Thanks WWPD!

The crew over at WWPD have made the decision  to hang up their podcasting spurs and move on to other things.  While sad to see WWPD end, it's good to see them go out in a classy way and I look forward to gaming with the crew in the future.

Thanks for the memories guys!

Some of my favorite gaming events with this crew include

1) The X-Wing campaign (Heroes of the Arturi Cluster) at Fall-In

2) Hosting them at some gaming events at my house in St Michaels

3) The online FOW campaigns - which have been copied by both Warlord and Battlefront!

4) My first live podcast at one of the Valley Forge Historicons

5) Playing Sparatcus with Luke - it's like the game inhabits him....

6) Dirty John's German camo tutorial - I still use that method

7) The time when - oops I forgot about the non-disclosure agreement on that one

8) Judd and Dano's intro game of Bolt Action "snipers are sooo O.P."

There are many more.

and, yes, they are really as creepy as they seem in the picture.

St Michael's Con 2016

 I really like gaming conventions but being an obnoxious "Type A" personality, I always wonder how hard could it be to put one on a gaming weekend for a group of like minded souls?  Rather than post on TMP with uninformed thoughts, I decided to find out and hosted a gaming weekend for 11 of my gaming buddies over a long weekend.  While my little event will not rival Salute or Historicon, it was a nice experiment and a whole lot of fun.

Set up started on Wed night when Steve came over and we were able to baptize his new gaming table with it's inaugural game of X-Wing!

Thursday am was devoted to prep work, which mainly involved laying in food supplies.  11 adult male gamers will consume "mass quantities" of food and have been known to turn violent if not fed properly.  Don't worry there was also an ample supply of beer.

One thing I did decide early in the planning was to go with low set up / take down games (X-Wing / Armada and other board games.

Later thursday, Steve's table got a real work out with the start of another "Heroes of the Aturi Cluster" X-Wing campaign.   This picture is actually from Friday as I forgot to take pictures on thursday.  The first six initial arrivals on thursday were treated to a dinner in town and then there was gaming to 3:30am

 On Friday morning we had an uninvited guest - a 5 foot long queen snake.  You can also see we get a little bit of pollen out on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

 All of the guests arrived sometime friday and the serious gaming began - here is a pair of strategic thinkers playing the new star wars rebellion game.  I made breakfast for the crew on Friday - eggs and bacon.  We went through a lot of bacon that weekend.

 The dining room table was protected by a painting tarp.  It proved to be a wise decision.  One side note - our dining room table is 8ft x 4' so it must have been designed for gaming!

 Yet more X-wing - I think I played in 14 X-wing games during the event!  As the gaming stretched into Friday night we ordered Pizza and played yet again until 3:00am

Happy geeks

Satruday dawned to a pancake breakfast cooked by your's truly and yet more bacon.

 Dano on the left is usually very shy and reserved but somehow we were able to coax him out of his shell.  The group is playing the Zombiecide "Black Plague" game which was a real blast.
I got to play a lot of new games but the one that stuck out the most for me was "Lords of Waterdeep" - what a fantastic game.

 Dinner Saturday night was a group cooking event.  I really need to get better kitchen staff.  We had a wide array of grilled meats, some star wars mac-n-cheese and steamed crabs.  There were also some lettuce for the burgers so we could say we ate a vegetable.

Gaming Saturday night stretched again to 3:30am with very raucous games of "Bang" and "Panic on Wall Street".  Three nights in a row staying up to 3:30am is an impressive streak for me.

As Sunday morning dawned it was time to close out the con and I bid a fond farewell to my guests.

So what did I learn?

Hosting a gaming event like this is the most fun I've had gaming and I will definitely do it again next year and increase the size to 20 or so.

Things that went well

(1) Food
Everyone seemed to be well fed and there was enough options to keep everyone happy regardless of dietary restrictions - The group BBQ on Saturday night went really well and was a lot of fun.

