Actualol Newsletter - December 2020 (Patreon)

Happy New Year patrons!

Thank you for still being here! I’m very grateful to you for supporting the channel during this difficult year™. I’m lucky that I could keep making videos, but even more lucky that I had the support to do it.

We spent Christmas in London this year. We had planned for my Mum to visit but she decided it wasn’t safe. And then a few days later the government forbade it anyway!

We made the best of it, with plenty of cocktails, Muppets Christmas Carol and a typical Christmas roast. 

Our downstairs neighbours did a DJ set of Christmas songs on the day itself, which brought everyone out on their balconies, which was a nice feeling of togetherness, at a safe social distance.

Year in Review(s)

Last year I made three resolutions for the channel.

1. To inject more comedy into my videos. I definitely focused more on making things funny in 2020, with my Daniel Radcliffe video, my Unbiased review, and my Christmas video. But I also tried to bring more humour to other videos than I previously would, such as my Top 10 Tabletopia/Tabletop Simulator videos. My goal is to make every video as entertaining as possible. But I do have to balance that against how much extra time it takes.

2. To keep playing with new types of videos. I feel like I achieved this one. I tried my hand at vlogging over the summer - something I’d like to return to periodically, but is somewhat dampened by current UK lockdown restrictions. I also experimented with live-streaming, doing the game-show with Serena. This is something I probably won’t try again for a while, since they didn’t get many views, and it added too much to Serena’s plate, on top of her job.

3. To make a video that looks at board games from a wider angle. This one I haven’t achieved, but is still very much on my radar. After the pandemic hit, I decided to pivot to making videos about playing games online - and I’m glad I did because they now have 200K views! But it meant that other ideas got left by the wayside. I’ll be picking them up again this year, when the time is right.

I’m particularly proud of the Daniel Radcliffe video, which to me best represents the kind of video I want to be making. Something that has comedy running through it, and that feels concise and polished. By no coincidence, it also took longer to make than any other video this year. I try to make at least one video per month, and so these bigger videos aren’t always possible.

I’ve also tried to make improvements behind the scenes. I’ve been caught in a loop of working video to video for so many years, that I’ve never really taken the time to improve my tools or my skills. During the extra free time that lockdown allowed, I’ve tried to learn more about filmmaking, and research equipment to improve things such as lighting. Some might be noticeable, others made my working practices easier and less infuriating!

Actual Resolutions

I’m nervous to make resolutions for a year that holds so much unknown, but here goes:

1. This is a hope, rather than a resolution. I would like Actualol to grow. I’m not talking about views or subscribers (although both come with their benefits). I’m convinced that the biggest thing holding Actualol back is that I’m just one person. And to make more frequent, and better videos, I would like to work with other people. The Catch 22 of the situation is that the only way to afford that would be to make more and better videos - to get more ad revenue, or more patrons.

I decided to postpone my Patreon pledge drive for last year, given the global situation. When (if?) things calm down, I hope to raise funds so that I can use to work with someone, to increase my output.

2. To make a video with a purpose beyond just recommending games. I have two ideas in my mind for videos that aim to tackle a topic in a more journalistic way. They will need some planning, but I’m excited to try it.

3. To make another song. Sadly, I had to postpone my plans for a Christmas song until next year. The lockdown restrictions meant I couldn’t film it as I would have wanted. But it does mean that I’ve got a great idea in the pipeline!

Beyond that, I hope to continue in the path that I’ve set in 2020. I want each video to speak to the quality and humour of the channel.

Personal Resolutions

My personal resolutions for 2020 went surprisingly well! I did get more sleep, finally forgoing my night owl nature in favour of a routine.

And I did read more books, managing sixteen in total. My favourite was The Five by Hallie Rubenhold, a fascinating look at life in Victorian London through the lives of the victims of Jack The Ripper. It reframes that part of history by remembering the victims and not the monster who murdered them.

Where I didn’t do so well, was in my resolution to move more. I’m blaming Covid-19 for that one. I did briefly get into a routine of regular exercise (remember my back injury?), but I couldn’t keep it going for more than a few months. I miss my swing dancing classes. We tried to keep it up in the flat, but it’s just not the same.

I’m hesitant to make a resolution I won’t keep, so for this year I will resolve to learn some jazz dance routines. We’ve started learning one already, so I’m making it really easy for myself!

And I would like to learn something new, but I’m not 100% sure what. I flirted with learning German in 2020, but didn’t stick with it. I might return to that, or find something new that grabs me. Hopefully I’ll report back in 2021 with a new skill.

