Injustice Gamer

Author: Alfred

Alfred

Is faith now controversial in boardgames?

Commentary

Or is it just Christianity?

Ierusalem: Anno Domini is a soon to be released game from Devir. The theme? Getting your people closer to the Disciples and Jesus at the Last Supper. Now, one might think non-Christians would either: 1. treat it as fiction and enjoy the game anyway or 2. ignore it. RIGHT?

Nope.

In a now locked thread on BGG, a diplomat and “chaplain” complained about serious errors. Oh, the original post has now been deleted. It’s still quoted in whole in the first remaining post. In fact, most of the comments have now been deleted.

It used to be that the mods would simply move the post to an RSP forum, and let the discussion continue. I’m guessing someone (OP) went crying to the mods when another user, one of long standing, pointed out errors in the original post, such as Peter proclaiming Jesus the Messiah in both Matthew 16 and John 1. Other flaws included conflating the Dead Sea Scrolls with NT contemporary literature.

Another guess is that said OP, who bragged about speaking 11 languages and being appointed a diplomat by Arlen Specter, did not expect to be on the losing side of the argument, nor did they expect pushback on the current form of BGG with all its focus on inclusion and diversity. And at least one of the mods has made it their mission to purge badthink. Well, done right, he still had to follow the TOS which the Chistians did not violate. Deleting sure looks like trying to claim victory or victimhood. Every. Single. Time.

At any rate, I’ve been interested in this game and will be digging into it after release. Yeah, that means I’ll try to post about it. Devir has done a couple other games that are… Christian adjacent. Red Cathedral is about building St. Basil’s Cathedral, and Lacrimosa is about the completion of Mozart’s Requiem.

Alfred

Great Plains Game Fest game con report

Commentary

I attended Great Plains Game Fest last weekend. It was held at the Cornhusker Marriott in Lincoln, Nebraska. Links to games will be via BoardGameGeek.

Venue: As far as space for this convention, it was great. The space was spread out over two floors, with elevator access. There were two large rooms for open game play, with some reserved tables in the downstairs room. In the downstairs atrium there were a number of giant versions of games set up, which saw less play than I expected. RPG play was in a smaller side room(this is a predominantly boardgame con). The con had a game library and a swap meet setup in rooms appropriate for the inventory.

Downside: con food was only available at very specific times per meal, the menu was very small, and I thought walking tacos were a big mistake.

Events: There were a pretty good number of events, with few unique/rare experiences. There were no tournaments this year that qualified for a GenCon trip as in the past. I played in a few events, including a homebuilt version of Modern Art with commissioned artwork and a similar version of Acquire. I ran two myself, a session of Flick em Up! with 8 players, and a full 5 player game of Indonesia, myself included in both of those. I did see a play of Twilight Imperium 4th ed, and one of Point City, among others.

Flick em Up! is a dexterity game of Old West outlaws vs lawmen. We made our way through the first 4 scenarios out of 10 in the base game. Scenarios were won by both teams, and we saw some cool duels take place within scenarios.

Indonesia is a giant economic game of manufacturing and shipping in the islands of Indonesia. Factories ship their goods(must if they can), mergers happen, and companies grow. We ended with two close pairs, one clearly at the top, one just a touch under it, and the fifth player a bit behind them.

Play to Win: One aspect of this con and other smaller cons that is very popular is the play to win selection. Last year, they had a large number of single games from many publishers. This year(geeklist here) spread out wins of games more evenly, so now each player could only win one game. I saw both of these as very positive. I got the chance to play Beer & Bread, Bot Factory, Can’t Stop, Pergamon, and Deblockle.

I know some folks will tell you cons are dead and not to go for various reasons. I can tell you this one is for the most part, very friendly, and focused on games. Yes, you may encounter some political statements here and there. I didn’t encounter much in the way of foul language, though there were some statements here and there that implied political position, and I did not hear any remarks disparaging faith. I can recommend this con, and suggest if you have a smaller game con local to you, check it out.

Alfred

Injustice Comic Review: The Mission of Joan of Arc

Comic Review

Cower not, fierce reader!

Oh, that’s been a long time. Today, I’m going to discuss The Mission of Joan of Arc from Voyage Comics. Voyage is a small Catholic publisher of comics, fiction, and essays. I’m going to divide this into 3 parts: the story, the art, and the union of writing and art.

The story

This is based on Joan of Arc’s life and death. The good here is that it is a worthy subject, and the writing is decent, if a little modern(gotta appeal to kids). My biggest fault here is that there’s not enough. There’s very little prologue to set up the story, and significant jumps in time, with little action in the tale, and while I don’t mind condensed battles or condensing the campaign, this misses that entirely. While this isn’t a military history, there should be some of that. Is it a religious biography? Somewhat, as it is inspired by the play by St. Therese on St. Joan of Arc. At any rate, I wanted more bits of the story, and both more of the military and religious aspect would be good.

The Art

I really have no complaints about the quality of the art. The style is perhaps a little too realistic for me, but this is a minor concern. Here are some samples(on the Voyage Comics website):

There’s a good level of detail, you can tell characters apart, even if you don’t know them, and the action there is is clear.

Union of Story and Art

This is a tough one, and I think this mostly succeeds. I think there’s a balance in audience appeal that should be addressed: kids should not be the only readers, nor the main ones. We should not avoid the hard discussions of violence of war, and we should be willing to confront the evils of the world. These are difficult to find the balance to portray in a way that presents honestly without glamorizing. I think the mark in this case was missed on the depiction of war. A show of ruined fields, of peasants starving or abused by soldiers, a little bit of the horrors of war would be helpful in this as a show of the strength of faith against it.

