Axis & Alies: D-Day (publisher site, preview) was released this week.  I was fortunate enough to be a playtester for this (thanks for the invite Doug!) - you can see us in the credits: “A Bridge Too Many.” This game is good (or was good when I tested it) and it will be interesting to see how it stacks up against the other big D-Day anniversary release Memoir '44.  I was in Reedville (between Hillsboro and Beaverton) for a grand total of 20 hours Saturday/Sunday for Jacob's baseball tournament, so I made a stop at Rainy Day Games.  They were conducting a great clearance sale, with many decent titles on sale for 30-50% off.  I picked up a few gems, including Trias, Magna Grecia, and O Zoo Le Mio.  They had A&A D-Day in stock too so I picked it up.

A&A D-Day is quite different than Axis & Allies.  It is on a smaller scale, is much more tactical (no production or economics), and plays much more quickly. One potential complaint may be replayability due to the smaller scale and lack of scenarios to replay other conflicts.

Check it out.  Unfortunately, registration is required.

Jacob, Matthew, and I are already registered for a full conference at Gen Con this year.  Last year Jacob and I spent 3 days there and Matthew joined us for a morning.  We'll see how much time Matthew is interested in spending there this year.

Rather than sign up for a lot of the pre-scheduled board gaming events, we will most likely rely on generic tickets this year and focus on pick-up gaming at Game Base 7.  I'm also going to try and do a better job of coordinating with other spielfrieks out there that are interested in hooking up, so please let me know via email or a comment if you plan on attending.

Greg and Patrick conspired on a spontaneous, full-scale garment design cycle.

Jacob and Matthew have a long 4-day weekend (Julie's dad arrives tomorrow morning), so without an early bedtime we decided to play Ticket to Ride after dinner.  I had only played once before and was eager to teach the boys - we love train games and I thought this would hit a sweet spot in terms of complexity and fun.

Jacob and Matthew about mid-way through the game.  I played red, Jacob black, and Matthew blue.

Ticket to Ride is a fantastic game in so many ways.  It plays very fast with almost no downtime, there are strategic elements (many routes or long routes), tactical plays (blocking, throwing down a shorter route out of fear of being blocked), and tension because it can be difficult to estimate the final point totals.  Throw in trains and a decent geography lesson and you have a winner of a family strategy game.  I was able to teach the boys how to play in less than five minutes, so this game should be very attractive to families with younger (7+) kids.

Grin away, Mr. Lucky.

I wish I could say that I was playing to let the boys win, but I was sincerely trying to play my best.  Matthew smoked us as usual, finishing 30 points ahead of Jacob and me.  Some of it was luck of the draw - he drew a destination ticket in his second-to-last turn and picked up a 22 pointer that he had already built!

I'm having way too much fun with my Digital Rebel.  I'm especially impressed with the results I'm getting with high-speed (1/1600, 1/2000) action photos of Jacob and Matthew's baseball activity.  So bear with me if you are only interested in gaming activity - I'll probably be posting quite a few family photos this summer.

Jacob in the dugout with teammate Joey.  Focal length 80mm, F/4, 1/320 sec.

Jacob getting one his many hits on Saturday.  He had one of his best hitting days ever, reaching base every at bat over two games.  Focal length 300mm, F/7.1, 1/2000 sec.

Jacob is doing a great job as the backup catcher.  This is a photo of Jacob taking signs from the dugout coach that he will into ball position for the pitcher.  300mm, F/5.6, 1/2000 sec.

Not much gaming happening lately.  Busy travel schedule again (though things look to be quieter in May/June), and my gaming date in Las Vegas feel through last week.  I did manage to get in a playing of San Juan at work last week with a couple of co-workers, and I taught KC's prototype Northwest Trek to the family Friday evening.

San Juan

Two co-workers, Jason and Arron, took me up on an offer to play San Juan over lunch at the campus center at Corillian.  Jason had played Puerto Rico before so was very familiar with the role-choosing mechanic; Arron hadn't played PR but had at least read the rules, so within 5 minutes or so we were underway.

I experimented with a lot of producing/trading in this game, certainly to my detriment.  Unlike PR, in San Juan everyone can sell any goods, so it often isn't as advantageous to choose the Trader role.  Arron stuck to prospector most of the time and did a nice job getting violet buildings out, but his lack of experience with the card combos hurt him as he didn't get a good multiplier.  Jason picked up the game very quickly, going nuts with lots of production buildings then laying out a Guild Hall, which gave him (I think) a total of 14 bonus points.  He won the game running away, I was a distant last place.

Northwest Trek

The boys asked me to teach them one of KC's new games, so I pulled out Northwest Trek, a fairly light and simple geometric tile-laying game. 

