It’s a dark dark moon

life, the universe, and everything, still alive

It’s been a rough couple of days as we work through the grieving process. Nico for such a small dog has left such an enormous hole behind.

But even while grieving and having much needed emotional support cuddles with the rest of the little monsters, I have bought another game.

The majority of my game purchases these days are ones of opportunity.

I belong to a UK board gaming facebook group that not only chats about games but also allows the selling and buying of games.

It has been known that on a daily basis for members of the group to post collections or games they no longer have room for or want for sale to those of us who don’t have enough games.

It’s these listings that I usually buy from these days, especially if it’s a game I’ve been after for a while.

One such purchase of opportunity from this group has been another copy of Dark Moon.

Dark Moon started life as a streamlined, dice version of Battlestar Galactica. Naturally being an ip licensed to FFG it was never going to see the light of day with that theme. Not unless FFG picked up the game. Which they didn’t. So it got released as Dark Moon by Stronghold.

Stronghold did release an expansion for the game that I never bought at the time. Then over the years the game and expansion fell out of print. Which made it harder to find a copy of the expansion when I remembered to look for it.

Which brings me to this purchase.

The seller was not only selling the core game but also the expansion. They couldn’t be separated because they were in one box. However at the price being asked I didn’t mind. Getting the expansion separately would easily cost me the asking price if not more on eBay (if it was available).

So I snapped it up.

This sort of opportunity was how I ended up with Discworld Ankh-Morpork.

Obviously I do pre-order stuff (mainly expansions these days) or buy stuff I come across via reviews. But those later ones I also count as purchases of opportunity because they were unplanned.

I’m hoping this sort of serendipity will eventually get me the Fallout expansion New California (at a reasonable price).

RIP Nico aka NooNoo aka Nickynoo

#littlemonsters

At approximately 12:30 Nico passed away cuddled up next to me on our bed.

Earlier in the year Nico had been diagnosed with two faulty heart valves after having a scan done, because the vet had detected a heart murmur. The faulty valves were inoperable.

Since then he’d been on daily medication to help.

The last week and a half Nico hadn’t been his usual self. Gradually getting worse.

Nico for some reason didn’t like stairs and would have to get the nerve up before making a mad dash up them. Once up he had to be carried down!

He was like that with my bed. He’d jump up, but refused to jump off, unless he needed to do a nature call during the night. If he wanted a drink of water he’d sit by the edge of the bed looking at me expectantly. I’d then lean over pick the water bowl and hold it for him while he drank. More often than not Loki would come over and drink with him.

Funny thing is. Round mums/nans he would happily jump up and down from her single bed. But mine (a futon) which is lower not a chance.

Apart from the nicknames that you read in the post title (I almost always called him noonoo, which could be said/sung to the John Cena entrance music) I often thought of him as the Alice Cooper of the dog/chihuahua world. Sometimes when you looked at him from across the room he looked like he’d got the Alice Cooper eye makeup on.

Nico along with Loki will go down in the annuals of family history as the most fussy of eaters, having turned up their noses to steak!

I will never forget the time Nico caught a young sparrow in our conservatory. The young bird had flown in on mums side, and in its attempt to get back out landed on the floor my side. Nico was faster than grease lightning and was on the feathered intruder. Luckily I was far behind and able to save it.

It’s hard to think I’ve carried Nico downstairs for the last time. I’m going to miss this little enigma.

Look after Nan for me Nico.

Bgstats for November 2025

bgstat, by the numbers, gaming stats, stats

This month really has been a month of feast and famine in the gaming front.

Although it has been nice to get some of the new arrivals to the table and to have a couple of themed gaming sessions.

Overall it’s been an average sort of month. Which at one point when it was looking like hardly any gaming would take place is a pleasant surprise.

And the underlying raw data now follows.

November 2025 Gaming Roundup Part Deux

Gaming roundup

Life definitely got in the way of gaming this later half of the month.

However the day before greeting Diogo in the family I got to have a game day with a Ra theme. Charlene, Ben, and myself met at hers to play the three Ra games plus we had time to sneak in another game.

Ra: played with the new Traders expansion. Some new tiles that add another way to score points each round. Adds no overhead to the game.

Ra and Write: a light roll and write version of Ra. Quite enjoyable.

Ratzia: the card version of Ra themed around anamorphic characters and crime. Relatively quick to play that captures the feel of the original.

Forest Shuffle: Dartmoor: I’m glad I got this. It’s a great way to get into Forest Shuffle without buying the original and trying to get the expansions. Plus I love the Dartmoor theming. I love the actual Dartmoor and have fond memories walking and camping on it.

Netrunner: still a classic. We played using the original FFG core set default decks.

Marvel Skirmish in New York: I liked this two player game. The asymmetry of each player having their own decks is nice. It joins the growing list of great two player games in my collection that will sadly not get the love they deserve.

A Study in Emerald: a fun game nearly spoilt by a subpar rule book. Definitely a game I’d play again. But the rule book requires work.