(2) House Wear and Tear
My house sustained no damage - while we may all play rather silly war-games, this group of friends are class acts and knew what fate awaited me from my wife if they broke something in the house.  My lovely, yet fierce, wife was both impressed and surprised at the lack of damage

(3) The Participants
All 11 of my guests were a joy to host and I'm grateful they decided to give this whole experiment a go.  Most of them are associated with the WWPD "gang" or put on convention games with me.  I kept the initial guest list pretty restricted as I didn't know how many would show up and if they'd have fun

I'll post a group picture of the participants as soon as I track one down.  I'm pretty sure Chippendales has nothing to fear from us.

(4) The Location
I think people really liked St Michaels.  It's a bit off the beaten path but is a nice vacation spot and offers a lot to do if people one day bring their wives and/or kids to next years event.

(5) Fun
Perhaps the most important indicator of success is that everyone appeared to have fun.  No one was left out of any gaming opportunities and there was a lot of laughing and high-jinks.  I didn't keep a formal tally but my best guess is that there were at least 60 games played across 6 or so game types.


Things that could have gone better

(1) Game planning
I really didn't do any and it worked out fine but next year I'd like to have more historical games and maybe a tournament of some sort.  That requires more advanced planning and, more importantly, enlisting volunteers to run different types of games.  I don't think we'll have a detailed PEL on online registration system but I do think a little more effort here on my part will pay real dividends

(2) Accommodations
We have a relatively nice place in St Michaels and the pool was open.  but it was straining at the seems to sleep 11 adults.  If I moved the event back a few weekends we could setup canopy tents for some outside gaming and even get the heartier souls to camp on the property.  It will also still be off season so I can also negotiate a cut rate hotel cost for those with more discerning tastes.

(3) Healthier food options
Next year I need to make sure there are wider array of healthier food options (fruit maybe even a vegetable of two).  While eating charred meat is fun and all, three days of a carnivorous buffet can take it's toll on ones waistline.

Overall
I had a blast doing this and will definitely put on another one next year with a larger size and a good bit more advanced planning

Ok here's the real reason I put this show on - left behind gaming stuff - I got two tokens from X-Wing, an empty plastic dice box and the timer from "Panic on Wall Street".  I'm sure I'll have full games after only a few years of hosting these events - Muuuhawwhawwahaawww.....

Fall In 2015 Con Report, Part 2: X-Wing, A Whole Lot of X-Wing

 Steve and the WWPD crew ran a lot of X-Wing games at Fall-In based on the user created campaign "Heroes of the Aturi Cluster". "HAC" which is a co-operative style game where the players are all on the rebel side and the Empire is controlled by a set of very clever rules that have some randomness (a D6 roll) which makes them hard to predict.

To be honest, I wasn't a big fan of X-Wing but this campaign was a pure joy to play and I think I played in 7-8 games over the course of 2 days.  A player's pilot progresses in skill level over the course of the campaign by earning experience points for various actions.  My pilot, who was given the call sign "Dozer" for my less than graceful flying style got to level 5 by the end of the weekend. It reminded me of my first game with character development and how much fun it was to plot the skill progression.

The first picture shows the hand of Dano pointing out where we should go in his typical understated way.  Dan is a blast to play with but I've yet to face him as an opponent in any game - maybe one day in the future if Bolt Action ever gets fixed.

 To be honest, I can't remember all the games but this one required us to search the ion filed to find some data.  We barely won.

 One of my favorite games was a trap scenario where the rebels were luring the Empire is with a decoy shuttle (the one to the right).  In this game I stayed in formation with Steve's friend Sean (we're in the upper left of the photo) and we cleaned up.  I managed to bring down the Empire's shuttle.

 The afore mentioned Sean reading out the mission briefing before the start of the game.  You can see Steve in rapt attention while looking at his phone

 Oops - an urgent communication for HQ

 Another game with Paul's son Reilly, who was quickly given the call sign "Magnet" due to his unerring ability to draw fire from our Empire foes.

 Steve and Sean should be getting commission s from Fantasy flight games as more than a few X-Wing are likely to be purchased as a result of the fun.  Here we see Paul and his son adding up the tally for they "need" to get.

