Jump Drive 25+

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After "winning" Game 24, I'm stoked to play more. I want to concentrate on getting both VP and card draw out of the gate, with a bias towards card draw, and when it makes sense, trade VP for military points.

Here's Game 25:

Turn Score
1 1
2 3
3 6
4 10
5 18
6 34
7 59

Turns 1 through 4 are triangular numbers, which aren't quite enough to get a win in 6 turns.

This was a Alien (green) play, it just started a little bit slow.

Game 26

This play was notable for having both many yellow worlds, but also military worlds as well. Slow start, but once it got going really took off.

Turn Score
1 0
2 0
3 4
4 13
5 27
6 47
7 80

Game 27

This one ended with a 9 cost eye development, and a 9 cost development development, both of which were pulling 8-12 VPs per turn at the end. I don't recall ever playing either of these in the past.

Turn Score
1 1
2 2
3 6
4 10
5 18
6 36
7 64

Game 28

Another win, this time with Galactic Survey: Ceti, and Galactic Imperium. A couple of things are coming out of the last few games. First, get something big on the table as early as possible, let that drive the card play. Second, playing two cards per turn as often as possible, balanced with keeping enough cards in hand for paying cost. Also, military is crazy stupid powerful if you can get enough of it down early enough.

Here's how it scored:

Turn Score
1 1
2 3
3 5
4 14
5 27
6 51

A "win!"

Game 29

Didn't get going early enough.

Turn Score
1 1
2 4
3 9
4 14
5 26
6 39
7 59
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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.