The U.S. Civil War

Previous:
Tags

I possibly erronously understood that one of my brothers had an interest in the history of the US Civil War. As a bit of a prank, and possibly an aid for more historical reading, I gave him the latest edition of Simonich’s US Civil War GMT game. He actually set it up at one point, read through the rules, but was stymied on the first turn when it came down to actually doing something.

To my astonishment, he brought the game up for a visit over this Thanksgiving, and we played through 4 of 5 turns in the 1862 scenario. It was pretty fun. The system has some key differences in combat mechanics from other games I’ve played, and it was worth a play just for that.

He left the game in Ft Wayne with intent to play another session some time over Christmas holiday. We’ll see how that works out. It would be great if he’s still interested at that time, but no worries if not.

Here’s a picture some time around Turn 1:

US Civil War

Previous:
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.