Pining for the Fjords

[surrealestate]

Some time ago, JV left a game at my house (as people are wont to do): Fjords, a hex tile-laying game that is a bit of a cross between Carcassonne and Go. Mark and I played a few times and he was sufficiently interested in it that he started working on an online version. When his birthday came around, DD and I debated what sort of treat to make, and he suggested a cake in the shape of a gamepiece. I thought that was great inspiration, and (inspired by Julia) had been looking for an excuse to make an edible game, anyway, so countered with the entire game in gingerbread. He called me insane, but he ended up not helping at all, so who cares what he though? :) That morning I made the dough and put it in the fridge to chill.

Upon returning home from Illuminations that night, I set to work rolling, baking, and cutting. My friend Brett came home with me and was a great help, as I quickly discovered how much more difficult a hex tile-laying game is to cut out than square tiles. Especially without a hex cookie cutter. Really. So Brett and I each fabricated cookie cutters from an aluminum mini-loaf pan that gave it's life to the cause. I cut little house shapes freehand (planning to double them up with icing) for the houses and we used a lipbalm stick as a template for a cutter for the tokens. And thusly were born 40 tiles, 40 tokens, and 16 house pieces.

The next morning, I got to work icing them by laying out all the original game pieces to copy and doing all the green, all the blue, and finally all the brown. Phew. Then I icing-glued pairs of houses together so they would stand up properly. The gingerbread on its own worked well as for one player, and I used white icing to color a set for the other. And since I had letter cutters and extra dough, I also baked off a bit extra and cut out Mark's name.

Mark showed up and was appropriately floored. :) Of course we had a play a round right away, and whaddaya know? It worked! A few more friends and a dog showed up later and we drank wine and generally had a great time. While it wouldn't do to eat the game, Mark had his name to eat and I also had a bowl of scraps from all the cutting out. Yum!

We played several more times over the next few days before finally eating the game with other folks at R&R's place.

Some pictures of game-play. (For comparison, here is a photo of the actual game

This is somewhere in the middle of the game, during the tile-laying phase.


Close-up of the three starting tiles (plus one more)


Endgame! Dark wins.

Comments

[bkdelong.livejournal.com]

Gosh...sudden urge to go find a glass of milk and munch leftovers off the tree. *ouch!* Note-to-self: take ginger-men off tree first.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Yay!

[gingicat]

Those are beautiful.

I was most amused given the complicated cookie project my roommate is embarking upon (there are many colors of cookie dough in the fridge right now); I plan to take pictures. :)

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Thank you. I wish I had better pictures than these, but the light was poor and the camera worse...

I look forward to seeing much nice photos of N's project. :)

[oneagain.livejournal.com]

I think these pictures are pretty lovely, actually. How creative!

So while I went off to dance my blues away at that house party y'all dropped me off at after Illuminations, you were home with the cute guy working on your masterpiece. Ok, *that's* a good reason not to come to the party with me:) Some day, it'll happen...

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

*grin* Well, the boy was an afterthought.

He did take a couple of fab pictures, though (of the dog, and me) that I'll post later.

[chenoameg.livejournal.com]

Wow.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :)

[ex-serenejo.livejournal.com]

So so so so so so cool!

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :)

[vibrantabyss.livejournal.com]

Sorry I never got to see them in person. Very nice job!

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I know, what with the distance, it just wasn't possible. :p

[madbodger.livejournal.com]

Pretty!

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Thank you. (sprinkles!)

[beowabbit]

That so totally rocks!

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I confess, once I had 40 hexes cut out, I felt the urge to turn them into Catan instead, but Catan hexes are much larger and also, what with all the cards, etc, it'd be kinda difficult to make a *complete* game that was entirely edible, which was one of the cool things about this one.

That said, I'd still be totally up for doing a largely-edible Catan set.

[anomie666.livejournal.com]

I'm hungry and want to play. :)

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Will you wear the assless chaps?

[anomie666.livejournal.com]

assless furry chaps.

And just so we are clear, I'm referring to furry fandom meaning of the word.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the clarification -- I wouldn't want to get the wrong idea.

[anomie666.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I don't want you to think I'm a pervert or a freak or anything.

[cyan-blue.livejournal.com]

The colors look like little gems :-)

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

It was really fun to do, too, in an anal-retentive kind of way, but I'm like that, so it worked.

[kissoflife.livejournal.com]

Really lovely! And remind me of cthulhia's Carcasonne ginger-game, of course.
Suddenly I want to think up a game to 'evanescentize' with gingerbread. lol!

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

Indeed, and as noted, Julia was totally an inspiration. And I guess it's just as well that didn't think through the difficulty in cutting out hexes en masse, or I might have ditched the idea. The pain was worth it! And now I really want a set of hex cookie cutters, if anyone is considering a gift.. ;)

[hrafn.livejournal.com]

Oh, wow!

Not knowing about the game, I was expecting cookies with really crinkly edges, and wondering how you'd go about doing something so complicated. Hexagonal cookies seem much simpler :)

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

A game with crinkly edges that were actually expected to fit together would be challenging, indeed.

I actually cut these *after* baking, because even minor differences in thickness could result in a big enough difference after baking for them not to fit together properly, what with all the sides. So it was quite a race, baking small sheet at a go since I could only make so many cuts before they hardened.

[keyne.livejournal.com]

Very impressive!

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Thank you. :)

[dougo.livejournal.com]

Awesome! You should post to Boardgamegeek, if you haven't already.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I have not. I created a BGG profile recently but haven't done anything with it besides enter some games I have so I don't really know much about the site. Where would such a thing be posted?

[dougo.livejournal.com]

On the Fjords page, in its gallery and forum, and maybe the General Gaming forum.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

I can't remember what, but something brought me back to this entry the other day and I just posted the pics to BGG. Pending approval now. Just thought you might want to now. :)

[fenris-lorsrai.livejournal.com]

I heartily second this suggestion.

Since you indicated you were tempted to make Catan cakes, here's some photos of Catan cakes on Boardgamegeek
Catan Cake (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/319100)
Catan cookies (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/112486)
Gingerbread Catan (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/185558)
Catan Pizza (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/65551)
different gingerbread Catan (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/185554)
Fruit tart of Catan (http://www.boardgamegeek.com/image/269292)

Who knew gamers were so into eating their games?