21 March 2005

Eric as Lord Faramir

The boys have taken up "Lord of the Rings Battle Gaming". As many of you know, I did a lot of wargaming before he moved to Sydney in 1993, but since then I have been waiting for the boys to get old enough to provide some competition. Initially, with the Lord of the Rings figures, they were just moving figures around and using their imagination. Then an invitation arrived in the mail to go to Gamesday 05 in Atlanta organized by Games Workshop. We arranged to spend the day at the convention center downtown in Atlanta - 2.5 hours away. Eric had a very good day. Rather than try out the various other games and activities on offer, he joined in to the many Lord of the Rings demonstration games. The first was a very large game being in command of Men of Gondor against nasty orcses (pictured here). The next game was controlling some orcs in Osgiliath, trying to cross the river and move through. I controlled some of the Gondorian defenders and I won that battle. Eric's last game was as the good guys again with some other homeschooling children controlling the evil forces. By the time they finished, Eric had played many hours gaming, and was filled with new knowledge of the game rules and mechanics. He has since shown James and Peter how to play.

The game also involves painting the models, creating scenery and designing games. We went to Home Depot and haggled for a damaged LARGE sheet of pink insulation foam ($4.00). This is the basis for castle walls, hills and other large structures. The boys are doing a great job creating lots of scenery, with David providing assistance and advice.

No comments: