Weekend June 17-18: Saturday and Sunday

I was home too late to do a blog, and then I was busy all day on Sunday. Work is running a long data conversion, but this evening there are issues. So I am online listening while writing this.

Saturday alarm was at 6AM as I had an 8AM meeting. I rolled over and got going at 7ish. I read the emails and status messages on Slack to be ready for an hour of status meetings. I was lucky as my experts were on the call so they could answer the questions. I spent an hour listening and talking.

I had canceled my morning gaming as I was all the data conversions were running this weekend. So I stayed home and watched.

While I was watching, I worked on my Hell War Machine. First, I fixed the wheel problem by cutting the wheel well larger. I then started on finishing the backend and the smokestacks. Next, I got out the watch parts collection I acquired from a modeling site. These are tiny gears and plates from watches. Next, I started decorating the model to add more drama to the model. I put gears by any large features on the model to make it look like it is driven by large gears. Finally, I continued to decorate and finishing the back of the model.

The work stuff became very quiet as it was a long-running data conversion.

Evan called me, and we agreed to try to play some games and have lunch. First, I got Susie breakfast as she was up late. Then, Evan and I headed to a Mexican place across from The 649, a tap house that we have played games at before. Evan wanted to try them again. After lunch, we played Lost Ruins of Arnak. This is a new game for me; it came out last year and is a new favorite. You play as a 1920s Hollywood-styled archeologist searching for important ruins to understand the mysteries of an ancient lost culture. In addition, you must overcome monsters, legendary ones, when digging new sites. This is then used to run the research track to understand the culture and reach the lost temple.

Your archeologist also gets tools and powerful artifacts with great magical powers (definitely slipping into the Hollywood-film motif) to help with their work. This is a deck-building mechanic that I have begun to like. You buy cards (tools or artifacts) and remove poor cards from your hand to improve your chances of drawing the cards you need.

We managed to fit in two plays of the game. I won both games. I had to rush to a status call and managed to make most of it. More Zooming. Evan and I will check to rules at the next game. The research track seemed to run strange, so we will recheck those rules.

The data conversions are running overnight and into the next afternoon. Nothing is going wrong, so I am not needed. I have an invitation to Richard’s to play board games. I make Susie dinner, scrambled eggs with cheese, her fav, with apple sauce. I sprinkle some cinnamon on the apple sauce.

We had five players for the board game Scythe. We played the more basic game as Kathline and Alex did not know the game well. This is a very successful game from a Kickstarter a couple years ago. I have a copy also from the Kickstarter and have painted all the miniatures for the game. This is a 4x game, but combat is more basic and can be punishing to the attackers and defenders. It was a pleasure to play again for the first in more than a year with so many players.

Well, sort of pleasure, as I made basic errors while playing Russia. I blew an attack on Alex, having the Scottish faction. I failed to spread out, and Richard ended the game. All basics I know. Next time!

We played 7 Wonders. This is a card game from 2010 that is now revised to the 2nd Edition. You play cards in front of you to create a city. There are three sets of cards to buy and play and after each set, the city’s military fights. I had played the Duel two-person version before, so I was not too lost during play. I game in second.

I drove some of the folk’s home as it was late and was in at 1AM and could not write a blog as I was again up early on Sunday.

Sunday morning came too early, as it does when you are up late. More status meetings and our experts were online, so I was mostly a tourist on the Zoom calls.

Susie was not feeling well. She complained that light and noise were giving her a headache and went back to sleep. I did explain that the light was the morning sun. I tried to be quiet.

We have Dungeons and Dragons today at Cory’s house, so I needed to finish the Hell War Machine and paint it. Next, I spent some time adding the screen sides to the model.

I then went to Beaverton First United Methodist Church for their first service in 15 months. We all had masks on, and we were a small brave bunch, but it was nice to see everyone. Everyone missed Susie, but they were all happy to see us. We survived and made it back to church. It is a big deal.

I raided McDonald’s drive-thru for our usuals. I brought a happy meal for Susie with apples and a hot apple pie. I got the two cheeseburger meals.

The shoe company did not need me. So I started finishing the War Machine and painting it.

I managed to get it ready just in time. The decals were still drying; I put Scythe Russian stars on decal paper left over, so I added them to the car in the center. This is where you drive, in my imagination, the war machine inside a car shell. It hints back to a Mad Max movie. So my creation is a call back to Mad Max.

I used an old model from the Soviet Union to kitbash (yes, they made toys in USSR) I picked up from years ago. Oddly, it is from a hoarder that collected models. The family sold the collection to a local hobby store. I picked up four really nice hard-to-find ship models. It was fun to re-purpose the ship. I scanned the model cover in and put a miniature copy as a poster on the ship’s side to remember the original kit of the famous Potemkin battleship.

Corwin and I headed over to Cory’s with the model to play Dungeons and Dragons. We are currently playing are characters in Hell trying to save a city that has been transferred to Hell as an evil plot. There my character, a gnome wizard, is also a tinkerer. Thusly, my character has built a small war machine, and our group captured a larger one. Everyone was surprised to see our new Potemkin Hell War Machine.