Civilization Building...

On Thursday, I began the Roll Through the Ages game with my two Social Studies classes. They are both really "into" it, and were disappointed that we can only do 1 turn each class!

Interestingly, each class started with a different strategy. Class 1 tried to maximize the number of workers, and sent them all off to build the Great Wall. They are 5/13 of the way there, and, once completed, this will give them 10 VPs plus protect them from an invasions that may occur in the future. Class 2, on the other hand, tried to maximize their economy, going for goods and money. They were able to develop Irrigation on the first turn, and this will protect them from future droughts as well as give them 2 VPs. They were also able to "bank" 1 wood and 1 stone for the future.


It will be fun to see how things play out here. I hope both classes begin building more cities, though the siren's cry of a race to VPs from monuments and developments may be too much. We shall see.

And yes, I truly enjoy doing activities like this with my classes. I only wish I could do more!

The Long March...

Finding it very hard to get back into the swing of school this week. And, even more distressing, I find that my $3 "Mega Millions" ticket didn't win, so no $143,000,000 for me. Not sure how I'll handle the disappointment...

I probably should have moved to the Keys 20 years ago. Or wish I had known about Ocracoke 20 years ago. Worked as a bartender, saved my money, bought a boat, then I could be spending my days on the water, making $$$ off tourists. Perhaps writing on the side (I have no tolerance for this right now after spending my days writing/around others' writing). Oh well, I guess we all look back and wish we did some things differently.


I wish I had more time to spend with Cheyenne and work her into the dog she should be. Whether it's an agility champ or a Frisbee dog, she really needs to be able to show off her athletic abilities. Unfortunately, after a long day at work, and long day in "doggie day camp" for her, we're both too pooped to do much more than hang out and/or take a short walk in the evening. Living in the 'burbs is also a hindrance to her training, as I just don't have the space I need. More laments...

I think I need to put in another 13 years before I can retire with full benefits (assuming my pension hasn't been pissed away by sleazy politicians), or 7 with limited bennies. I'm not sure I can hold out for 7, let alone 13! I really need to sit down with a benefits guy in Albany one of these days to find out my exact circumstances. I guess I should be happy I have a tenured position -- I've been out of work once in my adult life (my choice, so I could make a career change, and I even got a ton of money upon leaving), and it's not a fun place to be. Too many worries about what tomorrow will bring.

Maybe I will win Lotto one day. Somebody has to, right? Barring that, I guess it's hold on for the ride, eh?

Millennium Gameday...

Had fun at Millennium last Saturday.

Played Le Havre, Roll Through the Ages, and Combat Commander: Pacific.

I'm really enjoying Le Havre. It's one of those "meaty" euros that seems very well-thought out for varying numbers of players. The game is a true balancing act and will be hitting the table a lot, over the years.

Roll Through the Ages was OK. It's like playing Yahtzee, with civilization building. I did have a thought about it last night, in that I could perhaps use it with my 2 Social Studies' classes, having them "play" each other. Might be a fun little activity to kick off each class.

Now, CC:Pacific was the best of the lot on Saturday (Hell, I'm a wargamer, what can I say?). Got to play scenarios set in Northern Burma ('44), the Philippines ('45), and Guadalcanal ('42). The game plays differently from the other Combat Commander games (Europe and Med), and I think that's a good thing. In the Pacific, combat seems more brutal, and I guess that's pretty historical. I think I prefer (slightly) the European and Med theaters, but Pacific will get played a lot, that's for sure -- like choosing between steak or lobster for dinner, depends on one's mood...

Now that school is back in session, I have a looooong stretch until April Break kicks in. Will I make it? We shall see! I do need to start getting more gaming in, both FTF and via the Internet. I even re-acquired Silent War, as I think having a solitaire game set up downstairs i can return to when bored will be a good thing. I hope...



And speaking of downstairs, we have mice running through the walls. Cheyenne hears them when I don't, and it drives her nuts! Well, Friday night I was cleaning up some games, getting ready for Saturday's game day, and she made a big commotion behind some boxes. Out she prances, with a ginormous mouse in her mouth (we're talking a fat bastard who's been eating well in my house)! I ask her to drop it, she does, and her tail is going a mile a minute. The mouse is quite dead (crunched, I imagine). I pick it up in a bag and put it out with the trash, then give her a big treat and make a huge fuss over her. She was very excited, and now she's even more focused on hunting down in the basement. Who needs a stinkin' cat, eh?

