December 2012 and Year End Wrap Up

Happy 2013!


Welcome to January, the month of gym time, futile attempts to shed holiday pounds, and a time of resolutions.  

December was an amazing month for games.  I was able to play in an X-Wing Kessel Run Tournament and take 2nd place, with my friend taking 3rd.  Since I was also the T.O. I got some extra ships, and ended up with Slave 1, a Tie-Interceptor and 2 A-Wings.  Life in the X-Wing realm is really good right now.  I also procured a play surface, just simple black felt 3'x3' but it works really well.  I was also able to attend a meetup at Fuddruckers. (A burger restaurant for those of you who might not know what it is.)  Of course there have been a lot of family get togethers, time with my gaming family and my friend and his siblings.  

December was also a great month because both Secret Santa packages arrived early! Something that's never happened for me, so I'm grateful for that.  Both my targets are reportedly enjoying their games, which is great.  Let's break down the haul.  BGG Santa sent the Romulan Expansion to Star Trek Fleet Captains as well as the Shadows over Camelot Card Game.  Haven't been able to play either, but they both look like good fun.  Dice Tower Santa sent Martian Dice, The Doctor Who Card Game, and Seasons.  I was able to play Martian Dice at gamenight and with some of my cousins and my sister, and it is a fun little game.  There are some interesting choices to be made, but more on that in a future review.  Seasons is also a lot of fun.  The drafting aspects make for an interesting game with a bevy of combos to explore. Doctor Who is a neat little card game.  We had an odd shuffle so our game felt weird, but there's good promise there.  My gaming family surprised me the day after Christmas with Star Trek Catan.  We don't play Catan much anymore, but I think this might breath some new life into it.  

What got playing in December?

• Tsuro x7
• Werewolf x7
• Incan Gold x6
• Seasons x4
• X-Wing x4
• Dixit x2
• Escape: Curse of the Temple x2
• Martian Dice x2
• No Thanks x2
• 7 Wonders x1
• Airlines Europe x1
• Archaeology: The Card Game x1
• Black Friday x1
• Doctor Who: Card Game x1
• Flash Point: Fire Rescue x1
• Formula D x1
• High Society x1
• Smash Up x1
• TransAmerica x1
• Village x1
• Word on the Street x1
• SR Test x1

Total 49 plays

That brings the YTD total to 324, which is mission accomplished!

December was a really slow month for posts, but January will pick up again.  Looking ahead to 2013, there are some good things ahead.  

The holidays tend to involve a lot of game playing for me, which is great, but it means that this takes a bit of a back seat.  But never fear, I'll be back on a regular posting schedule soon, hopefully in the next two weeks.

My current review queue is a bit up in the air. I've had a realization lately that people don't seem to really care about a review for a game that isn't the new hot thing, so I'm going to try something a little different.  I want to take a longer look at games and offer my insights into them.  Sometimes it takes 5-10 plays to see what a game has to offer.  So that's my new goal, to play a game 5-10 times (depending on length) before I review it.  Because of this I'll be altering the format of my reviews, and reviews will be a bit less frequent.

And now, a look back at what I wrote in 2011 with updates on how they went.

And without further delay, my 2012 gaming desires/resolutions which will probably not work but hey it's nice to dream big.

• Play every game I own that I've yet to play at least once (Big time FAIL. I've actually gained more games that need to be played.)

• Finish Risk Legacy (I've now finished 5 games, hopefully more soon. This could take a few years to finish)

• Log 300 game plays (Done. 300 was X-Wing which happened on December 22. My total for the year was 324)

• Trade/give away the games I won't ever play (Partially done. I have a few more games to trade, but I think this is an ongoing process)

• Introduce at least one new person to Cosmic Encounter (Done in April to 2 new people. Also taught 3 more through Monday Night Game Night.)

• Organize a micro tournament of Dominion with my friends, most likely online. (Accomplished. I ended up 3rd, lost in the semi-finals, won the consolation.)

• Finish design work on my own board game design and start playtesting by June. (Actually started playtesting in May, then revised heavily in June, and kept playing. I've sent out prototype copies to a few people to playtest and report back.)

• I will also predict that Eminent Domain will be my most played game of the year.  (Ha! So Wrong. I played it 4 times, which is T-14 for the year. Tsuro was my most played game, which would have been impossible to predict since I didn't own it until the summer.)

Overall, not bad. I managed to get in the game plays, expanding the love for Cosmic Encounter, a Dominion Tourney, and game design.  That counts as a major success.

I managed to play 78 unique games, which was an enjoyable time.  I didn't realize that number was so high until I started listing them out.

And now, without further delay, the 2013 BoBG gaming goals

• 365 game plays
• Play 20+ games 5+ times, and play 10+ games 10+ times. (Yes, overlap exists here)
• Play 100 unique games. For instance, Ticket to Ride US and Europe do NOT count as different games for this purpose. Same goes for Wits and Wagers -Base/Family/Party - only one counts there. A game and then the card or dice version would count as 2 different things.  Basically the game has to have a different name.
• Play a game with 50 different people. (Not all at once, that would be one epic game of Werewolf/Mafia. These don't have to be new people.)
• Finish Risk Legacy (Worth trying this again)
• Teach Cosmic Encounter to at least one new person (I think this is going to be a staple goal)
• Attend a gaming convention
• Further the development of current game designs and think up new ones.
• Play every game I own, as of the start of 2013, that I haven't played.
• I'll also predict Incan Gold as my most played game of 2013.

And now for the Nickel and Dime wrap for 2012. Dimes are games that were played 10+ times, Nickels are games that were played 5-9 times.

Dimes

• Cosmic Encounter
• Dominion
• Incan Gold
• No Thanks!
• Pizza Theory
• Scary Tales
• Tsuro
• X-Wing

Nickels

• Colossal Arena
• Flash Point: Fire Rescue
• For Sale
• Tiki Topple
• Werewolf

If you have suggestions for games I should review, feel free to leave a comment, or head over to the BoBG facebook page and vote there.  

Thank-you everyone(nearly 20,000 page views) for reading, commenting, tweeting, re-tweeting, etc. You all are the reason I keep writing articles. 

Have a blessed and safe 2013.