The making of an action hero.

            I’ve always wanted to be an action hero—stylishly dressed, well armed, innovative, capable…etc.  One finds that delivering the clever line can be learned.  Enough research and the particulars of good food and drink may be acquired.  I’ve read enough books, seen enough movies, played in enough games, that figuring out what the bad guys are up too comes naturally.  I have a boring desk job which simply begs for adverse conditions to bring out my hitherto unseen heroic side.

            Only one obstacle stands between me and Bond-hood, about 140 pounds.  By now I’ve heard it all, diets, surgery, drugs, you name it.  There was a time in college where I was working out 4+ days per week.  I was doing sets of ten on the bench at 185 pounds.  I squatted super sets at 800 pounds.  I ran the gym’s treadmills till they quit, literally.  For the record, you don’t go from that level of fitness to my current plumpitude over night.  It is the death of a thousand value meals.  It is the product of a young person moving from an active round-the-clock lifestyle to one where less time and motivation are available for things like exercise and a good night’s sleep.  After a year I’d put on a few pounds.  After a few more years I had to buy new clothes, but I had to do that for work anyway so no big deal.  After 13 years I’m almost twice the man I used to be, and not in a good way.  I know how nutrition and fitness work.  I let things get out of hand and one day I was so far behind the eight ball it was easier to stay where I was than make the painful choices it would take to get back on top of the mountain.

            So what to do?  I want to go out into the world and do things.  I want to play with our son’s kid as he gets older.  I want to live an active lifestyle again.  Past experience has shown that while I can change in the short term, bad habits come back.  So some fad diet or miracle supplement isn’t going to do it.  I have had consistent success in weeding out bad behaviors in small steps.  We don’t order out at all anymore.  I rarely get lunch from the cafe.  I’ve cut my alcoholic intake significantly.  I’ve cut caffeine down to a manageable level.  My blood pressure is great and I’ve lost 20 pounds.  So I’m on the right track.  What I need to do is find fun and productive ways to expand on that start.

            When you’re five foot six and 300 pounds, a trip to the local gym isn’t as much of an option as you might think.  Workout clothes don’t stay where they should.  Any high impact activity is out because of the danger to your knees and ankles as well as the fact that most machines aren’t rated for your bulk.  So to beet that 140 pound monster I’m going to have to find a way to start working out at home.  I’m going to have to find a way to keep motivated.  Any consistent activity will do, but it has to be active and frequent.  If this were a movie, I’d be placed with a dojo, retired boxer, or an eccentric but brilliant Special Forces captain to train off the pounds.  Lacking that I’m going to have to find other ways to motivate myself.

            I need something fun.  I need something that will keep me interested after the novelty has worn off.  As the title of this post indicates, I’m going to try something different from south beach or Atkins.  The concept I’m working with is a combination of daily themed exercise, specialty projects, and reward levels based on achieving certain goals.  I’m going to view everything through the lens of a pulp action hero and make the exercise and diet part of a larger project.  Some of the ideas I’m working on are:

1.       Revising Chief wife’s and my diets to something a little more primal—cutting out some dairy, pasta, rice, and processed foods.  I’ll try and replace those items with fresh fair, things Bond might consume on his off days.  I’m under no illusion that we’re going to cut out all cheese, but going from 5 Greek yogurts a week to 2 seems doable.

2.       Reading through the health information for the menu items where we tend to eat out so I can pre-select healthier options.  I’ll start that off by intentionally looking at salads and wraps that don’t come in value meals.  We don’t order out as much as in the past, but it’s better to be prepared if and when.  Having just done this with Chick-fil-a, I can say that simply reading the calorie count on my normal selections is a great motivator in and of itself.

3.       Setting myself a firm bedtime that will allow me to get a good night’s sleep.  My bus comes at the same time every day.  If I get to bed earlier I’ll have less free time, but I’ll be better rested and more able to start my day off right.

4.       Find a themed exercise program that I can do in the morning for 30 minutes without the need for complex equipment.  I’m looking at the Indian steel mace workout.  It’s essentially isometrics using a heavy weighted mace for resistance.   Not perfect, but it’s fat-boy friendly and is enough like warrior training that it should keep me involved at 5 in the morning after the novelty wears off.

5.       I will get a scale to track progress.  To say I’m not looking forward to this is an understatement.  It has to be done though.  If John Conner can face down the terminators, I can face the talking demon in the morning.

6.       I will cut my alcoholic intake further.  Small social drinking is fine.  I will limit myself to drinking at special occasions, eating out, and group get-togethers.  I’m a social drinker anyway, this just means I’ll only be buying for specific events.

7.       I will ask friends and family to walk with me at home and elsewhere.  Patrolling and recon are important as is getting outside and doing things.  Establishing mentally that walking is fun will help later when I lose enough weight to use public exercise facilities.

8.       I will give regular progress updates.  I will hold myself accountable by ensuring that everyone knows what I am trying to do and why.  Knowing that everyone is watching will keep me involved even when I want to quit.

9.       I will set myself goals that are reasonable and actionable.  Rockie had to become a champ-een.  I will have to look at something a little more mundane.  For starters, I don’t have a montage to compress the time; so we’re probably looking at four years to hit the end result.

10.   I will think, write, and speak in terms that presuppose my success.  I will make good habits part of my daily routine.

That’s a nice list of generalities.  If I’m going to work up to Jack Bower’s level I need a concrete objective.  Losing 140 pounds sounds nice, except that it’s arbitrary.  Maybe in the end I’ll need to lose more weight than that.  Maybe I’ll build enough muscle that 180 pounds will leave me ready to chase the lost arc.  Let’s say rather that the goal is to get back into fighting condition.  Fighting condition is defined as:

1.       I can bench-press my own weight in sets of ten.

2.       I can run, bike, or engage in dedicated aerobic exercise for at least one hour at a meaningful rate.

3.       I can wear standard sized clothes again.

4.       I can put on a swim suit without being embarrassed.

5.       I’m proud of my physical condition.

Let’s start by explaining why previous attempts have failed.  Any given day I have a finite amount of cope and drive.  When they’re gone, they’re gone and the little things are going to slip.  Friends and family remember my high school and college days with fondness.  They remember a healthy athlete who prized fitness.  I was thinner, stronger, faster then.  What most of them don’t remember is that the reason I was in such good shape was a combination of mandatory exercise in high school and slacking off in college.  In high school I had weightlifting as a class every day.  I wrestled two thirds of the school year.  I went to wrestling camps in the summer.  In college exercise was one of the ways I slacked off from studying.  I had very poor physical discipline because life had been structured in such a way as to make fitness a default setting for me.  Yes, I was in shape, but it wasn’t because I was in control per say, it was because being fit was either something I was compelled to by circumstance or a way of avoiding less interesting priorities.

            After I graduated college I had other issues, other priorities, and other interests.  It wasn’t that fitness ceased to be important, it came down to the fact that learning how to live on my own, deal with corporate America, handle serious romance for the first time, and find out who I was ate up all the will and cope I had.  After a long day at work, it was just easier to order dinner than it was to make something for myself.  I was more interested in socializing and gaming than I was in blocking out major periods of time for working out.

