Most of my modeling energy has been in to some longer term projects I’m working on. So I didn’t get much printed this month.
First up was a modification to my organizer for The Guild of Merchant Explorers. The guy that runs the board-game group was impressed with my design and wanted one for himself, but he puts all his cards in sleeves. So I modified the card trays for sleeved cards and printed him a copy. The modified version is up on MakerWorld with the original.
The cats had an altercation at the window screen the other night and when we came out to investigate (at 2am) we found that the screen had been pushed in ~4-5 inches and the little plastic catch that holds it in place was broken. So apparently a neighborhood cat threw itself at the screen?
So I measured things and designed and printed out little catches that pressure-fit into the jamb opening and hold the screen in place. Seem to work pretty well. I couldn’t get one out when I tried.
Played Heat a couple of times. One loss, one win. I’m enjoying this game much more than I expected to. It’s pretty straightforward to play and there’s no adversarial interactions, but the competitiveness pushes me to play more aggressively than I normally do in games.
I got tagged in to Apiary take over for someone two-thirds through a game at the board-game group. I did not win. It was not what I was expecting from the few times I’ve seen it go by on the Internet. It’s not about being a beekeeper. It is about a far-flung future where bees have evolved sentience and you need to manage a bee spaceship to out-compete the other bee species. I’d play again to at least get the full experience.
Jess and I played Quest 19 of Kinfire Chronicles: Night’s Fall and got drubbed by a dragon. We limped back to town to lick our wounds.
Later we played Quest 9 which went far more successfully. We caught and defeated an illicit arms dealer as the mystery of his customer network deepens.
Got two of my crowdfunding games this month. The first to arrive was Defenders of the Wild. Which in my head is “Everdell goes to war.” You play cooperatively as a confederacy of woodland creatures defending their homes from marauding machines. Played at the board game group with experiences gamers–we lost. And what’s more is none of us had a clear idea what a winning strategy looks like. We were really close to winning at one point though. Need to give it a few more goes to see if I can “figure it out.”
The other crowdfunding game that was delivered in August was Peacemakers: Horrors of War. This one, in my head, is “Everdell tries to stop a war.” You play cooperatively as a team of woodland creatures trying to stop battling tribes from destroying each other. It’s a very unusual game. Your ability to influence things is subtle. You’re looking for opportunities to nudge events just a little in one direction or another in order to create conditions for the warring factions to negotiate a peace.
I played the first scenario two handed (two players, but only me playing) and was able to eek out a victory and get the ocelots and macaws to stop fighting.
The family continued our time-traveling adventure in Escape the Crate: Escape from Sherwood Forest. We successfully completed both chapters and rescued Robin Hood and Little John from the sheriff’s jail.
Before Peacemakers: Horrors of War the publisher released another game Lands of Galzyr which takes place in the same universe. This is a purely story-telling game however. You take on the role of one of 4 woodland creatures making your way through the world. You have a personal quest you’re embarking on but can engage in any number of side quests and narrative vignettes along the way. It’s not a game you win or lose–it’s a game you experience for the joy of the journey.
We played through one session as a family, but with 4 players I think it moves a bit too slowly. I think it would be significantly more enjoyable for everyone to play with no more than 3–and preferably just 2–players.
And finally, on the last day of the month, we played Ex Libris with friends. Jess won again, as usual.
Truth, Lies, and O-rings by Allan McDonald with James Hansen
Allan McDonald’s telling of the events in Morton Thiokol leading up to–and in the aftermath of–the Challenger explosion.
Pretty disheartening to see the blatant disregard for safety issues on a continuing basis. The same culture which appears to have been directly culpable for the Columbia failure 17 years later. Namely, when a disaster was narrowly averted that was internalized to mean something was safe to do rather than “wow, we were lucky, we better make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
The Peace War by Vernor Vinge
After the heavy non-fiction of A Man on the Moon and Truth, Lies, and O-rings I opted for some lighter fare.
I’ve read this before. I find it particularly amusing because the antagonists of the story is the Livermore Energy Lab (a.k.a. LLNL). They’ve imposed a tyrannical peace on the world by sealing away the implements of war.
However, the protagonists disagree on these being a preferable world to live in.
What’s it all About? Philosophy & the Meaning of Life by Julian Baggini
This is a very short introduction to the fundamental concepts in philosophy on the topic of the meaning of life.
Baggini winds up in the position that meaning in life comes from whatever we give it. Which he recognizes can be rather terrifying to some people who want some ultimate purpose handed down from on high.
But he carefully walks through the argument that any meaning tied to an after life just pushes the question without resolving anything.
Marooned in Realtime by Vernor Vinge
Although I had read The Peace War previously, I was not aware there was a sequel until I stumbled on it looking for new reading ideas.
So I grabbed this to read. It certainly takes place in the same fundamental universe, but it’s a completely different kind of story.
While The Peace War is mainly an action/adventure story this is a murder mystery: The death of a woman from natural causes tens of thousands of years ago. How is that murder and why would anyone even care? Guess you’ll have to read it to find out.
The school year started earlier this year so the school district could transition the high schools to a semester schedule (instead of trimesters). This means we had a shortened summer vacation this year, but will get out a couple weeks earlier next summer.
They’re back at it and things seem to be going well.
