By Law 1, Article 3 (Board of Directors); Article 5 (Committees); Article 6 (Affiliated Groups); Article 10.3 (Discipline of Members).
All Society members who serve in a leadership capacity within the Society, be it as elected Directors of the Board, Officers, elected positions in Affiliated Groups (Policy 6: Affiliated Groups), appointed positions in Standing Committees (Policy 5: Standing Committees) or appointed positions on the Nomination Committee (Policy 3: Nomination Committee), are expected to be civil in all interactions. Society members who serve in such a capacity, either elected or appointed, are referred to below as a Leader.
f) for any other reason that the Board in its sole and absolute discretion considers to be reasonable, having regard to the purposes of the Society.
Pursuant to Article 10.3 of the Bylaw, the process described below will be the only process used by the Society to address complaints of incivility.
If a person believes that a Leader has violated the grounds, they are first encouraged (but not required) to communicate their concern directly with the Leader. If the Leader continues the behaviour, or if the person considers the behaviour egregious, then a complaint may be filed according to the process described below.
Any member may file a complaint in writing with the President (or, in the case the Presidents' actions are under question, the Vice-President), identifying: the Leader under question and the Society member by name; the facts described in detail upon which the complaint is based; and why the Society member believes the civility policy has been violated.
With the receipt of a complaint, a special meeting of the Executive Committee will be called (Article 4.4 Calling of Meeting) within ten (10) calendar days. If a member of the executive committee is the Leader named in the complaint, they will be notified of the complaint but excused from the special meeting. The purpose of the special meeting shall be to discuss the complaint and determine if the complaint should go forward to be investigated by the Board.
If the Leader named in the complaint is a Board member, then they will be excused from any business related to the complaint, with the exception of the written submissions noted below.
If the Executive Committee decides that the complaint should go forward to be investigated, then the full Board is responsible for determining if a Leader should be exonerated, suspended or removed from leadership in the Society.
a) Provide twenty (20) calendar days notice of suspension or removal to the Leader and shall provide reasons for the proposed suspension or expulsion.
b) The Leader may make a written submission to the President (or Vice-President, if the Presidents' actions are under question) in response to the notice received within such twenty (20) calendar day period.
c) If no written submission is received, the President (or Vice-President, if the Presidents' actions are under question), may proceed to notify the Leader that the Leader is suspended or removed from all the STLHE Leadership roles in the Society.
i) The President (or Vice-President, if the Presidents' actions are under question) will provide a written synopsis of the complaint to the board.
ii) In accordance with By-law No. 1, Article 10.3, the Board shall consider such submissions in a special meeting (Article 4.4 Calling of Meeting) arriving at a final decision and shall notify the Leader via email concerning such final decision within a further twenty (20) calendar days from the date of receipt of the submission.
The length of a suspension will be at the discretion of the Board. A removal will be immediate. A removed Leader cannot again stand for election or re-appointment within the Society. A vacancy on the Board will be filled following the process described in Policy 5, Article 4 (Removal and Replacement of a Director).
The Board's decision shall be final and binding on the Leader, without any further right of appeal.
•	Updated September 2018 to add more detail about the duration of notice and the kind of communication to be used.


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Q: Excel Formula to create two entries from one reference I have all my data in Excel Column A and want to fill the Column B using Formula. See the attached Picture:

If I use "&_x1" and "&_x2" with reference cell it is working but the limitation in this case is, I cannot drag it down to apply the same formula in the following cell in Column B. I have to manually adjust the reference cell by going to each and every rows in Column B.
Is there another approach I can use? My goal is, after I add the formula in Row1-ColumnB, if I drag the corner down, it should fill all the Rows of Column B. I don't need to adjust the formula in any other cell in Column B. The final table should look exactly like you see in the attached picture.

