MINI WARGAMING: "Epic-Armageddon Returns!" (20 January 2008)

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TOP: Epic-Armageddon, being played locally AGAIN!

Hi All,

Yesterday I was cruising around town with some rare free time and I stopped by A-1 Comics, a local gaming shop, to visit with my buddies and get in a board game or two when I saw a rare and very welcome sight:

Epic-Armageddon was being played AGAIN!

TOP: A 6mm sci-fi Eldar army masses for an assault.

I was pretty happy about that being that Epic-Armageddon (E-A) is one of my favorite games and both players are friends of mine, another welcome sight.

TOP: Eric "Chern" Royer, Space Marine Chapter Master.

TOP: Aaron Morneau, Master Eldar Tactician.

Aaron is talking about creating a local E-A league and he and Eric were giving E-A a spin to re-evaluate it ...after all this time. Aaron is also interested in playing Battlefleet Gothic again... Both of which are fine by me since I have un-loved painted miniatures for both games that would love to see action again!

TOP: A fourteen-year-old Space Marine bunker!

Eric made it while in the U.S. Navy.

Eric is still maintaining his wonderful web site for those interested in a variety of cool materials for Epic-Armageddon and the Babylon-5 space games.

Link here:
http://home.comcast.net/~epicarmycard/Main%20Page/Main.htm

A link to all of the photos I took of the game:

http://s44.photobucket.com/albums/f23/Maksim-Smelchak/Gaming-2008/Epic-Armaggeddon_1-19-2008_/

Good news for the 6mm sci-fi scene!

Have a great Sunday!

And if you're a Yank, enjoy the three-day MLK Day weekend!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

Notes regarding photos / pictures / videos: These are not all my images and videos. I am using various images and videos from around the web, mostly from public sources and/or private sources used with permission. I have tried to include only images and videos under public domain, creative commons, or fair use. If I have inadvertently violated any copyrights, please inform me and I will remove your image/s (...if it is indeed an infringement).

MINI WARGAMING: 6mm Zombies & Ork Bommaz!

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TOP: Ork Bommaz lumber through the skies of Aeronautica Imperialis!

Hi All,

Lots of good news for the 6mm gamer this week:

1. 6mm Zombies!

2. 6mm Ork Bommaz!

3. 6mm Ork Bommz!

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1. 6mm Zombies!

Warmaster Nice of The Epic Lounge shared some great photos of the new 6mm zombies coming out for the Exodus Wars 6mm sci-fi miniatures line:

TOP: Exodus Wars' upcoming 6mm zombies by Warmaster Nice!

I got a chance to breeze through the Epicomms forums earlier this week (Link on tight sidebar) and found the above photos of cool 6mm zombies from my buddy, Warmaster Nice. Exodus Wars is using that wonderful sculptor, Bob Naismith, as is Dark Realm Miniatures. These 6mm zombies have wonderful character although some miniatures gamers don't like the high proportion of "child zombies" or "zombie hobbits" in the forthcoming unreleased pack.

Please take a gander at Warmaster Nice's wonderful Epic site if you get a chance:

http://www.mustangsalling.dk/epiclounge.html

And keep checking out the Exodus Wars site for when the new 6mm zombies release:

http://www.exoduswars.com/

And speaking of 6mm zombies, I posted about the 6mm Irregular "Riot Pack" with a photo way back in 2006. Find the post here:

http://6mm-minis.blogspot.com/2006/07/mini-wargaming-6mm-zombies.html

I can think of one other source for 6mm zombies off the top of my head: "Z scale" railroad figures. They make good civilians or, with a little "graveyard skin pallor," make good zombies as well.

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2. 6mm Ork Bommaz!

TOP: The sculpts really remind me of the WWII German Me-323 Gigant.

Forgeworld came out with no less than three different sculpts for their new Ork Bomma... and they're all magnificent! Apparently all three sculpts have mix and match pieces to increase the amount of variety available. They're more than a bit pricey at 12 Pounds Sterling each (...Roughly twenty-four US Dollars), but they're unique sculpts with lots of character.

TOP: There's an option to picture the Bomma...

...with Bommz being dropped out the back end!

Reminds me of C-130s dropping Daisy Cutters in 'Nam.

And way back around the time Epic-Armageddon was being playtested, I built some of my own Ork Bommaz for the playtest version of Ork Bommas, which were later removed from the game. Typical GW, first they come up with a wonderful idea, then cut it out of the game and then bring it back again. Experimental rules for the Ork Bomma in Aeronautica Imperialis (...but not Epic-Armageddon) are available from Forgeworld. I couldn't find any painted photos of my home-made version, but I did find a work bench shot:

TOP: My home-made Ork Bommas built several years ago.

