Gardening Update

Hey everybody! It's time for a gardening update!

Most things are kind of pitiful right now because of the extreme heat. I am getting loads of peppers and herbs, but my tomatoes and flowers are kind of slow. I get a few grape tomatoes most days, but I have to wait for slightly cooler weather for them to pick back up. It happens every year, and I know if I watered more and moved the tomatoes into partial shade, it would be better. But I am too lazy.

So, in this lull, I am planning my fall garden. Fall gardens are awesome because the ground is warm when the seeds are sprouting, but the weather turns cooler when the plants are growing. Lettuces, beets, turnips, carrots, and all kinds of greens do better in the fall than in the spring.

Since our first frost date is Oct 25, most of the guides say to plant in late August. I usually wait a bit longer than that because it stays so hot here on into September. I'll probably plant in the week or two after Labor Day weekend. I have waited as late as mid October, though.

Here's what I'm gonna plant:

beets
carrots
radishes
spinach
several varieties of lettuce
arugula
either snap or snow peas (maybe both)
broccoli (which will be an experiment as I have never grown it before)
cabbage

In our mild climate, some of my veggies last all winter. But I am usually gardened out by Christmas and let it all go.

I'll post some pictures as soon as I get things in the ground.

I am also going to add a lot of flowers this fall. Fall is a great time to plant perennials because the roots have all winter to grow deep and strong and because you don't have to water as much as in the spring and summer.

We are thinking of selling our house (when we can get it fixed up enough), and I am going to really do up the flowers and shrubs just in case we can manage that by the spring or summer of next year.

I'm going to plant Shasta daisies, some ornamental grasses, lots of spring blooming bulbs like daffodils and tulips, and whatever other things I impulsively buy at the garden store. I might also get some hydrangeas to spice up the shady back part of the house, and if I do, I'll mix in ferns and hosta.

I have to move my daylilies because Aaron and Livy step on them and ride bikes over them all the time. I thought, but clearly I was wrong, that people would use the walk to get to the front door. Since they are not going to use the walk, my daylilies will have to go. I will plant more this fall, since my mom always gives me a bunch.

I also want more of the fence to be covered with vines. I have a Carolina jessamine that looks really good, but it has taken several years for it to take off. I also have morning glories on part of the fence, but those don't get going early enough for me. I want a spring blooming vine that will look good next year. Any suggestions? I'm gonna plant whatever I choose all over to cover the chainlink fence.

Ideally, I would like to plant some more shrubs around the yard, but since I need them to look good next year, I would have to buy them already really large. That may be too expensive. We'll see.

I can't wait until we are in a house where we will be staying for a long time. (Brendan would say I will never be in such a house because I can't stay put, and that may be true. But I only have to BELIEVE I will be in a house for a long time. It doesn't have to actually happen.) Then I will plant fruit trees, berry vines, asparagus, and garlic.

This garden update has been brought to you by the GA heat (which has kept me indoors for a lot of days) and by the letter Y (which stands for yum, the flavor of homegrown spinach) and by the number 3 (which is how many times too big my garden always is in proportion to my needs).

News from the ashes

Looks like my eyes were bigger than my mouth here.  I burned out pretty good these past couple weeks, haven't touched a die or a paintbrush since my last post.  I think the biggest part of it was the mega battle report, but I'd been on a gaming rampage for a while.  It'd be dishonest to say that Starcraft 2 had nothing to do with this, but it's not the root of the thing.  Since classes start back up on Monday, this is effectively the end of my break, and so a (depressing) list update is in order.

 
Painting
ID battleship
ID cruisers
Humans
Assemble and prime all languishing WM minis
pSorscha
Manhuntress
'jacks
WGI
other Khador

Reading
WM: Escalation
White Noise
The Maya

Other
Renew Driver's License
Clear the DVR

As you can see, absolutely no painting.  I have read a chunk of Escalation, but it's a tough slog through scenario after scenario.  While there is a narrative to pick out of it, reading through a campaign that I won't play is not the most exciting thing ever.  I also started reading Horus Rising, which is a poorly written book, but it does scratch that Space Marine itch that I've never been able to get rid of.

