"Masters of War"

Nerdly 3









Lunch was the only disappointment I had as far as meals go. Grilled sandwiches should be hot, or at least warm. Not a huge deal. I ate some lunch then headed to the kitchen to clean up... where I found a team of wild cleaning monkeys already on the case! Everywhere I looked, someone was cleaning a surface. I started finishing little tasks like "find the mayo lid" and "good god what is that under the coffee grinder"; then I gathered the team together for a final push. As I saw it, all that needed to be done was mop the floors, finish dishes, and clean the grill. A girl whose name I unfortunately don't remember volunteered Travis for the grill job. Travis face was clear as a bell, this task was not his cup of tea. Travis had been a fellow Agon party member, so I claimed grill cleaning duties as captain's rights. He looked happy, and I don't mind cleaning greasy grills. We cleaned well, we cleaned quickly, and we were out to game in record time.

I was set to play War of the Ring, an epic battle board game pitting the forces of Saurun against the forces of light. I played the armies of Sauroman, and James "Their Forces Shall Scatter Before Us" Jeffers played Sauron. Two other guys played the good guys. This is not their story.

I'm kidding, we all had a great time, Clinton and Shane were a good match for James and I. There was much ribbing over "wasting" dice and whether the ring bearers were going to spend the whole damn war in Rivendale; we had a blast. I had a few choice moves, including sending an army up the coast in boats, and James was hammering away some of their major strong holds while I pincered in and headed for victory in the Shire.

Do you remember my last post? Where at the end I mentioned that a completely accidental misreading of the rule by Clinton almost led to the defeat of my (and Jeff's) Nazi's? Well get ready to slap yourself in the foreheads again folks. Clinton read through all the rules for us, and we seemed to understand them all just fine, but a couple of miss cues sent us back to the rule book. Most were minor (really minor) and affected both sides... but one of them...

The unending forces of darkness should be unending. When we ran out of reinforcements, we were out. When our forces died, they were dead. They should have been brought back as reinforcements! We did not know this until a spectator pointed it out, after the game had been won. We were about 2 rounds away from victory. We were short on men. The side of light came in and took a position that had no defences. Now, I'm not begrudging them that. It was a brilliant plan, and Clinton pulled it right under our noses; but, and mind you, I say this in the spirit of good sportsmanship: LAME!!!!!! Our forces were deprived of a necessary tactic throughout the game! The good guys only need 4 points to win in battle, and the bad guys need 10+ (I forget the specifics) It's supposed to balance!

Anyway, not bitter really, just playing. James and I had a great time playing bad guys, and all four of us played a kick ass game. It ran right up until dinner, and Clinton had cleaned up before I got back to ask if he needed help. I did help set up the board before lunch, but I wanted to put my little soldiers to sleep knowing THAT THEY HAD FAILED ME, AND WOULD FOREVER BASTE IN THE FIRES OF...

Sorry, not bitter right?