Actual Games

Cubitos is the hot new game from AEG that I expect will be very popular. It is a dice-building race game. You roll your dice each turn, and either use them to move further along the race track, or use them to buy new, better dice to add to your pool.

And it adds in push your luck - rerolling your blank dice to try and get more results. But if you only roll blanks (a very likely outcome), then you go bust, and achieve nothing this turn.

It is very, very reminiscent of The Quacks of Quedlinburg. And if you want a dice version of that game, then this game is perfect for you. Each dice colour has its own special power, a power that varies each game - giving the game an insane level of variability.

I personally didn’t take to Cubitos. Increasingly, I find rolling huge amounts of dice over and over again to not be satisfying. It becomes repetitive and boring. The reason I enjoy rolling dice is not because of the tactile feel. It’s because it provides an exciting moment of drama in a game. But when you’re forced to do that action again and again and again, with the same stakes every time, it loses all meaning. I’m no longer a high-roller at a casino, I am the game’s randomisation computer.

The other problem I have with Cubitos is my issue with Quacks - I feel like I am alone at the table. Every phase of Cubitos is “simultaneous”, which is code for “your actions have no impact on anyone else”. Not only does no-one care how I rolled, but the rules are telling them to focus on their dice while I do it.

The race is supposed to be my reason to care. Except, their place on that track will never affect my decisions. The goal is to be as efficient as possible. If I am more efficient (or lucky) than them, I will win. We could practically play in separate rooms and compare results.

In a year when social gaming is the rarest of commodities, I have no patience for a game that ignores the social aspect of gaming. I am done with personal boards, personal pools and personal concerns. And therefore, I am done with Cubitos.

Schotten Totten vs Schotten Totten 2

Over Christmas, I decided to answer which Schotten Totten game I prefer, playing them both multiple times.

Schotten Totten (aka Battle Line) is a classic two player card game from Reiner Knizia that goes down as one of the best couples games of all time.

In Schotten Totten, you take it in turns to play a card onto your side of a battle. There are nine battle stones to win, and if you can conquer five in total, or three adjacent to each other you will win the game. To win a stone, you must play a better set of three cards on your side. The sets work like in poker, with straight flushes (colour runs) being the most powerful, followed by three of a kind (number set) and so on.

Schotten Totten 2 keeps the same core formula with a few key changes. The sides now have roles - one player is the attacker, trying to defeat the castle wall in four places, the other is the defender, trying to hold them off. In reality you’re still trying to win battles in the same manner.

Each role has its own powers. The attacker can choose to discard their cards from a battle, if they can’t win and want to start again. It’s wasteful, but a nice option. The defender has three cauldrons of oil, which they can spend to discard the first attacking card played in a battle. This can absolutely ruin the attacker’s chances of completing a colour run.

For me, the oil cauldrons feel too strong, and against the spirit of the game. It’s not that I think they imbalance the game, they don’t. It’s that it feels too destructive. The attacker has waited all game to piece together a set. The overriding feel of Schotten Totten is agonising hand management, and biding your time. With oil, the defender can destroy your hard work in an instant.

Another change is that each section of wall has its own requirements. Some want sets of 4 cards, some three, some two. This gives you more to consider when deciding where to put your cards, and makes the game more thinky.

The two end pieces forgo the usual rules - ignoring colours to demand the highest sum of cards, and the lowest sum of cards, respectively. This inclines you to save cards for those spots and feels like a luck fest of who gets the most zeroes or elevens.

Speaking of zeros and elevens - you can play a zero to discard your opponent’s eleven in the same battle, and vice versa. It’s a really cool idea, but I’ve yet to see it happen in a game, because we’ve always saved our zeros and elevens for the highest/lowest sets.

Another way for the attacker to win is to defeat the wall twice in the same place. When a victory is claimed, all the cards for that spot are removed. Usually that happens late in the game, so it’s a lot harder to mount a decent attack, giving both sides some added late game angst. What might have a forgone conclusion isn’t anymore.

The additions that Schotten Totten 2 adds are clever - they add more thought to the game, without weighing it down. But my personal preference is the simpler original. I already find that the game has plenty to agonise over. The differences aren’t so significant that I would advocate owning both, but if you love the original it might provide a nice change of pace. They are both great games, but the original remains my recommendation to newcomers.

Games I’ve been enjoying lately

- Master Word

- The Fuzzies

- Modern Art: The Card Game

Games that have just arrived

- Inkling

Video of the Month - How The States Got Their Abbreviations - Gary Gulman

Song of the Month - Mahalia - Hide Out

Now watching - Home For Christmas: Season 2, Patrick Melrose

Now reading - Daily Rituals: How Artists Work

I hope that this year is better for you than the last,

Actually yours,

Jon