            Physically I might have overcome those challenges.  However mentally I was all messed up.  I had coasted through high school.  College wasn’t much better.  I had a lot of potential.  Unfortunately K-12 had taught me that hard work was relative.  I un-learned a lot of those bad habits but not enough.  Worse for me was the expectation, set from an early age, that I was someone special, above the ordinary.  College constantly pushed the idea that freshly minted graduates had but to walk through the doors of their next employer and star power would be theirs for the taking.  I had a lot to offer the open market, but not nearly as much as I thought I did.  I didn’t know the first thing about networking, office politics, or self promotion.  I was told by my employer and wrongly believed that just doing my job well would get me promoted…because I was special and above the rest.  Five years later I was professionally experienced, paid well, and unhappy with my job.

            In my personal life I made new friends, started dating a wonderful woman, got a handle on my priorities, and learned how to live in the real world.  I was fatter, older, and not as naive.  I began rebuilding my career bit by slow painful bit.

            While all that was going on eating was a safety blanket.  Food and drink were controllable, happy-making, and readily available.  Call it emotional eating if you want.  Food and drink were the only constants that stuck with me from college through present day.  When I was eating and drinking I was with friends having a good time.  Family gatherings were based around meals.  Friends went out for food together.  We would order delivery and mix drinks before gaming.  I knew I was in a downward spiral, but I didn’t want to stop.  Food represented all the good associations I had with life.

            If you’ve never dealt with an addiction, it’s difficult to explain the part guilt plays in motivation.  You start the day with the best of intentions.  Little things begin eating away at your resolve.   By the end of the day you’ve lost it.  Guilt over your failings doesn’t help.  It should be negative reinforcement.  It should keep you from doing the bad thing.  In reality guilt makes it much more likely that you will give in to temptation.  Several years ago a family friend, seeing my greatly expanded girth, advised me in a carrying voice in front of other friends and family that all I had to do was stop swallowing.  She then proceeded to tell my wife that she should help me in that endeavor.  Believe me when I say that public humiliation, guilt over disappointing people you care about, and personal hatred for your own weakness are not good tools to encourage positive change.  Recently a family member told me in complete seriousness that some day they would get their boy back.  In the context of that conversation, they were saying that their boy, the thinner me, was how they remembered me.  They rejected the adult, the mature man who had built a life on his own, married, built a career, supported himself, and found love and friendship because he was fat.  That’s the kind of damage that well intentioned criticism can reap.  I love these people deeply.  Intellectually I know that they are trying to help.  But there’s a weak part of me that says that all the good I’ve done, all the happiness I’ve found, all the personal identity I’ve accepted is meaningless in the face of my ugly overweight body.  In the throws of guilt and self-hatred eating well becomes the lowest priority.

            I own that behavior.  Others may not have helped, but ultimately it’s my decision every time I go back for a second helping or super size a meal or go on a carb binge.  It’s a choice every time.  Deciding to lose weight once is easy.  Deciding it hundreds of times a day for four years is a huge challenge.  The difference between then and now is that I am truly a different person.  My lovely wife and I have mastered our finances.  My professional life is under control and heading in good directions.  I have great friends.  I have constructive hobbies that support a positive self image.  There are people in my life now who will help me and hold me accountable.  Most of all though, I want to do better.  I can make the choices, build the framework, and live the life that will lose the pounds.  I couldn’t before, but I can now.

            So what to do?  And what does all of this have to do with becoming an action hero?  Three things.  First, I’m going to make those hundreds of decisions easier by putting them in the context of a hero training up.  Yes, it’s fiction, it’s not real.  But it’s a narrative that will help me positively view the experience.  It will make them less onerous.  Diets don’t work for me.  I need to fundamentally change the way I live.  I need to make sustainable choices.  I need to start seeing myself as that guy.  As noted above, I’m going to put a humorous filter on the process.

            Second, I’m going to make the eating, exercise, and living better parts of a larger project.  I’m going to redecorate my office/work area as a personal lair.  I’ll build a toy armory for my friends’ kids…and me of course.  I’ll put up new posters and trophies on the wall.  I’ll write blog entries from the perspective of the hero training up.  I’ll get friends and family involved in the process.  Losing weight is boring.  Playing with kids/sidekicks is fun.  I’ll apply this logic to the entire process.

            Third, I will set my self reward levels for achieving and sustaining results.  Maybe that’s a new belt.  Maybe that’s a new holster.  Maybe it’s a new piece of style to fit the action hero persona.  What ever the case, I’ll publicly set myself goals and rewards.

            I know this isn’t going to be easy.  Even so, for the first time in a long time, I feel like I have a chance.  So it’s time to get into character.  It’s time to assemble the components.  It’s time to buy the scale, build the plan, and take the first step.