A: The following formula will create the column you need.
Your description makes it clear you are populating a formal Table, so I did it in a manner that does not use SPILL functionality since that won't work in a Table.
=INDIRECT("A" & ROUNDUP(ROW()/2, 0)) & "_x" & IF(MOD(ROW(),2)=1, 1, 2)

The source cell addressing is performed by using INDIRECT() on a string you create from the column letter and a formula. The formula takes the row number and divides by 2, then rounds UP. You divide by 2 to get pairs for each input. If you needed five items per set, you'd divide by 5, etc.
The "1" or "2" value needed in the "_x1" and "_x2" is gotten with another arithmetic operation, this time MOD() using 2 as the divisor and so getting either 1 (odd rows), or 0 (even rows). An IF() tests for which and gives the correct 1 or 2 for building that part of the string.
(If you were not using a Table and wanted SPILL functionality, you could do the same kinds of things using SEQUENCE() instead of ROW() to produce the numbers to be divided, or being trickier, you could use it to generate the row values directly.)

A: You may try this:

*

*An array (CSE) Formula in cell B42:
{=INDEX($A$42:$A$45, MATCH(FALSE, COUNTIF($B$41:B41, $A$42:$A$45)=2, 0))}

*Finish formula with Ctrl+Shift+Enter, and fill down till needed.

*2 helps the formula in cell B42 to repeat values from A42:A45, and is editable.

*Formula in cell C42:
=IF(COUNTIF(B$42:$B42,$B42)=1,B42&"_x1",IF(COUNTIF(B$42:$B42,$B42)=2,B42&"_x2",""))

*Or you may use this also:
=IF(COUNTIF(B$42:$B42,$B42)=1,B42&"_x1",B42&"_x2")
N.B.

*

*Adjust cell references in the formula as needed.

*For neatness you may hide the Help Column.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


This training for the VOA Serbian and RFE/RL Balkans Service affiliates from Serbia and Kosovo focused on Multimedia Production and Investigative Journalism. Zoran Zic, Chief of the VOA Serbian Service, opened the first training session of the seminar and introduced Dr. Elez Biberaj, Director of the VOA Eurasia Division, Adam Gartner, Director of the BBG Marketing and Program Placement Office in Prague, Natalia Ardanza, VOA Producer and Instructor, and Slobodan Kostic, Chief of RFE Belgrade Bureau. Ms. Ardanza led training sessions on team building, role distribution and daily duties, on camera skills practicing session for moderators, production mistakes and how to avoid them. Zoran Zic opened the workshop on Investigative Journalism and introduced Branko Cecen (Čečen), the Director of Belgrade-based Center for Investigative Journalism, and the RFE Azerbaijani Service award-winning investigative journalist Khadija Ismailova. Mr. Cecen gave an overview of the main principles and standards of Investigative Jornalism and illustrated it with examples from his organization's activities and its web portal. After his introductory remarks, Ms. Ismailova trained journalists to identify topics and formulate the main question for journalistic investigation, work with local, national and international data-bases, and pitch a story idea to their media organization. Based on feedback from participants and instructors, the workshop was received very well and benefited affiliates' young journalists and reporters. They confirmed a strong demand and need for this and other training programs in the future.


