September 13, 2007

Sad Day

I came home from work today to yowling. It was constant, loud, and immediately told me something was wrong. But when I looked for what, I couldn't see anything. Yes, the house is mostly empty (at least relative to its usual cluttered self). Yes, what is here is all in the wrong place. But nothing was seriously out of place. Nothing I could tell, at least.

So I set out some treats for the cats, and that let me see what was wrong. Because Lightning just nosed at them, then turned away. And he never does that. He picked one up, gummed at it, then dropped it again, drooling heavily. And he never does that.

I'd set out the cat-carriers a few days ago, preparing to move the cats to the new house. It was fairly easy to corral a listless Lightning into one, rush him out to the car.

He hates the vet, and that hadn't changed. He was a royal terror for the doctor to examine, but with a shot of valium to calm him, they were able to start to look at him. Nothing was obvious right away, though the doctor said his heartbeat sounded bad, so they wanted to try some blood tests and x-rays. I left him there, looking angry and confused, wrapped in a towel and wondering why.

They called just a bit ago. Apparently, his kidneys have or are in the process of completely shutting down. There were a few things they could try, but it would mean costs in the thousands of dollars and little real hope.

So, tonight, we've put Lightning to sleep.

I'd been setting up a place for the cats at the new house (yes, I'm still in the process of moving, which is a large part of why there have been no posts), with a large window looking out at a birdfeeder that's almost constantly in use. I just knew my cats would love it. Now, only one will ever get the chance.

Thunder is sitting in the floor near here, looking at me, looking around, clearly not sure what has happened.

The house is terribly quiet.

Posted by ghoul at 07:26 PM | Comments (2)

August 20, 2007

Speaking Of The Other Guys

I spoke kindly of Apple's customer service (eventually), now I need to mention the opposite.

Two weeks ago, I purchased two garage door openers for the two garage doors of my new house. I paid slightly more for installation than I did for the hardware.

The installers called 2 days later, said they'd come in 3 days and would call first.

Three days later, cell phone in hand all day, and nothing. Eventually, I got a call that claimed they'd called 3 times earlier in the day but gotten no answer and left no message. And also left no trace of a missed call on my phone, which means they probably didn't call. They re-scheduled for today, late (as they'll be an hour and a bit away on another job in Keene, NH, most of the day).

Today, they call at 8 AM and ask if morning is OK (what happened to the job in Keene, I don't know). I say it is. Two hours later, they show up, look at the garage for 5 minutes, and decide there's a problem. No place to anchor the header of the garage door opener. Or, rather, there is a place, but it would require cutting and attaching a heavy piece of wood where there's currently just a gap. Relatively easy carpentry, they agree.

But a call to their boss results in them saying they can't do it. The boss won't allow them to do carpentry as part of a simple install job, and claims its a liability risk (which it might well be).

They call back to the retailer who contracted them, who says they'll find another installer to take a look. But they also tell me there is no other installer in southern NH.

So they leave me their card, some fairly hollow apologies, and two garage door openers still in their boxes.

Not the happy experience dealing with Apple provided.

Posted by ghoul at 06:42 PM | Comments (0)

August 18, 2007

Apple Vs. Other Guys

OK, let's imagine something.

Let's imagine you bought something three years ago. And, just two week or so back, it went belly up.

Let's say it's a tower computer. A really nice dual processor beauty. And let's say the power supply gave out, to the point that it started leaking nasty, oily fluid all over the place.

Now, let's say you take it to the company's store, tell them it's under warranty, and they promise to fix it.

And let's say that, after two weeks' effort and 2-3 replacements of pretty much every part, they can't manage it.

So... what do they do?

Well, I can tell you what Apple Computer does. They say "Sorry, we can't fix your G5 tower. So, come in tomorrow and we'll swap it out for a new MacPro dual Intel processor tower with as similar features as we can (i.e., the same RAM, a slightly larger HD, 2 extra drive bays for future use, and about 2-3 times the speed). Oh, and we'll port over all your data first, so that's taken care of."

How many other guys are going to do that for you?

Lesson of the story: not all warranties are worth the cost, but AppleCare pretty much is. I stopped on the way out from picking up the new tower to purchase coverage on the new machine.

Posted by ghoul at 02:58 PM | Comments (2)

July 19, 2007

New Home Day

... is tomorrow. Closing is at 8 AM, after which I'll be able to say the house in Bow is mine.

It'll be a while before I'm living in it, and I'm still shopping around for the best shelving and other furniture options. Which should keep me distracted for a while longer.

Posted by ghoul at 05:39 PM | Comments (0)

June 16, 2007

And It's Official (and Scary)

After a bit more negotiation on price (they wanted more than I offered, but not more than I'm willing to pay, so we found an agreeable spot) and dates (they wanted a later date, which is fine by me so I took theirs), we've reached terms on the new house. I sign some final commitment papers tomorrow.

And, come August, I'll be moving to the nice house in Bow. Just for fun, let's see the picture again...

200706151514-1

And, until then, I'll be arranging endless things to please realtors and mortgage brokers, packing up a lot of books and games, and looking into furniture options. Particularly bookcases. The best feature of the house I'm leaving (other than it having a price I could afford in early 1999) is its ~90' of built in shelving, almost 2/3rds of which is in one large room that quickly became my "library". The new house has no significant built-shelving except in the garage, so most of that 90' will need to be made up with new bookcases or other shelving units.

And that's not including the new shelving I'm planning to instal to put my boardgame collection in a more accessible place (I'm currently guessing that's at least 100' more shelving) or the fact that I've outgrown my DVD storage space by about 10 feet of shelving. And both grow rapidly enough that I'd be foolish to not give plenty of expansion space.

And to make that boardgame collection useful, I'll be looking for a nice table in the 7-8 foot range with sufficient (and comfy) chairs.

Oh, and I've got at least one whole new room to supply, as the current house has 4 rooms other than the kitchen and foyer while the new house has 6, and two of those are quite large. A rough mapping of everything I have (including all the shelving I already know I need and the gaming table) still leaves the whole living room empty!

And I own no outside furniture for the deck, though I do have a never-out-of-the-box grill I'm itching to put to use.

And I'll need lawn care equipment, and will want to plan ahead for snow removal as the new drive is significantly more than I'll want to shovel by hand.

And...

What am I getting myself into?

Posted by ghoul at 10:13 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

June 15, 2007

Changes

Wrote a check today to officially start the process.

That is the process of moving from here...

200706151514

...to here...

200706151514-1.

I expect it may be a somewhat longish process, with perhaps a bump or two along the way (like, say, a pre-approval letter with the wrong name on it, to mention something that has already happened and been addressed after many alarums, excursions, and phonecalls... mostly phonecalls). It's actually not a very long move distance-wise; Google Maps says 7.1 miles, just from the north-west side of Concord to the north-east part of Bow, which is the town just below Concord. But the new house is more than twice the size of the current house, and that's not including significant garage- and basement-based storage space. Also, there's a real yard (though not too much real yard; most of it is wooded and needs minimal care), a deck (less than 2 years old), and an absolutely huge family room (roughly 13x30 and just begging to have a huge board game collection put to use in it).

