The Old Fashioned

Made with Rye or Bourbon, this classic aims to please.

Well as the colder weather has begun to hearken unto us again, I cast my mind to spirits I associate with fall and winter. I know you can drink American Rye and Bourbon whiskies any time of the year, and there are hundreds of cocktails with these fine spirits in them for all seasons. But for me, the smell of rye, makes me think of harvest, of chill evenings, purple tinged skies, and a good strong drink before dinner. There is something warm and comforting in the golden hues and spice scent of these two classic liquors, like a recollection of a time lost, an age when people enjoyed an evening cocktail as part of their day and not as a guilty pleasure. Yes, I am a bit old fashioned, but that's OK because one of my favorite whiskey cocktails is too, and it is conveniently named such so I'll not forget.

This aperitifs title says it all and does not lie, for this drink can be traced as far back as 1806 in which it was first described as a cocktail. President Truman and his wife Bess enjoyed this beverage without orange peel, lemon peel, bitters or sugar. (Essentially double Bourbon rocks) FDR was served one made with scotch once by an assistant and cried: "Silly, I've never heard of such a thing. It's absolutely sacrilegious".

It seems everyone has an opinion on not only what makes a good Old Fashioned but also on the proper method right down to the stir. Fruit? Fruit muddled? Sugar? Simple syrup or none? How many dashes of bitters? etc. etc. etc. Do an Internet search and you will find a thousand variations of this simple drink, each proclaiming it is "the Best". Me? I'm all in, because my ego cannot be bruised by some eejit who thinks an Old Fashioned should be a "fruit cup", or any other prattling child who believes that it is but whiskey on the rocks. For them I say; "Get back in your pram."

A True Old Fashioned is somewhere in between those two extremes, a blend of sugar, water, and high quality spirit, put together in such a way so as to lighten the heart but so too, to tempt the appetite. Crafted with care, an Old Fashioned is a wonderful, refined cocktail, that speaks to another age, more dignified. This is my recipe, "the Best", in which I use simple syrup, for the sake of ease, instead of pure cane sugar and water.

Use quality spirits, like Bulleit, Maker's Mark, and Knob Creek

Ingredients:
2 ounces of American Whiskey, Rye or Bourbon (I prefer Rye in this drink)
.5 ounce Simple syrup
2-4 dashes bitters (more bitters for more spice)
Orange to peel for garnish

Method:
Add simple syrup to a rocks/old fashioned glass. Next splash in your bitters to taste (I like four). Stir it up real well with a bar spoon. Place two fresh clean ice cubes in glass and add one ounce of your whiskey, again stir with the bar spoon to blend the tincture and let the ice dissolve a little. Add more ice and your last ounce of whiskey and repeat the stir process. Lastly, with a vegetable peeler slice off a good peel from the orange over the glass. Trim it up, then twist over the glass to get the oils out and run it round the rim for an extra touch. Pop the peel in the side of the drink and serve. The essence of orange really compliments the spirit.

Notes: Fresh, clean, cubed ice is best, do not use the little half moons that come from ice makers in your freezer as the control of the stir is lost as well as the beauty of the finished drink. Cubed ice tends to keep the drink colder for a longer period of time. Cherry garnish can be added if you so desire but it does nothing but add color for presentation sake. Some recipes call for a top off with soda water to fill the glass, I do not suggest this as I feel it cheapens the whole drink, bigger does not always mean better, you are going for quality, not quantity here.

Next game day, I will be making the Old Fashioned for our thirsty crew, both with Bulleit rye which has a really nice spiciness to it and Maker's Mark bourbon, which is sweet yet subtle. Hopefully this old American classic will meet with their approval. I know that if you like whiskey then this old drink is sure to please not only yourself, but any of your stodgy old guests, like me.

Cheers
AL

Masquerade Ball - The middle school dance of board game quests

Thanks to Valerie for the post title.

The weekly game group met again for the first encounter of the third quest: The Masquerade Ball. In this installment, the Heroes are invited to the Ball but Lady Eliza reveals herself as a vampire. She and her minions are trying to find a certain Lord that the Heroes now need to rescue.

Both sides rip the masks off the attendees to rescue guests or reveal Overlord spies. The masked attendees are spread over the board but unfortunately, they ended up in easy reach of the Overlord and the game lasted all of two turns for each side.

This looks more fun than tonight's game

But the heroes still rescued one of the four guests and had a chance (one in six) for it to be the Lord. They rolled a die but unfortunately it was not.

