Churchill Full Bore

Previous:
Next:
Tags

Played a full 10 conference game of Churchill with AH at EGO this afternoon. We took about 6 hours to get through all 10 conferences, including counting VP and putting the game away. Probably another 30 minutes before hand setting it up, but we were waiting for someone who didn't show.

I played Stalin and won with 62 against AH 45. The die roll-off at the end wasn't enough to send it to second place. We had to work together to keep it from going to Condition 3: piled on in Eastern Front, and managed to activate Japan and get enough Offensives into the Soviet Eastern Front to get a breakthrough into Manchuria.

Stalin won 4 conferences. These were mostly because I was ruthless in getting the A Bomb and Directed Offensive issues. This was one of the big reasons Stalin carried it.

The received opinion is the Stalin is way harder to play, but I don't think so. We'll see how it goes after a few more games.

Previous:
Next:
Tags

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.