LotR 180, 181 - The Watcher in the Water (5,6), also CMYK! 1

Jul 18 2021

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Game Day at Dos Palmas. My usual LotR colleague returned to take on The Watcher in the Water. The previous attempt at this quest was an almost win, we threated out on what would have otherwise been the last turn. So we're back after it today.

The first game was a bust. I was first player, Wrapped came out at the beginning, and I drew another Wrapped on the first turn. With two of my heros Wrapped, there was not really much point in continuing. So we scooped it and started again.

The second game had a better start, but got fairly tense pretty quickly. As it turned out, we played it conservatively enough that when we went to Stage 2, we were able to manage The Watcher pretty well. He had played "Hardy Leadership" so all of our 3 hit point characters could take 2 full hits from the Watcher. Really convenient! While we were pestered by the tentacle that redirects attack damage, we had to leave the Watcher in the staging area. However, because we had both built our hands pretty well, me with Legacy of Durin and him with King Under the Mountain, we were able to crack the Door of Durin in our first shot. Which was good because we were close to threating out again, and we just left The Watcher lurking in the staging area. All in all pretty good and we're off to The Long Dark next.

CMYK

CMYK is a very small box Japanese game, as in made in Japan for a Japanese audience. Fortunately it has English rules. It's about half and half pattern matching and dexterity: Grab tiles to match colors, but don't knock over the stacks! That and the matching tends to build a pattern which might travel off the board. It's alright. Not the super best game I've ever played, but interesting enough to play occasionally as a curiosity. I'm sure I'll play it a few more times.

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.