Rats and other things at EGO

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3 1/2 games today:

  • Year of the Rat: I played NVA, AS the ARVN. My strategy was to press really hard in Quang Tri, Quang Name and Tay Ninh, all high value provinces, but hard to take. My opening battles did not go that well, but I left some pieces out that AS took as bait. He ended up vacating Da Nang and Hue to chase these pieces (and eliminate them), but I swooped in for the occupation. An unfortunate retreat for him from Qui Nonh (IIRC) put me at 40 points at the end of Turn 3 for an NVA win.

  • Battle for Moscow: AS took the Germans, but forgot to move his panzers during mech phase. Russian win.

  • Fire in the Lake: short scenario with 4 players. ARVN (the new player) won.

  • Triumph of Chaos: Didn't really play this so much as sit in on the opening moves of a game.

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What to play next?

Deciding what to play next is always a tough call when faced with a closet full of games, all of which were purchased with intent to play. Here's one I'm dealing with the decision.

  • Something New: this means both something new to me and a game which has been published recently, within the last two or three years.
  • Something Classic: I've acquired a number of games properly considered "classic" which haven't yet been played. The current example would be PanzerGruppe Guderian.
  • Something Again: mastery requires constant practice, which means playing games many, many times to allow nuance to appear.
  • Something Vietnam: as I'm on a Vietnam binge. I don't have all the Vietnam games ever published, but I can say that I have a lot of them, and probably more than most people.
  • Something Obscure: as it's fun to poke around in the dustier corners of game design.
  • Something Different: break away from the same old publishers and try a game from one of the new kids on the block. Or, conversely, dip into legacy with a classic tried and true.
  • Something Light: once in a while it's nice to actually finish a game all the way through in one sitting, in an hour or two.
  • Something Heavy: if possible, it's nice to set up something big and complicated which can be left out for days or weeks or even months, for a leisurely stroll through a very large or long game.

There are surely many more ways to choose, but the above method keeps me busy enough, helps me get both breadth and depth into my play, and provides me with a sense of progress.

The odd man out

When there is an odd man out:

  • Have a solo game ready to play.
  • Keep score or advise on a game in progress.
  • Referee a game in progress.