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Famous 19th Century British Philosophers
Vote for Your Favourite 19th Century British Philosophers
(Philosopher)
Birthplace: Trellech, Monmouthshire, Wales
Died: February 2, 1970
Bertrand Russell was a British polymath and Nobel laureate. His work, which is spread across various fields, has had a considerable influence on philosophy, cognitive science, artificial intelligence, mathematics, linguistics, and logic. Russell is also credited with leading the revolt against idealism in Britain and is regarded as one of the founders of analytic philosophy.
(The Most Influential English-Speaking Philosopher of the Nineteenth Century)
Birthplace: Pentonville, London, England
Died: May 7, 1873
Nineteenth-century philosopher John Stuart Mill is best remembered for his work On Liberty, which spoke of personal freedom and "the harm principle." His The Subjection of Women was one of the first works written by a male author that promoted women's rights. He supported Jeremy Bentham's ethical utilitarianism.
(British Philosopher, Social Activist and One of the Founders of 'Modern Utilitarianism')
Birthplace: London, England, United Kingdom
Died: June 6, 1832
Philosopher and jurist Jeremy Bentham is remembered as the pioneer of modern utilitarianism. He believed in economic freedoms, women's rights, animal rights, the separation of the church and the state, and freedom of expression. Bentham wished for his body to be dissected and then to be displayed as an auto-icon.
George Boole
(Mathematician, Philosopher, and Logician Best Known as the Author of 'The Laws of Thought')
Birthplace: Lincoln, Lincolnshire, England
Died: December 8, 1864
George Boole is remembered for pioneering Boolean algebra, a tool used in digital computer circuits. More of a self-taught mathematician, Boole began teaching at 16 and later grew up to be a math professor at Queen's College, Cork. His work in differential equations and algebraic logic was groundbreaking.
Samuel Coleridge
Birthplace: Ottery St Mary, Devon, Great Britain, United Kingdom
Died: July 25, 1834
Samuel Coleridge was an English poet, philosopher, theologian, and literary critic. He is credited with co-founding the Romantic Movement in England along with his friend William Wordsworth. Despite struggling from bouts of depression and anxiety throughout his adult life, Samuel Coleridge had a major influence on American transcendentalism and writers like Ralph Waldo Emerson.
(Philosopher and Sociologist Known for His Hypothesis of 'Social Darwinism' and the Expression 'Survival of the Fittest')
Birthplace: Derby, Derbyshire, England
Herbert Spencer was the man behind the expression "survival of the fittest," after reading Charles Darwin's iconic work On the Origin of Species. The British anthropologist, sociologist, and philosopher introduced the concept of Social Darwinism, which applied the theory of evolution to societies and social classes.
Joseph Priestley
(Discoverer of Oxygen)
Birthplace: Birstall, England
Best remembered for his contribution to the chemistry of gases, Joseph Priestley was an English scientist, clergyman, political theorist and educator, who has been credited with discovering oxygen independently, publishing his findings before Carl Wilhelm could. A prolific writer, he has authored 150 works on various subjects including electricity. He also contributed immensely to the advancement of political and religious thoughts.
(Mathematician, Philosopher)
Birthplace: Ramsgate, Kent, England
Alfred North Whitehead was a British mathematician and philosopher, best known for his collaboration with his student Bertrand Russell on Principal of Mathematics, a three-volume work on the foundations of mathematics. Also known for his pioneering works on process philosophy and metaphysics, he is credited with developing a comprehensive metaphysical system that differs from most Western philosophies.
Henry Cavendish
(English Scientist Who Discovered Hydrogen)
Birthplace: Nice, France
English natural philosopher, scientist, and a prominent experimental and theoretical physicist and chemist Henry Cavendish is best-remembered for his discovery of hydrogen and his Cavendish experiment. He first recognized that hydrogen, which he termed inflammable air, is a discrete substance which produces water on combustion. He conducted the Cavendish experiment to measure and produce a value for Earth's density.
Houston Stewart Chamberlain
Birthplace: Southsea, Hampshire, England
Died: January 9, 1927
Harriet Martineau
(First female sociologist)
Birthplace: Norwich, Norfolk, England
Died: June 27, 1876
Regarded by many as the first female sociologist, Harriet Martineau was a prominent 19th-century social theorist, classical economist, and intellectual who penned the iconic work The Positive Philosophy of Auguste Comte. She was partially deaf and had lost her sense of taste and smell in childhood.
E. H. Carr
(Historian, Journalist, Diplomat, Writer, Political scientist, Professor)
Died: November 3, 1982
Best known for his 14-volume book A History of Soviet Russia, British historian and diplomat E. H. Carr had been part of the Foreign Office for a long time, before stepping into the academic world. He had also been an assistant editor of The Times and a fellow of both Oxford and Cambridge.
G. E. Moore
(British Philosopher Who was Among the Founders of Analytic Philosophy)
Birthplace: London, England
English philosopher G. E. Moore was one of the pioneers of analytic philosophy. Best known for his iconic works such as Principia Ethica, he also taught moral science and philosophy. Moore was also a sworn agnostic and was part of the Cambridge Apostles, a secret society of British intellectuals.
(Mathematician, Historian of mathematics, Statistician, Historian, Philosopher, Biographer)
