Daggerheart: Dragon Heist in the City of Splendors
Funny, really, to log this as "tabletop" when I'm actually playing online, and thus exclusively on my computer or phone. But it's not a Video Game, so...
Anyway, as I mentioned yesterday, this is very much ongoing — we're now entering our fourth week. I've still not settled my mind on if or how I should be regularly logging it, but possibly "every Monday" (while it continues, natch) is one answer.
Monday, 3 November 2025
Sunday, 2 November 2025
Films
Midsommar (2019)
[#89 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2025]
Blindspot 2025 #11
Decided to watch the two-and-a-half hour theatrical cut instead of the three-hour Director's Cut for this first viewing, on the principle that was the original version (and not in a "it's never what the director wanted and he fixed it years later" way, presumably, as the other cut followed pretty sharpish on home ent), and if I like it enough I can always revisit with the longer version (because, as we know, I revisit films often...)
[#89 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2025]
Blindspot 2025 #11
Decided to watch the two-and-a-half hour theatrical cut instead of the three-hour Director's Cut for this first viewing, on the principle that was the original version (and not in a "it's never what the director wanted and he fixed it years later" way, presumably, as the other cut followed pretty sharpish on home ent), and if I like it enough I can always revisit with the longer version (because, as we know, I revisit films often...)
Fiction / Non-Fiction / Games
Daggerheart: Core Rulebook
Even though I'm actively playing in a game (yes, it's ongoing, despite my lack of logging), there's still plenty of the rulebook I haven't read. Today I particularly focused on the Campaign Frames, because I've been curious about those.
Even though I'm actively playing in a game (yes, it's ongoing, despite my lack of logging), there's still plenty of the rulebook I haven't read. Today I particularly focused on the Campaign Frames, because I've been curious about those.
Video Games
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle
Forced myself to go back to this, with a revised approach: I decided, as I didn't enjoy the stealth, to be a bit less stealthy. Turned out that was fine because I'd already slaughtered most of the enemies on the level when I got fed up last time! I still found the map frustrating and unclear on where to go (I'd rather the game was either truly true open-world or provided a clear path — it feels like it wants to imply it's the former while actually having a fairly linear route (with a couple of options along that primary path), at least for this early level), but I got through it so that pain ended.
The next part of the game opened up a lot more, becoming more exploration and investigation focused. Long story short, I enjoyed it a lot more, and ended up playing for over two hours — it wouldn't have been so long but, once again, I got shafted by being unclear about when the game had last saved for me.
At one point I accidentally got in a fight. Even though the place was swarming with enemies, I took a few of them down quickly (one advantage of playing on the easiest difficulty), ran away, hid for a bit, and then was able to carry on walking around as before. Thoroughly unrealistic, and I can see why it's led some to claim the enemy AI is awful... but also fine for me, because otherwise they would've absolutely slaughtered me and I would've had to work out how to get to an earlier save point and begin over. It's a game, therefore it's inherently unrealistic in plenty of other ways, so I can let stuff like that slide for the sake of being able to play on.
I still have niggles and complaints (even the less-linear level design doesn't feel as clear as it could, and I think the first-person view is partly to blame; normally I love going round finding every collectable and completing every side objective, but the awkwardness of doing so is putting me off even trying), but I'm enjoying it more now and intend to stick with it, at least for the time being (now, if I stop enjoying it again...)
Forced myself to go back to this, with a revised approach: I decided, as I didn't enjoy the stealth, to be a bit less stealthy. Turned out that was fine because I'd already slaughtered most of the enemies on the level when I got fed up last time! I still found the map frustrating and unclear on where to go (I'd rather the game was either truly true open-world or provided a clear path — it feels like it wants to imply it's the former while actually having a fairly linear route (with a couple of options along that primary path), at least for this early level), but I got through it so that pain ended.
The next part of the game opened up a lot more, becoming more exploration and investigation focused. Long story short, I enjoyed it a lot more, and ended up playing for over two hours — it wouldn't have been so long but, once again, I got shafted by being unclear about when the game had last saved for me.
At one point I accidentally got in a fight. Even though the place was swarming with enemies, I took a few of them down quickly (one advantage of playing on the easiest difficulty), ran away, hid for a bit, and then was able to carry on walking around as before. Thoroughly unrealistic, and I can see why it's led some to claim the enemy AI is awful... but also fine for me, because otherwise they would've absolutely slaughtered me and I would've had to work out how to get to an earlier save point and begin over. It's a game, therefore it's inherently unrealistic in plenty of other ways, so I can let stuff like that slide for the sake of being able to play on.