I'm going to break out the paints in a few minutes and see if I can't finish the frigate I started.  With a fuller than usual class load, gaming time will be slim at best, as will updates.  Hopefully not having time to paint will recharge the batteries and make me eager to get back at it again.

New Podcast on Money

Hi everyone! Sorry it took so long to get this podcast out, but our brilliant and much appreciated tech guy has been on vacation.

This podcast includes:

• Situation of the Week (Kelly): Dealing with the jealous feelings of her child when she (Kelly) pays attention to other children
• Topic: Money (begins 8:00)
• Q & A: How did your relationships with other adults change after the arrival of children? (begins 29:34)

We'd love any feedback you have for us or questions we can answer in our Q&A. You can reach us at cultivatingthevirtues@gmail.com.

The podcast can be found here.

Hope you enjoy!

The Day I Became an Atheist

I went to college at the University of the South in Sewanee, TN. If you haven't seen it, you can't imagine how beautiful it is. Don't even try. Just get in your car right now and drive up there for a visit. This story ends in All Saint's Chapel, the religious and architectural center of campus. You can see some pictures of it and read some descriptions in this blog post about our recent road trip through Sewanee.

The beginning of the story is a history of my religious seeking. I grew up Methodist and was about as religious as the typical person in the South. I went to church, sang in choirs, participated in youth group, but thought very little about God. I had a moment or two when my natural desire for life to be as dramatic and romantic as a French novel led me into some kind of fervent spiritualism, but not all that often.

When I went away to boarding school for nerds and weirdos (a very happy time for me), I gave agnosticism a spin. It really didn't take all that well because I was just so devoted to drama and ritual and a life full of symbolic meaning. The agnostic answers "Whatever" to some of the greatest questions of life, and that wasn't me. I was and am often wrong, but I never waver. I wanted an answer that was RIGHT - the kind of right that a person finds in Camelot or in Thomas More. The kind of right that was worth feeling and talking about and holding sacred.

That was a big problem. I wanted to be sacred. I wanted my words to be sacred, my actions, the ground that I walked on, the air that I breathed. I wanted a world where every tiny choice, every miniscule detail was pregnant with meaning. So no agnosticism for me.

At Sewanee, I got religious again. Very religious. Sewanee is steeped in God, and I was aware of the atmosphere in a way other students didn't seem to be. First, as I said, Sewanee was exceptionally beautiful, and that got me in a worshipful mood. It was also my first real exposure to high church Episcopalianism. There was incense! There were lovely robes, candles, ritual to satisfy even me, and a prayer book that was literature.

Before I knew it, I was starting and ending every day with church. I would go to the Eucharist (communion) in the morning before class, and at night, just before bed, I would attend and sometimes officiate compline (the evening sung service). I became an Episcopalian and thought I was set.

The only problem was that none of the stuff that was supposed to happen really happened. The loveliness of the chapel and services moved me. The pathos of Easter Week whipped me up into an emotional froth that I adored. My feelings were alive, on edge, and my thirst for beautiful movements and sounds and layers of meaning was quenched. But I prayed to be a better person, and I wasn't. I wanted God to help me know the direction my life should take. And he didn't.

I was considering switching to Catholicism, hoping to enjoy my ritual and get some practical help from God, when I read Atlas Shrugged. I was in the habit of reading my Ancient Greek assignments out loud in the chapel. You would not believe the spectacular sound of Homer echoing off the ceilings. I took Atlas Shrugged there to read, as well, for the shadowy, cool solitude that I loved. I finished the book, closed it, and thought to myself, "Well, it's this (looking at the book) or that (looking at the chapel)."

It wasn't an easy choice. I could see that God wasn't real. I could see that I had been waiting for God to give me guidance and to make me a better person, and I could see that I must guide myself and improve myself. What I couldn't see was how I could live in a world with all the awe and poetry and magic sucked out.

