Comings and goings
July 28th, 2004Goodbye
- Bambuti: Lost Cities without the elegant simplicity.
- Bohnanza: Played it twice, and I cannot believe it is rated so highly. It’s just too long for what it is.
- Vom Kap Bis Kairo: There are far better pure auction games around, regardless of the cost.
Hello
- Executive Decision: It was only ?10 from eBay. It is as old as me and one of the only Sackson games people still talk about, so it’s probably good.
- “Die Macher”: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/1: It is rules heavy and four hours long, but it was cheap, so I think it will be worth a gamble for occasional play – considering it is rated so highly. I worry that it might be rather like “Ulysses”: amazon, in that all pundits have to say they love it, even though it’s unreadable.
- Cosmic Eidex: I’ve been looking for a deep card game for three. This looks like the best commercial option. I’ll have to try “Skat”: http://www.pagat.com/schafk/skat.html at some point.
- Wallenstein: Space is limited, but I had to make way for this. My mob will love it.
July 29th, 2004 at 17:07
Out:
Agreed. At least in principle because I am not one for getting rid of anything. The only time I ever did lapse, I got rid of a pile all of which I now regret. It included games such as Organised Crime, Election, Kings & Things, Warrior Knights & Talisman – ok games but not brilliant in my opinion but they seem highly sought after now. I was pleasantly surprised last year when, rummaging round in the loft, I found an unpunched copy of Outpost that I thought I’d also ditched.
In:
Die Macher: One of the first ‘German’ games I bought along with Schoko & Co although I have never really played it properly. Too long for my group really. At least I didn’t get rid of it in the above cull. I didn’t think the rules were particularly long but there was a reasonable amount to digest and it would take several plays to begin to understand how the mechanisms interact. If you’re prepared to invest the time, good purchase.
Wallenstein: Very much overrated in my opinion & way too big a box to sit on my limited shelf space. It’s been relegated to the loft & I can’t really see it coming out much at all although I’m happy to play the occassional PBW game.
The main old game on my want list at the moment is Ave Caesar and while it pops up on Ebay quite often, they all go for more than I’m prepared to pay at this point.
July 30th, 2004 at 14:01
You’re lucky with all that loft space… :o(
I’m not sure about the Die Macher purchase, but like I said, it’s cheap. Hopefully I’ll be able to rope you into a game of it at some point.
It’s funny that you find Wallenstein overrated. I think the components have a lot to do with the popularity, plus the fact that it’s a genuine German wargame. I admit it’s not much more than a shorter Risk, with a area majority element, and it’s a bit political, but I enjoy that a lot. I suspect that you could easily add variants to it that would make it much more interesting in the long term.
August 6th, 2004 at 13:34
I’m not a pundit, but I love Ulysses. There are some extremely difficult bits, but on the whole it’s readable. You just have to put some effort into it.
What would you say to someone who thumbed through the rules to Euphrat & Tigris and decided that no one could really enjoy the game because it’s just too difficult? How do you prove to them that you’re not just pretending to like it because you think it makes you look clever to say that you do?
August 9th, 2004 at 11:38
Sorry if I was unfairly dismissive of a book you love. I am just automatically wary of inaccessible works of art that get universal acclaim. That also goes for most modert art (note small caps :o) e.g. Damian Hirst. Similarly I am cynical about over-simple art (like Carcassonne) that gets universal acclaim. Maybe I am just a reactionary?