This post contains spoilers for the month of August.
Last month, I picked up the upgrade that let me remove faded when my character leaves that city which seemed pretty OP.
This month introduced a self sacrifice Mechanic to take a scar to avoid an infect phase or something. I pretty much forgot about it because it seemed stupid unless I know for sure another Infect will do critical board damage.
There was a Virologist to Search for this game, but he is slightly harder to find than the Immunologist (did I get their roles wrong? Maybe it is Immun this game and Viro last game)
As I START the game with 6 military bases, there was no more need for an Operations Expert, so I ran with Researcher, QS, and Dispatcher.
This game was VERY strange. Had a very optimal opening sequence and card draw , found the Viro really quickly, and cured 2 diseases. Then I got stuck. I basically had 0 of the last color cards until the last 1/3 of the game, which meant I spent most of my middle game firefighting and removing Fallen figurines with my upgrade.
Thankfully, the final color did come out, and I swiftly cured it once I had 5 live cards of that color. Was in no real danger of losing despite having 4 epidemics! On to the next month...
Friday 31 August 2018
Saturday 25 August 2018
Pandemic Legacy Season One - July First Game
This post contains spoilers for Pandemic Legacy July gameplay.
..
July introduced a new ‘Search’ mechanic where you can discard cards when you’re in a research station IN a Fallen city to advance a search token to eventually ‘find’ an important person that will help with the CoDa virus.
I played with the (what I think is) optimal team combi of Researcher (I swear my games will be ten times harder without her), Quarantine Specialist (what else to deal with Fallen?), and Operations Specialist (need for those Mil Bases! Though now as I approach 6 permanent Mil Bases, I may See his use fall off though there isn’t really a better military-tagged character, pending my further evaluation)
I didn’t think I would bother with this objective, but it ended up being the first objective I completed due to nothing else better to do in the opening turns. My Epidemic #1 and #2 were spaced so far apart that I actually completed 3 objectives before hitting the 2nd Epidemic, but not the mandatory cure 3 diseases one so I had to keep playing.
I ended up ekeing out a surprisingly narrow win - the last color virus was close to running out of cubes (2 left) due to a chain outbreak, and right before my winning turn, a 3 chain outbreak of Fallen pushed the Outbreak counter to 7. Whew.
That’s 7 wins out of 7 games now (with some asterisks on Feb/Mar wins due to a rules misinterpretation, but come on,,, I wasn’t going to lose those! Haha)... wonder when my first loss will come!
..
July introduced a new ‘Search’ mechanic where you can discard cards when you’re in a research station IN a Fallen city to advance a search token to eventually ‘find’ an important person that will help with the CoDa virus.
I played with the (what I think is) optimal team combi of Researcher (I swear my games will be ten times harder without her), Quarantine Specialist (what else to deal with Fallen?), and Operations Specialist (need for those Mil Bases! Though now as I approach 6 permanent Mil Bases, I may See his use fall off though there isn’t really a better military-tagged character, pending my further evaluation)
I didn’t think I would bother with this objective, but it ended up being the first objective I completed due to nothing else better to do in the opening turns. My Epidemic #1 and #2 were spaced so far apart that I actually completed 3 objectives before hitting the 2nd Epidemic, but not the mandatory cure 3 diseases one so I had to keep playing.
I ended up ekeing out a surprisingly narrow win - the last color virus was close to running out of cubes (2 left) due to a chain outbreak, and right before my winning turn, a 3 chain outbreak of Fallen pushed the Outbreak counter to 7. Whew.
That’s 7 wins out of 7 games now (with some asterisks on Feb/Mar wins due to a rules misinterpretation, but come on,,, I wasn’t going to lose those! Haha)... wonder when my first loss will come!
Plica Syndrome - Day 25 - Quad loading begins
Knee flexion has improved tremendously though it’s extremely tight and slightly painful to fully flex the knee. Almost full range of motion. I had been doing heel-wall slides to help with this, think it helps.
Still experiencing tightness/dull pain in my VMO+ scar tissue area, especially when walking/standing/going down stairs.
I shared these points with my physio Mark. For my physio session today, Mark did some manual therapy to loosen up my VMO + ITB, and it was straight to rehab work! Mark said it was time to start loading my quads as my left quad apparently has atrophied (shrunk) quite abit. We did some bike work, some light leg press, and some hip stability drills. Mark keeps emphasising ‘strong hips, strong knees. Not the other way round’.
We finished up the session with abit more manual therapy for my VMO as I was complaining of tightness, and he also applied sports tape on my knee which is supposed to help with the VMO tightness.
