Hive XX, XXI

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Game 20 was a stupid loss. I thought I was in a race for beetling the queen, which I was, but I wasn't 1 move ahead as I thought I was. I may have been able to pull out of it but I blundered badly 3 moves out by moving an ant into the wrong pinning position.

Two lessons here:

  1. If I think it's looking like an easy win, I've probably missed something.

  2. Don't move an ant into a useless pin, move it into a pin which prevent direct winning conditions, instead of an offensive pin to prevent a countermove a couple of turns out.

This was an stupid bad game on my part.

I am black in the game below.

Hive game 20 end of game

Game 21

Game 21 turned out really, really well. Had my opponent played as well at the beginning as he played during the last half, he would have won it or come a lot closer.

This opponent came out swinging really hard, super aggressive. As a result, he had all his pieces on the board and mostly pinned while I had five peices ready. I was able to scurry my queen out of harms way several times.

I am also black in this game:

Game 21 end

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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.