But yes... except for some minor oddities of corner cut-outs to fit the space, it is all but completely euclidian.

So... now I pretty much know what I'm doing this summer.

Posted by ghoul at 03:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 11, 2007

Catching Up

OK, it's been a while...

Comcast has been being a royal pain again, to the point that I've stopped using their email as anything but a back-up. For now, it's GMail as my primary (though it's all just who I forward thru anyway). If anyone sent me email last week expecting a reply and didn't get one, please re-send.

I've got 3 games to complete this month, one for a Stillpoint game day, two for The Black Road. All are in fairly good preliminary shape, but they need to get done in the next two or three weeks.

Work is work. Plenty getting done, but busy most of the time doing it. I haven't made a boardgame club meeting yet in 2007, and that may not turn around anytime soon despite tons of interest in several new games.

And, just to make my summer sufficiently crowded, I've spotted a house right in the size/location/features/price range I've been saying "if I spot one like this, I'll take it" for the best part of a year now. Because when you're plenty busy, nothing adds to the mix quite like moving to the other side of town. If the house has one serious flaw it's that, from what I've seen so far (and I'll actually be seeing the inside in person later today), none of its staircases or other features are even remotely non-euclidian.

Posted by ghoul at 11:33 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

March 30, 2007

Odd, Sad Coincidences

Last Saturday night, as part of John Schippers's Justice Legion Militia: Lengthening Shadows game at AmberCon, we were handed pictures of a semi-fictitious, bankrupt Christian amusement park that was the site of some suspicious and unpleasant activity. One of those pictures was familiar to me. In story, they were in South Carolina, but I was pretty sure immediately they were actually taken in Covington, KY, at the Garden of Hope (page down; it's the third item in the article... I can't find the nice color pictures John found for the game).

Why did I know this?

Well, because my grandfather was part of the churchgoing workmen who built the Garden of Hope, back in the late 1950s. He mixed the paints into the concrete to give the faux-stone the proper color and aged appearance, among other tasks. My mother was very proud of that, and told me about it regularly, particularly as the family made roughly-Easter-Sunday visits to the site. I've stood right where the picture used in the game was taken a dozen times, at least. And, even today, there aren't all that many replicas of the traditional Tomb of Christ in the USA. Until very recently, there was only this one, tucked away in its hard-to-find corner of West Covington, KY.

So it was a rather odd coincidence, to say the least.

And was near the top of my mind when, yesterday afternoon, I got the call that my grandfather had died, after a long battle with Parkinson's, a severe stroke, and several minor heart attacks, plus a recently-discovered large tumor in his throat that made swallowing difficult. It wasn't completely unexpected; there had been talk of transferring him to a hospice among the options under discussion for the better part of a month. None of which makes it any easier, really. As I mentioned in a quick post yesterday, I'm flying back to Cincinnati for the services, and to help out however I can.

And, if time allows, I may well even try to wiggle up the back streets in West Covington, refresh some memories. They'll be all decorated for Easter next Sunday. It seems right.

Posted by ghoul at 08:05 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

March 29, 2007

Barely Home Then Away

I'll be back in Cincinnati this weekend following a death in the family. I will post as possible, but wouldn't want to promise anything before the middle of next week.

Posted by ghoul at 03:11 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

February 16, 2007

Travel Woes Day 2

It looks like my flight to Philly will leave only around 10-20 minutes late.

But my flight from Philly to New Hampshire has already been cancelled and a replacement selected.

So at best I'll be home 25 hours after my original planned return.

At best.

The fun continues!

UPDATE: Made it to Philly. No news yet if the 3:55 departure time on my replacement flight to Manchester is valid or no, and it's way too soon to even guess given the cavalcade of delays that is USAir (and, likely, everyone else) today.

UPDATE 2: Still in Philly, still no news. The flight before mine in this gate is getting some chaos due to a lack of ground power, but that's not my issue at all. And, as my other post shows, there's actually some good going on as well. Certainly the best unexpected and undesired long delay I've had in some time!

I still want to get home, of course.

UPDATE 3: Still waiting, but the new so far is good. We'll see. 30 minutes remain for something bad to happen.

UPDATE 4: Made it home. Lots of digging necessary to have a parking place, but I am home. My checked bag actually made it home 2 hours before me, which I find interesting but was not worth staying in the airport one second longer.

Home is good.

Posted by ghoul at 08:14 PM | Comments (0)

Unexpected Travel Joys

OK, I'm still waiting and all, but I just had the most unexpectedly fun coincidental meeting.

I was sitting, typing away on some work email, and a nice gentleman came over, chatted for a bit, then asked if I like movies.

Turns out, he is Ken Wales, currently on his way to do a special showing of his new film Amazing Grace and, for some reason, he decided I seemed like the kind of person who would like to see his preview DVD (a 7 minute extended trailer). And it really does look quite good. A well-cast, solid-looking film of a major event in modern civilization, William Wilberforce's campaign to end the British slave trade.

Which, I think, gives me something to do next weekend, when the film comes out.

Posted by ghoul at 01:48 PM | Comments (0)

February 15, 2007

About Not Posting and Travel Woes

So, I haven't been posting much recently. But you could see that. I mean, three posts since Thanksgiving week? That's pretty much a dictionary definition of not posting much recently, isn't it?

Mostly, I've just been busy. The merger at work is in full swing, and my team was charged with re-pricing pretty much everything we offer on a timeframe barely possible for the four of us. And then, thanks to one departure and one maternity leave, it wasn't four of us, but rather two of us and anyone from other teams we could beg, borrow, or steal.

So I haven't been doing much that didn't involve just collapsing once getting home except for keeping up with my regular RPGs, which I'd go quite crazy without, and doing a few one-shots like the Spirit of the Century game, some AmberCon plans, and maybe a few other store event sort of things (currently a couple of those being sketched out for early March, along with another SotC game for whenever I can get the free time to organize it).

Today's break comes thanks to USAir and yesterday's snowstorm in the north-east. Oh, I called in advance, made plan changes to a non-delayed, non-cancelled flight, checked back later to make sure it was still that flight, and then got to the airport and checked AGAIN as I checked in that all was on-schedule.

And, once I was through security, they told me the flight was actually delayed, maybe an hour. It is now (4:05) a little over an hour after I should have taken off, and the plane isn't even here yet, nor is it expected for 20-30 more minutes (though they say it has taken off and so is on its way). Which means I might be leaving Greensboro about the time my flight from LaGuardia to Manchester is scheduled to take off (5:10). Which is still somewhat better than what's happened with two co-workers who were down for the same training... They left to return to Hartford, CT yesterday, and I just chatted with them here at the airport to learn that they're hoping to fly out at around 4:50. Maybe. (They did just now (4:16) announce that they were about to begin boarding for that flight.)

