camping

For the Love of Strategy Games

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I blame my Grandpa Ayers for my love of strategy games. How he taught my siblings and I how to move Chess pieces around the board. Which then translated to late night Chess matches while on camping trips with him. There is something nostalgic about playing Chess while eating prunes, graham crackers, and M&M’s. It is no wonder my stomach was usually so upset on those trips into the mountains.

Note: I’m the kid in the far back with the mop hair.

I have tried to share my love of strategy games with my son Wyatt. Teaching him how to move the knight, the rook, and the bishop in Chess. Also sharing with him the other game my Grandpa loved, Stratego. All the while branching out into Hall family favorites Carcassonne and Catan Jr. (I’ll note here: Never play Catan Jr. with Wyatt. He will win. Kid quickly figured out how to game the game.)

This past December, I decided to go deeper into the strategy game depths. Having read reviews, I intentionally asked for My Little Scythe for Christmas.

My Little Scythe

My Little Scythe has been perfect at teaching us how to see the bigger game picture amidst all the smaller moving pieces. I love it.

Wyatt recently came home from a homeschool park day with a deck of Magic: The Gathering (MTG) cards. He said that the other homeschool kids had been playing and had taught him how to play. Now I know that MTG can be an expensive hobby, due to having to buy new cards blindly in order to build powerful decks. I wanted to push past the expense AND further our strategy horizons, so I picked up a box of Dice Throne: Season 2 – Gunslinger v. Samurai.

Dice Throne: Season 2

My wife, Tabitha, is amazing at analyzing instructions and then teaching them to a group. (I think this has something to do with her teaching third grade for eight years. 🙂 ) But after looking over the Dice Throne instructions, she proclaimed, “This is a rule book, not an instruction book that describes how to play the game.”

A few hours of mowing the backyard later…

We decided to consult Watch It Played with Rodney Smith:

Which we found more helpful than the official Dice Throne video. But we still wanted to see the game played out. So we watched a bit of a Game the Game episode:

That was all on Sunday. Due to how crazy our week has been, we have yet to play ourselves. But I wanted to ask you…

Have you ever bought a game and thought, this is overwhelming!

Tell me about it in the comments below.

On the road with Final Fantasy XV

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Monsters exist. They eat children at night. When monsters are famished, they eat adults too. The guys of Final Fantasy XV know this. Which leads them to suggest resting when the sun goes down. Nighttime is scary.

ffxv-camping

But when you are with friends, nighttime is fun! Adventures in the wilderness lead to camping out versus hotel stays. Camping equals amazing meals cooked by master chef and best bro, Ignis. In your many many travels, Ignis collects recipes to cook later on. Food equals stat boots as well as other fun mathematical thingamajigs. Trust me, food is awesome.

One of my favorite things about FFXV is something rather simple, photography. Party member and best bruh Prompto takes pictures as you cruise the countryside. At the end of each day, when you camp for the night, the game gives you a chance to check out Prompto’s pictures. You can even save the ones you like. The guys will also comment on the photos they like as you flip through them. Check it out:

Final Fantasy XV is such a weird game, but I love it. Simple features such as cooking and photography add a wonderful layer of personality. I don’t want this roadtrip to end.

(Note: The video featured above was captured in a hurry. Reason why there aren’t any huge level ups or even that many photos taken. A full day played in-game can yield some pretty fantastic photography.)