And it did!! The leg feels surprisingly better with just the tape and no knee sleeve (which I had been wearing before). Mark said he expected me to be jogging by Week 6... which seems unlikely at the moment lol, given how my knee feels still. I think I’ll get significantly better once the scar tissue (a tough little lump under my skin) decided to break up and disappear.
For home therapy, supposed to do some wall-assisted half squats, stand-sit from bed (not sure how to describe this lol. Resembles a half squat but the load is on hamstrings/glute), hip stability drills, calf raises. Hope I get better fast!
Still experiencing tightness/dull pain in my VMO+ scar tissue area, especially when walking/standing/going down stairs.
I shared these points with my physio Mark. For my physio session today, Mark did some manual therapy to loosen up my VMO + ITB, and it was straight to rehab work! Mark said it was time to start loading my quads as my left quad apparently has atrophied (shrunk) quite abit. We did some bike work, some light leg press, and some hip stability drills. Mark keeps emphasising ‘strong hips, strong knees. Not the other way round’.
We finished up the session with abit more manual therapy for my VMO as I was complaining of tightness, and he also applied sports tape on my knee which is supposed to help with the VMO tightness.
And it did!! The leg feels surprisingly better with just the tape and no knee sleeve (which I had been wearing before). Mark said he expected me to be jogging by Week 6... which seems unlikely at the moment lol, given how my knee feels still. I think I’ll get significantly better once the scar tissue (a tough little lump under my skin) decided to break up and disappear.
For home therapy, supposed to do some wall-assisted half squats, stand-sit from bed (not sure how to describe this lol. Resembles a half squat but the load is on hamstrings/glute), hip stability drills, calf raises. Hope I get better fast!
Tuesday 14 August 2018
Pandemic Legacy Season One - June - First Game
This post contains spoilers for Pandemic Legacy Season One - June.
June's new thing was 'equipment' - you get to stick stickers on city cards, which make them dual-purpose and also an 'equipment'. The equipment abilities weren't that amazing, so I didn't really focus much on it apart from using the singular (and most op) one which allowed that card to be used as a 'wild card' for curing disease (essentially it is any colour).
I also learnt from my May game, and went for the easier objective of building 6 Military Bases. The funny thing was, approaching the end of my game, I realised I was closer to meeting the 'Quarantine 7 Fallen cities' objective rather than Eradicate (From Jan-June, I had always eradicated at least one virus each game), due to some unlucky Epidemics. I ended up winning that way, and didn't eradicate any virus for the first time.
The card draw was both good and bad - I didn't see black City cards till towards game-end - at one point I had met 2 objectives, but was still left with black virus to be cured. But the infection cards were generally quite favourable, until after the 3rd Epidemic, when I got 2-3 Fallen outbreaks, which resulted in
- One city reaching Rioting Level 3
- Two black cities becoming Fallen (my blue virus is the c0Da evolved virus)
It will be interesting to see how the spread of Fallen cities affects the difficulty in future games - on one hand it is quite damaging to have an irreversible virus spreading; on the other, it also makes eradicating the non-evolved virus easier since there will be fewer of that virus' cubes spawning.
Oh, I used Researcher, QS, and Operations Expert again, and took 2 permanent Military Bases as my upgrades. It seems pretty OP... just one more time and I will have 6 permanent Military Bases from the start of game, which basically insta-completes one objective. Looking forward to July!
June's new thing was 'equipment' - you get to stick stickers on city cards, which make them dual-purpose and also an 'equipment'. The equipment abilities weren't that amazing, so I didn't really focus much on it apart from using the singular (and most op) one which allowed that card to be used as a 'wild card' for curing disease (essentially it is any colour).
I also learnt from my May game, and went for the easier objective of building 6 Military Bases. The funny thing was, approaching the end of my game, I realised I was closer to meeting the 'Quarantine 7 Fallen cities' objective rather than Eradicate (From Jan-June, I had always eradicated at least one virus each game), due to some unlucky Epidemics. I ended up winning that way, and didn't eradicate any virus for the first time.
The card draw was both good and bad - I didn't see black City cards till towards game-end - at one point I had met 2 objectives, but was still left with black virus to be cured. But the infection cards were generally quite favourable, until after the 3rd Epidemic, when I got 2-3 Fallen outbreaks, which resulted in
- One city reaching Rioting Level 3
- Two black cities becoming Fallen (my blue virus is the c0Da evolved virus)
It will be interesting to see how the spread of Fallen cities affects the difficulty in future games - on one hand it is quite damaging to have an irreversible virus spreading; on the other, it also makes eradicating the non-evolved virus easier since there will be fewer of that virus' cubes spawning.
