September 11 2002 RussCon Report

News

If we don't play boardgames and make silly jokes, then the terrorists have already won... It's been a year since the two towers fell in New York. A lot has changed, and a lot that should have hasn't, depressingly. But some good things haven't changed, thank goodness.

I know some folks took the day off to reflect on the past year. I find my thoughts ranging over past, present, and future... 20 or 25 years ago I was reading books like The Two Towers (and now here we are, expecting the Peter Jackson movie in a few months), watching movies like Ralph Bakshi's Wizards, and listening to music like Al Stewart. It was very cool to see Al Stewart live Thursday night. I'd forgotten so many of the songs, and it was really a delightful treat to hear them performed live after so many years, in a small venue, and rekindle that interest. His song "Roads to Moscow" (about the WWII Russian Front) performed live literally sent chills down my spine.

The silent movies (Arsenal and Safety Last) were also both cool. It was amazing seeing Harold Lloyd perform his own dangerous yet funny stunts on the side of a 12 story building with no safety ropes or nets, especially since we learned that he'd previously lost a finger and a thumb in an accident. There are more free silent films on the way in the Dovzhenko retrospective. I find it magical to watch movies made 70 or 80 years ago, with live music by modern musicians. I am left with a feeling of optimism despite events of terrorism and war.

Boardgamers and miniatures gamers should be aware MillenniumCon 5 is coming up in a couple months: November 22-24. Our Most Assiduous Reader will recall that Brady's Settlers tournament 5 years ago at MillenniumCon led to RussCon As We Know It. The photo is from Brady's Battle Cry tournament at MillenniumCon 3, where JP defeated me in the final round, thus winning the nice Battle Cry set painted by Brady which lives in my living room.

This was Kara's last RussCon for a while, as she's moving to Houston. Good luck!

Meta Game

If you want to play-
When you arrive, draw a card from the box. It will have a number on it. Keep the number confidential. If you win a game you may trade numbered cards with any one player in that game. If you place second in that game you may trade with any one player other than the winning player; place third...
Person with the highest numbered card at the end of the night wins.

Zack wisely did not tell us full info about the distribution of numbers. It turns out 21 was the highest number, and Sea Biscuit ended the evening with that card, so Sea Biscuit is the Meta Devil and will design next week's Meta Game!

New Multiplicative Rank Ratings:   
 3.1781 24.0000 TimG (2)
 2.3026 10.0000 MarkH (3)
 2.2618 9.6000 JP (4)
 2.0794 8.0000 Ben (4)
 0.9808 2.6667 Clayton (2)
 0.4055 1.5000 JonathanC (4)
 0.4055 1.5000 Marty (1)
 0.2231 1.2500 Whendy (2)
-0.4055 0.6667 BradS (4)
-0.8109 0.4444 MarkY (5)
-1.2685 0.2813 William (4)
-1.6094 0.2000 Zack (4)
-2.0794 0.1250 Kara (3)
-2.0794 0.1250 Steve (3)
-3.5835 0.0278 RussW (4)

New Multiplicative Win Ratings:
 3.1781 24.0000 TimG won 2 of 2
 2.3026 10.0000 MarkH won 2 of 3
 2.3026 10.0000 JP won 2 of 4
 1.6740 5.3333 Ben won 3 of 4
 0.8755 2.4000 Zack won 2 of 4
 0.3409 1.4063 JonathanC won 1 of 4
-0.1178 0.8889 MarkY won 2 of 5
-0.2877 0.7500 Kara won 1 of 3
-0.2877 0.7500 Marty won 0 of 1
-0.4055 0.6667 Clayton won 0 of 2
-0.6931 0.5000 BradS won 1 of 4
-0.7985 0.4500 Steve won 0 of 3
-0.8755 0.4167 Whendy won 0 of 2
-1.0454 0.3516 RussW won 0 of 4
-1.8971 0.1500 William won 0 of 4