We can look at the picture and discuss the good old times of playtesting Robinson Crusoe (and this particular case, it’s most likely playtesting HMS Beagle). But I have a much better idea. Let’s look at the shelf behind and try to guess how many of these board games I still own! 🙂
The Battle of Five Armies – based on the climax of JRR Tolkien’s novel The Hobbit – pits the hosts of the Elvenking, the Dwarves of Dain Ironfoot, and the Men of the Lake led by Bard the Bowman against a horde of Wolves, Goblins and Bats led by Bolg, son of Azog. It is a standalone game based on the rules for the epic War of the Ring. It has over 100 miniatures, a big board, cards, tokens… It is freakin’ The Battle of Five Armies. I knew it. I will never be able to learn how to play it.
I had this with the Twilight Struggle. I had this with the War of the Ring. I had this with Clash of Cultures. I had this with a lot of games whose reputation and fame told me: „Don’t even try, you won’t get it.” And then I tried, I sat down with the rulebook, and it turned out that they weren’t so scary. That I get it. That I have a lot of fun with them.
This week, I’m on vacation, but I’ll be back with a new blog post on January 9!
I’m playing a game called Nevsky with my buddy from the USA over WhatsApp. He makes a move while sitting in Charlotte, North Carolina, records a video message, and sends it to me via WhatsApp. I update the board here, make a move, record a video message and send it to him. He updates the board there… It’s not the fastest way to play, a game takes us about two months on average, but that’s not what I’m talking about today. Today I’m talking about rolling dice. And about how players are crazy.
Last week during the game, there was a battle under the city of Koporye (photo above shows the castle!). My troops approached the castle and encountered a unit of Rus, who occupied the fortress. An exciting moment. Tokens of our troops land on a special battle board, charges start, dice rolling, fingers crossing, all that jazz—the salt of war games.
I downloaded the BG Stats app in February 2018. Since then, I have recorded 1178 sessions in 475 different board games. I played five or more times in only 53 of those 475 board games. What’s more, I played 258 games only once and never got back to them. I learned the rules, prepared the game, and then one session and never again. That’s a scary statistic.
Merry and I got a board game accessory for Christmas this year. We chose 10 titles that we love, games that bring us a lot of fun, games that, damn it!, deserve much more time on our table. Sorry, new releases, this year, get in line to be played…
I strongly believe that good board game is the one that tells a good story. You play it and suddenly you are sucked into it, you feel chills on the skin. Emotions grow. In a moment you defend castle. You hear roar of warriors. You smell boiling oil. You are into it.
That's how I design my games. I always want to tell a good story. I want players to be into it. As deep as possible.