Oh, I used Researcher, QS, and Operations Expert again, and took 2 permanent Military Bases as my upgrades. It seems pretty OP... just one more time and I will have 6 permanent Military Bases from the start of game, which basically insta-completes one objective. Looking forward to July!
Sunday 12 August 2018
Pandemic Legacy Season One - May Gameplay
This post contains spoilers for Pandemic Legacy Season One , May.
May forced you to complete 3 objectives, which meant I shouldn’t ignore the military bases Mechanic anymore.. but I still tried to. Against my better judgment, I aimed for the Quarantine 7 Fallen cities objective (along with eradicate, since that’s a joke now with my black virus upgraded 3 times).
There was also a new complication where any Player cards you drew that were the colour of the mutated untreatable / uncurable virus WOULD ALSO place Fallen figurines on the board!! That’s crazy. This meant the mutated virus basically spreads twice as fast compared to everything else since you get it from 2 sources!
My luck was absolutely terrible too as I drew many Blue (my mutated virus) cards early, along with a 3 cube Blue in the opening infection draw. This meant I spent the whole game spamming Quarantines, trying to keep blue at bay and also meet my 7 Quarantine objective.
When I won, I was 1 outbreak away from losing, and down to 4 Player cards. This was the closest I came to losing in 5 games.
I decided to play along with the Military Bases and took 2 upgrades to have 2 Military Bases on my board at the start, instead of upgrading my black Virus to tier 4, which I deemed not that critical given how my biggest issue was containing Fallen with their double spawn rate. Let’s see if I can beat June more comfortably!
Saturday 11 August 2018
Plica Syndrome - Day 11 - Stitches Removal
Knee extension is almost 100% (I can straighten my leg), but according to my physio I'm still walking with my leg slightly bent. This is because I feel this little bunch of muscle above my knee being very tight still, which subconsciously makes me bend the leg. Knee flexion is still bad, I can't go beyond 90 degrees much, something tight is pulling me back at the knee.
Physio work today involved riding a bike, some other stretches/exercises that Mark guided me through. More interesting and worth it than lying on a bed and letting TENS zap me. He gives me a glimpse of his 'roadmap' for me, which sounded interesting I suppose, being my first time working with a PT. Looking forward to recovery!!
After the physio session, I went to see Dr Lim to remove my stitches. It was fairly simple, just snip the knot at the end, and gently tug out the thread with a tweezer. I barely felt anything, not even a tugging sensation. Wounds seemed to have healed alright, but still some swelling there.
Recovery will be training the quads to prevent atrophy, getting range of motion back. Will post the next update probably in 2 weeks time (about Week 4) when I visit the physio again. Ciaoz
Physio work today involved riding a bike, some other stretches/exercises that Mark guided me through. More interesting and worth it than lying on a bed and letting TENS zap me. He gives me a glimpse of his 'roadmap' for me, which sounded interesting I suppose, being my first time working with a PT. Looking forward to recovery!!
After the physio session, I went to see Dr Lim to remove my stitches. It was fairly simple, just snip the knot at the end, and gently tug out the thread with a tweezer. I barely felt anything, not even a tugging sensation. Wounds seemed to have healed alright, but still some swelling there.
Recovery will be training the quads to prevent atrophy, getting range of motion back. Will post the next update probably in 2 weeks time (about Week 4) when I visit the physio again. Ciaoz
Friday 10 August 2018
Pandemic Legacy Season One - April - First Gameplay
This post contains spoilers for Pandemic Legacy April.
One of the hallmarks of Pandemic is the sudden realisation that you messed up a particular rule. The first time I played Pandemic, I thought the Researcher’s ‘pass any card’ ability was also a ‘take any card’.
When playing April in Legacy, I suddenly realised I was playing Quarantine Specialist wrongly - I was using her Quarantine-from-anywhere ability more than once every turn, completely missing out the ‘Once every turn’ wording. That could have explained why March was so easy... luckily I found out pretty early in the game, so I would place an asterisk only on March, and maybe Feb.
Anyway, I quickly corrected myself and played it as it should be, which did make the game a bit harder.
April’s curveball was the introduction of ‘Fallen figurines’ replacing your mutated untreatable, uncurable disease. The major downsides of Fallen are:
- If you start your turn in a city with any Fallen, your character gains a scar
- If Fallen outbreaks to a neighbouring city of a different Color, that city becomes Fallen as well and will permanently spawn Fallen if infected.
The way I see it, this makes the QS even more of a necessity, and may warrant the use of Mil Bases eventually (I don’t quite see the need yet) if they have some proxy-Quarantine ability. It makes the whole Blue side basically out of bounds, and I’ll have to dart in and out if I want to Quarantine it, a whopping 3 turns just to do that. Will need to re-evaluate in May how best to deal with Fallen...
