Drafted For War

by on September 25, 2023 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

I played an Alpha Strike Drafted For War tournament this weekend. We used the random BattleMech booster boxes to bring in a completely random set of BattleMechs for all players, and then we picked our armies from those available to us. We each ended up with a semi-random assortment of three BattleMechs that we used to put together a 150-point army to do battle with. It is delightfully fun and random and full of making do with what you get. It was an absolute blast, and I so very much plan to play the format again.

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Family

by on September 24, 2023 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Dad was a Deacon at our Assembly of God as long as I remember. He organized food drives and clothing donations. Worked with the local Lions Club, Salvation Army and other charities. Fundraised for disaster relief missions. There were always people in need, whether locals or outsiders, and he made certain the whole town was ready to help as needed. I remember back in ’93, that was the Rio de Janeiro earthquake, Dad organized all the pickups in town to fly on down there full of disaster relief supplies. Yeah, we didn’t bring much compared to the big disaster relief ships, but we stuck around for a week helping dig people out and all the other things you have to do when the ground goes topsy-turvy. Dad made sure we helped there. A lot.

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Family

by on September 23, 2023 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Dad was the strongest man I knew growing up. He always showed up when the neighbors were raising new buildings, and dragged me along to help. I usually put on a good show of protesting, but always came. The cutest girls showed up for the barn-raising parties, doncha know? Dad was always in the middle of whatever work needed doing. Someone’s finishing a roof? Dad was there. A beam needs bracing? Dad. Raising a wall? Yup. Dad. We were always welcome because Dad helped at the hardest times. And Mom brought all the best hotdishes. I helped both at every opportunity because it was fun showing off for, and flirting with, the pretty girls. We all had our priorities. Dad’s priority was helping build a better world.

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Family

by on September 22, 2023 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Dad retired so he could settle down and raise a family. Live the good life he had fought for so long to make sure other people could live. He wanted the American Dream. A house on a lake, a loving wife, a son that would make his hair turn grey, and days spent tossing a lure into the water. Don’t get me wrong here. He was by far the most dangerous man I knew growing up. It was obvious even to my young eyes. The thousand-yard stare they still call it. Sometimes he’d get it. And sometimes I’d see him looking at someone like he was measuring them up for a pine box. He never started a fight that I saw. But the few fights I saw others start he absolutely finished. No one ever won a fight with him until the day the Shang dropped a space station on him.

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Family

by on September 21, 2023 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Dad retired some decades before The War and came home with a grand spanking new wife to show off to his family. Technically his first and only wife, and absolutely the first girl he settled down for. They spent a few years touring the various Carter, Hansen, Christensen, and other sen family homes all over Earth and beyond. Going fishing with his brothers, cousins, and such. Spending time with his mama. All the things a man that has served for the better part of two centuries needs to do to slow back down and rejoin the world he left behind when he signed his life on the dotted line. And Mom was just the kind of partner he needed to help. She held him through the hard nights. She walked at his side through the bright days. She saved him.

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