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Virginia is for gamers
Apr. 12th, 2006 12:57 pmThe flight down to Charlottsville was smooth. I still get a rush going to the airport and taking a flight. It's pretty rare that I'm in a plane, so it's still exciting for me every time. There were these great shuttles at Dulles airport that would have looked great in a post Apocalyptic movie, with the right paint job, some barbed wire, and bolt throwers. Renting the car took a long time, and the traffic was horrendous getting to the hotel. Who puts traffic lights on State highways? Virginians, that's who. The five brothers hamburgers were a terrific break in the long drive. The basic hamburger is a double burger (single patties are referred to as little hamburger), and a small fry means a small BAG full of fries. Not the kind of food I'd eat all the time, but if you are going to have the occasional hamburger, that's the place to go. If you're in Virginia.
We checked in, played a game for fun, then ran across the street to a Kroger's (supermarket) to stock up on beer and cider. they had Hornsby (I don't like the amber, but the crisp apple was delicious. I managed to lose my first three games due to specatcular dice failure, being vastly outnumbered (and some more dice failure) and extreme demoralization from my last two games (and some more dice failure). By the end of the day, I was in rock bottom last place. As in, myself and one other guy had THE lowest score. I packed up my army and proceede directly to the bar at Damon's. A few rum and cokes later, my friends showed up, and we talked about anything besides Warhammer. I told them about Snakes On A Plane (which they hadn't heard of) and it became our byword of the weekend. Their mood and the alcohol actually started to cheer me up, and after getting more cider, we returned to our hotel room for Saving Private Ryan, Starship Troopers (yes!) more drinking, and poker using our dice for cash. After a few hands, I had completely cleaned out two of my friends. Having returned to a right jovial mood, I crashed out.
Sunday I was ready and primed to continue my quest for the absolute last place, but was thwarted when I won my last two games by a huge margin.
It was enough to put a very positive spin on the whole tournament, and erase any bad memories of the previous day. When we arrived at the airport, we found that we weren't going to be let on our flight (we missed check in by a few minutes). We went through a lengthy boarding process (the guys working the scanner recognized each of our armies!) and went on stand by. With thirteen people ahead of us, the prospects looked grim. One guy made it on, then a second, then the announced the plane was full and closed the doors. My friend and I stared at each other, and prepared to make ourselves comfortable, when the attendant told us he had two seats at the last minute. We made it on board the last flight back to Boston. That night I slept, relieved and happy, in my own bed.
We checked in, played a game for fun, then ran across the street to a Kroger's (supermarket) to stock up on beer and cider. they had Hornsby (I don't like the amber, but the crisp apple was delicious. I managed to lose my first three games due to specatcular dice failure, being vastly outnumbered (and some more dice failure) and extreme demoralization from my last two games (and some more dice failure). By the end of the day, I was in rock bottom last place. As in, myself and one other guy had THE lowest score. I packed up my army and proceede directly to the bar at Damon's. A few rum and cokes later, my friends showed up, and we talked about anything besides Warhammer. I told them about Snakes On A Plane (which they hadn't heard of) and it became our byword of the weekend. Their mood and the alcohol actually started to cheer me up, and after getting more cider, we returned to our hotel room for Saving Private Ryan, Starship Troopers (yes!) more drinking, and poker using our dice for cash. After a few hands, I had completely cleaned out two of my friends. Having returned to a right jovial mood, I crashed out.
Sunday I was ready and primed to continue my quest for the absolute last place, but was thwarted when I won my last two games by a huge margin.
It was enough to put a very positive spin on the whole tournament, and erase any bad memories of the previous day. When we arrived at the airport, we found that we weren't going to be let on our flight (we missed check in by a few minutes). We went through a lengthy boarding process (the guys working the scanner recognized each of our armies!) and went on stand by. With thirteen people ahead of us, the prospects looked grim. One guy made it on, then a second, then the announced the plane was full and closed the doors. My friend and I stared at each other, and prepared to make ourselves comfortable, when the attendant told us he had two seats at the last minute. We made it on board the last flight back to Boston. That night I slept, relieved and happy, in my own bed.