Next time, I'll need to take a pic...

NBW, more thoughts...

Well, now that NBW is fading into a distant memory, I just wanted to post some memories from the con that didn't involve my games (as these have all been memorialized in earlier posts). I don't mean to leave anyone out, and please forgive me if I get a name wrong... Just some random thoughts.

1. Nels and Taylor fighting their way through the rules for Empire of the Sun. Now, these 2 have been known to easily quadruple the playing time of games, since they spend a lot of time chatting, but this one was a tough slog. Even Bruce Wigdor's Wargameroom.com program couldn't help them overcome this monster. I feel their frustration, as I was never able to "get' this game, even though I consider Mark Herman one of the best designers we have out there!

2. Art and Lembit fighting out Russia Besieged on the "big" map. For a while, it looked like Art was going to overrun Mother Russia, but Lembit held tough at Moscow, and eventually turned the tide!

3. Several games of Here I Stand going on over the 4 days we were there. Did Jeromey Martin win every single one?!?!

4. Four determined gents, including Jeff McBeth, untwisting the game that is Revolution: The Dutch Revolt. I have this one, and it seems to be a love it/hate it type of game. Guess i should try some day...

5. Through the Ages got a lot of play. Is it worth the time investment? Folks whose opinions I respect vary about this one...

6. Scott Nicholson, of "Boardgames with Scott," playing a different euro every time I looked up!

7. Stew Kiff, poised over the For the People board for most of the con -- I wish I had had more time to get a game in with him.

8. A really smart young guy, Jeffrey Wilson (13ish) who picked up games quickly and enjoys wargames. Maybe our future will be OK...

9. The genuine niceness of folks that attend this con -- everyone has a smile on their face. It's a very laid-back experience, and anyone will play a game with you, if they're not involved with something else.

10. Cory Wells bopping back and forth between gamer and rock star. I wish I had half the energy my friend does!

11. Kevin Rohrer's always full BIG mug of iced tea!

12. Marty Sample catching a few ZZZs during games when it's not his turn, then snapping back to it and not missing a beat!

13. Seeing Mike Cardwell happily sitting at a table talking to folks, seeing his vision of a friendly little get-together grow into something special.

14. Many 1856 type games going on -- don't know how they do it!

15. Folks missed this go 'round, like Pete Bartlett, Bob Titran, Steve Cuyler, and Frank Mestrve.

16. Ken Dingley's 13+ hour trip to Niagara from Connecticut, via Montreal! He got to see some nice scenery, at least. Ken really went the whole 9 yards, driving back to Toronto the morning after he arrived so that he could get the Spartacus boxes many of us had been waiting waiting. What a sweet looking game!

17. Finally meeting a long-time CSW friend, Marc Guenette, and his friend Francois. Now I really need to visit Montreal! (Maybe Ken can give me directions...).

18. Watching Neil Randall get involved in several different games at once -- i have no idea how the man keeps everything straight!

19. Seeing Bill Peeck and Bob Stribula playing Wilderness War. I had hoped to get a game in myself, but can't do everything...

20. Amazed at how many games of Unhappy King Charles were getting played at NBW -- and I didn't get in on a single one, dammit. This one is on the top of my, "to play" pile, that's for sure!

OK, I'm sure I left a lot out, but I think I'll stop at 20 and let my imagination run in my head until next year's NBW rolls around. Thanks to all for the great time and happy memories.

NBW Combat Commander Tourney

GMT Games was kind enough to send me a box full of prizes for a Combat Commander tourney, and John Foley sent me instructions on how to get a "free-form" tourney up and running. Basically, folks were asked to play 4 games (later we knocked this requirement down, as it was clear not everyone could get in 4 games, based on other commitments), play the same opponent no more than twice, and stick to Europe, Med, or Paratroop (though Stalingrad was available by mutual consent, and we modified this to include Pacific, as well).

