PineCon 2019
A trip to Flagstaff.
An escape to the north.
Leaving the metro expanse behind for the weekend.
A chance to experience games with friends with no distractions.
Now you have to say that is all very tempting, so why not jump at the chance. Taking an extra day off from work we headed up Thursday night, with all these promises laid out in front of us. I can say that all of them delivered.
I could speak to all the games that I got to play, but you can read reviews of those games and understand what there is to love about them. Card playing, worker placement, action selection, decisions, calculations, failures and successes. But all the talk on how good a game is does not speak to the other's that enjoy that experience with you.
Our gracious host promised an awesome weekend and he delivered. He played his role dutifully scooting from table to table making sure we were enjoying ourselves all weekend. Major kudos to the man who can keep his energy going while all others around him are waning and then still managing to serve up an Italian feast to keep us going.
Yet, all this may have come crashing to the ground if it weren't for the bravado and camaraderie of the other 12 guests in attendance. Feeding off the joy that the host enabled in all of us we set upon the 72 hours before us with salivating passion for games. The pure abundance of cardboard delight that was before us was overwhelming. The united gaming cry of "Oh, I want to play that.." reverberated repeatedly through the house, a multi-tongued promise that will never be kept.
These empty words echoed around your head, and you realize that no matter what you play it is really about the who you are playing with. The table filled with chits, cards and plastic pieces just becomes the experience hub for shared conversation. Building relationships and finding common ground beyond the world we live in.
The essence of why we game.
It's a new year people!
This blog felt like it wasn't going to happen, going round and round about what to write about in the first post of the new year. After plenty of thinking and pray I have decided to take a moment to get more personal with my thoughts and where I see 2019 going.
Over the course of 2018, the continual growth of my faith has impacted my thought processes and in turn has affected how I view my hobby in gaming.
I often find that current cultural awareness and my own social shortcomings make it hard for me to talk directly and openly about my beliefs. Looking at it objectively I find it funny that it is easier for me to nerd out over board games then it is for me to talk about how God has affected my life in the past couple years.
Life events and hard truths coming to the surface at the end of 2016 into early 2017 caused me to take a deeper look at my life. I fully believe that God created humans with a hole within them, then he set us upon the world with free will. We would choose how to fill that hole. We misdirect ourselves to the material to meet that need. Money, power, sex, hobbies. I look back at how heavy I was into my hobby, but without Jesus in my life that was my replacement for everything. It began to speak louder to how I had neglected my marriage and my wife.
I won't delve too deeply into details, needless to say, over time our marriage had become broken and disillusioned. We weren't talking through issues and were assuming a lot of one another without discussing it. I placed all my energies into my hobby, making that the love of my life instead.
Through a series of events in early 2017:
An abortive attempt at counselling from my parent's pastor.
A mechanic detailing my marriage into a triangle with God at the peak.
Being urged to undertake the 30 day challenge, in which you listen to christian music for a month.
A failed promotion attempt at work, impacted by my own emotional state.
Through all this I was led to get myself back to church, and a friend who I had made through gaming also happened to be the son-in-law of a pastor at a local church. I went with an open heart and a mind to listen.
Now, it's not like I didn't already consider myself a christian. I had spent my late-teens in churches in the UK with my parents. I had been baptized in Phoenix, AZ in the late 90's after my brush with cancer. The wife & I had attended a few different churches in Arizona since arriving, but nothing would stick. My walk gradually moved apart from Jesus. I had checked him off my list, thinking I was good to go. Much like the reason I had a mechanic talking to me, I had failed to maintain my life. Not up keeping the spiritual oil had caused my life to corrode on the inside.
So there I was finally in a position to treat going to church seriously and I had a place picked out. Amazingly at this new church they also had a marriage school that was starting out. Over the rest of 2017 I began to take a good look back, looking at all these small details, these coincidences, pushing myself and my wife on a journey. A journey that is obscured to you until you take that step back and look at it from God's view. Seeing all the falling dominoes in our lives that had led us to that breaking point and what God had prepared for us to help mend the broken parts. Not coincidences anymore, just the path that led us to the right place.