It's made from a BFG Ork Ramship with Ork Fighta wings and 1/285 GHQ ordinance. I built half a dozen variants of this model, which happily bombed Chern's Space Marines to oblivion back in the good ol' days of Epic-Armageddon.

You can check out the Aeronautica Imperialis line from Forgeworld here:
http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/acatalog/Aeronautica_Imperialis.html

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3. 6mm Ork Bommz!

TOP: 6mm Ork Bommz from Forgeworld!

Forgeworld has also come out with an ordinance set for the Ork Flyaz from the Aeronautica Imperialis game. It's a bit pricey at 10 Pounds Sterling (...Roughly twenty US Dollars), but where else can you find goofy Ork Bommz?

As always, Forgeworld can be found here:

http://www.forgeworld.co.uk/

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Have a great Saturday!

And Shabbat Shalom if you're one of my Jewish readers!

Shabbat Shalom,

Maksim-Smelchak.

Notes regarding photos / pictures / videos: These are not all my images and videos. I am using various images and videos from around the web, mostly from public sources and/or private sources used with permission. I have tried to include only images and videos under public domain, creative commons, or fair use. If I have inadvertently violated any copyrights, please inform me and I will remove your image/s (if it is indeed an infringement).

TELEVISION: "Babylon 5: Crusade" = A Bomb!

Hi Everyone!

Happy first day of Spring!

Of course, we have rain around these here parts, but it's nice to have rain nevertheless.

Well, yesterday, I finally finished the last episode of "Babylon 5: Crusade" and I can unabashedly say: "It was terrible! It had a lot of promise, but met very little of it."

My friend Eric "Chern" Royer lent me his "Crusade" DVD set after having gotten me into the "Babylon 5" Universe last year when he started playing all of the various "Babylon 5" starship games from Mongoose Publishing in the UK. And "Babylon 5" is a very interesting sci-fi universe. The original series held onto five seasons very well with only a minor decline of my interest occuring during the last season. "Crusade" was set to be a spin-off and took off where the "Babylon 5" plot line left off. After seeing "Babylon 5," I had some pretty high expectations for "Crusade," which were categorically not met.

A Mongoose Publishing link (they own the B5 gaming franchise at the moment):
http://www.mongoosepublishing.com/

Here are some PROs, things that "Crusade" had going for it:
- Good continuity and the plot had a good lead from "Babylon 5."
- Interesting characters based on fantasy RPG archtypes (Wizard, thief, cleric, fighter, etc.).
- The good writing of Straczynski who can spin a pretty good yarn.

The plot and storyline were very good and led off right from where the end of "Babylon 5" left it: Drakh plague has infected the Earth and the crew of the Excalibur must search the universe to find a cure to the plague while pursuing the Drakh. And the pilot episode did a great job of keeping to the plotline. It was from there that the show became increasingly disjointed... maybe I want to say discombobulated... often focusing on a single character with very little play between the cast and crew of the Excalibur. A number of episodes focussed on the audience-favorite character Galen, the technomage, which left most of the other characters in the lurch.

The fantasy archtypes that Straszynski used could have worked if he had kept to the fantasy convention of having a "dungeon party." Instead the crew are split up into episodes with little interaction between them and little to no attention to drama and the intercharacter romances / fights that keep a series alive. In the series' defence, TNT cut funding very early and wanted more Hollywood (read sex scenes and the like) than Strascynski wanted to give them. TNT also apparenty rearranged the epsiodes out of the order that Straszynski wanted. That could explain some of the disjointed feel of the series. I give Straczynski credit though. He seems like a pretty likeable fellow.

Here are some of the CONs that killed "Crusade":
- Terrible music by Evan Chen that killed the mood as often as not.
- A second-rate stable of actors including Gary "Lumberg" Cole of "Office Space."
- Poor plot continuity... it weaved all over the place.
- No romantic triangles... in fact, the cast suffered from a shortage of females.
- An alien shortage as well...

Probably the #1 problem with "Crusade" was the MUSIC. Evan Chen was hired to give a sort of "East / West fusion" to the soundtrack and instead what I got from the soundtrack were the crazy clanging drums of classical Chinese playhouses. And such music can work in certain situations, but NOT in the midst of a romance scene or a rooting out of the mysteries of the universe. Imagine: smooch, smooch, oh... CLANG, CLANG, CLANG! Instead we ended up with a phallic spaceship wandering the universe to the clang of funny drums...