In the end, 15 "Combat Commanders" fought it out over a host of scenarios. The Scenarios played (many were played multiple times) were:

Europe:
1
3
4
6
7
8
9
Med:
13
14
15
20
22
23
24
Paratroop:
28
Stalingrad:
35
Pacific:
A
B
C

I do have many stats, such as who won what scenario, but they are incomplete, as not everyone provided all the information asked for. So, instead of posting incomplete statistics here, I'll list the participants, their final tourney score, and the prizes received, courtesy of GMT:

1. Rob Winslow (blush!): 20 points, CC:Europe*, Pacific Typhoon
2. Francois Petitclerc: 12, CC:Med, Pacific Typhoon
3. Nels Thompson, 10, Paratroop, C3i #21
4. Robin Griller, 9, Pacific Typhoon
5. Michael Kiefte, 8, Stalingrad
6. Marty Sample, 8, C3i #21
7. Ernie Lo, 6, C3i #21
8. Jeff Heidman, 6, DiF - Fighter Pack
9. Jeffrey Wilson, 4, DiF - Fighter Pack
10. Don Macintosh, 2, DiF - Bomber Pack
11. Cory Wells, 2, DiF - Bomber Pack
12. Jeromey Martin, 1, DiF - Bomber Pack
13. Marc Guenette, 1, DiF - Bomber Pack
14. Larry Sisson, 1, DiF - Fighter Pack
15. Jeff McBeth, 1, DiF - Fighter Pack

* I plan to donate my CC:E set to the first "newbie" who shows interest in the game at my local club. Fresh blood, yum!

Everyone had a lot of fun, and I certainly learned some new tricks for the future. Now, I have to break out CC:Pacific and start getting decent with those forces. So many scenarios, so little time...

Raising the Stars and Stripes at Iwo

So, thanks again to GMT for providing great prizes, and thanks to everyone who participated. Onto 2010!

NBW Report -- Sunday (2/8/09)

Got up, showered, packed, then checked out. Headed back to the ballroom to see that it was only about 1/3 full now. Sniff...

I decided to get in one final game -- a 5-player Le Havre with the Canadian crew (Robin, Jeff, Kevin, and Chris). It was a fun game and I was doing pretty well. Robin thought he was out of it, but whenever I looked at his buildings, he was doing better than I! Well, I made a BIG mistake at the end, buying the Sawmill (why????) instead if the Bridge over the Seine. Guess who bought it? Yes, that sneaky Griller guy! Anyway, once the final round was over, Robin won. The scores were: 117-104-94-73-53. I had the 94, yet if I had bought the Bridge I would have had 108 and Robin would have been at 105 (I believe I did the math correctly). Double D'oh! My mistake again (I learned a lot from Griller thrashings in Dominion and Le Havre!), one I won't make in the future...

Well, Marty had a plane to catch, so we were off. I said a sad goodbye to the guys still there. I know I'll see Art and Lembit at WBC, but guys like Don and Michael from Halifax and Marc and Francois from Montreal will have to wait until the next NBW...

Icy Niagara

The border crossing was a piece of cake, Marty got dropped off on time, and I picked up Cheyenne from the kennel. I got home and then napped for 3 hours, as I was exhausted.

Another great NBW, my favorite "little con" in the world. Already looking forward to next February!!! My only disappointment was not making either of the Three Dog Night concerts. Now Cory's going to be hassled for tickets for a while until I can make the next show!

(Oh, I still need to post the CC tourney results, I'll do that soon!)

NBW Report -- Saturday (2/7/09)

Got up a little late on Saturday, still pooped from the day/night before. After dragging myself downstairs, I headed off with Don MacIntosh and Michael Kiefte to Starbucks for some liquid life! Once we got back all caffeined-up, it was time to look for a game. Robin Griller wasn't involved in anything, so we decided to play a CC scenario. We chose a CC:Europe scenario, #6, in which an American officer shoots dead all 6 officers of a German Panzergrenadier unit before the game starts. So the Germans start slowly, as they have to recover from their loss of command & control. I was back playing the Germans, looking at an awful lot of excellent paratroopers heading my way shortly after D-Day. Well, Lady Luck was smiling on me, as we got a fairly quick couple of time checks, so my bad early command restrictions were soon lifted. The burden of the attack was on Robin, and my machine guns were getting in good (lucky!) shoots across the board. When the game ended, the Germans had the victory with 16 VPs. I was at 5-2 and the losing streak of yesterday was just a bad memory, LOL!

