Next War: Taiwan - Kaohsiung 2

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We took another pass at the Kaohsiung, and got all the way through the end of Turn 2 of 4. Not bad. We did a lot better with the rules as well.

We have tentative plans on playing the full invasion campaign. It will be over several sessions, the number of counters is pretty low for this sort of game, won't be too difficult to tear down and set up between sessions.

One insight coming out of this is if PRC does want to invade Taiwan, they might well succeed…but they might well not. They have a lot more troops, but getting them across the straight won't be trivial, both sea and air will be heavily contested, and at the end of the day, getting boots on the ground are the only thing that matters. There are a lot of moving parts to an amphibious assault, which the PLA/PLAN has never conducted, never mind combined arms operations.

Taichung is next, July 30.

Kaoshsiung end of turn

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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.