One of the greatest statisticians of all time, Karl Pearson established the first university-level statistics department at UCL and also launched the statistics-oriented journal Biometrika. He was also well-versed in law and believed in eugenics. His The Grammar of Science later inspired Albert Einstein and other scientists.
Edward Carpenter
(Poet, Philosopher, Writer)
Birthplace: Hove
Edward B. Titchener
(Philosopher, Psychologist, University teacher)
Birthplace: Chichester
Died: August 3, 1927
R. G. Collingwood
Birthplace: Cartmel Fell, England
George Henry Lewes
Died: November 30, 1878
Owen Barfield
(Philosopher, Writer)
Henry Sidgwick
(British Philosopher and Economist Best Known in Philosophy for His Utilitarian Treatise 'The Methods of Ethics')
Birthplace: Skipton, Yorkshire, England
An influential English ethical philosopher and economist of the Victorian era, Henry Sidgwick is perhaps best known for his utilitarian treatise The Methods of Ethics. He promoted higher education of women and co-founded Newnham College. He remained a member of the Metaphysical Society and co-founded and served as first president of the Society for Psychical Research.
William Stanley Jevons
(British Economist and Philosopher Who Foreshadowed Several Developments of the 20th Century)
Birthplace: Liverpool, Lancashire, England
A pioneer of the mathematical method in economics, William Stanley Jevons was the son of an iron merchant and economic enthusiast. Remembered for his studies on marginal utility and supply/demand, he penned the iconic work A General Mathematical Theory of Political Economy and also wrote on Britain's depleting coal supplies.
William Kingdon Clifford
(Mathematician)
Birthplace: Exeter, England
Died: March 3, 1879
John Cowper Powys
Birthplace: Shirley, England, United Kingdom
F. H. Bradley
(British Idealist Philosopher Known for His Work 'Appearance and Reality')
Birthplace: Clapham, England
A prominent 19th century English philosopher of the absolute Idealist school and a fellow of Merton College, Oxford, Francis Herbert Bradley was an opponent of the British Empiricist theories and utilitarian trends. Well-known for his non-pluralistic approach to philosophy, he devoted his life to writing, publishing five books in his lifetime, most significant among them being Appearance and Reality.
Richard Haldane, 1st Viscount Haldane
(Statesman)
Birthplace: Edinburgh, Scotland
Richard Haldane, 1st Viscount Haldane was a British philosopher, lawyer, and politician. Between 1905 and 1912, he served as the Secretary of State for War and was instrumental in implementing a series of reforms of the British Army called The Haldane Reforms. He also served as the Lord Chancellor twice during his illustrious career. Richard was also an influential writer.
C.E.M. Joad
Birthplace: Durham, England
Dugald Stewart
Birthplace: Edinburgh,Scotland
Dugald Stewart was a Scottish mathematician and philosopher best remembered for his efforts to popularize the works of Adam Smith and Francis Hutcheson. Considered one of the most prominent personalities of the Scottish Enlightenment, Stewart played a major role in explaining the Scottish Common Sense Realism. Among his students were Sir Walter Scott, Sir Archibald Alison, and Sir James Mackintosh.
T. H. Green
Birthplace: Birkin, England
Died: March 26, 1882
Bernard Bosanquet
Birthplace: Alnwick
Richard Whately
(British Philosopher, Economist, Theologian and Former Archbishop of Dublin)
Birthplace: Cavendish Square, London, England
Died: October 8, 1863
Richard Whately was an English logician, academic, rhetorician, economist, theologian, and philosopher. His influential work Elements of Logic, which popularized the study of logic in the United States of America and in Britain, inspired several logicians including Charles Sanders Peirce, who read the book when he was 12 years old.
Charles Kay Ogden
(English Linguist, Author, and Philosopher Who Developed English as a Mode of International Communication)
Birthplace: Fleetwood, England
Samuel Alexander
Birthplace: Sydney, Australia
Australian-British philosopher Samuel Alexander initially rejected a fellowship at Lincoln College, Oxford, to study experimental psychology instead. He taught at Owens College for most of his life. He is best remembered for the philosophical ideas expressed in his book Space, Time and Deity, and for his interest in metaphysics.
Walter Terence Stace
(Civil Servant)
Richard Payne Knight
(Archaeologist)
Birthplace: England
James Martineau
Birthplace: Norwich, England, United Kingdom
John Cartwright
(British politician)
Birthplace: Marnham, England
Known as the Father of Reform, John Cartwright made significant parliamentary reforms, which later became part of the People's Charter. An English naval officer, he had also been part of the Seven Years' War. He also worked for universal suffrage and, in his later life, invested in crop trials and agricultural improvement.
George Stout
Birthplace: South Shields, England
Edward Spencer Beesly
(Historian, philosopher and positivist)
Birthplace: Feckenham, Worcestershire, England
Frederick Robert Tennant
(Theologian)
Birthplace: Burslem, Staffordshire, England
Samuel Bailey
(British Economist and Philosopher)
Birthplace: Dunstable, England
After initially working at his father's business, Samuel Bailey established the Sheffield Banking Company. The 19th-century British philosopher and economist was a significant figure of Utilitarianism and classical liberalism. He wrote extensively on the concept of value and how it is just a state of mind.
Norman Robert Campbell
Thomas Spencer Baynes
Birthplace: Wellington, England
Henry Longueville Mansel
Birthplace: Cosgrove, England
H.A. Prichard
Richard Congreve
Birthplace: Leamington, England
A.C. Ewing
Birthplace: Dundee, Scotland
Clement Charles Julian Webb