Anyway, April ended with a win, with 2 outbreaks and one city hitting Rioting level. I continue to snowball my disease mutation powers with one eradication. (Random thought - what if you spent a disease upgrade on the eventual cODa virus? That would suck). One third the way through to saving the world!
One of the hallmarks of Pandemic is the sudden realisation that you messed up a particular rule. The first time I played Pandemic, I thought the Researcher’s ‘pass any card’ ability was also a ‘take any card’.
When playing April in Legacy, I suddenly realised I was playing Quarantine Specialist wrongly - I was using her Quarantine-from-anywhere ability more than once every turn, completely missing out the ‘Once every turn’ wording. That could have explained why March was so easy... luckily I found out pretty early in the game, so I would place an asterisk only on March, and maybe Feb.
Anyway, I quickly corrected myself and played it as it should be, which did make the game a bit harder.
April’s curveball was the introduction of ‘Fallen figurines’ replacing your mutated untreatable, uncurable disease. The major downsides of Fallen are:
- If you start your turn in a city with any Fallen, your character gains a scar
- If Fallen outbreaks to a neighbouring city of a different Color, that city becomes Fallen as well and will permanently spawn Fallen if infected.
The way I see it, this makes the QS even more of a necessity, and may warrant the use of Mil Bases eventually (I don’t quite see the need yet) if they have some proxy-Quarantine ability. It makes the whole Blue side basically out of bounds, and I’ll have to dart in and out if I want to Quarantine it, a whopping 3 turns just to do that. Will need to re-evaluate in May how best to deal with Fallen...
Anyway, April ended with a win, with 2 outbreaks and one city hitting Rioting level. I continue to snowball my disease mutation powers with one eradication. (Random thought - what if you spent a disease upgrade on the eventual cODa virus? That would suck). One third the way through to saving the world!
Wednesday 8 August 2018
Pandemic Legacy Season One - March - Game One
This post contains spoilers for Pandemic Legacy. You should not read on if you do not want to be spoiled.
For my February gameplay, click here.
For my January gameplay, click here.
March introduced 2 new objectives, on top of the requirement to cure 3 diseases. I needed to either eradicate a disease or build a Military Base (a new structure) in each of the 6 major areas of the game (e.g. Asia, North America, South America, etc). It also introduced a new character, Operation Expert, who could build Military Bases for free, without discarding a card.
After evaluating, I figured the military base objective was way too troublesome, so I went with the same character setup (Op Expert would only be useful if I was doing the military base objective) of Researcher, Dispatcher, and Contingency Expert.
This game was quite underwhelming, but largely due to a very lucky card draw. My 1st and 2nd Epidemics were VERY far separated, and by then I was almost winning. I ended the game with zero outbreaks, and only 2 Epidemics drawn. I sieved through the Player Deck and realised the 3rd and 4th Epidemic were back to back (it's better right? Assuming you draw both in a single player turn, you avoid double-drawing a City card)
I find the Researcher is just too powerful, coupled with the Co-worker 'share anywhere' mechanic, I just use the Researcher as a card dumper, QS to control any potential outbreak with remote Quarantines (and also control the uncurable disease), and Dispatcher to maximise moves. This combo seems unstoppable, as shown by my easy win this game, without any funding to boot.
I'm not sure why it was so easy... could also be because I recognised the snowball potential of Disease Mutations (upgrades) so I focused on them from January, and I already have 4 upgrades which makes Curing a lot easier.
Three for three so far, looking forward to April!
For my February gameplay, click here.
For my January gameplay, click here.
March introduced 2 new objectives, on top of the requirement to cure 3 diseases. I needed to either eradicate a disease or build a Military Base (a new structure) in each of the 6 major areas of the game (e.g. Asia, North America, South America, etc). It also introduced a new character, Operation Expert, who could build Military Bases for free, without discarding a card.
After evaluating, I figured the military base objective was way too troublesome, so I went with the same character setup (Op Expert would only be useful if I was doing the military base objective) of Researcher, Dispatcher, and Contingency Expert.
This game was quite underwhelming, but largely due to a very lucky card draw. My 1st and 2nd Epidemics were VERY far separated, and by then I was almost winning. I ended the game with zero outbreaks, and only 2 Epidemics drawn. I sieved through the Player Deck and realised the 3rd and 4th Epidemic were back to back (it's better right? Assuming you draw both in a single player turn, you avoid double-drawing a City card)
I find the Researcher is just too powerful, coupled with the Co-worker 'share anywhere' mechanic, I just use the Researcher as a card dumper, QS to control any potential outbreak with remote Quarantines (and also control the uncurable disease), and Dispatcher to maximise moves. This combo seems unstoppable, as shown by my easy win this game, without any funding to boot.