The cast was the other big problem. Second-tier actors were hired, which might have worked, but it didn't. Gary Cole, probably best known for playing "Lumberg" in the comedy hit "Office Space" appeared to be recreating his "Lumberg" role. He just doesn't emote very well. He does cheese quite well (deadpan humour), but emotional depth, he does not. And much of the rest of the cast made him look good. Peter Woodward, as Galen the technomage, was way overboard... he sounded like a Shakespearian actor who'd been fired... a few times over. The accent was just about as annoying as I think could have been possible...

And perhaps a greater lack was the paucity of strong female actors (and accompanying roles) as well as alien characters in "Crusade." Part of what made "Babylon 5" work was the variety of well-developed alien characters and romantic tension between the B5 cast. "Crusade" didn't have that. It has one alien character and the male cast members outnumbered the female cast by a good margin (well over half). Very little development of romantic attention occurred and the one romance that was pushed between Captain "Lumberg" and Capt. Lochley was well... forced. Not only that but Capt. Lochley only appeared in roughly three of the thirteen or so episodes.

The thief archtype, Carrie Dobro as Dureena Nafeel, had the most interesting female character with a lot of interesting character background, but her character was never used to her full potential. She got the majority of female cast member air time, but, probably got the least amount of romantic consideration. Capt. Lochley has romantic tension with Captain "Lumberg" and the doctor had some minor romantic tension with various guest characters, but Dureena seemed to mostly be a vehicle for... cleavage exposure. Her outfits developed over the series from a skin-tight jumpsuit with undercut gauzy blouse covering to a Matrix-like leather body suit with a long exposed cleavage line by the end of the series. My amateur theory was that as the series began to fail, they showed more and more of Dobro's cleavage. I had expected to see her in a revealing bikini by the end, but Strascynski stuck to his guns... or rather didn't stick to Dobro's guns.

So, in summation, "Crusade" wasn't just bad... it was terrible. I think that I would have been better off having ended my Babylon 5 experience with Season 5 rather than ending it with the failed "Crusade."

A few more B5 and "Crusade" links:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00061QJSK/104-9568741-3282364?v=glance&n=130

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0149437/

http://www.isnnews.net/crusade/basics/introduction.shtml

http://www.isnnews.net/

Have a great day!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

GAMING NEWS: Yesterday (8 March 2006) At A-1 Comics!

Hi Guys,

I've been helping out my sister this week with her children, my nephews (Ferrying them back and forth to school, making meals, homework, babysitting, etc.), while she's going through some special firefighting classes so I've been over in that neck of the woods so I actually got by A-1 Comics twice this week, once on Tuesday and met with Chern and on my regular night of Wednesday when I met up with my regular crew.

Oh, and I'm including Tuesday in this post even though the title might indicate otherwise.

Here's what happened:

TUESDAY (7 March 2006):

- I met a number of folks down at A-1 including, Aaron Morneau, Aaron McKinley, Katelyn McKinley, and my old friend Eric "Chern" Royer. Eric showed us some really cool asteroid and planet counters that he whipped up for his Babylon-5: A Call To Arms tournament that he will be running at ConQuest Sac. Eric has been playing around with graphics programs for some time and he's really getting to be a whiz at it.

- Eric and I eventually sat down to play a few board games. It was just him and I since Tuesday is RPG night at A-1 and most folks come to play RPGs. The first game we sat down to play was:

- 1. Ticket to Ride: Europe

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/14996

- Eric won and we're starting to see a trend in our games: whoever can complete the giant eight-train-long route from Scandinavia to Sankt Petersburg wins the game. That 21 points seems to be a game winner.

- We weren't sure what to play next so we chatted for a bit and Eric decided to buy a new game. We walked over to the board game area and a title caught Eric's eye: Power Grid. I've played Power Grid several times to date and have enjoyed it alot. So Eric made his purchase and we got on to our second game of the night.

- 2. Power Grid

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/2651

- One of the first things I noticed was that Power Grid plays very differently with three or more players as opposed to two players. Having slightly more experience than Eric, I quickly cut him off from expansion routes and won both games if I remember correctly. We played once each on the European and US maps respectively. It was fun, but I think that Power Grid is a much better game with three or more players. Bidding doesn't work as well with only two players.

