A Triumph 32 Years in the Making!

Drakkhen is about as unforgiving a game as you'll find. Touch a gravestone and a horrific, invincible monster emerges from the underworld to destroy you. Step on a flashing road and a dragon god comes down and rips you to shreds. Take an idle step into any body of water and you drown in seconds. Hell, even the constellations in the night sky sometimes coalesce into living creatures and attack you. We're talking Oregon Trail-level dangers here, people!

Well, approximately 32 years after playing Drakkhen for the first time and experiencing death in all its many, many forms, I've completed the game on my spiffy new Evercade. I expect a return trip to the world of Drakkhen sooner than later, however, as Nathaniel is already talking about starting it over so that he, Matthew, and I can all play through it together.

Made It to Willamette Valley!

For the first time ever, we've won a game of Oregon Trail. A measles-ridden Amy was our only survivor, but she made it all the way to Willamette Valley, Oregon. Once again, I died from dysentery -- which has been my fate in every single game we've played!

Tanks

Tanks is a hot new World War II miniatures skirmish game from Gale Force Nine. People usually describe it as Star Wars: X-Wing but with tanks instead of spaceships. Indeed, the mechanics are similar enough that if you know how to play X-Wing, you basically know how to play Tanks.

Here's a look at all the goodies that come in the box...

As you can see, the models come unpainted and unassembled, which is great for artistically-inclined Warhammer 40k fans, but not so great for folks (like yours truly) who prefer their games to be playable right out of the box. In any case, a core set gives you enough bits to build two American tanks (Shermans) and one German tank (Panther). Other tanks (including those from the UK and the USSR) are available in reasonably-priced expansion sets.

And now a closer look at one of the two identical sprues containing the Sherman pieces...

Finally, here's an image of one of the sprues that contains the pieces you can use to build either a standard Panther or a Jagdpanther...

Amy and the boys come back tomorrow after a week-long trip to Los Angeles, and I can't wait to introduce them to Tanks...as well as Oregon Trail! How about that? Two games to help teach the boys about history!

Oregon Trail!

As a Gen-X kinda guy, I have fond memories of playing Oregon Trail on Apple II computers in elementary school. Now, as if in answer to a prayer I didn't know I'd made, there's an Oregon Trail card game!

As you can see, the design adheres to the old-timey graphics of the '80s computer game. I picked up a copy (it's a Target exclusive) on my lunch hour today, and I can't wait to play it with Amy and the boys. Amy, sadly, does not share my enthusiasm. She had never heard of this game. What the hell were they teaching in those snooty California private schools, anyway? Where else were kids going to learn about dying of dysentery?