iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Making this made me feel like an incredibly out of touch old guy, but in most cases I picked the earlier game that inspired my interest in other entries in the series/genre.

3x3 grid, from top left: Baldur's Gate, Chrono Trigger, Civilization II, Dark Souls, Diablo, Warcraft II, Final Fantasy Tactics, Realmz, and Ogre Battle 64

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Late to the party, but finally seeing what all the fuss is about with this Undaunted game. I hear that @djackthompson.bsky.social guy has designed a few of these, but we're starting with the first one.

The first scenario from Undaunted: Normandy, set up on my kitchen table.

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

I confess, it was me! Part of my scheme to get more Geek Gold for my reviews so I can buy Space Biff and the *I* will have the first and only board game review site on the internet!

My review of The Guerilla Generation got 4.33 geek gold, and soon I'll be a rich, rich man. I just need to find a way to convert geek gold to real gold.

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

I've been watching some really weird ones this week. Specter of the Rose is probably the weirdest noir we've watched yet. Was not prepared for the crazy ballet noir, tbh. (And apologies to anyone who loves Brighton Rock or Ladies in Retirement, I respect the craft but wasnt wild about either)

A screenshot of my four latest watched on Letterboxd: Brighton Rock, Ladies in Retirement, Big Town After Dark, and Specter of the Rose

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Fully embracing my brand by finally getting the tattoo I intended to get 4 years ago, back when my first book came out. But the question now is, what to get to mark the release of book 2 last year?

A tattoo on my arm. It's a black and white drawing of a crossbow, c.1600, done with what I think is an impressive level of detail. The crossbow also has a cranequin on it.

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Went to my last board game meet up in Daejeon before leaving Korea on Saturday. Played some great games with great people, and I will sorely miss having a regular gaming meet up every month.

The new Playte edition of the game Hellas designed by Stefan Dorra, it's a few actions into a 2 player game.

A game of Wolfgang Kramer's New York, New York, the Playte edition, in play.

My E, F, and S cards from weirdo party game EFS.

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Okay, one last one, as a little treat.

Photo of my hand holding a copy of Playte's new edition of Stefan Dorra's game Hellas. In the background is a Playte mini container box with other Playte games in it, including North American Railways, Venice Connection, New York New York, Gachapon Trick, Silver Mine, and Case 96

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

Maybe my last box of Playte games before I leave Korea. I'm going to need to find a way to get my fix when I'm back in Ireland..

Four board games published by Playte in a cardboard box with bubble wrap. The games are, from left to right, Case 96, Silver Mine, New York New York, and Gachapon Trick.

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

In Busan for a few days and despite the heat warnings it's pretty rad.

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

A little more 2 player gaming today. General Orders: Sengoku Jidai by @djackthompson.bsky.social and Trevor Benjamin and Hunt for Blackbeard by @volko.bsky.social and from @fortcircle.bsky.social.

General Orders: Sengoku Jidai, a little hex map covered in wooden disks, boats, and catapults. We're playing the asymmetrical back of the board which is the better side in my opinion

Hunt for Blackbeard, from Blackbeard's perspective. A map of the Outer Banks in North Carolina with little wooden blocks with picture facing me. I also have a small board behind a screen, the board has cardboard cards and wooden pawns. My opponent has a screen hiding their board.

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Separately, I'm playing Infernal Machines and El Salvador (from the Guerrilla Generation), both from @gmtgames.bsky.social, on my side table at home. El Salvador is async with a friend, Infernal Machines is dedicated solitaire.

My tiny side table with two boards for Infernal Machine (the Mission map for Charleston harbor and a display of my death trap of a submarine). Next to that is my dice tower. On the right side is El Salvador from The Guerrilla Generation. In between are decks of cards for Infernal Machine and the play aids for both games.

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Only one other person was free for the monthly game meet up so we blitzed through a decent pile of 2 player games: General Orders WWII, Orapa Space, Air Land & Sea (not pictured), and Compile. Air, Land, & Sea was the stand out (so much that I forgot to take a picture). Such a good game.

General Orders by Osprey Games. It's a small board covered in hexagons with wooden colored disks and cylinders as playing pieces.

Picture of Orapa Space, showing my board with the planets arranged on the grid and my notes sheet with my terrible notes.

