boardgaming in photos: the trio

There was a period when Han, Allen and I gamed together regularly, usually at my place or Allen's. Our play styles are similar. We tend to play quickly, sometimes taking actions even before our turns come. Sometimes we are so self-conscious about not playing speedily enough that even before others tease us for thinking too long, we already start apologising "Sorry sorry, AP AP" (Analysis Paralysis). I enjoy our brisk pace. Han is now living in another city, so we don't get to play together often, but when he's in town we try to meet up. On his recent visit we managed to game for two days, playing both old and new games.

This is God's Playground by Martin Wallace. My previous play was probably two years ago. The game is about the history of Poland. Poland has always been sandwiched by bullies. Players take the role of Polish dynasties, working together to defend Poland while at the same time competing to be the most powerful clan. This is a game where you sometimes sacrifice the greater good for selfish ambition.

The situation in Prussia (northwest) and Greater Poland (west) is not good. Only Allen (blue) is invested in Prussia (the discs are estates), and only I (white) am invested in Greater Poland. This means only one of three players has strong incentive to defend these regions. This is dangerous. If an enemy successfully invades and sets up camp, it can spread to neighbouring regions.

The Hapsburgs is an unusual enemy. For the first three rounds (of four) they don't launch military attacks, and instead exert political influence, reducing the influence of Polish nobles. Only in the fourth round they may attack Poland. In the third round, the Ottomans attack the Hapsburgs instead of Poland. You can try to help the Hapsburgs by fighting the Ottomans. However the Hapsburgs are not grateful people. If you don't defeat the Ottomans in Round 3, they will conquer the Hapburgs, they will be militarily stronger in Round 4, and they will attack from two fronts in Round 4. If you manage to defeat the Ottomans, they will be weaker in Round 4, but they will still try to attack you. The Hapsburg, instead of thanking you for saving their backsides, will instead think you are ripe for military conquest. So you have a lose-lose situation. In our game I was the only one heavily invested in Greater Poland, which was the entry point of the Hapsburgs. So I had to deal with them every round, and I saved their butts in Round 3, and I had to endure their attack in Round 4. Very annoying!

This was Round 3. My personal army (white) supported by the national army (grey) beat up the Ottomans kau-kau (severely). We placed many white and grey success cubes in the Ottoman box. One funny thing in our game was I kept rolling 1's during battle, which was very bad because it meant losing units. The national army was a shared resource. All three of us could use our influence to borrow it. Han and Allen kept screaming at me "what are you doing?!!". Each time I led the national army in battle they had to pray hard I didn't get more soldiers killed, leaving them a much diminished army when their turns came around.

This was the middle of Round 4, i.e. final round. Most of the spots for estates were occupied. The only remaining vacant spots were in Prussia, because that region was pretty doomed. The enemy was strong, the defenses thin.

The enemies (black cubes) had invaded Prussia. They were many, and we only had two nobles (the blue and white cubes) to tie them down. All the enemies that we could not pin down would spread to the neighbouring regions. Many of our estates were soon burnt down. It was not a pretty sight. Earlier during the game we thought we did quite well. Not many enemies managed to break through our defenses. Little did we know they had saved the best for last.

This was the final score. It was amazingly close. I (white) only won because of the tiebreaker rule - whoever has more nobles remaining on the board wins.

I taught Allen Machi Koro. This was his first time playing. We played using the Harbour expansion straight-away.

Han has played Machi Koro before with other gamers in Johor Bahru.

The three of us are now playing a game of After the Flood online at Sloth Ninja Games. I fared horribly, and even before mid game we all knew I was screwed. Han played the best. Now Allen and I are trying to see whether we can turn the tide. After the Flood is an intricate exactly-3-players game. If I play as a neutral party, Han will cruise to victory. If I team up with Allen, Allen has a chance to win. So I'm playing the troublemaker now (or if you want to put it nicely, the balancing factor). But perhaps I'll backstab Allen at the last minute. Just for kicks.

the excitement of 3-player games, and Tammany Hall

From late 2010 to early 2012, most of my boardgame sessions were 3-player games with Han and Allen. This period started after Allen's first child was born (he was more house-bound than usual so Han and I decided to play at his place to keep him sane), and lasted until Han's overseas work assignment (and I'm pretty sure we'll continue as before once he returns). During this period I easily settled down to this comfortable routine, and became lazier and lazier to organise bigger boardgame sessions. Jointly, we had many games suitable for 3 players, more than we could play. I think we developed a kind of play style together. We tend to be brisk in playing (and we often quote our 50-minute game of Merchants and Marauders); we sometimes take turns simultaneously and end up confusing ourselves whose turn it should be; we often do that "attack-him-he's-the-leader!" thing. I've found that 3-player games have a unique type of excitement, especially when the game being played has some, but is not purely, direct confrontation. Not being a fully confrontational game means you have a choice of taking an aggressive action or taking a peaceful or self-development action, and when you decide to take the aggressive action, it makes the offensive intent more pointed and much clearer.

