2025 Mastery Challenge

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Another year has gone by. More games have been played. Not as many as I'd hoped at the beginning of the year, but possibly enough. I believe this is the first year where I actually acheived the goal I set out: Finish The Ringmaker cycle in Lord of the Rings LCG, which I did in October. This year, due to family-related matters, I am not setting any goals. I also do not believe I will be playing much solitaire, at least through Q1.

As noted elsewhere, work priorities have consistently trumped game (or any other) priorities in the past, and there is no reason to believe this will change in 2025. My current gig is tracking to switch from contract to full time W2, which means it will take over my life. This is how it goes in the startup niche.

Mastery challenges

Here are the mastery challenges from previous years:

H-index and plays

2025-01-18 Current average plays for count of owned games: 1441 / 143 = 10.06

Normally I would have some remarks with each entry describing my plans for the year with respect to each of these games. As of the time of writing, I just don't have any plans at all. We'll see what the year brings.

  1. 369/369 Lord of the Rings LCG

  2. 115/115 Absolutely Aces

  3. 79/79 Jump Drive

  4. 64/64 Hive no plans.

  5. 56/56 High Frontier 4 All

  6. 44/44 Ogre no plans.

  7. 35/35 Zombie Dice as opportunity presents.

  8. 30/29 Silver Bayonet

  9. 29/28 Star Realms

  10. 27/27 PanzerBlitz no plans.

  11. 23/23 Fire in the Lake

  12. 22/22 6 Nimmt! is out of my collection. I play it in Ft Wayne.

  13. 21/21 Race for the Galaxy

  14. 20/20 Ogre: Objective 218

  15. 16/16 Battle for Moscow

  16. 16/16 StarForce

  17. 16/16 Vietnam Solitaire

  18. 16/16 GBOH

  19. 14/14 Vietnam 1965-1975

  20. 12/12 Hapsburg Eclipse

  21. 12/12 Objective Kiev

  22. 12/12 Pandemic might play in Ft. Wayne.

  23. 12/12 Soviet Dawn

  24. 12/12 Target Leningrad

  25. 11/11 Leaving Earth

  26. 11/11 OCS

  27. 9/9 Phantom Leader

  28. 7/7 France '40

  29. 7/7 Pax Porfiriana

  30. 3/3 High Frontier 3rd Edition no plans, leaving it here as a reminder. I'd like to play it again sometime.

  31. 1/1 Other COIN

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 2024.

  1. 44 Ogre
  2. 29 Silver Bayonet
  3. 27 PanzerBlitz
  4. 23 Fire in the Lake
  5. 16 Battle for Moscow
  6. 16 StarForce
  7. 16 GBOH collectively.
  8. 16 Vietnam Solitaire
  9. 13 Vietnam 1965-1975
  10. 12 Hapsburg Eclipse
  11. 12 Objective Kiev
  12. 12 Soviet Dawn
  13. 12 Target Leningrad
  14. 11 OCS collectively
  15. 9 Phantom Leader
  16. 7 France '40
  17. 4 Next War series
  18. 4 Ottoman Sunset
  19. 3 The Arduous Beginning
  20. 2 Winter War
  21. 1 COIN
  22. 1 Combat Commander, which is on this list because it's the kind of game I will like, once I find someone who is willing to play it.

And that's emough fpr mow.

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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.