Sharing

I like trying new things. Food, drink, games, anything that adds a breath of unexpected novelty to life is something to be treasured. The only thing better than trying something new is introducing others to that experience. The best parts of life should be shared. At our last friends gathering I had the pleasure of trying ascension, a board game that splits the difference between dominion and magic. I’ve heard mixed reviews where ascension is concerned. Some love it while others find its brand of Twinkie strategy annoying. I most definitely fall into the former category. Ascension keeps dominion’s deck recycling mechanic while extending the play out long enough that slower strategies become viable. Players can buy new cards or attack monsters for loot. There are some staple cards that may be bought or attacked. These cards are supplemented by 6 randomly drawn objectives which vary in value and acquisition requirements. When one of the 6 is removed, a random replacement is drawn. The game ends when all the honor tokens are taken. The winner is the person with the highest combined total of honor tokens and honor valued cards in their deck. I’ve only played one game of ascension and I already like it more than dominion. Dominion’s biggest benefit is that it’s relatively quick and self-contained. That speed and simplicity comes at the cost of strategic variance though. Dominion makes the most of that exchange, making it one of my favorite party/small gathering distractions. Ascension offers a more leisurely experience, one where the game is intentionally scaled and paced to the number of players. The result is a game that rewards both strategic and tactical play. As we were slaying monsters and collecting honor, some of our friends were playing artimus. Artimus is a star trek simulation game tweaked to avoid copyright infringements. Players network laptops and other portable media devices to simulate the stations on a starship’s bridge (Captain, helm, coms, engineering, weapons, and science.) It’s a serious game with multiple levels for different ships, missions, and battles. Or I think it’s supposed to be serious. In reality, it was hard to focus on my own game when I kept hearing things like: “Helm, are we in reverse?” “Not any more.” And then there was the abortive ill-fated first mission: “Captain, aren’t those mines?” “We’ll blow right through them.” --Game over--- Or the first battle: “I’m asking them to surrender.” “You can do that?” “Yeh…” Boom! “We destroyed them…so that’s what auto beams do.” It was like someone had crossed galaxy quest with the guild. Sadly, it’s not blind friendly; but I can live with heckling. Saturday we attended a friends’ baby shower. It was nice to be able to see friends, but even more to offer up our support. I don’t like events where 300 people show up and you watch others open presents and play games. It’s very impersonal. This wasn’t one of those times. The family had been trying to adopt for a few years, and finally, after herculean effort, obtained the prize. It was a trial that most there had shared in some way or another. In many ways it felt like we were all celebrating a communal victory of spirit—as if it wasn’t just their child who would be coming home soon, but our child too. Ever since our friends brought their son into the world, I’ve looked at kids differently. They aren’t kids, they’re future gamers. They’re people who I can show the great experiences life has given me. Through their eyes I can see the world again as fresh and new, without politics and bills. Being more than a little bit of a kid myself, I always joke that it’s nice to have someone to play with. I can share in their triumphs, their joys, and their sorrows. I can show them the good things in life that it took me far too long to experience. And if maybe they don’t love those treasures of my childhood as much as I do, well that’s ok too. Sunday we cased out a new LGS called titan Games. Ever since I made the break with GW, I haven’t spent a lot of time in a real honest-to-god game store. Alternate worlds is nice, but they’re a small venue that makes room for in-store gaming even though their retail space isn’t ideally set up for it. Titan Games is a game store that wants you to sit down and forget your troubles while you roll dice, paint, sling cardboard, take on other personas, and hopefully spend a few bucks. The first thing you notice as you walk in is that it’s big. The main floor is warehouse sized, with more than 20 mixed miniature and card tables in an echoing high-roofed space. The walls are lined with product, supplies, the register, and even a selection of snacks. Wife quickly established the presence of a cold case full of soda, another case with good humor ice-cream, assorted candy bars, and even coffee. We walked around examining table after table of perfectly arranged terrain for all manner of miniature systems, even a FOW board. That was about when I started to like the place. You can tell that the owners like their miniature gaming. They made room for plenty of other game-related experiences as well. There’s a premium RPG room in the back, with an entertainment system, microwave, white-board, miniature display setup, and a closable door to shut out background noise. At $10 an hour the Champaign room of RPGs is a bit pricy for my taste; but then I have my own apartment filled with games, snacks, and cocktails. I like Titan. I really wish it was more in walking distance, but it’s a nice spot. They run the kind of place I enjoy turning into a home away from home. The following Thursday I took a few friends to the range. Two of them were new shooters, while the other two knew the ropes. I set up the experienced pair on a station with my newly configured 1911 and then got down to introducing two more folks to the fun of responsible shooting. Having already had the safety conversation, I brought out my colt diamondback in .22lr. This model is a 4 inch blued revolver with a butter-smooth trigger and badger custom rosewood grips. Experience has taught me that a .22 revolver is the way to bring newbies into the fold. Simple, no recoil, relatively quiet, very few controls, and most important of all it’s not very intimidating. I showed them how the gun worked, going over the action multiple times. Then I shot it myself so they could see (especially compared to the 1911) that it was a pussycat. Finally I coached each of them through their first shots with particular emphasis on fun and confidence building. The hardest part of teaching new shooters is instilling an absolute dedication to safety while simultaneously getting them to relax and enjoy the experience. You’re not going to shoot well if you’re keyed up and worried about what the mystical bullet thrower you’re holding is likely to do next. To that end, I use repetition of the basics to show new shooters what needs to be done and why. That gets supplemented with as much trigger time as they can handle. After an hour they were having fun and good to go on their own. That left me free to pull out the marlin 1895 in 45-70. There is something very satisfying about working the action on a major cartridge rifle. The solid chunk-chunk of the bolt chambering, the precise sense of each gear and spring engaging, the positive feel of the round sliding home with the chiming of the ejected case still echoing in your ears, all combine with the solid feel of the wood and steel of the 1895 to create a deeply rewarding experience. I liken it to the one time I was privileged enough to ride in a Portia. You could simply feel the precision of the car’s engineering. Every turn felt like the car was on a set of rails. Even as a passenger you could feel that the engine would give the driver everything he asked of it with no lost time or energy. That said, the real fun of shooting an 1895 is taming the crash and thunder of the 300 grain bullet as it trails a tongue of smoke and fire down range. Oh baby, it’s a sweet gun. The other 2 more experienced friends gave the big girl a try. They couldn’t stop smiling, even when they didn’t hold it tight enough into the shoulder and got thumped for their trouble. I wish I had the time and money to shoot it more often. A great week (more to follow re-food, drink, and Easter.)

Review of Dragon Dice

Overview:

            Dragon dice is a war-game that uses dice to represent opposing units, terrain, and items.  The game simulates armies fighting over territory.  A player wins when they control two terrain features or when they wipe out their opponents’ forces.

Introduction:

                        Dragon dice began life as TSR’s 1995 entry into the collectable gaming market.  It was meant to compete with the likes of WOTC’s then newly minted magic the gathering.  The franchise met with some initial success, but was unable to sustain that momentum.  The game was dropped from production after TSR was purchased by WOTC.  SFR bought the rights and remaining stock from wizards, saving it from a trip to a German landfill.  Since then dragon dice has achieved a dedicated cult following.

            At first glance TSR’s creation looks like an abstraction of the standard war-game template.  Players build an army up to an agreed upon point limit.  Forces are deployed.  The game is played out through alternating turns, with each player employing a combination of maneuver, missile, melee, and magic.

            That’s how I saw it when friends of mine pulled their dice out of storage.  I’ve spent a significant portion of the last eleven years obsessing over competitive wargaming of one flavor or another.  After that long, every war-game starts to sound like all the rest.  , it takes a lot to capture my interest.

           

The Dice:

            Dragon Dice is a war-game with a collectable component.  Four sided dice represent items, six sided dice represent units, eight sided dice represent terrain, ten sided dice represent monsters and artifacts, and twelve sided dice represent dragons.  Items and units come in four sizes.  The smallest are commons, the second smallest are uncommon, the second largest are rares, and the largest are champions and medallions.

            Each die face is marked with unique symbols corresponding to the type and quantity of effect it generates.  These include maneuver, melee, magic, missile, save, special action IDs, and unit IDs.  The larger the die, the greater the number of results on each face.  The type and quantity of symbols determines each die’s battlefield role.

            Each army has its own race-specific iconography.  Dice are colored based on their aspected elements chosen from Ivory, bronze, copper, white, blue, black, red, gold, and green.

Mechanics:

            Dragon dice is one of those games that you can make as simple or as complicated as you want.  Since the dice themselves provide the random element and qualitative character of each unit, it’s easy to pick up the basics.  The turn sequence is you’re standard move, shoot/attack/magic, and resolve.  Players roll their contributing dice for each action, total up the results, and compare them to their opponent’s total.

            The rules have a deceptively simple exterior built upon a core of exacting detail.  You can play the game by performing the equivalent of a frontal assault, but any kind of competitive play discourages this approach. Each game starts with your forces divided among three different terrains.  Terrain dice have faces 1-8 which vary between magic, missile, and melee in ascending order, with the eighth face representing a special feature.  None of the terrains start out greater than the sixth face, so even the fastest games last at least two turns.  Each terrain is randomly rolled at the beginning of the game, so you deploy without knowing how close you are to the coveted eighth face or whether your army’s skills will be useful at that particular stage.  As a result, it’s unusual to repeat strategic scenarios, even if the players are fielding identical armies over multiple sessions.

