Pot33pouri

The run through of Harran prior to Fiasco came to a conclusion with the Saracens being driven off, unwilling to gamble their last morale chips (can't remember if this bit is in James' write-up) and settling for a simple defeat rather than an overwhelming one. I spoke too soon when I referred to my luck with the cards. I turned a March card with an extra segment for cavalry and then rolled up three segments increased to four by the card. This enabled me to push my flanking cavalry over the river poised to sweep down on the crusaders. Sadly however, that was that. No more March cards were turned leading to the invaders own flanking forces grinding me down in melee (repeatedly because I kept rallying back) until I ran out of morale chips. Naturally James has changed the scenario again prior to the show, but as with any game using his figures it will definitely be well worth coming along to see.

There has also been boardgaming. A couple of rounds of Blood Bound followed by Dead of Winter. I rather liked the first and rather didn't like the second. Blood Bound is another of the Werewolves/Resistance/Coup type of deduction and bluffing game and works well. At least it does when participants don't do what I did and misunderstand the hierarchy. I sacrificed myself nobly in the cause of our clan only to find out to my surprise that I was in fact the leader. Dead of Winter is a zombie killing game so that's one reason for disliking it. It's semi co-operative and that's another reason. It does have some nice mechanics, especially the Crossroads Cards drawn by one of the non-players each turn which add both uncertainty and narrative context and it passed the time until we all died and the zombies won. But it's not really my cup of tea.

What is definitely my cup of tea is the blues; as in "I woke up this morning, my woman done left me". I have been to see Thieving Lloyd Cole and was very impressed with their delta blues virtuosity, especially the shit hot guitarist. One can't beat a bit of Howlin' Wolf on a Saturday night (and I'm well aware that the above clip is Katchaturian via Dave Edmunds rather than Robert Johnson via Chicago - but it does illustrate my point about their technical ability). If it all seems out of place in a pub in Ilkley one should remember that Jimi Hendrix also played a pub in Ilkley until the Old Bill stopped the concert. True story.