Is February too late to do a Christmas present haul? Probably! But let’s pretend we’re still feeling festive and Christmas doesn’t feel like it was several decades ago…
Sadly there are still some of my games from 2019 that I haven’t had the opportunity to play yet (damn Covid). But there are some that I have played LOTS so it all balances out.
Anyway, here’s the geeky haul for me and Tim this year.
(FYI: this post contains affiliate links*, which means if you are so tempted by my awesome presents that you decide to buy your own, I might make a bit of money. I’ve decided to go with affiliate links from Zatu Games* rather than Amazon due to a New Year’s Resolution to cut down on my Amazon shopping!)
Pandemic Legacy: Season 2
I got the original Pandemic Legacy for Christmas or a birthday a while ago and never found a time to play it. But when the real-life pandemic hit, it seemed only natural to break it out. I played it with friends based in Reading, Wales and Nottingham throughout the past year, starting week one of lockdown and finishing just before Christmas. It was a fantastic game, and we did absolutely terribly. The world is doomed.
So when I got some Christmas money, I decided to purchase Pandemic Legacy: Season 2* from Zatu Games. This game is more of a divergence from the traditional Pandemic game: set 71 years after Season One, the players are rebuilding from the ashes of the plague-ridden world.
So far, we’ve played the prologue to practice the game before diving in. We had a first-draw epidemic and crashed out after London spiralled into plague central. January went a lot better, but I’m not at all sure this season is going to turn out any better than the last…
Harry Potter Lego
I’m a fanatic Harry Potter Lego collector, and have a GIGANTIC box full of about a dozen different sets mixed together. I try to add to this collection most years, and this year my mum got me the Hogwarts Castle set (4842) from 2010.
It was second hand, so this was my first time working with a set without any idea whether it was complete or not! Sadly there are a few pieces missing, but enough that I could put the majority of the set together – I bet you can’t even spot the missing pieces in the photo above.
And if you can, that wall was clearly damaged because of the Battle of Hogwarts!
Cersei Lannister, Queen Regnant, Funko Pop figure
I also added to another of my collections this year, with a Funko Pop figurine of Cersei Lannister. I already have the classic Cersei look from the earlier seasons, but this year Tim got me the short-hair black-garbed Cersei from seasons six to eight. Here she is with my other kickass women (plus Hodor).
Mysterium Park
If you’ve not played Mysterium, you should! Think Cluedo meets Dixit. But the smaller, quicker spinoff, Mysterium Park*, is well worth a try as well. It slims down the already simple Mysterium mechanics to a game that takes under half an hour and fits into a much smaller box.
This will definitely be a “bring along to a pub games night” game for when life returns to normality.
Box One
I had heard people RAVING about Box One, a mystery boxset for one by none other than Neil Patrick Harris. Sadly, it’s only available in the US, and only at Target, but luckily there are plenty of kind American folks willing to ship it to the UK!
I’ve not cracked it open yet – saving it for a special occasion.
Exit The Game: The Cemetery of the Knight
I’ve played a few of Exit The Game before, and while they’re no match for a proper escape room, they’re a fun way to pass an evening – though I’d also suggest that their 1-4 player count is a lie, and you shouldn’t play with more than two.
Cemetery of the Knight is a 3/5 difficulty, so it will be the easiest one I’ve done so far, but the theming sounds fun.
Space Alert
Space Alert* was one of mine and Tim’s favourite games during university. It’s a crazy manic game where you work cooperatively with up to five players to handle operations on a spaceship, like shooting down external threats, manning the shields and wiggling the computer mouse so the screensaver doesn’t turn on (the most important job). But the twist is that it’s all real-time – you have to make decisions about your actions while listening to an audio-track telling you what is happening on the ship!
It’s a great laugh – we have tried to play it over Tabletop Simulator, but it never quite worked as talking across people on Discord is too tricky. We are already looking forward to playing this IRL with people when we’re allowed.
Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: The Baker Street Irregulars
We finished off box three of Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective last year, and so we just HAD to get box four*! This box is especially exciting because we helped playtest a few of the cases.
SHCD is one of my favourite tabletop games ever. Each box contains ten single-play mystery scenarios which you have to solve in a way similar to a choose-your-own-adventure game. I don’t know that we’ve ever beaten Sherlock… but we did catch Jack the Ripper back in box two!
Arkham Horror LCG
It will probably come as no surprise that we continued to add to our Arkham Horror LCG collection! Firstly, Tim got standalone scenario, Murder at the Excelsior Hotel*, from his work Secret Santa. We took our favourite investigators, Jenny Barnes and Mark Harrigan, through the scenario not long after New Years… It’s a great scenario, probably my favourite standalone so far!
And speaking of our favourite investigators, the standout present of the year has to be from my brother, who got us these fantastic Hero Forge minifigs of Jenny and Mark!
Our final AHLCG acquisition was from another of Tim’s Secret Santas, who got him two novellas: The Dirge of Reason*, featuring Roland Banks (another of his top investigators), and Ire of the Void* starring Norman Withers, a novella-only investigator. These books are very hard to get hold of so this was another fantastic gift.
Bananagrams and Among Us guy
Speaking of Secret Santa, my work Secret Santa went overboard and got me a host of little presents, including an Among Us guy wearing a Christmas hat (not in my present-stack photo as he’s packed away with our Xmas ornaments), and Bananagrams*. This is a really simple yet fun game that’s similar to Scrabble, but more intense.
Online Escape Rooms
And my other Secret Santa got me THREE virtual escape rooms from The Escape Game: The Heist Vol. 1, The Heist Vol. 2 and Rogue Scientist 1990. I’ve not yet managed to play any of them, but you can be sure that a review will follow on here when I do! I’m particularly excited about Rogue Scientist 1990, because the graphics look so fantastically retro!
The Aeneid (Sarah Ruden translation)
Stepping away from the gaming side of things, one present I was excited to receive was the Sarah Ruden translation of the Aeneid. I studied the Aeneid at school and really enjoyed it, but Ruden’s translation is the first by a female translator – plus she has translated it into the same number of lines as the original poem, which is a rarity among translations. This isn’t going to be easy reading though – I might need to dig out my old Latin notes!
Ring Light
My final and possibly best present isn’t really a geeky one, nor one you’re likely to explicitly see on this blog, but it’s my new ring light, which I used to light the photos taken in this blog and maybe every single photo I take from now on, as well as all future livestreams and puzzle cracking sessions.
Bring on 2021
Did you get any good presents for Christmas? Are there any other games I should be aiming to get in 2021?
Disclaimer: this post contains affiliate links, which means I receive money if you make a purchase through them. You can see my full disclaimer here.