&games

I am dying to get Antiquity and Indonesia to the table again.

Took Antiquity for a test drive some time ago and just haven't been able to get it played again. Haven't played Indonesia for some time although it has the potential to be as good as Puerto Rico considering the way it plays so well and so differently with different numbers of people.

And for what it's worth.

I suppose, other than my mother, there are close to zero people who read this blog who hail from the Montana High Line.

At any rate, I heard this guy's music on the local college radio station for some time now. I was prompted to see if his music was on YouTube, and indeed it was. I can say that zero (0) other artists I have heard on college radio have prompted me to do any research at all. Unbeknownst to me he is from right across the border in southern Alberta. Close enough, I'll claim him as a homeboy. He has some references in his music that take me back to my childhood. For non-locals his music can stand on its own.

I present to you, Corb Lund.




And perhaps his weakest song, certainly the one with the most unfortunate title, but one that brings me back to the good old days:

Played Roads and Boats for a second time in the last couple weeks....... I'm really kicking myself for not having played it for a couple years. This one goes to 11.

Eleven, Baby!

Speaking of pick up and delivery games:

Played the Avalon Hill classic Merchant of Venus for the first time ever at the convention in Anchorage. I was pleasantly surprised. I was expecting something different. What it is, is a pick up and delivery game with a good theme and just enough luck to suit the theme and keep the game interesting. The components and a couple mechanics show their age, but the game as a whole aged well. Didn't play with the rules that allowed stealing and killing opponents. I'd hesitate to play with those rules, they seem rather "tacked on" as an afterthought. Did Avalon Hill refuse to release game that didn't have combat?

And just for the halibut, I'll leave you with this short film. 1 minute 28 seconds of my kind of humor.

Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival: Tom Sellecks



Oh yeah. I scored a copy of the original Avalon Hill Dune.

Alaska's only game convention concluded this weekend in Anchorage. Between Friday afternoon and Sunday afternoon I played close to 40 hours of games. After the convention closed on Friday and Saturday evenings we went to a buddy's home and played until 3 a.m. That's what I call a successful weekend.

My perception is that the convention as a whole is getting smaller but the boardgame contingent is getting larger. There wasn't much overlap between the Advanced Squad Leader contingent and the rest of the boardgame contingent, but if you add the ASL contingent there were quite a few boardgamers present. Even without the ASL guys, the boardgame contingent was bigger.

There was some concern that the convention would not be held this year, I suspect numerous people didn't show because they thought it was cancelled.

....we call it "March".

After several weeks of seasonal weather it suddenly got cold and windy.

It's weather like this that caused me to leave eastern Montana for the more moderate weather of the Alaskan interior.

Played Roads and Boats again for the first time in a couple years.

What a great game. I bumped my rating from a 9 to a 10. It was even better than I remembered.

A methodical, empire building, pick up and delivery game that can be played either viciously or as multi-player solitaire (little to no interaction between players) or any degree in between. The game was designed by a couple of Dutch college students who have designed some other classic games, and have since gone on to work real jobs.

The game takes many hours to play. We played a two player game for 5 hours, but I will swear on a stack of Bibles that it felt like less than 2 hours. It is a very engaging game.

The game is on its third printing and there are literally only several hundred (maybe 2000) copies in existence. It may be available for fairly big bucks on a couple on line game stores, and is occasionally available on E-Bay for a couple hundred dollars. On the BGG Marketplace there are currently copies available ranging in price from $90 (beware, too good to be true) to 550 Euro (outrageous). I got my copy way-back-when for 80 some odd dollars. The game has nearly 1500 pieces and at the time I bought it games with not nearly so many components were going for that price. Roads and Boats has since nearly reached "legendary" status and commands a premium amongst boardgamers.

If I were to lose all my games in a fire, R&B would be at the top of my priority list for replacement, and I would pay through the nose.

A niche game to be sure, but I am squarely in that niche. Win or lose, I love building an empire from nothing and looking for ways to eek out an advantage here and there.

Paul Harvey

1918-2009

One of my favorite people. Words cannot do him justice.