Boo Hoo!

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! I'm so lonely! :)

LoreCon 3 in Burlington.

So the excellent convention in Burlington known as LoreCon just happened this weekend, and while it wasn't as excellent as Carnage, here's my report.

First thing to report...

You're all a bunch of pansies! :)

Seriously, it was ok doing it myself. I was wary before I got there at 9:30 on Saturday, but 5 people who had never played Puerto Rico were waiting for me to arrive and run my scheduled session, starring... Puerto Rico! It was a big hit, and I saw Chuck Burkins in that group, a fine computer programmer who joined my session of Princes of Florence at Carnage back in November. We got 2 games in, the second including me.

My second session was Tigris & Euphrates. Also a big hit, and also being taught to 4 people who had never played. Chuck was also at that one. Two games played there as well, with me also doing that second game. I didn't win, because a kid played spoiler. :)

Two trips to Quizznos let me use some of my Entertainment books to be nice to fellow con-goers. Saved Chuck's family some dough with a "buy one, get one" coupon, then we all ordered in advance for dinner using a $10 off a catering order. I picked it up at 6:15 so that no one had to stop playing games. :)

I didn't end up doing much in the last session... I left at 6:45 to say hello to my family at the Wyndham hotel, where an honor dinner included my uncle Scudder Parker. I was dressed for a game con, not a fine dinner... so I didn't expect to stay... but my family said no one would care how I was dressed, so I stayed until 8:10 when Scudder finished his speech: he really might be governor next time. People there really adore his honesty, integrity, intelligence and passion.

When I got back to the con, I only had 45 minutes before I'd have to leave, if I was to get back to St. J. by the time I told Michele I'd be back. So I couldn't crack open and play Imperial with Josh from Portland, Maine, who'd been emailing with me for a few months in prep for the con. He was disappointed, but we'll get signed up for T&E online, and since Michele has family in South Portland, we'll meet again. He can even come over here for a summer weekend... give notice.

Other than that, I just started Chuck on a refresher game of Princes of Florence and left both that game and Imperial (with Josh) to be finished and picked up by the con-runners and left for me at Quarterstaff in Burlington.

I saw Neil Carr there, with his wife Annick, but didn't have much time to chat. It was well attended overall, with lots of miniatures & RPGs going on, and a good showing of good board games.

I'm getting the impression that people (Carnage aside) would prefer mini-cons at the homes of friends (i.e. ShawnCon) over actual entry-fee cons a distance away. I wish I could've spurred conversation about that earlier, saved effort on my part, instead of having to infer from silence. But Carnage is so good that let's work on that.

Who's in for Fairlee, VT, November 2-4th? http://www.carnagecon.com/. A lot of notice never hurt anyone...

Amos & Devon Get Snowed In - Film At Eleven!

So last Thursday, what with the snow storm and all (you're a pansy, Dan, heh heh), only I made it to Devon's. We've really got to feed his need sometime for a game night at his house with lots of people - he's jonesin.

I shouldn't have tried getting to Devon's, though. Should've taken Michele's advice and called him, asked him to drive to me. I tried one route to his house... couldn't make it up the first hill to the right of exit 22, then went the opposite way, got stuck on the last hill before his house, and walked half a mile... with War of the Ring & a frozen peanut butter cake in my hands. What fun! :)

We played a game of Memoir '44 while we waited to see if Bryan was coming (so far it feels thin, short & too luck-heavy, relative to BattleLore & C&C: Ancients), and when he didn't, we played three quarters of an excellent game of War of the Ring - with the expansion. Feelings for that game grow every time. Anyone who hasn't gotten over the hump of a steep learning curve is highly encouraged to... get some freakin' cajones! :)

In WotR, the wealth of great strategic options continue to emerge. Tried to really sack the Northeast for five points, with Dale, Erebor & the Woodland Realm. Was on the verge of heading for the Northwest, with the Shire & the Grey Havens.

When we finished Sunday night, it ended up a dead heat. Devon had abandoned the Fellowship, so time was running out, but his last-ditch military effort (killed Free People units CAN'T be re-mustered) netted him the 4 victory points of Dol Guldur & Orthanc in the final turn... enough to win!