Thanks to Valerie for this cool photo collection too.

Who knows what this outcome means for the second encounter but at least the Heroes are healthy and the Overlord's deck of cards is small (due to lack of turns to draw more).

a Bronx Cocktail, it's not what you'd expect.

A Bronx 

About a month ago a work mate of mine Brian S. darkened my office door and abruptly asked :

"Ever hear of a Bronx cocktail Al?"
"No. What's in it, Thunderbird and Kool Aid?".

Yeah I get to say such things as I used to live in that somewhat maligned borough of New York City, back when I was young, and though there are some very fine neighborhoods to be sure, my mind's eye raced right to one of the darker and seedy areas of the Bronx, Charlotte street. Thus, my somewhat witty and derogatory response to my well meaning friend. For when I was kicking about, you weren't going to be drinking anything grand down there, though you could have bought some nice crack, ahem, Jumbo to go with your bagged wine.

Of course I didn't frequent the area, my instincts of self preservation are just too strong, and stayed up in Kingsbridge where I belonged, yet the visual remains all the same. By the way, for all you sensitive sorts, the South Bronx is not what it used to be and all the towering abandoned buildings and trash filled vacant lots have been replaced with little ranch houses.

The Bronx cocktail is as far removed from dark alleys, winos, and crack dealers as one can get. As a matter of fact it was once called a rich man's drink and was associated with elegance and sophistication. An aperitif of refined taste for a discerning palate it was supposedly the favorite drink of author F. Scott Fitzgerald. Not that I care what he liked, the Great Gatsby, made me want to strangle the man, but I am quite sure another famous man, Arthur Flegenheimer a.k.a. Dutch Schultz partook of this wonderful concoction. If was good enough for the Dutchman hell it's good enough for the likes of me.

"Drink it or else"~ Dutch Schultz

In the 1930's this little Martini spin off was ranked number three in the "World's 10 most popular drinks" following the Manhattan number two, and the Martini as number one. Yet it has all but disappeared from bar and restaurant menus today. Ask for a Bronx in a cocktail bar and you will most likely be given the dreaded "barman stink eye" as he looks you up and down in confusion. So it is we are relegated to making this wonderful classic at home, for the most part.

Ingredients:

2 ounces London Dry Gin
.5 ounces Sweet Vermouth
.5 ounces Dry Vermouth
1 ounce fresh squeezed Orange Juice
Orange twist for garnish

Method:

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice, add gin, vermouth and orange juice. Shake vigorously and strain into a chilled cocktail or martini glass. Add an Orange twist for garnish (if you want to make the effort)

With a wee twist.



The above recipe is the original as created around 1905. Some newer versions that I have heard about ask for orange, or just plain old bitters to be added. You can do that, but then the cocktail is no longer called a "Bronx" but an "Income Tax".

The Bronx is a sweet drink without the uninteresting and sickly stickiness of some of our more modern cocktails. The Gin's natural juniper flavors are not overpowered by the juice and vermouth, but rather complimented by them. I encourage you to give this old drink a try the next time you are looking for something classy, tasteful, and refreshing. Wow! I never thought I'd be using those words to describe the Bronx.

Cheers
AL


  

Whirlwind? More like a gentle breeze

The continuation of the wheat saga...

It turns out the Splig, a lieutenant of the Overlord, used the wheat to gain additional health. The Heroes now had a tougher task ahead of them. Splig, the Fat Goblin, was torturing prisoners, looking for someone in particular. He was then planning to kidnap him. The heroes were faced with cave spiders, then fire demons, before battling Splig and his gobin minions directly.

Early on, luck conspired against the heroes. Splig found the man he was looking for on the very first try. So before the heroes had barely moved (they spent a turn recovering from last week's challenge), Splig was already on the way out.

The Fat Goblin himself

If only they could quickly take out some other enemies, Splig would still have to run straight into them to get out.

If only they had some sort of attack that could take out multiple enemies at once.

Oh wait! They did.

Grisban the Thirsty possesses a giant axe of huge damage and a move called Whirlwind. His attack hits every adjacent enemy. With so few enemies down, the hallway was packed full of them.

How could this crazy drunkard ever miss?

Grisban charged a group of a goblin and three fire demons! Result: Miss.

Later on, Grisban is in position again. Whirlwind. Miss.

Grisban, the small red dwarf hoping to kill something. Anything.