 Uh-oh - I'm getting a dirty look from Paul after the final figures have been tallied - looks like the Australian navy may need to sell off a ship or two.......

 More fun

The final game I played in (which ended at 2:20am Saturday night) was a rebel assault on a star base and it was epic.

I did learn never ever to believe Steven when he says "don't worry, this will be a quick game"

I had a great time playing the game and really appreciate Steve, Sean and the rest of the WWPD crew for the efforts they put in to run both this game and all the other ones at the convention.  Well done guys.

New Recruits for Green Squadron

 Finally a little painting work (just a little).  The guys over at WWPD have been having a re-go at X-Wing and seem to be having a great time.  I decided to join in and will be playing in their upcoming campaign game at Fall-In.  It all looks a bit silly and a whole lot of fun - usually a good combination.

 I've done some minor painting of a X and Y wing so they can fit into the eclectic paint schemes of "Green Squadron".

 Not the most elaborate of paint schemes but it gets the job done.

Here's a shot of the ships before being dabbed with some green and orange paint.

I've got to pop over to the UK again for business next week so not a lot of painting progress

Any London based gamers up for a diner Thursday night?

WWPD Wounded Warriors Tournament Report or Confessions of a US Arty Party Partier

 I had a great time at the WWPD Flames of War tournament yesterday at the Games Vault in Fredericksburg, VA.  It was a Battle of the Bulge themed event and all of the proceeds went to support Wounded Warriors.  It was a bit of a "silly" tournament as a player could buy up to 25 "re-rolls" for $1.00 each.  I bought 25 but only used 10 as I forgot about them most of the time!

You can still donate by going to the link.

My first game was against Ken who was running a german infantry list that was backed by 2 king tigers and panther and three Panzer IV's.  The focal point of the game was the objective in the center of the picture and we fought back and forth for it.  I had Ken one platoon away from a break but my remaining infantry platoon failed its tank terror test to assault his remaining King Tiger that was sitting on the objective.  A well deserved 4-3 win to Ken.

 My second game was against KJ who also ran a german infantry list that was backed by 2 Jagd Panthers and 3 Stugs.  We rolled the fair fight scenario.  This was the only game I took the offensive by sending one infantry platoon, the recon and M-10's down the right side of the table.  KJ sent an infantry platoon to try and attack my artillery park down my left flank and it was touch and go and all game but I manage to seize the right side objective and win the game 4-3.  This was one of the best games I played of FOW in a tournament.  We also only used about 3-4 re-rolls each as KJ did;'t have a lot remaining and I only wanted to match his number to keep it "fair"

 My last game was against my friend Jon Baber, who I've played many board games with but never met across a FOW tabletop.  Jon ran a Confident/Trained German Panzer list with Jagd Panzer iv/70's and Hetzers.  He was a most gracious opponent and kept his disdain for my legal but rather gamey "arty party" list in check.  We rolled "Counter-Attack"and the game really focused on my right edge of the table and the objective in the center right of the picture.  Jon sent his Panzers on a sweep around to my ride side and then down to the objective,  The heroes of the game were my Priest artillery unit which entered as reinforcements in the upper right of the pictures and managed to survive the game and tie down Jon's Panzers until my artillery could chew through them.  I won the game 6-1 but more due to the dice gods frowning on Jon's dice rolling and the overly positive US artillery rules than anything else.

I went 2-1 for the day and placed solidly in the middle of the pack so I was very pleased with the results.  This is my fourth FOW tournament and the second one with a winning record.  Through four tournaments I'm 6-5-1 and having a lot of fun.

I do think this is the last event I'll run a US list that has more than one artillery unit.  While they're legal and completely within the rules, I don't think they're very fun to play against and they provide an incentive to the player (me!) to just turtle up and let your opponent come to you while the artillery pounds him to dust.  It's an effective strategy, but just doesn't seem fun for my opponents.  I can prevent that situation in the future.

