HF4A 34 - Altruism Cooperative (5)

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This was a 7 cycle Futures game which we started using prebuilt stacks. I got stack #1, the other player stack #3. This turns the 7 cycle game into a 5 cycle game. I also spotted us a freighter, a bernal and a thruster.

We got off to a rough start. Instead of spending some time figuring out what each stack was primarily good for, we charged off to try and claim and industrialize. We ended up paying for that 3 cycles in by having absolutely no strategy for achieving futures, and only a couple of sites industrialized. The other player is still pretty skeptical of the game overall, it may not be for him.

Here's how the score went at the end:

  • bits on the map: 28
  • glories: 5
  • dirtsides: 20
  • market: 36
  • colony bonuses: 3
  • equality delegates: 7
  • futures: 14

I total that 113, the other player counted 115, no big deal, still pretty far short of a 150 point win.

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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.