GBOH Samurai

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Another GBOH title in the can. Between two opponents I believe I've played at least one scenario from the majority of the GBOH series. It's a big series with around a dozen titles, many of which have multiple versions and multiple printings. It's probably better to track by total scenarios played, which is a pretty small fraction of total scenarios published.

In any case, Samurai purports to be an easier entry in the series, but we found the initiative and clan activation mechanics confusing. Despite that, the game is a bit less involved than say Alexander, yet has cool subsystems for Samurai challenges, that is, individual combat.

We got about 3 turns in, with no conclusive evidence for either side's advantage. I had the Oda side, which wasn't to appear until Turn 4. I think had we been able to play a couple more turns we would have gotten a better feel for it. We intend on playing it again.

Here's what the set up looks like:

Scenario 1

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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.