Idle Hands

Social Distancing has us both in Pennsylvania now, so we've been knocking out some fun projects.  Just before we were all quarantined, Tim ran "Chain of Command" at DAWG.  It was the first day of the first Battle of Kharkov.  The Germans were pushing toward Kharkov against a determined Soviet defense.  Play-testing allowed for a very balance game, but some really bad rolls kept the Germans from getting anywhere.  Tim is planning on this being the first of three Battles of Kharkov in a campaign.

To that end, Tim has been spending his quarantine-time painting Russian countryside and city buildings!  He's enjoying painting the bricks, particularly!

Tim left Wendy's Vikings in DC, so she doesn't have any figures to paint.  She has gone back to the gold old days and begun a cross-stitch project that she's had in her stash for more years than she's willing to admit.

Tim and Wendy decided to skip Cold Wars this year.  We were registered and very much looking forward to it since we missed Fall-In.  Alas - having a person in the house with severe health concerns kept us home. While we love the conventions, we just couldn't risk it for Alex's sake. We understand it went well, although not well-attended (as can be expected).  So far, we have heard that Historicon is still on, but we will be playing it by ear as July draws closer.

As far as board games go -- Tim, Wendy, and  Alex played a fun little game of Mission Command the other night.  It's a simple board game that we all enjoy when we have a small amount of time.  Wendy had terrible rolls and was out of the game fairly quickly - even with having her planes shot up as much as they could without leaving the game.

The big gaming news in the house is that Alex is streaming nightly on Twitch and developing a small following.  He's been streaming Disco Elysium, Hades, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, and (most frequently) Wizard of Legend.  Please check him out at 8pm every night! He's has a great interaction with his audience! http://twitch.tv/Kuthillick.  AND - if you buy online games, consider going through his Humble account.  Half of any commission he earns goes to the JDRF to help us find him a cure for Type 1 diabetes!

We are looking forward to getting out a few board games over the next couple of weekends!  Pandemic, of course, is a must, and we may try to get Scythe out so that Tim and Alex can teach Wendy.

Wishing you Happy Social Distancing and PLEASE stay well!!

NEWS: Update

The last couple of  months have been very, very hectic and ... not so great.  The good news is that most of the contractors are out of the house and we hope to be listing it soon.  We MAY be able to host a game or two here and there. Stay tuned.

Our holidays were very subdued this year, so gaming has been at a minimum as a whole. We ended up skipping Barrage, Fall-In, and a Baltimore area Lard America day to focus on the house and family. We've also missed hosting games and seeing our friends at DAWG.  We haven't been completely idle, though, when it comes to gaming...

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Boardgames

When our daughter visits, Tim and she have been playing a LOT of Terraforming Mars. They picked up the expansion for a Christmas gift. We've also been playing a lot of  Betrayal at Baldur's Gate (the Baldur's Gate edition of Betrayal at House on the Hill) as a family.  We introduced our son's friend to it and had so much fun! We much prefer the Baldur's Gate edition, as they took some of the things we didn't like in the original game and fixed them.  Some of the scenarios are still a little unbalanced, but overall, it's much better.  We've also been playing Settler's of Catan (always good to go back to the basics).

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Miniatures
We have been to a few of the Delaware Area Wargaming Group (DAWG) events and, as always, they measure up to a great time! We also went to "A Bridge Too Lard" in the fall and had a blast.  We even ended the evening with a curry, in true Lardie fashion. 

Tim has been vigilantly painting his 28mm Saxons for dark ages skirmish games. Once Wendy finishes her Vikings, we have a lot of rules sets ready and waiting!  

World Famous!
Did you know that Tim and Wendy are now World Famous??? We were fortunate enough to be interviewed at Historicon this past summer for the Too Fat Lardies Oddcast. You can hear the interview at https://toofatlardies.libsyn.com/toofatlardies-oddcast-22.  We start at approximately 035:40.

AND... Wendy was in two pictures for the November issue of Wargames Illustrated.  Check out the article "Red Bull and Laughing Gas" about Howard Whitehouse and Jeff Wasileski's fun and raucous games at Historicon each year! You can see more about it on Jeff's Facebook post here:https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10215195772393804&set=a.1628009306279&type=3&theater

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Slightly Off-Topic

On to other interesting news that is tangential to our tabletop hobby.  Our son has decided to start streaming his online gaming.  While many of you are tabletop die-hards, you may have friends or family who play Path of Exile, Wizard of Legend, Darkest Dungeon, Smash Brothers Project M, and Pokemon Sword and Shield.  Please spread the word to those who enjoy watching game-play streams.  Alex's foci are on viewer interaction and explanations and tutorials as requested. You can catch him at 8pm Eastern Time most nights on http://Twitch.tv/kuthillick.  Be sure to also check out his YouTube videos at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7qjDpO2-mCYf5Fk5twk9BA. Stream updates, highlights, and other videos can be found his Twitter account:  http://twitter.com/kuthillick.

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Future Gaming
We are looking forward to some future events:

• Friday, January 17th - DAWG is running What a Tanker! by Too Fat Lardies.  If you're interested, please let Jim know ASAP by going to their Facebook Group and messaging him.
• March 12th - 15th - Cold Wars will be held at the Wyndham Lancaster Resort and Convention Center.  From the outside, it looks like Wyndham may have actually done the place up right. The PEL is supposed to go out today and online registration is to open January 27th. 
• May 2nd - Pickett's Lard II in Gettysburg (or... Littlestown, PA).  Details are still coming in for that.  If you're interested, keep checking out the calendar on here... I'll update it as I get more information.

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That wraps up our long overdue update.  Keep checking in - we really hope to host an event in February, if not at the house, then at some other location TBD. Don't forget to tell us about your own game days so that we can add them to the calendar.

Happy Gaming!