Here's the list I ran yesterday:

Airborne Engineer Combat Company(Glider)

Infantry Company

Platoon	Qty	Unit	Points
Headquarters
Airborne Engineer Combat Company HQ (Glider) - p.21	2	Cmd Carbine team	15
Combat Platoons
Airborne Engineer Combat Platoon (Glider) - p.21	1 1 2 4 2	Cmd Pioneer Rifle team Pioneer Supply Jeep and Trailer Pioneer Bazooka team Pioneer Rifle team Pioneer M1919 LMG team	235
Airborne Engineer Combat Platoon (Glider) - p.21	1 1 2 4 2	Cmd Pioneer Rifle team Pioneer Supply Jeep and Trailer Pioneer Bazooka team Pioneer Rifle team Pioneer M1919 LMG team	235
Support Platoons
Tank Destroyer Platoon (Veteran) - p.27	1 2 4	.50 cal Recon Jeep M20 Scout Car M18 Hellcat GMC	410
Parachute Machine-gun Platoon - p.18 Fearless Veteran	1 4	Cmd Carbine team M1919 LMG team	100
Cavalry Recon Platoon (Trained) - p.28 Confident Trained	1 1 1	M8 armored car Mortar Jeep Recon Jeep	70
Armored Field Artillery Battery (Veteran) - p.30	1 1 1 1 1 3	Cmd Carbine team M2 half-track with AA MG Staff team M2 half-track with .50 cal AA MG M4 Sherman OP M7 Priest HMC	230
Glider Field Artillery Battery - p.25	1 1 1 3	Cmd Carbine team Staff team Observer Carbine team M3 105mm light howitzer	115
Field Artillery Battery (155mm) (Trained) - p.30 Confident Trained	1 1 2 1 1 4 4	Cmd Carbine team Staff team 3/4-ton truck Observer Carbine team Jeep M1 155mm howitzer M5 high-speed tractor with .50 cal AA MG	235
Company Points:			1645

www.EasyArmy.com

Source document: Nuts Book 

WWPD Wounded Warriors Tournamnet

There hasn't been a lot of hobby activity in the weeks after the end of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.  I think we all go through a bit of "decompression" after that wonderful but grueling "marathon of mini's".  I've been crazy busy at work including trips to the UK, San Francisco and even New York to speak at a conference.

There's been a good bit of Planning going on for the upcoming British Intervention into the ACW games that will be put on at Historicon and I might even start building some terrain this week.

The only Hobby activity to report is that I'm heading out to a Flames of War tournament today at the Game Vault in Fredericksburg, VA.  It's part of the WWPD Wounded Warriors fund raising effort so it's for a good cause.

By the way, if you want to donate, here's a link to do so WWPD Donation

I'll be running a US Para Combat Engineer unit out of the Nuts book - it's a real defensive list but does fit within the overall theme.  Points for the event are 1,650

1 HQ
2 x Combat Engineer Platoons w 2 bazookas and a engineer supply jeep each
1 Para machine gun platoon
1 trained recon
1 M18 TD platoon (my only armor)
1 unit of 3 Priests
1 unit of 105 para arty
1 unit of 155mm trained arty

There will be snow effects and no aircraft - should be fun.

8 platoons and well structured to play defense.  I'm toast if I get any offensive missions, but it still I'm rolling dice and pushing toy soldiers so what's not to love 'eh?.

WWPD Italy Campaign Almost Ready to go!

The WWPD crew is running another multiplayer campaign, which this year's event centered on the Italy Campaign.  I participated in last years Normandy campaign and had a blast so I highly recommend participating.

Here is the link to the campaign website.  This year's event features a much improved user interface that maybe even a Luddite, such as myself, can navigate to easily post battle reports.  It all looks pretty slick and a really good reason to get your FOW stuff back on the table.

This year, I'll be playing on the bad guys side - the Axis

On other Flames of War news this coming Saturday will see me competing in my first FOW non-doubles tournament at the Game Vault in Fredericksburg, VA.  I'm a bit nervous about the event but it should be a lot of fun!