Again, as the heroes are desperate with so many enemies repeatedly knocking them down, Grisban goes for another big kill. He can't miss three times in a row right? Yes he can. Miss

Descent dice with the dreaded white miss X on the blue die.

Finally, as the fight has left Grisban behind, he has one last chance to take out the three remaining goblins that are causing the other heroes so much trouble. Whirlwind. Nope. Miss.

The last stand as the heroes block the way out.

But against all odds, the game still came down to the final turn. The heroes have four rolls of the dice to do nine damage to Splig. If they don't kill him now, he runs out with his prize. Three rolls later, two health left. It all came down to one roll. 

Watch to see what happened:

http://youtu.be/t0kgp4XTMWQ

A great feature of the game Descent is the balance. After two weeks of playing, everything came down to the last roll. And after that, the winner only received a small reward. Over the course of the campaign (which will likely take us in 2014), no side ever gains a huge advantage over the other!

Make no mistake, we all made a stupid mistake.

Zombicide 2 Prison Outbreak.

It is rare for me to read through rule books and manuals for games, as my attention span is generally like that of a cat, easily distracted by quick, rapid movement...oooh look a bird. That is why I leave it to others to explain the rules and mechanics of all the various games we play, well that and it allows me to mix drinks instead.

However, when I get a brandy new game or, in this case expansion, I do find myself looking over the instructions out of curiosity. Expansions to games sometimes adjust the mechanics of play on the original, as the designers discover deficits and flaws in the original after release. These changes where what I was looking for in the rule books for Prison Outbreak and Toxic City Mall when I realized we had been playing the original Zombicide wrong all along. Our error is/was not a "deal breaker" by any stretch but I believe it explains why we had not seen the dreaded Abomination in any of our games.


The rules clearly state in all three manuals:

The Mission plans show where Zombies appear at the end of each turn: these are the Spawn Zones. Chose a Spawn Zone and draw a card. Place the amount of Zombies which is shown on the color that corresponds to the Danger Level of the most experienced Survivor still in the game (Blue, Yellow, Orange, or Red). Repeat this operation for each Spawn Zone.

The last line is our error.

What we have been doing is drawing a single card, choosing the appropriate danger level and assigning that amount of spawned zombies to ALL the spawn points. In playing thus we, through our ignorance and arrogance, fail to turn over enough of the Zombie action cards during a game, thereby decreasing the chance for an Abomination to appear. On the other hand we have increased our chances for the Zombies to get an "extra move/attack" as when there are not enough minis to complete a spawn properly all Zombies of the spawn type get and extra action.

I have mocked up the following example to show how by drawing a card for each spawn point changes how we will have to adjust our play style and thinking.

Happy Tuna during a Zombie Apocalypse 

Survivor Joshua has bumped his experience level up to the Orange bar by clearing the board of  a whole slew of walkers. Thus on the Zombie turn all spawns will reflect that experience level i.e. Orange.

Uh-Oh!

There are three Spawn points on the board, so a card is drawn during Zombie phase and as the Survivors are at the Orange experience level the card generates the amount of Zombies for that card. In this case it produces two walkers. Under our current system of playing we would place two more walkers at each of the other spawn points for a total of six on the board. This of course is no big deal and the players adjust their planning accordingly and dismiss such a minor threat. But if we play by the rules the following occurs:

Shit!

As per the instructions, for Spawn point 2 another card is drawn which produces three runners!

Seriously? No f*@#ing way!

And on the third Spawn point the Orange level card produces two Berserker runners!  Now the entire dynamic of the next turn has changed dramatically as the survivors have much more of a threat to deal with.

Run Away! Run Away!

So instead of having to deal with just six slow ass walkers, which would be the case as we play now, the Survivors would now have to face, two walkers, three runners and two Berserker runners if we play by the rules.  I believe this fun but oft times difficult game just got a bit more challenging.

To err is human or so the old saying goes but so too is it human to lay blame. And as I am human (shut it!) I immediately attempted to discover who caused us to make such a stupid mistake in the first place, and my mind's eye went directly to... Yup "Hippies". There really is no other acceptable explanation for us missing the basics on this most awesome game.

Cheers

AL

The Sneaky Bastard.