WEDNESDAY (8 March 2006):

- I arrived pretty late at A-1 and it everyone was already there when I walked in the door. Mike O'Brien, Dick, Mark, Kurt, Dave story and Kimbo were all there. That's pretty much the Wednesday night crew as well. We chit-chatted for a long time before the hardcore board gamers sat down to play a game and the hardcore mini guys went off to pick up some food. Mike and I are sort of inbetween that we belong with both the mini and board gamers while most of the other guys have a strong preference for one or the other.

- Dick, Kimbo and I sat down to try out one of Dave's new experiment games:

- 3. San Marco

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/1041

- San Marco is a very interesting game and it appeared that Kimbo took a very strong lead very early in the game. He was the only one who had played the game before so that made sense. However, by the second phase, it was very much a contest between Dave and Kimbo as they were running neck-in-neck. However, at the very end of the game, I managed to pull off victory. I was as surprised as Dave and Kimbo as I only beat Kimbo by two measly points. Strange game, I don't think I like it much.

- Kurt and Dick played a C&C:A game before I arrived and Kurt won handily from what I understand.

- Meanwhile, across the table, Mark and Kurt started a Bloodbowl game. Mark's lizardman team had been devastated so he started a new High Elf team. Kurt played Goblins, which I think is his way of setting up new players and teams with success. Goblins are a pretty easy team to beat. Mark did end up winning, but that single Bloodbowl game took up their entire evening. That's one thing I don't like much about Bloodbowl. It takes awhile to play.

- Next to them, Mike and Dick played a game of Memoir '44 and Mike was the less memorable as he defated himself with poor dice rolls. It was quick game too.

- And the last game we played was one of Dave's favorites, a simple card game called:

- 4. Wizard

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/1465

- We had a good crew playing: Dick, Kimbo, Dave and I. Both Dick and Kimbo are card sharks and Dave is amazing at making accurate bets. My strength is usually in making conservative bets. Poor Kimbo had a time of it. He kept on taking too many tricks as I seemed to be able to undertrump him the entire game. He was winning tricks with THREE cards! Dave ended up winning the game by a very large margin... more than a hundred points. Mazel Tov, Dave!

- I'm quickly learning that what I like most about playing Wizard with that crew is that the banter is priceless. Kimbo almost makes me want to cry, he's so pitiful and likeable at the same time. Dick seems to have a one-liner for what seems like any situation. He's a regular "wise guy." Dave is also a funny guy. He has this way of sneakily steering inbetween arguments and then ending up like a smiling child caught with his hands in the cookie jar. I really like those guys. I'm blessed to be able to share some time playing games with them... a very good bunch.

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

GAMING: 1rst Monthly Gaming Get-Together Was a Success!

Hi Guys,

The primary reason I moved was to be closer to a new job, but the secondary reason I moved was to...

Rent a bigger apartment in which I could host games!

This past Sunday I hosted my first Gaming Get-Together and it was a great success...

Despite the low count on guests.

My friends Eric and Jeff showed up and all the better for them as I bought a tremendous amount of victuals to provide for the guests... we had IBC rootbeer, chips, dips, salsa, hogie sandwiches for all and a variety of other goodies.

We'd intended to play the classic Avalon Hills Civilization, but because of the low attendance count, we played other games... five to be exact.

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Game #1: Ticket to Ride Europe

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/14996

Eric: 2
Jeff: 3
Maksim: 1

- I bought this game not that long ago and what better game could you find for a couple of train nuts! Jeff and Eric are both big fans and I enjoy the game even if I'm not the biggest railroad enthusiast. I'm starting to discover the pacing of TTRE... build several routes and then focus on building unneeded routes that extend your line and collect points. It was the eight-track line the runs from Russia to Scandinavia that won the game for me. As is usual for newbies to the TTR series, Jeff came in third and will have a better idea what to do enxt time.

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Game #2: Rail Baron

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/420

Eric: 3
Jeff: 1
Maksim: 2

- I was Jones'ing for this classic Avalon Hills rail game and Jeff is a huge fan. Playing it again reminded me of the shortcomings of Rail Baron... It is a VICIOUS game! Poor Eric got cornered out of several lines that he needed and the dice were visibly working against him. Jeff pulled a victory out of his hat by dominating the Northeast and Southwest. While Eric was steered into the ground very early, he and Jeff had a great time talking "train talk"... I was utterly lost! Good game although I think due to RB's habit of cutting a palyer or so out of the game, I won't push to play it again for some time.

