The New York City Gang Of Four

[chas]

And now, more new custom goodness from our friends on the committee for Pandemic Play (see them on the Home Page):

Motley Max - Valkrill
Cal the Smuggler - Vydar
Kuthnak - Utgar
Breach - Vydar
Corvor the Tainted One - Valkrill

And as a NHSD special:

Louis "Mad Dog" Malone

Added to the list of the June 7 post above, that makes 20 new cards we haven't played yet! All cards have been printed out here! Something must be done...

[chas]

Hope everyone is having a good Thanksgiving Weekend. If you'd like to share your positive Covid experiences, feel free to drop in and post on the General Section in my thread Pandemic Tales!

[chas]

*Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all!*

With the Third Wave of the Pandemic hitting, I've ended the limited one on one gaming sessions I'd been having, as well as the few outside/inside visits to restaurants I'd done. But one of these days I'll have to add some Scaping to my solitaire gaming fun here! For the first time I'm playing me some Steam/TTS these days.

In two days on Christmas Eve I'll be 69 years old! Whoa. Its the same birthday as Dr. Anthony Fauci, but he's really old. I do enjoy his NYC accent, though.

The first time I remember knowing what year it was is a memory of trading comic books on my stoop as a boy. I looked at the copyright statement at the bottom of the first page of an issue, and it said 1959. The world has changed a lot since then. Hopefully with the vaccines now on the way, I'll get to see some more of it.

I'll be upgrading from my 10 year old computer soon, and with HBO Max now, I'll continue to spend more online viewing time, like seeing Wonder Woman II when it comes out on the holiday itself. Check out the Movies and TV threads to see what I've been watching.

Hope you are all warm and snug this winter season, and looking forward to a better year in 2021. Hang in there, and keep on trucking.

Your buddy,
Chas

[Tornado]

Happy Holidays and Happy Birthday!
Stay safe and warm.

[chas]

NYC Gang of Four Personal Updates For January 2021

Sherman Davies got a new server that wasn't delivering most of his incoming email! Since he hasn't been onsite here for a while, he didn't know we were trying to reach him. Now he's back in action. He hopes some day we'll gather once more for our monthly Scape games.

Kolakoski after expecting to have to move out of the City, found a smaller apartment on the island; so he and his wife will not be leaving. Hooray! However, moving from a 3 bedroom to a 1 bedroom means he'll be selling most or all of his Heroscape collection. His sales threads are now appearing in that site section (Heroscape Community/Sales and Trades).

NOW IT CAN BE TOLD
Since I joined this site, I've been joking about him "plotting on his secret island base." He's now revealed that in this city where every borough except the Bronx is on an island--Brooklyn where I live and Queens are part of Long Island, although incorporated into NYC--this is [I]Roosevelt Island.[/I] Its a quiet residential spot in the East River where the famous Tram (cable car) runs--I usually take the subway there myself! Congratulations to him and his lovely wife, who is always very active in local cultural affairs.

Taeblewalker is playing games usually twice a week in game stores upstate where he moved a few years ago. I go up there once or twice a year to sleep over and hang out. We visit interesting sites like Woodstock (Yasgur's Farm), Revolutionary War sites, The Zane Grey Museum, and beautiful scenery where three states come together on the Upper Delaware Scenic & Recreational River, and other natural parks and sites. There are a number of charming small towns in the area with their own local points of interest in the Adirondack tourist area, one for example with an old time railroad station, part of a library in an old bank vault, and a great home brewery. He and his significant other are generous hosts up there. You will also see a few items from his Heroscape collection up for sale.

Chas (Me) has a new PC, and is currently old enough to try to get the Covid vaccine, although it hasn't been made available for him locally yet. And he's now got Zoom, Discord, Roku, Slack Chat, and Steam/TableTopSimulator (TTS) thanks to younger pals helping him out, and is playing weekly with one of his old gaming groups and one on one. Chas had been having occasional single visitors over a few times a month to game, but cut that out along with going to a few restaurants when the Third Wave of the Pandemic hit recently. He's also now got HBO Max, only his second ever streaming service--he had CBS All Access for two free months previously--and is watching a lot of stuff. About the only place he visits except for necessary errands is Barnes & Noble, where he enjoys buying books the old fashioned way.

Here's hoping you are well and gaming safely! Let's hope, despite recent divisive politics, that better days are coming.

Chas

[Tornado]

Thanks for the update. Good to hear Sherm is doing fine
Stay safe Gang

[chas]

Kolakoski has some great stuff up for sale now. I'm picking up 18 of his C3V custom figures that I never owned before! Check out his lists for some great buys before its all gone. There's terrain, official figures, C3V "official" figures for their customs, Heroclix for C3G Supers games, and etc.