US 3rd Armor vs 6th FJ Regiment, Periers France June 1944

The third game that my son and I played in the WWPD Overlord campaign pitted the US 3rd Armored division against the German 6th FJ Regiment.  Alas my I-phone was zero battery so there are no pictures.  The mission was Hasty Attack with the US attacking.  Each force was complied on "Easy Army" and set to 1,750 pits +/-.  The orders of battle where:

US 3rd Armored (Confident / Trained)
1 HQ (2 M4 Shermans)
1 Platoon of 4 76mm Shermans
2 Platoons of 4 M4 Shermans each
1 Light Tank Platoon (5 Stuarts)
1 Full Armored Rifle Platoon
1 Platon of 3 Priests
1 AOP

6th FJ Regiment (Fearless / Veteran)
1 HQ with Panzersheck)
2 Platoon of Para's (9 squads each)
1 HMG platoon (2 sections)
1 FJ light gun platoon
1 SS Tank Hunter Platoon 3 Stugs (since I don't have any Jagdpanzer IV models painted)
1 Gepanzerte Platoon (3 Squads) (Confident / Vet)
1 Artillery Platoon (4 10.5cm guns)
1 Pak platoon (3 75mm anti-tank guns)

The Germans deployed their para's, HMGS, lights guns on the board and had the 75mm anti tank guns in ambush.  The US deployed all 3 Sherman platoons plus the light tanks

Turn 1 "Movement to Contact"
US rolls and get serves and brings on the priests.  The US plan is to attack along both flanks with the 76mm Shermans and Stuarts on the right and the other 2 Sherman platoons on their left.  The left flank has to cross some bocage and does so succesfully.

The germans (me) don't get reserves and we hold pat - let the yankees come to us.

Turn 2 Contact!
The US gets no reserves and continues it advance.  I spring my PAK's in ambush on the 76mm Shermans and with glee roll my six shot die 2,1,3,1,5,5 - only two hits that result in bailing 1 of the tanks.  My guns feel very exposed right now.  The stuarts respond by rolling up to the guns and machine gunning them - one gun destroyed and the rest pinned.  The other 2 Sherman platoons on the US right flank roll up to more bocage now have one of the FJ platoon in range

The German get reserves and I elect to bring on the stugs since my anti-tank assets are dwindling.  I advance them toward the 2 M4 Sherman platoons but don't have them in range.  There'a a bit of shooting but no results

Turns 3 First Blood
The US gets gets reserves and brings on the AOP (I learned to hate that plane).
The bailed 76 remounts and the platoons hoses down the remaining PAK repining them.  The stuarts assault the lone gun and knock it out - that's one german platoon.  The Shermans on the right flank stand pat and shoot the FJ in front of them (behind yet more bocage to no effect).  The Priests open up and end up pinning the FJ on the US left flank

Germans: I get reserves and bring Gepanzerte Grenadiers - I'm thinking I need to launch a counterattack quickly to change momentum.  The Gep's follow the stugs and continue to advance toward the US right flank.  The Stugs pull up to the bocage and take some shots at a Sherman platoon and destroy 1 tank.

Turns 4 & 5 Back and forth
The next two turns see both sides shoot back and forth t one another and losses begin to mount.  The  FJ platoon on the US left flank looses 3 squads and the stuarts have maneuvered to get behind them.  The US have also brought on the Armored rifles which are held in the center of the board to act as a mobile reserve

The Germans try to hold on the left but launch their attack on the US right flank  The US loose one Sherman platoon for the cost of the stugs.  The germans also bring on their artillery and move the light guns to support the US left flank attack.  The short range of the light guns makes them of limited use.

Turn 6 Both Flanks Collapse
The flanks are mirror images of themselves the Germans on the left flank collapse as does the US on the right - it's a race to the objectives.  The Priests blast the FJ's on the US left flank and continue to grind them down.  Since I have no AA assets all I can do to the AOP is signal it via sign language.  I have a sign language vocabulary of only one word.