But I did what I look back on as one of the most courageous things I've ever done. I said to myself, "If the world is without all those things, you must be strong enough to face it. If you are to be doomed like Hector, you must walk straight out of here and face that doom with his dignity and valor." And I did. I got up, put the book into my backpack, and walked out into the sun, looking around me for the first time at a world without the hand of God upon it.

I learned soon that I didn't have to live in a world without awe and spiritual values. I see my life now as a series of moments pregnant with meaning, but I lay the meaning on the moments, instead of God. The human struggle to be better, to learn more, to know ourselves IS the great drama. To participate in it, to struggle myself and to witness the struggle of others - nothing mystical could inspire such awe or such emotional heights.

Now All Saint's Chapel has another layer of meaning for me. I always loved it for itself and for the many, many lives that are literally or figuratively inscribed upon it. And now I love it more as the site of my transformation into myself.

Pied Beauty by Gerard Manley Hopkins

This is another post in which I share some of my Mini-Con poetry appreciation course. Today, for those of you who want to enjoy poetry more, I give you this piece of advice: Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

I think Objectivists are particularly prone to this error because we want so much to have clean, wholesome lives, full of rational values that bring us joy. But in our desire to judge and to exclude valueless things from our lives, we sometimes mistake something that isn't perfect for something that is valueless.

In that way, out goes an old tennis partner who is religious. Out goes contact with a mixed family members. And, equally as tragic (at least to me), out goes really quality art that has themes in conflict with our values.

It's important to remember that the idea of God has been inspiring people to write poems and music for thousands of years. The Greeks did it, but it's easy to overlook their Gods because no one believes in them anymore. It can be harder for us to overlook religious art that promotes and supports the religions that are still around. But I hope you will do it, and here's why.

So much of the great art of Western Civilization has religious themes. If you chucked out things dealing with God, you'd have to chuck out Milton, Handel, Bach, John Donne, Michelangelo, Arthurian legends, and Sacred Harp hymn singing. And you'd miss a lot of real value.

It would also be easy to chuck out things that have altruism, destiny, or "negative emotions," but I hope you will take my advice and not throw the baby out with the bathwater. By just letting the religion or destiny be in the poem without obsessing about it, you can find all the other values and the real human experience lying within the poem.

I am posting my reading of Gerard Manley Hopkins's "Pied Beauty" to illustrate this advice. The poem references God and is ostensibly about the wonder of God's creation, but underneath the religion is a joyous appreciation of the real world.

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A Really Good Day

Livy and I had an awesome day today, and I just wanted to write about how great it was. Our schedule has returned to my usual in-school schedule. I go to school and work Monday-Thursday, and I get Livy Thursday night and keep her until Monday morning. So, I had been missing her all week long.

So Friday morning, I got up before her and spent some time on the computer chillin' on Facebook and Twitter and the Blogosphere. Then, I cuddled Aaron awake. (I am trying to get him on my new early schedule, so I dare not let him sleep in.) When I was reasonably sure he wouldn't roll over and fall asleep again, I went in and cuddled Livy awake too.

With all this cuddling taken care of, I took a shower. When I got out of my hot, pleasant shower, Livy was getting ready. We decided we would go to the Tellus Science Museum (which we love and have a membership to and go to all the time). Usually, Livy wants to stay home and do quiet restful alone kind of things, like books and movies and video games. But today she was up for adventure, so yay!

At the museum, we watched a movie about how the earth was formed and how life evolved on it and half a movie about Saturn (cause it was dead boring and we walked out). We looked at the fossil gallery with lots of different dinosaurs, huge mammals (mammoths and such), flying and swimming reptiles, and about 4 million trilobites. Livy got to dig for fossils in their kid's area, and we brought home a fossilized shark tooth.

We spent a little time in the rock and mineral gallery, mostly looking at what kinds of mineral were in the products we use. We saw the spots on the world map where earthquakes happened today and yesterday, and we looked at igneous vs. metamorphic vs. sedimentary rocks. Livy got to pan for tiny minerals, and we brought home a small bag of rock samples.

