Rained-out Cookout a Success
Jun. 26th, 2006 08:47 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ellyssianIt almost slowed down to a trickle at one point - and, at others, the Rachel River ran rampant and Stone Stream surged south (conveniently for the purposes of alliteration, it actually does flow relative north-south.)
And, as they say, the rain couldn't dampen the spirits of the players - mostly because we sat on the porch, stepped out quick to turn, baste, or monitor, and we were, for the most part, dry - except for an excursion or two to see how the river flows, or something like that, where it was determined that it was flowing as class 5 rapids.
Rich - from work - and Chris - formerly from work - were here. Chris cooked some ribs from his grandmother's top-secret recipe and Rich brought a steak. The sausages with peppers and onions met with approval, and, eating one of the two leftover sausages for supper, I discovered they go really well with Bullseye Chipotle barbecue sauce.
We didn't play quoits or kubb on account of the aforementioned downpour(s) so Nine Man Morris, The King and the Knights, and Palenque became the entertainment (Deb and Justin played a hand of Canadian rummy, and Justin also played some Tomb Raider - I think he's in Egypt.)
Rich beat me soundly at both ancient games, and as we turned the table over to Rachel and Chris (I think Rachel won some and Chris one some,) Rich began reading through the instructions for Palenque, a modern game that involves playing the part of a early 20th century archaeologist exploring ancient Mayan ruins. Once we started playing, the game lasted long enough for Chris to come down and join us. After a few hours of finding treasures, getting sent to Xiabalba, and playing Pok-a-tok, Chris had to leave. The gaming continued with Rachel taking over the role of Lady Josephine.
We had to relocate the game when Brandon woke from his nap, moving to the table in the school room after putting away the other games. Still no clear winner in sight. After another few hours, Justin joined us as the fourth player - we still weren't that far ahead that he was at any horrible disadvantage. More gameplay, more time.
Palenque is a beautiful game and a lot of fun, but it takes a serious time investment. Maybe 13 to 40,000 years, and we might come up with a winner. Finally called it quits when we realized it was starting to get dark, and with the rain that means less than safe driving conditions on country roads. Rich and I tied it out with 4 out of 6 treasures each. By that time, we had worked through all the temple cards, so no more getting sacrificed in the cenote or sent to the ball court (the former where you automatically sat out a turn, the latter where you sat out a turn after failing to trounce your opponent by being the first to roll - or avoid rolling - a certain number combination using two dice) so for the last half hour or so, the game did move fairly quickly.
Except for the circling temple thing. Or worse, overshooting it.
Definitely had fun with the gaming though. Hmmmm... maybe I'll come up with a quick D&D scenario - something that can be played in a few hours - and run it for one of the future cookouts... been a while since I last did that (stuffed shells & The Temple of Elemental Evil... =)
Maybe that would work best for one/more of the winter dinners... can't hope for it to rain at every cookout! =)
And, as they say, the rain couldn't dampen the spirits of the players - mostly because we sat on the porch, stepped out quick to turn, baste, or monitor, and we were, for the most part, dry - except for an excursion or two to see how the river flows, or something like that, where it was determined that it was flowing as class 5 rapids.
Rich - from work - and Chris - formerly from work - were here. Chris cooked some ribs from his grandmother's top-secret recipe and Rich brought a steak. The sausages with peppers and onions met with approval, and, eating one of the two leftover sausages for supper, I discovered they go really well with Bullseye Chipotle barbecue sauce.
We didn't play quoits or kubb on account of the aforementioned downpour(s) so Nine Man Morris, The King and the Knights, and Palenque became the entertainment (Deb and Justin played a hand of Canadian rummy, and Justin also played some Tomb Raider - I think he's in Egypt.)
Rich beat me soundly at both ancient games, and as we turned the table over to Rachel and Chris (I think Rachel won some and Chris one some,) Rich began reading through the instructions for Palenque, a modern game that involves playing the part of a early 20th century archaeologist exploring ancient Mayan ruins. Once we started playing, the game lasted long enough for Chris to come down and join us. After a few hours of finding treasures, getting sent to Xiabalba, and playing Pok-a-tok, Chris had to leave. The gaming continued with Rachel taking over the role of Lady Josephine.
We had to relocate the game when Brandon woke from his nap, moving to the table in the school room after putting away the other games. Still no clear winner in sight. After another few hours, Justin joined us as the fourth player - we still weren't that far ahead that he was at any horrible disadvantage. More gameplay, more time.
Palenque is a beautiful game and a lot of fun, but it takes a serious time investment. Maybe 13 to 40,000 years, and we might come up with a winner. Finally called it quits when we realized it was starting to get dark, and with the rain that means less than safe driving conditions on country roads. Rich and I tied it out with 4 out of 6 treasures each. By that time, we had worked through all the temple cards, so no more getting sacrificed in the cenote or sent to the ball court (the former where you automatically sat out a turn, the latter where you sat out a turn after failing to trounce your opponent by being the first to roll - or avoid rolling - a certain number combination using two dice) so for the last half hour or so, the game did move fairly quickly.
Except for the circling temple thing. Or worse, overshooting it.
Definitely had fun with the gaming though. Hmmmm... maybe I'll come up with a quick D&D scenario - something that can be played in a few hours - and run it for one of the future cookouts... been a while since I last did that (stuffed shells & The Temple of Elemental Evil... =)
Maybe that would work best for one/more of the winter dinners... can't hope for it to rain at every cookout! =)
