What's on the Hob? (Summer '26)

21-06-26

You are probably thinking that I am pretty chuffing late with this season's WOTH entry, over three weeks since the start of meteorological Summer. At least, I imagine that is what you are thinking, if the obscene emails littering my inbox from die-hard Repiqued Interests enthusiasts (I understand they call themselves 'Repiqueaboos') are anything to go by.

However, I am truly saddened to inform you that it is high time to wipe that smug look off your face, as I am, in fact, perfectly on time. In keeping with the time-honoured tradition of this feature, I have once again made a change this entry, specifically to align these editions with the onset of the new astronomical seasons. This then means that it is fully in keeping with the changing of the seasonal suit in Havilering.

Having written that intro a couple of weeks ago, I was nearly in dire need of editing it, having left things literally to the eleventh hour. I had been working on another blog post in recent times to shrink the Corner of Shame (spoiler: I didn't manage it in time), and this evening I was demotivated by a Big Sad, until a viewing of Enys Men sufficiently unsettled me into just the smallest bit of motivation to crack this out in the remaining half hour of the day.

So let's stop this jolly chinwagging and get the flip on with it.

On the go

I am sorry to say that there is precious little suitable fodder for this section, given that most of my Repiqued-appropriate time is spent on things in the Corner of Shame. But I have got one new item, as I would hate to set things off with a bit of an empty nutshell.

Mise en Plays

Just a few bits and pieces to enjoy in the warm weather.

Corner of Shame

Please behold the ever-more-mighty corner, and feel the shame radiate at ye.

  • The Kaiso/spinoff train remains firmly parked at the station, with a goodly covering of moss forming.
  • Similarly "A Gallon from our Lady's Well" remains sat in a bucket at the bottom.
  • The Looney 'mids game festers withal.
  • The game that isn't called Mole is covered in a very gentle layer of dust, but remains laying out, cluttering the table.
  • My Scalade/Pippins 'spiritually similar' game has coalesced into a rough draft that I think may work, but needs more testing. I expect the finished game to be not quite this, but something similar. I aim to get this done by September, but you can't dance a jig to aims.
  • The card game database has trickled absolutely none.
  • Pippins Aplenty and Scalade players looking to sink their teeth into some hardcore strategy remain in a state of despair.
  • Likewise players of the same who are numerically minded are similarly disappointed.
  • The Sussex Tarot page is still in its dull, unexpanded form.
  • I opened up the card puzzle code. Then I closed it again. I'm not yet at the stage where I consider that to be a 'win'.
  • The pointless Havilering blog post stings a bit. Once I started drafting this post I had a look over things on my list, and started on this in earnest. I reminded myself what happened, started pulling out numbers, charts, writing. But alas, I ran out of time. I expect to finish this now in the next week - if it is not in next WOTH's Plinth of Glory then something has gone horribly wrong.

Plinth of Glory

There are a few items up here this season, but they are all a bit samey. Only one that actually featured in previous WOTHs. But it's not nothing!

  • Havilering is available to play here.
  • Havilering has rules for 6-player (a bit chaotic) as well as some terminology revision.
  • Scalade online play here has options for other player counts.