Back in the Swing of Things...

OK, my September resolution is to get Zyzzyva back on track, with at least 5 entries per week. I have a laptop I can use from home (though I still need to get a lot transferred over from my old desktop), the "beginning of the school year" hassles are winding down, and, frankly, I feel re-energized!

On Saturday, we had gameday at Millennium. I got there a bit late, and ending up watching Jack Morrell and Bill O'Neal play the Princeton scenario from Hold the Line. I have the game, but haven't played yet -- it looks to be right up my alley (quick and fun!). Bill's Redcoats hung on for the victory, as Jack was denied the Princeton hexes, right at the end of the game. While watching, a guy who found us on the Web came over to introduce himself. His name is Kevin Crowe (I think I got the last name correct), and he's been playing AH and SPI games for 30+ years. His old group of buddies has kind of gone their separate ways, so he decided to seek out new gaming friends. Since I started the Rochester Gamers in 2000, we've had so many stories like that...

Anyway, Kevin and I sat down to a game of Iwo Jima. As I'd yet to see a Japanese win, I offered Kevin the Marines. Of course, we'd been playing a rule wrong in previous games (U.S. armor and artillery need a beachhead to land -- we were letting them land without one!), so the Japanese won this one handily -- the Marines were raped on the beaches, and a beachhead wasn't established until Turn 5, which was too late. I felt bad, and hope Kevin comes back, LOL!

I went out for lunch at the Indian place a few doors down, then returned to Millennium and chatted with folks for a bit. Eventually, we got a 4-player Successors game going. It was a fun game EXCEPT for the fact that Marty Sample's favorite Atlantic Storm player whined and played sooooo slowly. Need to find a new 4th for the next game, or use chess clocks. It was excruciating. Anyway, I was dealt the 2 generals that controlled the Hellespont between them (both begin with "Ls") -- a nice starting position, but a dearth of troops. The first part of the game was spent securing territory, and I was doing all right, but was low man on the legitimacy totem pole. So I attacked a champion, becoming a successor, and shot up in VPs. As Turn 4 was ending, I grabbed Alex IV and had the highest VPs and Legitimacy, combined. One more round, and I could declare Alex IV the new ruler, with me as regent and the game win. But the "Treachery" card was played on me, I lost Alex IV, and the game went on. We called it due to time, and the player controlling a big army in Macedon (Jeff Heideman) probably would have won. A great game that could have been won by anyone, only marred by slow play and whining. I'm looking forward to playing this one again soon...

Well, Cheyenne's dropped off at doggie day care, the kids are arriving, so time for me to get into "school mode."

Yes, we're back!