A pretty poor photo of Compile. You can see the lines were fighting over, and my hand, but I somehow took a photo without any cards in play. Like an idiot.

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

Round 4 - Eagles vs Bears again. We beat them Tuesday and lost badly on Wednesday. We're currently trading 5th and 6th places with them. My track record for live games is usually win, loss, win, loss and last game I went to we lost so I hope my streak continues.

Hanwha Eagles home stadium, Eagles vs Bears and Bears are pitching. Photo is from 10 rows back, between home plate and first base.

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 20/06/2026

Pretty successful board game meet up today. Played Iwari, Medici, Sushi Go Party, and North American Rails. Two were new to me, two I'd played before. North American Railways was probably the stand out game. I don't play a lot of stock/economic games but I really enjoyed this one.

Photo of the board game Iwari in the middle of a game.

Photo of the board for the game Medici in the middle of the game.

Photo of the board for Sushi Go Party, with some hands shuffling a deck of cards in the background.

Photo of many, many cards for the board-less train game North American Railways

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 13/06/2026

Weekend building project with the kiddo. Just a normal train set, nothing to see here...

The Harbinger Assassination Oxford blocks kit (which is about the assassination of Japan's first prime minister by a Korean independence activitist at Harbin train station) assembled on my table, except that for some reason An Jung-geun is using a bazooka instead of a pistol to kill Ito Hirobumi.

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

I have seen just two: Unicorn in 2019 and the RX-78 at Osaka World Expo last summer.

Life size Unicorn Gundam in Tokyo. It's a sunny day and there's a pretty big crowd watching it transform into Destroy Mode.

Life size Gundam at the Osaka World Expo. It is lit up at night with the Gundam Pavilion next to it.

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Eagles up 5-2 in bottom 8. Dare we hope?

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 23/05/2026

Round 2: Eagles vs Bears Hanwha Eagles are currently leading 2-1 in the 6th, but we're terrible at home and when games are close so dont get your hopes up. At least the weather is nice.

View of Hanwha Eagles ballpark in Daejeon South Korea from left field

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

New arrivals at my door today. Very keen to try this, hopefully at the monthly one-shot meet ups that a small group have been organizing locally. An attempt to help us play some of our collective shelves of shame.

A copy of Dungeon Inc by Ben Felten and Mission Booklet #1 for same, both published by the Merry Mushmen

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Visiting these shops is always a highlight for me whenever I'm back home. I genuinely fantasize about it, such a great selection of shops. This is my personal favorite shelf description, from Daedalus.

A shelf of secondhand books labelled "A poorly defined section on US Wars and defense issues"

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 13/04/2026

Current mood is completely obsessed with The Whistler movies from the 1940s. Perfect entries in film noir.

Stefan meme saying "The Whistler films have got everything: spooky shadows, 60 minute runtime, an ominous narrator framing device, Richard Dix..."

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 11/04/2026

I don't usually post game acquisitions on media, because sometimes I think it feeds into an overly consumer/capitalist view of games. But! I just got my copy of a new baseball game by Korean designer Silvergun and I'm too excited about my weird niche hobbynobject to not share it.

The box for the game Swing&Roll sitting on my desk between my mouse and keyboard.

The components of Swing&Roll: a deck of cards, rulebooks (Korean, Japanese, and English), a board representing a baseball diamond, some dice, some wooden baseball player meeples, chits to track score, some reference cards, and the box.

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

New year, new count, this is Round 1. Hanwha has two big holes in their bullpen, this will be a tough year. Veteran Ryu Hyun-jin is pitching, fingers crossed for him! We lost to KT yesterday, wishing for a better outcome today. Eagles Fighting!

Ryu Hyun Jin mid pitch to a packed Hanwha Stadium. Hanwha is playing KT Wiz

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 07/03/2026

A very telling list for when my seminal gaming memories were formed. I've enjoyed games since, but only the Soulsborne stuff has really impacted me the same way. Other games just built on old habits and preferences. These are also most impactful, often but not always favorite.

A diagram of nine game boxes. From top left to right: Warcraft II, Baldur's Gate, Super Mario World, Final Fantasy II (IV), Ogre Battle 64, Bloodborne, Legend of Zelda Links Awakening, Civilization II, Diablo II.

