Frosthaven

So we can talk about a lot here with the game. Mainly I want to highlight a few things that are different from Gloomhaven. For example, there is the town building aspect. We got to see some stickers for that. I tried not to show off too many. And oddly enough that is the element that makes me interested in getting the removable sticker pack. That gives you a reset of the game.

For Gloomhaven you don’t need that. You can just remember what scenarios, with some simple note taking, are available to you and where you are with prosperity. But for tracking how the town is build, the removeable stickers make way more sense.

I also want to call out two other things that I glossed over pretty quickly. The stickers for the rule book and the hidden information, whatever it is, I’m assuming more stickers, in the punch boards. I guess the “locked” book and the secret envelopes as well. Frosthaven has really upped the legacy game like elements a lot. There is a lot to unlock in the game which is going to make the experience different.

3D Terrain

And then, like I said, I made it harder to go with as I added in 3D terrain. Why, because it’s cool and because Frosthaven is going to be a game that I play for 200 hours. I already know that, which means it’s going to be a bigger experience to enjoy and I’m okay with giving it some bling.

And I am not at all disappointed with the terrain. Big E 3D did a great job with what they’ve created. I only had one minor quibble with color choice, but most everything was amazing. You can checkout the full collection here. Now, it is not cheap, but the amount and quality are worth it. Plus, I did see it on sale when I bought it, so you can wait for that if you want. But checkout the pictures of it I took during the stream below.

Upcoming Streams

So it’s been an odd week and a half with streaming. Last week it was all about what I am going to start this week. And the answer to that is ISS Vanguard. So on Wednesday I plan on starting that. It might be more focused on set-up and some of the first scenario, but we’ll see how far I get and how much time i have to get everything prepped over the next day and a half. That stream will be at 8 PM Central.

And then on Monday, I want to get back to some solo games. Frosthaven with the 3D terrain is worth showing off. But let’s find a solo game to play and get it to the table. What will the experience be like and is it really meant to be played solo. I think I know which game I want to play, I just need to learn the rules. Monday streams are at 8:30 PM Central time.

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Etsy Order

I’m going to start calling out upgrades that I’ve gotten from Etsy or other places. While they aren’t really board games, I think some people will be interested in them, and it’s fun to talk about how I’m making my games easier to get to the table or look prettier on the table.

Terraforming Mars: Ares Expedition Boards

So, this is a game that I already own, but I didn’t get it on Kickstarter. On Kickstarter the player boards are double layer. That means that the cubes recess into them nicely. In the retail box version, the player boards are just thin cardboard. Thankfully it took weeks for people to get overlays up on Etsy. So I bought some acrylic overlays for the player boards. This will basically keep the resources locked into place better so you know how much you produce. I can either just set them on top of the boards, or I might get a clear drying glue and affix the overlays to the boards, we’ll have to see.

Board Game Geek Store

Railroad Ink Big Boards

So, I really like Railroad Ink, and I got to play Railroad Ink Challenge with a group of eight on Saturday night and it was great. The game is thinky but not too complex. This basically takes Railroad Ink and puts it onto a bigger board. Instead of being a 9 by 9 board, I think it might be 15 by 15. Thankfully you get more rounds to try and score as many points as possible. If you haven’t tried Railroad Ink I really do recommend it. These big boards will just be a fun add to the game for me.

Miniature Market

Like I said, Miniature Market gave me a $10 off code for my birthday month. So, not too shockingly, I bought a game. Well, I bought two games. I considered a few others, but the one game I wanted, Rise of Atlantis was sold out, which is okay. I am kind of waiting to find that one used sometime.

Root: Riverfolk Expansion

So, last Point or Order I bought Root. This Point of Order, I got the first expansion before I even played my copy of Root. Why, well, because I have played Root before. Sure, I will explore more in the base box, but I really liked it when I played. So more Root is good. The Riverfolk expansion adds in The Riverfolk Company, The Lizard Cult, another Vagabond and more stuff. So I’m excited to have that one come in and get added into future plays of the game. I need a group to learn the game and play often. Root is really a lifestyle type of game.

Flick of Faith

Awaken Realms is one of my favorite companies that makes board games. They have a sibling company, Awaken Realms Lite that makes, well, lighter-weight games. One of those games is Flick of Faith. I wanted to get this for a long time but could never find it. Flick of Faith is a dexterity game where players flick discs to score points. It almost has a crokinole type feel to it, from what I’ve heard. And Flick of Faith was $30-35 versus $150 for a crokinole board. Plus there are god powers which you use to change up the game. Seems like my type of game. And I want to pull it out at a game night.

Favro Games

Spire’s End

Almost missed this one but I recently talked about Spire’s End: Hildegard. This is a solo generally game where you are taking Hildegard through a story, fighting monsters and more. it is based off of Spire’s End. And while you couldn’t get Spire’s End on Kickstarter with this new one (besides 50 copies), but it just came back up for pre-order on the Spire’s End website. This one is a bit darker in nature, from what I can tell, but still has a chunk of the amazing artwork. So I am really excited to dive into that when it comes, though I suspect that will be a while before it does.

Which Do You Want To Play?