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Game #3: Drakon

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/1276

Eric: L
Jeff: W
Maksim: L

- This was my frist time playing this game and I enjoyed it a lot. Most Tom Jolly games are an amusing twist on the gaming genre and Drakon is no execption... imagine the typical dungeons & Dragons scenario spun on its head and you have Drakon... The dragon has already won! And the dungeon party has now been turned against each other as the dragon has decided to only let one adventurer out of the dungeon... the rest become dragon vittles. I borrowed this game from Jeff after Sunday and have been disappointed with it since. It's seems to be a little advanced for my nephews as of yet. It worked fine for several gaming adults, but it is too involved for nephews and my sister's fiance's children.

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Game #4: Guillotine

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/116

Eric: 2
Jeff: 3
Maksim: 1

- Guillotine is a classic and we all enjoyed playing this game, which coincided with dinner. I bought a whole ton of cold cuts and cheeses from the local deli and we chowed down. I also had pickles, potato salad and a variety of other goodies. Surprisingly, Jeff didn't have me make him coffee... this from the guy who would probably have a coffee IV hooked up if it just wasn't so darned inconvenient.

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Game #5: The Cities & Knights of Cataan

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/926

Eric: 2
Jeff: 3
Maksim: 1

- We ended the night with this classic that Eric loves. Mines were very common and we cycled through the blue card deck a very large number of times... possibly three or four times. What won the game for me is that we all had forgotten that I had longest road until the end and when I finally noticed, I declared victory and that was that. With all of the blue cards flying about, there was a lot of serious game plays occuring... tons of spies, defections, marriages and the like. Good game.

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All had a good time and are looking to return to the next Gaming Get-Together!

And in retrospect, I didn't send invitations out early enough, it was a three-day weekend and the Dundracon gaming convention were all going on that weekend... I'll plan better for the next GGT at my place.

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

GAMING NEWS: Maksim Steps Down As 'Nid Champion.

Hi Guys,

I'm getting ready to step down as 'Nid Champion. I've found a successor and I just need to ratify it with Jervis and the "leadership." I didn't want to step down and leave SG and Jervis short-handed.

I love Epic, but it has died in my area. All of the web site / organizational changes and inconsistency have killed E-A as a game where I live, which was at one time, one of the biggest bastions of Epic worldwide with regular tournaments even after the E-40k debacle.

As much of the game, keeping up with the changes in E-A are too much for a single person. Without my mates playing and helping me to keep track of the rules as they evolve, I can't fairly stay 'Nid Army Champion and give the fans what they deserve.

And with infrequent and inconsistent communication with my leaders, I don't have a desire to further create and develop a list that may be completely thrown out the door at a whim. For example, I was specifically prohibited many times from developing 'Nid units from "Christmas Past," but Forgeworld can turn around in an instant and recreate those same 'Nid units as "Christmas Future." The Trygon is one example and the new 'Nid aerial barrage baloons are another.

In other words, I'm "out of the loop" when it comes to being a list writer. I'm unable to innovate much since I'm following the directives put to me. I want the freedom to include more creative input that I'm not going to get.

It really makes me feel like my work on the list and everything I put into it is irrevelant.

Not only that but Specialist Games has never taken the time to post the latest 'Nid lists on their web sites anyway. I have consistently had to mail them out as documents and have them posted on Chern's site for download as a PDF.

In other words, I'm not abandoning ship, but I'm not staying at the helm either. And this is largely because I'm not really at the helm, I've been more of a newspaper ombudsman than a true list or game developer.
I have no complaints about Jervis though. I still think he's a fine guy if a bit overworked and unable to communicate with his "chiefs" enough to make me want to stay a "chief." I'd either rather work for free for a boss that communicates with me more often or be my own boss.

The new proposed 'Nid Champion has asked me to help out and stick around, but I won't be putting the time into the game that I once did.

And for all of you scavengers out there, I WILL NOT be selling off my Epic collection! I'm still a huge fan, just one who needs a change of pace. And I still have one of the biggest and best 'Nid collections around!

Long live the Hive Mind!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

P.S.
For those of you who are interested, I'm developing a science fiction game of my own called "Planetfall." More information can be found here:

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/Planetfall-TGUSFMWE/

P.S.S.
X-posted from:

http://www.epic40k.co.uk/epicomms/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST&f=21&t=5664&st=0&&#entry137821

GAMING NEWS: Fun two weeks culminating in the 10 December 2005 MWS weekend meeting!

