Dad.i.Y

Dust Tactics (Fantasy Flight Games) #boardgame #gamenight (Taken with instagram… not completely true)

I used some iPhone app.  Strip something or other, like with Comic.  The game is pretty good.  We played the Basic Rules and set up our own scenario.  For the most part, we were simply trying to learn the base mechanics.  Everything you’ve heard about the components is spot on - they’re fantastic, detailed, pre-base-coated, and the boards tend to warp (ahhh… humidity).  The expansions look good, but I have a feeling we’ll be playing the base game for awhile without them.  You’ve got to hand it to Parente; he’s created a fantastic vision of a WWII-with-sci-fi-tech world.  And I even got a little into WWII history with Connor, specifically the Nazi drive to explore all avenues for dominance.  No demonology.  That would likely freak him out.  And he’s too young for Hellboy.  Even stranger, it connected with our study of Roman civilization (we’re there in Ancient History).  News to me, a common Roman symbol placed outside doors of military training schools was the “Fasces”, a bundle of thin sticks which, when bound together, supported the head of an axe.   It symbolized unity and the empire (you get it, a bunch of small things bound together supports a powerful weapon… see, you get it).  In the early 20th century, the symbol was co-opted by the Nazis and later became the root word/symbol for the Fascist party/military in Italy.  We’re gonna make a model because, frankly, it’s a good metaphor.  But we may burn it shortly thereafter, because two good metaphors are better than one (we’ve also been reading Slave Narratives - we don’t have a lot of patience for Fascism).

Speaking of Slave Narratives - Connor just discovered that our proud home-state was on the wrong side of the Civil War.  He was pretty disappointed about that - confused about how bigotry can even exist, confused about how people can act so horrifically.  It’s weird, but the shadow of the Old South stretches long across time.  I still feel it with embarrassment handed down from my grandparents and their grandparents - I’m proud of this state and the people who call it home, but the shadow’s always there.  One mind at a time, I guess.

Anyway, Dust Tactics is pretty good, but I wouldn’t buy it unless it’s on sale.  Wait for another Tanga deal like I did.  It’s worth it at half off but not more than that.