We looked at a replica of Orville and Wilbur Wright's plane and read all about them and their first flight. (We talked about Kitty Hawk and the Outer Banks in honor of you, Jenn.) Livy did many hands-on science activities like breaking light into a rainbow using a prism, changing the amplitude and frequency of sound waves in a tube with sand, and moving metal from one place to another with an electromagnet she could turn on and off.

We've been to the museum a million times and done all of these things before, but something about today was just special. We had missed each other, but we miss each other often. It was just one of those glorious days when the two of us click - we want to do the same thing in the same way and do it together.

A quote from Anne of Avonlea sums it right up:

"'After all,' Anne had said to Marilla once, 'I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string.'"

House of Harlow's Shoes

House of Harlow's Shoes is the best of both worlds. The luxurious suede upper features leather stitching and a decorative lace-up back. The tall wedge heel makes this boot wearable for all day comfort.

See other House of Harlow Shoes by Click the Image

Hilary Duff With Black Knee Length Boots

Fashionable Hilary Duff wears a blue flapper style hat with black knee length boots with gold stiletto heels, as she visits Magnolia restaurant.

US Battle Report - Two Games, One Night Part Two

We had 5 people show up on Monday night for US, which meant we had a two 1 on 1 games going, which meant someone was watching.  The spectator was kairaven, who suggested we have a group game after the individual games were finished.  EV had just been violently introduced to the Bone Griffon gunline and understandably didn't want a piece of the action.  The BG player had to go, which left just kairaven, vatank, and myself.  We settled on a starter box game, knocked out some deployment zones and went at it.

I started in the middle of one edge, facing opponents in either corner of the opposing edge.  The smart move would be to concentrate on a single enemy, then hope to have enough left to tackle the remaining foe.  That wouldn't have been much fun though, especially since I was in the middle and had a target rich environment to practice my long range gunnery on.

Setup

Wind was blowing to the NW I believe, more or less directly in the Ralgard's face.  Turn 1 went as turn 1s go: positioning.  I split off a frigate squadron to send at each foe.

End of turn 1.

Despite my best efforts to stay at range with my frigates, I still lose one in short order.  I'm trying to run them around behind the Ralgard for future raking, but said Ralgard have to ruin my fun by shooting one before I can flank.

I was trying to keep them safe this time.

I get my revenge though, and then some, when I send my battleship into the middle for the first of many glorious double broadsides.  I sink a Ralgard cruiser and damage an Elven one as well.

What is best in life?  Double broadsides.

I thought this next shot was of more Human glory, but if it is I can't figure it out.  It does serve to show how close I got to my favorite bit of terrain, the Lonely Rock.  This little guy was made from offcuts and scraps of material.  I hoped that someday it would influence a game in some way, and today was the day. 

Approaching the Rock.

I didn't notice the Lonely Rock at first, which is probably why it's so lonely.  Then some uppity Elves took a shot at my cruiser and put some sort of steering crit on it.  Suddenly I was made very aware of where the Rock was and how close I was to it.

The Lonely Rock may not be lonely soon.

Considering what the Elves did to my cruiser, it's no surprise that my other squadron of frigates was looking for a pointy-eared fight.  They found it too, taking 2 Elven frigates out of the fight and damaging a third.

The power of multiple shots.

After the slow first turn, turn 2 had some good action.  Normally I'd be thinking that I'm overextending my frigates and begging to be hammered from both sides by two foes, but since I'm looking to do as much damage as I can before going out in a blaze of glory things are going to plan.

End of turn 2.

I managed to fix the steering crit and avoid disaster on the Lonely Rock, at least temporarily.  The Ralgard decided to show those Elves that they could do crits too, and they landed a no-shooting crit on my cruisers, after I repaired them no less.

I just fixed those ships too.

As if the one crit wasn't enough, in come some Ralgard frigates to not only crit, but set one of my cruisers on fire.  That's just inconsiderate.  I may have a suitable reply for them in the works though.

Setting my ship on fire?  That's just rude.