All of which means the odds are not good that I'll be sleeping in my own bed tonight. But I decided "why not?" and sprung for the airport's WiFi just to give me something to do, now that I've finished reading my planned books for during the flight.

I'd best make it home by tomorrow evening, though, because there's a session of my monthly RPG this Saturday and, like I said, there's the whole 'without those I'd go crazy' issue.

UPDATE: 4:35 now, and the rumor (and that's the best USAir can manage to announce) is that we will have a plane at 5, but won't have a crew before 7:30. Joy. I'm 90% of the way to deciding to just stay here in Greensboro another day. But the WiFi did come back in time to post this... Joy!

UPDATE 2: 5:12 now, and the rumor is true, so they've switched us all to another flight, leaving at ~5:40 and not delayed at all. No, I don't understand why they delay one flight to PAST another to the same place, but there it is. In theory, I could now be home before midnight, assuming no delays on my (now re-assigned, of course) 2nd flight. Travel is fun, right?

UPDATE 3: 5:40 now, and it's pretty clear that wasn't true. Current rumor (no announcement, of course) is 6:30 departure, which would JUST get me to my MHT connection. Assuming it's also delayed a little, which is pretty much a certainty. This really sucks.

FINAL UPDATE: 6:10 and I've officially given up after the flight dropped back to a 7:58 time. I'll be trying again tomorrow.

AFTER THE FINAL UPDATE: 7:00 and I'm happily ensconced in an airport hotel, waiting on tomorrow AM to start it all over again. 9:22 AM is the current departure time, so 18 hours behind schedule.

Posted by ghoul at 07:03 PM | Comments (0)

December 24, 2006

A (Not Quite) Christmas Story

So, yesterday morning I set out from Julia and Lou's (after the bi-weekly Friday session of Lou's game SBE and the nifty surprise of each player receiving a handful of custom "SBE" dice Lou had made as a gift to the players). From Fall River to Providence, then down I-95 along the coast. It was raining and miserable, but forecasts suggested that would fade as I went west and, indeed, as I got near to New Haven, CT (and past a massive pothole that had closed the interstate except for one lane), the sky was clear (albeit misty) and it was a comfortable (for December 23rd) 55 degrees. Along the way, the Prius's milage display had ticked down to 45.1, but I expected with consistent driving and warmish weather, I'd be back to 45.2 before I reached Cincinnati. I swung up to the Merritt Parkway, heading toward NY...

And then it happened.

Just after passing exit 38, the car started to vibrate violently, and didn't want to steer well. I slowed, put on my hazard flashers, and crept at half-speed into a roadside Mobile gas station/rest area (which the Merritt has in abundance). The cause was obvious... the driver's side rear tire was flat (and badly damaged from around 1/2 a mile of driving on it). I fought with the inadequate tire changing hardware Toyota provides (a short tire iron means a lack of lug-nut-turning leverage), but two holiday good samaritans, one with directions to a tire shop just 2 exits away and one with the upper body strength to start the lug-nuts loose, meant I was on my temp tire before AAA even hoped to be responding (in fact, they'd given themselves an hour more to arrive... and were openly relieved when I called to cancel the request for help; lots of cars on the road means a busy day for AAA).

But here the tale turns again. For the tires on a Prius, they are not the sort your average tire shop will carry. No, for that a Toyota dealer is needed. And I lacked the patience to fumble around trying to find an open, helpful, and marginally honest Toyota dealer on the Saturday before Christmas in the south-western corner of Connecticut. So I needed to make a choice. Drive the 9-10 hours on to Cincinnati on the temp tire or drive the 4 hours back to Concord.

That wasn't a very hard choice, really. Temp tires aren't made for the long haul, and I'm quite familiar with the route from there home, so I know where I can stop for breaks and such.

So, I type this at home the next morning. My family in Cincinnati will get their gifts once I ship them there, which won't be until the day after Christmas at the soonest, and I may end up actually going in to the office one of the days I was planning to be away, just because...

Oh... and the milage did tick back to 45.2, but I don't expect that to last too long into the new year.

Posted by ghoul at 06:15 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

December 01, 2006

TurkeyCon Days 6, 7, and Departure

Late morning Saturday was offered to the World of Warcraft cult, as the adults of T'Con went off on some virtual project or another. I remain at a safe distance, lest all my freetime (and much of my other hobby time) fall into the infinite sink of the WoW.

I do, however, set up a couple of board games while the instancing occurs, for future consumption, one of which got played today. Details below.

Saturday night is given over to Luc's Call of Cthulhu d20 game. Modern-day setting, so I generated a nifty just-back-from Afghanistan soldier scratching out a living as a mechanic and handyman at old Miscatonic U. One haunted theater later, and we were all suitably freaked out and looking at the smoldering remains before scattering before the cops arrived. Well, it was an out-of-the-box solution...

Sunday had the normal melancholy of the last day of TurkeyCon. Where did all the time go? As a pre-emptive measure, I set up a Command and Colors: Ancients scenario for play, and packed away most of my other games. It ended up being a fairly full gaming day, in fact... More below the cut.

And, as I type this early part (game summaries will be done later on), I'm on the train to Greensboro and the better (or at least longer) part of a week of home office time before finally returning home on Thursday.

Much fun was had, and it was over much too soon.

[Added note from later... the week at work was a week at work, and I'm home all in one piece. Cats are likely to forgive me soon if I can wait them out and keep with the treats.]

Saturday gaming:

Shear Panic is a game I brought as much to show off the pieces as to play, but we did get a game in. Lou, Grant, and Ryan joined me in pushing sheep around, and after a bit of fumbling with just how moves work, we were quickly into the spirit of the game, trying to optimize our own moves while pushing others into impossible situations. I took a slight early lead, but wasn't able to hold on (especially since it's easy for 3 players to block 1 from scoring if they really want to), so we ended up at 25/24/21/20, with Grant in the lead and me a point behind, with Ryan and Lou close behind.

Sunday gaming:

First was that C&C:A scenario, facing off against Grant. We'd both played Battle Cry and Memoir '44 before, so the learning part was just the unique rules for this version, which are few but very significant. We played the simple first scenario, the Battle of Akuagas, which lacks terrain and elephants, thus keeping the rules to a minimum, primarily just an overview of the units, evasion, and battling back. He took the weaker side (the historical loser), if only because that chair was closer to the side of the room he entered from, but the cards made it so his strong right flank and my weak left flank were the focus of the battle, with me trying to shift attention to my strong center line but managing this a turn or two too late to keep him from turning my flank before I could march my heavy infantry to victory. A close 5-to-3 win for the Carthaginians. Time wasn't available to re-play with opposite sides.