            Good play begins with the selection of a statistically effective army.  Dice are worth a number of points equal to their rarity, with commons worth 1 point, uncommons worth 2, rares worth 3, and monsters counting for a whopping four points.  The vagaries of probability dictate that armies composed of commons are the most consistent; uncommons represent the best balance of health to result, while monsters and rares are the only dice with special action icons.  An effective army balances the need for statistical consistency with the desire to generate special affects.  Magic players will recognize this challenge as it resembles constructed deck building.  Unlike magic though, dragon dice players must contend with the variability of the dice.  When one draws a magic card, it has a set value.  It interacts with the game the exact same way every time it is played.  Other cards can influence that mechanic, but the card itself is always going to represent the same process.  The rolling mechanic of dragon dice means that one can’t always rely on a die to generate a desired result at the critical moment.  This can be frustrating; especially in lower health games where taking higher value dice can quickly result in a player not having enough units to meaningfully impact their opponent.

            Further, each army has a selection of five unit roles, chosen from melee specialists, magic casters, missile experts, and cavalry elites, with further delineations for light troops and heavy armored variants.  Some forces have a balanced spread of icons while others contain dice with disproportionate emphasis on one role.  Each race has its own faction-specific rules, ranging from terrain advantages to the ability to counter magic and move between zones without the use of the reserve area.

Magic is dragon dice’s defining mechanic.  In a magic action, Dice are rolled, points are totaled, the results are divided up by aspected color, and spells are purchased and resolved.  There are 6 basic spell lists based on what color of magic is generated.  These lists are supplemented by race-specific spells, which may only be purchased by magic generated by dice of the corresponding faction.  Since most dice generate two colors of magic, deciding which spells to purchase and how best to allocate magic points can be a complex endeavor, especially if more than one race is involved.  Spells allow players to inflict damage, resurrect casualties, create natural disasters, summon allies, call dragons, enhance results…etc.  Most spells have a modular component that allows them to be cast multiple times, enhancing the results or spreading the affect to multiple targets.  Magic is so flexible and ubiquitous that the rules limit players to taking no more than half of their total force in related components.

            The most challenging mechanical aspect to dragon dice is the timing by which affects are reconciled.  Each special ability and spell generates a particular type of result, at a particular time. Some affects are applied immediately.  Some affects are applied before other immediate affects.  Some affects are held till after an opponent’s army rolls.  Other affects simply contribute to your own roll.  The resulting procedure is internally consistent, but often counterintuitive.

The good:

            Dragon dice is pretty tame.  It’s just dice after all, and not very complex at that.  What it has over most war-games is scalability.  You can dip your toe in with a starter set.  There’s no assembly, painting, or terrain required.  You just open—and go.  Small games are quick and satisfying.  As you become more familiar with the rules larger point games are just as quick.  The tiered nature of rarity and health means that bigger games don’t necessarily end up requiring significantly more dice—just larger value components.  There are optional elements such as specialty dragons, magic items, summonable allies, and terrain variants that add depth to the experience.  The game is structured to accommodate more than 2 players.  So as your collection, skills, and circle of players grow, there are lots of ways to branch out.

The cost also scales very well.  Most war-games I’ve played jump from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars very quickly.  Dragon dice is refreshingly free of what I call the price deterrent.  For $20 you can buy a starter set complete with 2 forces, terrain, dragons, and rules.  For $100 a player can buy a respectable selection of dice.  The kicker pack construction of 1 monster, 1 rare, 2 uncommons, and 4 commons, means that even if you’re not stalking eBay, retail purchases will get you a balanced force very quickly.  I’ve spent thousands of dollars on games like magic, 40k, warmachine, and FOW.  Dragon dice is the only game where I’ve gotten a reasonable retail return up front.

            All that being said, dragon dice’s main attraction is that it hits the sweet spot between resource commitment and competitive drive.  With most games, especially those with an army mechanic, the more time you spend building your force, the more personal the experience becomes.  It’s tuff not to take it personally when someone kicks your teeth in after you spent weeks painting, assembling, and designing—that’s just human nature.   Because your army is the dice, it’s difficult to get personally attached.  Along the same lines, when you spend an hour setting up and two hours fighting it out  (cough cough—40k—cough cough)  there’s a tendency to start valuing the time investment based on the outcome.  Dragon dice games are long enough that you can take them seriously while being short enough that a single blow out isn’t the end of the world.

The Meh:

            SFR is a small company with a small dedicated following.  That right there encompasses all of my ambivalence regarding dragon dice.  I’m used to playing games made by multimillion dollar corporate entities…at least until I started playing this game.

            When I say small, I mean really small, as in ten people run the company from soup to nuts.  I’m sure there are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of players worldwide; but SFR’s forum has perhaps twenty active posters, half of whom are company officers.  With most game companies I envision a towering building with floors dedicated to production, development, distribution, management, HR, and legal.  With SFR I envision someone running the company out of their guest bedroom—part time.  On the one hand, their customer service is top notch.  The company president regularly responds to forum posts personally.  I’ve had a few self-created order problems that have been resolved quickly and efficiently.  It doesn’t take much to establish yourself as a regular forum contributor.  If you want a hand in the running of the company, $100 will buy you stockholder cred.

            On the other hand, it’s difficult to break into the inner circle.  Most of the veteran players have been playing the game for over a decade.  The senior contributors’ forum signatures all contain both officer titles and multiple national tournament wins.  Granted, we aren’t talking MTG pro-tour victories, but the guys at the top are well established even so.  It’s an exclusive club, one where new players are welcomed but only a few long-time fans are given serious weight.

            Likewise, the company’s production budget is restricted.  Because of the game’s relatively small customer base and the minimum sizes required for batch manufacturing, there are a limited number of products SFR can afford to produce.  There is only so much of each product made, and when it sells out, it isn’t reordered for another year or two.  This forces constant compromise between producing new product and reprinting existing lines.   The resulting economy is a weird mixture of private sales, SFR direct product, and discounted eBay bundles.

The bad:

            I am an analytical person.  There is nothing I enjoy so much as ripping apart a new RPG, war-game, or CCG.  I want to know the strengths, the weaknesses, how to make the numbers work for me.  I want to understand the game in its entirety, down to the most fundamental level.  I don’t have to like the rules to like the game, but there is usually some correlation between the two.

            The dragon dice rules are clearly written, grammatically correct, and neatly indexed.  They cover every aspect of the game, which is to say that if you’re not reading for content and comprehension, they have everything you’ll need.  Perhaps it would be better to say that the rules are not thought out very well.

            Good rules derive from a set of core principals which govern all possible mechanical interactions.  Those principals are grounded in easily inferred practical equivalencies, such as when a spear braced against a charging horse inflicts a critical hit.  As a player’s skill increases and they begin to push the limits of those principals, they should hold strong.  This is of course the ideal—long sought but rarely attained.  Even so, the current rules fall short in three major areas.

First, there are several fundamentals that are given less than adequate attention.  For example, unless it holds the eighth face, an army can only take an action that corresponds to the current facing of its current terrain.  At the low end magic, in the middle missile, and finally melee.  This fact is explicitly addressed in one single solitary sentence.  Granted, it’s there.  The problem being that a major mechanical limitation is only referred to in one easily overlooked location.  This is the fundamental underpinning of what your army can do each turn, it demands more than a footnote.  The rules are full of this kind of stealth proclamation.

