I’ve had confirmation over this past weekend that I am relatively weak at learning new 18xx train games.  Chester had a train game party on Friday and Saturday.  I played 4 games, all of which I had never played before.  My performance in most of these games was a bit weak…

1844: Austria – This is a large game that took about 7 hours to play, including instructions.  There are a lot of special rules around tunnels and mountain mines, special decaying of the trains, and other features.

1889: Japan – This was a much shorter game.  It did not have many special rules, basically being 1830 on a different map.

1880: China – Another large game, taking about 8 hours, including teaching.  This game has so many different features from normal 1830 style games that we had to be careful to do things right.

18EU (Europe) – A medium length (4-5 hour) game which features a special early game auction of 15 minor companies.  The result of this initial auction has a huge effect on the shape of the game.

Of these 4 games, the only game I felt competitive in was the 1889 game.  And of course that one was the one at least variance to the games I am familiar with.  My lesson from this weekend is that I would prefer to start replaying some of the newer games I’ve tried.  I believe I can be competitive in 18xx games.  I have won an occassional game.  But usually I need some time on a game to grok how to play efficiently.  I believe my usual opponents are swifter learners, more apt at winning initial games on a new title.

Here is a roster of 18xx games I have played since 2001:

1824 – Once

1825 – Five times in various configurations of Units.

1829 – Played once as an 1830 variant.  I’ve never played with the Survey Parties.

1829 Mainline – Three plays with others, and several solitaire sessions.

1830 – Ten plays

1844 – Once

1846 – Five plays, all since 2009 on.

1848 – Once

1853 – Once

1856 – Once

1860 – Once

1861 – Once

1880 – Once

1889 – Once

18AL – Once

18EU – Once

18EZ – Once

18GA – Once

18NEB – Twice

2038 – Once (since 2001.  I used to play this somewhat frequently back in the 90′s.)

I am generally willing to play the game being requested.  But I will begin asking if we can revisit some of the titles above.  I think I will be a better opponent, if I can just apply some of the lessons learned on early sessions.

The last two weeks Alex and I have been playing Memoir ’44.  I have the Campaign Book, which strings together a series of scenarios into campaigns – where how things resolve direct where your next battle will happen.

I’ve been enjoying doing this.  It’s nice to finally get some regular play in with the plethora of game materials I have assembled for Memoir ’44, and I am having fun just playing the game.  Memoir is a lucky game.  Wild swings of luck can deeply influence the outcome.  But at the same time some scenarios are really much tougher than others.  I don’t mind luck in my games, and Memoir at least is constantly using dice, so in theory the luck should average out over time.

We’ve been playing the D-Day campaign.  In the first sequence of scenarios, Alex, playing the Allies, could do nothing wrong.  He won a decisive victory in the “Flanking Caen” scenarios.  But for the “Taking Caen” scenarios I was able to battle back to a major victory.  So going into the final leg of scenarios, Alex is holding a 3 – 2 lead over me.  But at least it is close enough to add some drama to the final set of scenarios.

I have played a nice mix of old games, new games, net-to-me old games, and new-to me new games recently.  Here’s what I’ve been playing:

Forum Romanum – One player called it glorified tic-tac-toe.  I think he was right.  But while that might sound like a slam, it isn’t.  This game was entertaining, if a bit chaotic for a table of 5.

Barons – I doubt anyone would call this game beautiful.  It’s a card game, where you build a barony by drafting cards and playing them contiguously, a la Illuminati.  I didn’t love it, but it was more fun than I would have guessed.

Santiago – I played this once years ago.  Second play confirmed that this is a nice game.  There is plenty of player interaction.  A good, if not deeply compelling game.

Tonga Bonga – A game that I continue to enjoy.  But with this most recent playing, I realized you really do want the full complement of 4 players.

Grand Prix- F1 – Finally, someone requested a race game at the Bistro!  I especially like this game for 3-4 players, as you can run a team of cars.  Unlike any other race game, this one focuses on the fuel management of racing.

Maritim – My second play, this time with 3 players.  Sadly one of the players disliked it.  Me and the other player enjoyed it though.  I will never want to play with the full set of 6 though – it would too slow.

Janus – Another one of the Franckh games I recently collected.  We found the end game a bit forced.  But the early and midgame were quite interesting.  It’s very abstract, a feaqture I once found a flaw.  But more recently, I am warming to abstract games.

Galaxy: The Dark Ages – This is the fully chromed out version of Titan: The Arena, but set in space.  It is a good game.  Never a favorite.  But one of our Monday night gamers loves it, so we continue to play it once in a while.

Valley of the Kings (Tal der Koenige)- The best game I’ve ever played that comes in a triangular box!  Well, hmm, that sounds like another slam.  I really do like this game!

And now a bit of a rant…  Games magazine just announced Tikal II as their game of the year.  On a mailing group I subscribe to, folks immediately started trashing this game.  What a bunch of kill joys!  Tikal II is a nice game.  I enjoyed my single play of it last month.  It might not be my pick as my game of the year, but it seems like a reasonable game to honor.  It is fun, strategic and runs maybe 90 minutes.  Bravo!

Whoosh!  The time has flown by, and this blog has been neglected.