Then we decided to give in to another of FFG's re-designs, putting the new edition of Warrior Knights on the table. Luc and Grant were both experienced players of the original game, and Ryan joined us in our afternoon of hard-fought war. The rules are just a little on the extensive side, and we made some mistakes (we were too aggressive in removing troops when a battle was lost due to a margin of 2 or more Victories), but it was a hard fought game for most of its length. Unfortunately for me, I got hit with a "traitor to the crown" declaration, which made me a favorite target for Grant and Ryan to attack (as they got a reward for doing so). In the end, I lost my Stronghold two turns running, and Luc lost hers the last turn as well (likely in large part because of that troop elimination mistake, which advantaged aggressive play against a target that should have only been slightly bloodied rather than crippled), so the game was between Grant and Ryan, and Grant won by the narrowest of margins, 15/14/6/6. I was the tail end at 6, since you can't score any points on turns when you lose your Stronghold. Fun was had, but we all agreed there was a bit of a "hopeless position" problem and a bit more time needed than the fun value of the game really supported (though more players and/or less rule confusion might fix that). Still, not nearly as bad on this count as the painfully over-long Order of the Stick Adventure Game.

Fearsome Floors had been set up on the table from mid-day Saturday, a cue from me that I really wanted to get a game in, so Grant and Lou gave me the chance after dinner. The game is a delightful series of puzzles, trying to maneuver your pieces so they are not in the path of the hungry monster. Or, rather, so they are just slightly less in that path than are other players' pieces. There was a good bit of maneuvering, and we all got at least one character munched (mostly in the first round of the game, where it just means starting over rather than permanent death), but in the end Lou and I were racing for the exit, and I was enough in the lead that I took the win.

And, as a rule, it simply isn't TurkeyCon if we don't wrap up by playing Formula Motor Racing, complete with terrible accents and the traditional "Lou gets exactly the worst cards imaginable". This year was no exception, as the non-player Orange and Purple racing teams scored as well or better than the humans in the early races. A ton of luck (and this game is little more than luck) gave me two powerful cards in my color at race-end for both of the third and fourth rounds, so I managed a win. To which the others replied I must be cheating, since I was actually "trying to win". Bah! 25/16/13/10 in the final score, with the non-player colors scoring 23 and 17, since when we don't have cards of our own color, we traditionally pick sides between the Orange and Purple "Robot Masters" for who to help win. And it's all too common to not have cards of your own color. So, yes, the nonplayed racers beat all but one player... As always, this game can be a sad day for living humans, as fun as it is. BTW, thanks to a 10 point final race, Lou was not at the back of the game... he had the 13 to Ryan's 10.

And, sadly, with that game, everything had to be packed up for the return home.

Posted by ghoul at 07:36 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 25, 2006

TurkeyCon Days Five and Six

No gaming on T'Day proper, which was given over to friends and food. Yum! (The food... not the friends. Honest.)

On Friday (day Six), we made our trek to the last game shop, where I found Vampire: Dark Influences and a couple older RPG books. Then we got home and set up some gaming...

First was the Order of the Stick Adventure Game, with Grant (Durkon), Lou (Belkar), Ryan (V), Luc (Haley), and I (Roy), so only one NPC (Elan, in this case). Unfortunately, what happened was just what I had feared from reading the game and online session reports and reviews, which is that the game took too long and was too random for its own good. In the end, we called the game at dinnertime, just after entering level 3, when we realized there was a least 90 minutes of game left and we weren't really interested enough to play thru that. As Roy, I had a significant lead, though Belkar and V were close behind and quite able to catch up (Belkar by ambushing me, V by fireballing rooms full of monsters for extra XP). Not a success, however. Especially since Luc hadn't read the comic, so didn't get most of the jokes.

To "cleanse the palate", as it were, we returned to Trendy, with Ryan leaving after the first hand. This game was a good bit more aggressive than the first play, with lots of use of the "Out!" card to undermine trend attempts. In the end, Luc won a solid victory, with the rest of us clustered many points behind her, 160/137/137/140, with all scores a bit distorted by the 5-player first hand. Still, a fun game.

Lou and Grant then asked to try another short-duration game, and I offered King's Breakfast, a game of claiming cards, but making sure the king has at least as many cards of each sort as you. It takes a bit of getting used to, but we managed to play well enough, in fact ending with none of us out-consuming the King (which, perhaps, meant we weren't sufficiently aggressive). Grant managed a slight win, 101/96/94.

And then we called it a night, with plans to perhaps try another mid-to-long game or two on Saturday.

Posted by ghoul at 09:18 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 23, 2006

TurkeyCon Day Four

And the rains continue. It's been pouring down here for long enough we're considering what we'd need for an ark.

But, instead, we mostly settled in and played some games. Well, that an grocery runs. I think Grant ended up making four, thanks to the inevitable "oh, one more thing" of Thanksgiving pre-prep.

Luc, Ryan, and I took a crack at Transamerica. Not as strong at 3 players as it is a 5 or 6, but still enjoyable. And, while I won the first round, the next three went solidly against me, one by a whopping 8 links, and solidly for Ryan, who won all three. So it ended up 10/3/-1 in his favor.

Luc headed off to the grocery for the main prep run, Lou joined us and we switched over to Easy Come, Easy Go for two rounds, which Ryan and I split. Then Lou decided it must've been bad luck the night before and settled in for a couple more rounds of Pickomino, doing much better but still losing to me 9/7/6 and to Ryan 10/8/6.

After dinner, we had considered playing the Order of the Stick Adventure Game, but it was late enough we knew that wouldn't end before midnight, so instead Lou, Grant, Ryan, and I gave a go at Mission:Red Planet. This is a newer game (in English, at least), pitting the players against one another as late-1800s Robber Barons trying to industrialize Mars. Players choose each turn from 9 roles, manipulating rockets to Mars in an effort to control majorities in each sector. In the end, a bit of luck for me (I had just exactly the rocket I needed) and especially poor timing for Lou (he held no regional majorities at game's end) won this one 56/35/35/15.

Luc took Ryan's place as we turned to a few rounds of No Thanks!, and after a win for me 29/36/45/51, she got the hang of it and played Lou to a very close 15/16/27/73 round, with me at the ultra-high-scoring tail. Grant came back with a vengeance for the next game, 12/30/41/42, but Luc won the last round of the evening in a 12/18/30/76 trouncing of... yeah, me again.

To end the evening, Lou and Grant joined me in another round of Pickomino, and this time I was on the bad end of the luck curve while Lou and Grant traded the lead right up to the last roll, ending the game at 11/10/2.

Tomorrow... way too much very good food and perhaps OOTS.

Posted by ghoul at 08:06 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack

November 22, 2006

TurkeyCon Day Three

Day Three was dominated by a mid-day game of Fury of Dracula and dinner at Ruth's Chris, either of which make for a good day. Together, it's hard to beat.

I was tasked to play Dracula and teach the game, with the good fortune that 3 of the 4 hunter players (Lou, Grant, and Luc) had played the original edition, so only Ryan was completely fresh. Then, when play started, it went immediately south for the Undead side. I managed to move one city before an event card let the players pick 2 cities to scout remotely and, by good luck, they picked my starting city. Two moves into the game, they were on my trail in northern Germany, consecrating the ground in Prague so I couldn't escape into Eastern Europe. A good railroad car later and Dr. Seward (Lou) was ambushing the Count in broad daylight. I took three vicious knife hits over a series of encounters, dropping from 15 to 3 Blood Points before I managed an escape just after nightfall. Things were looking very bad for Team Vampire (i.e., me).