I send in my Elf-fighting frigates for the ram, but those sneaky Elves play some sort of repulsion card that protects one of their frigates, and stops my frigates from shooting as well.  One of my boats makes it in though, and they show the Elves what they can expect: a rough fight where everyone dies.

The neon skulls make all the blood look cuter.

Apparently I missed another shot, probably the Elven battleship going to town on my cruisers.  The one that was on fire has sunk, and now another is on fire.  My battleship is not amused and continues to hammer both sides, sinking a cruiser from both factions, all while carefully steering around the Lonely Rock.

The Lonely Rock is seen, but not engaged.  Poor Rock.

Turn 3 continued the trend of turn 2, with the action heating up even more, especially with all the fire.  The fire token is Kairaven's, a design I've looked at on the Litko site a couple times.  I've been worried that they're too small, but it shows up well enough in this shot.  I may still opt for one size up, from micro to mini I think.

End of turn 3.

I drew Hell's Heart at the beginning of turn 2, and was eying my cruisers throughout the turn for that duty.  I sent the one that was one fire, who managed to fix said fire this turn, in towards the heart of the Ralgard fleet, while the other ran for cover.  I was concerned that the Ralgard would figure out what I was up to, but when their frigates went they shot at my battleship for the most part.  This shooting required some fancy maneuvering, as the Lonely Rock blocked LoS from one of them. 

The Lonely Rock, in the middle again.

On the Elven side, I send my frigates in for a brilliant double double broadside, where each ship fires on both sides and doubleteams the ship in the middle.  I destroy the lead ship and the rear ship, which was derelict from the previous turn's boarding action, but fail to do anything to the ship in the middle.  This shot is from the Elven squad's activation, when the frigate came in for the ram.

I showed that unmanned ship who was boss.

As the Ralgard battleship rolls in, I'm hoping it fires on my almost dead cruiser.  Fortunately it does, sinking my ship and allowing me to play Hell's Heart.  Kairaven looked rather surprised by this, which was awfully satisfying.  The explosion caught most of his fleet, sinking two frigates, his last cruiser, and maybe dinging the battleship too.

Martyrs take note, this is how it's done.

My battleship continues to dish out the punishment, this time just Pounding an Elven cruiser instead of sinking it.

The IH battleship is the clear MVP of all my IH games.

Things have ratcheted up again somehow in turn 4.  All of the fleets are ragged now, and I'm not sure the Ralgard and Elves have taken a shot at each other yet.

End of turn 4.

My battleship finishes off the ship it Pounded last turn, but probably didn't damage either battleship.  If not for the Lonely Rock, I would have had the coveted quad shot, shooting out of all my arcs in a glorious fusilade of pain.

Stuck in the middle, what a place to be.

Back in Elf country, the boarding action is pretty even, with both ships losing a single crew.  My unengaged frigate gets taken out by a cowardly rake.

Don't shoot, join the melee!

On the other side of the board, my Ralgard-fighting frigates suffer some serious RB1 fire and go down.  The Ralgard frigates have 5AD in RB1, just like my ID frigates.  They can potentially get double shots off, but their broadsides instead of turrets, and they're wind-dependent.  I'm not sure if that's a good trade or not.

More frigates gone.

Swinging back once again, the melee rages on, consuming all combatants.  I'm out of frigates now, and cruisers as well.

Everyone fights, everyone dies.

Turn 5 may not have been as bloody as turns 3 or 4 in terms of numbers, but in terms of crippling fleets it was the worst yet.  One cruiser, and Elven one, still floats, along with a handful of frigates and all the battleships.  I've cut a bloody swathe through both fleets, and now the final butcher's bill is about to be presented. 

End of turn 5.

The Ralgard battleship comes in for a rake, double critting my poor battleship.

What kind of coward attacks from behind?

The Elves play some sort of gunnery card that amounts to a front rake.  Getting raked from both ends, my battleships succumbs to the mountain of fire.

The good guys are no more.

The game was called here, at the end of turn 6, because the store was about to close.  I took a good chunk out of both fleets, and it would have been interesting to see how things played out.  Such was not to be however.