Almost two years later now, and I am stepping up in marriage school. Offering to help lead teaching. Which is a huge step for me. Deep down it is definitely something I'm not fully comfortable with, but I honestly feel this is an opportunity to give back and share. Share the joy and hope I've felt through the process.
This is a culmination of my prayers in regards to the direction my life is to take. As to what is my place in God's plan. What is His purpose for me?
How does this cycle back to gaming? In the past I think I was using my hobbies as my escape. A selfish tool to forget my own problems. Now I want to concentrate on the outreach aspects of gaming, sharing this hobby and the relationships I have found through it.
The amazing church family I have found has a message. Live, Love and Share. Live like Jesus, Love like Jesus and Share his message everywhere you go. I want to be able to show the love He has shown me to others around me. I am feeling called into a form of leadership or even ministry, and my knowledge/love of gaming could allow me to use that as a tool.
Even in this, an area I am very comfortable in, I still have my own anxieties and fears. I find myself reminded that God has often used people who were themselves reluctant, nervous and broken. Even a great leader like Moses, as God asked him to go speak to the Pharaoh and demand the release of the Israelites. Moses asked who he was to be given such a task. God simply replied "I will be with you."
So as 2018 closes and I reflect. I see it as a year I began to find balance and comfort in my faith. I look into 2019 and have hopes that it will be a year I push away my social anxieties and take the reins.
This time of year I see so many videos and blogs filled with best of lists and favorites of all time, and I have been debating on how, or if, I should put mine together. Top 10. Top 50. Top 100? But whereas I can clearly see some of my favorite games it becomes tough to arbitrarily pick one game over another.
Is Great Western Trail a mechanically better game than The Gallerist?
Do I have more fun playing 7 Wonders or Clank! In! Space!?
How good you think a game is can be directly linked back to the experiences you had playing it. Perhaps even who you played it with would have bearing on such an evaluation. I have been trying to create a list, but in process I stumble across a forgotten title or one that has that something I can't define that makes it stand out. So instead of pummeling you with a barrage of titles, I have instead chosen to go a different route. I'm just going to take my time and pick out games that have stood out to me. Be it due to unique experiences or an interesting mechanic that makes them special.
So let's roll straight into my first one...
LORDS OF XIDIT
Set against a fantasy world backdrop, Xidit is a kingdom under siege. Creatures across the land have come under a mysterious sickness that is causing them to attack the cities. The players take on the roles of the Idrakys, heirs to the Kingdom and the last hope to save it. Travelling the roads on the backs of their faithful beasts, going from city to city recruiting brave soldiers from the population and taking them onto fight the creatures. The goal is become the most legendary by building up your sorcerer's towers, leaving your bards behind to sing your praises and lining your pockets with coin.
Enough with the theme fluff, but I have to because even before delving into mechanics of this I have to lavish praise on the art and components and how that evokes the world it is set in. The board is colorful and includes spots to place coins and the forces you are recruiting in supplies to the side. The recruits themselves are nicely moldy representations of fighters, archers and mages, of which there is an abundant supply. This is certainly a game that stands out on the table.
Now, what of the experience at the table itself. Lords of Xidit at it's core is a pick up and deliver game run by a programming mechanic. Taking place over 12 years, or game rounds. Each player has chunky programming dials, at the start of a year six moves get selected, the dials are revealed and in turn order the moves are acted out on the board.
The selections are simple - moving on roads, recruiting fighters, attacking creatures or doing nothing. Yes you can stand wistfully by and watch the world around you if you so wish. Yet even that choice can be huge.
As you'd expect in a game where all your moves a pre-chosen each round there will be the occasional frustration. The creature you were aiming to defeat was killed a second before you arrived on the scene, the mage you had your eye on recruiting gets grabbed by another player. But seeing your well laid plans go down flames isn't game ending and is more forgiving than other games with a similar mechanic.