That’s the list for this bit, I don’t believe anything else has come in, though a new Marvel Champions expansion might be in soon, I’m not sure. I don’t know when the next one will be, there are some Geek Up Bits from Board Game Geek for Dice Throne Season 2 that I want to get, but they aren’t in stock yet. But let me know which of the games that you want to play?

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Scratch Off Poster

Now, that sounds weird, what does that have to do with board games? Well, this was something that was big a year ago, I’d say and is still definitely doing well, but these are posters that you can scratch off and they’ll reveal an image when you’ve done something. For example, I have the Top 100 Board Games, from BGG’s (Board Game Geeks) 2019 rankings, so when I play one of the top 100, I can scratch off a spot for that given game. Almost all of these posters do something along those lines (and they aren’t just for board games, I just have one for that). I know that other posters will have things for when you complete a certain challenge, like play a game 10 times in a year, or something along those lines. They are something fun to display in a game room and pretty well designed.

Geek Up Bits

This is going to be specifically for what Board Game Geek sells, but you can find similar things on Etsy as well. And that is basically upgraded bits for your board games. So the example that is shown off most often is for Quacks of Quedlinberg, a bag building push your luck game where you put cardboard tokens in a bag, mix them up and then draw them out. The card board pieces are fine quality, but because you are handling them so much they can get beaten up, colors start to rub off, edges become dinged, so Board Game Geek sells plastic pieces to replace those in your game. Now, that’s a bunch of pieces and might not be cheap, but they also sell other ones, like more realistic looking resources for games. As you’ve probably noticed from some of my other lists, I like to suggest those kind of luxury items that people wouldn’t buy themselves.

Box Insert

Speaking of luxury items, box inserts are another one. There are a lot of great options out there for them, but why would you want them? A lot of games, Fantasy Flight is especially noticeable for this, don’t have great ways to store their games. It might be that there’s nothing in the box, so the handful of cards just slide around. Or there isn’t room for everything when it’s punched out, or in the case of something like Gloomhaven, there are just too many baggies that you’d have to use. So there are companies, Broken Token and Folded Space for two examples, that make inserts for these games. The Gloomhaven one that I have has spots for all the monsters, for the minis, for the tokens, and everything and they just fit in way more neatly than anything I could have done without it, and I tried and did kind of make something with out it, but I was carrying around 3 boxes then versus being able to get everything and the expansion into one box. Now, not all games need these, but they are a fun thing to put together and they can really help speed up the set-up for some games.

Paints

This one will depend a bit more on the person that you’re buying for, but if they like games that have a lot of minis and don’t have them painted, they might want to paint the minis. So you could get them a paint set for the holidays. There are a number of different companies, but I would go with something that says that it’s a beginner set if they aren’t already painting. If they are are already, probably skip this one. But painting minis can be a fun hobby to go along side board gaming for a lot of board gamers. As compared to something like the box insert or some geek up bits, paints are going to be a bit more of a commitment for a gamer, so make sure it’s something that they’ve shown at least some interest in, in the past.

Game Trayz

Now, kind of like I did with the Geek Up Bits from Board Game Geek, there are a lot of other options out there, but Game Trayz is one of the more recognized brands. Game Trayz are basically little plastic containers with sloped edges for holding game pieces while you play a game, though they have done a lot of custom ones for specific games that come with the game. Game Trayz are nice because you can just have some sitting around to hold tokens for when you are playing a game, or if you want, you can use them to store the pieces in the game box instead of a baggy so that the game would be even faster to set-up. Now, you don’t have to go with Game Trayz, there are other companies that make ones specifically for board games, or you could just get a bunch of little bowls if you aren’t storing the tokens in there, just using it on the table. But these are again those bling type items that someone might not get for themselves but would appreciate getting.

Now, I obviously skipped games, so many people get the games that they want that it’s hard to know what game to get, and just going on BGG’s Top 100 won’t help that much because it depends on the players tastes in games what they will or won’t like. If you know there taste well enough and really want to get a game, look for something that is new or hard to find. Kickstarters can also be a decent idea, but most kickstarters that you back now might be delivering around next Christmas.

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Trade Paperbacks/Graphic Novels – Like I just got done saying above, this is probably not for the comic book fan, they are going to have a number of these, but there are plenty of options for people who like the shows or the movies to get them a trade paperback or two. I’d recommend sticking to some big storylines that the person might be a bit more familiar with, or the start of an authors run with a character. If you want to get a Thor trade paperback, don’t grab Thor volume 12, that might be confusing. But there are a lot of great options, volume ones for characters, or compendiums, as often those cherry pick out a few of the bigger story arcs for a character. But then there are bigger stories that you can look at as well. Infinity Gauntlet, Civil War, or Secret Invasion would all be good Marvel comics to get a fan of the movies. The DC shows are currently doing or starting soon Crisis on Infinite Earths, that’s a TPB you could grab, or an iconic Batman story, like The Killing Joke.

