High Frontier 57

Previous:
Next:
Tags

A second fully competitive game. I really enjoy this game competitively. It probably doesn't hurt that I'm winning it as well. But my opponent it a very well-seasoned gamer who I'm sure is going to start stomping me at some point.

We played a 4 cycle game with random crew draw. I ended up with ESA at 38, he with Roscosmos at 21. He was about 3 turns short of getting another factory.

Lots of wack stuff happened, such as busting 9 sites in Karin cluster one prospect operation, losing a rad roll and stranding the Crew out on a hohmann on the Red Route, miscellaneous blow ups and rad failures, pad explosions, and budget cuts. We played the 4 cycle game and it went between 2.5 and 3 hours. I'm pretty sure we can get a 4 cycle game down to 30 minutes per cycle.

Overall an excellent game!

Here is the situation at the end of the game:

Game 57 end

Here's the ESA last rocket stack:

Game 57 ESA last stack

And Roscosmos' last stack:

Game 57 Roscosmos last stack

Previous:
Next:
Tags

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.