We decided to play another game, and Robin picked Scenario 22 from CC:Med, the Scots vs. the Germans I had played the other day against Marty. Not wanting to play the same side in a scenario twice, I picked the Germans, hoping for a better fate. Well, guess what? Lady Luck continued to smile on me, helping me roll high for my attacks while denying Robin the "Recover" orders he needed. I was able to break several Scottish squads on my left flank, where I had set up my trench line. My HMG position was eventually diluted via all the smoke Robin's mortar crew was laying down, but they had already done their damage. A last valiant attempt by the Scots to run up the German line fell a little bit short, and the Germans held the field as night fell with a 37 point victory. I figured that would be my last CC game of NBW, though who knows...

I soon got into another Dominion game with Bill Peeck, Pete Lipson, and Chris Taylor. I was able to pull ahead with a lot of treasure, getting the victory at 33-26-25-15. Have I mentioned how much fun this game is?

Next up was a Pacific Typhoon game in the "shark pool." It was me, Marty, Robin, Jeromey, Jeff H., and "The Kid." This was the game at its finest, as everyone ensured that we'd "screw the leader" each turn. We did have a disagreement about the placement of "Gremlins" while "Fog" was in play, and it turns out I was wrong -- no gloating, Jeff! Anyway, when the waves settled and Japan was nuked, the scores were: 29-29-28-26-20-11. Wow! That was a close one. I had 28, while Marty won the tiebreaker over Robin, having won more battle points. A great game, all around.

After a late lunch/early dinner, I headed back to the hotel and Marc G. and I finally hooked up for a game! We had talked online about playing Warriors of God, so we decided to do it. I offered Marc his choice of sides, and being of good French heritage he chose...the English! (He later informed me that his background also included Irish, so it all began to make sense!) We played the 100 Years War scenario -- I had played the game many times, this was Marc's first go-round. Marc got off well early on, and had English VPs up to 15 (30 is an auto victory) 3 turns into the game. Then he was hit with a nasty "die off" of most of his leaders, and this gave me the opening I needed to crawl back into the game. By Turn 6 or 7, we were hovering around 0 VPs, but my board position was good. I was able to consolidate large tracts of land the next 2 turns -- including when Joan of Arc (or is that Jeanne d'Arc?) won a big battle for me in Normandy. We ended after Turn 9, as the French were up over 20 VPs. It was a very fun game, and, as always, it's the friends one meets in this hobby that makes it so much fun, not the winning or losing. I am sincerely happy that Marc and I finally got to play a game!

Joan

Ending the night was a game of Dominion with Robin, Don, and Michael. I didn't write down the score (I had 0, Don and Michael were both in negatives, and Robin had >10), but Robin won handily, brutally cursing us with his witches, over and over again. Lesson learned -- when there's a witch in the game, get in on that action ASAP!!! Off to bed, then homeward bound tomorrow. The saddest time of NBW, the ending...

NBW Report -- Friday (2/6/09)

Woke up on Friday and decided to try the breakfast they were cooking up for us in the hotel. A huge plate of potatoes, eggs, bacon, sausage, and toast awaited. Too much food, ugh!

Gaming started off with Marty and me playing Scenario 22 of CC:Med. It is dusk, and a group of Scots Guards are approaching a small hamlet held by rag-tag German troops (it's 1945), but the Germans do have a heavy machine gun (HMG) and a mortar, and the Scots are advancing over a wheatfield and begin the game suppressed, from harassing fire. For the first time at NBW, I got to play a non-German nationality, taking the Brits (Scots). I began by placing as much smoke as I could from my light mortar, and some lucky attacks soon broke the Germans manning the HMG. With the night getting darker, I hastened my approach and with assault fire was able to hurt the German line. Marty ran into some extremely bad luck, as his mortar broke and his HMG was useless, so the Germans decided to surrender before the men in kilts could slit their throats. I had made my 4th game of CC and was 4-0. Figured I was doing OK!