Fortunately, by escaping as a bat, I was able to move 1 or 2 cities away, which let me slip pursuit for a bit, and by amazingly good fortune for me decided not to explore the city I'd left an encounter in, which a few turns later matured into a Vampire for 2 points for me! Two turns later, however, they were back on my trail, this time on the border of France and Spain. Again, I managed to arrange the encounter to after sunset and escaped as a bat to northern Italy. A fortunate event draw let me move to Venice and to see in one turn, and a slight miss-count by the players meant they had me in the wrong sea zone. It only have me one turn's lead, but it did mean they spent an event card that would've stopped me on the wrong target.

Back aground in the more friendly climes of Eastern Europe, I started to make my way toward Castle Dracula and a good chance to recover some Blood. That was when fortune really smiled on me. Van Helsing (Grant) went to sea from southern France to chase me, and I used storms to send him off to Ireland instead, well out of my hair. Then Mina, deciding that she had the event card support she needed to take a badly battered Dracula, moved herself to confront me. At night. With every advantage, including Garlic and Sister Agatha with me a 2 Blood Points, so my only way out was victory. It came down to one roll. If I won, I could Mesmerize her, turn her into a Vampire for 2 points, then on my turn the timer would tick past dawn and I'd score my 6th point on the clock for the win. Or, if we tied or she won, her stake would wound me, almost certainly enough to end the game.

I rolled a 4, she rolled a 2.

And, against all odds, a dark cloud settles over Europe.

A lesson in the ever-important "never give up" rule. I was on the ropes from the 3rd turn, but in the end a bit of luck in event draws met a couple overconfident opposition moves and one lucky die roll was enough for the win!

After cleaning up and dressing for dinner, Lou, Ryan, and I filled some time with a couple rounds of No Thanks! (without question the hit of the con so far), Ryan winning the first 33/49/56, and me taking an incredibly lucky second game 7/39/58. Yes, 7. I had the cards 23-30 and 16 chips at the end. I don't expect to manage many scores that low in the future.

After dinner, in the grip of near meat coma, Grant, Lou, and I tried some Pickomino. I initially got the rules confused in explaining them, but it was quickly obvious I was wrong, so we stopped and started over correctly. The game is one of rolling dice to match target numbers, with rewards if you get higher numbers but penalties if you push too far. And this game, we watched as Lou's luck went from bad to worse. Everything he captured, I took away. Sometimes by making the least likely of rolls (such as a roll of one die with only one possible good result... which I got). In the end, I edged past Grant 11/9/0. Much silliness ensued, and after laughing ourselves to the point of pain, we called it a night.

Posted by ghoul at 08:57 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 21, 2006

TurkeyCon Day Two

Day Two was primarily our game shop crawl, hitting three local gaming shops and purchasing much that is nifty and new.

For me, that means Gloria Mundi, Leonardo Da Vinci, Jungle Speed, Jericho, Blue Moon: Buka Invasion, Silk Road, Axis & Allies: Battle of the Bulge, Hollywood Blockbuster, Nottingham, Ave Caesar (new edition), Vampire: Prince of the City, and Monkey Arena.

And there's still one more store we didn't make it to, which specializes more in RPG books. That may be on the schedule for today.

With all the driving and shopping (and the watching of Heroes), there was less time for playing, though we still found a bit.

The only new game introduced was Trendy, with me introducing Grant, Luc, Lou, and Ryan to the joys of predicting the world of fashion (or is it just playing cards?). It was a well-fought game, with everyone catching on quickly to how it's done. But, in the end, everyone had one (or more) low-scoring (less than 25 point) hand except Grant, so we took a solid lead in a 161/139/132/129/114 game. I was dead in the middle there, because my one low-scoring hand was a painful 13 point collapse.

Then, to burn a bit of time while dinner finished, we zipped through another game of Easy Come, Easy Go, adding Luc so we had 5 players, nominally one too many, but we used the "recapture a trophy you have and it is protected from theft" rule, and that let Luc hold on for a win.

Then we taught Lou how to play No Thanks!, which took almost no time at all (the game being what it is). The first game didn't go well for him, landing him at the back of a close-fought match between Grant and Ryan, 41/44/64/74. But, after Heroes was watched, Ryan, Lou and I returned to the table for three more plays, which we split evenly. I took the first 35/50/85 (Ryan having no luck at all), Lou the second 26/38/54 (thanks to a late draw that connected two mid-20s card runs), and Ryan the third 47/83/84 (neither Lou nor I could connect anything, mostly because we sabotaged each other to our mutual destruction).

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November 20, 2006

TurkeyCon Day One

There is far too much World of Warcraft presence here. As the only non-player (which I will remain so I have time for other hobbies), I must protest!

Anyway, everyone else left their monitors for long enough to get in some other gaming. Actually, quite a bit...

We played Masons to get started, this being the sort of game Luc likes a lot (building and pattern-creation). The game is one of placing walls that eventually enclose cities and of placing towers and houses of random colors near your new wall. Scoring is by matching patterns or combinations on the board to those in your hand of cards when a city is enclosed. Luc spent much of the game in last place, but was just creating a false sense of security for the rest of us, as she rocketed to a late lead, bounding past Lou, Ryan and me to win 104/102/96/90. I was the 102, and so was the most surprised by her late surge.

Next, I got out Easy Come, Easy Go, which I think is best described as a fast, competitive version of Yatzee. You roll for certain combinations, claiming trophy cards if you get them, and the first player to acquire and hold 3 such cards wins. Grant, Ryan, Lou, and I raced through 4 plays in maybe 30 minutes, the last couple using a "protection" alternate rule I found here, which speeds up the endgame a bit and adds more options. In the end, we all won exactly one game, so we'll need to unpack this later to decide which of us is really the best.

Luc called for dinner, but I insisted No Thanks! could be taught and played in the "a couple of minutes" she said we had, and Grant and Ryan took up the challenge. And, of course, that was true. Ryan ended up chip-poor early, so was forced to eat some unpleasant cards, but Grant and I ended up VERY close, with him edging out a narrow win. 44/47/87.

After dinner, Luc and I played a quick game of King's Blood, which I'd actually gotten out just to show Bridget the card are (she's a big anime art style fan). I won the quick teaching game, then Bridget joined us for 3 more plays. I slightly mis-taught the rules for playing extra cards following a child's birth, but we fixed that for the last game. Of the three games, we each won one, but when it comes to points, Bridget only had 7 left over in her 2 "losses", while I had 26 and Luc 57, so there's no question who won.

We then considered a longer game, but decided we were all more in the mood for light and quick, so played two rounds of Cloud 9, one with Lou and one with Julia against me and the Gaineys. And, this time, it was solidly my night, as I won both rounds, even with the same score. 55/50/36/36/13/13 was the first round as I edged our Ryan and 55/51/49/37/33/30 the second, sneaking past Bridget on the last flight.