What you find is that the programming becomes about timing. You begin to be very aware of what your opponents are doing, and what they aren't. Personally I had moments where a well timed wait has gotten me that mage I needed to complete a battle in the same round.
There is another layer to this onion and that is in the final scoring itself. The three categories (coins, bard regions & Sorcerer's towers) are laid out variably at the start of the game, and when scoring happens the lowest scoring in the first is eliminated from winning regardless if they are killing it in the other two areas. So the scoring becomes about making sure you are just not the worst. There is hidden information about how well you may be doing which adds an air of tension to the end game. Never rule yourself out of the chance of winning until the last round.
I had discovered this game back in 2015 when I was just rolling into the hobby, played it a few times and moved onto newer games. We picked it up recently on sale, remembering that we had quite liked it. After a couple of renewed plays this game has shot up in my estimation. In a sea of games this one has juice to keep you on board. The puzzle of action selection as well as getting in opponent's heads to see what they may be planning as well can take this medium weight game that one notch up.
Would love to revisit Xidit with the heavier gamers in my group and see how there minds receive it.
A final thing that is worth noting is that this game is re-theme of a game called Himalaya from 2002. Essentially a 16 year old game that can sit happily among the other newer heavyweights on my list - more on those later...
This feels familiar, I need to stop being so self-aware anytime I sit down to write out a new blog. My last blog was way back in January and I was planning on completing a board gaming bucket list. I only squeaked about halfway through my list.
I have brought shame on my gaming household!!!
Seriously though, life's many twists and turns kept me rolling this year. Never really got settled in a rhythm with my work so I'd often come home and not feel upto gaming. The last quarter of the year has felt like a turn around, I got a promotion that moves work closer to home so beginning to feel a little more energetic toward my hobby. So lifting a glass toward 2019 in a hope that fortune favors the brave and I can get some games I missed to the table.
JUST TOO MUCH!
Having mentioned games I missed, other than reviewing my gaming bucket list, this year like the one before has brought so many new games into the world. It is a daunting task to keep up, and once you add in the quality games we already own or play, the idea of new stuff becomes almost ridiculous.
Discussions with friends often turn to thoughts that many games we own could even be lifestyle games. You could certainly survive on just a few great titles for months.
If you think about it, families across the world break out Monopoly, Risk, Clue, over and over again - and I would say a quiet majority is quite happy with that status quo. This is especially prevalent during this festive time of year as we all get together with loved ones. Why learn rules for these new titles on our shelves when you already know how to collect $200 when you pass GO!
At the end of the day it is the experience that brings us together around our wooden alters. It doesn't matter what cardboard chits or paper monies lie between us. It's the laughs, smiles and occasional knives in the back that we remember. Just remember that when your brother rolls those doubles sixes and takes back Western Australia from you, that he does it from a place of love.
Merry Christmas!!!
Firstly I want to preface this with saying this isn't my idea but one borrowed from http://www.artofboardgaming.com/gaming101/2018-board-game-challenges/ - Joe created an awesome printable and simple sheet to track plays of games.
So going back to my previous post about resolutions, I'm highlighting my second one first. Catching Up & Replaying. So using the above idea I have come up with a list of 39 games I would like to get played in 2018 in some way.
Here is the list broken down in sections.
1. Cult of The New
I missed a large chunk of the past year so I have a growing list of new and shiny that have adorned friend's tables or been part of year end round ups on youtube. These are games released in the past 2 years that I have not played yet:
Anachrony
Dinosaur Island
Heaven and Ale
Pulsar 2849
Santa Maria
Near and Far
Ex Libris
Alien Artifacts
Lorenzo Il Magnifico
Raiders of the North Sea
2. More Than a Taste
This section is for newer games that I did manage to get just one play of during the past year or so, but would love to dive deeper into the experiences:
Lisboa
Clans of Caledonia
Clank! In! Space!