I’ve played about 8 million games lately and bought about 2 million new games.  Well.  I’ve been busy with my gaming hobby…

The 10th Game Fandango came and went over Labor Day weekend.  In addition to a lot of games being played, I really enjoyed seeing old friends – some whom I only get to see at this game retreat.  My favorite weekend of the year!  Here is what I played, along with a few pithy comments:

Wabanti – An Edition Perlhuhn game.  Pure abstract.  Quite fun with 2.  I think a 3rd player might be even better.

Pond Hockey – While I still prefer StreetSoccer, this is a fun game.

A Few Acres of Snow – I enjoyed showing this to Rob.  He was impressed.  But this was my fourth play, and I keep finding more to like.  Seems like experience pays off big with this game.

Campaign Manager 2008 – Neat game, but ugh the theme!

World Cup Cricket – It was cute!

Inca Empire – Years later, I have finally played this game.  Quite good too.

Sumo Ham Slam – OMG!!!

Race for the Galaxy – My first play, and I can tell this has a lot of game in the box.  Not so sure its for me, though.

Water Lily – Great light game that is both fast and thinky!

Marakech – Love it!  Dominique Erhardt is becoming one of my favorite designers.

Fast Food Franchise – An old favorite.  But new players never love it anymore.  It’s era has passed by.

Tal der Koenige – The Pyramid game.  Years later, I have finally played this a second time.  Quite enjoyable.  I’m happy to own it.

Sumo Ham Slam – OMG!!! Again!!!

Brass – We finally taught Kyle how to play this game – and that with the rules gone missing!

Civilization (Sid Meier) – This was a disaster.  I needed to have re-read the rules before we got to the table.

6 nimmt! – Light weight silliness for a large group.

Mord im Arosa – My newest Zoch game seems to be a crowd pleaser.  People seem a bit too happy to find me as the murderer.

Golf Profi – I love this game.  I also hate it.

San Juan – A simpler version of Race for the Galaxy that I like a bit.

Can’t Stop – Nice game

Memoir ’44 – This is our annual Operation Overlord battle with 8 players.  I was the Axis commander, and tried to shock and awe the Allies by equipping our side with German headgear.  Sadly we lost in a real tight battle.

Siesta – It’s fun to see some of the locals warming up to this older abstract.

The Stock Car Championship Racing Card Game – Quite fun!

Tikal 2 – I liked it.  It has a theme connection with the original.  But otherwise is a very different game.

Cyrano – Perhaps the highlight of the con.  Poetry writing game!  We wrote doggerel, and howled with laughter.

Bohnanza – A couple of folks don’t like this much.  But many of us have a great time with this game.

Tally Ho – When this game works it is very entertaining.  But sometimes it just doesn’t work.  Fortunately both of these games were close and interesting!

Lancaster – I’m not sure about this one.  Impressive, and my opponents were really enjoying the game.  But I did poorly, and suspect there may not be enough variation in what you can do.

The Really Nasty Horse Racing Game – This is a hoot!  Don’t play with anyone too serious though.

Ave Caesar – Swerving and cutting off your friends in traffic.  What’s not to like?

Call My Bluff – The best dice game around!

Next time I’ll tell you about all the game that the mailman has been bringing!

Over the last week I was able to get in 2 different games of God’s Playground.  This is the Martin Wallace game about the invasions of Poland through its long history.  So in a minor way you might think of comparing it to Britannia – but that would be wrong.  There is no similarity in the play of these two games.

This is not a game I expected to like.  I don’t have any special interest in the history of Poland, and have never read the book the game takes its title from.  And in truth, this game is overly complicated.  The author chose to tie the game mechanics to the unique history of Poland (or so I assume, being ignorant of any details).  So while the rules around the enemies of Poland are largely the same for the Swedes and Russians, every other power has some special rules.  The Cossacks in Lithuania might fight with the Tartars.  The Ottomans will never accept a treaty, and will eventually attempt attack the Hapsburgs.  And the Hapsburgs… they induce so many special rules that I almost wish the author had not bothered.

But despite the heavy chrome, or maybe because of it, I really like this game.  It has a semi-cooperative feel to it.  In a minor way it reminds me of Red Empire, a card game from GDW years ago about the Soviet Union.  In that game players had to cooperate just enough to avoid having the game win.  The situation is different in God’s Playground.  You really can let Poland burn.  There is even a special rule where you can dissolve the parliamentary body (the Sejm), which would make it even harder to defend Poland.  But due to the unique rules around how enemies travel within Poland once they have a foothold, most of the time players will want to control enemy incursions due to enlightened self-interest!

The same day I played God’s Playground, I also tried Dominant Species.  Wow.  I kind of think there is a chance I will like Dominant Species.  But it was like trying to take just a small sip from the end of a fire hose.  There was way too much to process, and with three new players we were quickly aware the experienced player was going to wipe the floor with us.  Which I honestly don’t mind.  But it was clear to me that some of the players were not enjoying the game, which also limits my ability to enjoy a gaming experience.  So I will try again sometime.

But the dichotomy strikes me.  God’s Playground could honestly be described as overloaded with chrome.  Dominant Species is clearly a bigger, wider, deeper sort of game.  Is it simply my experience with GP that allows it to rise in my estimation, where my first impression of DS was a bit more shaky?