The Actual Reason I'm Not Attending Starfury: Elementary

If my title caught your attention, you are likely to belong to one of two groups. Either you're a disgruntled Sherlock-fan looking more reasons to be outraged about this event. Maybe you read this article in the Birmingham mail, or maybe you helped fuel it, who knows? Or I caught your attention, because you're a Starfury regular, who cannot believe I'm about to throw more kindling into the fire. If you're in the first group, it's you I'm looking to address. If you're in the second, then guys, you really ought to know me better by now.

First Time Playing: Nexus Ops

My initial thought when seeing this game was that the set-up reminded me a bit of Eclipse. Of course it plays faster, is less complex and have far superior playing pieces (they glow - at least the version I played came with those pieces). And while I'm no Star Wars fan, one of the playing pieces was quickly nicknamed Jabba the Hut (guess which one). In Nexus Ops we play for dominance over space, mining resources, waging battles against one another, the whole time trying to fulfil secret missions in order to score bonus points.

First Time Playing: Flash Point Fire Rescue

This is a game that I've heard mentioned in various gaming videos online, so I was really excited to finally get to try it out when my gaming group bought the game recently. In Flash Point Fire Rescue we play as a team of firemen, each with a special ability, who together have to keep a fire in check while going through the house, rescuing the people trapped within it. If we manage to rescue enough people without the house collapsing on top of us, we win the game.

First Time Playing: Legends of Andor

I need to start this with a warning to any dragon lovers out there. If you intend to play this game, be prepared to get completely and utterly distracted from the other players' attempt to teach you the rules of this game - as you will pretend to fly the dragon figure across the board map, have it land in the pile of golden coins, making Hobbit references the whole time. Legends of Andor is a visually stunning game that makes you want it to be a great playing experience before you as much as glance at the rules. I'm not kidding, it's absolutely gorgeous.

Top 10 Things I Hate in Video Games

I've realised that since starting this blog, I've barely given any attention to the topic of video games, and the [very few] people who read it must wonder why I list it as one of the three main categories in here if I don't [seem to] care too much about them. And yes, my devotion to video games have most definitely decreased since my childhood and teenage years, but I still love it, even if I don't spend as much time on it as I do on fandoms and table top gaming. I do still frequent the local gaming stores, my default channel choice when I don't know what I want to watch (or I just want some background noise) is Ginx, and my 3DS and my whole game library for it have a permanent place in my purse. So, as an attempt to rectify the severe lack of video gaming entries, I want to list what I personally love and hate in video games.

First Time Playing: Cardcassonne: The Card Game

So, I'm not entirely sure why this game is named the way it is, as it virtually has no similarities to the original Carcassonne game of drawing tiles and claiming land. Here with Cardcassonne: The Card Game we are laying cards into rows, delicately balancing between playing out cards and claiming a row. Claim a row too soon, and you might be missing out on points - wait too long and someone else might just claim that row before you get to it.

First Time Playing: Firefly: The Game

This game was a definite yes for my gaming collection the very minute I learned of its development. I'm a huge Firefly fan. I've met most of the cast (and recurring people) from both show and movie, gone crazy in the merchandise department (official and not so official), written fanfiction and made fanvideos. I desperately wanted to join the kickstarter campaign, but unfortunately they weren't taking non-American pledges (big frown). Best I could do was pre-order Firefly: The Game the minute I got the chance, which I did, and I was so excited when it finally arrived in the mail that I instantly wanted to play it - even though my friend, who was with me that day, had no knowledge of the show, whatsoever. You can probably imagine how well that went...

First Time Playing: Bruges

So, this was the game I voted for on the game night I ended up playing Kemet instead. And thankfully it didn't take long before I got the chance to try it out. In Bruges your goal is to gain status within a town through building houses, canals and hiring different characters to work for you. There are many different ways to score points, both throughout the game and at the end, and you will soon discover that there is no sure fire way to win

Fanvid: See You Again

First new fan creation from me since I started this blog. It's a Doctor Who video, centred around the relationship of the Doctor and River Song, set to the song "See You Again" by Carrie Underwood. It was a request from the poster SaraBahama on the Doctor/River thread at the Gateworld forum. Enjoy, and leave a comment below if you liked it.

First Time Playing: 7 Wonders

So, I have briefly heard of 7 Wonders, seen it pop up in various gaming videos, and noticed it on the shelf at my gaming group, it just never came up as a suggestion until now. I didn't feel it was all that well explained to me. And I have mostly avoided looking up further information on this game. Because not every game you are introduced to will be thoroughly explained, and since this column is all about that first time experience, and not specifically a review of the game itself, I think it's just as important to capture and express that confusion as it is to explain the actual game.