"Maybe it's anti-personnel?"

I played a quick game of Battletech on Tuesday with Shane. He spent the next couple of days drawing robots with special powers.

He was drawing Wednesday morning when Carrie walked up to me in the kitchen.

"Put that down," she said.

I put my cup on the counter.

Carrie gave me a big hug and hung on tight. I was still trying to process the situation when she whispered into my ear.

"He gave him a laser for a wiener."

I started laughing and Carrie said, "Aren't you glad I had you put [your cup] down?"

Shane told me all about his mech and the special laser beam when he noticed me looking. I don't know if he was talking about a different one or not, because my brain kept going there as I tried not to laugh.

Surprise Delivery

I got two big surprises Monday. The first, was the Battletech kickstarter I'd backed over a year ago came in!

I got the email confirming shipping about 5 hours after the package arrived. I know the exact time window, because I was on my lunch break letting Loki run when the delivery truck appeared.

I opened it up and let the figurine hang out while I taught triangles!

I'd love to meet up with John McG to play, but he's been more and more distant as the pandemic has continued.  I sent him a bunch of pictures hoping to try and pique his interest, but failed. He refused to play a game with the rest of us a few weeks back, too. I'm sure that COVID has been rough on his mother's (and therefore his) mental health. Unfortunately, we don't live close enough for me to drop by and force him to hang out like I could do when we were younger.

After work a second box arrived! I was expecting that one, but not until Tuesday. 

I loved playing the Pandemic Legacy games with Carrie. I enjoyed it so much I pre-ordered the final game of the set. Normally, I would have waited a year or two for a sale. The time seemed right, though, with all the time we spend at home in this pandemic!

Sadly, there's not been any time (or Carrie energy) to play anything. My plan is to start the campaign the next time Shane visits Nana and Pop for virtual school. That should be sometime in November!

John Visits the New House!

John visited! He was the first friend to visit the new house!

We played some Battletech, but Shane pooped out this time. He wanted to eject and abandon John when it appeared I was winning. We wouldn't let him eject, but he relinquished control and went to play with his toys while we carried on.

And win I did. The dice turned even further my way with Shane's departure.

We had a little bit of technological fun after the game. John had showed us his drone outside, but inside there were cats!

Shane came back into the room when he heard us chortling. Max was curious about the drone, but didn't jump for it. She followed it around unsure of what to make of it.

Bucket, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with the mechanized demon.

She darted behind the washing machine. Max watched her go and went back to patiently pursuing the drone.

It wasn't the longest visit, but it made the day. I've said this a million times, but I wish everyone lived closer.

I'm Older

Another tally mark around the sun done. I got home and found a package on the porch with my name on it. I immediately assumed it was really for Carrie and asked for permission to open it.

Turns out, it really was for me. John sent a present!

The Gruesome Twosome vs Me - Round 2

I told Shane, "I'm going to see if I can get John to come down this weekend."

His reply, "Awesome! We can play Battletech!" (Followed by, "I'm going to be another missile launcher!")

Shane got his wish.

It's not like he was the only one who wanted to play, either! I set up a scenario where I marched a Locust, Commando and Hunchback across the map to deal with John's hatchet-wielding Assassin and Shane's Catapult. 

Carrie was so tired she fell asleep on the couch even with us being far less than quiet one room away. We snuck off to Wegmans for snacks and a cheap pizza for dinner.

Shane was very eager to mix his own soft drink. I don't think soda is supposed to be fluorescent strawberry orange.

I like orange soda, but his concoction was best in small sips to prevent choking. Shane swore it was a good mix, but I noticed he wasn't drinking it either.

Carrie woke up when we got home and we all watched the Lego Movie 2.

It was so good, Shane got hyped and jumped straight onto John.

Shane's idea of a "comfortable viewing position" are only comfortable for aspiring contortionists (he gets that from my side of the family).

I've enjoyed all the Lego movies so far.