3-player games have a delicate balance, because any apparent leader will quickly be targeted by the other two players, and he will have a tough time maintaining his lead going one against two. However, the temporary alliance between the other two players is often fragile, because once the alliance achieves the objective of bringing the leader back in line, it will be every man for himself again. So even during the period of alliance, each ally will be trying to better position himself to come out stronger after the dust settles. Distrust your enemy, distrust your ally even more. 3-player games often become a tricky balance of doing well but not appearing too strong, or finding the right opportunity to push for a quick victory before your opponents gang up on you. It's a bit like that scene in Reservoir Dogs - every player holding two guns, each pointed at one of the other two players.

I was reminded of all this when Han, Allen and I played two games of Tammany Hall at www.slothninja.com. We have played this game in its physical form before, quite some time ago, but never got around to play it again until recently. The game has been out-of-print, but is now on Kickstarter trying to achieve the funding goal. The games we played were turn-based and we didn't need to be online at the same time, so the pace was more like a PBEM (Play-by-E-Mail) game. It took us about 5 days to complete a game. I was amazed how exciting and tense the games were. Allen would agree that they were downright stressful. I want to write about these two games. I won't describe the rules (which I've covered before). I'll just jump straight to the session reports and what I was thinking and feeling during the games. You may want to Ctrl-click to open the screenshots in a separate window while you read the descriptions that accompany each screenshot.

Game 1: 23 - 27 Apr 2012

A game of Tammany Hall has 16 rounds, with every 4 rounds culminating in an election. That track at the top shows that we were at Round 4. This being a 3-player game, only Region I (the bottom bit) was in play initially. Regions II and III would open up in Q2 and Q3 respectively. I was red, Allen was yellow, Han was purple. The most defining moment of the Q1 election was the fight for Ward 7. In this screenshot, only Allen (yellow with 3 bosses) and I (red with 1 boss) were fighting for it, but before the election started Han placed one boss to enter the race. I gave up on it and didn't spend any favour chip. Allen and Han were both determined to win it and spent as much as they could. Unfortunately for them, they tied, so both of them lost, wasting many chips in the process. I became mayor.

Being mayor earns you 3VP, which is nice, but it has its drawbacks, because once you become mayor, you must assign special abilities to your opponents, which they can use against you afterwards, while you don't get any special ability. Also the mayor is first in turn order, which makes it hard to defend against others, especially slandering. The rulebook tells you not to complain though, because you are already given 3VP. After the Q1 electcion, I was the apparent leader with a big red target painted on me.

This was just before the Q2 election. Q2 was less eventful than I expected. I actually managed to hold on to the mayor post, although I wasn't really eager to do so. Allen had been using his Precinct Chairman power to shift immigrants around to strengthen his influence, often diminishing mine at the same time. Han had been using his Deputy Mayor power to collect favour chips. Although I won the most wards, many were sparsely populated, i.e. they didn't help much in becoming most influential in the four immigrant groups. Becoming mayor twice in a row meant my score was far ahead now.

Q3 elections had just started. I (red) made a deal with Han (purple) so that I'd let him win Ward 6 and he'd let me win Ward 4. This way we could both conserve some favour chips.

Near the end of the Q3 elections. Han (purple) later won Ward 10, which meant Allen won 6 wards, I won 5 and Han won 4. Allen became the new mayor. In Q3 he had majority influence over three immigrant groups - the Irish, the Germans and the English! That's 9 favour chips going to him. My score was still in the lead (18), but Allen was close behind (15), and Han was further behind at 10. Allen had a lot of favour chips, and would be powerful going into the final Q4 election. It looked like Han and I would need to gang up on him to prevent a runaway leader.

Q4 elections had just started. Ward 1 (bottom left) had just been resolved. Allen and I competed for it, both spending many chips, only to end up tied. This was painful for both of us. I was very badly positioned going into this election. In the final round before the elections, I slandered away Allen's bosses in Wards 3 and 5, so that I could win both wards uncontested. However, Han, whose turn was after mine, swooped in and did the same to me, claiming those two wards. I had expected Han to slander Allen's bosses in Wards 8 and 15, since Allen was the bigger threat. In hindsight, I should not have left myself so vulnerable. Throughout Q4 Han and I had been mostly focusing our attacks on Allen, and I built a false sense of security that Han wouldn't target me. I should have tried to compete with him in some wards, e.g. 6, 7 or 10, so that he would be forced to play more defensively and would not have such a free reign.

Near the end of the Q4 elections. I would eventually lose in Ward 17 too. I didn't have as many favour chips as Allen, so I lost to him in Wards 2, 4, 9, and 17. Han had a magnificent come-from-behind victory, winning 10 wards! That's 10VP. He also gained 6VP for most Irish, English and Italian favour chips left, and 3VP for mayorship.