Yokohama
Railroad Revolution
3. Cult of the Old
Now for highly regarded games, that I haven't tried or again only one play wasn't enough to fully experience them:
Through the Ages
Ora et Labora
Eclipse
Brass
Age of Steam
4. Deserving of Table Time
These are games that I have already gotten at least 5 plays of that I want to play more in 2018:
Terraforming Mars
Great Western Trail
Concordia
La Granja
Signorie
5. Blow off the Dust
Looking back and seeing games that I enjoy but haven't played since 2015:
Roll for the Galaxy
Lewis & Clark
Qwirkle
6. Redemption Island
Picking one game that I had a problem with and didn't enjoy:
Deus
7. Earning Their Spots
The final section is all games that I own, that either I need to warrant their spot on my shelf or that I love and want to keep playing in 2018:
Millennium Blades
Alchemists
51st State
Legendary Encounters: Predator
Tragedy Looper
Argent: The Consortium
Alhambra
Carcassonne
Yedo
7 Wonders
Okay so I got my bucket list in place, this isn't a 10x10 challenge, these all have must play one time in the next 12 months requirement and multiple plays will be welcome.
Next time I want to discuss Achievements!
As I look to the prospect of a new year and whatever that may bring, I have to look over my shoulder and see how 2017 treated me.
With the help of my bgstats app let's start with a quick comparison.
2016: 646 plays in 244 games
2017: 168 plays in 107 games
As you can see I let off the gas considerably when it came to gaming in 2017. I missed out on quite a bit and now seeing fellow gamers posting Top 10 lists I can see the gaping hole in my gaming experiences over the past 12 months.
I needed the break at the time, finding balance and a rhythm to my life again.
Unlike others I am not in a place to put together a 2017 Top Ten list, I can return to that later. Instead I'm going to look to the new year with a few resolutions toward my gaming habits in 2018.
1. Back to Basics and Growth
This resolution is about returning to where I found the love for this hobby by spreading the love. I recall starting my group and busting out the easy to teach, fun to learn games. Even in simplicity you can find joy. Over the years my gaming group grew, as did my tastes and weight of games played. I feel the group became a little too inward facing, impacted further by the fact that I cancelled our regular one night a week.
So now I am focusing one day of gaming each month to bringing in newer gamers, or at least re-invigorating my love for the simpler things. Getting the chance to play those older titles that I still regard highly. First Saturdays are planned through the first three months of the year.
I feel a pull to grow more in this manner and getting past more of my social awkwardness. Being open and welcoming to strangers. Getting to know people I haven't had the pleasure to, as well as farming the relationships I have already built.
2. Catching Up & Replaying
What did I miss? How to get caught up? Was there something I only played once?
It is a blessing and a curse in this hobby to have such an array of choice at hand. Judging by most other blogs and youtube videos 2017 was another huge year for gaming which only added more to the back log of what I haven't played yet.
To achieve this resolution I am going to put together a list of some recent titles, perhaps some older ones as well, that I would like to get played in the first six months of the year. Not exactly a 10x10 challenge, more of a 20x1.
3. Be More Regular
This could be a diet thing ;) But I'm meaning it through my blogging and posting. I'm going to slow play with a goal of posting at least once a month, going to take notes and put together a plan.
As part of this I want to schedule my life better, set aside the time to sit down and type out my thoughts. Which is hard with important life stuff often tugging at my strings. I enjoy sharing what I love so I want to make a more intentional effort to do.
As I said earlier it is all about balance, I need the time to defrag and gaming is generally my avenue for that.
What are your gamings resolutions for 2018?
Happy New Year!! May your life and tabletop be blessed this year.
Over the past year I have had time to think.
I came to the realization that no matter how much I loved it, there is such a thing as too much.
Life forced me to step back and take a look at my life and how I devoted my time to the hobby. I began to ask myself those questions while re-evaluating alot of things in my life. I don't need to bore you with all my personal stuff beyond the hobby but I need to address why I created this blog a couple of years ago. Also how I feel about continuing.
Find the balance and share.
