1972 The Lost Phantom

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This is a print and play game which won 2d place in a couple of categories in a wargame print and play contest. It has a very small footprint: letter size paper for the map and charts, with 6 pages of rules (3 pages double sided). It does need 9 dice and a pencil to play, color pencils work better.

This would be a fun game to write out turns on, but I'm not going to do that this first game. Much better to just play it through to see how it works.

Somewhere around Turn 11, I roll a 65 on the Encounter Phase for distance 5-9 from start, which is a Huey overflight. Since a previous encounter yielded a flare gun, this was a winning combination! Nice to win on the first attempt. I would be surprised to get this lucky again soon. I also rolled pretty well to get as far across the map as I did.

Here's the situation at the end:

1972 Lost Phantom

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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.