I'm not sure why it was so easy... could also be because I recognised the snowball potential of Disease Mutations (upgrades) so I focused on them from January, and I already have 4 upgrades which makes Curing a lot easier.
Three for three so far, looking forward to April!
Tuesday 7 August 2018
Pandemic Legacy Season One - February - Game One
This post contains spoilers for Pandemic Legacy. You should not read on if you do not want to be spoiled.
After a fairly easy but interesting January game, I approached February with high hopes... which were immediately met with another cool twist when I opened the Legacy deck which has my Mission briefing.
I thought the mutation of one virus such that it needed an extra action to treat was bad enough... now the game tells me this virus has mutated further to become IMMUNE and I can’t even treat or cure it?! Wow. (Since Jan, the win condition changed to curing just 3 of the viruses)
Before I could rip apart the rest of the game in frustration, it introduced a new role and Mechanic, Quarantine+ Quarantine specialist! Quarantine is a new action any character can perform if they are in that city - you place a quarantine token on it, which basically means the next time you need to place a disease cube on it, you remove the token instead of placing the cube. So it’s like a shield!
The Specialist basically lets you quarantine any city without being there physically (and retains the token if your Specialist is in the city which just got a disease cube)
I figured the optimal strategy was to use this new character, and basically perma-Quarantine the immune virus. I dropped Medic, and ran with Quarantine Specialist, Dispatcher, and Researcher.
I added Co-worker and Family Member as my relationships.
The game went fairly smoothly at the start, but got very tense towards the end as I was left with one disease to cure but I wasn’t even drawing any of that colour, and a few cities were in danger of outbreak, even the untreatable disease. Thankfully, I emerged fairly unscathed with just one outbreak, and won with one eradication too.
Looking forward to what twists March brings... and how I will fair with ZERO funding! (Your level of funding basically indicates how many event cards you put in the deck. Each time you win, you reduce your funding by 2)
After a fairly easy but interesting January game, I approached February with high hopes... which were immediately met with another cool twist when I opened the Legacy deck which has my Mission briefing.
I thought the mutation of one virus such that it needed an extra action to treat was bad enough... now the game tells me this virus has mutated further to become IMMUNE and I can’t even treat or cure it?! Wow. (Since Jan, the win condition changed to curing just 3 of the viruses)
Before I could rip apart the rest of the game in frustration, it introduced a new role and Mechanic, Quarantine+ Quarantine specialist! Quarantine is a new action any character can perform if they are in that city - you place a quarantine token on it, which basically means the next time you need to place a disease cube on it, you remove the token instead of placing the cube. So it’s like a shield!
The Specialist basically lets you quarantine any city without being there physically (and retains the token if your Specialist is in the city which just got a disease cube)
I figured the optimal strategy was to use this new character, and basically perma-Quarantine the immune virus. I dropped Medic, and ran with Quarantine Specialist, Dispatcher, and Researcher.
I added Co-worker and Family Member as my relationships.
The game went fairly smoothly at the start, but got very tense towards the end as I was left with one disease to cure but I wasn’t even drawing any of that colour, and a few cities were in danger of outbreak, even the untreatable disease. Thankfully, I emerged fairly unscathed with just one outbreak, and won with one eradication too.
Looking forward to what twists March brings... and how I will fair with ZERO funding! (Your level of funding basically indicates how many event cards you put in the deck. Each time you win, you reduce your funding by 2)
Pandemic Legacy Season One - January First Gameplay (Spoiler Free)
After a long time of deliberating whether to invest in this game, I finally took the leap! I decided to go solo, as it would be quite troublesome to assemble and keep a regular group going for 12 weeks (minimally) to complete the game. I've heard nothing but good reviews for this game, so... why not?
Right out of the box, there's intrigue - a set of dossiers labelled 'Top Secret', a rulebook, a big sticker sheet, and a set of instructions to immediately follow.
Ok I'm going to talk abit about my experience, and I'll keep it spoiler free in the sense that I won't reveal anything that is only revealed later in the game. Meaning I'll only mention things outright described in the rulebook at the start.
One of the key new mechanics is panic level - everytime an outbreak occurs, that city's panic level goes up by 1 permanently. There were some really shitty permanent effects if the panic level got too high, so I tried my best in my first game to control all outbreaks - unfortunately I still got one. Oh well.
