Fire in the Lake 15

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Played the first two rounds of the Medium scenario of Fire in the Lake with AS at EGO.

I don't recall playing Medium very often, usually solo when working through the playbook situations. It's pretty cool, the NVA and VC start with a lot of resources, the US and ARVN having a better board condition.

In this game, we focused on the mechanics of playing the NVA well, which AS took on with VC. We were able to get almost all the NVA on the board just after the first Coup card, which AS I don't think had ever seen before. We're getting better at knowing how to Rally and Infiltrate.

One the pieces were on the board, some some judicious March operations got the NVA to 20 VPs for a couple of turns, before the US whittled them back down with Air Strikes.

Since the NVA was focused on ARVN, the ARVN did not do well in the game, coming in last. But this let the US faction win with 45 VPs at the end of round 2 (we called the game).

I learned something pretty cool: the NVA can Rally a base with 2 hidden guerrillas, which leaves the base exposed. But the following infiltration allows placing some Troops there to help protect it. It still needs hidden insurgents as soon as possible, but it's good to get the base down when possible.

All in all, good game.

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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.