Marty and I wandered around and 3 gents were getting a Le Havre game going. Now, I want to say that Marty had done something really nice for me -- he sent me a "thank you" box prior to the con for picking him up at the Buffalo Airport. There were several treats for Cheyenne (which she's since devoured!) and the game Le Havre for me! That was mighty kind of him, if I do say so... Well, I had read the rules, but like many of the "heavier" euros, they didn't make a lot of sense until one actually sat down and played. So that's what we did, playing a 5-player game. Basically, the game has you buying goods at the docks and then using these goods to buy buildings, make money, and feed your workers. It's a real balancing act. I really took to the game, and things were looking good for me. On the last turn, I had run out of food, so I had to pay another player 2 francs to use his "Shipping Line." The usual cost is 2 food. At the end of the game, one counts up their victory point (VP) buildings and adds in their francs, with the total being their score. I had 139 points. The winner had 141. the winner was the guy I paid 2 francs to! D'oh! If I had had 2 food I would have won the game! Final scores were 141-139-139-108-88. A game I really enjoyed, and will be playing a lot over the years, I believe.

After hanging out and chatting with folks for a couple hours, Nels Thompson and I squared off for another CC game. Now, Nels is the guy who first taught me the game, and we've played quite a few times, usually having good games. Giddy with my British victory, I decided to pick a scenario with no Germans, choosing #15 from CC:Med, Rumanians blundering into a town in Russia in 1941 that is more heavily defended than they bargained for. Nels took the Soviets, and we were off. Now, the Rumanians had a ton of troops, but most were of questionable quality. Several Soviet units got to set up hidden, popping up on Turn 2. My initial plan was to flood my right flank, make a breakthrough, and try to send as many squads as possible off the board before Nels could react. Well, the best laid plans and all that... In the first 8 hands, we had 3 time advances, so before my guys even got moving, Nels was able to reinforce his left flank. Just as bad for me, my reinforcements had nowhere to go, and the board was full of juicy Axis Minor targets. I fought it out as hard as I could, even killing a few Soviets, but Nels just kept mowing my boys down, ending up with an 18 point Soviet victory. My undefeated tourney record was now officially history!

Nels and I were looking for something lighter now, and Marty and Jeffrey "The Kid" joined us for a game of Dominion. Light it may be, but this was one fun, and close game. Final scores rang out as: 27-26-24-23. I had the 27, so some of the sting of my humiliating Rumanian defeat was washed away...

Chit-chatting away with others for a bit, then I got into another CC:Med game, this time with Francois Petitclerc from Montreal. Francois had come down with Marc Guenette, a CSW friend who I had been asking to come to NBW for several years. Well, he finally made it, and we actually even got a game in (more on that later). But today it was vs. Francois, and we were fighting Scenario 23 -- British vs. Italians in the Western Desert, 1942. I took the Italians. Both sides had trench lines, artillery, and the British had a forward machine gun post in an abandoned truck while the Italians had many more men. There was no terrain here (just a lot of sand and trenches), so Francois began by laying down smoke and aggressively taking a couple of objectives, forcing me to react to his moves. I did, and the game bounced back and forth for several turns, with neither of us more than 2 VPs ahead. I finally cleared out the machine gun, but Francois got a squad and leader to take over the position, and this new force dominated any advances I tried to make for the rest of the game. We ended with a 4 VP British victory, and I learned that Francois is an excellent opponent (not to mention a very funny guy!). Great game, but I was now on a 2-game losing streak...

Defending the Western Desert

I was ready for another lighter game, and when Pete Lipson showed up with Race for the Galaxy (RftG), he, Francois, "The Kid" and I sat down for a game. I love RftG, yet hadn't played much since the 2008 NBW -- my fault. But we got right into the game and it soon became obvious that our Montreal ringer was going to win this one pretty handily. He did, with the final scores being: 45-20-18-16. I had 18, so at least I wasn't last...

7 of us went out to dinner, back to Carpaccio's. I had a really nice egg noodle and mushroom dish, as well as a huge salad, as I was craving greens! We spent a long time in the restaurant shooting the shit and laughing at a table of drunk older ladies celebrating a birthday... Stopped at a Beer Store on the way back, and I bought some Tankhouse Ale and Lager. The Ale was delicious, the Lager was disappointing. But it was still beer, so we were happy...