The "Sneaky Bastard"

Spend any amount of time playing table top games with our friend Tuna, and you will quickly realize that he is something of sneaky bastard. He loves to sit back quietly with a disarming little smirk on his face, and build up points, or cards, or whatever the goal may be. Then with a flourish, he will play the most devastating hand or strategy to not just end the game, but to do it all in one brutal and demoralizing move. Think of the old card game Gin Rummy (always liked the name of that one) and you will know what we mean. I cannot count the times Mike and I have been pummeled by our quiet friend with his sly, cunning, and most of all sneaky, play style.

So, to honor our dubious friend, Tuna, I have come up with a cocktail that is aptly named "the Sneaky Bastard".

Essentially this drink is nothing more than an old school daiquiri made with dark rum rather than white and served on the rocks instead of in the traditional cocktail glass. I chose a really sweet, dark rum called Zaya, which is aged twelve long years in white oak casks and distilled no less than five times. This stuff is so smooth that it can be consumed neat, which many purists insist you do. Some may balk at my using such a fine stand alone spirit in a cocktail, on the grounds that there is no need to soften or dilute something crafted so beautifully. And you know? I agree to a point. Yet as Tuna is as fine a person you'd ever wish to meet, I decided to use top quality ingredients in his very own drink, so you pendants can simply "Piss Off".

Ingredients:

3/4 ounce fresh squeezed lime juice
1 & 1/4 ounce simple syrup
2 ounces dark rum (Zaya)
lime wheel, for garnish

Method:

Fill a cocktail shaker with ice, add lime juice, simple syrup, and rum. Shake vigorously. I like to shake drinks till I feel the metal of the shaker frost in my hand. Fill a rocks glass with ice, and strain your drink into it. Garnish with a lime wheel, or for Tuna two skewered pepperoni chunks.


What ends up in hand is a very smooth drink with a tart after twist due to the lime. It puts off a pleasing earthy vanilla bean scent that comes from the Zaya rum. Now, as not everybody likes heavy sweet cocktails you can alter the above ingredients a bit to create more of a tart pop by increasing the lime to 1 full ounce and reducing the simple syrup to 1 full ounce. Thus your count would be 1, 1, 2. Essentially you build to taste.

Our good friend Tuna: The original "Sneaky Bastard"

I not only served these up to Mike and Tuna last game day but to Valerie and Jasmine as well and they seemed to enjoy it too.

Lastly, just like Tuna, these little cocktails WILL sneak up on you if you are not careful, I know firsthand as I think my last one just hit me hard.

Cheers
AL

Sneaky goblins, terrifying merriod, and our intrepid heroes: The Battle for... Wheat?

Yes, this week's battle was over wheat. Apparently goblins cannot farm (genetic defect) and therefore must steal crops.

The Overlord (played by Al for the first time) may have a greater plan for the wheat but the heroes are just assuming that goblin anatomy makes them incapable of operating even the simplest of farm implements.

Avric bravely battles the rare plastic colored merriod. More common breeds are blue.

The battle was fairly even throughout. The merriod used Immobilize to good effect, letting an early goblin run away with a bundle of wheat. Jain Fairwood attempted to run down a second goblin. She managed to kill him and take his wheat but her escape path was blocked by reinforcements. Thankfully, a secret room was discovered and she escaped harm.

Brave Sir Robin (aka Jain) just before escaping into a hidden room

In the end, two wheat for the overlord, two for the heroes. Stay tuned to see what happens next, when the battle for wheat continues!

Widow Tarha transporting some wheat. Wheat being the cardboard token under the model.

September Game Day Recap: Epic Zombicide

Valerie hosted today and Al, Tuna, and myself were there, as usual. We were joined by newcomer Jasmine, who (whom?) we hope will become a regular!

Al had just received his shiny new boxes of Zombicide Prison Outbreak and Toxic City Mall expansion. Prison Outbreak is a standalone game, basically the next installment in the story of Zombicide with new characters, a new zombie type (berzerker), and new scenarios to run. We cracked this one open and set up the first scenario.

Hey good lookin'

The first thing everyone (who was familiar with the game) noticed was how much more there was. The scenario was huge and we had a lot to do. We had to search both in and outside of the prison for blueprints and maps to be able to explore further in prison later. We had 3 different door controls and countless rooms to search.

One new game mechanic that works to the survivors' favor is that when they die, they become zombies... but maintain their free will. Their abilities change but they still fight for the good side. And they're harder to kill now!

Zombies are no match for... zombies!

We had some really tough moments. Jasmine was dealing out huge damage when she was overrun by six running zombies. But her resurrection next turn saw her rise and slaughter them all.

