Daily Blog July 8, 2021: Thursday with Games

I will skip the normal work summary. Nothing broke today at work that I cover, and thus it was a slow day without much to do but read email and listen to status meetings. I did have my review, and I did Ok.

Lunch was at Wendy’s nearby. I ate inside. Again, trying to get over the fear and experience how lunch is done now. The staff had masks on, and folks generally wore masks. They are no longer required, according to a note on the door.

I watched the trains while I ate. We have a train line that runs along the main road. It is not freight or passengers. It is lumber and cut trees. Today I watched blacken trees, cut from last year’s big fires, go by. I was surprised to see them. Salvage logging usually does not produce good lumber, but these cut trees looked like only the bark was burned. It was a reminder of how bad last year’s fire season really was.

Later, Susie and I took Air Volvo to McDonald’s. Susie had her fav of a Happy Meal with apples, and she is now adding a hot apple pie. I had Bob Wild’s fav; I always think of him when I order it, the cheap two cheeseburger meal.

I headed to Portland this evening to play board games with Richard and folks. The drive took more than an hour in Air Volvo. I counted five disabled cars, one crash (five cars lengths in front of me), and two ambulances running light with everyone diving out of the way. The trip to Portland from home has been longer with the worst traffic, but that was one of the worst trips for me in a few years.

We played a game I have never done before, Dwellings of Eldervale. This is a worker placement game with a bit of 4x violence worked in (the link sends you to a definition of 4X). It has spells and a fantasy setting. You try to build dwellings, defeat monsters, and defeat your opponents in combat. I went for massive combat. I was able to win many battles and build a few houses. There are also special abilities cards that I did not focus on; it was my first play, and engine building requires a better handle on the rules. Once I understood the gameplay, I became feared as my faction was good at combat, and I spent my resources summoning my super fighter and dragon.

It is a lovely-looking game, and the monsters have stands that growl or hiss or other sounds. The monsters are huge 3D figures about four inches tall and dipped in stain to look more 3D. They look great with just that simple coloring!

The game that Richard owns is the top full-bling version from a Kickstarter. It has very nice trays for everything with lids and instructions on putting it away in a special extra-large box. Dwellings of Eldervale was fun to play and required you to make difficult decisions, the best kind of game. The spell cards are random and can be devastating. The ability cards are necessary to win and to create the engines to get resources to acquire more. Combat was fast and easy to understand and reminded me of the Bloodrage board game, but a bit better. The track for powers is also important, but I was just starting to understand it.

I look forward to playing the game again and learning how to build an engine. I was just a few points ahead of the lowest scoring player and just a few points behind second place. Richard smoked us.

I will stop there as I am rushed as it is late, and I want to sleep a bit better tonight. Thanks for reading my shorter blog.