Final score: Han (purple) 30VP, Allen (yellow) 22VP, Hiew (red) 19VP.

Game 2: 27 Apr - 3 May 2012

In our second game, we were assigned the same colours as before. Han was purple, Allen was yellow and I was red. This screenshot was taken during the Q2 election. Earlier, in Q1, I had become mayor uncontested. All three wards that I competed in were won uncontested. Han and Allen competed in two wards and each won one. That meant I, again, became the big fat target, not just because I was ahead in points, but also because I had conserved the most favour chips.

In this second game, I tried to be more aggressive in pressing my advantage. Instead of trying to go for the less populated (and thus less attractive) wards in order to appear weak, I wanted to fight for the more densely populated wards, so that I could gain majority influence with more immigrant groups. In this screenshot, Ward 1 had just been resolved. Han (purple) and I (red) competed for it. He spent all favour chips he could afford and won it. I hadn't expected that, so the favour chips that I had spent were wasted. It was a right decision for Han, because eventually he gained majority for three immigrant groups, greatly helped by the immigrants in Ward 1. He also won the most wards and became mayor.

This was during the Q3 elections. Noone bothered to contest for Wards 17, 11 and 13 on the right, because they had few immigrants, and I think also because noone was keen to be mayor going into the last election.

This was the start of Q4, i.e. it shows the outcome of the Q3 election. Han (purple) won Ward 1 (but his token was cut off from this screenshot), 8 and 9. Allen won three wards too, and I won four. Ward 4 was tied between Han and Allen. Ward 15 was tied between Han and I. I became the reluctant mayor going into Q4. I was leading in points, but Han and Allen were not far away. At this point Han had very few favour chips, much fewer than us, so he'd be at a disadvantage when he had to compete during elections. I gave him the Council President power which let him lock up wards. This would be useful to him because he could quickly lock up a ward with only his boss present to make sure he'd win it uncontested, without needing to spend favour chips. I wanted to keep him in the competition so that he could still be a threat, and Allen couldn't focus his attacks (and defenses) only on me.

Final round before the Q4 elections. I had many English (white) favour chips. However Allen used his Chief of Police power well and removed English immigrants from many wards where I wanted to fight for (3, 5, 7), rendering my English favour chips useless there. Han made good use of his Council President power and locked up Wards 1 and 4 for himself.

Q4 election had just started. Contested wards were 3, 7, 9 and 14. All of us had the chance to become mayor, and that 3VP bonus would be a big factor in determining the final winner. The 2VP for having the most leftover favour chips for each of the immigrant groups could also determine victory. It was going to be a very close game.

I knew I (red) would lose to Allen (yellow) in Ward 3, and Han (purple) would lose to him too in Ward 14, because neither of us had enough of the right coloured chips to fight with him. So it all came down to what would happen in Wards 7 and 9. Han already had 5 wards in the bag, and if he won a 6th ward, he would became mayor. That would be 9VP, for the wards and the mayorship. I too wanted mayorship, because with my current lead, that would likely seal my victory. However I would need to win both Wards 7 and 9, and also have more favour chips than Allen (because we would be tied at 5 wards each).

This was the favour chips situation. Han was purple, I was red. If I wanted to safely win Ward 7, I'd have to spend 4 chips. If Han conceded Ward 7 and didn't spend any, then the favour chips he had left would be enough to tie me in Ward 9, denying me Ward 9. If Han gambled that I would take a risk in Ward 7 and spend fewer than 4 chips, he might spend all he had to try to win Ward 7 and secure his mayorship. It all came down to one crucial decision. Would Han try to win Ward 7? I gambled that he would, and this was what followed...

Han didn't spend any favour chip in Ward 7. I won it having spent four, when I could have won it spending just one. We tied for Ward 9, so neither of us won mayorship. Han (purple) and Allen (yellow) both had 5 wards, but Allen had tons more favour chips, so Allen became mayor.

This was the favour chip situation at game end. After all the scoring was done, Allen (yellow) won the game with 26VP. I (red) had 23VP, Han (purple) had 19VP. I retraced our game, and found that if I wanted to win, I would have needed to spend either 1 or 2 favour chips to fight for Ward 7. Only then I could tie Allen with 5 wards, and also have more favour chips than his 12. That would have been a perfect storm, but I guess one should not expect such perfect alignments to happen easily.

Thoughts on Tammany Hall

These two games of Tammany Hall had been tremendously fun and tense. Allen said he needed a break from such stress. This reminded me of my two PBEM games of Axis and Allies Anniversary Edition against Han in 2009 (Game 1, Game 2). I reread these session reports and enjoyed myself reliving the wars.

