games to theme parks. So the past couple months I've been snapping some photos along the way to "remember the moments," and below is a bit of a photo dump of the games.

I also got in a test game of Black Powder using the paper counters from Napoleon's Battles and this past Sunday I set up my 15mm WWII for some playtesting of some homebrew rules I've been kicking about. So later this week, I hope to post my thoughts on an actual game of Black Powder, not just a read-through, and a quick tip on making easy barbed wire in 15mm.

Monkey Lab is just a plain fun game where you play a monkey running around a lab trying to gather the right items to open as many cages and free as many fellow monkeys as possible. We think everyone from kids to adults will enjoy it. Nothing deep, but there is some strategy and nail biting. The figures on the board come with the game. The gorilla in the background does not--it was just visiting for the evening. If you can pick up this game cheaply, do so.

Honor & Treachery is the latest Learn to Play 2-player set for Legend of the Five Rings, one of our favorite collectible card games. We've been collecting cards for this game for 14 years and have tons of them. Recently, I took advantage of some super cheap sales on the latest set of L5R. You can see some of the booster boxes I bought. They are on the table because I had no where else to put them! If you are interested in L5R, which is based on a fantasy Japanese Sengoku-period world of fighting armies, the Honor & Treachery set is the way to go. It goes for only $15 at Hill's Wholesale Gaming. BTW they had it for only $5 on Black Friday! I picked up an extra just for the cards. Then get the big Gempuku box of 10 starters, which also goes for cheap now. You will be set and need nothing else.

Jeremy picked up the old Tigris & Euphrates game in July at Dice Tower Con, buying it used off a buddy. (Thanks, Rick!) It sat on our shelves until last month. I like tile-laying games and had fun learning this game. I cleaned his clock! I'm still not sure how that happened....

World of Warcraft TCG. Oh my. Several weeks ago, I bought a couple large collections of this game dirt cheap, essentially paying the fellows for just the shipping. It was a bit of a lark for me, since I never played the game. We tried it and were hooked. Then I took advantage of some sales and then some Black Friday sales. Here you see just one of my hauls. Oy! Plus many more boxes and cards not pictured. I also picked up the WoW online game for $5 at Target. I've never played it and am looking forward to it. We also started playing the Vs System card game, which we picked up cheap online on Black Friday,.