Phantom Leader first play

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Typically, I don't have a problem reading rules to learn how to play a wargame. In the case of Phantom Leader, I've found the rules very slow going, so I've been watching some videos. The biggest problem I have is when I want to find an answer to a question: the rules are in turn sequence order, and various cases seem to be spread between different parts of the rules.

In any case, I've watched enough videos, it's now time to work through the example mission from the rulebook.

Given that the entire explanation is in the rulebook, it seems superfluous to retype everything here. But I do have a clear idea of how the game plays, enough to actually run my own mission on the next play.

The plan is to run the Linebacker example mission with the example build out, but play the mission out on my own dice rolls, so it will diverge from the rules explanation almost instantly.

The game is a lot cooler than I thought it would be, I'm looking forward to digging in to it. Given I list every mission as a "game," Phantom Leader is going to climb into H-index pretty fast.

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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.