To end the night, I got into an Atlantic Storm game with Clint from Northern Ontario and a bunch of newbies. It was late, and the game went too slowly, so I just drank a few beers to pass the time. By the time it had ended, the scores were 36-30-30-23-18-15. I had a "30" and didn't even care that I didn't win. I just wanted to get to bed...

NBW Report -- Thursday (2/5/09)

Rolled out of bed around 7:30, showered, and headed to Tim Horton's afterward with Marty, to get my morning caffeine fix. When we got back to the ballroom, it seemed warmer, but that was only because the doors to the hall were open, so the frigid air was mixing with the warmer hall air. We were beginning to go into crisis mode, as the herd would be showing up soon and we were told the heater was broken. A "man" had been called, and should be there any time to fix it. Yet the morning wore on, and it didn't get fixed. Art, being the consummate businessman, got the hotel to go out and buy some space heaters, as a temporary fix. These worked well enough (though they kept on blowing fuses!), and by Noon we were gaming away, in relative comfort.

(Addenda: The heater did get fixed and, if anything, the room eventually became TOO warm -- so we had to prop open a door to let cold air in, LOL!)

First up was my initial game in the Combat Commander scenario. As there were still relatively few people here, Marty and I decided to play a game. I won the coin flip, and chose Scenario 14, Poles trying to break out through the German lines in 1939. I figured Marty would take the Germans, but he surprised me and took the Poles. So I had to switch my mentality to the defense... After a brutal firefight, the Germans were able to keep most of the Poles from breaking out, and won with 8 VPs in a close game. There was a stretch of bad cards for the Poles, and the 1 card discard hurt them for several turns, and this helped the Germans turn the tide. A well timed German "walking wounded" reinforcement really caused havoc with the Polish rear.

Cory came by and wanted to play some Combat Commander, so, since I love this game AND was running the tourney, I sat down to another game. This time we played Scenario 4, American Paras trying to root out tough German units from a chateau in Belgium after the Bulge fizzled out. I got the Germans again, and set up my infantry gun in some woods, waiting to plug advancing Yankees. Alas, on Cory's first activation, he broke the weapon team manning the gun, and, believe it or not, I was unable to get a single shot off the whole game -- and about 2/3 of the way through, the gun was eliminated. Groan... The battle did go better for me elsewhere, and some quick time checks slowed down the American reinforcements, so I didn't have to face much fire from the engineers with flamethrowers. This game had something happen that I'd never seen before -- multiple blazes that morphed (breezed?) into a huge fire that filled about 1/4 of the board. The blaze closed down Cory's advance lanes on his left flank, and allowed me to concentrate my firepower on his right. Once the dust settled, the Germans had a convincing 34 point victory.

After schmoozing with folks for a while, I got into another Dominion game, this time with Marty, Grant LaDue, and a youngster, Jeffrey Wilson. Jeffrey came with his father and turned out to be an excellent game player, and a quick learner! Though he had never played the game before, he ended up winning by one point! I finished a distant 3rd, but had fun (37-36-21-15). What a great filler this game is!

Next up was a 6-player Pacific Typhoon game with Michael and Don from Nova Scotia, Marc and Francois from Montreal, and Michel Boucher from Ottawa. Most folks had played before, though a couple had only played the game's older cousin, Atlantic Storm. I had some good cards, and even though the table turned against me -- get Winslow! -- I was able to hold on for a victory. Final scores were 44-30-30-25-18-11.

Back to WW2 Europe, and Michael Kiefte and played Scenario 28 from the Paratroop Battle Pack. This has American and German paras fighting it out in "Hedgerow Hell" on June 7th, in Normandy. Once again, I drew the Germans... We both had good units and several machine guns. I also had some off-board artillery and a mortar. Well, I have to say that, in a nutshell, this may have been the most exciting game of CC I ever played. We went back and forth all game, with victory points never getting to more than 4 for one side. There was a big dead pile, and we were both able to protect our objectives. The game was coming down to a shootout, and we were absolutely plastering each other. I held the initiative when a time check came up that ended the game with VPs at 0. I smiled at the initiative card, and breathed a huge sigh of relief, pulling it out by the tiebreaker. Michael played a great game, and it really was one of those games in which there really were no losers. Man, that was some game...

