Jacob is getting more and more plays at tight end, and had a great 25 yard touchdown catch and run last week. Both boys' teams are 5-1 going into today's games.

I'll share some more video soon, but Jacob's team had a tough loss to a very strong Westview team on Saturday night and dropped to a 3-1 record. On a brighter note, Matthew's team (that I help coach) is 3-1 having won three straight after an opening loss.

I have a couple of highlight reels to post for Jacob's football so far this weekend. The first one below is a collection of defensive highlights for Jacob, including his first ever ball carry (he's been over the weight limit every prior season so always had to take a knee when recovering the ball). The second one is a game summary from his team's season opener vs. Beaverton put together by another parent.

Both boys are having great seasons. Jacob's team is 2-0 with a home game vs. Hillsboro on Saturday night. Matthew's team is 1-1, having opened his season against a tough Lincoln team that we hope to have a chance to face again in the playoffs. He is playing down in Scappoose on Saturday at noon.

Or at least it seems that way this time of year, though no regrets. My typical day these days: up at 5:30am, carpool downtown at 6:30am, work until about 4pm, then to football practice until 8:30pm. Things will lighten up with school back in - only 3 practices a week. Both boys have their first games tomorrow, schedule:

• Matthew (the game I'm coaching) plays 10am - noon
• Head to Canby to film and scout our next opponent, 2-4pm
• Back home for a quick bite then off to Beaverton to watch Jacob's game under the lights, 7pm-9pm

Then on Sunday I get to help coach a fall baseball game for the boys 4:45pm - 7pm back up in Beaverton. Hopefully will get to do some gaming (of the non-sports type) early Sunday afternoon.

Check back soon for football photos!

I saw Wilco in Bend on Saturday night. Check out some nice photos at this guy's Flickr set. This might be the best concert I've ever seen. The last time I saw Jeff Tweedy live was in the Cicero's basement bar in 1989 while attending Washington University. I will try not to ever miss him again if lands anywhere close to Portland.

I received a (rare) complimentary copy of a game to review - Dragons of Kir (publisher page). Jacob and I sat down to play last week, and here are my thoughts on the game.

Summary: A promising game that suffers from poor components and a turn sequence that I'm afraid will lead far too often to draws. It just doesn't stack up well to other 2 player abstracts on my shelf, notably the GIPF series and Ingenious.

Mechanics: Players alternate placing tiles from their hand on the game board grid to influence the movement of four different dragons. The goal is to have one of the dragons attack your opponent's home base while protecting your own base. The tiles are Asian themed (think Chinese dragons) and usually either draw a dragon closer or push a dragon away, allowing players to force the dragon to approach certain areas of the board.

Components: The game would shine with quality wooden components for the dragons and home bases, but instead the publisher provided scored cardboard to fold and shape into the appropriate pieces. As a publisher I can relate to the manufacturing choice - I'm sure it was a cost factor. The board and tiles are very decent quality.

Thoughts on the Game: Jacob and I played two games, each to draws, and came away feeling a little bored and disappointed. One issue is the player sequence - the first player always places a tile first, followed by the other player. Then the dragons move. This means the second player always gets to respond to the first. I don't like this flow in abstract games - nothing wrong with a first or second player advantage, but the break in flow to move the dragons magnifies the effect throughout the game.

I'm sure if we played several more games we would have found some solid strategies, but in both of our plays (we alternated start player) we found it far too easy for the second player to play defensively and force a draw. If you want a game that involves some randomness with tile draws combined with solid abstract play, stick to Ingenious.

Dave is producing a video journal of our gaming group wargame retreat in Sunriver. I'll arrive late Thursday afternoon.

Next weekend I'll be spending about 3.5 days in Sunriver with Doug and crowd at his "WBC West" event. This will involve mostly wargaming with a little bit of lighter fare thrown in at nights. Doug and I will also be seeing Wilco play in Bend on Saturday night.

Going to an event like this where I'll be playing new (to me) wargames requires some preparation. Two games I want to play are Napoleonic Wars and FAB:Bulge. At a minimum preparation means setting up the game and working through a sample solitaire turn or two, but Jacob's eyes lit up when I suggested we play a wargame on Saturday afternoon / evening. He chose Napoleonic Wars and I set out to read enough of the rules to get us started. I let Jacob play the French - slightly less to manage in a 2 player game as he starts off only controlling France and Spain, while the coalition player runs Russia, Great Britain, and Austria.

As expected the first few rounds were slow going. A round consists of a series of impulses (usually card plays) by each nation in a fixed order. Like many other card-driven games (CDGs), the player usually has the choice of activating an event or playing the card for operation points which can be used for movement, drafting new troops, and influencing diplomatic relations. Jacob turned east from the start, marching Napoleon's army towards Austria. I had to respond by gathering Austrian forces and bringing Russian troops in to reinforce, ultimately joining the Austrians and Russians together in a single army. Meanwhile, the British harassed the French and Spanish in the seas, taking control of the Atlantic and Med by the 3rd round or so.

We got sidetracked later Saturday evening watching the Olympics and resumed our play on Sunday morning. We knew we would get one turn in max after the first turn ended, so when the peace phases came up and we had to choose how many cards to give up to influence the die roll, I had a choice to make. Jacob was in the lead by one point by virtue of a key he took in his last move in Austria and sacrificed a card to add one to the peace roll (if a 6 is rolled on a single D6 the game ends). I could have given up 2 cards from any of the 3 countries I controlled, but opted to give up just a single card and let the die roll, knowing we would have to end the game anyway. Of course a 6 was rolled and the game ended with Jacob victorious - not a satisfying ending but appropriate. We learned enough to get down most of the mechanics and Jacob looks forward to another play. I also still need to introduce him to Hannibal.

The boys and I spent last week (hah! last month - can you tell how long it is taking me to get through the write/edit cycle for posts?) at Camp Gorton on Lake Waneta. We joined up with a local Bath, NY scout troop (Troop 59) and they were great hosts. I was one of the two assigned adult leaders for the troop so I was able to get some great interactions with the boys.

This was Jacob's third summer camp and he decided to focus much of his time on the lifesaving merit badge, arguably one of the most difficult badges to earn in scouting. He had an amazing instructor and loved the experience. This is also a required merit badge for Eagle scout (he will be Life scout by the end of the month) so this puts him on track to finish Eagle by his 15th birthday.

He spent the afternoons earning his rifle shooting and orienteering merit badge. Jacob is a pretty good shot - scouts must demonstrate competence by "qualifying" at the range. Jacob was the first in camp to qualify, doing so on his second day there.

Matthew's schedule mirrored Jacob's - he spent the mornings on the waterfront earning swimming and rowing merit badge, then moving to the archery range in the afternoon followed by 1st aid. Matthew was also the first scout in camp to qualify for archery merit badge, completing his qualification on Wednesday.

Matthew had a doctor teaching his first aid merit badge, a great instructor who was great with kids.

This shot is of the dedication plaque at the archery range. If you look closely, you'll see Lloyd Saxton on it - that's Julie's grandfather. He made a contribution to their fundraising campaign in the 80s and the mark is still there.