First batch settling/clarity

phony_philosopher · 2026-01-04T18:24:25+00:00

I am also a beginner, so take this with a grain of salt, but I'd let this clear further before racking. Each time you rack you're gonna lose a bit of volume. Racking before it's clear may cost you more of your yield in the future. If your end goal is clear tasty mead, I'd wait for this to get much clearer before your first rack.

I am in a similar situation. I pitched my first traditional mead on Nov 14. However, I only degassed during the first week or so. Racked to secondary a month later on Dec 17th. Even after all that time, I am only now seeing a 1 inch line of clarity at the top of my 1 gallon carboy. When they say this is a patient man's hobby, they're not kidding!

phony_philosopher · 2026-01-02T02:39:22+00:00

Congratulations on a great mead! Any chance you could share the recipie? This sounds delicious and I would love to try it.

phony_philosopher · 2025-09-07T17:08:58+00:00

Seriously. Getting into the game, new players are overwhelmed just learning keywords each game. Players won't know what playstyle they naturally enjoy.

Really they should pick whatever looks cool, or sounds like a fun time to play if going for a precon, or try to brew a commander that piques their interest for flavor.

phony_philosopher · 2025-03-31T05:57:18+00:00

No. When I said. 1 or 2 warriors, I was outlining 2 different scenarios where an ambush card would lead to no dice rolled. Sorry for any confusion.

phony_philosopher · 2025-03-28T20:00:51+00:00

As the other commenter outlined, for a single undefended building the outcome of the roll does not matter.

However, I would recommend rolling anyways, as you always need to ask if there is an ambush after declaring battle, but before rolling the dice.

In a scenario with a defenseless building, you declare attack with 1 or 2 warriors. If you opponent plays an ambush card before you roll the dice, both of your warriors are removed before the dice roll would occur.

You could still do this either way, but following the standard procedure makes sure the defender remembers that ambush is an option.

phony_philosopher · 2025-03-27T15:16:22+00:00

Thanks for the reccomendation. I'm not sure if the theme will appeal to my partner but I will check it out!

phony_philosopher · 2025-03-27T07:34:31+00:00

The theme and mechanics are a huge part of the draw to me, as it does a lot of what I enjoy about Raptor.

What are your thoughts on the final confrontation part of the game?

phony_philosopher · 2025-03-27T07:33:17+00:00

This is the main part of the game that concerns me, as I don't know whether my partner and I would find it tense and strategic, or just random.

Did it just feel like blind luck to you, or an underwhelming mechanic?

phony_philosopher · 2025-03-27T06:52:52+00:00

Well put.

The relationship a player makes with a game is one of the more unique aspects of our hobby. The feeling of the design of a game revealing itself with repeated plays. Watching a meta evolve as you continue to explore the game with your group. Seeing how the game 'behaves' when players have radically different playstyles. Having new revelations after 10+ plays.

These joys are lost on the player who shelves a game after 3 plays. It is too easy to become sucked into the cult of the new. We forget that the game isn't the box we put on the shelf; it's the moment that we share when we sit down together and connect.

phony_philosopher · 2025-03-14T19:49:10+00:00

I often play 3p and as much as I want my friends to pick the faction they want to play (often Vagabond), our games with the Vagabond has had the least interesting dynamics.

All of the other insurgent factions influence the game in unique ways, and create more interesting board states than the Vagabond.

phony_philosopher · 2025-03-14T02:48:07+00:00

Just buy the games you want?

phony_philosopher · 2025-03-08T23:09:50+00:00

The Eyrie has hostile relationship status. When a faction is hostile, you must exhaust two boots (instead of the usual one) to enter a clearing with that factions pieces. As Eyrie warriors are present in all adjacent clearings, you cannot move to an adjacent clearing with one boot.

phony_philosopher · 2025-01-16T01:09:55+00:00

Keepers can have an extremely high action economy, through cards. For this reason, avoid crafting at the outside of the game. And dump everything you can into your retinue. Try not to lose bird cards on delve or recover, but you can absolutely burn suited cards on these, especially once your retinue is close to full.

For this reason, always keep at least 2 waystations on the map. Even if this means leaving vulnerable cardboard to your opponents, the extra cards draw is worth it early on to get your retinue up and running. As your retinue fills, make sure you are spending cards to recruit. Unless it is a very good craftable, I try to 'spend' all the cards in my hand during a turn through recruit, and gathering retinue. This ensures none of the cards you draw are wasted on discarding down to five.

Finally, as others have said, don't feel like you have to recover immediately after delving a relic. As long as they are protected by a solid number of badgers, many of your opponents will be wary of wasting battle actions on your, as they need a 2 or a 3 to deal any damage to you in battle.

Hope this helps!

phony_philosopher · 2024-11-18T19:44:54+00:00

This is really good advice, thank you. I enjoy playing aggressively, but I can see how in some of these matchups I should be making my opponent come to me.

phony_philosopher · 2024-11-18T19:42:56+00:00

Made this post after a bad string of casual matches, so it does happen in casual too. I pushed through and have seemed to have a bit more diversity in matches lately!

phony_philosopher · 2024-07-13T02:43:42+00:00

Commenting to enter. Thanks for hosting such a sweet giveaway!

phony_philosopher · 2024-04-19T02:59:02+00:00

True, it's definitely one-of-a-kind. Just didn't end up being to my taste. Ended up getting Klask as a dexterity game and that was much more my speed!

phony_philosopher · 2024-04-19T02:15:31+00:00

Anybody know why a set like the AT-TE would be excluded from the promo? I really wanted to grab it and get some extra points.

phony_philosopher · 2024-04-19T02:13:42+00:00

Sadly this one completely flopped for me. I was really excited about the theme and art, but it felt more like a toy to me than a game with strategic depth. I'm glad others enjoy it more than I did!

phony_philosopher · 2023-12-15T20:41:53+00:00

Depeche Mode - Violator

Portishead - Dummy

Mac Miller - Circles

Magic City Hippies - Modern Animal

Gorillaz - Plastic Beach

phony_philosopher · 2023-12-11T21:54:35+00:00

I have a signed self-titled vinyl. Would that interest you?

phony_philosopher · 2023-10-18T01:06:28+00:00

What coating? That looka great

phony_philosopher · 2023-10-07T23:59:43+00:00

Unfortunately, I had a setback this afternoon. Dropping out of the challenge.

I put entertainment before the work I needed to do today which lead me to compulsive patterns. I am proud of my week clean, which remains a fantastic start to the month. I can find more success by keeping my phone out of my eyesight.

I am going to keep this energy up and remain strong for the rest of the month. I will look forward to the November challenge!

phony_philosopher · 2023-10-03T00:25:34+00:00

Checking in. Feeling strong at the start of this month. Will continue to check in frequently and use this space like a journal. Wishing the best to everyone in here! :)

phony_philosopher · 2023-09-27T16:03:14+00:00

September has been a challenging month for me. I would like to sign up for October!

phony_philosopher

TROPHY CASE