Walkenhorst & Porter: No Abandon

Bob Walkenhorst (seated in the pic) is one of the best lyricists America has, bar none, and he lives right here in KC. Spyder and I have been occasional attenders at his shows at the Record Bar, where he usually takes the stage with guitarist and song-writer Jeff Porter. Bob was the lead singer/writer for The Rainmakers, which had a few hits back in the 80's. More than that, Bob is an essential mid-Western voice, and his songs are often filled with historical references. He also sings about love in a way that is full of heart and emotion, without being sappy.

The wonderful news is that Bob and Jeff have a new CD, called "No Abandon." The title track has one of my favorite song lines of all time:

I'm in the kitchen of creation
Rattlin' the pots and pans.

Here's a review of the cd, which says it much better than I can. And go to this Myspace page for more info and a few title tracks.

First ever Ebay win.

I have never been good at the whole ebay auction thing. Those last two minutes are a killer, and I am really too cheap to go all the way for the win. So when I saw this:



I thought cool, I could never afford the paper version (goes for around $150 these days--rare book.) The start bid was under $10, so I thought, I'll put in one bid, let it ride, lose, and forget about it. But lo and behold, I open my email this am and find out I bought the thing. For under $10. And the shipping is free on this one, which is a benny. So I gave Spyder $10 of my sidejob money so it would not come out of the house budget.

This is cool because Alien and Aliens are my favorite SF movies of all time, even 25 years later. Here's a couple images from the cd:





Oh, and notice that insignia with the eagle's head screaming down onto the planet surface? yeah, I have that patch. Geeky or what?

If you want the cd for youself, it's for sale ($12.99 plus $3.50 shipping) here.

More BSG game goodness for late this year

Fantasy Flight Games is capitalizing on the success of their Battlestar Galactica game (and tapping back into my paycheck.) There is an expansion coming that they're calling the "Pegasus Expansion." More characters, 3-d basestars, 2 add-on boards (the Pegasus and New Caprica) and more. Go to BBG to read up on it. Here's a (small) pic of the box art:

Is it still 1/2 Price Books if you buy twice as much?

Half Price Books is my bane. Not only do they get me on books, they also have used board games. Believe it or not, I did not own a copy of Scrabble, but I do now. Got it for $4.50. The best SCORE of all, though, was a totally unpunched copy of the 50th Year version of Diplomacy for around $10:



And I could have had this game for $7.50, but I passed because I was pretty sure Spyder would not approve...

Flower Wars

That's what the folks in Central Mexico called their military conflicts. They were not about killing (well, not immediately) but about getting captives for the continual sacrifices required by their gods. What a perfect theme for a game! Of course, I had to have it, if I could get it cheap, that is. I found an unpunched copy on the web for $15 but shipping brought it up to almost &25. Anyway, what got me on this one was the art on the board and pieces. Here's the sales pitch on posted on the Geek:

"You are the emperor of one of four great fifteenth century peoples that resided in the valleys of Mexico - Aztecs, Toltecs, Chichimecs, or Tepanecs. Your goal is to appease the god of creation, Quetzalcoatl, before his enemy, the god of night, Tezcatlipoca destroys the universe. Players gather finances enabling them to plan battles, organize expeditions, forge alliances, build cities, and instigate revolts, all to gain sacrifice points for the gods..."

Here's a few pics:

I am jazzed

After losing an Ebay fight, I found someone willing to sell this game for a reasonable price on Boardgamegeek. Microgames had a heyday back when I was in high school, and I played Melee and Ogre, but I totally missed this one. But how can I pass up a game that includes a mastadon hunt? Or stealing another tribe's women? It even has goats! So yeah, the mid-life crisis continues...

Games with No Boxes

So I've been going through all the games I have where the boxes died, and I just threw the parts in a box. Yesterday I got a plastic tote box at Big Lots to hold it all. I am doing an inventory to see if can get these games playable. I have had pretty good success so far, thanks to the wonderful internets.

Fortress America: This game is "Red Dawn" for gamers. It's right-wing paranoia in a box. The game plays wonderfully, the components are great, and the theme is a hoot. Essentially, it 's the the US vs. the evil commie furners, and we have space based lasers! USA! USA! USA! Milton Bradley put it out in the mid-80's. I had lost the Rule book, the Partisan Card deck, the storage trays, and the Control/Battle markers. Thanks to Boardgamegeek, I got the rules and the card deck. Not mint, but print-and-play. I also made a set of square Control/Battle counters.



Here's a pic of the game in action:



Shogun: (also called "Samurai Swords," because of copyright issues with James Clavell's "Shogun.") Another MB Battle Master game. This is a Risk-like game, but with bells and whistles that make feel like a Kurasawa movie. And the board looks great when all the little ashigaru and samurai and castles are in place. Me and my SCA buddies would play this in the evenings, after a day of bashing each other on the tournament field. Good times... I have all the stuff for this one except the foam planning and storage trays, the Battle counters, and half of the 12-sided dice. You really must have planning trays for this one, so I am making some out of cardstock and wood strips.



And the game in play:



Cry Havoc: This is a man-to-man medieval wargame, with tons of counters and some really cool maps. Basically a miniatures game in board game form. Nothing missing that I know of from this one, except the box.



Seige: A sequel to Cry Havoc. Got everything but the box.


Conquest: This was one of the first "real" games I ever played. It's chess, but with a cool map and elephants and ships that chariots that can carry your infantry around. (Sadly, I just read that the inventor, Donald Benge, died a year or two ago in a car wreck.) The board needs a little tape, and I need to check that all the pieces are in the bag, but I have all the rules and the "Puzzle Book" that came witht the game. This one brings back good memories of me and my brother and cousins playing this on rainy days.