"And we sing to the dogs or whoever."

[mrissa]

I am still sick, and my vertigo is still travel-whomped, so my big NYE plans involve a desperate hope for hot and sour soup, on the theory that it is good for congestion and will be strongly flavored enough to help cut through the vertigo-plus-cold appetite woes. markgritter is also sick. Whee.

I am not big on making year-in-review posts, still less big on making decade-in-review posts. So instead I will mention two Christmas present things. One is that this was apparently the year for things to wear upon my wrist. From my grandmother I got a much-needed watch (so now we just have to take it to Macy's to get it sized). markgritter got me these awesome bits of Meteorite NWA869. And Santa Mom put in my stocking a little pewter bracelet that reads, "Fall seven times. Stand up eight." I needed it, and lo, it was there. It's been a lot more than seven times, but then it's been a lot more than eight also.

The other thing is that timprov got markgritter the Battlestar Galactica board game for Christmas. timprov played it with numinicious and ckd, and he liked it, and he suspected that I might, and markgritter likes games a fair piece better than I do, so giving him a game he had a reasonable chance of getting to play seemed like a good thing. And I do like it. I like the balance of cooperation and competition. The three of us played it last night, and before that we played it on Christmas with greykev. On Christmas, Grandma opined that it must be a very complicated game, with all the cards and the pieces, and it is somewhat complicated, but it's not difficult to pick up enough to play. I expect we'll discover nuances as we play it. Most games either don't engage me at all or take over my brain to an unhealthy extent--I can't play Tetris, for example, without having my brain obsessing about Tetris pieces, and I have to limit my Blokus playing or I will have dreams of fitting funny little colored squares together. I think the BSG board game hits the sweet spot between the two. I like not knowing who's on your side for the whole game. I like having a decent possibility of changing your goals mid-game, or at least having to change how you're going to achieve them. At some point I may get experimental enough to agree to play somebody horrible like Apollo, but that's a ways off, I think. Even without the expansion pack you can be any of the good characters, which is to say that you can be country or Western Sharon, Helo, or the Chief. So that makes me happy.

This predates Christmas, but I've also really been digging Antje Duvekot's album The Near Demise of the High Wire Dancer, and no, not just because it starts with a song about vertigo. There's one she wrote after reading a bio of Woody Guthrie, and you can totally tell if you read that particular bio too. And as long as I'm talking about music, have my best New Year's song, Josh Ritter's "Empty Hearts". Josh sorta looks like a scruffy Muppet in this particular bit of video, but I understand there are those among you who like that sort of thing. I'm pretty croaky, but I may still see if timprov is up for playing it, because I love it so much, and it's exactly the right song for New Year's. Even for a wobbly croaky New Year's. Stay safe tonight if you're wilder than we are, or heck, even if you're not.

Comments

[porphyrin.livejournal.com]

I hope you have exactly the sort of New Year's Eve you would like.

We love you guys.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Love you, too.

If I was the sort of person who posted highlights of the decade, November 1, 2003, would be one of the big ones, because that's when we met you three. And January 31, 2007, would be another, because that's when we met Hello Kitty Lily Moo.

Not, y'know, that I am that sort of person. But if I was.

[athenais.livejournal.com]

That sounds like a good board game. Happy New Year.

[icedrake.livejournal.com]

If you find yourself really enjoying the game, you should look into the expansion. Aside from introducing an additional player or two (can't recall exactly how many the game then allows in total), it brings in the Cylon character. The Cylon is known to be on the toasters' side from the outset -- sort of. The Cylon player draws a mission card at the beginning, and that mission is not necessarily to destroy the fleet. It can also be a religious quest to get them to Earth, but -- for example -- to ensure they arrive with under 3 Morale, or something similar. It's possible for the humans to lose and the Cylon player to not win, if they didn't complete their goal.

Brings in a whole new dynamic -- sure, as the Admiral or the President, you can shove the Cylon out the airlock -- but given that in my play-throughs we've only lived to the end about 25% of the time, do you sacrifice the help of a potential ally, or let them help and take your chances that they'll backstab you down the road?

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's very cool indeed.

[icedrake.livejournal.com]

(I can geek out about boardgames for *hours*. Just let me know if you want suggestions :)

Happy New Year, and...

[thorintatge.livejournal.com]

I also received Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game, and I have a question. I've seen the show up through most of season three. Will the boardgame contain spoilers for me? Should I hurry up and watch the rest?

Re: Happy New Year, and...

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

markgritter and greykev have not seen past the end of season 2, and they were fine. I believe the Pegasus expansion contains spoilers for the part of the show that contains Pegasus (predictably enough), but I haven't seen that for myself.

One of the things I like about this game, though, is that it necessarily plays out a different storyline than the show every time. Last game we played, Laura Roslin was the Cylon, Bill Adama was deposed and Sharon "Boomer" Valeri was promoted to Admiral, and then Bill Adama was elected President after Laura Roslin's Cylon status was made known. That is definitely, definitely not how it went on the show! So it's sort of got an alternate history built into every game.

Re: Happy New Year, and...

[thorintatge.livejournal.com]

It sounds like a good deal of fun. William Ketter gave a similar review at tonight's game party. That it exists in the same setting as BSG, but not with the same plot. I think that's rather ingenious. Thanks.

Re: Happy New Year, and...

[timprov.livejournal.com]

Even the expansion is only up through the end of S2.

[zelda888.livejournal.com]

A friend of mine had a New Year's brunch, so I spent some of New Year's Eve taking my first try at lussekatter. I made some rookie mistakes, but was still able to bring some golden abundance to the table. It was neither Santa Lucia Day nor Solstice, but New Year's Day seemed pretty appropriate too, and they were very well received. Thank you!

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad! I make lussekatter for timprov's birthday also, and that's in mid-February, so I certainly am not a purist for limiting them to Santa Lucia Day.