Today started a bit rough. Susie had trouble sleeping last night and was up and down all night. I then woke at 6AM as if it was Monday and time to return to working from home for Nike. It was Sunday, and I need to sleep in. Well, I was wakeful for a couple of hours but did manage to get going at 9ish, which somehow was 10ish, and before I knew it, I was running late. I did slip in a few more shorts from the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival that is still going on today on-line. Nothing as mind-numbing intense as the first ones I saw on Friday.
I headed to Mox Boarding House to meet Evan for our usual board games, drinks, and lunch. I got no return on my calls or text and knew somewhere I must have misunderstood our plans for this Sunday. Traffic was light, it is Sunday, but I did manage to get behind a Subaru with a couch strapped to its roof going slow in the left-lane. It is just an Oregon thing about going slow in the fast-lane.
On the subject of Oregon, Portland will be having a protest event about the new Supreme Court selection to replace the Notorious RBG. There will be a Naked Bike Protest. I am a supporter of the cause, but will not be joining as an active participant. I suspect this will get some unique coverage.
Parking Air Volvo in the parking garage outside of Providence Park, I took the elevator up to Mox. As it is Sunday, Sydney and Tatyana were both on duty in the bar. They were happy to see me on Sunday when they both now service, Sydney no longer does Saturdays. Evan was MIA, so I ordered lunch and played 1 person Pax Parmir. I wanted another try at playing it with the automation, and it is so pretty I wanted to set-up anyway. So I ate my wonderful sandwich and crazy spicy but wonderful carrot mole soup.
Evan showed as I was starting to be crushed by the automation, but I had tied the score at least. So I put it way while he ordered the same lunch–it was so good!
We then played Vindication again. This is our new go-to game for two players, and it plays about the same with three or four. It was designed here in the Greater Portland Area, and I managed to be one of the playtesters, so I have a connection to it. Evan has this game down cold, and I was lucky to win by two points. I thought I had him, but I had not counted on all the areas he had control of. I just squeaked by.
Vindication is one of the most beautiful games I own. The colors and the art is just above the level of most games. The pieces are high quality and the theme of the game is uplifting. It has an add-on now that we use and includes some corrections. I recommend both.
Our next game is Scythe and this time Evan picked Russia and again the Militant mat. I picked the From Afar add-on Scotts. I had not played them before I believe and wanted to try out something new. This game we had no combat and we played about an hour longer. I had the Agriculture mat and used it to create an engine to create points. I built out most of my mechs and then my power. The Scotts with all their mechs are a bit difficult to fight so Evan instead focused on Encounters and spreading out. In the end, I scored 103 points that were nearly double Evan’s score. I just kept doing the farming thing and that worked.
I picked up Harlem Unbound from Mox; they have a gaming store, bar, and tables big enough to play games serviced by waiters. I would usually get the newest Call of Cthulhu book at the H.P. Lovecraft Film Festival today from the publisher, but at least I got it from Mox. This huge inch thick book is about playing horror in Harlem of the 1920s with over two hundred pages of scenarios. You can also go to their website and get PDFs of items to handout print-out such as maps of the area, tickets to shows, and various clues that will lead the investigators to true horrors hiding in Harlem.
I drove home after that and made a grilled ham and cheese for Susie with peaches from a can. I had 1/2 a sandwich.
Today three-hundred thirty people died from the infection here in the USA.
Today I picked the Doctor Who version of Abide with Me hymn. It seemed the right weekend for a Doctor Who version.
Alohawild (Michael Wild's) Website 