One of the things that has bothered me about Conn...Sonar! is that a lot depends on the order of the who moves in which order each turn. So this morning our local group tested a chart for Phased Movement. So everyone moves at the same time, but they only move as often as their speed relegates them to moving. For instance, a sub may choose to move Ultra Quiet which is almost always speed 1, while a fast torpedo will usually be moving at speed 9. With phased movement, the torpedo should move half of its move before the sub moves at all. With taking turns, the sub might move its full move first, or the torpedo might move its full move first. We found a couple of things. First, there was no need to use the phased movement until the torpedoes had been fired. Second, it made the game much more realistic. Third, it was more fun because the movement order could not mess up your plans. I'll upload the Phased Movement Chart to the web page where I have files for downloading later today. The chart is pretty self-evident, all you have to do is change the turn instructions to state that everyone performs the turn actions at the same time. I'll probably modify the play sheet to say that, too. We had a fun game with a couple of older subs that went out of service in 1997.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, or Happy Holidays, which ever floats your boat, to all my friends on the RubinReport channel!
We went to a rental in Easter Washington to celebrate our 51st Anniversary. Bottom line is that we had a good time. Highlights: Beautiful place and views. Access to a very nice stream on a private beach. Coming home, about 11:15am, when we were passing Keechelus Lake (just below the summit of Snoqualmie Pass), we heard what I at first throught was a very loud truck overtaking us, but could not see it in my mirrors. But looking out the left window of the car I saw what I think was an F-18 flying about 50' above our altitude, (or about 150' above the lake level) around 50 yards off to my left! This was followed by two more of the same type planes rolling just like in the video you see of them to make their turns. Total of three of them following the terrain. Cool!!! I haven't seen them in real life doing that, but it is so impressive. Lowlights of the trip, A-Frame house with the bed shoved against the wall is very hard on a tall person who is on the wall side, and Janet fell ...