Lichtenstein posted:

The one good thing about breaking a bone in your foot is that when you stay home is that you can lay your hands on your gifts the second a postman rings.



Curiously, that was one big-rear end package. My mind instantly begins wondering just how many dongs could be stuffed in there.



The possible dong bomb is forwarded to the gift inspector who confirms my suspicions of the rattling sound the entire package makes - like it's full of legos or something.

Well, it turns out the Amazon Prime duct tape was a red herring and there's a lot of carefully hand-packed poo poo in there.



Where to even begin?

- A collection of short stories by Roger Zelazny. You can never go wrong with Zelazny!
- The Whispered World: Special Edition. This is pretty cool, I ate my teeth on adventure and IF games, but haven't been keeping track of the games the Germans keep putting out every once in a while. I vaguely remember this getting good press back in the day and the screenshots certainly look stunning. For a second I was worried this is a German language version (and my command of that language is rusty af), but rest assured, it's multilingual.
- Southern Cross, what looks like a comic about claustrophobic spaceships and weird creepy poo poo. Looks really like my jam on a skim through.
- Chimera, some small card game I haven't heard of, but have trust in the Z-Man Deluxe series. This being (it looks like) a contemporary designed game for a slightly-tweaked traditional card deck, should help rope in some family members.
- 7 Wonders: Duel, of which I heard only great things about!
- The Valmy Campaign: a Napoleonics wargame from Against the Odds magazine publishers. I usually regard such small-publisher wargames as more of collector's items than real games (and the poser art black Napoleon cover really doesn't do it a favor), but upon rummaging through the box, it actually looks somewhat neat. The production quality is quite nice for a wargame (mounted board!), there's a battle box separate from the operational map (love that gimmick/mechanic) and counter holding boxes for Friedrich-style fog of war organized in a pleasing OOB. It also contains a bonafide Leipzig postcard wargame as a bonus! And the box doubles as a counter tray!
- Last, but not least, Inspector Morse some unholy marriage of Snakes & Ladders, Cluedo and Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective based on some posh murder mystery show. It's utterly terrible in all the right ways and I'm already cracking at the one-page rules that open with "the goal of the game is to win". I also appreciate that the three cases are based on particular episodes of the show, so actual Inspector Morse fans probably had the mysteries solved before they even unwrapped the game itself.


What can I say other than thanks a LOT, Santa? The whole box is not only very generous, funny and cool, but also I have to admit you've made some real good guesses as to my tastes! The cheer exceeded my expectations by a mile!