Overall, this is a good read, and it’s definitely safe for younger readers, though I would prefer one that maybe would prompt conversations about the difficult things. 7/10 fell deeds.

When you play Social Justice, the World loses.

Alfred

Eleven Graphic novels I’m going to read or reread and review this year.

TBR Pile

The Wall from Magnetic Press

Ms. Tree: One Mean Mother from Hard Case Crime/Titan

Wasted Lands by Dave Dorman from Magnetic Press

Ascendant: Star Spangled Squadron from Ascendant Comics

Overmind by Jon Del Arroz

Streamliner vol 1 and 2 by Fane from Magnetic Press

Jazz Maynard vol 1 and 2 from Magnetic Press

The Mission of Joan of Arc from Voyage Comics

Forbidden Tales of Dark Mansion- I have two issues of this book.

Alfred

Injustice Book Review: American Pilgrim by Roosh Valizadeh

Book Review

Cower not, fierce reader!

Today we’re looking at a book someone who triggered the left insanely hard as an author of pick up artist how tos. Roosh has since that time made a very public rejection of that life and lifestyle, and become something they would hate even more: a faithful Christian.

This is his first book since his joining the Armenian Orthodox Chuch(though I believe he is now in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia), and some things stand out very clearly, some good, some bad. This is not a book of theological truth, though there is some. It’s more a travelogue of a speaking tour of the USA.

Firstly, Roosh still knows how to control the frame of a conversation very well. Now, however, he brings conversations back to faith, especially concerning worldly issues of masculinity and sex. He mentions a number of Q&A sessions during his trip, and at many, he redirects someone’s issues with finding a suitable woman to a spiritual issue. He encourages men to avoid the trap he fell in of the lust cycle, and to search for God instead.

Secondly, Roosh has some issues with how he views and relates to women. He acknowledges this, though I venture he is unaware of the full extent. It shows in his characterization of the women he speaks with at his events, for instance, “The blonde woman the blurted out, “Memento mori”.” He may not have been knowledable of the Catholic devotion at the time, and his desire for purity balancing against his past dictating his reactions.

Third, I am impressed with his professed prayer life and need for prayer. He credits this to a desire to avoid a return to his past.

Fourth, Roosh is clearly almost completely unacquainted with the non coastal areas of the US. This is apparent in his brief mention of his dining at a Culver’s, where customer service is almost as highly regarded as it is a Chic-fil-A. He takes a comment hoping he enjoyed a meal in a context of pickup artist, when it’s a consumer relations event. There’s also a bit of ignorance shown regarding the Sturgis motorcycle rally, and the culture of that notorious event.

For all this, I am eager to see where Roosh goes from here. I am hopeful in his conversion being true, and look forward to hearing more from him. Perhaps someday he will join one of the Eastern rites of the Catholic Church; as is, I am grateful for his conversion.

American Pilgrim by Roosh Valizadeh, 8 of 10 fell deeds.

When you play Social Justice, the world loses.

Alfred

A trio of tiny games

Board Game Review

Today I’m going to talk about three very small games from Button Shy. By very small I mean these don’t come in a box; they store in a wallet, as they’re 18 cards each. Here’s a pic from BoardGameGeek for scale: 

For the skeptical, I will tell you there can be plenty of play in those 18 cards. I’ve only gotten 3 games from them so far, though I did back their last campaign on KS.  A number of their games come from specific 18 card competitions, with specific themes. Most take about 20 minutes, so if you’re waiting with someone for a bit, they’re great. Unlike a lot of newer games, these won’t break your pocketbook either, at $12 for the base games, and up to 4 for expansions. 

Skulls of Sedlec is the first game I’m going to discuss. It plays with 2-3, and an expansion allows for solo play. This game is indeed based around the most famous example of Memento Mori architecture.

Each card has two skulls on them, top and bottom. Each skull type has it’s own scoring conditions. On your turn, choose one of three actions: dig, collect, or stack. Digging involves turning over the top card from one of 6 piles. Collect is taking one of the faceup cards into hand. Stack is playing from hand into a pyramid shape. Stacking must be done when a player has two cards in hand.

The variety and distribution of different skull types is what makes the game interesting. One tactic won’t work for every game. Sometimes, you won’t get royals or peasants, but you might get priests and convicts enough to win. And it isn’t just the quantity, but the placement that matters. Here’s a pic(from BGG) of a final pyramid:

Seasons of Rice is a 2 player game of Rice farming. One side of the card is an ancestor with special scoring. The other is a rice field with features of paths, farmers, and buffalo. After ancestors are chosen(as well as starting fields), each player is dealt 7 cards. The game is split into two drafting rounds, the wet and dry seasons. The wet season, players choose 2 cards, one to their field and the other for the dry season. Hands are then swapped. When one card is left in hand, dry season begins. Dry season is selecting from the available pool until empty. 

Rice paddies are scored as they are closed, with bonuses from farmers and buffalo within. Ancestors provide additional scoring, some at the end, and some during play. Loose buffalo cost points.

Tussie Mussie is for 2-4 players, and is based around Victorian flower meanings. Each card is unique, and has scoring conditions and possibly scoring features. 

The game centers around an “I cut, you choose” mechanism. That is, the active player draws two cards; one is faceup, the other down. The next player chooses which one to take, which must maintain its up or down status. Cards are added left to right; adjacency matters sometimes. Three rounds to 4 cards each and the game is over.

I like these in the order I put them. Sedlec seems the most interesting, requiring flexibility and patience. Seasons of Rice has a tile laying and variable scoring that I like, as the ancestors may change your playing methods. Tussie Mussie will play quickly, even at four players, and the theme might draw some more gentle minded folk in. 

Cower not! And play well.