Discworld Ankh-Morpork: this was a big hit with Ben and Charlene despite them not being familiar with the books. They took delight in card names and the art work. They enjoyed it so much we had to reset and play a second game straight away.

Furnace: I picked this up after seeing a video for the impending two player version. Boy am I glad I did. Quick to teach and play. The auction mechanic is simple, fun and very strategic. Then running your engine which can be made more gamer like by a variant. A very nice quick auction engine builder.

Fate of Witches: This was not a great experience. I found the game initially very frustrating. Reflecting on it over night I think this was due to a combination of things. Firstly the teach wasn’t very clear and didn’t explain a couple of key points properly. Some of the scoring hadn’t been explained clearly. Terms used to describe actions did not accurately describe what you did. For example one action you can take is called upkeep. What it actually is, is play a card into your tableau. Very confusing. I also felt that opportunities to get cards into your graveyard were very limited. This needed to be easier. There seemed too much downtime between turns, and the game felt overly long for what it is.

And that was the later half of November.

New arrivals to the collection

  • Qwirkle Flex
  • Marvel: Skirmish! In New York
  • Battletech: Gothic
  • BattleTech: Inner Sphere Fire Lance
  • Stone Age Anniversary Edition
  • Furnace
  • Both Star Wars Unlimited Secrets of Power Spotlight decks

LiveFromPeru Part 3

#littlemonsters, #livefromperu

I find it incredible that only a week has passed since Diogo arrived in the UK and I went south to meet him.

This week has gone by so fast.

A week that has gone far better than I could hope for.

Today was a real test for the little monsters and mum.

I spent the majority of the day and evening gaming. The games played will be covered in a post in the next couple of days. With me being home for a couple of hours between the two gaming sessions. Enabling me to feed both the little monsters and mum, do the evening call of nature walk, and spend a little quality time with them.

Yes I crammed a lot into that time.

But me being away was a test for mum being able to cope with four furballs plus her cat Ramsey.

Which she did ok.

However I’m sure she was glad once I was home.

Right I’m closing this blog post with the dogs curled up with me. Dolly is lying across my chest as I type on my iPhone, snoring away.

LiveFromPeru Part 2

#littlemonsters, #livefromperu

It’s hard to imagine that this time last week Diogo was in the air making his way from Lima in Peru to Amsterdam. The time has just flown by.

After breakfast and the morning walk I paid a visit to the Pets at Home store.

The main reason I went was to get something for Diogo to chew. That dog is a chewer. Which is a new experience for me because none of my previous dogs or current ones have been. That includes Strider as a puppy too.

If I want a home and no damaged boardgames I needed something he could chew away on.

Whilst looking around the store I picked up a hoodie for Diogo. There were one or two I liked the look of for the longer walks that are a bit more suitable for a UK winter. I’ll make a decision in the next week or so and get one for Diogo and one for Dolly.

I also picked up two dog restraints for the car. Although I have every confidence in the bungee cords I used on Saturday. That was fine for a temporary solution. However I need something that was a bit more suitable for the car and shorter than a full lead. Plus I needed something for Dolly. She is really good in the car. But I should be legal.

The plan is Diogo in the backseat, Dolly in the front. With that in mind I found out how to disable or more correctly switch off the passenger airbag. I didn’t even know that was a thing you could do. But now it’s done.

I also bought a box of 240 strong poo bags. Thin ones are not my favourite. So easy to puncture whilst midst pick up.

Finally what I actually went to the pet store for. I ended up buying four of those bones with stuff in the middle.

Diogo’s new hoodie

As I was paying I got talking to the person serving me. It turns out the other person serving had rescued a dog from Romania. Her dog was called Forest because that’s where they had been found.

Back home I put the new hoodie on Diogo which I really like on him. Dolly will need something for our longer walks but her pug coat is better in this weather than the natural coat that Diogo has.

I did give the bones to each of the dogs. This highlighted an area where Diogo has to learn life is different now.

Diogo was getting very protective of his bone, ie growling. If any of the others got close. Bear in mind this is four dogs and myself on a double bed. Not the biggest space for them to spread out. He also decided he’d had enough of his bone and wanted one of the others. Cue growling again. After an intervention by myself it was all swap around on the bones. But that didn’t stop Diogo. More growling.

There was only one thing to do. I had to take back all the bones and put them out of the way.

I want to put Diogo’s behaviour down to his previous life. Especially the time spent in the rescue home where there was competition for stuff.

Diogo over time will learn life is different here. There is no competition and we are one pack.

LiveFromPeru Part 1

#littlemonsters, #livefromperu

It used to be that when I fed the dogs Dolly would growl words of encouragement to hurry up. Or nagging as I call it to be faster putting the food in the dog bowls and put them down.

Dolly is not a dog that takes her time and savours her food. She lottery wolfs down her food. Licking every last morsel from the bowl before moving on to hopefully getting some of Nico and Loki’s food. Who are the complete opposite to Dolly. Very slow and picky eaters.