With that, we called it a night, with me assigned to review the more popular longer games for probable play the next evening. But first, there's the traditional game-store crawl, which will start around noon on T'Con Day Two (which, as I type this, is very soon).

Off to a good start in my book, with 5 different titles played on day one. At that rate, we could play almost everything I brought (around 40 titles) by the 8th day... though that assumes no slacking off and no "must play" new purchases, both of which are likely to occur, and it ignores that only one of the games played on Day One was of a longer-than-quick-filler play length.

Still... a good start!

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November 19, 2006

Turkeycon Travel Day

The drive down was nicely uneventful, exactly as it should be, barring a couple bits of traffic and one closed road segment with a seriously backroads detour. But a relatively simple one that cost us little time.

On the drive down, I spent most of my time reading Spirit of the Century, a wonderful FATE-based pulp RPG that nicely mixes traditional and modern NAR-style game mechanics. Also nifty is a "pick up" concept for the game, which allows play with minimal prep time, even most of character generation left to develop in-play. This is one I certainly want to get a chance to try out!

So, anyway, we're arrived, and with some work all connecting to wireless 'net and nicely up and running.

Also, the boardgames are unpacked and interest surveying begun. Play will start around noon on Day 1 (a little more than an hour away as I post this).

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November 18, 2006

TurkeyCon Travel Day (pre-departure)

And it's today!

The trip down to Fall River was uneventful (standard Friday traffic in Boston, made more bearable by my choice to take the bus down and leave my car closer to home). My two tubs of games (plus one oversized FFG box) were packed away a week ago, so it's just helping carry down Julia and Lou's things this AM and then we're on the road.

Breakfast (and coffee) cannot come soon enough...

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October 15, 2006

TurkeyCon Prep

I'm starting to pack games for T'Con this year.

I'll be doing my standard re-packing, replacing the air that fills all too many game boxes with other games as best I can manage. After all, I'm limited in volume I can bring along.

UPDATE: Well, the list below does manage to fit into my space. And I even managed to add a couple more titles (Palazzo and Caylus, with the later making it by sharing a box with Blue Moon City once the unnecessary insert is removed) and have some space left in case something captures my attention in the next four weeks (which is when I'll have to actually take the tubs to be packed into the van). My next step is to create some priorities...

Here's my early list of new (to T'Con) games going into the tubs. Small games are the easiest picks, as they will usually end up easily fitting inside other games!

Trendy (small)
Twilight Struggle (promised)
Command and Colors Ancients (must play!)
Shear Panic (too pretty, also fun)
World of Warcraft Boardgame (with expansion set; everyone else at T'Con plays the MMORPG)
Order of the Stick Adventure Game (long, but funny and OotS, so it comes along)
Great Wall of China (small)
Fairy Tale (small)
Thurn & Taxis (SdJ winner)
Easy Come, Easy Go (smallish)
Piccomino (small)
The End of the Triumvirate (how can I not?)

One advantage is that many of these games have rules available online, and with luck I'll manage to get someone to read them in advance (especially Twilight Struggle and C&C:A, both of which have rules at the GMT Games site). I'll also be trying to assemble teaching and play aids where I can (say, for WoW, as FFG games often become quicker with the addition of a decent play summary or turn flow aid).

Now, WoW doesn't actually fit into the tubs (too long by an inch or two), but I already asked for special dispensation to allow it to come along.

On the cusp are a few others, mostly a problem because of their box size, though sometimes it's length, number of players, or complexity to teach/learn that keeps games off the main list. Or are games I brought in the past but never got into the table (for various reasons).

Fury of Dracula (a bit long, but a classic)
Warrior Knights (another classic, surprisingly different this time, but maybe only appeals to 2-3 of us)
Masons (large, by just a bit)
Bolide (quite large for what it is, long)
Louis XIV (didn't make table last year, but now I know how to play and it's simpler than the rules look)
Pizza Box Football (didn't make table last year, two player only)
Blue Moon City (oversized box, but a very good game IMO)

And that's about where I stand. Old favorites and mandatory bring-alongs (like Formula Motor Racing and Cloud 9) will of course be in the boxes automatically. Though I'm hoping Incan Gold, the US version of Diamant, will be out by or at T'Con and it does a pretty good job of being better than Cloud 9 at almost everything Cloud 9 is good at (except the minimal bluffing element).

And that's where I stand. Advice or requests are welcome.

Posted by ghoul at 07:51 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 28, 2006

Not Quite An Update

There is a reason why there's no report here about my leg or about this week's boardgame club meeting or about GenCon prep or anything else.

That reason is

I may come up for air at some point this weekend, but don't bet on it.

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July 23, 2006

More Updating

My leg is rapidly progressing toward fine. Still bothersome on stairs or if over-used, so I'm keeping a crutch handy, but everything is going very well.

Also, during the drive home yesterday, around Boston, milage bumped up to 45.1 MPG, at around 50,240 miles. I'm hoping for one more bump up during the drive to or back from GenCon, and perhaps another as well (the drive to Indy was good for two steps last year). Of course, that's still two weeks and a bit out.

I'm hoping for a nice, quiet two weeks and a bit.

Posted by ghoul at 08:13 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 21, 2006

Leg Update

The good news is that it hurts less than yesterday and shows no signs of swelling ot discoloration. That strongly supports the "strained muscle" rather than "broken bone" theory.

The bad news is that it still hurts enough that I'm far better off with a crutch than without.

All in all, a positive report.

Posted by ghoul at 07:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

July 20, 2006

Not The Club Meeting Update

This is not the club meeting update.

You figured that out from the title, didn't you?

The reason it is not is that, rather than typing up my notes on the games played last night (that will come later... if memory serves, there were either 7 or 8, and most of them I quite enjoyed even if I didn't do too well at some), I think I'd better tell about something that happened just after.

Stepping out from E's house, I missed a step, landed hard on my left foot. I didn't drop any of the games I was carrying, but I definitely twisted something. Still, it all seemed quite minor, I didn't even bother calling anyone inside for help. Instead, I limped to my car (20 yards, maybe), drove home, limped in and up the infamous non-euclidian stairs (after taking a couple aspirin) and dropped off to sleep.

This AM, the leg (about 2-3 inches below the knee, so thankfully not the knee itself) is sore and very unpleasant to put weight on. I visited the company doctor in the clinic at the office and he suspects I may have broken my fibula (the smaller, thinner bone of the lower leg, which doesn't hold weight but does support the ankle and provide for flexibility), but also may have just stretched/strained the surrounding muscle. We can't be sure without an X-Ray, and that would be over-kill as long as it could just be a strain. At his advice, I'm taking ibuprofen, using a cold compress, and have acquired some crutches. If, in 48 hours (or more if I wait until Monday, which is likely), things aren't improving, I'll be either visiting an ER or finding an orthopedic specialist to visit.

Ouch.

