Frag first play

Apr 2 2017

Tags

I've had Frag set up for a few days as part of my play all my unplayed non-wargames campaign in March.

I did pretty well. The original goal was to play everything out of shrink, then expanded to play all them shrink included. Frag was one of the games still in shrink. So off came the shrink and set us up the game.

Frag simulates a first person shooter video game in 1-1 tournament mode. To the extent it achieves its goals, it's a pretty good game. It's simple, plays fast, and can support at least 6 players at the same time. However, after playing a few rounds, my heart wasn't really into it, and I decided to wrap it up and send it off to a better home. So, it's played, but will be leaving my collection. If I had a larger game group which enjoyed these types of games, I'd almost surely keep it. As it stands, I'm pretty sure Zombicide will scratch that same itch, and it has a benefit of being able to play cooperatively or solo.

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.