Diogo is somewhere in the middle of these two extremes. Although he does appear to be just as fussy as the little ones with food at times. All Dolly cares about is, is it edible?

But why am I going on about Dolly nagging?

Well Diogo also nags. Just not at meal times.

Diogo thinks I need barks of encouragement to get ready for our walks quicker.

Despite the current language barrier Diogo is starting to picking up on the cues from the others.

He also notices when I start getting ready to take them out.

Once he notices he will start to bark in excitement and encouragement.

He does love going out, as does Dolly.

I’m currently looking for a local dog park I can take Diogo to so that he can be safely let off the lead and allowed to run to his hearts content.

Nico hasn’t been his usual self the last couple of days. It doesn’t help that he has two faulty valves in his heart that are inoperable. All I can do is to keep giving him his heart meds. Which he hates taking. I’m giving the little chap another day or so before seeing the vet.

I have a played a couple of games and the end of the month summary is close. So stay tuned for the gaming content.

Arrival +2

#littlemonsters, #livefromperu

I think it’s time to share Diogo’s story.

Back in Peru Diogo was hit by a car. The driver took Diogo to the vet to be put down.

However this is where Diogo had his first bit of luck.

The vet didn’t like the idea of putting a young dog down. Not when he could be saved and rescued.

So the vet called the rescue home to see if they would take Diogo in. The rescue home called Kate.

And here there is a little bit of confusion about precisely what was said. But the outcome of the conversation was that Kate and her partner Charlie paid for Diogo’s operation.

I come into the picture at the end of May when I agreed to give Diogo a forever home.

The whole process of getting Diogo over here was dealt with by Kate and her partner.

There are so many dogs with equally sad stories such as poisoned, thrown in a canal, hit by a car, etc. Man’s cruelty never ceases to sicken me.

I wish I could give them all a loving home. But that’s just not physically possible. I do not have the home or life style to do it. I’d need a major lottery win to do so.

Which basically brings us up to speed and today.

I’ve started walking Diogo with Dolly much earlier than planned.

Diogo has his gps tracker on when we go out.

I’m currently using a regular lead with him. He’s really good on it, doesn’t pull.

But I will have to start getting him trained so he comes on command. However I want to make sure he’s settled in a little bit more.

Plus Diogo is learning English. Luckily he’s taking cues from the others.

Arrival +1

#littlemonsters, #livefromperu

It’s Diogo’s first full day in his forever home.

He’s had a good night with the rest of the little monsters.

This morning he had his breakfast with the others. Diogo is not as fast as Dolly eating for sure.

I took Dolly for her morning constitutional after eating.

After we were back it was Diogo’s turn to go out and be introduced to the streets of Wisbech.

Surprisingly Diogo didn’t answer the call of nature. He spent more time taking in the sights and sounds, and more importantly smells.

But he was pretty good on the lead.

I will be getting Diogo another coat or two. So I can clean one and still keep him warm.

Thanks to the generosity of Kate and her partner Charlie (who I both owe a very big thank you to for Diogo and getting him over here) I have a Pawfit gps tracker that fits to Diogo’s collar.

I managed to get the tracker synced with the app this morning, so now (as I did this morning) I have the tracker charged and on his collar.

It means basically if he escapes, get spooked while out and runs, I can find him.

The old adage “plan for the worst, hope for the best” comes to mind.

And it’s all about his safety.

All four little monsters at rest

Morning from Diogo

#littlemonsters, #livefromperu

Diogo had a good night snuggled up on the bed next to me.

As I type this Diogo is snuggled up on the sofa next to me watching The Flash on Amazon.

We are waiting for Nathan to arrive so we can spend a little time with him.

In the meantime I’ve had my morning coffee and just like the other three little monsters Diogo apparently likes Belgian waffles.

We travel back later today. Which mum will be really glad because she didn’t get much sleep with three dogs and a cat taking up the majority of her bed.

But before we do I need to sort out a warm coat for Diogo. After all he’s been ripped from the start of Summer in the Southern hemisphere to the start of Winter here. A bit of a shock I’d say.

Yes there are going to be a few posts about Diogo as I document his settling in to life in the UK. But the gaming content and outdoors stuff will be back interspersed amongst it. Over time service will return to normal.

UPDATE: 12:55

Third time lucky I believe the quote is. And it was the case in getting Diogo a fleecy coat to help keep him warm. The third attempt involved taking him to the pet shop to get fitted. The staff were really friendly and helpful.

UPDATE: 20:41

After a long drive home. Not nearly as long as when I picked up Dolly. But still the rain slowed things down. Particularly the couple of accidents.

The meeting of the greatest canine minds the world has ever seen went as well as it could.

The surprise? The growling was not from the little monsters but from Diogo. Despite our short time together it would appear Diogo has really taken ownership of me.

But it was expected. There are going to be “moments” over the next few days,weeks,months. It’s getting through them and building our bond so it is stronger.

The journey has started.