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


To research my fourth novel, I have been spending time on safari in Kenya's Great Rift Valley, where I can experience environmental conditions that approach those that prevailed in British East Africa of World War I. I frequently stay in a small, thatched-roof, canvas-walled cottage on the banks of the Malewa River, where shy water buck, demure bush buck, aggressive buffalo and plucky warthog cross, from which zebra and impala drink, around which monkeys scamper, and out of which hippopotamus surface like submarines.
Animals, contrary to the notion I had - derived from high school reading about mythical Native Americans moving soundlessly through the forest - can make a lot of awkward crashing noise as they move through scrub and in their interactions with rivers.
On the other hand, I am continually amazed at how animals can be grazing or passing virtually next to me, and I wouldn't have noticed them had I not serendipitously turned my head or looked up from my book.
Animals are surprisingly often equally oblivious of my presence. Don't they smell me? Hear me creaking in my chair or walking in my cottage? Apparently, they're used to a fair amount of awkward crashing noise and, as for smelling me, either they've all got sinus infections or the smell doesn't carry like I'd thought it would.
That said, I have noticed a marked increase in my "animal sighting quotient" since I've started coming on safari regularly. Over time, I've learned to spy dik-dik "hiding" in plain sight by standing motionless; to distinguish the loping gait of the jackal threading through dense bush; to recognize the difference between the sound of wind rustling trees and animals snapping branches.
Some of this increased sensitivity is the result of greater exposure; but some of it is attributable to a slowing down - of my movements, of my gaze, of my breathing. When I go on safari, I find I'm downshifting gears biologically as much as mentally: I'm relaxing my city metabolism as much as letting go of my urban worries.
The senior warden of the Tsavo National Park, David Sheldrick, and his wife, share their house at Voi with a great many animals and birds. Both Sheldricks belong to that small company born with an instinctive understanding of their fellow creatures and with the patience which goes with these queer, unsought talents. Such individuals are gentle, quiet in motion, slow spoken, unassuming, in a sense absorbent; they have a tranquil, indrawn quality. People who are taught, jerky, spark-like and aggressive seldom draw from an animal the trust and feeling of security it needs.
Elspeth Huxley, Forks and Hope: An African Notebook, p. 135.
Out in the wilds I had learned to beware of abrupt movements. The creatures with which you are dealing there are shy and watchful, they have a talent for evading you when you least expect it. No domestic animal can be as still as a wild animal. The civilized people have lost the aptitude of stillness, and must take lessons in silence from the wild before they are accepted by it.
Isak Dinesen, Out of Africa, p. 15.
To be honest, "slow spoken, unassuming . . . . tranquil [and ]indrawn" and having an "aptitude [for] stillness" aren't accurate descriptions of me yet. But in the pleasure I experience from the emphatically non-urban thrills of the bush, I recognize in me "the ache for slow beauty/to save you from your quick, quick life," and I hope this means, as Kapka Kassabova promises in her poem "The Door," that I've reached age enough to have stopped "knocking on a door without a house." The fourth book will tell.
This page is an archive of recent entries in the The Door category.
Spiritual Chickens is the previous category.
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is the next category.


