Two weeks from now I'll be at BGG.CON. Are you going? If so, leave a comment so we can meetup there. I'm really looking forward to this. Why?

• I'm going as a gamer, not a vendor
• I'm rooming with Greg Schloesser, so there should be some great conversation. I hope he doesn't snore much.
• I missed Essen, so this will be a good chance to play new releases.
• I'll get to see oooold friends like Jim Ginn and Tim Isaakson.
• Other than GameStorm last spring, this is the only con I'll attend this year.

Jacob invited a friend over for some Magic: the Gathering action. After playing another prototype with Carey I joined in for some fun theme-deck action. I then forced To Court the King on the both of them with the claim "It's just like Magic, but with dice. And there's nothing to collect."

That was good enough for them (like I gave them a choice) and we got through most of a game before it was time to check out the candy loot from Matthew as he returned from begging. There seems to be some depth to the game as the choices on how and when to use the characters are non-obvious. Still, it seems very tactical which will be fine by me if we can play it consistently in 30 minutes. Jacob and Bigfoot seemed to both like it.

Yes, I said last regular season game - we made the playoffs! After an 0-3 start, we won the next 5 games and qualified for the 4th and last playoff spot. This leads to a rematch against the team that beat us 8-0 in our 3rd game. The kids have really pulled together and it is exciting to extend the season for at least one more week.

Here are some highlights from the last game against Centennial, a brutal contest that we won 8-0 (a safety plus a TD). This was a defensive struggle that we thought would end 2-0. Matthew managed to break away on an inside trap play and score a touchdown. In the highlights you'll see Matthew (#63) at middle linebacker on defense and fullback on offense.

Ken and I got together about 2 weeks ago to play Twilight Struggle. This currently ranks as my favorite-game-that-I-rarely-get-to-play. Ken was concerned about the rumors he's heard that the game is broken in some way, but I assured him that it is just a bit imbalanced towards to Soviets. I offered to play the USA to perhaps balance out experience vs inherent imbalance and it seemed to work out just fine.

I was fortunate to draw the European and Middle East scoring cards and control the timing in the early war, which helped mitigate losses for me and keep me in the positive VP territory for the early war and into the middle war. I worked very hard to keep the Soviets out of Central America by holding the Castro card for most of the early game but he made inroads with (I think) de-colonization anyway. Ken learned quickly about scoring and momentum and adjusted in real time quite nicely, balancing out the VPs mid-way through the middle war and setting up a potentially exciting finish.

Unfortunately it just got too late for both of us (around 11pm or so - we didn't start until after 8pm) so we called it a night. We both look forward to a re-match. I also can't wait to try out the new 1960: The Making of the President...

With a rare free Sunday, the boys and I took the dive into boardgaming again and played Age of Empires III. KC and I did a joint order at Funagain recently and I finally met up with him for lunch on Friday to pick up my games. This was one of them, along with Caylus Magna Carta and To Court the King.

This game ranks pretty low on the complexity scale (compared to other big box games) and pretty high on the fun scale, though it did feel quite a bit like Caylus, Pillars of the Earth, and other games in this genre. The boys are inexperienced enough that they just enjoyed the game. We played this learning game in just over 2 hours, and I won by a healthy margin. The boys will learn to pay more attention to the scoring rounds and getting colonists on the board next time!

Now it will be interesting to try Caylus Magna Carta to see if one scratches the itch better than the other. I love Caylus but it plays too long for most sessions. AoE seems to fit in the 2 hour category just fine, and Magna Carta should as well.

Class started today without a hitch. I opted for Walk the Dogs to keep the first day simple and play something known by about half the class (returning from last year). Next week I think we'll try Tsuro.

Side note - this picture was taken with the iPhone and emailed directly to my Flickr stream - pretty sweet functionality.

Two consecutive Fridays, two consecutive train gaming sessions. How different they can be!

Last Friday I hosted an evening of 18XX gaming, a rare pleasure these days and as satisfying as always. We had enough people to split into two separate games - 18AL and 18Scan. Couldn't talk Jacob into playing this time - he covets his free weekend evenings which is the only time he gets to play video or console games.

Eric has become our 18XX guru in terms of collecting and teaching the games. He led the 18AL game while Matt, George and I struggled through the rules for 18Scan. His version of 18AL is like mine - mostly hand-made but with nice components. Still, it underscores how amazing the productions from John Tamplin at Deep Thought Games are - I hope he continues to do his craftwork.

My impression of 18Scan is that is short, sweet, but has a few more tricky rules than the other short games I've played. I stayed out of some of the initial private company auctions and let Matt and George fight over them, hoping to preserve some cash to get a head start on the public companies.

This strategy served me well - for a while. I think I was probably in the lead for most of the game, but as I hit my certificate limit near the endgame I got a bit restless and did a stock transaction that I was to regret. I sold a share of one of Matt's companies but failed to realize that it wouldn't reduce the share value. His company continued to soar while I gained little to nothing in the transaction. It was an extremely close finish, with Matt edging me out by about 100 Kr and George a bit further behind me. This game took about 4.5 hours to finish, but would likely take 3-3.5 hours if we ever manage to play it again.

Julie's uncle was in town last weekend and we brought out Ticket to Ride: Europe as a gateway / introductory game to teach Bill. He caught on quickly and I think he enjoyed it quite a bit. I pulled out a slim margin win, with Jacob coming in a close second. I was able to focus on eastern Europe without too much distraction, allowing me to finish 5 tickets including a long run.

Look at what jumped out at Jacob today while working in the yard:

Note: I think this is a Cross Spider.

I wasn't at all satisfied with the results of my prior sensor cleaning and was noticing some significant spotting, particularly with some flash shots on my 28-135mm lens. I did some quick tests tonight to confirm the sensor/filter issue and the results confirmed by suspicions.

This was taken with my 30mm:

This with my 28-135mm:

There was a great article in a recent Shutterbug magazine about this very problem and the Dust-Aid product was recommended. It comes in a convenient, easy to carry Band-Aid type metal box and the instructions couldn't have been easier to follow. They even have a disclaimer about Canon filters and say they'll replace it if their product does any damage so I felt confident going into the process. The results were spectacular - I could find no evidence of any dust on the sensor/filter after applying Dust-Aid. The product isn't cheap but I suspect I'll only need to use it every 2 months, so it should last a couple of years. Well worth it so consider it if you are having similar problems.

After cleaning:

I'm doing the game class thing again at school this year. Take a look at the games I used last year and leave comments here with any new suggestions for 2007-2008. Remember, I only have 50 minutes to teach and play the game, so that's a significant constraint. I prefer games that support at least 4 players.