Tammany Hall is a perfect information game. The types of actions you can take is low, but there are many possibilities and implications. In theory you can work out all the possible outcomes, but in practice it is quite daunting. In a PBEM-like format, you can take your time working out all the possibilities, but when playing face-to-face, that can become analysis paralysis. There is still some uncertainty. What new immigrants become available after the immigrant pool is exhaused is random, but you don't refresh immigrants very often. The blind bidding (committing favour chips) during elections is not random. You need to guess your opponents' intentions. The elections can be very tense. I am very impressed that with not many rules and with few action types, the game can create so many possibilities and opportunities for clever play, and also bring out the theme convincingly.

I hope the Kickstarter project works out well. This is a game that deserves more attention.

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Noble Knight Games - Buy, sell and Trade! New and Out-of-Print RPG's, Board Games, Miniatures, Dungeons & Dragons

our top 10 lists

To spice things up a little here, and also for my own interest, I decided to do a top ten list comparison among my most regular gaming buddies. I asked both Han and Allen to share with me their top 10 games and do write-ups about the kinds of games they like. We did our lists in simultaneous selection fashion, not knowing what others were going to put in their lists. I will start with Han's write-up, then move on to Allen's, and finally end with my own. This was an interesting exercise for me, and I hope you will find it entertaining too.

Han says...

Top ten games:

1. Here I Stand
2. Twilight Struggle
3. War of the Ring
4. Through the Ages
5. Mage Knight
6. Risk Legacy
7. Nightfall
8. Innovation
9. Britannia
10. A Few Acres of Snow

Here I Stand.

Honorable mentions:

1. Chaos in the Old World
2. Battlestar Galactica
3. Maria
4. Successors
5. Arkham Horror
6. Hammer of the Scots

Types of games I like:

Dudes on a map:

• The dudes-on-a-map type of game is my first love. The best thing in life is “to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women”, said one famous Cimmerian.
• Risk Legacy is one of the most innovative designs in 2011. I started playing this game on 1 Jan 2012. It’s a joy every time we reveal another pack, tear up a card or apply a sticker. We now only have the World Capitol pack and the last pack unopened. WHAT IS DONE CANNOT BE UNDONE. So what if you'll only play the game 15 times (game components will not be modified anymore after 15 games)? How many games can boast 15 plays anyway?
• I have 3 other Risk variations in my collection - Lord of the Rings, 2210 AD and Star Wars. I will rank Star Wars the highest among these, but it’s mostly a 3-players game, with cool powers and different strategies for each faction.
• Axis & Allies is another prominent franchise in this genre. Hiew is a diehard fan. I only have the Anniversary edition. We have only ever done online games, but those 2 sessions that we played were exciting.

Horror games:

• I am a horror fan, both movies and books, especially the subgenre of zombies, even before zombies became the "in" thing nowadays. Unfortunately, horror-themed games are difficult to do well. You can’t put cheap scares or gore or convoluted plot twists in a boardgame. It is difficult to create a scary atmosphere using just a few lines of description and flavor text.
• For me, Arkham Horror is probably the best horror game (I only have the base game and have yet to try Mansion of Madness). Last Night On Earth can be fun but is not very deep. Zombie State: Diplomacy of the Dead is mostly solitaire stuff. Where did the tagline come from anyway? Diplomacy with the dead? What diplomacy?
• Zombie movies are the poor man's horror movies because the special effects are simple. Video and mobile gaming is flooded with zombie-themed games, and there are many print-and-play zombie-themed boardgames too. Strange coincidence, right?
• Let me explain my fascination with zombies. It’s the ultimate symbol of human mindlessness and extreme materialism turned cannibalism. In any horror film, no human can hope to overcome the monster, be it vampire, werewolf, alien, demon, etc. But in a zombie apocalypse, you can always fight back or outrun the zombie, but the future is bleak with hordes of undead roaming the world and you cannot run forever. The great novels / comics / movies about zombies are always about how the humans survive in this undead apocalypse; about the best and worst in human nature coming out when society collapses, and all those Lord of the Flies stuff.
• There are some other interesting upcoming releases like Dark, Darker, Darkest; I am also waiting for the iOS release of Victory Point Games' Dawn of the Zed.
• Cave Evil deserves a mention for disturbing artwork.

Historical wargames:

• Military history is also one of my interests, although I am not a grognard by any means. I haven’t really tried any hex-and-counter, CRT-loaded wargames. All the wargames I enjoy are either CDG's (card-driven games), block games or hybrid wargames.
• I like epic grand strategy history games, to see empires wax and wane and cities fall and rise, huge armies rampaging and clashing. Britannia is a good example here, I have played all 4 colours at least once.
• CDG's put a lot of events into play without bloating the rules. I particularly like the Twilight Struggle system where an opponent's event will occur even if you are the one playing it for operation points. It creates more angst and more difficult decisions as opposed to just playing enemy events as points.

