Year 1 Day 20: Gaming Friday

It is already Saturday morning, and I just got to writing. Richard, one of the PDX gaming folks, invited me to play at his house. Usually, I have to turn down his offer as I cannot play with a group. But this was just Richard and me tonight. We kept our distance and masks on the whole time. I felt safe the whole time. Richard had his vaccine; he is a dentist.

I got there in Portland about 6:30 this evening, and Richard and I went over for about an hour painting techniques. Richard has acquired many dudes-on-a-board games that really need to be painted. I had already agreed to paint some for another game Anachrony.  I brought over some near-empty spray cans of primer and other items from the Army Painter method of painting to try out. This, I think the fastest means to get a collection of figures looking great for a tabletop game. Richard will give it a spin on Project Elite figures.

We then played a game of Project Elite. This is a cooperative dudes-on-a-board game based on the spawning endless monsters. You and the other players try to complete an objective before you are overwhelmed by the auto-spawning bad guys, or the monsters reach some objective, and you lose. I have a couple of these, and I find them either light games in the beer-and-peanuts style or endless frustration. Project Elite had a new mechanic I had not seen before. You roll dice as fast as you can for two minutes following the rules and try to take out as many bad guys and achieve objectives on the map. I don’t care much for race-against-the-clock games–it feels like I am back to work, but just two minutes and then continue with the game turn worked really well. I found I liked the game, and we managed to win the first scenario.

We went for another game. I had read about the board game The Lost Ruins of Arnak, and I even watched a video on it. Richard got it out, and we played the advance board (I did not know it had two sides and Richard was shocked about 1/2 into the game that we play the hard version). The game is about archeologists exploring the ruins of the fabled city of Arnak. The game mixes worker placement and deck-building to produce an enjoyable game. You can explore, get resources, purchase better cards (equipment), and prune your deck—all the time building up the understanding of the ruins on a science track. Richard did outscore me, the science track is worth many points, and I neglected it. I look forward to playing it again and might have to add it to my collection. It seemed that good.

As it is already late, I will not recount much of the workday before heading out to Portland. I slept in a bit, 7:15ish, and then had crises of the moment all day. Even earning a meeting at 4:30 on a Friday to discuss the solution to one of the crises. It was a busy, crazy day at the shoe company.

I had a late lunch with Mariah between meetings. She can over to use our laundry. That was fine, and I had to leave before she finished. I brought Susie a cheesecake from Reedville Cafe and made Susie a grilled cheese for dinner before I headed over to Richard’s.

29,325 people were vaccinated in Oregon yesterday. This number will like increase as they get all the counts in for the next 72 hours.

1,001 people died in the USA today from Covid-19.

A Closer Walk with Thee is not a bad choice for Good Friday 2021.