revlob

On Mars is live. Cheaper to actually go there myself. I've not been engaged with the platform for a while, but this is the first Kickstarter campaign I've seen that actually acknowledges Brexit as a possibility:

Friday 31st May - Sunday 2nd June at the NEC.

Please don't tempt me. I'm already resigned to the fact that I'll probably never get it to the table. I'd not be able to afford to offer more than you'd easily get for it elsewhere anyway.

I'll be there, not sure which days yet. The past couple of years has been pretty mad for expansions. I have no fewer than thirteen on my wishlist, so I'm thinking of limiting the number of new games I buy this year, and focus instead on the games I already know I enjoy. My wife caught me looking at Potion Explosion the other day and remarked how it looked fun, so I'll get that if I see it. I always try to pick something up I can enjoy with the kids too, so I'll be visiting the Haba stand to see what's new from them. I've been umming and ahhing over the new Lord of the Rings game from FFG. My budget can't stretch to Gloomhaven and it looks like it might fill the minis-on-an-adventure gap in my collection.

I thought I was done with Kickstarter, but a few campaigns are launching this week that I'm interested in. The newest expansion for Terraforming Mars, Turmoil, is live now. The first KS for TM since the publishers Stronghold merged with Indie Boards with Cards, this is apparently now their preferred way to launch new products. This is particularly notable because the KS version of the expansion includes exclusive recessed player boards, which are going to be a must-have for anyone who's nudged their board during a game. Appearing the same day is the expansion for Anachrony, a big box Euro that did well on Kickstarter a couple of years ago. Fractures of Time adds even more content to a game that already has trouble keeping all of its pieces inside its enormous box. But just for backers, there's an option to pledge for fancy inserts to help with that. Due to appear tomorrow is the newest game from heavy Euro hero Vital Lacerda, On Mars. Every time this guy pairs up with artist Ian O'Toole they manage to create a wonderfully looking game, but every time I'm put off by the price. So with campaigns for expansions to games I already own running this month, and UKGE around the corner, I'll probably have to give this one a miss too, but it looks the bee's knees. Despite being continually delayed, and this time with a long extension, Brexit is still due to happen before any of these campaigns are due to deliver. I think at this stage I'm inclined to take whatever extra delays and costs that come with it, should it happen, and stop letting it hang over my enjoyment of board games like the Sword of Damacles.

It's taken me a while to work out what the kerfuffle is all about, but here's an article which sums it up: https://waypoint.vice.com/amp/en_us/article/vb9gd9/a-cancelled-board-game-revealed-how-colonialism-inspires-and-haunts-games In case anyone else was wondering why "Unpublished Prototype" has sat at that top of Board Game Geek's The Hotness for the past week, it's because that's where all of the discussions surrounding Scramble for Africa have been dumped. Reading through a couple of the threads, it seems that even boardgaming isn't safe from the kind of idiots who use the term "SJW" and rail against a publisher's decision to remove a game from its preorder platform like their First Amendment rights are being violated.

Steam's development has been stagnating for years. We need more competition not only to encourage existing platforms to improve, but to weaken Valve's current grip on the market, which can't be healthy for developers in the long run.

Nightwave Rank 30 hit. Time to take a break, I think.

Loved the first game. It was brutally difficult but could be very rewarding when you finally mastered a character's abilities. Full of interesting risk/reward decisions to make, and tons of challenges to beat and stuff to unlock.

While it's far from perfect, I do think a lot of folks are overreacting about the demands Nightwave places on players. In order to get every single reward, you only have to complete about two-thirds of the tasks set during the season. There's no requirement for you to get everything in the reward table either. Don't want to do a 60 minute survival mission? Fine, then don't do it. You can pass on a signifcant number of the tasks and still get significant rewards for participating, with some of the very best available quite low in the ranks. The game is already packed full of content which places huge time and effort demands on the player, so why is Nightwave getting such a raw deal? As a straight up replacement for alerts I agree, it's not fit for purpose (for new players especially), but make it easier to get Nitain and auras again and I think DE will be half way there.

"Say goodbye, Spock." "Goodbye, Spock." What.

I found the manga hilarious, but I can't admit it to anyone.

It's completely put me off backing projects. I'm much happier to wait for the retail versions of games than to play a guessing game of when/whether my shipment will turn up, and how much I'll have to pay for the privilege. I would only back "EU Friendly" projects before, but I don't feel that offers any reassurance now. Also, I wouldn't think that projects that ship from the UK are likely to be exempt from issues, unless those games are also manufactured in the UK, which is unlikely. Most products will be manufactured in Asia, and will have to be imported to the UK before they can reach your hands. Imported under EU-based tariffs and regulations that will cease to exist when/if we leave.

I haven't been brave enough to try making our own cheese yet. We buy our paneer from the supermarket already cubed. It freezes well. I've ordered saag paneer from a few different places, and its preparation seems to vary wildly. Some serve it a lot drier than others, and that's how we like ours. For the saag, we quickly blanch a huge bag of fresh spinach, and then using a variety of methods, try to get as much water out of it as possible. We've found this is the key to the dish; the drier the spinach before it goes in the pan, the better the result. So ideally you press it in clean muslin, but if you can't be bothered with that then squeezing it in your hands over a colander is fairly effective, or you could do the weight-on-a-plate thing. Once you're happy with the spinach, the rest is fairly quick and easy. Fry paneer on all sides first, then put it to one side. Then fry sliced onions until they start to brown, add chillis, ginger, and garlic, then your spinach, and finally your cheese. Somewhere in the middle of all that I add a good sprinkle of garam masala and a pinch of tumeric. I've found it needs to be generously salted, and don't skimp on the oil either.

I'm planning a vegatarian curry dinner for guests this weekend. We have a bulletproof saag paneer recipe and a good simple tarka daal, I can make paratha and I'm going to give onion bhaji another go, but what I realy need is a good couple of centerpiece curries. I don't feel like the BIR sauce I've been making recently is up to scratch either. Any recommendations?