The Caffeinated Penguin

Posted By matt on March 10, 2008

GPS Stats:

Distance: 636.67 miles
Overall Avg: 60.5 m/h
Moving Avg: 63.5 m/h
Total Time: 10:31
Moving Time 10:01
Max Speed: 89.3 m/h*
Stopped: 29:49

• = Some Quebecois in a minivan decided to try and pass me on the right. I didn't take kindly to that.

Total fuel consumption was about 16 gallons (I say about because I tanked up on the way down, but not on the way back).

Thursday:

I rolled in about 3:30, checked in, found my friends, got all the registration stuff out of the way, and then we went out to for supper. Came back, played some Spirit of the Century (pirate themed). We picked up a couple of additional friends, did on the fly character creation, and this time I just kind of rolled with it – I let the players use their ideas an run their own narration, and really just kind of stayed out of it. It worked well.

My folks ended up being delayed, so they weren't there that night.

Friday:

I had a morning modern armor game using this fellow's homebrew system. It worked really well, an I've asked him to send me a copy. It is nice, balanced, and simple. My big takeaway was how nice hex terrain systems like GHQ's Terrain Maker works for microarmor. See, no ground is truly flat. When using 25mm men, it's no big deal – the variations in the ground over that scale are so small that it doesn't really matter. However, when using 6mm scale, you should see more variations than just a blanket with some scattered hills.

After my game, I decided to go shopping, so I went back to my room and grabbed my jacket. On my way out, I see my folks checking in. I help them bring in their stuff, and then my Dad and I wander through about half the convention hall, and notice a couple selling Hot Wire Foam Factory foam cutters. This has me thinking – the problem with the hex terrain is that it is $14 a sleeve, and you'll need about 5 sleeves (at a minimum) to do a table. So, I can buy some of those, or I can buy a bunch of sheet polystyrene and cut my own hexes. So, I leave to think about it.

We head over to the flea market, and.. SCORE! Some dude is selling sleeves of these hexes for $5 per. So, I take the lot. Then he says “I've got a whole second box full of hexes, and some of them are finished”. Sweet! So, I take all those too. Now, I need to build a retaining frame, because otherwise they tend to spread out as you play.

I stop by my room, drop off that stuff, grab some lunch, say goodbye to my Dad (he wants to go grab a nap), and I head to my afternoon game – an introductory game of Full Thrust. Problem is, no one shows up. So, the GM gives me a grounding of the rules, and we wait. Then I have an idea – I go grab my Mom and my friends, who are getting out of a game. This gives us enough folks to run the scenario, and play a fine game of Full Thrust.

After that, we grab some chow, and head over to where my friend Leo was supposed to be running a game, and no one showed up. So, we start to play. It is now about 9:00, and for some reason, I'm really tired. So, I beg off, and head back to my room. On the way, I find a gold coin, one of many which have been scattered throughout the hotel.

And then the food poisoning sets in.

Apparently, the beef jerky I had brought (mine, from home) was actually a bit too old. Now, two year old beef jerky is not necessarily bad. However, when it is in a transparent canister left on the counter next to the stove, it may not be as good as it should be. Note to self – date jerky and throw out when it is over a year old.

Needless to say, I did not sleep very well that night, as I kept having to run to the bathroom.

Saturday:

I skipped breakfast and my folks brought me a fruit plate and some yogurt (yogurt is very good for stomach issues), and that settled me for most of the day. I went to the flea market again (it rotates once on Friday, twice on Saturday, and once on Sunday) and found someone selling the boxed set of VOR, which I grabbed for the cool minis, the boxed set of Babylon 5 wars (with some extra minis), some Full Thrust minis, and 2 introductory boxed sets for Battlefleet Gothic. This gives me piles of ships for Full Thrust.

I also went to the dealer's area, perused the rest, and picked up the aforementioned foam cutter and also picked up some flock and turf made by a company called (of all things) Flock and Turf, which is about half the price of Woodland Scenics' products. I turn in my gold coin and get a “goodie bag” containing lots of interesting things, including a $10 gift cert to The War Store. However, I can't seem to find the war store in the dealer's area.

I had some more fruit for lunch, and went down to hang out with my friends who were playing a couple of games next to each other. At this point, I was feeling surprisingly better, so when my friend Al's game finished up, we headed to the Battletech room and joined their grinder, and played that for a bit.

And then the power went out for three hours.

I grabbed some chow, before it all got cold. I had flashlights, and we had some natural light, so we hung out in my room an chatted for a bit.

Then the power came back on, and we went and played some 7th sea, with my Dad taking the win.

We call it a night, and though the night I sleep better than I did the previous night, and I realize that my stomach still isn't right. So, in order to be able to make the 5 hour drive home, I forgo breakfast the Sunday morning and drink only minimal fluids. This is not the most comfortable situation, as I am effectively fasting and dehydrating myself, but it works. I stop by the dealer's hall and try to find the war store (this time, with the aid of the program which shows the location of all the dealer areas). No luck.. but, I find my friend Al, who knows the guy and leads me right to them. Cool. I needed some dice, so I buy a bunch for the $10 from the gift cert.

Then I get in the car and drive home. Straight through, one shot, no stops.

I get back and Liz makes me some lemonade with a little salt in it to help replace the electrolytes I've lost, then food, a nap, etc. After last night, my stomach still isn't right, so I called in sick to work, slept until noon, and have been taking it easy and drinking plenty of water. Liz got me some Pepto after she got off work, so we'll see how it goes.

Category: LJ Import
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