Endgame.

I tried to keep my ships at range this game, more so than previously, and things worked out well.  I drew a bad position, being in the middle, and decided to run headlong between the two fleets instead of focusing on one, so I was never going to win.  Instead I wanted to pay out some pain on all sides, which I think I did admirably.  This was a very entertaining game, possibly the most fun I've had with US since the first game EV and I played with paper cutouts.  It goes to show that games don't always have to be evenly matched and on neutral ground to be fun.  Sometimes it can be very amusing to be the meat in the sandwich, though I don't think I'd go for it all the time.

To His Coy Mistress by Andrew Marvell

In honor of Rory, who loves this poem very much, I will give you my recording of "To His Coy Mistress" by Andrew Marvell.

In my Mini-Con poetry appreciation course, I told the audience that for the uninitiated, older English vocabulary and phrasing can be kind of daunting. I suggested that, when reading poems with language that might be a barrier to understanding, knowing in advance what the poem is about can help make the experience more enjoyable.

Andrew Marvell's poetry, written in the mid 1600s, is certainly old enough and different enough from modern language to give a newbie fits, as is the poetry of Shakespeare, Donne, Milton, Samuel Johnson, Alexander Pope, Robert Herrick, and about a million other poets that are really good. To make these pre-1800 poets accessible, I suggest googling for summaries and background. I think Marvell is actually pretty accessible as pre-1800 poets go, but I've read it so many hundreds of times that it is hard for me to judge just how accessible it might really be.

It's not cheating! You are not using these sources to lie to your high school English teacher about whether you read the poem. And you aren't cheating yourself, either. The joy of poetry (for the layman, not the obsessed devotee) is in the appreciation of its beautiful sound and its powerful meaning. If going to a summary first helps you grasp the meaning and be able to enjoy the sound (instead of worrying over your lack of understanding), do it!

Anyway, to illustrate this point, I gave my explanation of Marvell's poem first, and then I'll read it.

Basically, this poem is proof that men have always been men. Back then, in the mid 1600s, just as now, guys will use whatever means they have to get into a woman's pants. Rich ones use presents. Athletic ones use prowess. Good looking ones use their physical beauty. Smart ones use their brains. Apparently, poetic ones in the 1600s used the common literary motif of "carpe diem."

In this poem, the speaker tries to get his girlfriend to give it up by warning her that death is coming. He would woo her properly if only he could, but time is against them! They better do it right now, cause really, do you want to die a virgin?

Now, if he had just come right about and told her these things, no way was he gonna get laid. But Marvell's speaker has the talent of a 17th century metaphysical poet in his pocket, and he weilds it well. I have no doubt that he got what he wanted. I can't resist his pleas now, and it's 2010. Marvell has been dead for more than 300 years, and he is seducing me from the grave.

So, while I find the poem both hilarious (I mean really, the guy mentions worms invading her dead vagina as an inducement for sex) and compelling (He's so poetical that I would actually fall for that worm/vagina thing), I also find its carpe diem message inspiring. He's right, even if manipulative, that life is too short to pass up joy and pleasure and love and living in the moment.

And it would really suck to die a virgin.

Here's my reading of the poem:

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Paint on a human ship

It's been a long time coming, but I finally have some non-primer paint on a Human ship.  I picked up some paint last night, notably the GW foundation yellow that was the reason I took on painting yellow in the first place.  I just did the base coat, and not the entire ship at that, but I wanted to get an idea of what my scheme will look like in reality instead of just how I imagine it.  I think it will turn out like I wanted it to.

Behold the base coated beauty.

The brown will lighten up a bit, but I want to keep it dark to contrast the lighter wood of my ID.  The yellow will brighten up as well, but the blue is about what I intend it to be.  I'm not sure what I'm going to do about the railing, and I want to put some squadron/fleet markings on the hull, and then there's the base to do as well, but it's a very nice feeling to make some actual progress.