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July 15, 2006

Return To Plan

And back on plan again, just a little behind. Apple called around 3:30 and the repairs are done (and covered by warranty). Rebuilding the drive's contents is now up to me, just not quite getting as early a start as I'd hoped for.

Also, just as a note, as I passed from Hooksett to Bow, my odometer rolled past 50,000 miles (as much as digital odometers roll at all). I'll be putting a good bit more on in 3 1/2 weeks for GenCon, but there's a milestone to proceed that.

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Or Not

Let's see now...

All those early steps get turned off because the Apple Store now says it takes 1-2 days to replace a hard drive rather than the 30-45 minutes they'd told me before (and which I know to be true, having done it myself in the past). Which meant I was leaving the Apple Store more than an hour before the game store opens and don't have the tower here to do any of the other steps with. Annoying. And if it does become available later today or tomorrow, I probably won't want to go get it because I-93 is going to become a parking lot because of the NASCAR race just outside of Concord tomorrow.

Well, I can still sort the board games. And I have plenty of TV time. I was just kinda hoping to actually get things done.

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Plan For The Weekend

Nominally, I'm actually home this weekend (after spending the last several traveling and/or gaming). But that just means lots of errands to catch up on. And, since it's going to be over 90 outside and humid, I'm doing my best to stick to indoor plans.

So not exactly a quiet weekend. But I hope it'll be productive!

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July 02, 2006

Home... But Problems

I did get home Thursday just fine, but after a bit of unpacking and re-packing, I turned to my G5 tower to find an unexpected screen full of errors.

And rebooting did nothing.

So, it was off to the Apple Store on the drive to The Black Road (which made me later than I wanted to be, as the Apple Store didn't open until 10). And no joy there; they want to replace the main hard drive, but offered to let me time to try to rescue data on my own first. And somehow failed to recognize that I have AppleCare coverage when they quoted me an outrageously high price (more than twice what I paid for my additional drive added a few months back).

So, now that TBR is over, I'm going to be going to pick up a copy of DiskWarrior (recommended by about everyone I mentioned the problem to). But probably not from the Apple Store.

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June 29, 2006

Airport Fun

No visible problems for me this time, as I was on time (even early) for my 8:35 flight. It's currently before 7 and I'm already at the gate. But I'm rather happy with the situation, as there's a decent breakfast option right near the gate, free wireless, and even a bit of entertainment. Okay, it's just a guy who left his bag behind to go to the Men's Room and somehow missed the last 4 years so was surprised and angry that his bag was confiscated.

Well, I thought it was fun.

Home tonight, with any luck.

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June 28, 2006

Meeting Sessions Completed

The various meeting sessions are done, discussions completed, and socializing pretty much past. I chose to fly home tomorrow rather than not arrive until midnight (Eastern Time) today, so I have another evening here in Vegas, which I plan to spend quietly.

Yeah, I know that's not the norm for here, but I've had about as much flash and loud as I need for a bit, and I want to be ready for The Black Road on Friday. I've already started jotting down some useful notes for my games, based on the characters I've gotten pre-con in email, and I expect to expand on that a bit more this evening and during the travel home tomorrow.

The meeting was not much different than I'd expected, a couple sessions somewhat disappointing in their depth and/or connection to their nominal topic, but in general, and especially for the tightly focused follow-up session yesterday afternoon and this AM, very useful.

Some interesting parallels between this and TBR... Like TBR relative to AmberCon, this smaller actuarial meeting has only a small number of breakout session choices per timeslot (3 or 4 rather than 10-12), and that means it's much easier to be stuck without a terribly appealing choice. So when one turns out to not be what it described itself as (as happened here twice out of the 6 sessions, in my opinion), disappointment is inevitable.

So, since I experienced that here, I'm expecting I'll be free of such at TBR. That's fair, right? (Though, to be honest, there's far less chance of disappointment at TBR, given the games I'm scheduled for... I can't see how fun will not be had in any of them, except maybe if I flub GMing one of mine. And then it'd be my fault anyway.)

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June 25, 2006

Barely Managed Travel

I got a slightly late start today, but nothing terrible. I was on the road with plenty of time before my flight.

Or so I thought.

I failed to include the possibility that the Southwest booth would be mobbed with around 100 people all trying to check in the same time I did. Which meant, after waiting in line, I had 25 minutes between check-in and take-off. 15 of that went to the next line for security, so there was no time to stop for breakfast (though I was able to gaze longingly at the Dunkin Donuts beside the security check-in line).

And then, just for fun, I was directed to the wrong gate, and almost failed to notice the last call for the flight I was meant to be on, two gates away. I ran over just as they closed the doors, and they were nice enough to let me on, though since it was a Southwest flight (no reserved seats), I had the choice of a really bad seat or a couple of even worse seats because I was so late.

But, all that drama behind me, I'm safely in my Lake Las Vegas hotel room and going to take a break and catch my breath for a bit.

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June 21, 2006

Briefly Busy, Then TBR

Of course, I chose to re-start postings here just in time to hit a rather busy patch.

This Friday evening is a bi-weekly game, which I'm much looking forward to because it's been a month since the last session. I'll have to write about that game and my character at some future date...

Then on Sunday I fly to Nevada (not exactly Las Vegas but pretty darn close) for an Actuarial Symposium, returning on Thursday. And, oddly enough, I'm actually looking forward to that, as dry as it might sound.

That gets me home just in time to The Black Road, Friday thru Sunday.

I'll be home on Monday July 3rd, but I expect I'll pretty much sleep through that day and well into the holiday on the 4th.

How much posting there'll be between now and then depends on how many gaps I manage during that relatively crowded ten day period. I certainly hope to be able to report on what happens at The Black Road reasonably as things happen.

Posted by ghoul at 06:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

June 18, 2006

Back From the Nearly-Dead

No, nothing's been wrong.

I just haven't been posting.

Call it laziness, because that's mostly what it's been.

I can't promise it will get much better, but I will make an effort to not go 5 months between posts too many more times this year.

(Let's see... at worst I could only do it once before December, so that's a pretty easy promise to keep...)

Posted by ghoul at 05:12 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

January 03, 2006

Nothing's Happening

Nope. All that worry and bother over the weekend and nothing to show for it.

Essentially, I was considering a job change and have now decided against it. And so, for the immediate future (and remember, my company is part of an announced but as yet unstarted merger that will actually happen later on this year), I'm staying where I am.

And I'm resigned to the fact that I'll never really know if this was the best decision.

Posted by ghoul at 10:54 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 30, 2005

Something's Happening

Not saying anything just now, but quite a bit is up here and I hope to have something to say early in the New Year about it...

Posted by ghoul at 06:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 13, 2005

New Responsibility

As has been announced elsewhere, I have taken on the role of treasurer for The Black Road, a Marlborogh, MA based AmberCon.

Or, rather, semi-AmberCon, particularly with the new Indie Games track being added this year.

Always great fun, and if you can make it this coming June/July, you should consider it!

