Actualol
patreon
Actualol Newsletter - April 2020
🕑 Added 2020-04-29 11:29:41 +0000 UTCHello locked-down ludographers,
The monotony continues, and there’s nothing good about monotony - which you can tell because it rhymes with Monopoly.
This month I’ve temporarily transformed Actualol into a online tabletop gaming channel, sharing my favourite games to play on Tabletopia and Tabletop Simulator.
For those of you who haven’t tried playing online like this before, I would really recommend it. I was incredibly skeptical of it until it became my only option, but it’s been a good solution to the problem, and helped me keep touch with friends.
Don’t worry I’m not pulling a full Bob Dylan and I will return to talking about real cardboard board games again soon.
Actual Life
We’ve been adapting to the new pace of life, taking the opportunity to catch up on books, films and exercise we’d always promised ourselves we’d get around to.
I created a goal for us to slowly work through our favourite cookery books, in a bid to eventually make every recipe in them. We’ve had many for 10+ years, but only ever return to them to make the recipes we already know we like. Now is the time to challenge ourselves and find some new favourites.
We’re starting with Jamie’s Italy, something of a favourite among my friends. And Ottolenghi, from a popular London restaurant and chef of the same name, with Middle-Eastern rooted dishes, particularly known for incredible salads and cakes.
Our first attempt was Bustrengo (click for recipe), which is a traditional Christmas dish for the tiny country of San Marino. It’s a polenta and apple cake, which has a soft, bread and butter pudding consistency, coming from the 500ml of milk in it!
It was incredibly filling! And feeding 8-10 people, we had to give away some to our neighbours. My other plan was to write in the book what we thought of each recipe, so we’ll remember whether we want to make it again in ten years. Here’s our final scores:
Next up is a simple Cucumber and Poppy Seed Salad from Ottolenghi. It’s been a challenge having the right ingredients for more complicated things when we’re going to the shops as little as possible.
This one tastes a lot like gherkins, but with the bite of a fresh cucumber. Humble, inoffensive, but far from special. Somehow, Serena decided it was worthy of a 9 out of 10, I had to talk her down from a 10! I think we’ll make this one again, because it was so easy.
Finally is Caponata, a dish we love from our trips to Sicily, of fried aubergine and tomatoes. Jamie Oliver’s take on it is pretty close to what we remember, but we both found it overbearingly salty with that amount of olives and capers.
Actual Games
In the times B.C. (before Covid), I would play three or four games in a game evening. Now, the added faff of playing online has meant a hit rate of one game per session. Nevertheless, I do have some games to talk about, played in a mixture of on and offline forms.
I’ve never had the opportunity to play Chinatown before, so it rose to the top of my threateningly long Tabletop Simulator list. (If this lockdown finishes, and I haven’t played every single game I’ve ever been vaguely interested in trying, I will be disappointed with myself, unfairly).
Chinatown is a classic negotiation game from 1999, which makes it as old as The Matrix and Lil Nas X. The idea is that you’re opening businesses in New York’s Chinatown, trying to make the most money.
Each round you’re dealt some lot cards which correspond to the spaces on the board. You pick some to keep - you now own those spaces. Then you’re dealt business tiles, such as florists, antiques shops and restaurants. They are sets which you want to collect and build onto adjacent lots.
The negotiation is free and wild. You can trade lots, building tiles and cash, in whatever way you choose. The more of the same tile you have in a grouping, the more money it will make every round. And if you complete a set, that business is considered finished and you will get even more money for it.
I love how simple the framework of the game is, it really steps aside and lets you get into the trading. A common criticism is that you can calculate exactly how much a building will be worth every round until the end of the game, but I would refuse to play with someone who is slowing everything down by maths-ing it out.
Chinatown is less mean than Lords of Vegas, and a blast if you like negotiation games. I will continue to try and find myself a copy, because it’s my kind of game.
Succulent is a tile-laying game, in which you’re growing trendy hipster plants. On your turn, you play a plant bed tile onto the stony board. You get clippings of the coloured plants that peek through the holes on your tiles. And you place your colour on the tile, to mark it as yours.
You’re trying to collect clippings to meet the objective cards, which give you points. But there’s a few more wrinkles to make the decisions interesting. If you cover a spot with a water droplet, or if you plant adjacent to one of your colour flowers, you get a water droplet token, which you can put in your greenhouse. You pick which colour flower to water in your greenhouse and once you’ve filled up that section, you can trade it in for a clipping of that colour when you score an objective.
Succulent is perfectly pleasant, but never exciting. You don’t feel torn between options when placing tiles. The interaction between players is minuscule. The gameplay doesn’t provide enough return on the amount of rules and game pieces that are in the box.
I appreciate the novel theme, and I imagine it could fill a space for someone wanting a relaxed, tile-laying experience. I’d personally revisit Spring Meadow instead.
Detective: A Modern Crime Game was my favourite game of 2018. A crime solving game with palpable depth to get stuck into. Mysteries to be unraveled and unraveled, like a Christmas present wrapped by a dad who thinks he’s funny.
The LA Crimes expansion, is a three case campaign set in Los Angeles in the 1980s. The basis is the same, a deck of cards with leads to pursue, or not - because there isn’t time to do half of what you’d like to.
Much of the details of the case is found on the accompanying website, where you will type in codes to read interview transcripts and suspect profiles. I’ve been playing the game with three remote friends over a Zoom call, and it’s worked like a dream. I keep track of the board state and read out the cards, and they can all login to the website and read the rest.
LA Crimes is just as good as the original at pulling you in. After each new lead, we’ve been compelled to chat about our theories. And it’s testament to the design that there’s so much ammunition for speculation.
The solution of Case 1 was disappointingly far-fetched, which left a brief sour taste. But Case 2 has started well, and whatever the destination I feel it is worth it for the journey. This may be terribly skewed by me playing it with old friends during the time of a national crisis, but I’m loving it.
Games I’ve been enjoying lately:
- Isle of Cats
- Shobu
- Sobek (on Board Game Arena)
Games that have just arrived:
- Ecosystem
- Oriflamme
- Deadly Doodles
Song of the month - Caitlyn Smith - This Town Is Killing Me
Now watching - Babylon Berlin Season 3 (which is still amazing)
Now reading - The Guest List by Lucy Foley
If any of you are currently working in essential roles to support the rest of us - thank you for your commitment.
Actual love,
Jon
Comments
Daniel Durkin
I am fortunate to have teenage daughters with me (so yes, I did start planning for this pandemic 17 years ago - ha!). Thank you for inspiring us to play Wavelength in co-op mode. That stimulated some great discussions, to where we almost forgot about the game. With daughter #2, we played through all 50 missions of The Crew. She and the game taught me a lot about trick-taking games. It was a bit too easy for two, though still addictive and fun. We're going to try the recommendation to remove one suit (green) and the #1 rocket card. Check it out, if you can.
Daniel Durkin
Chinatown is great fun, but with tense negotiations. Before playing, we all promise to be friends again after the game's end.
