&games

My cousin, whom I haven't seen in years, was recently deployed to Ft. Richardson near Anchorage, Alaska.
A co-worker and her family needed to get to the airport in Anchorage.
Hmmmm. An excuse to go to Anchorage? Hell yes.

Difference between the sexes.

The 350 mile trip to Anchorage was slow, as the roads were very icy for the first 240 miles. My gutless Kia was loaded down beyond capacity with 4 passengers and several hundred pounds in luggage.

This combination of slow speeds and ice gave me appreciation for the problem my wife has been having with the car.

Normally, I drive the speed limit plus a little. Normally, Mrs. Coldfoot drives like... well shall we just say... slower. She has been complaining about the way the car handles on the ice all winter. I noticed that it handles a little differently on ice, but is far from unsafe.

Wow. What a difference speed makes. At speeds above 60 mph the car handles fine. At speeds lower than 50 mph it jumps all over the road in icy conditions. It is rather scary. The road was so icy that speeds above 60 mph were unwise, additionally, with the heavy load speeds above 60 were only possible on downhill stretches. I had white knuckles the whole trip, with a death-grip on the wheel trying to keep it between the lines.

When I got into a cellphone service area I called my wife to tell her to get the paperwork ready, we are trading in the Kia to buy a Subaru.

Miniature Club

I contacted the Anchorage Miniature Gaming Club http://home.gci.net/~stevepr/AMGC.html prior to leaving. They meet on Saturday evening, and I was going to be in town on Saturday evening. I had been to one other meeting and found them to be a good group of guys. Lots of grey hair in the group. Lots of intelligence. Lots of good mature fun. Brought my cousin to the meeting. Might have been 12-15 guys there including us.

Not into miniatures myself. Not into painting minis. Not anxious to get involved in another money-pit hobby. I do, however, find the miniature battles interesting and would make the effort to play if I had someone to teach me the rules and supply the pieces. My once or twice yearly trip to Anchorage isn't enough to justify playing.

They had what they called a pre-Napoleonic campaign going. This is where most of the group's interest lie. A couple other guys were staging a space battle. I got to play a 3-player and a 5-player game of Puerto Rico, and one game of Honor of the Samurai.

I plan on driving back down the second weekend of March for their game convention at the Dimond Mall. My wife is excited to be going also.

While in Anchorage I hit multiple thrift stores. I made one minor find, an Avalon Hill triva game, not Facts in Five, but another that I'm not familiar with. I hit the game stores also. Bought Fearsome Floors, Buy Word and Battle Cry at the Boscos on Spenard.

My cousin was very impressed with Battle Cry. Unbeknownst to me, he is a Civil War buff. I had never played it but am very familiar with Memoir '44, a similar game set in WWII. We played a couple scenarios, he enjoyed the game. As it is out of print I let him keep it. I have Memoir '44 and never get to play it lately, I doubt I will be able to get in a game of Battle Cry before I see him again in March.

Thanks again to the Miniature Club, and good gaming.