First win at virtual hive

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Finally won at Hive playing online. It probably helped that the opponent really did take a full day between each turn, so the game went on for something like 3 weeks. A few days ago, he made a bad move in what looked to me like a slam dunk win for him, and I spent several hours in the afternoon working out every possible combination of moves I could think of to see if I could win it. I figured out several sequences which would guarantee me a win given any of several of his next moves.

Of course, his next move was something I hadn't worked through, and was probably his best possible move (how did I miss that?), but it didn't matter, as long as I didn't mess up, I had the win locked with no possible chance of him succeeding.

The most interesting thing about this last week was watching the game close out almost exactly as I predicted from working through the moves. That was pretty cool.

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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.