HOW IT BEGAN
For as long as I can remember, games in one way or another have been a part of my life. My younger years certainly saw memories of the tabletop kind. Growing up I recall playing games with my family like Subbuteo, Monopoly, Survive! and Scotland Yard - the latter of which I still have my copy from the late 80s.
After that I spent a great deal of time into video games, becoming more anti-social even from my own family. It wasn't until the advent of online gaming that I began to be reminded of those moments that you felt playing across the table from one another.
After I met my wife and had a few kids, as they grew up we tried to bring in a board game night feel. Playing classics like Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit together. It was Xbox live that helped me fall toward hobby board gaming, Catan and Carcassonne were early arcade games that I enjoyed playing with a few friends online. I found out later they were real, purchasable games that I could share with my family. That coupled with the appearance on YouTube of Wil Wheaton's TableTop we soon found ourselves rushing full steam down the path.
We ended up creating our own game group to find fellow gamers beyond our family. The rest is West Valley Tabletop history. And it hasn't been without it's up and downs.
WHY DO WE GAME?
I have a couple of reasons here, so bear with me.
At the core we are social creatures, I believe we were created with a inherent want to share our lives with other people. I know people, myself included, who struggle in social situations and we find talking or interacting with others hard at times.
Why is that? We don't generally fear others for no given reason. It is often more because how we perceive ourselves. You see yourself and think 'Who would want to hang out with me?' or 'I look like I'm an idiot.'. When these things couldn't be further from the truth. We become too worried about what other's think of us that we begin to think those same thoughts about ourselves.
If you are willing to put in that time and bridge the gap you will find that you are wrong and those preconceived perceptions are figments of you own imagination. There is acceptance that comes with finding like minded individuals to play with. Fellow humans that have had the same struggles as yourself. Board gaming certainly allows a social interaction while still being able to hide behind decisions and cards while playing.
Secondly, accomplishment. Many games that we play offer decisions, puzzles and options that give you a feeling of achieving something. In a world where we often feel like we are ice-skating uphill. Where choices seem to never be the right ones and attempts to improve your life run into walls. In the world of games you are presented with forthright choices that lead toward an ending goal.
A great game designer, Reiner Knizia, once said 'When playing a game, the goal is to win, but it is the goal that is important, not the winning'. In the real world the goal is not always clear. In gaming it is right there in the rules; you are given an aim. More often than not, you will fail or score below that goal. Even though the whole time you had your eye's fixed on the prize; fully involved and tasked with meaning.
We want our lives to have meaning and know our choices affect the world. In a game we have tangible opportunity to see that in action. Now look at that quote again with different wording:
'When living life, the goal is to live, but it is the goal that is important, not the living.' - It's not what you accomplish in life, it is that you tried to do your best.
MY NEW PERSPECTIVE
I turned 40 this year and only now do I feel I am at a point where I'm trying to figure out what the rules for my life are. What is my purpose? What can I do to serve and help others? I think as I moved through life I was always looking at the ground, head down, not sure where I was going, but just moving. I had trouble looking up and forward. I also found it hard to look back.
I spent a good part of this year looking back.
How the life I thought I was living was different than what was actually going on around me. I brushed over the finer details and didn't think too much about the end goal. Now this is opposite to how I would game; I had to focus on the end goal and on that WIN. I built a gaming group with a goal in mind, but lost myself to the cardboard. My heart had been in the right place, but my mind became consumed with that next buzz. That sweet sweet smell of freshly opened shrink-wrapped game box.
Not to discount everything else that was going on in my life, but I think the hobby became a tool to gloss over the real-life issues and avoid addressing them.
I re-read my previous blog (from a year ago) and how I called board games an obsession, then brushed it off because I was enjoying it. Even then, I sensed something was off but was unwilling to pull back the curtain.
I'm back in the game now, but this time primarily focused on sharing this hobby with the one person on this earth who is the most important to me.
Secondly with my family.
Then with my friends old and new, as well as friendships I make along the way.
Then with whomever will spend the time to read my thoughts outside that circle.
