Merry Christmas! (Late Ed.)

Here's hoping everyone's been having a good time lately, with all the holidays going around. (Pick any one.) I've been relaxing, getting ready for next semester's classes, editing the thesis, applying to schools...and using my favorite Christmas present:

A Turkish coffee grinder! Shipped straight from Turkey, along with a little bag of beans and two porcelain cup/saucer sets. They came from Herman and the other good folks of Turkish Gift Bazaar. The grinder's about seven inches tall; if you fill it with beans, it makes somewhat more coffee than I need for my double-ibrik. (I haven't quite precisely determined how many beans to put in.) You can change the fineness of the grind; I haven't messed with it too much. The settings seem to range from "ridiculously fine" to "virtually invisible."

Besides making great Turkish coffee grounds, a hand-grinder's great for building strength in your arms. It takes about four minutes to grind a full load of beans. You need every bit of mechanical advantage that handle gives you.

I confess I have no idea what the Arabic on the bowl of the grinder says. I'm planning on asking Dr. Ibrahim when I get back to school.

Besides the coffee that came with it, I've also been using Australian Fancy beans from Trader Joe's. A very bold, flavorful bean; I highly recommend it. It's a somewhat darker roast than traditional Turkish coffee uses, but still a fine brew.

I also like the cups. More holdable, and more stable, than my previous demitasse set.

The whole package comes highly recommended.

I also got a few more Civil War books for the library; drinking a fine Turkish coffee and reading a good book is one of the great sublime pleasures.

Transitioning

Well, this past Friday was my last day at the library Ref Desk. I have a few weeks off, then begins a semester's worth of TA duties. Should be fun. I got some cake out of the end-of-the-road bit at the library, so that's always good.

I also just turned in the remains of my thesis draft. It's not a great draft. But, as they say, it's easier to fix something that's broken than something that's nonexistent. I feel like I've passed the top of the rollercoaster, but we'll see. Lots of stuff can happen yet.

The past week has been utterly frustrating. I had a bad case of writer's block/anxiety, which I thought I'd licked. I've discovered that the moment you think you've licked something is when it starts cominng back with a vengeance; you let your guard down and bam! you're back at square one. Time to start back on the write-every-day plan...that's the only way to go, I've learned.

I've also been discovering that American and World (or at least old world) history is written differently. I wasn't an Americanist until fairly recently, having been mostly into the classics and medieval history before that. Old-World history tends to be written in a more rhetorical, allusive, witty style (or at least it can be), while American history is more self-consciously "academic." This has been biting me writing the thesis, since I have to retrain myself. No dashes, no parenthetical statements, no dry wit or sarcasm...for a guy raised on Peter Green, this is a major blow. We shall see how this develops.

Anyway...one more day to recover, while it's raining, and then back to St. Louis for a few weeks of rest, relaxation...and editing, and reading, and writing. Great fun...hopefully I'll be able to get a few games in, too. I'll have Bamboleo along.

Battlelore, Pt. 2

So, since my column, I've had a chance to work with Battlelore some more--solo, talking to people who have played, going in more depth with the rules. We'll call these "second impressions." This still shouldn't be considered a proper review; I'm actually curious what it's like to track my opinion of a game over a long period--from opening the box for the first time through the first several plays. I fully expect my opinions to continue to change.

Anyway, Jorge asked me this afternoon whether BL is any good, whether I'd recommend it, etc. I gotta say: If you have C&C experience, I can't really wholeheartedly recommend the game right now, with as few scenarios as it has. It has ten scenarios, but only one of those actually uses all the rules. I don't mind the programmed instruction format for the scenarios, but then there should have been a "real" scenario book, or some kind of scheme to generate your own. (coughpointscough)

That said, I like the rules more and more. There's plenty of good stuff; I like the "Lore" aspects and jiggling the War Council. That's great stuff. It's just that there isn't a lot to do right out of the box.

I'm also starting to think that the trays for the figurines are lamer than I originally thought. GOOD: There are lots of different figure molds. BAD: That means that finding the ones you need is multiple kinds of tedious when they're all jumbled up. I'm transferring everything to baggies. This is by no means the end of the world, but the shine has gone off the trays.

Interestingly, some of the guys at the store have been playing the Agincourt scenario multiple times, learning the game (not many have M44 experience, so starting at the beginning makes a lot of sense). The thing is, the French have been stomping the English every time. That...shouldn't happen.

I am confident that, over time, Battlelore will be a valued member of my C&C collection. It may well, one day, be my favorite. But that'll only happen when there are more scenarios, campaigns, and army/scenario building options. Until then, I think this is a great vehicle in search of more places to go.