I still have niggles and complaints (even the less-linear level design doesn't feel as clear as it could, and I think the first-person view is partly to blame; normally I love going round finding every collectable and completing every side objective, but the awkwardness of doing so is putting me off even trying), but I'm enjoying it more now and intend to stick with it, at least for the time being (now, if I stop enjoying it again...)
this week on 100Films.co.uk
Time again for my weekly monthly update about activity on 100Films.co.uk, with the regular review of last month...
...and its usual companion, the list of (some of) my failures...
Will there, as I always promise, be more next Sunday? Stranger things have happened.
...and its usual companion, the list of (some of) my failures...
Will there, as I always promise, be more next Sunday? Stranger things have happened.
Saturday, 1 November 2025
Collection Count
Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.
The quietness of last month continues to be an anomaly as new acquisitions flooded in this week — nearly all of them ordered this week, in fact. Turns out I hadn't been keeping on top of new big-studio release dates, because I almost missed Superman and Jurassic World Rebirth hitting disc.
Then Indicator launched their 10th anniversary sale. Despite warnings about dispatch times being slower during the event, the two orders I placed were both sent out quickly... though not quickly enough to both arrive in time for this week's update. Four are included below, with four more due on Monday.
Number of titles in collection: 3,624 [up 7]
Of which DVDs: 981 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,643 [up 7]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 474 [up 5]
Number of discs in collection: 8,710 [up 8]
Number of films: 4,629 [up 7]
Number of additional cuts: 473 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes: 10,175 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,271 [no change]
With more preorders expected throughout November, I doubt the next couple of running time updates will be as tiddly as the last one's 18 hours. See you next week for the first of those, faithful reader.
The quietness of last month continues to be an anomaly as new acquisitions flooded in this week — nearly all of them ordered this week, in fact. Turns out I hadn't been keeping on top of new big-studio release dates, because I almost missed Superman and Jurassic World Rebirth hitting disc.
Then Indicator launched their 10th anniversary sale. Despite warnings about dispatch times being slower during the event, the two orders I placed were both sent out quickly... though not quickly enough to both arrive in time for this week's update. Four are included below, with four more due on Monday.
Number of titles in collection: 3,624 [up 7]
Of which DVDs: 981 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,643 [up 7]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 474 [up 5]
Number of discs in collection: 8,710 [up 8]
Number of films: 4,629 [up 7]
Number of additional cuts: 473 [up 2]
Number of TV episodes: 10,175 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,271 [no change]
With more preorders expected throughout November, I doubt the next couple of running time updates will be as tiddly as the last one's 18 hours. See you next week for the first of those, faithful reader.
Friday, 31 October 2025
Films
Häxan (1922)
[#87 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2025]
Blindspot 2025 #10
Tenebrae (1982)
[#86 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2025]
"What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...?" 2025 #10
Happy Halloween!
[#87 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2025]
Blindspot 2025 #10
Tenebrae (1982)
[#86 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2025]
"What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...?" 2025 #10
Happy Halloween!
Fiction
By the River, Fontainebleau by Stephen Gallagher
Another Stephen Gallgher chapbook roped in on the last day of the month to tick a box on GoodReads, a la The Governess back in August (only two months ago, and yet it feels like an age).
This one seemed appropriate Halloween reading: its original magazine publication provoked a reader to complain about its "gut-wrenching horror" that left them "physically sick... for three days", while a radio adaptation provoked chastisement from Mary Whitehouse's lot (always a good sign). That said, I'm not sure what the fuss is about — the 'twist' seemed kind of obvious, but also not fully explained. I thought maybe I missed something, but re-reading the ending didn't enlighten me. As an exercise in tone, it's mostly effective, but that brief and unclear ending doesn't pay it off. Oh well.
Another Stephen Gallgher chapbook roped in on the last day of the month to tick a box on GoodReads, a la The Governess back in August (only two months ago, and yet it feels like an age).
This one seemed appropriate Halloween reading: its original magazine publication provoked a reader to complain about its "gut-wrenching horror" that left them "physically sick... for three days", while a radio adaptation provoked chastisement from Mary Whitehouse's lot (always a good sign). That said, I'm not sure what the fuss is about — the 'twist' seemed kind of obvious, but also not fully explained. I thought maybe I missed something, but re-reading the ending didn't enlighten me. As an exercise in tone, it's mostly effective, but that brief and unclear ending doesn't pay it off. Oh well.