Undead versions are always better

Al decided to become a zombie intentionally but that may have backfired as his skills changed in a way that made it tough for him to do much.

My character stayed behind in the safety of the watchtower with the rifle to pick off zombies on the street while the rest of the team took on the rest of the prison interior.

In the end, it was a bit anti-climactic. The toughest parts of the game were in the middle. And it was long. But it was still great fun and an excellent second installment of the game. I look forward to trying the expansion with the toxic zombies!

Dinner break. Zombies are piled up in the prison (lower left). Mike's lonely survivor in the watchtower (upper right).

It was already late after the one game, so we played Tsuro of the Seas for a quick cool down. Sea monsters and lack of navigable ocean took all but Al.

Al's Blackberry Vodka Tonic.

Al's Blackberry Vodka Tonic.

If any of you have not yet guessed, I am something of a drink geek, which goes hand in hand with my other "geeky" traits like gaming and reading zombie novels. I am always on the look out for different cocktails, and recipes, so when I came across the base formula for this concoction the wheels began to spin, and my mind raced.

The original was a gin based drink that used lime instead of lemon, and I am sure it works well if one was to stick with it. However, I decided to switch it up and substitute fresh lemon juice for the citrus and Vodka for the base alcohol, and I can say with confidence I nailed this right out of the gate. After making a couple of these two weeks ago and bragging to everyone at my work about it the next day (vanity runs strong in me), I received no less than five requests for the ingredients list and method. I don't think my cohorts have shown this much interest in my mad alchemy experiments since I introduced them to the Dark and Stormy.

Ingredients:

6 large ripe Blackberries
.5 to 1 ounce of fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 ounce simple syrup
1.5 to 2 ounces of Vodka (Grey Goose is my preferred brand)
2 to 3 ounces of Tonic Water

Method:

1. Muddle Blackberries and lemon juice in the bottom of a cocktail shaker or Boston glass. Fill with ice then add simple syrup and vodka. Shake vigorously for 10-15 seconds.

2. Fill a Collins glass with ice. Double strain into serving glass using a cocktail strainer on your shaker and mini fine mesh strainer (held over the glass). The double strain prevents seeds and pulp from getting into the drink. Add tonic water and stir gently.

3. Garnish, you can garnish with a lemon wheel, skewered Blackberries, or you can simply toss two or three berries into the drink itself.



What it is supposed to look like.

I know this looks really simple but once you start crafting you find that simplicity too, has its pitfalls, so note the following:

When Muddling the berries, really crush them up good. Don't be a frisky Eejit and just start slamming your muddler down in the shaker, because if you do you will find yourself and your counter covered in purple stains. Yes, I'm an Eejit and did that on my first go. When straining, the pulp from the fruit will want to clog your cocktail strainer, thus you will need to give the shaker a wee shake with your wrist every now and again to loosen it up. Lastly do not over stir!!!! When I say stir Gently that is exactly what I mean. If you over stir you will flatten the drink.

This little pick me up is just the right combination of citrus, sugar and alcohol. It doesn't overpower with sweet or tart flavor, but simply blends the best of both together smoothly. I don't suggest making these for big gatherings, as they are bit time consuming. But at home on a sunny afternoon, one taste of this summer drink will make all the effort worth it.

Cheers
AL

Weekly Game Night 3 Recap

The Overlord Hustles the Heroes

We settled in for the third installment of the Descent campaign, the second half of the Plight of the Cardinal quest.

The objective this week was for the heroes to find the key and rescue the Cardinal. The Cardinal is immune to attacks from anyone but the faithful. However, the evil Lord Merrick Farrow was raising zombies of the faithful to do the attacks for him.

Tonight's crew was me (Mike) back as the Overlord, and Valerie, Chip, Brian, and newcomer Brandon as the heroes.

The heroes were doing a fine job of getting past some fire imps and finding the key. Brandon was rolling some amazing defense for the Cardinal, keeping the zombies at bay. They even dispatched of some undead wolves with little trouble.

Then the Overlord made his move. He 'forgot' to attack the Cardinal for one round. The heroes got cocky and decided to take out some goblins ahead of rescuing the Cardinal. He seemed to be doing well on his own. But their rolling luck was about to run out.

Three of the five goblins dropped fast. But two survived and moved to block the entrance to the Cardinal's library. The heroes were unable to dispatch of them both. The door remained closed.

And then the Cardinal died, just before the heroes could bust in and save him. It all played perfectly into the Overlord's plan: let them think they are doing well, then bring the pain.

