Mark: I’m three task forces, one hiding, one looking and one landing
Bob: I’m one task force, looking
[dice rolling]
Mark: I find you
[dice rolling]
Bob: I don’t find you
Mark: I call day action
Bob: I call night
[more dice rolling]
Mark: It’s a day action
Mark: The Akagi will go after the Enterprise
[more dice rolling]
Mark: Its sunk
Bob: The Enterprise will then go after your lander
[a lot more dice rolling]
Bob: I missed?  I never miss, I don’t understand
Mark: Bob, who is writing this blog?
Bob: Oh yeah
Mark: My landing task force lands
Bob: I’m leaving
Mark: I’ll let you go, I think that I have made my point here.  I now control the area

The preceding dialogue is an example of one that me and my friend Bob have had so many times that we could easily repeat it in our sleep.  The dialogue is representative of game play of a board game that Bob and I have played for many years called Victory In The Pacific (VITP), also derisively know as Dice In The Pacific.  In the realm of board game based wargames VITP is considered a mere beer and chips game, as opposed to the mega-wargames that I use to play in high school and college.  For Bob and I, it was one we could easily play in one sitting.  We could play it in one sitting while monitoring a play date for our infant children and we can still play it at the irregular intervals of our contemporary gatherings.  The thing about VTIP is that I always play tha Japanese side and Bob always plays the Americans.  As in the real war the Americans generally win.  For me switching sides in the game would be the same as switching directions around the bikepath in the Park.  It just would not feel natural.

The picture above shows a pair of duckling flotillas maneuver in the Park.  On the lower right are the Mallards with fifteen ducklings.  On the left are the Wood Ducks with nine ducklings.  I watched these two flotillas maneuver and interact.  The Mallards tend to stay in a closer tighter group.  The Wood Ducks always seem to be more dispersed.  There was some conflict between to the two groups.  The Mallard ducklings would chase off the Wood ducklings.  Today’s header shows the mommy Wood Duck protecting her own.  I got fifteen miles.