Boardgaming in Perth Redux – A Return to Cafe Myriade
I previously wrote briefly about my experience with Cafe Myriade back in 2012. Well, since last November I’ve been back in Perth again for work and I’ve been attending more […]
Category Archives: Opinions
Let’s Kill Trees: Airlines Europe
Airlines Europe Designed by Alan R. Moon Published by Rio Grande Games At the most recent WABA Mount Claremont meetup, I had the pleasure of joining in on a game […]
The Keyboard-Mashing Approach to Naming – NaissanceE, Starwhal, Nidhogg and Samurai Gunn Reviews
Today’s reviews will cover 4 games tied together by ridiculous names, a trio of which make for excellent couch-based multiplayer gaming. I’ll begin with the loneliest game I’ve played in […]
Early 2014 Gaming Goodness…. or “The Indie Time Sink”
Are you prepared for this year’s nominations for GOTY? Are you confused as to why a musician would call himself “Game of the Year Edition”? Are you even hearing yourself […]
The Action Points Podcast! Episode 32: Madoka Covers Racy Reimaginings
In this episode: Meteor-sized spoilers once again as Evan reviews the 3rd Puella Magi Madoka Magica movie a.k.a. End Of Madoka-lion. We also talk a bit about the dust up […]
Shuffling Up: Born of the Gods Prerelease
I enjoy shuffling up some Magical Cards from time to time. It’s part of my yearly quota for my Geek Card renewal. (It’s like a Green Card, but it only […]
The Action Points Podcast! Episode 31: 2013 Recap
In this episode: We take a moment (or hour) to reflect on geek culture/media from the past year. Our hosts Aaron, Daniel, Evan and Adam discuss their favourite video games, […]
2013 Recap – Favourite Video Games (PC, Home Console, Handheld and Mobile)
I didn’t actually get to play through most of 2013’s acclaimed games (Bioshock Infinite, The Last of Us, Gone Home), but I do own them (except for The Last of […]
2013 Recap – Favourite Comic Book Collections and Graphic Novels
I love reading comic books, but I don’t have a lot of space in my apartment, so I generally just wait to buy the trade paperback collections when they’re released. […]
2013 Recap – Favourite Board Games
2013 was a great year for board games. There were multiple standouts in the casual and hardcore strategy board game categories. It also marked a crazy period of expansion in […]
The Action Points Podcast! Episode 30: All the Spiels
In this episode: We get together to review a whole truckload of board games that we played including The Manhattan Project, Sentinels of the Multiverse, Forbidden Desert, Trains and the […]
The Action Points Podcast! Episode 29: Wolf Among the Small Screens
In this episode: MASSIVE SPOILERS once again, as we talk about all the TV shows and anime that ended the past 2012/2013 season. We also discuss some new and returning […]
The Action Points Podcast! Episode 28: A Steam-y Discussion
In this episode: Adam joins us as we discuss Valve’s announcements of the SteamOS, Steam Machines and the Steam Controller. Aaron also shares his enjoyment of the dubstep gun in […]
Buying games with problematic characterisation
After talks with a friend about how uncomfortable I feel supporting Team Ninja and their brand of “male-oriented” game design, I feel like I should elaborate on this topic in […]
The Action Points Podcast! Episode 27: Theros Noble Magical Experience
In this episode: I round up some Magic-playing friends (frequent podcast guest/co-host Adam, Jonathan and Gerald) to talk about Magic, and the (then) new release of the Theros expansion. We […]
Session Report: WABA Decembacon 2013 – 14 December 2013
I’m back in Perth for work, for what is starting to become a trend of yearly work relocation. I was in Canberra for 3 months in 2011 and Perth for […]
Make (More) Numbers Go Up: The Game(s)
Last time, I wrote about Parameters – the abstracted dungeon crawl where you click on boxes to make numbers go up (or down, in the case of your enemies). Well, […]
The Action Points Podcast! Episode 26: Reading Comics with Evan
In this episode: Evan was over at my place so we fired up a mic and talked about some comics we read. Comics included Porcelain: A Gothic Fairytale, Cyborg 009, […]
Board Game Review: Copycat
Copycat Designer(s): Friedemann Friese Publisher: Rio Grande Games Copycat or Fremde Federn, in keeping with Herr Friese’s tradition of having his game names start with the letter F, is a […]
The Action Points Podcast! Episode 24: Horse Master Korra Batman CCG
In this episode: We talk about Batman, Ponies, Horses, Horse Mastery, and some superhero themed board games. Note: Massive spoilers for Horse Master. Lots of talk about horses, Magic: the […]
The Action Points Podcast! Episode 23: Brothers A Tale of Two Sons
In this episode: MASSIVE SPOILERS as we discuss Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons in detail. (Spoiler alert: I liked it). We also talk about some of our highest rated […]
The Action Points Podcast! Episode 22: Erotic Dubstep Scallop Pies
In this episode: We have a more manga-centric comic review session, and Evan also covers some anthology comics that he’s been reading. In video games, we talk about Divekick and […]
The Action Points Podcast! Episode 21: Everything and Manifest 2013
In this episode: Evan catches us up on all the happenings at Manifest 2013 and we review everything we can! Spiel de Jahres 2013 winner Hanabi and nominee Augustus; Sharknado!; […]
The Action Points Podcast! Episode 20: Pacific Rim and the Dice Tower Awards
In this episode: We discuss the joys of Pacific Rimming. Daniel gets very upset by fake Aussie accents. We all discuss our pooping habits at length. We get our anime […]
The Action Points Podcast! Episode 19: Dota 2 and Ouya
In this episode: We have special guests Wern and Mark on to talk with us about the official release of Dota 2 and the release of the Ouya! (Apologies for […]
The Action Points Podcast! Episode 18: Oz Comic-Con and Man of Steel
In this episode: Adam returns as a guest to offer a layman’s (read: not a comic reader) perspective on Man of Steel. The three regular geeks give their post Aus […]
The Action Points Podcast! Episode 17b: E3, Videogames and The Last of Us
In this episode: We are joined by Adam to talk about the news and upcoming games we are excited about out of E3 2013, including The Great Microsoft Backpedal with […]
The Action Points Podcast! Episode 17a: PAX AUS 2013
In this episode: We talk about stacks at PAX Aus! Woo! We got to test the Oculus Rift, played some great local and international indie titles (Duet, Tasty Fish, Johann […]
The disappointment of Kazumi and the joy of The Last Of Us.
