HoodedHawk

Right. Played War of the Ring again last night (my second time). Still learning the game, but more importantly, still really enjoying the game! Played the Sauron side again, and lost again. From what I hear it’s unusual for the Free People’s side to win a Military victory, but not when playing against me, apparently. I wasn’t paying enough attention (again) to the Victory points the Free Peoples (led by George again) were amassing. Angmar is worth one, and is on the other side of the board from me. George even pointed out that I should probably watch out it doesn’t get taken. What I did was misjudge how long it would take me to re-take other areas (ok, and the dice didn’t play nice). But so much fun. This time game only lasted 3.5 hours.

Mike (playing Twilight Imperium at the next table) made some comment over his shoulder about how I should read up on some strategy. Ya think?

Some of the other guys were playing Twilight Imperium. That’s a bigger setup and even more complex. I look forward to learning that one in the future… especially if I get to play the lion-faced race; they just look cool.

Last night I was introduced to War of the Ring by George from my Board Game group. I arrived at 8pm. By 12:30am George had won (2-player game), but I was enjoying the game so much that it felt like only an hour or so had passed.

It is a two-player game, though you can play 3-4 players (as teams). One side plays the Free Peoples of Middle Earth (Gondor, Rohan, Elves, Dwarves, etc.) and the other side plays the Shadows (Sauron, Isengard, Southrons, etc.). Last night I played the Shadow side. What makes the gameplay so enticing are the basic game mechanics: special action dice (with symbols) determine which actions a player can take. Play alternates between players (after rolling all dice (up to 10, I think, for Shadow and 6 for Free Peeps), each player plays one action die at a time so there is very little downtime in the game. Coupled with action, character, etc. cards the number of options can be a bit overwhelming. But George was a good teacher. :)

There are two ways to win: Military victory or Ring victory. For a military victory the Shadow side has to control enough of the board to get 10 Military points while the Free Peeps only need 4. Capturing areas is similar to other area-capture games (like Risk): roll die and inflict casualties or receive them. Again, lots of options (via character card, etc.) for increasing odds for offense or defense.

For a Ring victory, the Free Peeps have to get the Ring to Mordor (and drop it into the lava) or the Shadow side has to inflict (12?) corruption points onto the Fellowship.

Sounds complicated, and it is (due to options available for each action), but basic gameplay is easy to understand. I can imagine it will take a few more times playing before I become familiar with all (or most) of the various options/scenarios. I do look forward to playing again! Maybe I can get a copy (it’s out of print so can be pricey) and get Dylan to play – he likes Risk and reading fantasy, so…

There are something like 200 (plastic) miniatures for the game as well as 100 cards, and over 100 cardboard markers and tiles! George had started painting the miniatures for the game; he did a great job – they look so much nicer than the plain single-color original plastic pieces. Nice!

Last week I read an interesting article in my company’s newsletter about a coworker who recently got back into model rocketry. He’s into the very large rockets (the ones that go like 50,000 feet up, and require coordination with air traffic, etc.). Anyway that renewed my own long-dormant (like 30 years) interest in model rockets, so this past weekend Preston, Dylan and I went out and launched (a smallish) one! This particular one is a simple, pre-built model. That way I could at least try it out with the boys to see if they liked it, but not have to spend a whole day building one. :) Anyway, yes, they loved it!

See below this text for a Photo gallery of the event…

This model has a payload section, but Preston had second thoughts at the last minute about sending “Sherman” up (his earwig he found earlier in the day, and was to be the test pilot). So we sent up a dandelion he found on the field where we launched the rocket (behind Dylan’s school).

Yep, had all the excitement I remembered – but none of the frustration. Seems the new igniters (vs. 30 years ago) are much more reliable, and they also come with plastic plugs that you use to ensure good contact with the engine. Result: a successful engine start each time!

Dylan was the “retriever”; he actually ran after the rockets without coercion, and convinced Preston to let him “press the button” at least once. Thus, I *know* he enjoyed himself. No mystery regarding Preston: when asked last night whether he wanted me to go to the store to get more engines to fire up more rockets, he said “Yes! Get a hundred so we can do it a hundred more times!” :):)

I had a picture of Preston standing next to the rocket as well, but unfortunately it was out of focus, so just imagine a little dude next to the rocket…

I already have another rocket (some assembly required ), so this might become a more regular outing. I’ll have Preston help with the assembly. We’ll see how she flies! :)

A few months ago I started attending a weekly “Board Game Night” with a bunch of guys who like good beer, good company and playing board games. I’ve been trying for years to get the family to play board games (Monopoly and Risk don’t count). So when Kirsten introduced me to one of her co-workers who was into board games: geek nirvana! We always have a great time!

I was cleaning out my text message archive. Some of them I saved, such as below. I have changed the name(s) to xxx to protect the guilty (some are months old):

xxx: I have strep! 9:28 AM

xxx: Hi our mailbox is infested with ants. Do we have any more of the baits/traps? 9:29 AM

xxx: I turned on preston’s ceiling fan and his balloons are stuck in the fan stupid me :-( 4:56

Me: Do not ask a four-year old, “Could you be any louder?” if you expect any answer other than: “Sure can, Dad!” and the ensuing cacophony. Also expect accompaniment by a 2-yr old. 9:16 AM

Me: Olivia ate your sausage. 9:28 AM