Summertime Gaming

Cannon at Drewry's Bluff.

My son’s school year begins tomorrow, an early start that puts an end to the carefree days of summer. I don’t get as much done since I’m busy with yard duties, household projects, and entertaining my son with a weekly day trip and other diversions. We’re both looking forward to getting back into some kind of somewhat productive routine. We found some opportunities for gaming during the summer, with some engaging games we really enjoyed. I’m hoping we can sustain our gaming momentum into the more structured part of the year as I tempt him with themes that interest him.

I always love seeing the 
Grumman Goose at the NASM.

We started our summer with a family trip to the Champlain Valley: staying in Brandon, VT, where my grandmother retired for so many years; visiting historical sites like Fort Ticonderoga, Mount Defiance, and the fortifications at Crown Point (feeding into our interest in the French and Indian War and the American War of Independence); riding on the Fort Ticonderoga ferry; shopping in picturesque Manchester, VT (and buying too many books); and all of it accompanied by my brother, my son’s favorite uncle, turning the trip into an extended family visit. The rest of the summer my son and I took our weekly day trips to get out of the house, treks to familiar haunts and new sites like the National Air and Space Museum Udvar-Hazy Center, the National Museum of the Marine Corps, Fredericksburg and Manassas Battlefields, Drewry’s Bluff, and various used book stores, collectibles shops, and game stores. The last weekend before school started we had one final flurry of summer activity: a visit to the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton, VA (along with a stop at The Medieval Fantasies Company shop and The Dragon’s Hoard game store); a day at a local community tag sale; and a quick visit to a longtime friend and his son (we played analog games and talked while the kids plugged into Starcraft II...).

One of my goals this summer was to sit down with my son after lunch and play a game. We didn’t manage to do this every day we were home, but we gamed quite a bit. Our gaming got off to an early start at the Richmond Open in early May (technically before summer vacation), where I ran a game of Panzer Kids and picked up the beginnings of our Star Wars: Armada fleets. After ordering the Clone Wars-era starter sets from Noble Knight Games shortly thereafter, we started battling it out on the starfield mat on the wargaming table. It took us several games to fully comprehend the rules, particularly additions to the original Armada game (which we hadn’t played in a while). We both frequently forgot about various upgrades to our forces, a liability in these kinds of games (like the X-wing miniatures game and Star Trek Attack Wing). But we enjoyed ourselves deploying our capital ships, maneuvering our fighter squadrons, and me, inevitably, accidentally ramming into other ships.

The surprise hit of the summer was Air, Land, & Sea, a quick military themed card game with some depth and complex player choices. Much of the allure for my son was the “quick” part – game time runs around 20 minutes, so he could get back to playing Roblox – but he liked the World War II style artwork and swiftly grasped not only the mechanics but the advantageous strategies. At first I won a few rounds, but now, despite my earnest efforts, he handily beats me most games (another reason he like it).

We managed a few other games over the summer, most notably Fighters of the Pacific, which I really liked. Very much like aerial chess. After playing it against myself once to learn the rules, I invited my son to try...he handily shot down all my Wildcats losing only half of his A6M Zeroes. I’m hoping to bring this to the table again as I dream of bringing back some regular weekly gaming to our schedule.

I did find some time for my own solitaire gaming beyond the learning session for Fighters of the Pacific. I spent a few nights playing a used copy of Agricola I found for a very good price. And I ran a number of scenarios in Aliens: Another Glorious Day in the Corps, which I highlighted earlier.

Although we didn’t get to some games I’d hope to play over the summer, our past exploits and my future aspirations intersect with some enticingly themed games to propose to my son. I am eager to capitalize on his interest in Star Wars: The Clone Wars: I’ll use some figures I painted years ago to have him help me playtest my revised skirmish rules; I’m hoping to get Star Wars: The Clone Wars game using the Pandemic system; not to mention purchasing more Star Wars: Armada ships for our fleets. I’m also hoping he’ll help me run some World War II Gridded Naval Wargames scenarios I’ve prepped for an upcoming wargaming convention. I wouldn’t mind playing some games tied to our summer vacation to Lake Champlain – I have several games by Bill Molyneaux about the French and Indian War – but I don’t want to push my luck too much.

I still have gaming aspirations despite the loss of summertime leisure time. I still have dwindling hopes we can re-establish some kind of family game night during our weekly routine, though I suspect I’ll be lucky to just get my son playing a short game on weekends. I keep hoping in vain for a gaming program at the local library or museum, but I fear I live in an area whose population is quite indifferent to such pursuits. (We’ll give the library’s family game night a try later this month, but I don’t have high hopes.) The nearest retailer with any open gaming is 35 minutes away, and the next one is 60 minutes. Our town has a sad history of game/comic shops opening, stumbling along for a while, and then evaporating overnight after only a year or two.

So tomorrow it’s back to school and back to routine, with any semblance of summertime activities relegated to the increasingly sweltering weekends (when we’re not having crazy storms). No doubt my son will remain possessive of his free time for Roblox play, but I’m hoping I can entice him back to the game table with more regularity throughout the year.