PERSONAL DIARY (Sept 2019): A busy ol’ month, September…

Posted on October 2, 2019 by @mangozoid

September was intense…

I’ve said before that this year feels like it’s shooting by, and my September did nothing to dissipate that sentiment… I blinked and it went, and although I technically didn’t receive any KS-backed games this month, I did receive an early KS preview/prototype copy of Salty Dogs from Berserker Art*, so I guess that counts as my ‘new toy’ for the month of September, at least… and it’s good fun, too. Bonus! Ahh yes, and I didn’t buy anything, either, maintaining my not-quite-100%-achieved resolve to reduce my ‘new boardgame’ spending this year!

*Incidentally, Salty Dogs is a quick-fire, pirate-themed fun-packed little filler of a game, and you can back it on KS now: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/saltydogs/salty-dogs-the-card-game — you have the whole of October to get in there and back it, and yes, I like it quite a lot actually!

Ironically, even as I write, my KS-backed copy of Nanty Narking (from Phalanx) arrived this morning, so I’ve already got the month of October covered in terms of having new stuff delivered every month of the year thus far (mainly via KS-backed stuff from last year) — I believe Tainted Grail: The Fall of Avalon and Hero Master are both due to start shipping some time soon, as well, so I suspect that means November is probably covered, too…

I’m disappointed with myself for not posting any game reviews on the blog in September, and hope to remedy this by posting several over the next few weeks, instead, but would like to apologise all the same. I can only promise to do better, I guess…

So what happened this time?

Last month I basically got caught out by a host of problems related to the production of the latest issue of The SPIRIT magazine, and this kind of knocked out the majority of the month for me. If you didn’t already know, I do all the layout and production work for The SPIRIT magazine, or The Spirit of Games & Gamers Magazine (to give you it’s full title), and early in September —a full three weeks after the original deadline for contributions— the editor of the magazine (Kendall Johns) had a series of serious health issues which effectively meant he was unable to work on it at all. The net result is that I took it upon myself to ensure the magazine didn’t miss it’s self-imposed production schedule, and had to scramble around last-minute to ensure the finished content was gathered, collated, edited, and then of course, all laid out and ready to go before the end of the month!

I’m pleased to say I did a sterling job, frankly, and you can see the fruits of my labour for yourself by downloading and reading the magazine — it’s a 90-page PDF jam-packed with boardgaming articles and reviews, and what’s even more amazing: it’s still totally FREE! Any comments or opinions you have on the magazine would be greatly appreciated, especially since I call issue #6 the ‘Alex Bardy edition’… lol

You can download all the previous issues of The SPIRIT from it’s (current) temporary WordPress home: The Spirit of Games & Gamers Magazine.

And… erm… any actual gaming?

Yes! I got an opportunity to play Dune and am glad I didn’t cave in and buy this (it was on my July Temptations List) – it’s an okay-game, but it’s also starkly brutal if you screw up early in the game (imho). I also played more games of Ancient Civilizations of the Inner Sea and Barrage – I think both of these are excellent games, btw, as mentioned last time (New Games and Toys…). I’ve also played lots of Salty Dogs ‘cos it’s basically a good all-round laugh tbh (mentioned above), Cyclades, and a few others.

STOP PRESS — I actually played a game with the rest of my family last month, too! This generally does NOT happen, like, ever, so it’s well worth recording this momentous event, I think. The game? Yeh, well, it was Cards Against Humanity (original black box edition)… Hey! It’s a start!