Thursday, 30 October 2025
Wednesday, 29 October 2025
Tuesday, 28 October 2025
TV
Friends
10x07 The One with the Home Study [6th or so watch]
10x08 The One with the Late Thanksgiving [6th or so watch]
Richard Osman's House of Games
8x54 Week 11: Thursday
8x55 Week 11: Friday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]
Watson
1x08 A Variant of Unknown Significance
10x07 The One with the Home Study [6th or so watch]
10x08 The One with the Late Thanksgiving [6th or so watch]
Richard Osman's House of Games
8x54 Week 11: Thursday
8x55 Week 11: Friday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]
Watson
1x08 A Variant of Unknown Significance
Monday, 27 October 2025
TV
Richard Osman's House of Games
8x51 Week 11: Monday
8x52 Week 11: Tuesday
8x53 Week 11: Wednesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]
Watson
1x07 Teeth Marks
8x51 Week 11: Monday
8x52 Week 11: Tuesday
8x53 Week 11: Wednesday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]
Watson
1x07 Teeth Marks
Tabletop Games
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle
Game 7 (of 7)
This doesn't have a New Game+ type mode like the LotR trick-taking game does, so we just replayed the final stage. It wasn't as successful as yesterday, which just goes to show how much the luck of the draw affects how it goes. Well, that's games for you!
Game 7 (of 7)
This doesn't have a New Game+ type mode like the LotR trick-taking game does, so we just replayed the final stage. It wasn't as successful as yesterday, which just goes to show how much the luck of the draw affects how it goes. Well, that's games for you!
Sunday, 26 October 2025
TV
Friends
10x05 The One Where Rachel's Sister Babysits [6th or so watch]
10x06 The One with Ross's Grant [6th or so watch]
Richard Osman's House of Games
8x49 Week 10: Thursday
8x50 Week 10: Friday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]
Watson
1x06 The Camgirl Inquiry
10x05 The One Where Rachel's Sister Babysits [6th or so watch]
10x06 The One with Ross's Grant [6th or so watch]
Richard Osman's House of Games
8x49 Week 10: Thursday
8x50 Week 10: Friday
[Watch various episodes (again) on iPlayer.]
Watson
1x06 The Camgirl Inquiry
Video Games
Cluedo
I haven't played Cluedo since I was a kid, but I always remember enjoying it, so now that there's a version included with the relaunched Amazon Luna (albeit prominently given its US title, Clue, even on Luna UK, and even though the official website manages to call it Cluedo... but anyway), we decided to give it a go. It was... awkward.
The game doesn't do enough to tell you how to play — fortunately I could remember the basics from when I was a kid, but I had to talk my partner (who'd never played) through it as I remembered, rather than the gaming doing it for us (apparently there is an option to display the rules, but it's hidden rather than being offered freely). Controlling it on a little phone screen was kinda tricky — it makes sense for the idea of a party game, where everyone can just whip out their phone and join in, but the interface is a little fiddly at that size. It also didn't scratch the proper board game itch — you're still sat in front of the TV, not getting away from it to play a game. I can see it would work for some people, but it didn't for us.
Oh well, worth a go.
I haven't played Cluedo since I was a kid, but I always remember enjoying it, so now that there's a version included with the relaunched Amazon Luna (albeit prominently given its US title, Clue, even on Luna UK, and even though the official website manages to call it Cluedo... but anyway), we decided to give it a go. It was... awkward.
The game doesn't do enough to tell you how to play — fortunately I could remember the basics from when I was a kid, but I had to talk my partner (who'd never played) through it as I remembered, rather than the gaming doing it for us (apparently there is an option to display the rules, but it's hidden rather than being offered freely). Controlling it on a little phone screen was kinda tricky — it makes sense for the idea of a party game, where everyone can just whip out their phone and join in, but the interface is a little fiddly at that size. It also didn't scratch the proper board game itch — you're still sat in front of the TV, not getting away from it to play a game. I can see it would work for some people, but it didn't for us.
Oh well, worth a go.
Tabletop Games
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle
Game 7 (of 7)
It took a good few hours to get there, just because of how long it takes (or takes us, anyway) to work through the mechanics and processes of this game, but we beat this on the first attempt without really struggling. Which is kinda fine by me.
Game 7 (of 7)
It took a good few hours to get there, just because of how long it takes (or takes us, anyway) to work through the mechanics and processes of this game, but we beat this on the first attempt without really struggling. Which is kinda fine by me.
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