High Frontier 4A (63)

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Another great game of High Frontier put to bed!

My usual opponent AW has really gotten the bug, which is great, as I’m enjoying having an actual oppoonent to play against. We played the Core + 0 + 1 + 2 modules today.

Highlights included:

  • AW busting nearly a dozen sites in the asteroid belt with. He just could not roll a 1 or 2 at all.

  • Both of us got Bernals in play, Andrew more than a cycle before I did. We both ended with both Bernals anchored, which was pretty cool..

  • Budget Cuts seemed to pop up every cycle, sometimes twice in a cycle. It slowed down my game for sure.

  • AW was able to trap me in a patent bind at one point when I ran out of aqua. He could outbid me on every auction. I wasted a bunch of time doing Fund Raises in lieue anything better to so. I probably could have jiggered the Active Law to get around it.

  • I went after a Mars aqua station with sail and elevator, managed to pump a huge amount of aqua back to LEO, then to my L5 Bernal.

  • I got Luna, both sites, and was able to produce and promote both a colonist and a Terawatt.

  • AW ended up major points later in the game, scoring on colonies and dirtsides. I scored 60 to his 50 for the win, but he was catching up fast.

  • I had intended on trying to get to Pluto, but just ran out of time. I needed 3 more turns.

Probably more, will add to the list as it comes to me.

Here’s the end of the game:

High Frontier 4 game 63

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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.