Arab Israeli Wars & more

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Arab Israeli Wars, 49 years old now, and I believe I bought the game in high school. Interestingly, this would have been about 5 years after I bought PanzerBlitz. Since JC seems to be turning into a regular wargame opponent, and has cultural interest in the subject matter, the basic rules are very simple and it seemed like a natural next step after playing Heights of Courage a few weeks ago.

He’ll be taking the Israelis in these games. For Scenario B-1, the Arab faction is Egyptian, which I played.

Game 6 end

The upshot:

  • JC: 19 points for the win.
  • Me: 11 points.

The end of the game:

Game 6 end

Colony Wars (19, 20)

First game JC managed to acquire the 7 cost Federation base, which threw me off my game badly. It’s crazy powerful, and I let it sit instead of killing it as fast as I could. I think he ended up 50-60 points by the end of the game. I got completely rushed!

Second game went a little more evenly, and I managed to squeak out a win with 3 points remaining in my Authority.

Objective 218 (20)

Game 20

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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.