Fantasy / dungeon crawlers:

• Lord of the Rings brought elves, dwarves and orcs to the world, and I can still remember the first few times I played War of the Ring. It was intoxicating, like the book coming alive, an epic 6 hours for my first game; I do hope I can play this game more.
• Dungeon crawling is also the hallmark of geekhood / nerdism. I once read an article describing why RPG's (role-playing games) appeal to social misfits such as geeks. We imagine ourselves as fearless barbarians, noble knights, powerful wizards and such, going forth and battling dragons which represent everything wicked in our lives: bullies at school, social awkwardness … and this also explains why sports games don’t appeal to geeks.

War of the Ring - fantasy and dudes-on-a-map.

Civilization:

• Civilization building is yet another love of many gamers. The holy grail of civ building games is forever a topic of contention, but for me, Through the Ages comes close to claiming that. Despite an abstracted military and a total removal of the map, it manages to capture the spirit of Sid Meier’s PC game very well. The FFG version is more a race than an epic game.
• Innovation surprises me with its wild and whacky powers especially at the later ages.
• I tried Twilight Imperium 3 once, although I didn't complete the game. I can see the appeal but that game is difficult to bring to the table due to game length. I haven’t tried the newer Eclipse yet.

I guess it’s fairly obvious I am AT (Ameritrash) guy. I will play any cube-pushing Euro, no problem, just that I am less likely to buy them, that’s all.

I put Here I Stand as my number one because of all the effort involved in doing a full game (3-players), the reading of rules by everyone beforehand, time allocation (9-hour session for 3 busy adults who have wives and children), the discussion afterwards. It’s pure joy! I can still remember the game vividly. It’s not only about the game; it’s also about the players whom you play with. Good gaming, everyone.

Allen says...

I was requested by Hiew to provide a write-up on my top 10 games of all time. I have a hard time remembering games that I’ve played. In fact I can barely remember what had happened after my gaming sessions. I have to take my hats off to all the guys who can write long and interesting session reports with all the minor details in them.

I have played many different games with my group and most have been played only once or twice. There are some games that I really like after the first play but I’m not sure if I’ll still like them after repeated plays. With that being said, there are some games that really stood out after a few plays and I can vividly remember the enjoyable time I had playing them. So here is the list of my top 10 games of all time (with more than 3 plays).

Top ten games:

1. Innovation
2. Sid Meier's Civilization: The Board Game
3. Maria
4. Acquire
5. Le Havre
6. Automobile
7. Troyes - Mostly played online, I was once in the top 3 at boardgamearena.com.
8. Dominant Species
9. Samurai
10. Struggle of Empires

Innovation

Troyes

Most of the games in my top 10 were first played in 2011, but there is one game that has a special place in my heart - Acquire. It is the first game that got me hooked into the world of gaming and I like it so much that I’ve acquired 5 copies of different versions of the game (1962, 1972, 1995, 1999 and 2008). Although I hardly play this game nowadays, I will gladly bring it out to teach new gamers if I get the chance to do so.

Honorable mentions:

1. Mage Knight (1 play)
2. Here I Stand (1 play)
3. Successors (2 plays)
4. After the Flood (3 plays)
5. Liberte (1 play)
6. Merchants & Marauders (3 plays)
7. Sekigahara (1 play)
8. Glory to Rome (>3 plays)
9. Agricola (>3 plays)
10. 7 Wonders (>1000+ plays, mostly playing with AI's)

On dice, cards, randomness and luck:

• I used to hate too much luck and randomness in games. The Settlers of Catan was the first Euro game that I bought and it was also the very first game that I traded away because I felt that it was too random.
• It is quite ironic because my favorite game of all time is Innovation, which some complained of being a very random game. I guess my tastes have shifted after all these years.
• Another element in games that I like is the dice and cards. In fact The Settlers of Catan has it all (dice, cards, randomness and luck), but I don’t know why I can’t bring myself to play that game again.
• Glory to Rome is also one of the games that I really like that is very random.

Martin Wallace:

• I’m a big fan of his designs, in fact I’ll even play any crappy game that he designs.
• I guess me and his designs really click. So far I own 9 games by him and will continue to hunt for some of his older games (After The Flood and God’s Playground).

Automobile, by Martin Wallace.

Historical wargames:

• I used to hate war themed games. Twilight Struggle is one of the games that I traded away after one play. CDG is a mechanic that I despised in the past but this year (2011) after playing Here I Stand and Successors, I began to appreciate its beauty.
• My interest in historical wargames began this year, thanks to my gaming buddies who are willing to invest their time to play.
• Maria is one of my favorite games of 2011 even though I have never won a single game.

I’m not really sure how to classify myself as a gamer (AT or Euro) because I will play any type of game and I’ll most likely enjoy myself. I guess I can be classified as a ‘game taster’ because I like to ‘taste’ different types of games, although there are some games that I won't add to my collection (Risk Legacy for example).

If I were to choose a single game to play for the rest of my life, I would certainly choose Innovation. This shows how much I love this game. I will always request it if we have some time to spare and if I’m asked to suggest a game. I hope they will release it on iOS so that I can play it all the time.

Hiew says...