[chas]

Met Kolakosi for a great Japanese lunch outdoors yesterday (in a somewhat heated tent on the street) in Greenwich Village, Manhattan--a mid point between us. We made the Scape exchange, and had a great talk. Since I've only been to restaurants six times during the entire Pandemic, and I've seen K. twice now, he's my main Pandemic Restaurant Buddy!

He's packing up to move already and was happy to take a break from it all. For the details of what I bought from him, see his Sales Thread.

[Tornado]

Cool. Glad you two are able to stay in contact. Stay safe gentlemen.

[chas]

Reassembling In Mid April?

I'm happy to report that after a month of trying, Kolokoski and I, our two senior members, have finally gotten out first Covid vaccinations! It was possible because here in NY state besides essential workers, we 65 or older folks now qualify for the shots. But I had to look out of my window at a high school one block away which was giving them out, and couldn't get one, which was frustrating.

This new scheduling means that we have to wait another month after that (now another two weeks for me), and then wait another two weeks for our immunity to build up after that, according to current medical protocols. That means that, about mid-April, we can think about getting the group together again here for some Heroscape! With masks on and windows open, and only sharing snacks in seperate serving bowls, it seems like a reasonable move.

I haven't Scaped since this Pandemic began, a year ago. Actually, about the time the virus hit, we were about ready to take a break anyhow, but not for this long! Now there are 20 new C3V custom cards to try out (as noted upthread). Since K. has been selling off his collection in order to move into a smaller apartment, I've also become the custodian of about 20 of his favorite custom figures.

I had gotten together with three pals for some one on one other board games--my gaming table is so large that we play on opposite ends almost six feet apart--but I quit that when the Third Wave hit. I also quit going to restaurants, which I'd done about half a dozen times since the Pandemic hit, either outside or in social distancing insides. I also did a few of pizza deliveries and three takeout Chinese meals. NYC especially isn't the same place without restaurants, since we usually have so many to choose from. So now that the weather is warming, I can consider that again as well.

So I hope in another six weeks or so to be able to report that at least some of us have started Scaping again. Until then, online Scape seems a bit complex for our minimal skills, so I'll continue online with other board games. And in April my larger Kickstarter games will start coming in as well, and I can think about group games here for them as well...

[chas]

I am now setting up non-Scape board game dates with visitors starting March 28 into April, including a sleepover from Taeblewalker. He's bringing his own new stuff like Sleeping Gods, which to me seems to be the most interesting of the kinds of adventure type games he likes, that I play but don't buy myself.

For me, the redo of Commands & Colors Samurai Battles is in the mail now, and I'll be getting about a game a month starting in April from my four big Kickstarters: Titans, Empire of the Stars, The Great Wall, and eventually Ankh: Gods of Egypt. Also coming later are expansions for Hellenica: Story of Greece and Rurik: Dawn of Kiev.

Scaping itself will start up when I hear back from the other guys in the group.

[chas]

Return From The Pandemic Isolation!

I've now had my two Moderna shots, and almost finished the two following weeks in which I build up my immunity. I have a pal coming over Sunday to play my new C&C Samurai Battles game which came a couple of days ago in the mail--I'm still stickering the over 200 blocks. Taeblewaker will be over Monday and Tuesday with his new Sleeping Gods and Civilization games. I also have game dates for two other friends to drop by in April, and expect to make more. Meanwhile I continue to game online with Discord and Steam/TTS at least once a week.

I should be getting three big Kickstarters I've backed in April or May, and a fourth in June or July.

Meanwhile, everyone has expressed an interest in restarting our New York City Gang of Four and Scaping once more--Chas, Taeblewalker, Kolakoski, Sherman Davies, and part timer Ishmel. Anyone else in the NYC area is welcome to join us for resumed monthly meetings here.

I've continued to issue my Gaming Updates to local pals, and will soon be readding hard game dates for playing here at my own club at my place, one game at a time. Other people on the 45 person email list should be dropping in once their immunity is established.


Weird Vaccine Tales

The different ways we are getting our shots here in NY State highlight how odd and random the distribution system can be:

1. I got my shot without an appointment by getting on a daily waiting list which my local distribution center kept to give out last minute shots which could not be kept overnight. I only found out about it from the manager of the convenience store in my building who had someone drop by from the center and offer him the shot in this manner!

2. Taeblewaker just had an unexpected experience upstate NY. He was walking down the main street of his town looking to get a haircut when suddenly someone offered him the shot, and of course he took it! A few days later he still hadn't gotten that haircut.

3. Kolakoski got his at a local drug store on his secret island base!