The first game went fairly ok - I decided to go with 3 characters, Medic, Dispatcher, and Researcher, which I deem to be the most powerful. I read online that 2 was too easy, and 4 felt abit clunky due to the card passing required and I thought I would more easily lose track and mess up given I was playing solo.
I won without too much difficulty (was never close to losing), and even managed to eradicate two diseases, which net me some cool upgrades for the future (you get 2 upgrades after every game which makes things easier for you in your next game).
But I did find myself spending A LOT more time thinking about each move, as I felt that each decision was many times more important than before, since things that happen are permanent and have lasting effects on the rest of your 12-24 games. I think playing this with friends may be slightly easier, as you can bounce ideas off each other, and weigh the pros/cons of certain decisions. After this first win, I even ran to my wife (who wasn't playing, but played Pandemic before) to ask for her inputs for an upgrade decision I had to make.
One of the new mechanics is a 'Legacy deck', which you are supposed to draw cards that have instructions on them that may change how the game is played; there is a preset order to draw them, and you will know exactly when to stop and draw. The first Legacy deck effect was mindblowing - it fundamentally changed how the game was played and I was just reeling from it. I wonder how it will affect future games?!? And if this was only the first thing, how else could the game be modified? I can imagine by the time I hit November/December, the gameplay would be REALLY REALLY different from the base game. I can't wait!!
First impressions - really good. I love the creative angle of the 'Legacy' style gameplay, which adds weight to every decision. From the first 'twist' of the Legacy Deck, I'm already super stoked to see what further twists the game makers have for me. The whole feel of the game just feels amazing and fresh, the components are well made; would have loved some better compartments for the cubes instead of ziplock but I guess I'll get a Plano box to resolve that myself.
Looking forward to February!
Right out of the box, there's intrigue - a set of dossiers labelled 'Top Secret', a rulebook, a big sticker sheet, and a set of instructions to immediately follow.
 |
| One of the first instructions was to stick a sticker on Packet 8, which is a sealed, perforated box: 'Open only if you lose 4 games in a row'. Ooooh mystery. I aim to never open this!! |
 |
| Board looks similar to regular Pandemic, with some extra things. |
Ok I'm going to talk abit about my experience, and I'll keep it spoiler free in the sense that I won't reveal anything that is only revealed later in the game. Meaning I'll only mention things outright described in the rulebook at the start.
One of the key new mechanics is panic level - everytime an outbreak occurs, that city's panic level goes up by 1 permanently. There were some really shitty permanent effects if the panic level got too high, so I tried my best in my first game to control all outbreaks - unfortunately I still got one. Oh well.
The first game went fairly ok - I decided to go with 3 characters, Medic, Dispatcher, and Researcher, which I deem to be the most powerful. I read online that 2 was too easy, and 4 felt abit clunky due to the card passing required and I thought I would more easily lose track and mess up given I was playing solo.
I won without too much difficulty (was never close to losing), and even managed to eradicate two diseases, which net me some cool upgrades for the future (you get 2 upgrades after every game which makes things easier for you in your next game).
But I did find myself spending A LOT more time thinking about each move, as I felt that each decision was many times more important than before, since things that happen are permanent and have lasting effects on the rest of your 12-24 games. I think playing this with friends may be slightly easier, as you can bounce ideas off each other, and weigh the pros/cons of certain decisions. After this first win, I even ran to my wife (who wasn't playing, but played Pandemic before) to ask for her inputs for an upgrade decision I had to make.
One of the new mechanics is a 'Legacy deck', which you are supposed to draw cards that have instructions on them that may change how the game is played; there is a preset order to draw them, and you will know exactly when to stop and draw. The first Legacy deck effect was mindblowing - it fundamentally changed how the game was played and I was just reeling from it. I wonder how it will affect future games?!? And if this was only the first thing, how else could the game be modified? I can imagine by the time I hit November/December, the gameplay would be REALLY REALLY different from the base game. I can't wait!!
First impressions - really good. I love the creative angle of the 'Legacy' style gameplay, which adds weight to every decision. From the first 'twist' of the Legacy Deck, I'm already super stoked to see what further twists the game makers have for me. The whole feel of the game just feels amazing and fresh, the components are well made; would have loved some better compartments for the cubes instead of ziplock but I guess I'll get a Plano box to resolve that myself.
Looking forward to February!
Sunday 5 August 2018
Plica Syndrome - Day 6 - Regrets?
Day 6 after the op (counting the day of the op as Day 0) I can start to walk without a crutch but with a big limp. There's some swelling on and off, which I realised seems to happen if I remove the light compression sleeve the doctor gave. I'll ice, elevate, and put the compression sleeve back on and the swelling subsides.