Hi Everyone,

I've been blessed the past two weeks or so...

Last Sunday I had a chance to play Assyrian Wars by Udo Grebe with my friend Vince Blackburn AKA Vynnie at another friend's house, Dave Hanifan. George and Jeff also showed up and we all had a good time. The components could have used better color differentiation, but all of us had a good time upon final consideration.

The Board Game Geek link to Assyrian Wars is here:
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/8626

Last Tuesday, I found out that one of my favorite local gaming shops "Hobby Monkey" is taking a turn for the worse... less operating hours and several cancelled game tournaments including the immensely popular Formula De tournament, which really irks me because my racer had one of the top standings. The owner wants to close by 9:00pm on weeknights now (...sometimes 8:00pm) which really reduces the amount of time for gaming. Bummer...

I showed up on Tuesday at Hobby Monkey to find the poor Flames of Wars guys from Yuba City walking into an empty shop. We played a Formula De game, which they all liked. I was in first place until my car blew up in an unfortunate accident. Eric-Chern of Epic-Armageddon and Babylon-5 fame came in last place, but he finished unlike THREE of the rest of us! There were seven racers... pretty lethal race.

Yesterday, MWSS (Miniature Wargamers Society of Sacramento), had our monthly games day. Three games were hosted:

- 10mm (N-scale) WWII Eastern Front game with adapted ASL rules...
- 6mm/15mm HOTT Fantasy campaign...
- 15mm War of 1812 with Guns of Liberty rules...

I played in the 6mm/15mm HOTT Fantasy campaign and had a great time. I played two smaller HOTT battles (1 decisive win, 1 moderate loss) and played on the winning side of a Big-Battles-HOTT game which featured six armies (three a side) battling it out. General HOTT Dick Mitchell's "good consortium" (Elf army, human army and my magician's army) carried the day against Ork despot General Carper's hordes (Orc behemoth/archer band, Orc blades band and Orc shaman band).

I tried out an interesting HOTT army of eight spearmen supported by two magicians in the last game. It was fun although my sides didn't do much more than have my magicians toss spells at the enemy (which scared a key enemy behemoth which was forced to flee) and have my spearmen hold part of the line looking tough.

While the games were technically part of the HOTT campaign, we won't officially kick off the campaign until the January meeting so the games were really "practice" ones. I'm already afraid of the really tough Orc armies. Marc Carper really knows his game. And what a beautiful miniatures painter he is!

Photos of his minis and all three of the games can be found in a folder labelled "12-10-2005" at the MWSS E-group here:
http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/M_W_S/

After yesterday's game, Diana and I were invited to a wine-tasting by our friends Roger and Grace. Roger's my idea of a good guy to taste wine with, a former 82nd Airborne paratrooper with an attitude! He's also one of the world's premier miniatures painters and his work is regularly featured in gaming magazines in the UK and USA. We had a good time even though we weren't behaving according to "wine-tasting decorum!" We both got in trouble with his wife at one point so we mellowed out. She takes "wine tasting" much more seriously than we did... at the time! Although I still insist that a few of the wines we "sampled" wouldn't have been good for lubricating even a Peugot. More like pee-eeuhhh!

We tried three French wines and three Napa Valley wines. I much prefer the Napa Valley wines from California. The French wines almost all had a bad aftertaste and I was happy to toss the rest of them in the "slops" bucket.

After the "wine tasting" there was a "white elephant" gift exchange. It's Murphy's Law that if you're Jewish, you will always end up with a Christmas ornament at a "holiday" (really Christmas) gift exchange. We (Diana and I) ended up with a set of diet books (The South Beach Diet Book and The South Beach Diet Cook Book) along with a... yeah, guess again... a Christmas ornament. I might just make a vow someday to make a version of Frosty with a Yarmulke! Dagnabit!

We gave the Christmas ornament to Grace and were able to swap our "books" for some kind of a "fancy shmancy" lemon liqueur from Italy. It's called "Limoncello" (spelling?). I haven't broken it open yet.

I've decided, all in all, that wine-tasting may not be my thing. The husband host was good and has started his own wine label, but the wife host, was bit shmarmy and her red thong underwear were hanging out in the wind. I wasn't going to say anything though... However at the first glance of her red thong, I vowed to not imbibe generously of the wine... get my drift!

Besides enjoying the company of Roger and Grace, I met someone who was an appreciator of Russian literature so I had a good time. Diana talked Baltimore football with the host and a few other folks.

All in all, the past two weeks or so have been good to me.

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.