Pledge:  continuing my work on 1/700 scale Aircraft Carriers and escort ships for a planned ‘Battle in the Backyard’.  Coral Sea or Midway.  I have a large amount of the Midway ships both USN and IJN but I really want to do Coral Sea and try to save the Lexington!  I don’t know why but it has always bugged me that we lost the ‘Lady Lex’ in that one.

Questions:

1) What game (tabletop miniature wargame) has always caught your attention but you never got around to it?

Answer: ‘Beyond the Gates of Antares’   Don’t know why but I’ve never pulled the trigger on that one.  Maybe I should just buy the rules book and have a closer look.  (maybe I’ll look on eBay for a cheap beat up copy)

2) Bringing out the grill/bbq/smoker: what’s your favourite outdoor summer food?

Answer: Oh my gawd……….. So many choices…….  Quick and tasty is smoking steaks.  Thirty to forty five minutes in the smoker then reverse seer at the end and your mouth in heaven. Also Bratwurst are fantastic on the smoker as well and quick too. But for the long duration smokes you can’t beat a good Brisket or Pork Butt. About twelve to sixteen hours for those, (depending on the size of the cut).  Of course you can’t forget Ribs, sausage (cut it into chunks then skewer so the smoke gets in every where), corn on he cob still in the husk, and my ‘World Famous Southern Baked Beans’ and add the smoked sausage to the beans.  For a more refined presentation a Pork Tenderloin smoked is tasty and plates well for a higher classed evening gathering.  (don’t over cook the tenderloin, leave it juicy)   As always I like to Glaze at the end with my favorite Jack Daniels glaze.  Just enough to add a touch of extra flavor and the glaze itself makes any meat from the smoker look so darn good!

1) Did you ever get lured into a game all your friends love and you simply can’t connect with that? How do you react?

Answer: Many paper map and card board Chits games have left me flat.  I guess I’m just too much of a modeler to settle for simple cardboard as my troops or equipment on the table. Also I’m not into two dimensional terrain.  That is what turned me off of the Warmachine Tournament Scene.  (All flattened tables)  I need the cinematic flare. It’s about the story as to how the battle came to be and what the troops have to deal with in the battle.  Not simple who wins.  If your looking for that then play Simulations not games.

As far as board games, my daughter and her husband tried to get me to play ‘Catan’.  They love it so much!  I’d rather get teeth pulled than sit through another game of that!  But I do have a plan that might make ‘Catan’ bearable.  Recreating the tiles but larger in 3D at 15mm or 10mm.  I’m not telling them about it yet.  If I get it done before Christmas I’ll spring it on them after Christmas dinner when they always ask, “Do you want to play Catan with us Dad”?  I’ll say yes and then go grab the custom kit and bring it out!  Sounds great in my head………I just have to make it happen.