Top ten games:

1. Through the Ages - My ideal civ game. There is long-term planning and long-term strategy. You need to keep tabs on every aspect of your civilisation and not let any part fall behind and drag you down. You need to keep upgrading your civilisation to remain competitive.
2. Race for the Galaxy - Compact, decision-packed card game.
3. Le Havre - I like the long-term planning aspect. The game telling the story of a developing port city is a bonus.
4. Automobile - Few actions but much thought required to fully utilise every action. Tight game.
5. Axis & Allies: Anniversary Edition - The Axis & Allies series is special to me because I liked Axis & Allies (1984 version) long before I became a boardgame hobbyist. I still think it is a great game now that I am exposed to many more games.
6. Innovation - Many possibilities, lots of potential for twists of fate.
7. China - Succinct, clever game. Fulfilling despite being a quick game.
8. Mystery Rummy: Jack the Ripper - Excellent when played as a two-player game. Gambling on Ripper escaping is fun. Hard to pull off, but exhilarating when you do.
9. Lord of the Rings - Cooperative game. Difficult to learn by yourself, which is unusual, given that this is a Reiner Knizia game. The tile draws and die rolls are exciting, but despite these elements, there is much planning to do and many tough decisions to make.
10. Axis & Allies: Guadalcanal - I have only played this once, but I really really enjoyed that game. It may drop off the top 10 list after my second play, but for now it belongs here because of that one great game.

Through the Ages

Axis & Allies: Guadalcanal

Honourable mentions:

1. Die Macher
2. Age of Steam
3. Hammer of the Scots
4. Merchants & Marauders
5. Carcassonne - Many many plays, and I still think it's a great game.
6. Brass
7. Ticket to Ride: Switzerland - My favourite among the Ticket to Ride games. I get a kind of perverted joy when I draw tickets that are already completed, which happens more often in this version.
8. Here I Stand (1 play) - That one play made me realise how I actually don't mind luck in games as much as I had thought I did, as long as a game delivers a good story and an immersive experience.
9. A Few Acres of Snow - I have played this 5 times now, and I have enjoyed myself a lot. Still keen to play more.
10. Antiquity (1 play) - Need. To. Get. A. Copy.

Some of these honourable mentions are not in the top 10 simply because I have not played them enough or I have not played them frequently enough, so I don't feel I have a solid opinion of them yet.

Heavy Eurogames, mostly

• I have always thought of myself as primarily a heavy Eurogames guy, so one sub-topic is probably sufficient for me. I like challenging games, games that require you to plan, to consider various possibilities, to strategise. I generally like the Euro design approach, which generally means low luck, and streamlined - the "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler" mentality. Low luck means your decisions and actions matter. Rules being streamlined means you are spending less effort on "maintenance" and "overhead" and more effort on actually playing and strategising. A good game should be lean and concise, but that does not necessarily mean it is has to be simple or short. China is very lean and compact, and I'd say Automobile is too, despite the different game lengths. Through the Ages is a little fiddly because of the tiny wooden markers you need to shift around, but compared to other civ games that try to achieve the scope and width of human civilisation, it brings out that civ feeling very successfully in a pretty compact time.
• The fantasy theme, space theme, horror theme, medieval trading (heh heh) don't particularly interest me, but I don't dislike them either. The civ theme, history and warfare interest me somewhat, but in the end it is the game mechanism that must be interesting and must work for me to like a game.
• I have always thought of myself as anti-luck and anti-randomness, but two games threw that theory out the window - Innovation and Here I Stand. Innovation has wild swings. In Here I Stand, sometimes even one die roll can be very critical. I think the reason I still like these games is at the macro level I always feel there are things I can do to improve my situation. I still feel that my decisions matter, or at least they had mattered earlier in the game, i.e. I was the one responsible for getting myself stuck in an irrecoverable situation.

Comparisons

If I compare all three lists, Innovation is the only game that appears 3 times. Through the Ages, Le Havre and Automobile appear twice. If I consider the honourable mentions, Maria, Hammer of the Scots, Successors, Here I Stand, Mage Knight, Merchants & Marauders and A Few Acres of Snow all have more than one appearance.

	Han	Allen	Hiew
1	Here I Stand	Innovation	Through the Ages
2	Twilight Struggle	Sid Meier's Civilization: The Board Game	Race for the Galaxy
3	War of the Ring	Maria	Le Havre
4	Through the Ages	Acquire	Automobile
5	Mage Knight	Le Havre	Axis & Allies: Anniversary Edition
6	Risk Legacy	Automobile	Innovation
7	Nightfall	Troyes	China
8	Innovation	Dominant Species	Mystery Rummy: Jack the Ripper
9	Britannia	Samurai	Lord of the Rings
10	A Few Acres of Snow	Struggle of Empires	Axis & Allies: Guadalcanal

In our group, Han tends to be the one buying the more complex wargames and AT games. Allen buys all sorts of games and (at least from past record) is the most trigger-happy. Well, he started boardgaming later than Han and I, so it's understandable that one's game collection grows rapidly during the formation years right? I'm the only one who tries to self-enforce a quota. I realise that a significant portion of games that I buy are either games that I can play with my children, or games I can play with my wife. That's because between Han, Allen and I we have more than enough games to pick from for our regular sessions. In fact, we always have a backlog of unplayed games to "work on".