Sometimes I wonder if I should have had done the surgery. When I read online of other people who also had plica syndrome and hence went for arthroscopic surgery, their symptoms always sound a lot more severe than mine.
All I had was a persistent discomfort in the knee, the feeling that something is rubbing on the inside of the knee, and the joint gets warm and painful after I deadlift / hurts when I run. Other people have constant pain, clicking in the knee, pain when going up/down stairs. I can even play basketball/sports if I wear a knee wrap!
The problem was the discomfort didn't go away, and didn't seem to be improving after 9 months. I had 2 options:
Option A: Start seeing a new physio and try out another treatment plan (After 9 months of trying many plans) and hope it reduces and eliminates the problem eventually.
Option B: Do the surgery, then see that physio and rehab to 100%.
The problem with option A is that the recovery is not guaranteed and the problem plica is still there. Well not that option B is guaranteed recovery, but at least the problem is removed and I can actively rehab and feel progress.
My only fear now is that I don't actually return to 100%, and some lingering issue remains to haunt me. Then it will remind me of this $11+k plus 3 months of suffering (the estimated recovery timeline) wasted. oh well.
Sometimes I wonder if I should have had done the surgery. When I read online of other people who also had plica syndrome and hence went for arthroscopic surgery, their symptoms always sound a lot more severe than mine.
All I had was a persistent discomfort in the knee, the feeling that something is rubbing on the inside of the knee, and the joint gets warm and painful after I deadlift / hurts when I run. Other people have constant pain, clicking in the knee, pain when going up/down stairs. I can even play basketball/sports if I wear a knee wrap!
The problem was the discomfort didn't go away, and didn't seem to be improving after 9 months. I had 2 options:
Option A: Start seeing a new physio and try out another treatment plan (After 9 months of trying many plans) and hope it reduces and eliminates the problem eventually.
Option B: Do the surgery, then see that physio and rehab to 100%.
The problem with option A is that the recovery is not guaranteed and the problem plica is still there. Well not that option B is guaranteed recovery, but at least the problem is removed and I can actively rehab and feel progress.
My only fear now is that I don't actually return to 100%, and some lingering issue remains to haunt me. Then it will remind me of this $11+k plus 3 months of suffering (the estimated recovery timeline) wasted. oh well.
Saturday 4 August 2018
Clash Royale - Masters League!
Finally hit a new milestone today, obtaining Masters League after a pretty nailbiting final game
The deck used:
The core cards I used were Hog Rider, Goblin, Zap, Musketeer - mainly because they were maxed out. I'm currently maxing out Fireball so I guess I'm stuck with that xD. Ice Wizard has saved me too much defensively, so the only 2 variations I played with were the Cannon/Ice Golem.
I've tried Inferno Tower but didn't like the lack of versatility it had - I wasn't facing Golem/LH all too often, and it usually isn't that great against Giant (due to the opponent's ability to stack other small things behind it). Cannon is all around more versatile and fits into my cyclish deck better.
The last card, Ice Golem, was a last moment of inspiration. For a long time, I was using a Level 9 Mini Pekka or a Level 6 Pekka - clearly suboptimal at the trophy levels I was playing at where most people have maxxed out cards. I thought I needed some sort of tank killer, and even considered my Level 2 Lumberjack.
Eventually I realised I needed a card that was level-neutral - i.e. performs just as well even when underlevelled. There are 3 cards that fit this bill - Ice Spirit, Skeletons (99% of the time you don't rely on their damage anyway) and Ice Golem. After a few playtests of Ice Golem, I loved how high skill cap this card was and how efficiently it trades up for things like Pekka, Prince, EBarbs, Valk, etc (basically just kite them into the opposite lane, and play a Ice Wiz/Musketeer in the middle to pick it off as it's being kited)
With the deck locked in, it was just a matter of dodging some of the deck's weaknesses - any Lava Hound deck would destroy me once they kill my Musketeer (e.g. with Lightning); Giant / Golem decks will be quite tough as I have no tank killer, and I have to rely on split pushing to win. True enough, as I advanced up, I lost most of my LH/Giant/Golem games, but thankfully I didn't face them too often in the final push.
And the one true test came in the final game just before Masters - I was 8 trophies away... and faced a Golem deck. Thankfully, my gambit-style play worked as we took each other's Princess Towers, and he couldn't really defend my quick Hog cycle pressure on his opposite lane as he tried to Golem deathball my King tower on one lane.
Yay!
