collection snapshot Dec 2011

Once in a while I take photos of my boardgame shelves (May 2005 to Jan 2008, Apr 2009, Sep 2010). Browsing this history of my boardgame shelves is like browsing old photos of my own children, I let out a contented sigh. Oh how much you have grown. As I compare this set of photos taken in December 2011 against the previous set taken in September 2010, I find that my collection hasn't changed much. It's partly because of my self-imposed annual quota of acquring games, and also because I'm too lazy and too sentimental to sell / trade / give away my games. One notable change is my home has become a holding location for some of Han's and Allen's games. Our default place to play is my home, and we play quite regularly, so it's convenient to keep at my home games that we intend to play.

My boardgame library is the upstairs foyer of my two-storey home. My wife and I do keep other things here too, like my comic book collection (mostly Chinese versions of Japanese manga), our novels, photo albums (from the days before we started using a digital camera), empty cardboard boxes (kept just in case they will be useful one day), and the massage chair, which we sometimes call the electric chair.

This is the frontal shot

This is taken at an angle from the left side. You can see household supplies like toilet paper and shampoo in the lower right corner.

From the other angle on the right. Right in the middle you can barely see a standing lamp, shyly hiding in the narrow space between the two shelves. It lights up the room with a warm orange light if we turn off the flourescent ceiling light. On the left you can see my overflowing manga collection. I don't buy much nowadays, but since I never trim it it will only grow, albiet slowly in short spurts.

For the zoom-in's, let's go from left to right. You can match these against the "big pictures" above.

This is not the children section. It is the playable-with-young-children section. Admittedly some games are more for them (6 and 5) to "play with" rather than "play", e.g. Scrabble (although they do make words out of the tiles), DVONN. There are other games they play (some needing rules simplification) but are not here, e.g. At the Gates of Loyang, 10 Days in Asia, Wasabi!.

The white box is my first ever boardgame review copy ColorMonsters, so although I find the game poor, I will always keep it. My sister lugged Civilization: The Boardgame (Eagle Games version) all the way back from Melbourne, so even if the game is poor, I will not get rid of it. Advanced Third Reich was bought more than 10 years ago and never played. I was not a hobbyist yet then, and had thought it was something like Axis & Allies. Same theme right?!! How hard could it be?! At the time I could not even finish one third of the rules. Maybe it's time I try again. Wilderness War was bought a few years after Advanced Third Reich, just as I started becoming a hobbyist. It is still unplayed, but I think I will be able to handle it now. Uberplay, publisher of China and Hansa was a good publisher. They went out of business. I still miss them sometimes, and am glad I have my copy of China, which I like a lot.

Undermining and Jab on the lower right are Allen's games, which I have read the rules for but have yet to teach him.

Aaaah... my 1980's releases of Samurai Swords (previous version was Shogun, recently published version is Ikusa) and Axis & Allies. Newer purchases are usually put at the lowest shelf in this photo, so that they are more visible and I will play them more. 2011 acquisitions include First Train to Nuremberg, Endeavor, 7 Wonders, Maori, 51st State.

The lower two shelves contain Han's and Allen's games. Some are my homework (to read rules). I realise that my Axis & Allies games are rather scattered. Maybe I should do something about it. Hmm... I realise I have nine Axis & Allies games. I think it's the box size differences that's making me not shelf them together. The Galaxy Trucker box at the bottom actually contains Allen's copy of 18AL.

Civilization (Gibson Games edition, a much less expensive edition on eBay) at the top right was my first ever eBay purchase, but I still have not played my own copy after that purchase. I think I actually like it more than Sid Meier's Civilization: The Boardgame (Fantasy Flight Games edition), although it is quite long, because it tries to do less and I feel it is more successful in creating an epic empires-rising-and-falling feel. I do like the FFG version, but I find it more like a sprint than a marathon. Ranking civ games I've played, I'd go Through the Ages, Civilization, Sid Meier's Civilization: The Boardgame (FFG), Sid Meier's Civilization: The Boardgame (Eagle Games).

Should I add the new Ticket to Ride maps to my collection? My wife likes the series. However for both the map expansions, only one side will be useful to me, because one side of the Asia expansion is for 4 players and I usually only do 2P games with Michelle, and one side of the India expansion is the Switzerland map which I already have.

The Lord of the Rings box contains both Friends & Foes and Battlefields expansions. The Dominion box contains Seaside. I have quite a number of home-made games on the top right.

Other than the four children's games on the top left, the rest are Han's and Allen's games.

Planet Steam is getting good visibility because of its unwieldy box size.