            Second, many of the items are written in such a way as to make it difficult to correctly infer their intended scope.  For example “may only be cast once per magic action” clearly says that the spell in question can only be cast once-per-magic action.  What it implies though, is that the spell is only available to be cast _during_ a magic action.  In point of fact, the spell’s limitation is bound to the magic action phase and doesn’t restrict the spell to or during other phases.  In other areas, certain ability descriptions restate applicable rules while others do not (leaving one to question if the restatement is meant to be a poorly worded alternate affect.)  It is this ambiguous descriptive convention that makes it difficult to take game mechanics at face value.  As something of a fan-generated rule set, a lack of polish is understandable.  But in this case the imprecision of the language is more than a dearth of verbal elegance; it’s a genuinely poorly written document.

            Finally let’s talk about dice viability.  Each faction has five troop categories.  Each category is composed of common, uncommon, and rare units. Each race is predisposed towards certain specialties.  So far, no problem.  Every game I’ve ever played says that some guys are faster, some guys are tougher, some guys are shooty, some guys are punchy...etc.  The difference here is that dragon dice requires specialization.  When I say that there are 5 roles in each army and that each faction is better at one thing than another, what I’m saying is that there are entire classes of dice in each faction that are completely useless.  In other games, a shooting oriented army needs melee oriented troops in order to counterassault and take objectives.  In dragon dice, if you dilute your army’s focus you are seriously handicapping yourself.  That is because units are designed to excel in a single role.  Like units need to be rolled in quantity to generate consistent results.  Support troops aren’t worth taking because by making your army more flexible, you are also detracting from its effectiveness.  Why would you take missile troops when they generate no synergy with your faction’s special rules or provide any meaningful strategic advantage over other potential choices?  The byproduct is that certain factions are more flexible, more effective, and have a greater percentage of playable dice than others.

            This issue carries over into the playability of specific dice.  Beyond whether a given class of dice is worth taking to begin with, certain dice aren’t worth taking due to their distribution of icons.  Most units have a 67% or better chance of generating an applicable result in their given specialty.  Common and uncommon dice tend to be good at one thing to the exclusion of anything else.  Rare and monstrous dice can vary widely in their focus and consistency due to the presence of special action IDs.  Because of this most monsters aren’t worth playing.  With a few notable exceptions, monsters run a 30% to 40% chance of generating desired results.  Even taking into account special action icons, that’s not consistent enough to justify their selection.  The net effect is that monsters in general are a losing proposal—not a good thing considering their prevalence.

Personal impressions:

            I frigging love this game.  Even taking the quality of the rules writing into account, this is the single best war-game I’ve played—ever—bar none—period, end stop.  It’s paced perfectly to let casual and competitive players duke it out.  It’s priced so that collecting forces is relatively economical.  I’ve been playing this game once a week for the last four months and it’s more fun now then when I started.

            Outside the game, there are a few irregularities I struggle with.  Most of these issues stem from the way SFR manages its business.  As previously stated, I’m used to dealing with games run and developed by corporate entities.  There’s a discernable method to their production selections.  Their communication is clearly meant to focus their desired message.  Sometimes companies like Pizo and Privateer press involve the customer in the development process; but in the end the players’ interaction with the company is always managed to best affect.  Basically, the consumer gets the feeling that there’s a plan at work even if they don’t agree with it.

            With SFR, things are a little different.  I’ve routinely had forum conversations with company officers that leave me wondering if there is a plan or if anyone is even steering the boat.  In one memorable thread regarding a pole as to whether the company should develop new product or reprint previous offerings, several posters asked what that new product would be and which offerings were being considered for reprint.  The muddled response was essentially that they were already reprinting three factions and were in the process of developing at least one new product line.  Which begs the question why they asked for fan input in the first place?

            After some digging, it seems that SFR makes its business decisions through consensus of its stockholders (who are also its most influential players.)  This is a little like the top 20 NBA draft picks setting policy for the game or the magic world’s winner deciding what the theme for the next MTG set will be.  In theory the most influential players should be the most informed and be best equipped to push the game in productive directions.  In practice it often feels like there’s a secret cabal running the show.  One of my friends put it best when he said that fans bought the game from Wizards and fans have been running it ever since.  The company is basically one big game club that produces its own material.  This hasn’t curbed my enjoyment of dragon dice, but it does generate a few WTF moments.

Conclusions:

            Dragon dice offers the cache of a vintage TSR legacy, the collectability of a CCG, the novelty of an Indi game producer, and the fun of a great war-game.  It’s a protoproduct, a game with a lot of growing ahead.  As a result, it’s the perfect game for someone who wants to get in on the beginning of a relative newcomer to the wargaming market before it goes big.  It has some definite weaknesses—most of which should be addressed in further rules editions.  Buy it, play it, love it.

A day at the range

Today was disconcerting. I’m used to being one of the senior recreational shooters in my group. I spend hours reading and preparing. I go to the range a lot. Guns are a big part of my life. Most of my friends like guns in an abstract way. I like guns specifically. They’re one of my fortes. I’m one of two designated gun-guys in our circle of friends. I knew all that intellectually. The reality didn’t sink in until today though.


A friend and her boyfriend accompanied my wife and me to the range. I was toting my newly cleaned 1911 and my brand-spanking-new marlin 1895 45-70. I fell into my usual pattern, chatting with the staff and precisely setting up our station. Every range has a different feel. Some of the trendy spots make bank on newbies by overcharging for the privilege of shooting a gun under the watchful eye of a range nanny. Continental lets newbies shoot, but it’s really there for recreational shooters like me. They don’t suffer fools. They’ll help a new shooter along, but they don’t like thrill-blasters. If you’ve spent a lot of time at a public range you know who I’m talking about. The people who know roughly how the guns work but not the 4 rules. The people who want to rapid fire everything and check the target after. The people who laugh manfully as they put everyone around them at risk for the sake of their egos. (Yes, it’s a thing with me.) The range people know I do everything but hold the gun for the people I don’t trust implicitly. I run through the rules. I make sure everyone knows exactly how the gun works. I load the magazines myself until I’m 100% sure they know how to do it right every time. I was one of those clueless newbies, afraid of doing something stupid, not so long ago. So when I’m on the range I guess I take charge. I think it makes less confident people feel better to know that someone who knows what to do is around. It makes me feel better to know that they’ve been shown how to do things right. That’s one of the reasons I love Continental. The people aren’t always perfectly polite or friendly. But they’re shooters all. You go there and you’re going to find people who like shooting. They take it seriously. It’s fun, serious fun. You have to earn their respect. It’s my kind of place.

We got to the station and set up with my 1911 and our friend’s Ruger MKII .22. I’m very familiar with the Ruger. I owned a MKI for a while and rang the classic automatic out. But when it comes to the 1911 I’m still in the first stages of infatuation. I’ve spent a lot of time and money upgrading this goldcup. It runs like a Swiss watch. Classic, elegant, beautiful, those words apply to most 1911s. Mine’s got custom grips, custom controls, and an upgraded recoil system. It doesn’t just go bang; it does it with understated perfection. I don’t care if it’s puppy love, emptying a 50 round box with wife and friends through this classic John Browning design is one of life’s great pleasures.

