Spring is when weather gets dicey here. High wind, flash floods, tornadoes, hail, you name it, start coming out of the woodwork. While it is technically Winter, the weather has been very springlike. Warm and in the 60s/70s. So I guess it is no surprise when one of these babies just pops out of nowhere. It sounded like really strong winds outside. And I was greeted with this image on the radar.
I went to Gumbo’s for lunch today and was met with a traffic jam. Fortunately for me, the car ahead of me was able to pull into the road. And I was able to squeeze into the lane after a couple of cars slowly moved forward. There is a railroad crossing on 620 right next to IH-35. Apparently, there was a gravel train just sitting on the tracks. So I nosed out into the opposite lane and drove a tiny bit until it turned into a turn lane. I then continued into the the shopping center on the other side of Gumbo’s and the train, parked the car, and walked upto the train. Since it was stopped, I hopped across one of the connections and walked the short distance to Gumbo’s. It was nice and quiet there for a while. Until the train finally left.
First up was a two player game of Race For The Galaxy while we waited for Jon to arrive. I started off with the New Sparta home world and a bunch of useless developments. However, I soon drew the New Galactic Order. That was just too tempting not to use. So I spent all of my cards to lay it down. Now I am looking at a +4 on military worlds and no cards in my hand. So I am reduced to trying to draw military worlds. Which, I learned, is hard to do. I certainly suffered for it. I eventually ended up with a +11 military ability, the Galactic Imperium, the Rebel Homeworld, and the Rebel Base. But it was just not enough points for the win.
Next up was an old Avalon Hill game that I just recently came across. I played it during the Lone Star convention and fell in love with it. At least enough in love for the $80 going price for it on eBay. This is a shipping game. But based in space with a Science Fiction theme. It also has a dice component to it. You roll a number of dice that is your engine level. The sum of these dice is how far you can move. And you pick one of the dice as your “navigation number” which is sometimes important along some switching segments. So the randomness of the dice is not that painful usually but it can be critical sometimes. It is more about establishing profitable trade routes. The first person to $2000 will win the game.
So, towards the end of the game, I count up my money and add it to what I will get on the next trade that I will get when I land on the planet. And it comes out to $1999! Argh! One dollar short of victory! If I had only have known on the turn before that I could have traded an artifact in for half value. I also have in front of me two unused I.O.U. chits from way back when I discovered those two civilizations. Sigh. Sadly, this money does not count for the win. Fortunately, Jon finds out that he is also short to win on the next turn.
So it comes back to my turn. I need to roll one 5 on four dice to activate my tele-gate and make it to the planet to trade the goods in for the win. I roll the dice and no 5 is rolled! Argh! Fortunately, I also have the mulligan drive artifact and can re-roll one die. Which comes out a 5!!! Woot! How dramatic of an ending…
We finished up the night with a light dice game to counteract the meaty dice game. Man, its been a while since I have played To Court The King. It seems that the dice god was favoring me tonight. I started off strong and kept progressing up through the levels. I reached the King first and was easily able to roll the best set of numbers for the win.