The deck used:
 |
| Average Elixir Cost: 3.0 |
The core cards I used were Hog Rider, Goblin, Zap, Musketeer - mainly because they were maxed out. I'm currently maxing out Fireball so I guess I'm stuck with that xD. Ice Wizard has saved me too much defensively, so the only 2 variations I played with were the Cannon/Ice Golem.
I've tried Inferno Tower but didn't like the lack of versatility it had - I wasn't facing Golem/LH all too often, and it usually isn't that great against Giant (due to the opponent's ability to stack other small things behind it). Cannon is all around more versatile and fits into my cyclish deck better.
The last card, Ice Golem, was a last moment of inspiration. For a long time, I was using a Level 9 Mini Pekka or a Level 6 Pekka - clearly suboptimal at the trophy levels I was playing at where most people have maxxed out cards. I thought I needed some sort of tank killer, and even considered my Level 2 Lumberjack.
Eventually I realised I needed a card that was level-neutral - i.e. performs just as well even when underlevelled. There are 3 cards that fit this bill - Ice Spirit, Skeletons (99% of the time you don't rely on their damage anyway) and Ice Golem. After a few playtests of Ice Golem, I loved how high skill cap this card was and how efficiently it trades up for things like Pekka, Prince, EBarbs, Valk, etc (basically just kite them into the opposite lane, and play a Ice Wiz/Musketeer in the middle to pick it off as it's being kited)
With the deck locked in, it was just a matter of dodging some of the deck's weaknesses - any Lava Hound deck would destroy me once they kill my Musketeer (e.g. with Lightning); Giant / Golem decks will be quite tough as I have no tank killer, and I have to rely on split pushing to win. True enough, as I advanced up, I lost most of my LH/Giant/Golem games, but thankfully I didn't face them too often in the final push.
And the one true test came in the final game just before Masters - I was 8 trophies away... and faced a Golem deck. Thankfully, my gambit-style play worked as we took each other's Princess Towers, and he couldn't really defend my quick Hog cycle pressure on his opposite lane as he tried to Golem deathball my King tower on one lane.
Yay!
Plica Syndrome - Part 3 - First Physiotherapy (Day 4)
Went for my follow-up visit with Dr Lim Mui Hong today when he replaced my bandages and checked on my wound - nothing amiss, except for the $100+ from my wallet. Will be going back one last time in a week's time to remove the stitches.
The highlight of my day was my first visit to my physiotherapist, Mark from The Physio Movement. It's my first time seeing him, and they are well-reviewed online. It's a bit too early for me to leave my review, so I'll save it for a few weeks time.
Mark is a friendly guy, trying to chat abit to break the ice. During the session, he did some manual therapy (basically some massage to release tight muscles), a 15 mins session of TENS, and he ended it off with some advice on walking with crutches (try to retain my normal walking gait, don't overcorrect with a limp), and prescribed some daily exercises to do at home.
He told me that:
- I should walk without crutches in 2 weeks
- After 5-6 weeks he may let me do some light jogging
- Back to normal activity after 3 months
I'm slightly disappointed with the recovery timeline, as my informal Google search showed some people who actually went back to normal activity in 2-4 weeks. Oh well, have to trust the process and just pray for speedy and FULL recovery!
The general progress so far is some slight improvements in knee extension over the past 3 days. Knee flexion entirely depends on how much swelling there is in the knee... today there suddenly seemed to be some swelling so my sub90 knee flexion became a very tight 90. Bearing weight on the knee is still quite uncomfortable, though I can generally survive on one crutch, even no crutch if I limp hard.
The highlight of my day was my first visit to my physiotherapist, Mark from The Physio Movement. It's my first time seeing him, and they are well-reviewed online. It's a bit too early for me to leave my review, so I'll save it for a few weeks time.
Mark is a friendly guy, trying to chat abit to break the ice. During the session, he did some manual therapy (basically some massage to release tight muscles), a 15 mins session of TENS, and he ended it off with some advice on walking with crutches (try to retain my normal walking gait, don't overcorrect with a limp), and prescribed some daily exercises to do at home.
He told me that:
- I should walk without crutches in 2 weeks
- After 5-6 weeks he may let me do some light jogging
- Back to normal activity after 3 months
I'm slightly disappointed with the recovery timeline, as my informal Google search showed some people who actually went back to normal activity in 2-4 weeks. Oh well, have to trust the process and just pray for speedy and FULL recovery!
The general progress so far is some slight improvements in knee extension over the past 3 days. Knee flexion entirely depends on how much swelling there is in the knee... today there suddenly seemed to be some swelling so my sub90 knee flexion became a very tight 90. Bearing weight on the knee is still quite uncomfortable, though I can generally survive on one crutch, even no crutch if I limp hard.
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