It seems like not long since the last Everything I Gamed post… probably because I only got it up most of the way through November!
So let’s get on with considering all the awesome games I’ve managed over the last month. It’s been a busy month for gaming!
Megagames
The first weekend of the month brought Washington Conference. This was my second time at WashConf, and I even reprised my original role as muckraker Ida Tarbell.
I struggle to do Megagame Reports for games where I play as press because I spend the entire day typing as it is. But here’s an example of the pieces we published throughout the day.
It was interesting to go back to a game I played early on in my megagaming (2015 for the previous run, and the 11th game I ever did). I’m not sure I’d do it for any other game/role, and if I were to play WashConf again, I would probably go for a totally different role.
Also I was touched to see that this run of the game was dedicated to John Powney, a friend and megagamer who passed away last year. It was a lovely mention and a great memorial to such an awesome man.
Zooming forward to the last weekend of the month, I got to play in By The Grace of God. Often games that I miss which are raved about are a bit of a letdown by the time I finally get to play them. But this one was anything but.
I played as Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I, the ignominious King who was the entire reason behind the Civil War at the heart of the game. Charles was played by my IRL husband, Tim.
I will shortly be publishing my report from this game, so I’ll not say too much more here except… I’m glad I’m married to Tim and not Charles!
And finally on the megagame front, we published our megagame schedule for MegaCon, the online convention I’m organising for next February. If you’re into aliens and world politics, apocalypse disaster recovery, power struggles in fictional countries or war games about bridges… Head over to grab your tickets!
Escape Rooms and Immersive Experiences
One of these days this recap post will be a great way to link to all the blogs I’ve published recently, but not this month! Because I also haven’t done my review yet of the excellent Prison Break room I did at Knockout Escape Room in Reading.
I went with 5 friends and we did two rooms (because I’m a snob that refuses to escape with more than 3 other people). Prison Break was a very good game with a few interesting elements, and we would have set the all-time record if we hadn’t been enormous dumbdumbs on the final puzzle!
And sneaking in on the last day of November, I received an invitation to Lady Whistledown’s Finishing School… That’s right, information about the Secret Cinema Bridgerton experience has been sent out!
A short casting questionnaire later, and I’m Bee Bonheur, Keeper of Rocks, with family motto “Be Worthy of Attention”. I’m a “Cat”, which according to the website are “rebellious and wild” and also “born lucky and will always land on your feet”. Sounds fun!
Before the event in February I need to source a regency style ballgown, create a dance card, and bring either a key or a secret… And be prepared to part with either.
After how amazing the Star Wars and Moulin Rouge events were, I am so so hyped for this! (Note – Secret Cinema’s Moulin Rouge was one of my earliest successful blog posts!)
Board Games
After missing Heavy Monday all of last month, we made it back to the Dice Box for some more gaming! This time we booked onto The Reckoners, inspired by the Brandon Sanderson novel series of the same name. I hugely enjoyed these books when I read then in 2018. The game is a cooperative threat management, where you are taking on the big baddies with superpowers, trying to wear them down enough and eventually defeat Steelheart. It was fun to play, but not the sort where I’m dying for a replay.
Later in Nov, we took part in the Dice Box raffle for Pass On The Smile charity. We didn’t win anything during their main raffle, but we did win one of the bonus raffle prizes – a Ginger Fox card game called “Calm Your Tits”. Sure that will go down great for family board games at Christmas!
I did also manage to get over to Leamington’s second board gaming cafe, the Games Den. Unfortunately, I did not make it indoors – I had failed to realise they were closed on Mondays! They’re a bit more of a walk from ours than Dice Box, but hopefully I’ll make it inside someday soon…
What I did make it to was another Girls That Game meetup – I’ve now been along to three of their events and am starting to get to know some people a bit better. We played 7 Wonders this time, a card drafting game set in the ancient world. I didn’t come close to winning, and I still can’t quite remember if I’ve ever played the game before…
Finally, we continue with Pandemic Legacy Season 2, and managed to amazing win our second month in a row on the first play through! This month was a tense choice between going for a harder victory that would be better in the long-run, or taking the easier win that was less good overall. We went for the easy win, having been stung too many times to count by this damn game.
TV and Film
Tim and I went to see Dune (at the cinema, gasp!). It was a good film, but I spent a lot of it wondering why it wasn’t a TV series – the structure of the story seemed to lend itself more to that, and given the success of Game of Thrones it seemed a no-brainer to me.
And I watched the Bake Off Final – and was very very pleased that Giuseppe won! I’d been rooting for him from the beginning.
What else happened in November
I made two trips to London in November – firstly for the megagame, and my friend Ed’s housewarming. Ed’s flat is total smart home goals, and has inspired me to invest in some smart plugs (the smart lights et al will have to wait until we buy down here).
The second trip was a work trip to head to a conference, Think Student Live. Despite the vegan food (not my first choice tbh), it was a very interesting conference.
I also had a chance on this trip to see my uni friend Fish, and to try my first Ethiopian food. Verdict – very very tasty, but very very messy!
I also got to have my first mulled wine of the year when Annika came to visit, and we headed to the Newbold Comyn Arms for a Sunday roast.
Date night in November took Tim and me to the Drawing Board. This is our second trip there since we moved, and it’s already a firm favourite, though his “pretentious ham egg and chips” definitely beat my tempura sea bass. But they both looked pretty awesome.
One of my precious Saturdays was given over to work, when I ran a Virtual Open Day for prospective students. Honestly, even though it was a weekend, it was one of the best days of work that I’ve had in aaaages (probably since pre-pandemic times).
That evening we also got to go see a couple of friends, Matty and James, for dinner. Matty is Italian so getting to go over for real Italian carbonara and tiramisu was a definite highlight of the month!
Speaking of food, I’ve been “celebrating Thanksgiving” (read, any excuse to cook a roast) for several years now. This year I made the traditional dinner of “far too much food”.
And it’s certainly beginning to look a lot like Christmas what with real actual snow in November! We couldn’t resist, and ended up putting our Xmas decs up on the 29th. It’s been a long old year, and a few extra days of Christmas seemed worth it.
Next month
IT’S CHRIIIIISTMAAAAS!
But before that, we’ve got Tim’s birthday, a trip to Leeds and hopefully a Christmas work do. And we’re looking forward to a long block of time off over Xmas, including seeing both sets of parents and a stomping NYE party.
I’m particularly looking forward to doing my Exit The Game Advent Calendar, which I’m sharing progress towards over on my Instagram stories. Come check it out!
And let’s see out 2022 in style!