We rarely coordinate our game purchases, and yet usually end up buying different games. Because of our different buying habits, we get to try many games that we would not have been able to try otherwise. I certainly had a number of interesting discoveries, like Famiglia (via Allen) and Successors (via Han).

Successors (3rd edition)

Conclusion

I realise after all that rambling there is not much to conclude about. But it was an interesting exercise for me because despite playing together regularly, we've never discussed our top tens. In fact, I haven't seriously thought about my own top ten before. Have you thought about your top ten, and what your favourite types of games are?

18 Feb 2012. Left to right: Han, me, Allen's son Ethan, and Allen. I didn't ask Ethan to write a top ten list because I think he still needs to complete his first ten list.

Han is now away from Kuala Lumpur on a one-year overseas assignment, and Allen and I will miss him dearly, especially the lamentations of his women.

guest post from Allen: 2011 in review

Another guest post. I also asked Allen to write about his 2011.

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2011 was a great year for gaming, I think I must have played around 30+ new games this year and bought more games than I had time to play. This year was also the year of Kickstarter. I have supported more than 11 games on Kickstarter. I think I have bought about 50 games this year excluding the ones that I’ve kickstarted.

Below are some of my top 10 games that I've played in 2011. Most of the games played here were with my gaming buddies Han & Hiew. Unlike my gaming buddies, I can hardly remember the details of our gaming sessions but I can certainly remember I had a great time playing. You can read the reviews on this blog on all the games listed and our gaming sessions, so I'll just keep it simple here.

1. Maria - A great Euro-wargame... Another game that I simply don't know how to win and I just love it.
   Maria

2. Sid Meier's Civilization: The Board Game - I really like this game a lot and the best part is I've never won a single game. We must have played 4-5 times and each time I find it more interesting. Only until recently thanks to my Secret Santa I owned a copy of this game. I have the expansion now and I think this will see more plays in 2012.
   Sid Meier's Civilization: The Board Game (Fantasy Flight Games)

3. Innovation + Expansion - This must be the most requested game by me, every time we can't think of anything short to play I'll definitely suggest this.
4. Dominant Species - Chaotic but it's really fun. Well, you either hate it or love it. I think it is one of the best 3 hour games I've played.
5. Troyes - Another game that I've played mostly online. At one time I was in the world top 3. Played about 100+ games and I still find it interesting. Played face-to-face only twice. Not a favourite among my gaming group so this will just sit on the shelves.
6. Merchants & Marauders - This game is kinda like a filler to us because we can complete a game in less than an hour. A game that I won't mind playing over and over again.
7. 7 Wonders - Enough good things have been said about this game. I think I must have played over 1000 games on the PC since each game only lasts about 2 mins. The problem is that I lose every time I play against humans.
8. Navegador - A great rondel game which I've enjoyed.
9. Omen: Reign of War - A simple 2 player card game which I enjoyed a lot. Played just once with Han’s copy and I liked it a lot. Now it's on Kickstarter, and I’ve ordered a copy.
10. Tammany Hall - An area majority game with a bidding element added. It is a great game with such simple rules. This is one of the very few games that I can actually teach.
    Tammany Hall

Honourable mentions:

1. Here I Stand - Finally had the chance to play this beast. It is really satisfying. Time flies by and by the time we ended the game it was already like 9 hours. A great epic game that I wish I could play more often.
2. Successors - Another GMT war game with a nice story behind the game.
3. Sekigahara - One of the best 2P war games I've ever played, even better than Twilight Struggle.

Games that I’ve Kickstarted in 2011:

1. Omen: Reign of War
   Omen: Reign of War has great artwork.

2. Flash Point: Fire Rescue (received)
3. Glory to Rome
4. Carnival (received)
5. Get Bit! (received)
6. Startup Fever (received)
7. Kings of Air and Steam
8. Sunrise City
9. Empires of the Void
10. D-Day Dice
11. Forceball: Futurisitic Hockey Card Game (received)

Personal observations in 2011:

1. Games I like tend to be the games that I do not own. I don’t understand why this is happening, at some point this year I would like to get a copy of these games.
2. I like games that I can’t win. I don’t understand why this is happening either. Maria, Sid Meier's Civilization: The Board Game, Here I Stand and Successors are the games that I truly enjoy but I just can’t win.
3. I like playing games with 3 players. I can truly understand this. Playing with Han and Hiew is enjoyable even when we’re playing a game that sucks. I guess it is the company that matters. Sadly, Han will be leaving for Australia this year. We will have a hard time finding a replacement.
4. I like playing games with dice and luck. I used to be a euro-centric gamer and I used to hate games that involve dice, but this year after playing so many games, my tastes have certainly changed. I really enjoy dice rolling and games with a bit of luck involved. Games like Puerto Rico and Power Grid which I enjoyed in the past have been sitting on the shelves for quite some time and I’m less likely to suggest them when we have our gaming nights.
5. I like games from GMT. I have been gaming since 2007 and only in year 2011 that I began buying games produced by GMT. Some of the games that they produced are the ones that I truly enjoyed.

