More Star Fleet Battles

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Back at JC's for more Star Fleet Battles. This time we went for the Cadet Manual programmed instruction, arguably where we should have started in the first place. However, I think our first game with Captain's Basic was probably correct, as it exposed some of the fundamental brilliance of the system.

In any case, we played the first, solitaire scenario a couple of times, and learned more about the ship schematic diagram. We're finding the counters hard to understand as there is no key we have found anywhere. The rules are actually really good, provided you know how to read both counters and tables.

I had not planned on purchasing any of this, but the Cadet manual is a $4.95 PDF, so I think I might as well. It will be another $20 to get it all copied I'm sure, but whatever. Having my own coil bound rules will be convenient.

Star Realms: Frontiers

After the Star Fleet Battles, we threw down from Star Realms and I got stomped! Which is good, I don't want to win all the time as I'll never improve. But this was a royal stomping, I lost by 37 points. Somewhere around mid-game I figured the gig was up, as I had gone for Empire, which dried up completely between turns 3 and ~8. So my hand was full of cards which didn't synergize at all. Bummer.

Setting up a second play of Scenario 1, with a custom deployment:

Scenario 1, second play

Here is a LLM reimagined cover for the Cadet edition:

LLM generated cadet cover

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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.