"For we are (not) to utter sweet breath": Winter

 

 "For we are (not) to utter sweet breath": Winter

Welcome to a series of blog posts that will include a meal, a drink to pair with said meal, and some games that you can play that are at least a loose thematic fit for the evening. Not everything is for everyone, and you should take what you like and leave what you don't. But I hope you use these posts to try something new (whether it be a meal, a game, or a drink!) and perhaps discover something you like. That said, I'm gonna be real about this particular post: the theme isn't necessarily winter so much as the *feel* of winter, if that makes sense? Like, blankets and hot drinks are not necessarily winter-themed, but they feel like winter. The whole "a square is a rectangle, but a rectangle isn't a square" kinda thing.

Drink: Hot Chocolate with Peppermint Schnapps and either Whipped Cream or Marshmallow Vodka

Won't lie - these things are awesome...

Obviously, hot chocolate is super easy to make. Adding some peppermint schnapps is key, but the whipped cream or marshmallow vodka adds a little something to it, too. I feel like this is kind of a holiday staple, so I don't have much more to say about this other than the drink takes care of itself! By the time you're ready to eat and play games, you'll have finished your first hot chocolate, so I encourage you to make a second!

Food: Spinach and Sausage soup and Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

There are a lot of recipes for soup, but I keep mine very simple. I start by browning all of the Italian sausage and then draining it and setting it aside. I combine chicken broth with small chunks of red potato (I don't bother skinning them because I don't mind the skin, but your preference is your own!) and an envelope of Italian salad dressing mix. I bring that to a boil, then throw a cover on it and let it simmer for about ten minutes. At that point, I add the sausage to the broth, as well as toss in a package of spinach, let it all heat through, and I've got soup! Or rather, I have chicken broth with a number of other things in it. I know it's not *real* soup, but it is simple, it's fast, and it serves its purpose.

As for grilled cheese, this is my preferred way to make them: we start with sourdough bread, because that makes for a hearty sandwich. I butter one side of each piece of bread (basically the outside of the sandwich) so that it browns nicely on the griddle. I use extra sharp cheddar cheese because while I enjoy subtle flavors in my whiskey, I generally don't want subtle flavors when it comes to my cheese. I slice up a Granny Smith apple decently thinly and layer slices of apple over three slices of cheddar cheese. Then I put some arugula on top of that before covering the sandwich up with the other piece of bread and grilling it all until the cheese is melty and the bread is decently golden. The apple and arugula add some nice flavors while keeping the entire thing very simple.

Game: Rising Sun

Normally when I do these posts, I include at least one smoller game so that I'm sharing suggestions for people who enjoy different weights to their board games. But I was also thinking about the season of winter in general and how it's often a very sluggish, very homebound season. We eat and drink warm things, snuggle up, and stay in. So I picked some longer games that are more in line with that notion of buckling down for the winter.

I love Rising Sun. Each player is leads a clan in the hopes of becoming the new emperor. There's political play, recruitment of armies (including monsters whose loyalty can be purchased), and different ways to score VP. The game features some fantastic minis (as you'd expect from CMON), beautiful art, and a terrific design space with a lot of options. But I'll also assert that the game is not as intimidating as it looks. It might feel like it's got a tenuous connection to the winter season, but in my defense, the game spans four seasons and ends when winter settles in and all conflict ends. Also, for me personally, when I think of winter, I think about time spent with friends around a fire or a dinner table, enjoying food, drink, and conversation. Needless to say, when I'm with gaming friends, a lot of our conversation centers around gaming. This is a game through which players can craft a narrative for the unfolding of events and after the game is done, can debrief through that narrative, talking about the different turns it took. I've mentioned in other blog posts that I really enjoy debriefs - at the height of my time spent gaming, I'd be up until 3am, debriefing matches of the Conquest LCG (incidentally also featuring Eric Lang as a designer, just like Rising Sun!) with my buddy Biff. The debrief was a good portion of the fun we enjoyed with that game. Rising Sun makes for an excellent game with which to settle down in a warm, cozy space and enjoy time with frenemies.

Game: Dominant Species

Dominant Species is absolutely a heavier game than Rising Sun. It lasts longer and there are seemingly infinite options. But I also just love the hell out of it. The premise is simple: as an ice age approaches (see? winter theme!), each player represents an entire class of animals (insects, arachnids, amphibians, birds, reptiles, or mammals) striving to end the game as the most dominant species on the planet, and thus most likely to survive the inevitable ice age. It's a bit of a brain burner, as there are so many different actions each player can take each turn. Twelve, in fact! And you can choose most actions multiple times, so long as there are available spots on which to play one of your action pawns! Those choices become even more difficult, as there is an action queue. So when selecting an action, it's not just thinking about what you need to accomplish this turn, but anticipating how other people will use their actions before your action, possibly negatively impacting your plans. For example, Competition (eliminating an opponent's species cubes) might seem a great idea, but Speciation (adding species cubes) happens before then, so maybe Competition isn't so great if your opponent added several new cubes, thus rendering Competition a fairly "meh" move by the time the Competition action rolls around. Or perhaps your opponent sees your plans and chooses to Migrate instead, moving all of their vulnerable species cubes to different hexes, ensuring that your choice of the Competition action is not only "meh," but actually completely useless without a target! It's my experience that having actions completely invalidated in this game is very uncommon, but it definitely happens. Owing to the great potential for analysis paralysis and the long nature of the game, I think this is a great choice when I'm not in a rush to get to anything else. And when it's winter, I'm very rarely in a rush to get to anything else. Unless it's more food, drink, or games...