Next War: Taiwan and Star Realms Frontiers 10

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PRC got their clock cleaned, not winning any points at all. Taipei is well-defended, and clearing operations went very poorly. While I’m very sure I did not play very well, it wasn’t even close, to the extent that the scenario doesn’t look even remotely winnable by the PRC. It did not help that I lost a couple of turns trying to clear air bases and towns, but the cost of dislodging defenders from City and Urban hexes is prohibitive. A two column left shift along with defender bonuses raises the stakes very high. And this loss happened with an unopposed landing! Had the landing been even notionally opposed, it would have set PRC back even more.

Star Realms Frontiers (10)

This was a wild, wild game. At one point I was down around 20 points, with very little combat effectiveness, and stymied by an outpost. However, I made an amazing come back with several outposts in play to soak up damage, some very late game gig purchases, some scrapping, a couple of lucky draws and the end to pull it out with 23 damage inflicted on the last round.

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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.