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You are here: Home / On The Table / Gaming in the New Year 2018 – Recap
Every year I host a Gaming in the New Year party at my place on New Year's Eve. This year was no exception.
I have a group of my friends over and we play games through the night and early into the morning. We take a short break for pizza but basically it's about 12 hours of non-stop gaming.
I closed out 2018 and welcomed 2019 with 8 different games and 14 total plays.
Disclosure: Some links in this post are affiliate links. As an associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. There is no cost to you, I just get a small kickback if you buy something through one of these links.
We started off the event with exactly 6 players. This included my two kids and we wanted to start with something everyone could play. I got the girls to grab their copy of King of Tokyo and the Power Up Expansion .
Just as I was explaining the rules, another gamer showed up so we decided to play with 7. Now technically King of Tokyo only plays 6 players, but power up comes with a 7th monster, so we just played with 7. While this played with the balance a bit (it was really scary to stay in Tokyo) it still worked.
I still dig King of Tokyo. It's a solid Yahtzee based dice game that's basically King of the Hill with Kaiju (giant monsters). It's simple enough my kids can play (and play well) but with enough depth that adults dig it just as much. The power up expansion makes the game asymmetric giving each of the monsters unique powers and I think it's a must own if adults are playing the game. It adds just enough depth to change the game from okay and kinda fun to actually good.
While we finished up King of Tokyo quite a few more people showed up. Everyone was still looking to play a big group game with everyone involved so I broke out Codenames .
I'm not a big party game fan and only own Codenames because a friend learned I didn't own it, thought that was a travesty and bought me a copy. I had only tried to play my copy once before at a family party (with all non-gamers) and it flopped terribly. Being surrounded by games and friends I thought it was worth giving Codenames another shot and I'm glad I did.
We broke the group into two teams and played a best of three series. This came down to the fifth and final game, with my team ending up winning despite us being pretty terrible at clue giving. It was the other team's mistakes that won us two of the three games. I did feel good that we won the final round legitimately.
In Codenames you have a grid of words in front of all the players. A code giver is elected from each team. They are given a random pattern that shows what words belong to each team. In addition there is one word that is the assassin and a few words that are neutral. The goal is to get your team to guess your words without guessing the assassin. If a team guesses the other team's word that other team gets the point. Clues have to be one word clues and then the number of words on the board that apply to that clue.
So you may say Spider-Man 2 when you are trying to get the other team to guess Change and Webs, but you need to pay attention because if Octopus is on the board there's a good chance your team will pick that instead of Change. It's all about word association and trying to get into the head of the guesser.
I had a surprisingly good time. Before New Year's Eve I would have told you I don't like Codenames. Now I will say that I enjoy it with the right group.
At this point we had enough people at the party that we split into three groups. We had two groups playing games at my big table and another group playing stuff over by the TV and video game systems.
I was in this last group and the first thing we played was a three player game of Sagrada . I talked about Sagrada quite a bit last week so I won't bother explaining what the games about or the rules here. Just check out last week's Tabletop Gaming Weekly for more info.
What was different about this play was what we played three player. The interesting thing about playing three player in Sagrada is that you don't use all the dice. You put them all in the bag but you aren't going to go through the entire bag. This messes with the probabilities somewhat. Now there's a really good chance that the dice aren't going to be evenly distributed between all of the colours.
Now, I'm not saying this is a bad thing, or a good thing, just that it's a thing. It's something we noticed during play that I thought was interesting. It definitely removes any chance of counting all the dice to figure out the odds of pulling a certain colour, which can speed up play a bit in the last round but it can also mean that one player could be punished due to their random scoring card coming up the colour that there is the least of in that game.
After finishing Sagrada, I grabbed my shiny new copy of Gizmos .
Earlier in the day I had recording an unboxing video of a bunch of games. Gizmos was one of them. As part of the unboxing, I attempted to assemble the Gizmos gizmo and that didn't go well. It broke during assembly. After the breakage I attempted to repair the ripped cardboard using some tape and glue in hopes that it would dry in time for the party.
So I tentatively attempted to assemble the Gizmos gizmo again and it seemed to go well enough. After a couple of test marble drops everything seemed to be working.
I strongly suggest anyone that does pick up Gizmos to do this with their game. The top piece has to come off to store the game but the bottom half stays assembled when you put it in the box so reinforce that thing with tap and consider gluing all the joints. I did and now my copy is nice and sturdy.
