Ben blows their brains out

Roland Cooke told us last weekend at WACCon in Seattle that he’d be in Chicago for the week, so Nate and I resolved to organize a game in his honor. Ater work Monday night, Nate posted the game on Meetup. For its title, he turned to Medieval literature: "The Song of Roland." The name worked. Within 12 hours–a club record–Game No. 234 was full.

"The Song of Roland" is an epic poem about one of Charlemagne’s knights whose rearguard was ambused by a Muslim army. Vastly outnumbered, the knight, Roland, leads a valiant defense, all the while refusing to blow his powerful horn to summon Charlemagne’s main host. Finally–and here’s a spoiler alert–with his men dead and he the last Frank standing, Roland blows the horn with such great force that his temples burst.

Charlemagne arrived too late to save any of his men, but he did slaughter every last one of the enemy, which in Medieval literature counts as a happy ending.
 
Sadly, there was no happy ending for Roland or anyone else playing a Christian power on Wednesday night. Ben DiPaola, playing the Muslims in this modern epic, blew all their brains out. The game ended after Fall 1906 in the following center counts:

Austria (Matt Kade): 6; 16.216 points.
England (Chris Kelly): 3; 4.054 points.
France (Nathan Cockerill): 6; 16.216 points.
Germany (Brandon Peters): 5; 11.261 points.
Italy (Roland Cooke): 4; 7.207 points.
Russia (Peter Lokken): 0; 0.000 points.
Turkey (Ben DiPaola): 10; 45.045 points.

Roland apparently had a good time. He’ll be back in town on Presidents’ Day, and he’s already signed up for the game on the 19th. He expects to be back frequently over the next few months. Perhaps he’ll become a temporary regular at our bar games.
 
It was good to see Peter, who was playing for the first time this season. I’m not sure whether he forgot to tell everyone that the 30th was his birthday or if he did and that’s why they spanked him.
 
And Brandon wasted no time getting back to the table. He played for the first time ever in Game No. 233 on Jan. 11. When he saw me — I had dinner at the Lion so I could welcome Roland but left before the game started — Brandon said, "You left [the last game] before I had a chance to screw you."
 
Okay, the supply center chart is here. Now, let’s hear from the players.

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This Post Has One Comment

  1. Roland Cooke

    A game chacterised by a shockingly high number of misorders, not least my own.

    Great venue, great fun, but my play was thing best lost in the anals of history.

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