As I have mentioned before, Northwest Trek uses Cairo tesselation - a cool geometric trick which creates some challenges in placement because the tiles are vertically asymetric.  We are working on some different board/piece decorations to make it easier to orient the pieces for placement.

No surprise - Matthew managed to beat all of us with a strong showing - four sets of animal photographs with 6, 4, 4, and 3 in the sets.

Would you be interested in downloadable versions of these games?  If so, leave a comment here.  KC and I are gauging interest in making DTP-style versions of 1 or 2 of his games available.

Joe Huber did a great job of summarizing the impressions of games from the Gathering.  Below is the summary of his work.  The rating system: + = thumbs up, 0 = neutral, and - = thumbs down.   Based on everything I've read, I'm most interested in Power Grid, St Petersburg, and Goa.

Alexandros              000----
Blue Moon               ++000--
Boomtown                +++0
Buyword                 ++++
Cargo                   00--

Coda                    +0---
Dawn Under              000--
Die Steven Seagal       +00-
Dos Rios                ++++000000000------
Egg Dance               ++00

Einfach Genial          +++++++++00000000-
Employee Of The Month   +++++000000--
Fifth Avenue            ++++++0000000---
Goa                     ++++++++++++++++++00000
Hansa                   +++++++++++++++000000000---

Immer Oben Auf!         00----
MaNiKi                  ++++
Marco Polo              ++++00000-----------
Memoir '44              +++++++++
Oasis                   +++++++++0000000000---

Oh Pharoah              ++000000---
Power Grid              ++++++++++++++++++++++0-
Saga                    +++++000000000-----
St. Petersburg          +++++++++++++++++++00000000000
San Juan                ++++++++++++++++++++000000

Santiago                ++++++++++
Spy                     +0-----
Sunken City             ++00000-----------
Tahuantinsuyu           ++++0
Ticket To Ride          +++++++++++++++++++++++++++00-

Tongiaki                +++0----

Sorted by approval ratings (assuming everyone who didn't rate a game 
would give it a 0 - thanks to Randy Cox for doing this last time!):

Ticket To Ride          68%
Power Grid              55%
San Juan                53%
St. Petersburg          50%
Goa                     47%

Hansa                   32%
Santiago                26%
Memoir '44              24%
Einfach Genial          21%
Oasis                   16%

Buyword                 11%
MaNiKi                  11%
Tahuantinsuyu           11%
Boomtown                8%
Employee Of The Month   8%
Fifth Avenue            8%

Egg Dance               5%
Blue Moon               0%
Die Steven Seagal       0%
Saga                    0%
Oh Pharoah              -3%
Tongiaki                -3%

Cargo                   -5%
Coda                    -5% 
Dawn Under              -5%
Dos Rios                -5%

Alexandros              -11%
Immer Oben Auf!         -11%
Spy                     -11%
Marco Polo              -18%
Sunken City             -24%

Jacob and Matthew are playing baseball again this year.  Though they are almost two years apart, it seems that Matthew is always only one year behind him in the league.  This is mostly due to mom & dad wanting to push him along a little faster.

In Sherwood, if you play youth baseball you are part of Junior Baseball of Oregon.  JBO is quite a bit different than Little League, and so far I have been impressed.  At each age level, there are three divisions: National, American, and Federal.  The Federal team (there is only one) is the all-star team and plays together all season, often traveling to tournaments outside the city.  The next level is American, which is very competitive and travels frequently, but is not quite at the Federal level.  National is for beginning or recreational level players.

When I grew up, everyone at the same age level played in the same league, and at the end of the season an all-star team was chosen from the teams to compete in the post-season.  I like the JBO model since it allows players to spend the entire season playing with players at about the same skill level.

Matthew posing for his individual picture.

Matthew is in a developmental league (pre-JBO) called Midget International.  This is meant to be a transitional league for players that want to play real ball (stealing, player pitching, etc.) but aren't old enough for Midget.  This is where Jacob played last year.

Matthew's baseball team.

Jacob tried out earlier to see where he would play, and was drafted by a Midget American team.  In fact, his two coaches also coached him in football.  This league is a stretch for Jacob - he is not used to this level of competitiveness, and it is tough not being one of the 2 or 3 best players on the team.

Jacob (right) listening to coach after practice.

So far, his skills are improving and he is hanging in there. It looks like he will be the backup catcher and spend most his time playing outfield.  Jacob isn't the most agile, strongest, or most talented player, but his attitude is amazing and the coaches love him for his listening skills and work ethic.

Action shot of Jacob rounding 3rd base during practice.

One challenge for Julie and I is to keep our feedback as close to 100% positive as possible.  His coaches challenge him enough, and his self confidence wanes at times, so our roles need to be almost completely reinforcing.

Jacob slides into 3rd during practice.