Gizmos is an engine building game all about building neat gizmos and doodads for a science fair. You do this by getting energy from this gumball machine like hopper and using it to buy and power new machines.
At the start of the game all you can do is pick a ball from the machine, pick a machine from the board and file it for later use, build a machine from the board or from your file or use research to look ahead and potentially build or file a machine not yet on the board. In addition you have two slots you can fill with conversion machines that let you change one type of power into another or double that source of power or with upgrade machines that let you hold more energy, file more machines or look at more tiles when you research.
Each machine you buy modifies one of these things. So pick machines go off when you pick energy of a certain colour. Build machines go off when you build new machines of that colour. File machines go off when you file machines. The trick is trying to build machines that set off other machines, basically making some kind of Rube Goldberg like chain of machines.
Machines come in three levels, with the level one machines generally giving you one small thing for doing something. The level two machines are improved versions either letting you do two things for doing one thing or giving you twice as much. The level three machines are expensive and often generate victory points or end game scoring. All machines are worth victory points. The game ends when someone builds their 16th machine or someone builds their fourth level 3 machine.
I really enjoyed Gizmos. Enough so that I insisted we play a second time after fully grasping the rules after the first play. I've been itching to play it again since New Years and can't wait to teach others how to play this one just so I can play it more. This game gets compared a lot to Splendor and I will say right now that I would take Gizmos over Splendor any day. Heck I would take Gizmos over Century Spice Road any day as well.
After Gizmos I moved back to the main table. Midnight had hit at this point. Some of the guests had headed home and my kids were in bed. At this point we had 10 players and split into two groups of 5.
I took this opportunity to show Sean a real life physical game of Tokaido . We play all the time on Board Game Arena (BGA) but he had never seen the physical copy. Of course we also used the Crossroads expansion , I don't play without it now.
I've talked about Tokaido multiple times both here and on the podcast. You don't need to hear about the most zen, backstabby, peaceful, friendship ruining, game I own again.
All five of us playing it enjoyed it, and the final score ended up ridiculously close. One of the players had never played before and loved it, especially the theme. Another two had never tired Crossroads and really liked the new options.
Sean also enjoyed it but did note that he found it annoying having to keep score, something he was used to BGA doing for us. I do have to agree with him. There are a lot of ways to get points in this game and it seem like every action gets you at least one point, so it's easy to miss some points along the way. Having the computer track that for you is a big advantage of playing on BGA.
After Tokaido finished the other group was still in the middle of their game of Terraforming Mars so I broke out The Climbers .
The Climbers is a fantastic, very physical, race game. Players are trying to race to the top of a mountain represented by various shaped wooden blocks. Each side of each block is painted in one of the five player colours or white. On a players turn they can climb, then move one block and then climb again. When climbing, player pawns can only be moved up by the smallest block height (which is just a bit shorter than the pawns themselves) and pawns can only move onto surfaces of their own colour or onto the white side of a block.
To make the climb easier each player is given two wooden ladders, one short and one long. Any time while climbing the player can spend a ladder to climb up double the normal height (with a small ladder) or quadruple the normal height (with a large ladder). Players also get a blocking disc they can use once per game to prevent other players from moving a block.
While Climbers requires some dexterity to play it's not actually a dexterity game. It's more of a spatial awareness game with a lot of take that elements, where you are trying to build the mountain so you can climb as high as possible while also preventing anyone else from going up at the same time.
This game usually doesn't disappoint, but for some reason I just wasn't into it on New Year's. It was hitting about 3am at that point and I think that had a lot to do with it. The game wasn't bad, and I still dig The Climbers overall but I just wasn't feeling it this game. A part of me wonders if the game just isn't as good with 5 players. It did feel extra cutthroat.
The Terraforming Mars game was still going (that game is LONG with 5 players and Venus Next ) and it was just Sean and I left over from The Climbers. All of the other players called it a night and headed home.
Sean and I took this opportunity for him to finally learn Race for the Galaxy one of my all time favourite games.
For the first game I actually took the time to sort out all of the expansions from my copy of the game. This took some time, as I have three expansions and a handful of promo cards I've picked up over the years. I think it was worth it though, as the base game is solid and removing the expansions removes some of the more complicated card abilities.