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

Playing more OCS with Alexandre today. We're definitely not exemplifying brilliant command, but we're having a lot of fun trying to figure out what to do in Sicily II. It's slow going as we learn (and re-learn) systems we haven't used before, but we're plugging away.

Screenshot of the map from Sicily II at the start of Turn 3. The allies have landed at the bottom of the map and are slowly pushing north and west, but there's a lot of island still to take.

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 27/01/2026

A lot is awful at the moment (an understatement), and it's all very overwhelming. I am coping this week by being at the beach, and it's very nice.* *it's also freezing cold.

Photo of the beach in Gangneung South Korea. The sea is a lovely greenish blue, the sand a brilliant yellow. My partner and daughter are in the far distance.

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 21/01/2026

I got a new tattoo this week, and I'm incredibly happy with this lil guy.

A photo of my arm with my sleeve rolled up. My first tattoo, an outline of a d12 with blue swirly patterns, has been joined by a new tattoo: kumdori, the mascot of Daejeon city, is a lil yellow alien guy with a star antenna and he's holding a baseball in one hand and some bread in the other.

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 17/01/2026

Monthly board game day in Daejeon today. It really reinvigorates my enthusiasm for the hobby - much as I enjoy playing online, there's nothing quite like pushing cardboard bits together. I even managed to introduce some non-wargamers to COIN via @gmtgames.bsky.social People Power.

A game of The Gang, which uses poker cards and chips to create a coop experience, in progress.

Reiner Knizia's game Money, about spending cards with different money types to get more cards and collect sets of types of money. This has pretty images reproducing real money from around the world.

Sea Salt and Paper, a card game with images of sea creatures and objects drawn as if they were made of origami.

People Power, a historical wargame about the end of the Marcos regime in The Philippines. It has colorful wooden pieces on a map of the islands.

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 08/01/2026

@pierrevj.bsky.social and I are back on our ACW bullshit, finally playing Dissimula Edizioni's Give Us Victories. Initial impressions are this is an overlooked gem. We're not entirely convinced by the combat resolution, but it's okay and everything else has been wonderful.

Screenshot of the map of the Battle of Chancellorsville from the Vassal module for Give Us Victories. The Union is threatening the Confederate position and has successfully taken Chancellorsville but suffered enormous losses in doing so. The map shows the area around Chancellorsville in beautiful hex and counter style.

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

It's good, but is it ramyeon and mandu at a small diner in Seoul good?

A big bowl of Korean ramyeon noodles with teok (rice cakes) and a big slice of cheese. There is a plate of mandu and a beer nearby. In the background there is a large bowl of udon.

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

My best souvenir was this limited edition kit, only available in Daejeon, featuring my favorite guy Kumdori. Technically I bought this in Daejeon Station as I was leaving to go to Seoul but that counts as part of the trip.

A picture of my hand holding a I cant believe it's not Lego kit of a Korean train with Daejeon's expo tower and a giant Kumdori. It's still in the box.

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

While I was in Seoul I ordered some books from DB Books, who are based in Seoul but sadly (for me at least) don't have a physical shop. I decided to explore some weird/fantasy fiction by Korean authors (in translation). Really looking forward to these.

A trio of books photographed in front of my little Christmas tree. The are: Come Down A Lower Place by Yi Seoyung, A Magical Girl Retires by Park Seolyeon, and The Call of The Friend by Choi Jaehoon

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 30/12/2025

Went to Seoul for a couple of days, did some sightseeing, ate food (sometimes, a little too much), and bought relatively few souvenirs. I did, however, spend too much on a Hatsune Miku x Gundam gatcha, and luckily I got the one I wanted first try.

An assembled tiny RX-78 Gundam in Hatsune Miku colors sitting on top of some board games. A little Christmas train is next to it and some Dragon Dice in the background.

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

My partner and I have watched over 50 Film Noirs in the past two months. We're keeping a spreadsheet of them all, with a single sentence for each to remind us of what happens in it. These are presented for you without their attached film titles, hopefully for your amusement.