While we were switching out guns, a woman to my left asked if I worked there. I don’t know what the employees wear, but I’m pretty sure it’s not a black polo, slacks, and combat boots. Even so, I’m not sure I’d turn to the guy with a white cane for help. Then again who knows? I had just spent thirty minutes walking three other people through range practices, pistol basics, and 1911 operation. I’m told my voice carries, so maybe I acted the part. Anyway, I told her that I wasn’t, but if she needed help I’d be happy to assist. It turned out she wasn’t sure how to load her magazine. I showed her that she had loaded the 9mm rounds backwards and explained how to orient the ammunition with the mechanism. After I determined that she’d never fired the gun before, I suggested that she get the range master. It’s one thing to clear up a fellow shooter’s misconceptions. It’s another to handle a complete newbie when I’m on someone else’s premises. I’m not even sure how she made it on the line. Our friends told me later that her boyfriend stood back while we were talking. They must have over-stated their level of experience. The range master took care of them thank god. I love helping new shooters, but it’s different when it’s someone else’s insurance footing the bill. I would have loved to help them out, but my friends weren’t exactly experienced shooters either. I needed to keep my focus on my station, and I couldn’t do that and give the pair the attention they deserved.

After that I brought out the 45-70. The Marlin is a classic lever-gun. It isn’t as smooth as my old model 39, but it’s a sweet handling brute. The 1895 isn’t just a tool, it’s also a wonderful machine steeped in history. Half way through the box, one of the range employees walked by and chatted about my choice of ammunition. Both of us are 45-70 fans. He congratulated me on finally joining the big-bore club as I finished off the box.

We packed up our guns and cleared the station. Range shooting is a lot like zero impact camping. The polite thing is to leave the station in exactly if not better condition than you found it. You re-hang the cardboard backing on the clips. You make sure to rake your spent brass onto the line. You pack up your gear. You respect the personal space of those around you. It’s part of the unspoken code of the shootist.

While paying for our time, I exchanged friendly barbs with another one of the staff. We joked about my target and the absence of my usual range partner. It’s exactly this kind of camaraderie that keeps me coming back year after year.

Working the Bay

Ever since friends introduced me to Dragon Dice, I’ve been spending a lot of time on ebay. Unfortunately the market of markets isn’t what it used to be.


I registered with the auction house back in 2001 at a friends urging. He convinced me that I could save a bundle on warhammer 40,000 if I applied a little elbow grease and search-fu. Back then the bidding process worked pretty much as intended. Bidders found an auction, placed a bid, and waited to see if they won. I learned quickly to buy based on feedback history and retail value. It only took a few purchases of “beautifully painted armies” showing up with a single coat of primer before I was immured to flashy descriptions and poorly lit pictures. I got taken a few times, but generally came out ahead.

Then the environment changed. Companies like Amazon started offering competitive pricing and free shipping on everything from books to dry goods. The bay purchased PayPal creating an unholy union of commission fees. Ebay changed its policy so that sellers could only leave neutral or positive feedback. Buyers started placing their bids in the last five minutes of auctions, leading to greatly reduced closing totals. The net affect was a much diminished incentive to patronize the auction house.

Today one learns to bid strategically or suffer wallet shock. Deals can be had, but only if you hold the line. Here are my personal guidelines.



1. When you’re looking at an auction, decide whether it’s something you like, something you want, or something you have to have at all costs. Do this before you commit yourself to bidding.

2. Look at the auction contents and figure out what components you actually want to purchase. Do not get caught up in the trap of evaluating the entire lot based on total retail value. It’s important to know the difference between “oooo Shiny!” and “I could really use that.” An auction is only worth the components you would buy on their own.

3. Figure out how much it would cost you to buy your step one selections from retail. If it’s a collectable that’s no longer in production, look at the market value for the product. Check Amazon, Google, and other similar auctions for comparison. Be sure to distinguish between what people say it’s worth and what it’s fetching on the open market.

4. Based on steps two and three, decide what you’re willing to pay, right now, if you could have all your selections from step two in hand this very moment. How much would that be worth to you?

5. Subtract the listed shipping fees from that amount. Whatever that number is, that’s the most you should bid on the auction.

6. If there is a “buy it now” option and the amount+shipping is less than or equal to the total from step five consider buying the item and skipping bidding entirely. If you think the lot is a good deal than chances are someone else does too. You are probably better off buying the listing outright. (Abird in the hand and all that.)

7. If you’re going to bid, total up all your outstanding bids (including shipping.) Make sure that you can afford to honor them all. Don’t lose sight of the fact that no matter how good a deal is, you still have to pay for it. This is usually when I end up adjusting my bid down to something approximating reality.



Now comes the hard part. If you are mildly interested in the auction, put your maximum bid in and let it ride. I firmly believe this is the way the system was meant to work. If there are more committed buyers, let them out-bid you. If you were going to be out-bid anyway, better to know sooner than later.

If you really want the item than don’t do anything. It’s the hardest thing you can do, but bidding early on a high-value target just drives the end price up. Wait until the last day and check the price. Ask yourself whether your original maximum bid was less or more than the going rate. If the current price is close to that amount than do nothing. If it’s a ways off, then put in your maximum bid and let it ride. Finally, if it’s close, wait till the last 20 minutes or so and put your maximum bid in.

The challenge with eBay now-a-days is holding firm to your convictions. It’s so easy to get caught up in skyrocketing auctions that I’ve found myself paying entirely too much for lots that didn’t deserve it. By the same token, I’ve missed a really good deal a few times because I tried to go through the bidding process instead of going the buy it now route.

EBay is a business. It really pays to set up auto searches for things you’re interested in and to bid tactically. You will lose auctions, but you will also win auctions at excellent prices.

Gun Control

As promised in a previous post, here are my thoughts on practical gun control. Obviously these are my opinions. I’m not any kind of expert, just a concerned citizen familiar with the topic.




I believe that most “gun control” is an attempt by society to legislate evil. It doesn’t work, because guns aren’t evil. They’re just objects. Society has been taught to fear and loathe guns. So they battle the tool rather than the wielder. It’s easy to call for restrictions on an object that you have no personal use for. I could for instance call for restrictions on cars since I don’t drive one. It would inconvenience a bunch of people, but since I don’t have any personal need for a vehicle, it’s no loss to me.

This kind of thinking is inherently flawed. I may not own a vehicle, but I benefit from the availability of transportation. Those who have no desire to own a firearm still benefit from their presence and the freedoms that make that presence possible.

The point in this case is that I don’t believe reducing the number of available firearms or access to them makes anyone safer. If you look at countries like England and Australia that have virtually no private firearm ownership, their violent crime rate is greater than that of the United States. Then there’s Israel where military service is compulsory and gun ownership rates are greater than or equal to ours; or we could look at Switzerland, where fully automatic rifles can be found in many households. In both cases violent crime is extremely low even though gun ownership rates are high. Guns aren’t the issue. People are the issue. If you look at the 2009 CDC death figures for the U.S., you’ll find that firearm related deaths came to about 31,000 for the year and automobile related deaths came to about 34,000. So you’re more likely to die from a car accident from a transportation device that requires skill based certification than a gun.