Turn 7 Priests are tanks too.
Those damn Priests remember they're tanks and break the gepanzerte platoon with direct fire.  The FJ on the US left flank also breaks (it was down to 3 squads).  The Germans pass a company morale test but things look grim

Turn 8 The End
The remaining german FJ platoon attempts to assault the armored rifles in a last ditch attempt to achieve a draw but are pinned from a hail of machine fire.  The german light guns manage to take out the US company commander but can dislodge the US from it hold on the objective on the German side of the table

With that I concede the game - it was fairly bloody.  Points wise a 4-3 Victory for the US!

2nd US Armored vs Panzer Lehr, part 2

We decided to re play last nights game using the same forces and table set up.  I played the Germans and my son played the US.  The outcome was very different as Sean put all 3 armored platoons on his right flank and just rushed the Germans.

Despite loosing a platoon of Shermans, the US overwhelmed the panzer IV platoon and 88 gun and seized the objective.  Air power was to prove decisive for the US as the P-47 took out 2 Panthers and forced the other to run after it failed a morale check.

Game two went to the Americans 5-2

Sorry no pictures as we were rushing to get the game in today.

US 2nd Armored Div vs Panzer Lehr

My first entry in the WWPD Overlord Campaign was a fight between a US tank company from the 2nd Armored Division and a mechanized infantry company from Panzer Lehr.  The mission took place just behind Omaha Beach in bocage county and involved a US Hasty Attack.  My son played the US forces and I commanded the Germans.  Even though I just received the new Normandy books we used the older force lists - Easy Army is just to easy to use!  It's been a LONG time since we've played FOW and we got a lot wrong last night!

The German forces  consisted of:

Panzer Gren HQ 

2 x Panzer Grenadier Lehr Platoons (3 Squads each) 

4 x Panzer IV

3 x Panther (reserves)

3 x Puma (reserves)

3 x Nebelwerfers (reserves)

1 x 88 Antitank Gun

2 x Sd Kfz 7/2 AA (3.7mm) (reserves)

Total Points: 2,005

The Germans Occupied a village with one PZG platoon and anchored the left flank with PZ IV's supported by the 88 and the right flank had the 2nd PZG platoon.

The 88 was deployed in the woods.  I like to use a canopy for heavy woods which actually hides the unit and gives a better feel of something "hiding" in there.

 The US Tank company consisted of:
2 M4 Shermans in the HQ
2 x 4 M4 Sherman tank platoons
1 x 4 M4 76mm tank platoon
1 x 4 M5A1 Stuart Light tanks
1 x Tank Destroyer Section (2 M-10's)
1 x Armored Rifle Platoon (2 squads)
1x Priority Air (p-47)
Total Points 2,240
The US strategy was simple - attack down both flanks with the heavy stuff and use the light tanks to tie down the center.  Unfortunately the bocage had other ideas....

 Turn 1:
US rolled reserves and brought the Stuarts on board in the center and then advanced on both flanks.
The Germans did not get reserves.  The PzG platoon on the right flank mounted up and withdrew from the bocage line to the one behind it.  The German strategy on this flank was to trade territory for time and hope the bocage slowed the US advance.  It seemed that, for this game, the bocage was indeed a German collaborator!

 Turn 2:
US reserve roll was good and they brought on the 76mm Shermans on their right flank.  "Oberstrumfuher Bocage" sprang his trap as 3 of 4 Shermans bogged down trying tho cross the bocage chasing the PzG's as they fell back.  The Stuarts machined gunned the village to no effect (digging out confident vets is damn hard).  The US did get air support but the plane just flew menacingly over the Pz IV's and whiffed.

 The Germans draw first blood with one of the Panzer IV's taking out a Sherman.