I should also mention that despite my initial reluctance I've settled on Space Wolf transfers for the sails.  I found a big sheet in my box, and EV had another, that have a bunch of different wolves in roughly the same size.  I plan on using a different design for each class of ship and varying the sail striping to differentiate between squadrons.

US Battle Report - Two Games, One Night Part One

We had a good turnout at the FLGS last night with 5 US and 2 Firestorm Armada players.  I got in two games with the humans, the first an Elves vs Humans battle with vatank.  I hadn't played him 1 on 1 yet, so it was good to get a game in. 


Imperial Humans
Battleship - 110
3 Cruisers - 165
3 Frigates - 90
3 Frigates - 90

3 Martyrs - 75
530 total

Thaniras Elves
Battleship - 110
2 Cruisers -110
2 Cruisers - 110
3 Frigates - 90
3 Frigates - 90
510 total

The wind started blowing to the north, neutral for us both.  I'm still coming to terms with the wind and how to account for it.  I favored the south a bit in deployment to allow me to run north before having to turn around and run afoul of the wind.  I didn't really have a plan going in to this game.  Mostly I wanted to keep my battleship and range and shoot over my frigates.  I put the Martyrs in the middle to try and hide them from fire so they could peek-a-boo a nice cluster of Elves.

Setup

Things start poorly again for my frigates as vatank sinks one and damages another in the southern squadron.

Poor frigate never had a chance.

It's no better for the northern frigates as another one is sunk.

I'll figure these guys out eventually.

I trafficjam my cruisers pretty good to get a weak shot against some Elf frigates, managing just a point on one.

All that work was worth it, right?

Turn 1 was pretty eventful as first turns go.  Looking at this picture now I can already see things going wrong as I try to close the gap instead of maintain it.  Who would have thought that a slow, in-close, tough fleet would play so different from a fast, long-range, not-so-tough fleet?

End of turn 1.

Things continue to go poorly in the middle with my wavy frigates getting wiped out and one of my cruisers getting critted by a single frigate squadron.

This is why I should stay at range.

Throughout the night the Human battleship was a stand-out.  I got 3 shots out of it this turn, sinking two frigates, damaging another and critting a cruiser as well.

Battleship gets it done.

Back in the middle my cruisers take more fire, this time from their Elven counterparts.

Where's that Master Shipwright card?  Oh right, in the ID deck.

This is my worst move of the game.  I see a marginal chance to hit a single Elf cruiser with my Martyrs and jump on it.  2 of the 3 don't explode, and the one that does gets the minimum 5 AD for the blast.  Said blast catches just the one cruiser and does nothing to it.  75 points well used there.

These guys won't be getting a pardon.

I continue to play my Humans like my Dwarves by sending my cruisers in closer.  They sink a frigate and do a point to an Elven cruiser.

Maybe when I put the sails on I'll remember to keep them at range.

The Elven battleship moves up and takes out one of my identity-confused cruisers.  At least it was already damaged.

Still looking for Master Shipwright...

Turn 2 was brutal for me, and it was mostly my own fault.  I was far too eager with the Martyrs, and the cruisers, and my frigates.  Of note is the southern frigate squadron which appears to have not moved.  That's because they didn't.  Vatank played a card that froze them in place which I could have countered, but chose not to.  I don't know that it would have made a difference though.

End of turn 2.

My cruisers are a decent match-up against frigates, which is unfortunate because they should be engaging cruisers.  At least they sunk a ship.  I apparently also found the repair card I was looking for, so there's that at least.

A pair of cruisers show a lone frigate who the boss is.

I was pretty proud of this move.  I sent in my only remaining frigates against two Eleven frigates and aligned them to get a fore shot and a broadside on each one.  I sunk one frigate, but only damaged the other.  Human frigates have lots of potential, I just have to figure out how to use them.

Double fork attack.

My battleship continues to do well, finishing off the frigate my frigates just damaged and one of the cruisers as well.  Perhaps my battleship has done so well because I've kept it at range.

At least one ship understands how to operate.