Instead of looking at gun violence as the problem, I find it instructive to look at its source. A disproportionately large amount of that violence is committed by a disproportionately small segment of the population. Namely young minority males in poor urban areas. You can track that directly to drugs and gang activity. Like it or not, certain cultures glorify violence and crime. So, if you really want to reduce gun violence, it pays to focus on those socio economic groups.



Here are a few things we can do to positively impact those numbers:

1. We can focus on education and urban renewal in high risk areas. Providing a consistently better standard of living and more alternatives to the gang life style is good for the economy, good for the community, and bad for violent crime.

2. We can end the war on drugs. Mexico is currently undergoing a virtual civil war as members of rival cartels fight amongst themselves. In many areas the government is powerless to stop mass executions and human rights violations. That violence spills over into southern Border States. It indirectly filters into our cities as the cartels seek to fill the immense demand for illicit drugs. We don’t have to make everything legal. The specifics aren’t as important as cutting the heart out of the illegal drug trade. Twenty years of drug war hasn’t reduced the nation’s consumption rates. It has bolstered the criminal element. Resolving this issue will reduce crime and related violence.

3. We need to hold states accountable for reporting mental illness and background restrictions to the federal government. Currently states are required to report individuals with qualifying mental illness and criminal records. This is so that when a federal background check is run at the point of sale, unfit people will be denied. However the federal government doesn’t enforce this requirement. The result is that some states report and some don’t. Rather than coming up with new restrictions on legal gun owners, we should work toward enforcing this law.

4. We can ask the media not to glorify people who commit sensational crimes. It’s one thing to be well informed. It’s another to know that if you shoot six people your facebook page will get a million hits and you’ll be the focus of a media storm. We should morn the dead and care for those left behind. We should make every effort as a society to make sure that people who commit atrocities and those who seek to imitate them are condemned and shunned. Doing so won’t stop bad people from doing bad things. But it will remove public recognition as an incentive.



Finally, while limiting access to certain firearms and accessories may theoretically make some people safer, it restricts the lives of millions of lawful gun owners as well. When politicians and activists talk about “an honest discussion of gun control” they aren’t talking about discussing the effectiveness of current laws and viable alternatives. They are talking about further restrictions with no compensatory loosening of strictures for law abiding citizens.

If someone could pick up every firearm in the world today and really and truly make the world a better place I’d be first in line to turn in my guns. But that’s not possible. Guns are an integral if controversial part of our society. There is a movement afoot right now that seeks to marginalize gun owners. It seeks to characterize them as archaic relics of by-gone days. It seeks to portray them as dangerous reactionaries who can’t be trusted with the responsibility of firearm ownership. It seeks to incrementally restrict gun rights in the U.S. until private gun ownership is a thing of the past. Please do not give in to this movement.

An honest discussion of common sense gun control must begin with the understanding that the overwhelming majority of gun owners are responsible and productive members of society. We are not the enemy. What gun owners have seen over the last thirty years is a relentless assault on our rights and our character. We are vilified in the press.

An honest and open discussion of gun control will only be effective if all sides of the issue can reach a legitimate compromise. That requires loosening existing strictures in return for concessions in other areas. That is the only way that the gun owning community will support such action.

The alternative is for these discussions to consist of anti-gun supporters lecturing the rest of us as to what new restrictions we should accept in the name of public safety. That isn’t a discussion and certainly isn’t compromise. Treating the entire pro-gun community as if we are responsible for the actions of a deranged minority isn’t just. Proposing legislation that makes no distinction between these two elements is intellectually dishonest.

Current estimates range from 39% to 50% of U.S. households owning at least one gun. The number of firearms in private hands increases by 4,000,000 annually with an estimated current total of more than 300,000,000. Groups like the NRA, SAF, GOA, and others don’t exist as extensions of the gun lobby. They exist because nearly half of U.S. households own a firearm responsibly and are willing to pay these groups to defend that right.

We are not the enemy. We are your neighbors, coworkers, politicians, and public servants. We represent nearly half the population. We don’t appreciate being treated as if we are the problem, especially since we aren’t. We have a right to exorcize our constitutionally guaranteed liberties responsibly. Comparing us regularly to mass murderers forces us to adopt an aggressive stance. We have no other choice. So the first step to meaningfully reducing gun violence needs to start with both sides understanding and respecting each other’s motives. Then both sides need to stop fighting over guns and start fighting against those who use them to do bad things.

On recent events

I haven’t written much about guns lately. Part of that stems from limited cash. Another part is that I haven’t had much free time. The main reason is simply that talking about firearms in the wake of the Colorado movie massacre and the Sandy Hook elementary school attacks leaves me sick at heart. The loss of all those people is a tragedy that words are inadequate to address. What makes such events doubly hard for those of us in the shooting community are the campaigns to curb gun violence that spring up over the ashes of the fallen.


I enjoy guns. Shooting is a relaxing social experience without equal. There is no malice in the act. It is a demanding task that requires great physical and mental focus. I leave the range clear of mind and peaceful in my heart. Like a good book, that joy is magnified when shared with friends and family. Many of my firearms are collector’s pieces dating back fifty or more years. They aren’t in my collection waiting to take a life, but because all of them represent a piece of history. Like any hobbyist, I love leaning on a counter and talking with the clerk about my latest interest. I love the science, the stories, and the quiet camaraderie that comes with firearm ownership.

I recognize that firearms are dangerous if not handled and stored responsibly. I also recognize that guns can kill. Whether it’s a .22 derringer or .50 BMG sniper rifle, all firearms have the potential to end life, the operative word being “potential.” Guns do not fire themselves. People cause them to fire through intent, negligence, or ignorance. Human agency is the motive force; the gun is simply the instrument.

Therefore, I cringe when I hear about a sensational gun-wielding psychopath. I morn the victims. But I know what will follow before the dead have been laid to rest. The cry is raised to “do something.” With the shooter dead, vengeance is directed at the tool rather than the wielder. Guns make an effective proxy for those seeking retribution. Politicians call for laws to protect society. Activist groups fuel public outcry while advancing their own agendas. The media prints the most controversial and sensational material they can. Those who call for a sense of perspective are shouted down. Facts are ignored in favor of a narrative in which guns are the enemy.

I’ve read thousands of pages of material regarding gun control including scientific studies, historical perspectives, philosophical treatments, and personal narratives. Every year I safely put thousands of rounds down range. This is by way of saying that my opinions are grounded in fact, logic, and personal experience. I’ve spoken with friends, family, even coworkers about the reality of gun violence. I try not to attack or criticize. I ask questions and offer constructive discussion. I don’t want to “win” these exchanges. I want to offer what little wisdom I have. I want to know if they have a new perspective. I want them to have the benefit of my experience. In most cases they don’t care. I can hear in their voice that while they may not want to offend me, they don’t want to honestly consider my point of view either. It’s just easier to believe that evil can be legislated from the world.

This is not to say that everyone I talk to is willfully ignorant. Deathquaker and my father are both committed pacifists. I have met several people that understand my viewpoint and choose to model their views on principals I don’t agree with. I relish conversations with these people because they challenge my beliefs. Like faith, perspective is meaningless if not questioned. I am not the best tactical debater. Being forced to defend my views in a rigorous forum forces me to critically view my principals.