Brandon's rolls dried up. The Overlord's rolls were hitting for multiple damage per zombie.

Next week will start with everyone gaining new skills and weapons before the next quest begins.

Jain Fairwood faces some enemies front right while zombies torture the Cardinal in the background.

Old Guild mates: an impromptu gathering.

Left to right: Jon, Mike, and Tuna 9/1/2013

It is but a couple times a year that Tuna, Mike and I, are lucky enough to spend time with our old WoW Guild mate Jon. For you uninitiated out there WoW is the acronym for World of Warcraft, an online video game which we all played endlessly for many years. Sadly Jon and his lovely wife Deb live the life of ex patriots on the west coast so our "in person" meetings are few and far between. Thus, when Mr. Clark recently announced his arrival in our fair state on business we jumped at the chance to indulge in our favorite past times i.e. having a wee drink and playing tabletop games with good friends.

As luck would have it Tuna and Mike both had new games for us to try out and I of course pushed a couple of new drinks upon my willing guinea pigs, ahem, I mean hapless guests.

The first game we got in was Tuna's new addition; Smash Up! It is a deck building card game in which you get two "factions" randomly and then have to use the various strengths of both to take bases. The faction combos can be really interesting. For example; Jon ended up with Pirates and Dinosaurs, and I had Wizards and what I'm calling fucking Racist Leprechauns. Anyway the game play was pretty good, because it encouraged you to be ruthless. I was really enjoying this game, even though the art on the racist cards was getting on my nerves, until Jon played a "God" card. He was able to remove all my minions from a base and spread them out anywhere he so chose. I don't mind losing, hell I lose most of the time, but I really dislike being beaten by an overpowered game changing card. Am I being childish? maybe just a bit, but even so I do see real potential with Smash Up! and I think with a bit of practice even the "god" card business can be handled. In the end Mike won and Tuna took second, me and Jon spent most of the game just trying to screw each other over which is normal for us.

The next game we got to play was Mike's newest purchase Cutthroat Caverns. This is a semi cooperative game in which you all need to work together but also have to "stick it" to your team mates at the same time to win. A very interesting concept, but designed so that the duplicity of it works out really well. Essentially each player tries to get points by landing the killing blow on the monster in the cavern, and yes there are more than one. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins. However, dead players, which does happen, can't win. Thus I deduced early on that I should try and get a couple folks killed towards the end of the game. After they had done some of the heavy lifting that is. Finally with much laughing and backstabbing by all, Tuna pulled off the win by playing a crit 100 points of damage on the last monster. It was too late for Mike and Jon as both had mysteriously taken much more damage than me and Tuna and they perished. Jon called Tuna a "Sneaky bastard" which of course he is, and we all agreed I should come up with a cocktail and name it after our friend Tuna, i.e. "the Sneaky Bastard".

After a break for two different Southside cocktails and some grilled kabobs, we moved indoors for a final game and a glass of whiskey. Not just any old Irish whiskey, but a kind we hadn't had before which Jon brought called Powers single batch. If you get a chance to taste this nectar I suggest strongly you do so for it is one of the smoothest I've had in some time.

Nectar of the gods!

The last game of the night was Zombicide, which looks like it's becoming one of our primary games.

 The beginning half of the match was pretty easy going and we grabbed the first objective painlessly. Jon jumped right in with both feet and did a great job of picking off hordes of undead with a rifle, sweeping the streets clean round after round. But, then bad things started to happen and the survivors fell behind in killing zombies, spawns got bigger, and then... the zombies got the dreaded "extra move". At that point we all thought we were goners. Mike and Tuna were off by themselves holding a corner open for our escape while the others were trying to get the second objective three blocks away in a building.

Zombies overran the far outpost and Tuna's survivor Phil went down in a pile of rotting flesh. Ned (Mike's toon) didn't give up though, while the undead feasted on his former friend he searched the police car and found a chainsaw. Yup nothing like a nice old husky to clear out a mass of brain eaters. Ned fired that puppy up and cleared the board. Definitely the play of the game, after that Jon (Wanda) roller skated right up the block and into the bunker which won the game.

Wanda in the Bunker for the win.

Overall it was an excellent day for the Booze and Board Game bhoys, made better by having a good friend and Guild mate to spend it with. I hope that the next time Jon comes a calling that he will get to bring his better half Deb and more of our players here in Maine get to meet these fine folks in person.

Cheers
AL