It inspired Shane to build as the credits rolled.

John needs to move to Charlottesville so he can visit more often.

Random - I think it's now a thing: I catch John yawning in at least one shot each time we get together.

Battletech Update

John was playing on his tablet (with his crazy expensive tablet pen) and sent a picture of his take on Shane's drawing. 

Shane's noticed that the middle wasn't the same instantly. He's got a fantastic memory. I laughed out loud and said it was a "Rainbow Raider piloted by Roy G Biv."

Shane didn't get it, so Carrie spelled it out.

We sent John a reaction picture.

It helped us wait for our food at Wegmans. This actually happened on a Tuesday. I'm sure of it, because on Tuesday kid's eat free at Wegmans! I took the price of the free kids meal and used it as the tip. Shane and I had a discussion on what tipping was and how I tried to make today a "win-win." I had saved money on the meal, so I used the money I saved to do a larger tip while still enjoying a cheaper meal.

Color Quest

John, the creative soul that he is, asked if Shane wanted to come up with a unit name and sent me an image of a Catapult CPLT-C1 for Shane to color.

And color Shane did (with some Wegman's pizza on the side).

I sent Shane's masterpiece to John.

John: "He went Roy G Biv."

Me: "So...Rainbow Raiders?"

Funday Sunday

Shane was inspired from our game with John.

He built a Catapult of his own! Of course, I sent John a picture.

A different John can by with his kids later on. Now that our house is under contract with the inspection complete, we can have people over some. Really, there's only a few chances left for Shane's friends to see our house before we move.

Dylan was shocked we had a basement.

The boys started off with some SNES. Shane wanted to play Street Fighter 2 Turbo. He picked Dhalsim and did his best to cheese Eli into a fit.

I switched it to a co-op game, Kirby (It'd worked well with Henry and he's Eli's age). The older boys lost interest and went up stairs to Minecraft.

Eli was hooked. He stayed on that game for a couple of hours. Most of the time, his dad was his support and cheerleader.

John managed to sneak up and talk a little with the adults in between, though. Dylan started to try and watch Youtube and then Solo on his tablet, so Carrie had me redirect him. I got him interested in You Vs Wild on the TV (Shane's been enjoying it lately).

There was a lot more electronics than I normally like, but it was with friends. Plus, all the adults were tired! The kids enjoyed themselves and then John scooped the boys up to take them home around dinner.

Nerd Love

I have always had a special nerd love for BattleTech.

I played my first game in 6th grade with Bill and Dan. In 7th grade, I stumbled upon the first BattleTech novel ever written in the school library. I have owned and read well over 60 books of fiction in the universe. I have owned multiple boxed sets and rule books. I have played or owned almost every video game released. My first attempts at fiction were done in the BattleTech universe, because I know so much about it (and they had an easy online submission process). They're here if you're interested. 

There are other series I love, but I don't think there's any other series that has claimed as much of my time and money. The franchise was big enough to have a lot of stuff I wanted, but niche enough that I couldn't find it easily at a library or at a garage sale. At some point, you acquire enough nerd knowledge that you're so invested in a series it becomes a nerd quest to continue learning about it. 

I can't say BattleTech is the best written or designed franchise (far from it*), but it will always hold a special place in my heart because I grew up with it.  

Currently, I am knee-deep in MechWarrior Online. The game round times last anywhere between 2-15 minutes averaging 5-7 which is usually the top end of uninterrupted free time I can hope for. 

Now it's claiming my free time when I should be blogging. 

The danger of anything that can be finished in under 5 minutes is it's easy to fall in the "Okay, just one more" trap.

It's also free to play, but it's the first new BattleTech software I've touched in years and years. I felt compelled to throw a couple of bucks in to support it (Lo and behlod, BattleTech is claiming a little more of my money yet again).

The game is far from perfect, but it's funny how nostalgia and nerd-love can make something so entertaining.