Jamie Wakefield

Well, I showed up at the Evolution Magic shop yesterday to draft. Considering Spain is on holiday I expected thirty people eager to play Magic on a Thursday. Sadly, we had four and one of them was one of those guys who seems to think since he is in a Magic shop the owner is actually paid to listen to him. When he finally took a pause for breath I asked (in Spanish): “Tournament today?” “Yes, draft this morning and Legacy this afternoon.” “I know, but… is it going to happen?” He turns to his partner (as in, business partner, not lover) and gives a questioning look. He clearly doesn’t understand what I am asking. I blame my Spanish. I like this guy. Hell, I like both of them immensely. “I don’t know. It depends.” He smiles and shrugs. It is a motion of “We could do a draft if you want, but I am hoping more people show up.” I couldn’t agree more. Twenty minutes later I am on the phone with Wendy asking “Can you look up Forbidden Isle? I saw good reviews for it and we nee...

This is not at Star City because it is very short and not because I no longer love them. (Read part one below before reading this if you haven't already.) Michele takes me aside. “Hilary really wants to play Magic while we’re here. It would mean a lot to him.” Wendy tells me “Hilary doesn’t usually ask for much. Never actually.” “FINE!” I don’t actually say that of course, instead I sigh, slump my shoulders and say “okay, I’ll find him a tournament that fits our schedule.” Living in Madrid with two shops within walking distance, which each run two tournaments a day has its advantages. I find us a draft for the next morning. Now, if I was smart, we would have then gone online and actually looked at the cards. Do you know that thought hadn’t occurred to me until just this moment? Holy dumb. We show up and I recognize no one but the shop owner who greets me warmly. Hilary has informed me I no longer have to add the 6000 to the front of my DCI number. I pay for my...

Hilary and Michele have arrived in Spain. We showed them a lot of Madrid yesterday and then we came back to the apartment, I carved us some jamon, and we talked until way past dark. This morning I have made them bacon and eggs for breakfast. Wendy jumps in the shower and I am at the computer, Hilary and Michele are relaxing on the couch. Michele asks, "Do they have a comic store here? A place to play Magic?" "Yes and yes. I used to play at two different game stores and there is a comic shop." "Not all in one?" "No." Hilary pipes up with "I want to play Magic while I'm here." "Good luck with that, I don't have enough cards for two decks right now." "No, I mean in a draft." "Do you understand Spanish? Because all the cards are in Spanish." "No..." "Because I've had over two-hundred hours of classes and I can't read the cards flawlessly yet. Do you know the latest set by looking ...

If you read the reviews on Amazon, I'm in the vast minority but I was very disappointed in this game. I read all of the reviews and bought it for Wendy and I for her birthday. We've played it seven times in five weeks, once with four people, and we're pretty much done with it. Small World has all the things I was looking for, but failed to deliver. I like a fantasy theme. I like a simple concept that is supposed to be difficult to master. I like the counters, the board, the extra player instruction sheets, the layout, etc. In fact, I like everything about this game except the actual gameplay. It is somewhat similar to Risk in the fact that you have a board with different hexes you are trying to take over with your clan, be it elves, dwarves, giants, amazons, sorcerers, orcs etc. Paired randomly with each clan is a special ability. Some abilities make it easier to hold hexes you occupy or give you more gold coins at the start or make it easier to conquer certain hexes. Sou...

Wendy and I are gamers. I’ve shown her a few video games and she’s shown me a few board games. My friends from college have always been into the more heavily tactical board games sometimes referred to as European games. I’m referring to games like Settlers of Catan, Diplomacy, Axis and Allies, etc. I have never joined them in their love of these games, preferring Dungeons and Dragons or video games. But, I needed something to bridge the gap between games like Scrabble and video games for Wendy and I. I wanted something that wouldn’t take us eight hours to learn, was good for two players, heavy on strategy, high replay value, and more complex than typical family board games. What I found was Carcassone. The game consists of pulling tiles out of a bag and connecting them to existing tiles already on the board. You start with one tile on the board that contains a road, a field edge, and the beginning of a city. You pull your first tile and it could contain a piece of a city, an en...