We played through one teaching game with the base set. Since we just had the base game there was no drafting or picking of starting worlds. We just got one random world and a starting hand and got going. We used the proper two player rules so each of us was picking two phases to act in each turn.
Now I've talked about Race For the Galaxy before and I think I've already covered the mechanics so I won't explain the full game here. Basically it's a card based 4X game that uses a very pure action selection mechanism derived from San Juan (which itself was derived from Puerto Rico ). Actions only happen if one of the players selects that action that round, but when selected all players carry out the action with the player who selected it getting a bonus.
Our first game went well. Sean seemed to really grok the game this time around and actually managed to win this first match. I asked if he was up for a rematch and suggested adding in the first expansion, The Gathering Storm . I personally think Gathering Storm is a must have have and use expansion because it better balances the cards, allows for more combos, and the goal tiles give you direction at the beginning of the game.
Sean agreed and we played a second round after putting all The Gathering Storm cards back into the deck. This second game went even better than the first. It was obvious by the third round that Sean now fully got it and we had a rather close game. I ended up winning in the end with a solid military strategy but Sean was catching up with a good production/consumption cycle building. Had the game gone on longer I think he would have quickly caught me.
I have to admit some relief that Sean enjoyed the game. I really dig Race for the Galaxy, and I love the fact that we will be able to play together in the future over Board Game Arena or the next time we get together in person.
Technically Race for the Galaxy was the last game of the party. By the time we finished our second game the other group's game ended and they headed home. Sean grabbed his spot on the couch and I headed to bed myself.
There was still one more game played on New Year's Day though and that was KeyForge .
Before Sean headed home to Hamilton we wanted to try recording me teaching him to play a game. He specifically requested that I show him KeyForge and that sounded cool to me. We rearranged my game room, set up a couple of cameras and started everything recording.
I'm still new to KeyForge. I talked about my first experience a couple of weeks ago where I lamented not having a starter set. This was fixed for me Xmas morning as my wife gifted me a copy of the starter set. I unboxed the starter set New Year's Eve before the party (video coming soon), and that's what I used to teach Sean.
We each picked one of the starter set's pre-set Archon decks and I taught him the game. About half way through the teach we started playing as it was much easier to explain some of the concepts while playing instead of trying to front load everything. Since we already had the cameras running we decided to just keep playing and finish a full game and record the entire thing.
Now this is something we will eventually be releasing on YouTube. We'll be sure to let you know both here on the blog, on social media and on the podcast whenever that goes live. I think folk will dig it.
As for our game of KeyForge, it was my most enjoyable yet. After only three plays, I feel I get most of the mechanics and at least some of the strategies. I haven't figured out any amazing combos yet but I feel like I know what I'm doing now. Sean also seemed to pick it up quickly. Now the two of us have played our fair share of two player card games against each other over the years and I'm sure that helped.
That's something that hit me hard. Mid game I looked across the table and got a big wave of nostalgia from my University days and sitting and playing CCGs with Sean. KeyForge did a great job of bringing back that feeling. I could tell Sean was feeling it too. He had that "I must buy more of this game" look in his eyes after unlocking his second key.
I dig KeyForge. I dig it a lot.
At this point I will say KeyForge is an excellent two player card game. I will also admit that I now understand why people are buying multiple decks for this game. You don't need them, all you ever need is one deck. You can play that deck forever, and truly learn it and master it. But it's so much fun to try out other decks and other factions.
I personally want to try at least one deck featuring all the factions. Then I can see hunting down a deck with the three factions I find I enjoy the most. Despite not being collectible I can see spending quite a bit of money on this game. Though I don't have to. That's the brilliance of KeyForge. You don't need more than one deck to play. You may want more, but you don't need it.
What I'm probably going to do myself is wait for a local sealed deck tournament and enter that in order to scratch that desire to get more cards.
So that was how I closed out 2018 and welcomed in 2019. Lots of gaming! Do you play games on New Year's Eve? If so, what did you play? Let me know in the comments.
Filed Under: On The Table, Reviews Tagged With: Board Game Arena, Century Spice Road, Codenames, Gizmos, Keyforge, King of Tokyo, King of Tokyo Power Up, Race For The Galaxy, Race For the Galaxy The Gathering Storm, Review, Sagrada, Spendor, The Climbers, Tokaido, Tokaido Crossroads, Year in Review


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Renewable Energy Bill 2010 – Part 2: What Are The Concerns?
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