Turn 3 was better for me, but I still have a big hill to climb.  My battleship is in a decent position, but my frigates are well away from the battle while my cruisers are right in the middle of it and just begging to get raked multiple times.  I should note the wind was whipping around the first couple turns, but I think it settled down from here until the end.

End of turn 3.

Sure enough, my cruisers get raked in short order.  One goes down, leaving it's mate all alone in the middle of the board.

And then there was one.

My cruiser decides that the middle isn't where it should be and books for cover, doing a point to the Elven cruiser on the way.

Parting shot indeed.

 The lone cruiser can't escape that easily though.  The other squadron of Elven cruisers heads in and puts a point on the retreating Human cruiser.

Cruiser duel in full effect.

 I muffed the last picture and this one as well.  The damage on the lead green cruiser came from my battleship, which rolled in after my cruiser was damaged.  I took the two pictures together after the damage counters were already down.

The Human MVP at work again.

Seeing how effective the Human battleship has been, the Elven battleship gets in on the action, putting a point of damage on the Human cruiser from long range.

Battleships getting it done.

 Things are grim for the Humans now.  The frigates are still a turn or two away from engaging, the cruiser is still in a bad position, but at least the battleship is still undamaged and laying down fire.  The wind is in a bad place as well that will make the frigates take a weird line towards the fight and prevent the cruiser from just wrapping around the island.

End of turn 4.

The Human battleship gets it going, sinking an Elven frigate.  I may have put a point on the battleship as well, though I'm not sure about it.

One less squadron to deal with.

 The Elven cruisers close in.  Their fire on the battleship is ineffective, but they sink the cruiser.  The one cruiser is not ramming, just sitting very close.

Kill a squadron, lose a squadron.

My frigates finally rejoin the fight and put a point of damage on the not-quite-ramming cruiser.

Frigates to the rescue.

The frigate celebration is short lived though as the Elven battleship comes in  and sinks one.

Who will rescue the rescuers?

If I wasn't about to be forced into a boarding action, I'd say that things were bad for the Humans but still possible.  Boarding will be a disaster though, as I'll almost surely lose crew and be pinned for the Elven battleship to come around and fire.

End of turn 5.

I take the initiative and collide with the cruiser.  I don't sink it on the collision, but I do prize the ship.  It costs me 4 crew though, a big blow to the effectiveness of my battleship.  I hoped to crit, and sink, the cruiser on the collision, which would have allowed me to fire on the other cruiser and saved my crew, but it didn't work out.

Prized, but not entirely satisfying.

I had drawn Hell's Heart this turn, so I sent my last frigate in to tempt the battleship.  The frigate's fire had not effect, and the battleship quickly polished it off.  The explosion was a long shot to begin with and did no damage either.  The positioning of the battleship made me hope it might just sail off the edge.

More explosions.

 It's basically over now.  My battleship is outnumbered and about to be raked.  If it was just the two battleships I could hope for a crew repair card, but against two ships it's all but hopeless.  Still, I soldier on.

End of turn 6.

My battleship turns a bit and puts a point on the cruiser, who responds by putting some sort of status effect on my battleship.  I should really get/make some more detailed markers.  Flipping a marker over works to draw the attention, but isn't so informative in the postgame.

Close range exchange.

I think I missed a couple pictures.  This appears to be the end of turn 8, judging from how my battleship moved.  I've been taking a pounding and am at half hull and down to 3 remaining crew.

End of turn 8?

The Elven cruiser comes in to finish things off.  I hope to crit and sink it on the collision, but no such luck.  My marines fight bravely, but are overwhelmed in the end.

Endgame.

I continue to learn the lesson that I should keep my ships at range.  The Humans are a little tricksy in this because the larger ships want to stay in RB3, while the frigates need to be at least RB2 to shoot, and preferably RB1 to bring the fore guns in as well.  I think I'll have to start hiding the frigates behind terrain, or bigger ships, to keep them around a little longer while the bigger ships get in the long ranged fire.  The battleship was a real winner in this game and seems much more effective than the ID battleship for some reason.  Learning this new fleet has been bumpy so far, but I think I'm starting to begin to figure some of it out.