 Turns 3 & 4
US - the attack on their left flank literally looses to the shrubbery and the 3 bogged Shermans all roll to remount and then all promptly bog down again!
The US does some shootin' but misses all their shots with the exception of killing one Pz IV.
The US also brings on it's M-10's

 Turns 3 & 4 go well for the Germans - on turn 3 they roll and get reserves.  The Panther platoon rumbles onto the table and promptly shoots at the wounded US tank platoon.  One tank is killed and the other 2 are bailed.  The platoon fails its morale check and runs for the rear.

Turns 5 and 6
Turn 5 sees the 88 take out the 2 M-10's (note to self, small platoons don't stay around long) and more bogging and general frustration with the terrain.  The US do manage to draw blood by killing one PzG machine gun team and then on turn six the P-47 reappears and catches the 3 remaining Px IV's redeploying to other side of the board and .....

 BOOM! I'm beginning to respect air power and doubt the value of AA!  Scratch one German platoon.

 After loosing the PzIV platoon, the Germans elect to take a passive posture and essentially hide for turn six - lets not blow the lead!.  The Germans do roll for reserves and get their Pumas on the board.  The nebelwerfers never show up.

The board at the end of the game.  With the Germans holding their two objectives they're declared the winner.  Losses are 2 US platoons to 1 German so it's a Major German Victory 5 points to the Germans and 2 points to the US.

As mentioned earlier, we got A LOT wrong last night but the game was fun and has re-kindled my interest in FOW - hmmm I wonder if that's one of the goals of the Overlord online campaign.

I need to paint up some basic US infantry to fight better in the bocage.  I also need to edit the US list to include artillery.

WWPD + Ballet = Disaster

Cue ominous music please.  I have a tale of woe to pass onto to my dear readers.  Please learn from my example so that I do not suffer in vain.  First a little background:

I'm married to the wonderful and lovely Mary Beth (aka "Iron Daisey"), who is a former ballet dancer and hence loves going to see the ballet where she used to perform.  As her husband, it's my duty, oops I meant to say privilege, to escort her to these performances six or seven times a year as we have a subscription.  Unfortunately, I'm really not into the ballet (shocker!) and in fact struggle to stay awake during the performances.  Surprisingly, one can get into a lot of trouble if one snores during a performance - trust me on that point.

As we were preparing to go down to the Kennedy Center, I noticed that episode 36 of the WWPD podcast was out and available and I had a "brilliant" idea.  I could download the episode, and listen to it with one ear bud in my left ear as my wife sits on my right side.  It was a good plan - I even went and found my set of ear buds that are black to reduce the chance of being seen in the dark theater.  Oh I was being very crafty that night.  In fact, I even came up with a mission name - Operational Audio Escape.

My plan got off to a great start and seemed to be a real win-win.  Both my wife and I were enjoying the performances we wanted to participate in, she with the Ballet and me the WWPD podcast.  By the third act things were were even better - no "stares of death" from my wife due to snoring and I was enjoying the podcast - in fact for a few seconds I could swear I saw Steve, John and Luke gliding about on the stage as they danced a balletic interpretation of the Huzzah Hobbies Tournament.  Yes, it was a magical evening.

As the curtain came down on the ballet, so it did on the success of Operation Audio Escape.  You see, all plans have at least one fatal flaw.  My plan's flaw was as simple as it was devastating.  Once the lights came on, I turned asked my wife how was the show and her response was a "9th level of hell icy stare of death".  You ask why?  I had forgotten to take the ear bud out!  BUSTED!!!!!

Yes I'm now enduring a double punishment - I'm both in the Dog House "big time" according to my wife and I can't get the image of Steve, John and Luke pirouetting in their white unitards out of my mind.  Oh the horror, the horror.

What's the moral of this story.  If you have to go to the ballet, man up and do it - don't get tricky - it's not worth the risk and our wives are smarter than us.

Editorial Note: (In case my wife reads this)
In all fairness to the Washington Ballet, last night's performance was actually pretty good (as these things go for me) and the music was great - lots of Bossa Nova and Mexican guitars.  But the highlight was a set performed between the first and second act by Toto la Momposina - a Columbian singer who literally brought the house down.  I even paused the podcast!