A list of sentences to remind us of film noirs we saw:
It's double because it's a train
Orson Welles is Irish for some reason
Misty airport shootout
The big swede
All the money blows away lol
"That cat is as dead as a doornail"
Peter Lorre is barely in it, annoying neighbor in it too much
Wife explodes
The box is full of radiation
The pickpocket lives in a shack for some reason
The guys name is raven, evil old guy, magic trick girl
Bogart bullies his friend on a train and then the friend explodes
The hitch-hiker is murders
Laura is dead but then she isn't
He kills TWO PEOPLE ostensibly by accident and is so stupid
Mister Teatime is the bad guy
Guy breaks out of prison, has two girlfriends, is stupid
He solves his own murder
Florist takes his rightful place in a gang of thieves
Hawaii
Tony Curtis is a dick and he tries to break up this couple
Petrol station guy has to go find evil girlfriend?
There's almost three Mrs Carrolls actually
Why pay for Bogart and then not show Bogart?
She just wants to run a restaurant and her daughter is the worst
Its a heist and the German guy gets caught cause he watches a girl dance for too long
Orson Welles is a Nazi for some reason
It's about a Maltese Falcon
He's warm like a baby spider
She Should be in all the movies how can we get her in all the movies?
That lady cannot stop lying
Bogart is just trying to run a newspaper over here

(I'm running out of characters, it goes on like this but you get the idea)

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 12/10/2025

It only took me five months to get around to it but I finally built this guy. While I'm now a bit of a basic fan who loves Wing Zero EW, Heavyarms was my first Gundam love and still holds a special place in my heart.

A fully built Master Grade Heavyarms Gundam, posed on my messy sitting room table.

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 06/10/2025

Been too long, finally got the nippers out and started on this guy who's been sitting on my shelf since my birthday back in May. My first Master Grade in ages, and a reminder of why I love them.

Top half of Master Grade Heavyarms Gundam kit sitting in his box on top of the instruction manual.

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

I also grabbed some goodies while I was there. I had planned to also get a clear plastic Deathscythe but he was sold out.

My hand holding the starter set for the Gundam Card Game including the Gundam Assemble miniatures set with the Talgeese and two Leos.

Me holding the box for the limited run clear plastic HG Shenlong Gundam kit.

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 26/09/2025

Thought I was going to completely miss the 30th anniversary Wing stuff, but managed to drop into the Gundam Base in Yongsan during a gap between trains and saw my boi Wing Zero.

A giant statue of the Wing Zero Custom (Endless Waltz) Gunpla kit in Yongsan. Its on a pedestal and lit up with lamps.

Large cardboard standees of the Gundam Wing boys and in front of each one is a built Master Grade gunpla of their Gundam (Endless Waltz version)

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 14/09/2025

They scored six this inning and we changed pitchers twice. Oof. That hurt.

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 14/09/2025

Round 8! This time we're in the outfield. My view is a little obscured but also these tickets were like $10 each. We've beaten this team 13 times to one loss, so feeling optimistic even if they got one run in the first.

View of hanwha ballpark from the right outfield. The view cuts off on the left due to the monster wall. Hanwha are in the field and Kiwoom are batting

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

They scored one more, but we scored twice, so its all tied up. We're only in the third inning, what a lot of game we have ahead of us.

Hwang Young Mook at bat for the Eagles. There are Eagles players on second and third.

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

Sidebar, they gave us all free scarves today, which is pretty cool even if its way too hot to ever think of wearing one atm.

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

Round 7! Already off to a rough start. Double, single, strike out(!), stole home, single. Going to take some work to come back from this.

Hwang Junseo mid pitch at Hanwha Life Eage Park. There are Samsung Lions runners on first and third.

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 29/08/2025

I expect nothing and yet I am disappointed. The farce of trying to argue that this Nazi simulator is a nuanced take on its subject matter has never been supported by how the publisher has handled it, and Blitz Print is just another pebble on the Iron Cross gift pile.

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 24/08/2025

Kim Seo-hyun delivering the victory in top of 9th, like a pro. He had a rough few weeks this month but he was on form this week.

Kim Seo-hyun has just pitched and the Landers batter whose name I dont know has swung.

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Stuart Ellis-Gorman @drcrossbows.bsky.social · 24/08/2025

Ladies and gentlemen, thanks to some solid hits and a home run we have scored 4 runs in the 5th!!

Roh Si-Hwan crossing home plate after his home run that scored us 2 runs.

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