Risk: The Clone Wars and NutriSystem Update
October 2, 2006
We recently had picked up another boardgame that we gave our first spin to this weekend. The game was Risk: The Clone Wars. Its another in the modification series of the long living, popular Risk boardgame.
I grew up as a kid many years ago playing Risk. I have very fond memories of many Summer days playing Risk with the neighborhood kids. We played for hours every man days of the week. We introduced Risk to our kids a few years back and they have taken to it too. Suzanne is not a big fan of the game, but she plays as part of a family gaming session.
As a kid, I only played and only remember the original Risk game. Today, they have introduced many variants of the Risk game based on current movies and/or themes. I believe we own the classic Risk game, a Lord of the Rings Risk variant and now the Star Wars: The Clone Wars variant.
I have not been a big fan of these variants. They have seemed to try too hard to improve an already excellent game system. We dont play the Lord of the Rings Risk game as much as the kids would like because it just didnt seem to mesh to well. However, after playing the Clone Wars Risk this weekend, they have finally created a variant that works quite well. We thoroughly enjoyed our session.
Like the original Risk, Clone Wars divides the galaxy (instead of World) into regions of planets. The game supports 2 – 4 players that are aligned into two teams/factions: The Separatists and The Republic. As the Separatists, your goal is to wipe out the Republic Armies and control the galaxy. As the Republic, your goal is to wipe out the Separatist Armies or capture the planet where Darth Siddious is hiding. The game adds in spaceships as well as Armies. The card system used in Risk is the method for amassing armies or space ships, as well as a few other surprises. It is an effective modification to the card system. In our one game experience, we tended to use the cards for building space ships instead of armies.
The space ships give you modifiers for battle as opposed to additional forces. Based on your cards, you can build either a Capital ship (lets you use an 8 sided die instead of 6 sided for battle), a Corvette class ship (adds 1 to each die roll in battle), or a figher ship (lets you re-roll any 1 you roll in battle). They can significantly alter a battle makeup.
The game is also designed to take less time than a traditional Risk game. I have played Risk games that take a very long time to complete with the various players sparring for position and waiting for someone to take a gamble. The board tends to fill with armies and players maneuvering looking for the right opening. Clone Wars adds an element to the game that makes players want to be more aggressive, in particular the Republic side.
This feature is called Order 66 and it mimics the event of a similar name in the movies. Once, any time during the game, the Separatists faction can call for Order 66. Basically, Order 66 makes a check on every Republican controlled planet to see if they switch sides to the Separatists. You roll an 8 sided die and based on how many turns into the game you are, there is a percentage chance that the planet will switch sides to the Separatists. In our game, close to 50% of the Republic planets and armies switched to our side. It dramatically changed the flow of the game. Now, we have only played once, but I suspect it gives impetus for the Republican side to be a bit more agressive in the beginning of the game.
To counter the obvious benefit the Order 66 feature gives the Separatist side, when the Order 66 is given, Darth Siddius reveals himself and becomes Emporer Palpatine. The Separatists must place him in one of their controlled planets. If the Republic faction can now capture the planet on which Palpatine is hiding, they win the game. In our game, Suzanne and Sean were never able to mount an effective challenge on the planet where Palpatine was hiding. This allowed Savannah and I to systematically eliminate the Republican armies due to our numerical superiority. Understanding the rules and subtleties a bit better now will problaby make the early strategic decisions a bit different next time.
The game was quite enjoyable and I think, the best Risk experience we have had as a family. I dont think the kids appreciate the simplistic (though strategically complex) nature of the original Risk. They want more in the game and these variants with cultural references that they are familiar with (ie Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, etc) give them that. I am still not sure Suzanne is a fan of Risk, but we will get her playing once in a while.
On the NutriSystem front, last week was another week with a 1 pound weight loss. That erases the previous week 1 pound gain and leaves me at a total loss of 18 pounds. I had a good week except for Saturday. Being as busy as we are with the kids dancing and football/cheerleading having us out and about Monday through Saturday, we are finding ourselves eating out more often. I have never been a fan of eating out and would rather cook at home. The activity level of the family, though, is making eating out more attractive these days.