But, alas, I captured Pelargir & Dol Amroth in the same turn... netting me my 10 victory points in the same turn. And since the Shadow military victory outranks a Free People's military victory... the one ring returned to the finger of Sauron (a.k.a. - ME!).

My... precious! :)

To paraphrase "The Three Amigos", much Middle Earth killing of women and raping of cattle ensued.

Mwahahaha!

Combat Commander: Europe first impressions

So, this past Friday I made the trek from Lyndon to Williston to play a game of Combat Commander: Europe with Earl. CC:E is from GMT games, an excellent company that has put out, among other great titles, Command & Colors : Ancients. I've really been looking forward to giving the game ago, and despite the long drive I can say that I was NOT dissappointed.

The game is played with Chits on a hex-based (and beautiful) map, and is intended to simulate squad or platoon level combat in WWII. It's an infantry game, so if you're looking to run around with tanks, this game is not for you. The game is also a 'card driven' game, and has many similarities to Battlelore or Command & Colors : Ancients in that respect. However, there appears to be a lot more tactical depth to the game, and each card does a lot more... The basic actions are Move, fire, Assault, and Recover but below that are "events" printed on each card. In addition, the game is diceless, but each card has a pair of dice printed on the lower right-- When a die roll is required, you pull the next card in your pile, and the dice shown represent your roll.... This is pretty unique, but I liked it, and I believe it probably allows for a more even (or bell-curve) disribution of die rolls.

I found the game quick to grasp, and was playing on my own within half an hour... We played the first scenario, which represented a german and Soviet force clashing over a crossroads in the summer of 1941. The soviet troops are poor quality but numerous, fighting the much better but fewer German troops. Each side had a couple machine-guns but that was it. As Earl and I played, I found the game tense and dynamic, and really gave me a 'feel' for the action. As the game developed, the Germans held one objective, and my soviets agressively rolled it up; From there, the action shifted to the second objective, where the Germans were pressing the Soviets hard, but in the end my forces prevailed.... All told, the game took about 3 hours to play out, but two seasoned players could have done it faster. Earl had a good time, too, but was not pleased when I did the 'victory dance' after my sound win.

I am looking forward to playing this with the gang around here.

Flames of War, plus, Tigris & Euphrates... BattleLore!

Prepare, all, for more magnificent display of my potent ability to generate titanic blog conversational silence! And witness my dynamic attempt to amend my style accordingly... :) Prepare, ye crickets, for my creative can of insecticide.

First, some stuff about ShawnCon II...


Flames of War -

I wasn't a party to it, but apparently the Flames of War demo at ShawnCon II was a big hit. Lets see if we can get some conversation started on this front (no pun int... aw hell, it was intended). I need to participate in a game myself. I dislike being on the outside looking in. It appears to be a good time, fare not too overcomplicated to be a hang out and beer out game. There's so much going on that the strategy is surely there.

Who wants to weigh in with their experiences, either at ShawnCon II (Ken, Bryan) or in their other forays (Devon, Shawn)? I'd like some recorded back and forth. I know Ken was very impressed. He wants to do a KenCon I very soon.

On a Flames of War side note, Shawn's lovely idea to have background sound was a hit. It inspired me to pick up the rest of the Lord of the Rings soundtrack (copy to iTunes, resell...) for use on War of the Ring, Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation (I have the deluxe edition, Dan, with twice as many characters), or even fantasy-themed games like BattleLore (our attempt to play LotR music last Thursday was stamped out by conversational Michele).

War of the Ring -

While Flames of War was going on, I was in a two player game of War of the Ring. It was looking very satisfying. A newbie was crashing his troops with futility against my walls of Lorien, and I was finally feeling able to forget my overconfident defeat at the hands of the vile Devon! :) But two players wasn't very social, and the still impressed opponent bailed, jealous of the 6 people playing Flames of War. Curse you, Flames! You burn the pubes from my very testicles! :)

Anyway, I'm dying to play a real 3-4 player game of War of the Ring, to make it more social, and get people over its complexity hump. With more play under my belt, the rule sets multiple targets for competition, and it's balance, looks very promising.

Next, some stuff about... after ShawnCon II...

