Month: November 2023

Memoir ’44

On By Christopher TuthillIn Boardgames, Games, ReviewsLeave a comment

We are heading into winter, perhaps the best time of year for board games!

My 11 year old is crazy about tabletop games, and World War Two games in particular. He really loves games with minis, so we have tried a number of those in many genres, but one of his very favorites for years now has been Axis and Allies. The only problem with that game is its epic length. It can take a long time just to set it up, and the game itself can take several sessions of a couple hours, over several days.

Enter Memoir ’44. Made by Days of Wonder, this game includes 15 different scenarios from D-Day. It’s a card based game with lots of die rolls, and beautifully produced miniatures. We’ve played four of the scenarios so far, and each of them took only around a half hour to complete. It’s lively and fun and if you enjoy wargames but don’t have three or four hours to play one, I would strongly recommend this game. You’ll probably like it so much that you’ll end up playing more than one scenario in a session, anyway.

The game is played in turns during which a player activates a card, which allows them to move troops on one or more sections of the board. You can then engage the enemy by rolling dice, subtracting points for various obstacles like trees, bunkers, barbed wire, and so forth.

I really loved playing this one with my son, and he has enjoyed it immensely as well. It makes great gift, and won’t break the bank– I got a copy of it for around $50. There is enough variety to make each scenario feel quite different; Days of Wonder has also created many different expansions, so if you enjoy this one and play all fifteen scenarios enough that you want more variety, you will never run out of more to play if you’re so inclined. There are also expansions that allow up to eight players, which sounds like it would be lots of fun.

I’d rate this one five out of five stars. So much fun to play, and beautifully designed.

Washington Irving

On By Christopher TuthillIn Uncategorized2 Comments

“My father was always scrupulous in exacting our holydays, and having us around him on family festivals…It was the policy of that good old gentleman to make his children feel that home was the happiest place in the world, and I value this delicious home feeling as one of the choicest gifts a parent could bestow.” –from The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, by Washington Irving

This is a favorite quote of mine, from one of my favorite books. If you’ve never read the Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon, I give it my highest recommendation. I live not far from Irving’s home in Sunnyside, which I pass on my way to work, and I think of him often during my commute. There is something magical about his stories that captures the essence of the area, especially as it must have been in those bygone days.

Happy Thanksgiving, and my warmest wishes to all for a peaceful holiday season.

I Got a Name

On By Christopher TuthillIn Songwriters3 Comments

I’ve always loved Jim Croce’s music, and I’ve been thinking of this one a lot. It’s a poignant father/son song, and though Jim didn’t write the words, you can feel the emotion. His father had a dream of being a singer, one that Jim lived out. To me this is a proud declaration of a guy who is doing his best, working hard, keeping his head down.

At one point he sings, as smooth as honey:

“I’ve got a song/And I carry it with me, and I sing it loud/If it gets me nowhere, I go there proud.”

Now that’s some mantra to live by.

“Like the fool I am and I’ll always be, I’ve got a dream.”

Yes, don’t we all. The message comes down to us, clear through the decades. Croce had so much well deserved success, in a life tragically cut short. In a sad twist of fate, this song was released just after he died. I feel like this one is a hymn for all the dreamers out there, doing things because you have stories to tell and songs to sing and things to create, whether they are met with great accolades or total indifference. God bless all of you. Keep on working: you got a name.

To Scrimmage, or Skirmish

On By Christopher TuthillIn Boardgames, SoccerLeave a comment

My eleven year old son’s soccer team has scrimmages each week in practice. On the way home this week, he told me how much he enjoys ‘skirmishing.’

“Did you say ‘scrimmage,’?” I asked. “Or skirmish?”

“Skirmish,” he replied. “Skirmishes are so much fun.”

I found this so funny, he knows about skirmishes because we play lots of tabletop games, some of the wargaming variety, that include skirmishes. I explained the word is ‘scrimmage,’ but since they sound so similar, it got me to wondering, so I had to check the glorious, trusty old OED. I had no idea that the word scrimmage seems to have its origin in the word skirmish, which was itself borrowed from the French escarmouche. It makes perfect sense that skirmish, which deals with warfare, would also be used in sports, where war metaphors abound. The kids are indeed skirmishing. I mean, scrimmaging. Anyway, as usual, my son is correct and knows more than dad, and has taught me something.

You can check out the etymology here: “skirmish, n., Etymology”. Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, July 2023, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/8783343266

I’ve found that since my children began playing sports, I care less and less about the pros and am mostly interested in how much fun the children are having, what they are learning, and what friendships they form as they play. It’s for the best, anyway, since all the pro teams I like are terrible. Somehow we have the biggest market in the world for sports but all the local teams are not good.

Youth sports are much more fun anyway, what with all those skirmishes.