More Spring Photos

Well, the weather here has been a bit up and down, some lovely sunshine but also some cooler days with a bit of rain. Anyway, I was able to get out and find some alpine flowers to photograph.

The meadows are starting to look wonderful filled with all the flowers and blossom trees.

Needless to say, boardgames haven't been at the top of  my list at the moment. As I write this, the television is on constantly.....why, Prince William is marrying Kate Middleton and Tina is glued to the set.  :)

Palm Sunday and London

Well, last Sunday was Palm Sunday here in Austria. At 9.30am it looked as though all the village had assembled in square by the priests house, everyone in traditional Austrian dress and all carrying large poles with fir branches, apples, ribbons and flowers attached to the tip. After the priest has given a blessing one of the local bands leads a procession through the village centre to the church. I took a few images of the occassion.

A very colourful affair with lots of opportunities for photos.

London is becoming one of my favourite games now. Had an opportunity to play a couple of 3 player games with Pauline and Stephen over the last couple of weeks. They were over here for the Easter hols. There is a bit of a learning curve for the first game as you get to see what all the cards do and how they interact. As this was the first time I had played with more than 2 it was interesting to see how different cards became more or less powerful with more players. The omnibus for instance is very powerful with 2, not so with 3. Anyway, I managed to win the first game on a tiebreak with Pauline (I had less poverty). Stephen got hammered with poverty in this game. In the second obviously having learnt a painful lesson in the first Stephen had an easy win with only one point of poverty at the end game. This time it was Pauline and myself that succumbed to the poverty trap!

Spring and all that

Well, spring is upon us and I haven't posted for awhile. We have been to England for a couple of weeks in March, visiting family, friends etc. Back here in St. Wolfgang the weather has been fine and sunny, well, except for today which rainy and cold. We have been able to have lunch sitting on the balcony and had to wear hats because the sun was so hot! A lot of the spring alpine flowers are starting to show their faces as well.

We have been for a few walks up into the forests and along the lake, it's been really nice. Of course my new camera has been doing stirling service and I have tried to photograph some of the flowers. Don't know what a lot of them are called but they are very nice anyway.

Regarding the gaming front, I must admit I haven't played much lately, Tina and I tried the 2-player variant of Seafarers posted by Dave65tdh on BGG go here if you would like to have a look...

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/442180/2-player-variant

It seemed to work very well and we enjoyed it. I also noticed that the Martin Wallace release at this year's Essen is to be 'Ankh-Morpork' a game based on Terry Pratchett's Discworld books. Set in the city of Ankh-Morpork....(where else) the premise is that Lord Vetinari has disappeared and certain factions are trying to take over the city. Each player has a secret personality with a specific victory condition. Sounds intriguing, and as a bit a fan of Terry Pratchett's Discworld books it becomes a bit of a no-brainer for me. Apparently it will be available for pre-order one month before Essen and there is to be a De Luxe version as well, and this won't be limited so anyone who wants it can get a copy. No news on how the De Luxe version will differ from the standard version though.

More news anon...... happy gaming........ and don't forget Mum on Sunday....Happy Mother's Day mum!