Tigris & Euphrates -

We've finally made some headway here, with Bryan, Devon & Ali now having a decent idea of how to play, and not too far from having a beginning sense of the depth of quality. I was worried, after playing two player games with Devon, then with Shawn, that the... thin... spanking nature of that method vs. AnonAmos would flounder. I only meant to teach the rules there. There's so much more going on in 3 & 4 player games, without the game becoming all about who has the biggest kingdom, and the desperate tile discards to win desperate internal conflicts.

And Shawn just said that he's interested in playing again, to get a better sense. Dan & I are pleased. Dan's the only one, so far in the year and a half or so since I've been running games by email through BGG, that has consistently played and been able to finish games. If only Shawn could figure out why his computer won't let him play it online. Jay had the same problem... in spite of his love of the game.

What are people’s thoughts on the game?

BattleLore -

Excellent playtime with BattleLore last Thursday. We broke out both Shawn's &, uh, Devon's copies, combined the boards, and played a makeshift "epic" battle. The landscape wasn't masterfully designed for gameplay, and many of the special hexes (like the fortress, the thieves' den and the real use of the pentacle) weren't in play. And with limited units and command hands, movement and action was restricted. But it was a cool overview. And the whole "lore" aspect for magic is a great addition.

For anyone not there, Devon, Dan & I pulled out a human and dwarven victory over the humans & goblins (of Shawn & Ali). If I do say so myself, my web spell to prevent Shawn's heavy unit from crushing Devon's heavy unit was the linchpin of domination!

On the docket soon... a go with Memoir '44, which Devon has played, and which Shawn and Bryan really want a trial go at. Not that it'll hold up well once Tide of Iron is released in April... :)

Online Paintball Resources

So, a few emails have gone back and forth over the last few days regarding the upcoming paintball season. One item that I think is very exciting is that Devon and Bryan recently walked the land below Devon's, and they are discussing setting up a paintball field there.

I realize this is a bit off topic, but that is most excellent.

When I lived in the Burlington area, I was really into paintball, and I am looking forward to getting back into it with the gang here. One thing, I am going to have to pick up a new marker, becuase I sold all my gear when I moved here 3 years ago. Anyway, Dan was asking about online resources for paintball gear, and I thought it would be useful to post some here:

http://www.pbreview.com/ This is a site that has reviews of markers and gear. I don't really know how valid the reviews are, and they seem to skew high, but it may be a good place to start getting feedback on a gun you are looking at picking up.

http://www.xpaintball.com/ This site is a good one for buying markers, gear, and paints. I've used them before, they seem to have good prices, and a great selection. A great place to get base level pricing on gear or guns.

http://www.tippmann.com/ I admit it, I am a HUGE tippmann fan. my last marker was a 98 custom. This is a bulletproof, solid, and very upgradeable marker. Great for a lower cost rec baller, who wants to throw it in a closet after playing every week and not worry about it. Anyway, tippmann has a nice forum on thier website as well.

http://www.ebay.com This is a great place to shop for used gear and guns.

For those of you just getting into Paintball, I hope these resources are helpful. Bryan has a ton of paintball experience, so would be a great resource to tap, and I am looking forward to talking to him more about his suggestions for markers, etc.

One thing I am trying to figure out right now is what type of gun to get? as for price range I gues I am looking at "the high end of the low end", and will probably try and pick up a used marker. My fallback position is a Tippmann 98 Custom, but I really like the A-5's and hear they are fast. I think I lean towards a mechanical, rather than and Electonic marker (call me old fashioned), althought Smart Parts has come out with a very highly regarded lower range marker called the Ion.... it looks really interesting, and is electronic. I may check those out.

Secondly, though, I like milsim guns-- there are a couple options in this category, but they get more pricey than what I am probably willing to pay. I am a big fan of woodsball and recball over speedball (a waste of paint, IMO), but dont want to compromise looks of a marker over performance. When I had my 98 C, I upgraded it with a closed bolt, drop forward, and good barrel and had very good luck with it.

So, for anyone else out there with paintball experience, what are your thoughts? Any good sites to add to the list? Any gun reccomendations? What do you like to play?

An Ode to Crickets.

Crickets, crickets, everywhere...
Chirping in the seats out there.

When I type, they start to play,
Because they know not what to say.

Perhaps I write a bit to long...
Perchance they merely like their song.

But conversation suits me best:
That song, I think, just lacks the zest.