Watchdog
Right, I do realize that I haven't been posting all that frequently lately so here's a recap on what's been going on:
Right now I'm not feeling that great so that's why I'm doing some catching up on LJ and other less labour-intense activities.
I went to Scotland, I visited a bunch of distilleries (Macallan, Balvenie, Aberlour and Glenfiddich), the Speyside Cooperage and the world's greatest whisky shop - Gordon & MacPhail's. It's a shame that Ryanair only allow one trunk weighing 15 kg. Every excess kg costs €8. The flight home was costly.
I'm currently watching a dog for a friend, her name is Flisa (meaning chip as in a chip off something). She is a flatcoated retriever and she is the sweetest soul you can ever imagine. She only barks when someone's at the door or when the morning newspaper hits her in the head. She has to sleep in front of the front door and the mailman drops the newspaper through the door, right on top of her. This happens every morning at half past four. The mailman obviously doesn't read our big note we've left for him. Anyway, she's a real sweetheart and an endless source of energy. Regardless of what she's been doing, there's always enough energy in her to play and/or cuddle.
I'm currently in a board game kinda mood. I've been playing Carcassonne and Settlers of Catan like mad. If you haven't tried these games, here's a quick recap of how it's done:
Carcassonne is one of those games that you can pick up real quick but there are lots and lots of strategical aspects that you can fine-tune as you become a more advanced player. The basic premise is that each player is dealt a bunch of square tiles, about 1"x1", face down. Each tile is like a part of a map and your job is to build a coherent map using these tiles. Unfortunately, you don't know beforehand which tile you will pick up and it's not allowed not to place your tile. You also get seven followers or "my people" or "meeple". As you build structures, you can claim them by letting your meeple stand there, of course other players will try to outnumber you, thereby winning the structure but by doing so, they might be left without playable meeple. The players take turns deploying tiles and meeple, when you're all out of tiles, the final score is calculated. Very simple and very, very addictive. Here's a shot of what a game in progress might look like:
Carcassonne works really well for two players but anything up to five players will work just fine as well.
The second game is called Settlers of Catan. The idea might seem similar to Carcassonne but they are both very different games. The idea is that you and the other players have reached an island which you have named Catan. There are plenty of natural resources here (wool, brick, lumber, ore and plains for growing seed) and now the race is on to harvest these in order to build the biggest civilization on the island. One similarity between Carcassonne and Catan is that the board consists of tiles, however whereas a Carcassonne board can develop into pretty much any shape or form, the Catan board's geometry is fixed. It consists of a number of hexagons and you may build roads, settlements and cities where these hexagons intersect. Each land tile also has a number ranging between 2-12. You roll two dice and the tiles with the matching number will yield a crop. Those who have built cities or settlements around these will cash in, giving them a possibility to expand their realm.
One of the key elements in this game is trade since it's near impossible to be self-sustaining. There will always be some form of resource that you can't get your hands on and so, you'll have to trade with either the other players of with one of the ports in the game. Since this game was made for either three of four players, people will either become allies or foes depending on how the players play the game. This is not governed by rules, it just happens naturally. If someone plays dirty, the other players WILL team up on him/her. One way of making enemies is by moving the robber, a piece that can be moved by all the players (either by drawing a card that says you can or by rolling a seven). The robber does two things, it steals resources from one player and gives them to the player who moved the robber and also, the tile where the robber stands will not yield any resources.
You can score in a number of ways, the most direct being by building settlements or cities, meeting certain criteria, or you can score by buying certain "development cards", cards that will help you in one way or the other (such as moving the robber). The first player to reach ten points will win the game. A game in progress looks like this:
I've borrowed the images from http://www.boardgamegeek.com/, which is a great site for board games.
Right now I'm not feeling that great so that's why I'm doing some catching up on LJ and other less labour-intense activities.
I went to Scotland, I visited a bunch of distilleries (Macallan, Balvenie, Aberlour and Glenfiddich), the Speyside Cooperage and the world's greatest whisky shop - Gordon & MacPhail's. It's a shame that Ryanair only allow one trunk weighing 15 kg. Every excess kg costs €8. The flight home was costly.
I'm currently watching a dog for a friend, her name is Flisa (meaning chip as in a chip off something). She is a flatcoated retriever and she is the sweetest soul you can ever imagine. She only barks when someone's at the door or when the morning newspaper hits her in the head. She has to sleep in front of the front door and the mailman drops the newspaper through the door, right on top of her. This happens every morning at half past four. The mailman obviously doesn't read our big note we've left for him. Anyway, she's a real sweetheart and an endless source of energy. Regardless of what she's been doing, there's always enough energy in her to play and/or cuddle.
I'm currently in a board game kinda mood. I've been playing Carcassonne and Settlers of Catan like mad. If you haven't tried these games, here's a quick recap of how it's done:
Carcassonne is one of those games that you can pick up real quick but there are lots and lots of strategical aspects that you can fine-tune as you become a more advanced player. The basic premise is that each player is dealt a bunch of square tiles, about 1"x1", face down. Each tile is like a part of a map and your job is to build a coherent map using these tiles. Unfortunately, you don't know beforehand which tile you will pick up and it's not allowed not to place your tile. You also get seven followers or "my people" or "meeple". As you build structures, you can claim them by letting your meeple stand there, of course other players will try to outnumber you, thereby winning the structure but by doing so, they might be left without playable meeple. The players take turns deploying tiles and meeple, when you're all out of tiles, the final score is calculated. Very simple and very, very addictive. Here's a shot of what a game in progress might look like:
Carcassonne works really well for two players but anything up to five players will work just fine as well.
The second game is called Settlers of Catan. The idea might seem similar to Carcassonne but they are both very different games. The idea is that you and the other players have reached an island which you have named Catan. There are plenty of natural resources here (wool, brick, lumber, ore and plains for growing seed) and now the race is on to harvest these in order to build the biggest civilization on the island. One similarity between Carcassonne and Catan is that the board consists of tiles, however whereas a Carcassonne board can develop into pretty much any shape or form, the Catan board's geometry is fixed. It consists of a number of hexagons and you may build roads, settlements and cities where these hexagons intersect. Each land tile also has a number ranging between 2-12. You roll two dice and the tiles with the matching number will yield a crop. Those who have built cities or settlements around these will cash in, giving them a possibility to expand their realm.
One of the key elements in this game is trade since it's near impossible to be self-sustaining. There will always be some form of resource that you can't get your hands on and so, you'll have to trade with either the other players of with one of the ports in the game. Since this game was made for either three of four players, people will either become allies or foes depending on how the players play the game. This is not governed by rules, it just happens naturally. If someone plays dirty, the other players WILL team up on him/her. One way of making enemies is by moving the robber, a piece that can be moved by all the players (either by drawing a card that says you can or by rolling a seven). The robber does two things, it steals resources from one player and gives them to the player who moved the robber and also, the tile where the robber stands will not yield any resources.
You can score in a number of ways, the most direct being by building settlements or cities, meeting certain criteria, or you can score by buying certain "development cards", cards that will help you in one way or the other (such as moving the robber). The first player to reach ten points will win the game. A game in progress looks like this:
I've borrowed the images from http://www.boardgamegeek.com/, which is a great site for board games.