Category: Games

Here’s The Post That Makes AW Grin, Shake His Head And Mutter “He’s crazy!”

  • April 1, 2010

I bought some Magic cards online.

Specifically, 41 different boosters from 38 expansions, plus 2 premades.

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To make the long story short – I like having cards from all the expansions, and there were gaps in my collection 🙂

The oldest cards bought were from Fallen Empires and the most recent were from 2010. Some of the packs were from expansions that I don’t remember ever seeing (Scourge, Prophecy), and some were expansions I already had cards from but couldn’t resist the $2.50 per pack price. In only one case did I pay more than $4 for a pack – and that was the $6 I paid for the single Chronicles pack I bought.

I only opened 4 packs yesterday, including one of the two Fallen Empires. I was hoping for a ‘Hymn To Tourach’ (they are common after all), instead I pulled these two cards from the 8 card pack:

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Ah, you have to love the multiple-art approach in that expansion. I expect BS and AW are having fond flashbacks to opening boxes worth of FE boosters right now 🙂

Many of the older cards I bought will likely be unplayable. But a lot of the fun of the game is working out which are and which are not. Looking at a strange card and thinking “Can I use that…?”, and devising some deck that can utilize it. This is in some ways as much fun as actually playing the game!

I’m going to break down the decks I made for Australia and remake a bunch of decks more suited to solo play. I’ve already done that with the black deck, replacing it with a (a bit too) powerful Vampire deck. Next will come green and then I have an idea for a black/blue discard deck as well. Here’s hoping many of the cards in these as-yet-unopened packs will find a place in these as-yet-unmade decks.

Spring Break

  • March 30, 2010

I’m on spring break this week, and I’m spending the time doing a lot of nerdy things like playing games and reading gamebooks and sorting MTG cards and… well doing housework!

Anyway, remember that ‘My Gamebooks’ link I added on the column to the right? I’m happy to say it is now up to date.

The page is a collection of the gamebooks I own. It was born out of necessity, since when I was last in Australia there were a few times I wasn’t sure if I had something or not. Hence a list that I can access from anywhere!

A good portion of these books I have bought online in the last few months. A good portion of this good portion has cost me an average of about $0.50 per book (no kidding). This is because on Amazon and Ebay sellers keep prices very low and make their profits on their (average $4) shipping and handling fees.

There are a great many books not on that list, including many in series I love. These two for instance:

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Both of which I single out because I have lost bids on each. Were I willing to pay $30 or more, I could buy each at any time. But I still dream of the lucky (auction or used bookstore) find 🙂

Other books not on the list I will likely never own, including these two:

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Why never? Simply because they’re valued at more than I would pay. Revenge Of The Vampire was the lowest print run Fighting Fantasy book, and easily fetches over US$100 these days. Allansia – the last book for the Fighting Fantasy RPG – is ever harder to find and goes for a few hundred dollars.

Here’s another book I’d include on my page even though it isn’t technically a gamebook:

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It’s a real bastard to find for anything resembling a low price these days. And my desire to read it has even increased since reading The Secret Files Of The Diogenes Club (see this link for more).

I’ve been reading a lot of these books recently as well. In the last few weeks I have read the Middle Earth book, the Forgotten Gameway book, two Swordquests, one Virtual Reality Adventure and 3 or 4 Fighting Fantasy books. I have to say, even though I’m far from 10 years old these days, I still love reading these things 🙂

This One’s For Dad

  • March 29, 2010

The DSi XL was released yesterday and KLS got one.

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That’s the XL to the right in the above picture. As you can see the screen is much bigger (93% larger apparently) which makes for much easier reading and seeing – especially for old eyes.

The unit is comfortable to hold despite (or maybe because) of it’s larger size, and the new pen-sized stylus that comes with it is particularly great. In short – this is a no brainer purchase if you find the current DS screen difficult to see or if you just want to hold a more comfortable handheld.

I like it so much I’d certainly buy one myself, if it wasn’t for the just announced 3DS due sometime in the next 12 months.

Anyway, as hinted in the title, the main purpose of this review is to let my dad know he has to rush out and buy one of these guys the day they hit Australian stores on April 15 🙂