The Bocage

Later on, I went out to dinner with Cory and Marty to a Vietnamese place. The Pho there was pretty good -- not great, but not bad, either. We enjoyed a leisurely dinner, and more guys from NBW showed up there later. It was relaxing, and I was beat once dinner ended. And it was freezing outside. Some silly Celsius number that translated to about 5F...

Played a final game of Pacific Typhoon before hitting the sack. This one was a 5-player with Robin, Jeromey Martin, and 2 of the 3 Jeffs who made it up from Rochester (Heideman and McBeth). Those bastards ganged up on me (what's new? LOL!) and Jeromey ended up winning a close one over Robin: 33-32-29-23-19. Yes, I had the 19. Game was played quickly, which is a good thing, so it was fun. Off to bed, as there were still 2+ days of gaming left!

NBW Report -- Wednesday (2/4/09)

Last Wednesday, I left school at around 2:30, heading to the Buffalo Airport to pick up Marty Sample. The drive was pretty uneventful, hitting about a 10 mile stretch of heavy snow (where speeds dropped to about 40/45 MPH due to near white-out conditions), but good driving otherwise. Listened to Lord of the Flies on CD, which I finished up on the way home. Got Marty a little before 4:00 PM, and we headed to the Great White North. The border crossing was a piece of cake, though the Canadian Customs guy was a bit of a prick when Marty told him we didn't have any alcohol to declare, snapping at him, "I didn't ask you that, answer my question." Sheesh... Got to the hotel 5:00ish, checked in, and found Art Lupinacci, Robin Griller, and Lembit Tohver playing Dominion in the ballroom -- the ballroom with no heat, so it felt like about 45F, if that! I crashed for a bit, then Marty came by and we headed out to grab dinner.

After a good feast at Carpaccio's, we went back to the hotel and met up with Art, Robin, and Lembit in their room. Cory Wells called, and then he came by. A few folks headed out to grab a quick bite, while we pulled a table into the (warmer) hallway to get ready for a game of Battlestar Galactica (BSG). Now, I have never watched the show, so I was dubious that I would enjoy the game, but it was the only game in town, so to speak...

As we were waiting for the rest to get back from dinner, we taught Cory how to play Dominion, and got in a quick game (so there was more than one game in town, after all!). Marty ended up winning a close 3-player game, with the scores 24-21-15. Cory took a few turns to understand the mechanics, then he got right into it. I think Dominion will be a very fun "filler" game for a long, long time.

When the Canadian contingent returned from dinner, we got blasted off into space. Picking "Galactica" characters, I got some cowardly politico type (Gaius something or other), and found right away that I was a Cylon. My job was to sabotage the ship's voyage. Early on, I didn't want to do anything obvious, so I'd only play a few cards that hurt the humans every now and then (sometimes it worked), while performing innocuous actions that weren't going to alert the humans as to my true calling. When we got 1/2 way through the game, Art's character turned out to be a Cylon sympathizer, and he was the president! So the presidency passed to me -- little did those humans know what were getting into... As the game wore on, it seemed that Robin (the admiral) was not helping the cause very much, and, lo and behold, he turned out to be a Cylon, as well. When I revealed myself, it became clear that the humans would not make it, and the big ship crashed, only half-way home. A brilliant Cylon victory! Overall, the game was a lot of fun, though I think I would have enjoyed it much more had I known the story line and the characters. But I'm not a sci-fi fan, and my TV watching consists mainly of sports and cartoons, so...

A Cylon

Off to to bed, then, hoping we'd have a warmer ballroom tomorrow, when others started arriving...

NBW was great...

Ramada All Suites Hotel and Conference Center -- Niagara Falls, Ontario

Got back from Niagara late Sunday afternoon.

Had a wonderful time there over 4 days, playing (I think I have this correct) 22 games.

Got to see many old friends and meet some new ones.

I will get a full report up as soon as I can, as I took notes (not with me at the moment).

Suffice it to say, for now, I had a lot of fun!

NBW

Well, I'll be off to Niagara tomorrow after school, for 4 days of gaming, gaming, gaming. Cheyenne is off to doggie camp for that time.

So, I'll keep notes the best I can and have a report sometime next week.

See ya all then...