Funko Figures – You’re familiar with them, the big headed toys that are for a million different types of characters. I currently have two Stranger Things and Alice Cooper with me at work. But there are a ton of Marvel and DC ones for this. And you can even get it in game form if you want with the DC Funkoverse game. But you can also find unique ones to give as well, there was a whole run for Marvel Funko figures where they were all gold, so if someone already has some, it’s a unique different one. There is also Deadpool dressed up as Bob Ross. There are so many unique ones that it would take a while to list them all, and there can be rarer ones that, if you want, you can track down on eBay. I personally like them as something to put up in my cube at work, because they are pretty small.

Action Figures – Slightly different from Funko figures. Those are more of a caricature of the characters they are. Action figures are going to be closer to the comics and often tied directly into a storyline from the comics. I had a Magneto standing over a destroyed Xavier’s School for Gifted Children. Or Cat Woman stealing a gem from a safe in a Spiderman scene. These figures are also articulated so that you can pose them. Depending on what you get, they can run a little bit more than a Funko figure would. I personally really like the Diamond Select Marvel figures, which may or may not be made anymore, but I have been able to find on Amazon. DC has some nice ones as well. With these, since they can tie into a story as well, you can sometimes tailor it to a big event in the comics that is the person’s favorite.

Disney+/HBOMax – Give the joy of streaming this Christmas and give someone a few months of Disney+ or HBOMax, I could say, give the person a movie or a season of a TV show, but that is something they might already have. With Disney+ or when it comes out the new HBO streaming service (I believe it’s HBOMax) will have Marvel and DC respectively. If someone has been curious about the DC shows like Titans or Doom Patrol, that’s going to be a spot for them to check it out. Or if someone has been a Marvel fan for a long time, they can go back and watch classic episodes of the 1990’s animated Spider-Man or X-Men on Disney+. Plus, Disney+ has more streaming, like the majority of the MCU movies.

Marvel Legendary/Champions – I found a way to fit board games onto this list, and this is for someone who already likes board games. If they are a Marvel fan, both Marvel Legendary and Marvel Champions would be enjoyable for them. The games are two different types of deck builders where the players are trying to take out a villain and stop their evil schemes before it’s too late. Marvel Legendary is later in it’s life cycle where it has a million expansions, which aren’t needed. But if someone already has the game, you can probably find an expansion that they don’t have. Marvel Champions will be getting more expansions over time. The other good thing about Marvel Legendary is that you can tailor it, with the expansions, to make sure the person is getting their favorite character in the game.

Five Minute Marvel/DC Spyfall – Now, if you want lighter games, these are a couple of other options for board games. DC Spyfall is a social deduction game with the DC characters. You are trying to figure out who the bad guy is, but each character has their own unique powers as well that you can use. In Five Minute Marvel, it’s a very fast card driven game that plays, as the name says, in five minutes. It’s also where I got the name for my podcast #10MinMarvel. Especially Five Minute Marvel is going to be good to play with kids as well, because it is a fast paced game and the theme works while being a simple game. Both of these will work well with adults also, so it’s not just for kids, in fact, DC Spyfall, while being fairly simple, might be a concept that is a bit trickier for younger kids.

Artwork – I don’t think that you need to do commissioned superhero pieces, but there are plenty of cool art pieces out there. You can find unique ones on Etsy, or official ones, such as movie posters or even frame some comic books. In our house, we have a couple of pictures that are framed comic books. I have generally used a slightly larger frame with double glass, so no back cardboard on it, and then you just center up a comic in it. I also like using older comics as it gives the look a coop retro vibe. And while there are certainly very expensive older comics out there for beloved stories, you can find a lot of cheap ones that also have cool covers. This is a good option for someone who likes the comics and the movies, and has a lot of those things, but maybe is moving out on their own or needs someone to hang up.

There are going to be more options to give to that superhero fan in your life. Lego, for example, does awesome superhero sets, or there are video games, other board games, RPG’s (though not specific to Marvel or DC currently) and more. I think what I’ve listed out is going to do well for a good age range of superhero fans and you’ll be able to tailor it to them a little bit more. They are also not extremely expensive whereas some things, like Lego, can be quite expensive for larger sets. Hopefully there is some idea for that superhero fan in your life.

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But though I spend a fair bit of time plotting future cosplays, it’s always a long time between events, and a lot of work ends up going into costumes that really, I’ll only spend a few hours wearing. As much as I enjoy going to cons and cosplaying, sometimes it’s fun to have something that I can get a little more mileage out of.

What am I talking about? Why, everyday cosplay, of course! Simply put, it’s a way to rep your favorite stories and characters during a normal day — to subtly (or not-so-subtly, if you choose) show your geeky pride, just for the sheer joy of it.

There are tons of ways to incorporate casual cosplay into a regular day–ways that go beyond just wearing a t-shirt with your favorite superhero on it (though that’s always great fun too). You can go subtle with clever jewelry, like this Divergent-inspired necklace:

Or a little bolder:

You can wear an accent piece that can be covered or shown at will:

Or go all out and put together an outfit inspired by your favorite character’s look:

And you can even take it one step further and decorate your house with nerdy swag:

These are just a few ways to incorporate fandom love into your everyday environment. Don’t wait until the next convention to bring the magic of your favorite stories to life in the real world — carry a little piece of that magic with you all day!

What’s your favorite way to engage in everyday cosplay? Share with us below!

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