HoodedHawk

December 2014


Inspiration hit; I saw some cute bentobox lunches online and decided I’d try my hand. This past week the kids had these for lunch:

cuba libre boxFor Wednesday game night, Rob, Pete and I played Cuba Libre. I played the Revolutionary Directorate (Directorio, “Student Uprising”, Yellow). Pete was the Government (Blue), and Rob was the 26July faction (i.e. Castro/Che, Red). The Syndicate faction (Green; Organized Crime) was played by an AI. The AI system (flowchart, dice for some decisions, etc.) worked well, and we definitely had to watch out for the Syndicate. As it was, the Syndicate AI player beat me…
adp

This was the first time play for me (and I think Rob also?) but Pete had played a couple of solo games to get the feel. He did a great job teaching us. I’ll definitely play this one again.

This is the 2nd in the COIN (“CounterInsurgent/Insurgent) series from GMT. I have “A Distant Plain“, the 3rd in the series and this play of Cuba Libre *really* makes me want to get ADP to the table!

Rating: 8/10.

IMG_3038.JPGJust finished reading Anthony Doerr’s historical novel, All The Light We Cannot See. This was a wonderful reading experience; Doerr’s writing is so expressive and beautiful. The book is the story of two parallel lives just before and during WWII. One is the story of a German boy, Werner, “recruited” into Hitler’s Nazi Youth. An orphan, he is accepted into an elite school because of his genius with radios. It is there he is trained as a soldier (he is 14 when he starts ) and hones his electronics skills.

Meanwhile, the other parallel story is about a blind French girl, Marie-Laure, and her life with her father and uncle during the same period. WWII starts, and thus the lives of both Werner and Marie-Laure intersect and change drastically. Such wonderful, evocative prose; I could not put this book down. Highly recommended.

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