[Re-posted from evanritchie.blogspot.com] *** WARNING: Discussions of an explicit nature below, plus spoilers for The Last Of Us *** When approaching the world of anime and manga, there are a […]
The Action Points Podcast! Episode 13: The 2012-2013 TV Season Retrospective
In this episode: An extra long episode on TV – We talk about Matt Smith’s departure from Doctor Who, and look back on some TV shows that we have been […]
Village
Village Designed by Inka & Markus Brand, art by Dennis Lohausen, English edition published by Tasty Minstrel Games. It is an action drafting game about managing your family’s life in […]
The Action Points Podcast! Episode 10: Movies, Geek Culture and Female Armour
Two episodes this week! It is because I am a horrible hack and didn’t get last week’s episode edited :( In this episode: Daniel and I have some movie talk […]
Board Games Recap: October 2012 – April 2013
It’s been quite a while since I’ve done a weekend gaming recap or written pretty much anything solely board game related. In fact, the last six months have been really […]
In which I clarify what it means (to me) to be a gamer, and the value of freemium games.
A while ago, in conversation with fellow podcaster/blogger Evan, I found myself needing to clarify something I had said on a whim. ‘I am not a gamer’ I proclaimed, and […]
The Manhattan Projects Vol. 2
The Manhattan Projects Vol.2 (Collects The Manhattan Projects #6-10) Writer: Jonathan Hickman Artist: Nick Pitarra, Ryan Browne (Chapter 10) Colours: Jordie Bellaire Letters: Rus Wooton Publisher: Image Comics Whipping Boy: […]
Make Numbers Go Up: The Game
I just finished a cute little Flash game called Parameters. It is essentially a total abstraction of the mechanics behind many computer RPG and ARPG games. It looks like this: […]
A Field of Stone Hydras
I was playing Duels of the Planeswalkers, the intro level Magic: the Gathering computer game, when I encountered this amusing situation: I was playing Liliana’s deck against the Hydra encounter, […]
Hello Again and Here Are Some Opinions of Games
Back after a very long hiatus. I’ve moved into a new place, that I now pay the mortgage for, in the intervening time. Packing up for the move and everything […]
Board Game Saturday on Wells 29 September 2012
I’m finally back in Melbourne! This means the triumphant return of Satruday Game Nights at Wells Street. However, the winds that brought my plane home also brought a heaping load […]
Returning to Ravnica
Back in Melbourne! And just in time to attend the midnight prerelease event for the latest Magic: the Gathering expansion set: Return to Ravnica! The prerelease event this time was […]
DOUBLE K IS BACK!
YOU GUYS! (Funny thing, I use “guy” as an asexual term. So is “”man”, in the context of “Hey man” or “Oh man!”. It’s not a sexist thing. Not consciously, […]
Battlepug Vol. 1
Battlepug Vol. 1: Blood and Drool Writer & Artist: Mike Norton Colours: Allen Passalaqua Letters: Chris Crank Cover Artists: Mike Norton and Dominic Marco Publisher: Dark Horse Comics Battler: Giant […]
The Manhattan Projects Vol. 1
The Manhattan Projects Vol.1 (Collects The Manhattan Projects #1-5) Writer: Jonathan Hickman Artist: Nick Pitarra Colours: Jordie Bellaire Letters: Rus Wooton Publisher: Image Comics Crazy: “Robert Oppenheimer” Do you love […]
FTL Part 2: Further Thoughts Late
I previously wrote about FTL, explaining some of the mechanics and concluding that I liked the game. Why, though? The game is fairly random, and the randomness would usually be […]
FTL: In space, no one can hear you scream obscenities at the rebel scum that just tore apart your beautiful ship
FTL was just released yesterday, and I am hooked. It’s a relatively simple title and is essentially a roguelike with spaceships. You start off with a pretty basic spaceship, and […]
Scott Pilgrim’s Precious Little Life: So Good I Bought It Twice
I’m going to take a short break from all the board game talk to review a comic book. The Colour Edition of Scott Pilgrim Volume 1 came out last month, […]
Boardgaming in Perth
Soo.. I’ve been in Perth for work for the last month, and will probably continue to be here until October. Without my heap of games and network of willing accomplices, […]
Board Games on Wells – June/July 2012
Two months since last post? No excuses accepted, best to just dive back in. Let’s talk about games! Suffice to say, we have been playing a lot of games at […]
Catching up on Games
Back in the saddle! Apologies for neglecting my tiny corner of the web. I had a very good holiday in April, while Jeannie was here visiting, and I managed to […]
Board Game Saturday on Wells 31 March 2012
The last Games Night of the month of March heralded even more new games to be played, since I was weak and procured even more new games. To be fair, […]
