Saturday Games

I slept in and rose just before 8 in room 329 at the Extended Stay America. While my room is clean, it is rundown and comes with no coffee or complimentary breakfast, and I will not stay in this chain again. I would join Clint, Annika, Hope, and Misha (Annika and Clint being Susie’s cousins and the other spouses, respectively) for lunch around noon for birria tacos at a local place. While not uncomfortable, room 329 had nothing to appeal to me, and soon, I cleaned up, shaved, dressed, and boarded Air Ford NH.

I remembered to turn left this time to reach Bagel Cafe and went with a plain bagel for their smoked salmon (bad breath) bagel. There, I had more coffee, as I had snagged a quick cup in the hotel lobby (there were options for instant oatmeal and hot chocolate). I wrote the blog and talked to Deborah about her plans for the day; she was joining local friends for a holiday celebration. I finished the blog at about 11ish. I read my email, updated Quicken with the transactions (fixed an issue with one download), and updated my 401K for the year-end valuation (lowering by $15,000).

I headed out in Air Ford NH and soon was at Clint’s and Annika’s place, back in a car, and at the local Mexican place, meeting Misha there–he had driven up from Boston. Soon, with the tacos and other food loaded, we returned to Clint’s and Annika’s place, and I was tasked with setting up the massive Cthulhu Wars board game on their most enormous table. It played four people, and soon, Misha, Clint, Riley, and I were going over the rules. I had time to read and review the rules and remember how to play.

Misha showing Cthulhu on the board (for scale).

This is an expensive game, starting at about $200 for the base, and it can go, as in my case, too many times that number for all the add-ons. The final rules book, The Omega Rules, is an inch-thick, hardbound tome. We were only playing the basics, and soon I explained the rituals (This is a Lovecraft Mythos game, and instead of game phases, it has rituals). Clint got it cheap at an auction. This game uses Risk-like combat, as many games still do, but with crazy rule-breaking to match the theme. It is hard to describe or to have a plan; the different factions (played by each player) have various superpowers that violate multiple rules. Misha, playing Cthulu, spread out and attacked me, The Crawling Chaos, and learned about all the superpowers. Ryder also slammed me, playing The Yellow Sign (Hastor the Unspeakable). She was shocked that I withstood the attack and attacked me again (The Yellow Sign has one superpower to do two things on a single turn), and Clint spread out fast, The Black Goat, gaining powers (books), but soon most of his cultists were captured by everyone. Being the crawling type, I quietly took all the gates from Ryder, who ran to the quieter section of the board and soon had five gates. I finished all my superpowers (six books) and was the only player thus qualified to win. I then enjoyed the Ritual of Annihilation, which doubled my score each round. Misha outscored me, but he had only four books, so I kept the win. Misha had not won enough battles to get his books.

(Me showing the Crawling Chaos–in blue–that won with Clint standing in front of The Black Goat in red. Ryder had already pulled his figures, yellow, off the board)

I snacked and then played another game of Cthulu Pandemic as Hope found it short enough (she does not like longer games) and was surprised by how hard it was this time. The game structure slammed us a few times, and Hope’s investigator even went insane (she closed the gate and was healed). Ultimately, all the evil powers cards were in play (except the last one that would cause the game to end), and all the relics were used! We played with four players, the maximum, and it played well with four, which I don’t get to do often. We managed to win and close the last gate with only a few actions left and would have lost if Hope had not closed the gate! A close and more immersive game. Excellent.

Clint reappeared with pizzas. Soon, Clint, two new players, and I played the rest of the night playing Wrymspan game using the newly updated components. Clint and I agree that the gems need to be replaced (I plan to do that for my copy, and I will get extra). As I covered the game a few days ago, I will say that the new players, all skilled board gamers, won with Clint ten points above my low score. It was fun and impressive to watch the other players do so well. With Wrymspan, you can get a poor game if you don’t get the good items in random draws. I was stressed by my choices.

I had nothing to drink but water, and I will admit that I was not paying attention and looked down at 56 in a 35. The officer from Amherst validated this, explaining the speed limits in the area and what a New Hampshire registration looked like. I was not what the officer was looking for, and I smiled. He was fascinated by his first Oregon driver’s license, and Aloha, my town, fascinated him. I told him it was my fault and admitted I had missed the sign. “Have you been to Eugene?” was his question, “Why yes.” I suspect the paperwork to give me, from out of state, a ticket on a borrowed car would take longer than he wanted to invest. We both said goodnight, and I was happy he got his first Oregonian. All good. I was officially warned, and I drove slower.

I received news that the car, once known as Air Volvo, needs another $8,000 in repairs! This plus the existing $5,600 already invested. I put off the repairs and will talk to the dealership about scrapping options on Monday. Ugh!

I arrived slowly at my hotel. I showered and prepared to start early as I had to pack and write a blog. I soon, after too much coughing, finally, with various meds helping, slept. Thanks for reading.