For the first time in many moons I hosted a game night on Tuesday night and had a strong turnout of six people. Steel Driver was the top priority for the night and it supports six we gave it a run. This is one of the latest Martin Wallace releases in the Treefrog Games line and was a surprise Essen release. You can get a more detailed write-up of this session from Mike.

None of us really had a clue on the tradeoffs of various decisions, especially what impact the final cube delivery would have on scores. This was amplified by having six players which at times led to feelings of lack of control. There's a great game in here and I really look forward to playing it with 3-4 players. I suspect I'll play it a few times at BGG.CON.

Dominion has been on my mind lately and I've played it four times in 5 days (all face-to-face - none of that BSW for me, thank you). We broke it out after Steel Driver finished on Tuesday and played two concurrent games. 4 of my 5 games have been with the suggested initial Kingdom card sets and lately I've been toying with a strategy focusing on mining copper-->silver-->gold and buying high victory point cards whenever possible. It didn't really work, possibly because I got a little sidetracked with Remodeling. JD wiped the floor with us using a Market strategy to chain actions and cards, running through much of his deck on each turn.

After Matthew's basketball practice tonight Jacob, Matthew and I played two more games. In the first Jacob and I did the mine strategy and it worked very well for him, miserably for me. Maybe it was just bad luck, but I think it needs refinement.

We then played our first game with the "Big Money" suggested card set and I did much better. I focused on the Moneylender to cycle coppers out of my deck and purchase silver/gold early on. I also picked up a couple of Chapels to allow me to dump the Moneylenders when their work was done. The result was hand draws about every other turn allowing me to buy many victory points. Yeah!

This is a great game and the boys seem more turned on by it than they were with Race for the Galaxy, which is saying a lot. We'll see if the thrill wears off after many more plays at BGG.CON and my upcoming gaming weekend at Salishan.

The season wrapped up for both boys on Saturday with dramatic victory for one young man and a heartbreaking loss for the other.

Jacob's team faced their nemesis - a Westview team that handed them their only loss of the year earlier in the season. This team was so confident that some of the players on the other team were spotted wearing "10-0" t-shirts that some brilliant parent must have had printed before the championship game.

Jacob caught a TD pass late in the second half that put Sherwood up 16-7 and they never looked back, winning 48-20 in a dominant display of offense and defense that had their opponents completely demoralized by midway through the 3rd quarter. This is a great way for Jacob to finish up his youth football career - now it is on to high school ball!

Matthew's team (that I help coach) wasn't so fortunate. We also faced our nemesis - a Lincoln team that beat us 34-12 in our first game of the season. In game with driving rain and high winds, it boiled down to a defensive showdown and was scoreless at the end of regulation. In the second overtime, the start Lincoln tailback broke free for a 13 yard touchdown run and the game (and season) were over. The team outplayed themselves and stood up to a team that thought they had an easy walk to the championship. Our defense held them to 61 total yards in the game (including the 2 overtimes) and held their heads high in defeat.

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.