Over the past couple weekends, I’ve had the pleasure of actually playing some board games. Not for playtest. Not for review. But just for fun. And yes, they were fun.

Last week I finally broke out Mall of Horror, the “zombies in a mall” game from Asmodee. It’s a very European design, with minimal dice, lots of voting, and a straight “high score wins” resolution mechanic. It’s also dripping with buckets of theme, so it’s all good. We played with only three players, and it was still fun; I imagine it could only be better with more players. With all the voting and flesh-eating, the game could accurately be described as, “Like ‘Survivor,’ but with zombies.” (I’m voting you off the island and into the jaws of the undead.)

To celebrate the long Memorial Day weekend, I played a couple games of BattleLore from Days of Wonder, using their new “Call to Arms” rules. The new rules add time and effort to the setup, but certainly ensure near-infinite replayability to the scenarios. As usual, my opponent completely crushed me in the first game, but he got unlucky the second game (any time you get goblins on your army, you’re unlucky) and I was able to squeak out a win.

After our epic BattleLore games, it was nice to blow through a Heroscape scenario in 20 minutes or so. Small scenario map, lots of rahged units, and a steadily rising “cloud of poison gas” made for a lot of carnage. Brutal, plastic carnage.

I have, in a way, arrived.

That way is my complementary subscription to Game Developer, the industry magazine for, as the title would suggest, video game developers. As an occasional developer of video games, you’d think I’d have a subscription already, but no. Apparently, I wasn’t ready. I applied, but they gave me a subscription to some IT management magazine instead. Close, but… well, boring.

I guess I could have lied on the application. Said I was CEO of “SuperAdvertiserMoneySpender Games” or something, but that’s cheating.

Last week, I got my first issue of Game Developer in the mail. It’s a small milestone, but I’ll take it.

In unrelated, I’m-still-tweaking-the-website news, I’ve updated my e-mail address in the system, so it actually contacts me to verify comments, rather than hurling such requests down the black hole at the center of DarrellHardy.com. So if you’ve tried to comment in the past but it never showed up… sorry. And if you’ve been thinking, “I should reply to this post and see if the comments are working now,” please do so — and if you don’t see your reply in day or so, feel free to ping me at the e-mail address on the “Contact” page (link on the right).

Notice some changes around here? No? Well, they’re subtle. Nothing, really.

After weeks of looking at it askance, I’ve finally updated the front page so it defaults straight to the blog. You can still push the button if you like, but it doesn’t do anything.

I’ve also updated the links on the right. For some reason, WordPress insists on clumping them all under “Blogroll,” but they’re really links to clients and employers, none which have blogs, per se.

And… that’s it. I’ve got some other plans lurking in the wings, but it’s too early to say anything about them now.

Sorry for the lengthy silence.

In order to maintain my rock-and-roll lifestyle (featuring both food and shelter), I’ve found it necessary to keep as many lines in the water as possible — you never know which one will get the bite.

Well, as often happens, they all had bites, so I’ve been working the hooks, landing fish, and feverishly trying to get them cleaned and cooked before they go bad. So yeah, it’s been quiet on this end. I’ve been busy over-extending fishing metaphors.

Today I put the finishing touches on my portion of New Gods of Mankind RPG, so that’s one less fish in my frying pan and one more cooling on the picnic table behind me. It’s a very cool, innovative new game, and I think even those who don’t like fish will like to take a bite when it comes out this summer.

(Sorry. I’m getting carried away with the fish. I’ll knock it off.)

Band Name of Day: Swamp Donkey.