The challenge of eating out is not going crazy and being anti-diet. Saturday, after the football game, we ate out at Johnny Carrinos, an Italian dining establishment in Sierra Vista. The food is quite good there. Even though I brought over half of my dinner home, I still felt like it wasnt quite in line. The NutriSystem diet has helped me to make healthier and smarter dining out choices. I have also reduced the quantity of food eaten, but I still feel its a negative on the weight loss side. Of course, still losing a pound last week is a good sign and it means once I get to the weight I want to be, smart choices will allow events like dining out to happen without big negative results. The key is getting to that goal weight.
I am going to be aggressive the next two weeks on the diet as well as force us to eat at home – at least myself. This is important for me, because in a couple of weeks, I head off to Germany on a business trip. Eating German food and drinking German beer is going to make the NutriSystem diet a challenge for that week. I want to get myself in a good position for that trip in case the results head South.
Weekend Musings and NutriSystem Update
September 25, 2006
Wow! What a busy weekend. It was even a three day weekend for me as it was my Friday off week. Some of the activities though were self-inflicted.
I put myself in a hole sleepwise early as I stayed up until 3:30 AM on Thursday night playing America’ Army. That game can be quite addictive for me and has cost me much sleep. When I get to playing it at night, time just flies. Version 2.7 was recently released and I got hung up trying out some of the new stuff.
I probably wouldnt have even noticed the short sleep except I forgot that the Ryder Cup started on Friday morning from Ireland and I wanted to get up early and watch it. So, on Friday I got up at 6:00 am (yes, thats only 2.5 hours of sleep) to watch the opening better ball rounds. I also got up early at 6:00 on Saturday and Sunday to watch the Ryder Cup too. What a waste! The US team managed to get dusted once again by the Europeans by a whopping score of 18.5 to 9.5. That’s the same lopsided score as last year. The Americans pretty much stunk on Friday and Saturday. They couldnt make a putt to save their skins. The Europeans were on fire and bombing in putts from all over. At least on Sunday, the Americans made a respectable showing, though they were still bettered by the Europeans. If you area golf fan, Sunday had to be fun to watch. The highlight reel is incredibly long. Both teams were making chips and putts from a long ways away. The emotional side stories and the celebration at the end made good TV. Even though the US lost, Sunday was just plain good golf and fun to watch.
I spent a good portion of Friday and Saturday cooking. I made several batches of Italian Foccacia bread, German Butter Cake and Chips and Salsa. Our church was having a special Mass, during which, we would bless the newly acquired land that we would build our church on. Normally, we conduct our Sunday Mass in the local firestation. After the mass, we were having a celebration and fiesta. I was asked to cook some food for the party. No problem – I like to cook. I had also been asked to be the photographer for the mass and festivities. The mass, dedication and party came off without a hitch. Savannah, Sean, Suzanne and their Dance Studio from Sierra Vista provided entertainment during the party. It was a long, fun day. From about 9:15 until about 3:00 pm, I didnt get a single chance to sit down. The only down side was that I didnt get to indulge in my usually Sunday NFL watching. The Lions got beat by Green Bay, so I guess it just saved me some anguish.
Sean’s football team had a bye this week, so nothing new to report there.
On the NutriSystem front, I was really skeptical of getting on the scale this week. I would not classify last week as a good week. The treadmill was down for part of the week and then I had the busy week, so I only worked out once last week – not a good second week of the new exercise program. We went out to dinner one night and I ate way too much. A second night, I threw caution to the wind and ate some chicken nuggets and french fries that I fixed for the kids. Add in some wine on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday for Suzanne and I, and I was a bit worried about the weigh in this morning. Luckily, the scale only showed a 1 pound weight gain for the week. So, I am still down 17 pounds. I feel prety good about that, though a bit guilty about my pleasures last week. I have a renewed vigor this week. Back to basics and the workout program. There is still about 8 weeks to the Celebrity Mercury Mexico Cruise.
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