Posted by ghoul at 08:20 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

December 07, 2005

Happy, Happy!

At 11:55 today, I walked into my bank's convenient office just off my drive home and asked the friendly associate at the window to please transfer from my checking account the amount necessary to pay off my home mortgage.

And so, as of noon, I have no remaining long-term debt.

It's a really nice feeling.

Of course, the fact that I'm doing this because I want to be as unencumbered as possible thanks to other uncertainties isn't fun... but I'm looking at the bright side today.

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November 28, 2005

T'Con Plus One

Packed and gone.

Currently typing on the train from Cary to Greensboro, not really ready for four days working at company HQ before finally getting back to home (after 15 days away). My games (and non-work clothes) are all loaded into Julia and Lou's van (with a new, 3rd bin added by Grant; it'll be brought back empty at some future date) and off on their own trip, which will take an extra week or so.

Amtrak isn't providing connectivity on NC trains (no big shocker there), so this will likely be posted from the hotel this evening [and, indeed, it was]. But they do provide one free drink and one free snack as part of the ticket, so I'll be supplementing my coffee and yummy homemade cookie breakfast after the Durham stop.

And after that, back to work.

Posted by ghoul at 07:38 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 27, 2005

T'Con Day Eight

Game shopping happened at noon, finally getting to the shop closest. There, I found several products I was looking for, including Hansa, Technowitches, and Wings of War - Burning Drachens, plus Knizia's Pickomino and King Arthur.

Shadows Over Camelot was played, though to two losses. First time, we fell behind early and didn't quite make it back, then the second time we suffered from a traitor in the form of Lou, showing himself only at the last minute, just in time to place the 12th siege engine out and cause the lose.

Beowulf was the last of my major list we could get to (Descent had already fallen off the list for lack of time), but it was not to be as we made time for Formula Motor Racing, a regular fave. Of course, the game is highly random, more noise than anything else, and this game proved no exception. In the end, Ryan decided to maximize his score with his last play, putting me into a win over Lou, who would have managed a 2 point lead over me before Ryan's last play.

And now, it's all over... tomorrow morning, I have to get to a 7:15 train toward Greensboro and the working world...

Until then, I have to pack.

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November 26, 2005

T'Con Day Seven

Another game or two today...

Several games of Cloud 9 were played, as none of us are good at refusing this random brinksmanship play. Then Luc, Grant, and I sat down to try Caracasonne - The City, a stand-alone Carcasonne game with new rules for building a wall around the city starting around 1/3rd of the way through the city tiles. I took an early point lead, then Luc caught up. Grant was convinced he was all but out of it (at one point, he had barely half the score Luc and I had), but when we reached endgame and scored all the things that only score then, we ended up at 134 for Luc, 129 for me and 127 for Grant. It could barely have been any closer.

Then we went out to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for the traditional "as if you aren't eating enough Thanksgiving week" steak dinner. Yum! Now, we're all going to succumb to meat coma and perhaps be awake for some games tomorrow.

Shadows Over Camelot and Beowulf remain atop the list to come next, with Descent slightly behind because it both will take longer and is more familiar in its nature (if still unique, pretty, and updated in its mechanics). We'll see what actually happens over the next 26 or so hours, before we have to give up and admit that T'Con 2005 is ending...

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T'Con Day Six

And, two of the big games get rolled out...

Battlestations was played to a very successful conclusion, an Outstanding Success by the crew on their Boot Camp mission, which everyone succeeding quite regularly (with a couple fumbles, since they were fresh from the academy, not experienced crew). Everyone was surprised how successful characters can be with proper planning, preparations, and assistance. Everyone seemed pretty happy with the results, though it was a bit dry on the RP side for for Luc (who was the pilot, which is one of the dryer roles, doing the same thing over and over).

Arkham Horror came out later, with printing of aids starting around 8 PM and actual rule training starting around 9 PM. We did know the game was long, and that proved true, with a long grinding "figure out what we're doing" phase, then a sudden rush to try to make up for lost time. In the end, we did a great job of monster management, keeping Arkham to only a Terror Level of 1 before the Doom Track filled, which meant Hastur was relatively easy to fight when he did arise (his combat strength is the Terror Level). In the end, it was almost a 5 hour game, ending just before 2 AM. And while everyone had fun, it's just too long. I really worry what this game will become when its expansion set (announced for next year) is added!

Descent still lurks in our plans, with Grant offering to play Overlord for us since I reffed Battlestations. Once he's read the rules through, that is.

Posted by ghoul at 09:18 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 24, 2005

T'Con Day Five

Yum. Turkey!

And, after turkey and digestion, we set up a game or two. Run For Your Life Candyman was a silly, highly random sort of lark, with Luc and I taking early leads, but quickly dragged back to the rear for Candy Cage Matches before Lou rocketed to a win by more than half the track.

So, looking for something still light but with a bit more meat on its bones, I pulled out Niagara. We got one rule wrong (we didn't charge a gem to buy a canoe back after going over the falls), but everyone still had a good time. Lou won again, but this time it was quite close, with Ryan just a move away from a VERY early win before I stopped him. The sliding disk "water" caught about one move in 10, which was annoying but seemed to become less so with use. And all of us are now sure we know how to "do it right next time". Which we probably won't manage this year, but we'd all like to.

Beowulf, Descent, Shadows Over Camelot, and Battlestations remain atop the "try to play these" list, with Descent and Battlestations probably needing to play tomorrow or not likely to get table time (both are fairly rules-heavy and longish). Of course, since we're not mad enough to venture out of doors on Black Friday (not after the "quick visit to Wal*Mart to snag a Zelda game" two years ago), there'll be more gaming density on the next couple of days.

Posted by ghoul at 11:19 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

T'Con Day Four

A couple of games of Street Illegal and a trip to see the new Harry Potter filled the day.

The list of main "want to play" titles remains untouched.

Posted by ghoul at 12:39 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 22, 2005

T'Con Day Three

Another day of game shops and good food.

We did 3 more game shops, with me purchasing only a handful of things (mostly discounted RPG titles, though I also picked up Berserker Halflings From the Dungeon of Dragons and Let's Kill!), including one store where I bought nothing (only because I was tempted only by things too large to easily get home) while others did buy things... and I'm not sure that's ever happened before!

We did set up Santiago for a play, just Grant, Lou, and I, and had a great time. The end was fairly close to a casual glance, though Lou had a clear advantage and, indeed, won by more than a dozen escudo. I had worried that 3-player play would not have the delightful water shortages of the 5-player game, but that was unfounded, and also ignored the cutthroat bidding that you get at only 3 players. This is a very solid game, getting stronger with each play. It may just get pulled out again, though there's a lot of titles still on the stack to play.

My personal list for the near future... Beowulf, Run For Your Life Candyman, Descent, Shadows over Camelot, and Battlestations (which we already made characters for; I'm re-familiarizing myself with the rules before we try playing for real). Several other titles lurk in the next tier.

Posted by ghoul at 11:24 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 21, 2005

T'Con Day Two