Lord of the Rings Card Game and April 1st

A look at: 

LORD OF THE RINGS: Living Card Game

(slightly larger original post from my tabletop blog)

(Living Card Game definition Here)

Lord of the Rings: LCG is a card game made by Fantasy Flight.  Its a living card game, for the differences look at my link above near the title.  There is no competing with other players in LOTR:LCG, because you play it cooperatively.  It doesn't matter if Tom has 10 booster sets and 2 expansions, because that only HELPS you, because you're on the same side.  In the game, you and your friends are presented with a series of randomized quests that come from a deck that makes your story.  Both of you pull from a deck that you make from your own cards to try and proceed through the quest.  Quests have varying difficulty and special rules set up from the get go, so there's plenty of reasons to play a quest multiple times.

The game can also be played as a sort of super solitaire, but the harder quests are typically too strong for this play.  Its not impossible, but its better to use the weaker quests to practice on.  Practice you will need, because this game is hard.  If you are not cheating, you will likely be trying to finish the 2nd quest in the starter deck for many many sessions.  The 3rd one will wipe the floor with you until you're a veteran. 

Reviewy type stuff?  The art is amazing.  The pictures are not abstract, and the action in them is inspirational while playing.  It sets the mood perfectly.  The theme of the game works.  There is another living card game set in a popular science fiction universe where you will fight space ships with your overly large horned rams... its silly.  Lord of the Rings:LCG is perfect.  You gather a group of adventurers.  You equip them with legendary weapons and armor, and you slay monsters in locations while trying to finish a quest.  There is no abstraction, you actually make a story as you go.  You are ALWAYS happy to see Gandalf.  If I have one complaint about the game, there are too many little pieces for my liking.  To give the game makers credit, there's a  lot less little knick-knacks than Fantasy Flight usually puts in games, but its still a lot for this type of game.

April 1st

I had a wonderful day outside today.

I'm not one for warm weather, but today was just a delight to be outside.  It could have been influenced by the cold beer I had in my hand, but I don't care if it was.  Spring was here today.  I saw my first bumble bee of the season.  I love bumble bees, I see them as the sort of derpey cows of the insect world.  They don't want to hurt anything, and they're easy to get away from if for some reason you need.  They just make the flowers grow.  I also saw the wasps start coming around.  Just so you know, in Georgia, the red "wasp" like creatures are always wasps.  The black "wasp" looking creatures are dirt dobbers.  There are no black wasps in Georgia.  Dirt dobbers primarily consume black widow males as a food source, so #1 don't kill them if you like a light spider population, and #2 don't break their nests(look like pipe organs); there are 20ish half dead black widows in there waiting for a baby dirt dobber to hatch and eat them.

I had a Shocktop Honey Wheat Bourbon Barrel Aged.  Its "big corporation" alcohol, but it at least is made to have taste.  I don't crap on Shocktop, if I like a beer, then I like a beer.  The bourbon thing is an absolute gimmick.  I do not think it imparted any characteristics to the beer.  The honey, on the other hand, lent a strong sweetness to it, especially after half a bottle.  If you do not like fermented honey beverages, you will not like this.  The closest I can say it tastes to is the Dundees Honey Brown with a wheat beer instead of a brown, and way more honey.  If you took a wheat beer and put a shot of mead in there, you might get close.  I found it wonderfully drinkable after the first bottle.  Get if you like wheat beers, don't get this if you're relying on the "honey" to make you like beer when you don't.  Its a bit sweet and thick for lake enthusiasts to enjoy on a super hot day.  A nice, warm day on the porch though, gets a thumbs up.

I'm not much of a practical joker, and the fact it was April 1st does not elude me.  I saw some amusing stuff(ThinkGeek always has good stuff) and some stupid stuff.  I appropriate this time of the year to happier, more life affirming occasions(like my girlfriend and I's anniversary of first officially being a couple), and commitments to making life better.  I have decided on this year's main goal, and have taken steps toward it.  I have a few minor goals as well, but they'll show up later in the year.  Gotta get the first one down though, probably take a few weeks.  The waiting is the hard part... hence the beer.  I'm not good at waiting, I never have.  Feels too much like doing nothing, so I need things to calm my nerves.