TES Legends - Rumble in Skyrim Gauntlet

This past weekend TES had one of their Gauntlets, this time the "Rumble in Skyrim".  This one was exciting for me for a few reasons; I actually had some time this weekend to play, Skyrim has ended up being one of the sets that I have more of (than any of the others) and it was the first time it came out (harder to find "pre-made" strategies).

I actually tried to prepare for this one, and made two decks ahead of time; one spellsword (which is still my favourite deck type) and one scout.  I even splurged and crafted a couple of legendary cards in Skeletal Dragon and Undying Dragon.  I tested them both out and they seemed okay; however, I found it hard to judge when playing casual against standard decks as limiting to Skyrim cards eliminated quite a few of the key cards in each deck type.  My plan was to play each deck in two of the runs (out of the 4 that counted to the overall standings).

The first deck I played was the Scout deck:

The Elder Scrolls: Legends - Basic review from a casual perspective

The newest (computer/phone) game I have gotten into recently is The Elder Scrolls: Legends.  This is a free-to-play online card game in the same vein as Hearthstone.  

As I have started to play this as my main computer game, I am intending to write a series of posts about some of the aspects of the game from a casual, free-to-play perspective.  There are a lot of great articles, videos, etc. about the game out there, but I find that they tend to be from the perspective of serious players who put a ton of time into them.  While there is nothing wrong with that, there may be others out there who are a lot more casual and wondering if this is a game for them.

TES Legends is an online collectible card game where you build decks and compete against other players.  The game is available both on PC (through Steam) and on the iphone/ipad.  Thankfully your account transfers between all platforms (so you are always using the same collection, etc.).

There are 3 primary play modes; story where you play on of the storylines through, using combinations of pre-made decks and your own decks, arena (both solo and versus) where you draft a deck for the "tournament" and play that through, and play, where you use your constructed decks in the monthly ladder.

The "Home" screen showing various game modes

Clash of Clans - Why do I keep playing?

Due to the business of life, I haven't played any boardgames lately.  However, there is one game that I still play regularly, Clash of Clans. 

I have been playing Clash of Clans (CoC) for a quite a while now, and for a period I was really into it.  I was in a clan with my brother, which one of his friends had started.  We were buys in clan wars, having one going almost all the time.  It was a good clan to play with, helping each other out and working together relatively well in wars.  The problem I started to find is that playing at that pace takes a lot of commitment.  During the "fight" days of a war, I had to be on at least twice to attack (which was pretty close to every other day).  A war that didn't go our way was a losing proposition in terms of resources, so I had to farm to keep up my armies.  And then farm on top of that to actually have some improvements for my base.  I decided that this was too much, and scaled back my playing time.

I decided to try only playing once a day, just to keep my base up, in case I decided that I wanted to play more seriously again.  I figured that within a month or two I would either get bored and stop playing all together, or get back into it, even if not quite as much as before.  Instead I have found that I am having fun playing it once a day, with the occasional day I miss and the occasional day I play a second or third time.  Instead of being worried about wars, I just raid when I am on.  It takes a lot longer to build up enough resources for upgrades, but they are slowly coming.  I found that the strategy of keeping my town hall out and vulnerable (see previous post) along with a defense around all my resources means that often enough people just attack me for the trophies and leave my resources alone.  Of course this doesn't happen all the time, but enough that the resources alone (without raiding) is a slow net gain.

My Current Clash of Clans Base

Started Playing Hearthstone

Between now having two young kids at home and all the (much appreciated) help and visiting from family, boardgames just haven't happened recently.

Instead, I needed something that I enjoyed and can take as little or as much time to play as you want.  My brother had suggested Hearthstone to me and then I ran across it on a boardgamegeek forum, so I thought I would give it a try.

Well, I am hooked.  As an ex-Magic the Gathering player, the Collectable Card Game (CCG) genre works for me, and it is free! (more on that below).  The gameplay is relatively simple, but there are enough possible combinations of cards that there is definitely some strategy and variety to most games.  The games are also relatively short, often 10 minutes or less.

I have tried out all of the different types of play, but by no means exhausted them all.  From my "profile" below you can see that I have each class to at least level 10, which means I have unlocked all of the base cards.  I have played two wings of the "Naxxramas" expansion (I just started playing early enough to unlock the first wing free), have played "Arena" a few times (3 wins is my highest so far) and some ladder play.

One of the biggest criticisms of the game is the payment scheme; in order to unlock the Naxxaramas wings, and purchase 'packs' of the more advanced cards you either need to earn in-game gold, or pay with real money.  Collecting in-game gold can take a while, and I can definitely see the appeal to paying.  I am too cheap for that however, and have found that it is still enjoyable without paying.  As a result though, I don't have nearly enough of the more powerful cards needed to make a higher-level completive ladder deck.

Overall I have enjoyed it, and see myself continuing to play for a quite a while.  Check it out!

Clash of Clans - Townhall Location

Clash of Clans has quickly become one of the games I play the most often.  I had originally tried it out and enjoyed it, then my brother started playing (and a lot more than me) and we now are in the same clan, making it even more fun.

One of the strategies that I currently employ, and many players do, is to keep the townhall out, easily accessible to anyone who attacks.  This means that they get an easy win, and I get a 12 hour shield where no one else can attack me.  The key is that many people will only hit the townhall and leave my resources alone, allowing me to grow faster.  It is almost an essential strategy while raiding for resources, but even so, it just feels wrong!

My base with the townhall easily accessible

I would love to keep my townhall in the middle of my base, and actually win more defensive battles.  However, I have done that in the past, and it just isn't as effective as you end up losing more resources.  My only consolation is having my Hidden Teslas at the townhall, occasionally catching someone off guard, and at the very least forcing them to use some more troops.  I love the game, I just wish I could be successful with a wider range of strategies.