Even so, I have found over and over again that most of the public is at best misinformed and at worst dangerously ignorant where firearms are concerned. You would think that with upwards of 300,000,000 guns in private American hands that a basic understanding of firearms would be impossible to avoid. Unfortunately, while the number of guns in the United States continues to climb, public awareness of firearms is marginal.

There was a time 60 years ago when you could buy a gun through a mail order catalog. Shooting was a traditional and publically accepted part of life. Guns were everywhere. There was no federal background check. You could simply walk into a hardware store and buy whatever your wallet would bare. You could even buy a fully automatic machine gun at cost plus the $200 tax stamp.

Since then America’s population has condensed around urban areas. Guns are not only more difficult to purchase but also less relevant in the big city than they were in the rural towns of yester-year. In some parts of the country hunting season is still a community holiday. But for most of the public firearms have become something you see on television rather than a tool over the mantle. It’s not really surprising then that many of those calling for more gun control neither understand what they are asking for or how little their proposals will improve public safety. They have little to no personal knowledge of firearms. What knowledge they do have is based on movies, video games, and factually challenged press accounts.

Further, the media and politicians have fostered the concept of the gun as sentient evil. Read any account of a firearms accident and you’ll see what I mean. The sentences are constructed in such a way so as to remove human agency from the process. It will say something like “The gun discharged.” They don’t say that the man wasn’t paying attention and shot his son, they say that the _gun_ discharged. This fits the narrative of the gun as inherently evil. As one of my friends said recently, you can’t control people. You can control objects. It is this desire to legislate against evil that gives rise to most of the gun control arguments. Guns are evil. Thus, if we get rid of the guns, then we will eliminate evil. It doesn’t matter how many times I disprove the premise, it is a safety blanket that the public doesn’t want to live without.

My range partner and I read a recent facebook exchange in which a mutual friend made two claims which perfectly illustrate this point. The first is that guns have only one purpose, to kill. The other is that nobody needs a thirty round magazine. Take a minute and really think about that first statement. Every day millions of law abiding citizens use guns for entertainment, investment, competition, and self defense. None of them intend to take a life. Many of the guns they use are optimized for accuracy, concealability, or one of several other rolls that don’t include lethality. My 1911 is set up for competition accuracy. It can kill, but its controls and internal mechanism are configured for maximum range performance. I give it its purpose, the design is simply a mechanical action for cause and affect.

The other claim is that I have no need for a thirty round magazine. Consider the genesis of that statement. What is really being said is that no law abiding citizen has a need for an object that makes killing people easier. In other words, I shouldn’t mind giving up my access to the tool because I don’t need it in the first place. It, like the gun it fits, is an agent of evil. In point of fact I can think of several reasons why I might want a thirty round magazine. But that’s not the point.

The real question is why should I have to demonstrate a need in the first place? I am a law abiding citizen. I play by the rules even when I disagree with them. Limiting my access to thirty round magazines doesn’t make anyone more secure. I was never a threat in the first place. The number of spree killers is so infinitesimally small compared to the totality of the gun owning public as to make the question absurd. I am not evil. Guns are not evil. Thirty round magazines are not evil. I can demonstrate theoretically and practically that limiting my access to thirty round magazines only helps those who might wish to do me harm. But again, that doesn’t matter.

I have given up trying to appeal to the public with facts and logic. It doesn’t work. You can’t rebut principals and misinformation when the other person isn’t interested in rational discourse. My experience has been rather that facts simply get dismissed out of hand and logic gets countered with feel-good morality which makes people feel safer, but offers little actual protection.

In response I have decided to leave the facts at home. They aren’t helping. Here is what I believe as simply put as I can make it.

1. People have an individual right to defend themselves. While guns enable bad people to do bad things, those bad things were going to get done whether guns were present or not. Guns represent a tool by which the weak and righteous may ensure their safety. Thus any bad things that are attributed to firearms are vastly outweighed by the good that guns make possible.

2. I do not believe that punishing the many for the sins of the few helps anyone. Guns are easy targets when the public demands action. But guns aren’t the problem or the solution. Guns are tools that can be used for good or evil by the individual. I believe that the overwhelming majority of gun owners do not pose a threat to society and should not have their rights limited due to the misguided actions of the minority.

3. I believe that gun control in all its forms fails to make society safer in any way. I am not willing to trade my freedom for a false sense of security. Murder is illegal. Laws, by definition, are broken by criminals. Those who would break the law will not be inconvenienced by society’s rules. If they were, they wouldn’t be criminals.

4. I believe in laws and procedures that truly protect society. Background checks, though imperfect, do serve a purpose. Most gun control legislation does not serve a purpose.





I believe that there are steps we can take as a country to limit violent crime and gun violence in particular. There are steps we can take that don’t involve further restricting my rights. I’ll go over that in a different post. I am tired of being made to feel as though I had a hand in every bad thing done with the aid of a firearm. Guns aren’t the problem. I am not the problem. The gun owning community isn’t the problem. Tragedy happens because there are bad people in the world who are willing to do bad things. I am tired of the solution to long-standing public safety issues being sold as a de facto condemnation of me and my motives.

Review of the SRB Field Rest

Overview:


I used the SRB field rest with a marlin 39a, Browning BPS, and a Mosin nagant rifle. The product performs as advertised, with some qualifications.



Functionality:

The field rest is supposed to act as a second line of defense for your firearm in wet/muddy environments. When properly set up, it accomplished this task with all tested guns. The rest’s two brackets are wide and solidly constructed enough that they act as stable supports for even large firearms like the Mosin Nagant. Also, since the two brackets are set up independent of each other, you can customize the spacing to fit the rifle.

Unfortunately, it can be difficult to obtain the precise alignment that will hold the rifle level. The brackets slip into the support pegs without any problems, but don’t lock in place. Getting them aligned doesn’t take too much effort, but it’s far too easy too have them spin out of alignment with even a light touch without the rifle to inhibit the action. The pegs have to be driven into the ground straight on or risk canted deployment. Since each peg is set separately, it takes some fiddling to get them aligned where the gun is plum with the ground and balanced in all dimensions.

If you’re considering using one of the supports as a poor man’s bipod, don’t. The wide span of the brackets that gives them the ability to support a variety of rifles means that they offer no lateral stabilization.





Quality:

The pegs are made of solid metal and have a good heft to them. I kicked them around and drove them into the ground with a hammer with no ill affects. The plastic brackets, especially the ends that fit into the pegs, are of lighter quality than I’d like, but fine for sporting use. I would have preferred a more dense construction and a more robust locking design for the peg/support fit, but the product is well designed and built from solid materials.



Conclusion:

If I was wandering around in the snow/swamp/rain with a hunting rifle, I’d rather use a slung rifle, bipod, or shooting stick. Pulling the field rest out, setting it up, and ensuring that it is aligned correctly, is just fiddly enough and time consuming enough that it isn’t worth the time…especially since the gun has to be protected in some way while the rest is being deployed.

If however you want a portable rifle rest to take to an old duck blind or the like where time isn’t an issue, than this is an excellent value.