Sweethearts or Rivals: 2017

Tuesday 9 May 2017

Podcast 22

Thursday 27 April 2017

Geek and Sundry: How Did Board Games Change Your Life?

Geek and Sundry is asking a question; How did board games change you life?

A very interesting question for me especially since this year Tabletop Day falls on a trigger date for me. April 29th. This feels like a good time to share this story.

April 29 2011 should have been the day our first child was born.

Whoa hold the phone! I know this could be a sad and maybe taboo topic but I mean this to be an inspirational story. Please, stay with me.

It had taken a long time to conceive and we were overjoyed at the news, and then immensely devastated with life’s turn of events. I can’t tell you how long it was after that we discovered this little game called Carcassonne. Because you see, grief like that, it distorts your concept of time.

During that period in my life, I felt lost. I didn’t know how to function around people any more. Something horrible had happened and I felt disconnected from life. I felt disconnected from everyone. Even Justin.

But this game. It was almost magical.

It gave me something interesting to focus on. Something fun. Because fun was a foreign concept to me at that time. This pile of cardboard and wooden bits gave me what I needed to build a bridge reconnecting myself to life and relearn how to interact with people again.

Seems strange, I know, but at times like that, many couples drift apart in grief. We didn’t experience that but for awhile I couldn’t find myself anymore.

This shared experience of finding this whole new culture to immerse ourselves in gave me something to share and to bond over. It was a life preserver in the sea of my grief.

Immersed we were, we jumped in with both feet and in up to our necks! All the new concepts and terminology we learned together in a short period of time. It was intoxicating. Not a distraction from the loss. But a new focus. A passion ignited for this hobby that I will be forever grateful for.

The grief was still there, it always will be, tucked safely away, and that is fine. That is normal. Because love never dies.

My life would be a lot different every April 29th if our children were born on earth instead of to heaven. I’m not saying life would have been better, or worse for that matter. I’m saying, “I’m present!” in the here and now and that, is wonderful.

I’m thankful that I’m at a point now that I can open my home to people on that date “April 29th” instead of closing the curtains and shutting out the world.

A big part of my healing has been sharing this hobby with my Sweetheart (sometimes Rival) Justin.

Thanks for reading this.

Remember, if you are lost, you will find your way to be found.

Promise.

xoxo, Charla

Tuesday 28 March 2017

Dungeons & Dragons Adventure 1

Dungeons & Dragons Adventure 1: The Green Skin of Treachery

Sunday 19 March 2017

Gloomhaven: Small but Mighty Heroes Part I

Gloomhaven: Small but Mighty Heroes

I am Ratacast, prime hunter of the feared pack, Nittenhoth. I had everything I could ever want, first pick of the hunt, choice of mates, free roam of the wood, and the next chieftain would have been me should I have chosen it to be so. Then the strangers came with their offers and threats, which I laughed at. Now it is all gone; my family, my pack, my power. All dead, or worse - enslaved.

Traveling to Gloomhaven was a fool’s errand, but the consequences of my actions have shown me to be the greatest of fools. Then I met Trixie, on the same road as me to the city. At first we ignored each other, for what could a Vermling and a Quatryl ever have to say to one another. Soon, however, we found ourselves quietly watching each other’s backs. Two pecks; ignored, mocked, or attacked as easy prey. We worked well together, her Quatryl mechanical expertese lent itself well to killing bandits and other road scum while I dominated the weak willed to their deaths.

She is obsessed with the order and understanding of her mechanical toys, and wishes to bring such law and order to the world. Now I have met a bigger fool than I, but I will help her in this foolish quest so long as she helps me bring vengeance down upon those who destroyed my pack.

After a long and arduous journey we made it to the gates of Gloomhaven. They turned us away, laughing. I honestly don’t know who is more angry.

Trixie knows many things, she knows other ways into the city. We fumbled our way through a ruin, half buried in the filthy waste of the city, and found a tunnel leading beneath the walls. A bear and a pair of wolves, all half starved and driven mad by starvation, greeted us. The animals were no match for our prowess, but the two imps who had been controlling the animals were a bit more of a challenge.

We delved further below the surface and found a corridor filled with mist, mist and demons. Crystal shards and gouts of flame swirled through the hazy air to form horrid things of nightmare. They came for us, but we destroyed them both… barely.

Reaching back up to the surface, we opened the door to a garrison of drunk guards. Trixie stepped forth, ready to explain our folly and ask for entrance to the city, but they would not listen. Laughing hysterically, drunk on cheap wine or bloodlust, they attacked us. We had no choice but to put them down. The bodies are hidden, our sins will not be known to the people of our new home.

We found rooms at the Sleeping Lion Inn, but were quickly involved in a massive brawl. I wanted to jump right in and bash some skulls (or mindbash some idiots into bashing in some other skulls for me… he he he), but held off for Mrs. Lawbringer to take the lead. Already perturbed at our less than welcome treatment by the foolish humans, she pulled out her handbow contraptions and started putting fools down. It was a good fight!

This is only the beginning of our story. Soon, people are gonna know our names!

Tuesday 21 February 2017

Top 5 "Try Before We Buy" Games of 2016

Tuesday 14 February 2017

Podcast 21

Acquisitions, Plays, On Our Radar, and Updates on the Council of SHoR!

Tuesday 7 February 2017

Podcast 20 - Dec 2016 & Another Top 5 List! :D

POD 20

Tuesday 24 January 2017

Top 5 "New To Us" Games in 2016 & Council of SHoR Update

We talk about our top 5 favorite games played "new to us" in 2016!

AND if you would like to support Sweethearts or Rivals and have a say in future game purchases to be featured on the channel (with a chance to win games yourself) join the Council of SHoR! We have already reached our first goal and are 1/3rd of the way to reaching our second!

patreon.com/SHoR

Tuesday 17 January 2017

Podcast Updates and Upgrades!

By reaching our first Patreon goal, we can now upload more than one Podcast per month, allowing us to include our lists and future Waxing Philosophical episodes to our Podcast:

Our 2016 Year in Review: How did we do? What is next?

Sweethearts or Rivals