2022 Mastery Challenge

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As is lately traditional on New Year's Eve, I take stock of the past year of games, and think about the upcoming year. I no longer make definite plans, I have a day job for that. What is fun is seeing how various counts and stats evolve over the year. That said, High Frontier will likely get the most attention through 2022.

2022-12-31: Current average plays for count of owned games: 1171 / 128 = 9.14

Here are the challenges from previous years:

It's becoming quite a list! One day, probably after I retire, I hope to return to serious mastery for one or more of these games.

October 22, 2022

Only my second update this year, despite having a pretty decent number of plays so far. I've been able to get organized enough to be able to play on average three times per month, even if only solo for some months. This is a nice change from years past when sometimes I'd go an entire quarter without getting in face to face games played.

June 11 2022

This year has been pretty smooth for game play. While there has been a little bit of ebb and flow, I'm managing to balance 2-3 days a month with productivity at work, and keeping my chores on track. So, how is the year going so far?

Today found H-Index 15 with the 15th play of Ogre Objective 218. Getting to 16 will be more difficult as I've dropped Cathedral from rotation.

Vietnam 1965-1975 is the 2022's surprise hit. I came close to passing on purchasing the new GMT edition, as I already have the original Victory Games version. But I'm glad I got it as it's seeing a lot of play already, and I anticipate playing it quite a bit more this year.

High Frontier slipped. I had full intentions of playing a lot more of it this year, but that hasn't turned out.

H-index

I don't take H-index very seriously. It's been stalled out around 13-14 for years. I could pretty easily get it to 15 or 16, but it's going to get pretty hard to advance it after that. So many of the games I enjoy playing are long, time consuming affairs, which biases the H-index down with respect to the time spent playing. It's still fun to watch it evolve.

2022-06-11 H-Index 15 with Ogre Objective 218.

  1. 248/208 Lord of the Rings LCG will almost surely remain my top played game in 2022. It's just too far ahead of any others, and I have a regular collaborator to ensure it's getting on the table on a regular cadence. I also play it solo which ups the count.

  2. 110/107 Absolutely Aces will definitely see a few plays. It's too fast and easy not to play. That said, I didn't play it as much in 2021 as I had thought I would.

  3. 64/64 Hive not anticipating serious play this year.

  4. 51/37 High Frontier 4 All I anticipate getting significant number of plays in during 2022. There is no other game even remotely like it, and I don't feel like I've yet explored much of the game space. Prediction: at least a dozen plays, including a few super long futures games (which is where the real fun is).

  5. 44/44 Ogre probably won't see any play this unless they call of the plague. This game is so much more fun with a group of people.

  6. 35/32 Zombie Dice as opportunity arises.

  7. 27/27 PanzerBlitz might get hauled out for a solo spin.

  8. 27/26 Star Realms doesn't get played enough.

  9. 21/21 Race for the Galaxy any plays will almost surely be on Board Game Arena.

  10. 22/20 Silver Bayonet I'd like to play the campaign scenarios, which take more time and table space than I can easily muster as far as I can see into 2022. Update: Scenario 8, the first half of the full campaign over July 4 weekend.

  11. 20/14 Ogre: Objective 218 This is a great game for doing chores between turns. I use a Schlock challenge coin to keep track of which faction's turn it is. Game 15 bumped my H-Index to 15, and I found a sudden craving to learn some of the combos. I suspect the game is a bit like Absolutely Aces in so far as there is more than meets the eye at first glance. Perhaps not much more, but enough more to at least keep my interest for a few plays.

  12. 19/19 Fire in the Lake not scheduling any plays in 2022.

  13. 17/17 6 Nimmt! might take this to Ft Wayne to play.

  14. 15/15 Battle for Moscow can be played on line against an AI. Very convenient!

  15. 15/15 Cathedral will get no plays as I don't own it, and have no plans to purchase it as the game is very tightly controlled by the rights owner, and it's solved.

  16. 14/14 StarForce Two plays this year could help me get to H-Index 16. I have a desultory effort going on to update the star names on the map. It might be worth doing some forum posting if I decide to take on a couple more games.

  17. 13/2 Vietnam 1965-1975 A new entry to the list for 2022. This is largely due to the interest raised by the new edition from GMT. I've taken the time to really dig into the rules, and it's an incredible game. I expect it will be in regular rotation.

  18. 13/13 Vietnam Solitaire will hit the table if I get serious about bumping H-index to 16. Will probably get a play in for 2022.

  19. 12/12 Hapsburg Eclipse

  20. 12/12 Objective Kiev

  21. 12/12 Pandemic

  22. 12/12 Soviet Dawn

  23. 12/12 Target Leningrad

  24. 11/11 Leaving Earth I'd like to get at least one good play in, with the Stations expansion. I've never played Stations.

  25. 10/10 Flash Point

  26. 10/10 Jump Drive

  27. 10/10 OCS

  28. 7/7 France '40 maybe for small scenarios opening up the Sickle Cut.

  29. 6/6 Android:Netrunner probably ought to drop off this list. My previous opponent for the game has evolved into a collaborator for Lord of the Rings card game.

  30. 7/4 GBOH aggregated, including Alexander, Hoplite, and SPQR. My usual wargame opponent has developed an interest in this series, so why not play more of it?

  31. 3/3 High Frontier 3rd Edition might get a play or two, just for fun, to see how the rules differ from the 4th edition.

  32. 1/1 Other COIN probably won't get played, and might even drop off the list. I don't enjoy these games solo, and don't have a regular opponent for them. Probably ought to sell them as well.

Wargame-specific H-index

My wargame-specific H-index started 2019 at 10. Wargames are so much more time consuming that this index will increase much, much more slowly than the overall H-index. I do not expect much progress on this list in 2020.

  1. 44 Ogre
  2. 27 PanzerBlitz
  3. 20 Silver Bayonet
  4. 19 Fire in the Lake
  5. 15 Battle for Moscow
  6. 14 StarForce
  7. 13 Vietnam 1965-1975
  8. 13 Vietnam Solitaire
  9. 12 Objective Kiev
  10. 12 Soviet Dawn
  11. 12 Target Leningrad
  12. 12 Hapsburg Eclipse
  13. 11 Vietnam 1965-1975
  14. 10 OCS collectively.
  15. 7 France '40
  16. 7 GBOH collectively.
  17. 5 Phantom Leader
  18. 4 Ottoman Sunset
  19. 3 The Arduous Beginning
  20. 2 Winter War
  21. 1 COIN
  22. 1 Combat Commander
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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.