Panzergruppe Guderian first play

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I instigated a Vintage Day for the biweekly wargame meeting at EGO. We didn't have a good turnout, so I won't be instigating any other dedicated theme days for a while. Not that I don't like it, but I do know how much time it takes, and I don't want to put the energy into it.

In any case, 5 of us showed up: Me, CC, MW, AS and JL. A number of games were discussed, but we ended up with Winter War on the table with AS and JL, and Panzergruppe Guderian with MW as the Germans and CC and I as the Russians. CC mostly did the movement and fighting, while I managed the rules and the reinforcements.

I noticed during the set up for PG that I was having trouble picking up the rules. Since then I've seemed to have a very low tolerance for tearing into new rules, even for games I want to play. I'm not sure why this is. Possibly because I've played a fairly large number of new games over the last couple of years. Or that I have some challenging material at work, which is keeping my mind pre-occupied. Or maybe I'm just lame, who knows?

The game went fairly well, but we only had time to play through the first 6 turns, half the game. It looked a lot like the Germans were going to win. Those divisional panzer stacks are just brutal, and unless the Germans can keep them out of supply, they run rampant.

I've subsequently read that the game seems to initially favor the Germans, then favor the Russians, then balances out as players learn how best to manage the strengths and weaknesses of their various forces.

This is game I think I want to play quite a bit of in the future.

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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.