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Ben Goulding
(Zveroboy)
United Kingdom
NottinghamWhat a productive day!
See AlsoGames Seen at Gen Con 2023 III: Humanity, Nucleum, Extra Salt, and Hey, That's My Fish! | BoardGameGeek NewsCheck Please- Games played in Summer 2023 Part 6 | Foam Bananas12 upcoming games to get excited for in 2023An Angel Lives in the Academy Chapter 174 - faqwiki.usPatron Badge for 2014 through 2023
- Here we are then, another calendar year drawing to a close. Despite the lack of a blog post this week I've still played a fair few games, with blogging falling to the wayside as work and festive fun takes priority. Righto, into the revue!That's Numberwang!
Let's get all the number-crunching out the way first eh? I can say with total certainty (and not just because I record my stats) that 2023 was been my best ever year for board games. Here I was thinking that finishing 2022 with 204 logged plays was good, well this year I have (at time of writing with a few days to go) logged more than double that: 510!It's a similar story in other categories. From 54 different games played in 2022, to 122 this year. From 30 logged opponents, to 63. From 29 of my own games played to 59, and from 24 new to me to 72. All that sums up to roughly 600 hours of game time with plays logged on 232 days of the year and a 2023 H-index of 11. Blimey!
What can I attribute this to? Mainly the opening of Kimberley's new game store, Meeples & Mulligans, often home to fellow Kimberley Gamers on weekend afternoons and thus inflating my play count on what would otherwise be quiet days. Andy and I have also continued to regularly meet up at least every fortnight, rarely playing the same game twice, instead steadily working through both of our stacks of unplayed, new-to-us titles. So what have been my favourite newcomers this year?
I'll Play Anything Once...
I've been gaming for long enough now that I have a pretty good idea of what I like and don't like, but even so, I'll never turn down a "new to me" game and this year has been no exception. Of the roughly 220 unique games I have logged plays of over the whole duration of my stats, a third of them, 72, are from this year alone, with 51 being games outside my own collection. What variety! The vast majority of these have been off Andy's shelf as we play through this collection and whittle down his Shelf ofShameOpportunity, of which the standout favourites have been Cascadia and Miyabi. Both of these fall into that already packed niche that includes stuff like Azul, but they're both just so pleasant to play!Stand-out additions to my collection? It's hard to pick just one or two out because games only enter my collection if I've played them before and liked them (of which Atiwa would be my pick) or I just have a generally good feeling that I know I'll like it based on reading previews and reviews. This latter category of "Oh, go on then, I'll take a punt." is exemplified by what has become a Kimberley Gamers favourite: SCOUT. I've also been highly impressed by Atlantic Chase: The Kriegsmarine Against the Home Fleet 1939-1942 with it's incredibly novel and unique mechanics and fascinating subject material. A first head-to-head play against Dad last night was very enjoyable, full of tense moments, stressful decisions and game-changing dice rolls, in short plenty of high seas drama!
...But I Won't Play That Again
It's healthy to vent occasionally, so here's some games I played this year that I certainly will not be playing again, Understand that, unless I specifically say otherwise, I don't think these are bad games, they're just not for me. Quick-fire style, here we go:Photosynthesis - Too many variables to keep track of. Anyone who does well at this game must be a Dune mentat.
Chaos in the Old World and Blood Rage - Lumping these together because they occupy the same spot in my brain, that of area control combat games with too much going on. Hated having to manage the "economy" of buying and re-buying units, balancing that with upgrades, magic items, all the variable win conditions and on.
Earth - All the hype around this, all the signs pointed to me liking it. A puzzling tableau builder, collecting resources and making combos, sounds great! And actually, yeah, I did enjoy Earth when Andy and I first played it, so much so it went straight on my wishlist and I even considered asking for it it as a birthday present. Then the more I thought about it, the less desire I had to play it again. Sure it looks nice, but I realised that it suffers from what I call the "Wingspan Problem": that you're just face-down in your own tableau for the whole game, it really is multiplayer solitaire. "Oh but, it's like Puerto Rico, the action you take affects everyone so you have to be careful!" Yeah, bullsh*t. The combos that players build get so complex and intricate that there is no way you can possibly crunch those numbers, so you just end up doing whatever is best for you regardless of the others at the table. Fun at the time, but just disappointing in hindsight.
The Year Ahead
So, goals for next year? In terms of this blog, the only thing I'd like to do is attempt to hit 500 posts the same day as the blog's 10th birthday, which means doing 90-something posts between now and 24th November 2024. That doesn't sound too bad, it's like one post every three days. Previous desires/ideas/threats to make some video content and such-like I'm not going to bother with, I'm clearly happier just jotting down my usual blurbs and your comments and replies throughout the year indicate that you, dear readers, enjoy the same, so let's just stay the course and keep doing what we're doing. If it ain't broke, as they say.I am however giving serious consideration to a "no buy" year, a commitment to not purchase (nor be gifted) any games into my collection over the year. I do have a few pre-orders still in progress (Obsession: Characters Expansion, Terraforming Mars: Prelude 2, and SpaceCorp: 2025-2300AD) but they are already bought and paid for, so those can slide. Instead there'll be an effort to do two gaming challenges: play all of my games at least once (multiplayer where possible) and a 2-player 10x10 for me and Rachel. With my gaming table arriving earlier than expected (late January hopefully!) we need to get a move on with decorating the games room but finally having a full size table to play on will make things a lot more easy and comfortable.
Game-wise, there's a few games I really want to play more of and explore more deeply, the first two that come to mind are Apiary and Dune: Imperium – Uprising, both of which have only been played solitaire a couple times, and in the latter's case how it compares to the original. Panamax returned to my collection this year as well but it's yet to make it to a game session, and I haven't taken Puerto Rico off the shelf yet either!
As for the Kimberley Gamers, we're settled into our new venue nicely so those Tuesday night sessions will rumble along as usual, topped up with weekend get-togethers at Meeps. The KimCon events have also been a great success (see previous posts: Build It, And They Will Come, Come For The Games, Stay For The Cake and Third Time's the Charm) and #4 is already booked in so fingers crossed for that, and as well I'm planning on finally attending the UK Games Expo, which considering I want to have a "no buy" year will be extra challenging! And with Rachel and I in the early stages of wedding planning, 2024 is shaping up to be a busy one!
Elsa's got the right idea though. Just snooze it off.
That's pretty much me done for this year! The next post will have various "2023 in gaming" summaries courtesy of a few Kimberley Gamers, but aside from that I will see you all on the other side. I hope you've all had a nice Christmas and festive period, and that you have a happy New Years. Cheers!