My aims for 2012:

1. Play more buy less. Try to do more research when buying.
2. Try to read the rules of the new games I bought. At least it will ease the burden of our only "official rules reader" in the group.

guest post from Han: Rant for 2011

Something a little different, a guest post from my long-time gaming buddy Han. The last time he posted something here was... (trying to count...) a very long time ago.

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2011 was a tough year, I sat for my last professional exam and frankly I am getting too old; struggling between working, studying and family. The good news is I still managed to get in a fair amount of gaming and it certainly helped to maintain my sanity and kept me going; a moment of joy amidst all the strenuous work and obligations.

Memorable games of 2011:

• New games:
1. Merchants & Marauders (1-hour game for us, this shows how fast we are playing)
2. Sid Meier’s Civilization (another 1 hour game, it’s like a filler game for us)
3. Dominant Species (takes 3 hours however fast we played)
4. Nightfall (got both expansions)
5. Omen: Reign of War (beautiful art work, hope to play more)
6. Labyrinth: War on Terror (1 play, incomplete)
7. Sekigahara (1 play)
8. Washington’s War (1 play, incomplete)

Merchants & Marauders
• Older games only played this year:
1. Maria (cool 3-players wargame, I preferred this over Friedrich)
2. Liberte (another Martin Wallace classic)
3. Here I Stand (highlight of our gaming last year, refer to Hiew’s session report)
4. Successors (3rd Edition, interesting game where political struggle with marriage, legitimacy, assassination, betrayal and even Alexander’s corpse will influence the military struggle)

Maria

Here I Stand
• Unimpressed new games:
1. 51st State (sold it to Hiew after 1 play, too dry for me)
2. The Adventurers (components are cool though)
3. War of the Roses: Lancaster vs Yorks (didn’t like the double guessing stuff)
4. Irondale (definitely not as impressive as Omen)
• Unplayed games - There are of course loads of unplayed games, but my 2 grails are:
1. Magic Realm (tinkering a bit on Realmspeak, comfortable with rules up to magic, natives, multiple combat)
2. 7 Ages (have not completed 1 game yet, someone should make an iPad version)

My gaming group:

The core members are Hiew, Allen and I. I am fortunate to have them as gaming buddies because we play fast, I mean, we will try to do simultaneous play whenever possible (even making moves in advance sometimes before our turn) and will tease and label each other AP (analysis paralysis) if he’s even slightly slower. We are not rules lawyers, we allow re-dos and take-back moves if someone misses something unintentionally; no one is a sore loser.

Sadly, I will be leaving them in 2012 as I will be going for overseas training for the whole year.

iOS boardgames:

I have an iPad 2 and it’s a great time for boardgaming on the iOS platform.

I get to try older games that I seldom play anymore (Puerto Rico, Caylus), long games that I am unlikely to play face to face (Titan), games that I have never tried before (Loot and Scoot). My favourite is Ascension, Chronicles of the Godslayer.

But because of the announcement of games having an iOS version, there are games that I will not be getting the hard copy such as Yggdrasil, Summoner’s Wars, Thunderstone, Le Havre, all the Victory Point games. Can’t wait for Through the Ages to come out.

Kids games:

I will try to play more games now with my kids; they usually enjoy playing with the game pieces. The games they can make their own decisions are Rat-a-tat-cat and Angry Bird the Card Game.

Games that they have played with assistance include:

1. Space Crusade
2. Talisman
3. Tales of the Arabian Nights
4. Monsters Menace America
5. Battleball
6. Awful Green Things from Outer Space
7. Castle Keep

Tales of the Arabian Nights

Trading:

Looking at my collection, I realise that I will not miss half of them if they were gone; unfortunately Malaysia does not have an active trade market. By the way, I am the number 1 trader in Malaysia according to BGG with the grand total of 8 trades. I do get a lot of trade requests but most of them think I am in the US as the Malaysian flag is very similar to the US flag if you are not looking carefully.

Most gamers are nice folk but I got a bad apple this year. Some dude from Canada asking me whether I am willing to sell/trade my copy of Nightmare before Christmas TCG (starters plus a few booster packs). Looking over his profile, his group only plays horror-themed games, which is intriguing as I am a horror fan myself. I offered to give him the game for free asking only for the cost of international shipping. In short, he got the game but I never heard from him again, well, I am just disappointed, naïve me.