Saturday Full of Games

Saturday was unusual as I could play many games and publish the blog. I was feeling better, though my colon, 25 cm shorter from cancer, would fill, and the lockdown was making me uncomfortable. It finally emptied on Sunday morning. It is part of living as a survivor of colon cancer.

I rose late on Saturday, rolling over a few times after sunrise, and got coffee waiting for me when I finally rose after 8. I had drunk a lot of water (see above) and proved this twice, and still had to run for a third when I rose.

I started in my PJs with the 3D printer. Ugh. A melted blob was partially on the printing plate, and a blob stuck to the plastic film on the bottom of the tank as a pool of hardened junk. Using gloves, I did not get any toxic resin on me, and I removed the failed print. I dumped the expensive resin ($25 per 1,000 grams) and cleared the tank of stuck bits. Total fail.

Disappointed, I returned to the office with coffee, a banana, and a NYC bagel (thanks, Joyce!) and spent the morning mostly writing the blog. I also quickly got out a card to Mom Wild, wearing my robe and slippers, and no comments from my neighbors (they have gotten used to the retired guy in PJs late). I squeezed in while writing the blog, getting my transactions updated in Quicken while getting the blog out. I also looked at the website HeroQuest, which lets you design a gaming figure; I hoped to download an STL file for about $8 and print it myself (it is a 4-week wait from HeroQuest and about $30 for a simple plastic version). I read my emails and doom scrolled enough to know that no new disaster had befallen the world (or caused by the current USA government).

I published the blog and then read more on the Egloo website, the manufacturer of my Mars resin tank printer. I thought something was wrong with my settings; possibly, a software update had scrambled them. I checked the recommended settings, and my printer settings, while not matching, were not radically far from the exposure times and movement speeds. These settings are in the software that takes the STL image file and then transforms it into commands for a printer. As my printer is old, I did not dare update the software. I did download a new software, but it did not include my printer, the old Mars printer (not the Pro or other later improvements). I used the old stuff as it is.

I read that the resin works at 25 °C to 30 °C. Yikes, I was printing at 55°F. There was a warning that the resin would stick to the film if it was too cold, which I was experiencing. Could it be a temperature issue?

I created a new build file and transferred it to a USB ‘A’ stick (also old) from my Apple. I then walked that file to the printer. I plugged the stick into the Mars 3D printer. I then put on gloves and cleaned the printer with near-pure alcohol. I cleaned the tank with care. It is transparent to allow the UV light to harden the resin, hopefully on the previous layer. I checked the file and did a print run with no resins. I have UV eye protection. I also use gloves to protect my hands from the resin and UV!

I took the freshly opened resin and a bucket. I filled the bucket with water at 34 °C, placed the resin container in it, and let it reach 30 °C. I reset the printer and zeroed it again. I poured the warm resin into the printer and opened the garage door to let the warmer air in. I started the print. It was an HP Lovecraft bust, my usual practice, and a miniature version only a few inches tall.

I have no memory of lunch, and I think I just spread breakfast over the morning, as I was fearful that my colon and tummy issues would resurface. Next, I took Ottoman Sunset, a solo board game, and boarded Air VW the Gray. I closed the garage door to keep the contents safe and cat-free (the local cats have more than once spent the night in the garage). I headed into the strange traffic of an early Saturday afternoon across Beaverton and Portland.

The trip was the usual stop-and-go in Beaverton, and Highway 26, the Sunset Highway, resembled a parking lot for the Zoo a few times. The local streets of Portland are troubled by racing. Two cars were racing through Portland, and I got out of their way without losing paint on the EV. They zoomed through traffic and weaved here and there, with one car having to downshift. The backfires were loud as the fuel burned poorly in the engine.

I arrived at Lucky Labrador without incident and found a parking spot in their lot on Hawthorn across the river. I found a table and got an Irish ale. The place was busy for early Saturday afternoon, but no gaming groups were there. I found a table and tried to play the solo board game, Ottoman Sunset, again. This game has you play the Ottoman (Turkish) Sultan, and you need to keep back the invaders while keeping up the morale of the Turkish people. The game has cards that replay the events of 1914-1919 that impacted the Ottoman Empire, and if you wish to play them in historical order, you just sort the cards by number. I did random and enjoyed the first set without too much pain, but once the French and Lawrence of Arabia appeared, it became a desperate effort to survive. I misplayed and removed cards that would have helped/hurt, and will get that right next time.

In my version of history, Lawrence of Arabia paraded into Istanbul and kicked me out. I had a marginal defeat (almost making it). I focused on keeping the people happy and investing in Europe’s battles. I must keep Lawrence and others further away to survive to 1919. I enjoyed it and will play again and try to get it right. Solo games have endless rules and complexities, as there is only one player, and thus, having to return to the rulebook often is not so bad.

I got peanuts to go with the beer. I put away the game, put it in the cargo hold of Air VW the Gray, and got out Scythe. This took the whole table and another one. Scythe is not a small footprint game. I set a three-person game with two factions controlled by the automata deck. I have bought extra decks to allow me to play multiple robotic players. I have two automata decks in my box, one of which comes with the game. While you can use one deck for numerous factions, it gets confusing and ineffective. In the unofficial section of the rules, they suggest multiple decks. Time to try it.

(You can see the two decks with a marker for each at the edge of the table)

There were many rules and mechanics, and I will not cover this. The robot factions moved by teleportation, which was interesting. I attacked and watched as the two robots fought each other. It will be interesting to play this with others.

I misread the time, ordered some soup, and put Scythe away. I then discovered I had another hour, and I was also uncomfortable. I sat outside where it was cooler and read some rules. Ostia, another board game, has an add-on, and I read the rules. Ostia is already a complex game, and I am not sure more rules will improve it. Someday we will have to try it.

At 5:15, I headed to Richard’s, and Laura was there to play. We played a three-person basic version of The Lost Ruins of Arnak, a favorite board game played a lot during and after the pandemic. The theme is a Hollywood version of archaeology with a research section resembling the usual worker placement and resource management race in many games. There is also a card deck building and a thinning part. It is an excellent mix of the theme, deck building, worker placement, efficiency race, and resource management. It is hard to get the correct mix, and there are many correct answers.

I remembered the game well, having played it for years, and was ahead of Richard while Laura explored and defeated the Hollywood guardians, gaining a pile of points at the end of the game. I did not expect to win with Laura behind me and Richard at the bottom. He missed, I think, the efficiency race and resource management. We finished the game in 90 minutes.

We then took on Cthulhu—Death May Die with Richard’s painted figures. This is a horror cooperative game in which you fight cultists and the things they summon before they end the world. I have played it before and lost. And not to be disappointed, we lost this game, too. We played for three hours and lost the game by one card draw of stopping the Yellow King.

After we chatted for a while, I headed home. The drive was easy; nobody was racing on the bridges! I was soon home and asleep in my bed. As I said, I was happy to find my 3D print completed and a print still on the plate, as I had hoped. It was pretty hard to detach it. A good sign.

I slept until sunrise.

Thanks for reading.