Fantasy Flight Filled Sunday

I inadvertently had a game-filled Sunday, and not with the typical hockey and football, which was OK, given the pathetic start to the season for the Flyers.

I went to my buddy Pete's for some Strange Aeons but when I got there his family was still playing a Warhammer Historicals Western game, Legends of the Old West... cowboys vs lawmen. The lawmen managed to rustle off the cowboy's herd to a great extent. Interesting to see scatter dice controlling livestock on the board... steering steers? Awesome game, added it to the punchlist.

So, more skirmish through Strange Aeons didn't seem to our collective liking and we tried a board game instead.

Mansions of Madness! (Image courtesy of BGG)

I finally played Mansions of Madness! It was great and we actually won! This is a big deal, because I've owned a copy for a year and never played it, intimidated by the set up and rules but dying to play it at the same time.

Pete controlled the bad guys, running a maniac around the mansion as the house reacted to our heroic presence... but instead of attacking us the maniac just took samples of hair or whatever maniacs take, and kept running back to the basement. The heroes chased after him and explored the mansion at the same time, solving puzzles, picking up items while detecting clues all while slowly going crazy in the dark.

At one point we swear Mcginn tommy-gunned a maniac to death at the top of the main stairs only to have the maniac reappear later, snatching another lock of hair from the heroes. Pete managed to get the maniac's two offerings to the elder gods and a Shoggoth appeared in the cellar and rampaged up to the first floor, trying to escape the mansion. We stopped it at a choke point on the grand staircase, bullets flying everywhere, but most of the damage was done by the old professor's magic spell Shrivel. Since we had discovered the right clue in time, the heroes were able to win the game. It was just great.

Then I go home for awhile and my cousin Patrick calls, asking me to come over. I went to his place and I showed him Star Wars X Wing for about 30 minutes, which he did not seem enthused about at all, which was odd, given we fledged together in the same Star Wars nest as kids. That, and most of the miniature-game tactile overhead that boardgamers resist in mini games seems missing from this game. Perhaps he is better at staying conservative with a few games instead of being promiscuous, game-wise, as I seem to be these days. I think he isn't convinced about the fact it's just dog fighting.

A short but legit session done, I packed it up and we discussed Memoir '44, some of the missions from the new Equipment Pack (which is awesome) but Pat and his wife Colleen got Elder Sign for Christmas so we stopped fooling ourselves.

After their sons went to bed we played Elder Sign.

After being behind the Doom Track for most of the game, we finally caught up with 8 Eldar Signs at the 11th hour. We then managed to seal Yig away before it awoke but it was a close, hard-fought win. Nobody died either! That was some kind of record for me, for this game and the number of different games in 24 hours.

So in one day, three Fantasy Flight Games were played, which means something, just not sure what.

I've been saying for the last few months how impressed I've been with Fantasy Flight games, as Elder Sign & X Wing managed to displace a long-established habit of steady Memoir '44, 40k and Warmachine. Perhaps it was due? Perhaps it is part of this complete breakfast.

Anyway, it was a blast and maybe I'll have a review of X Wing up soon.