As with 2012, '13 was one in which a plethora of games were played, with, according to my Board Game Geek tracker, 108 plays recorded (plus a few sessions of a fledgling Pathfinder RPG campaign that I've joined). Hopefully this two year trend continues into '14.
As happy as I am with these numbers, a review of the games played reveals a somewhat alarming trend given the general nature of this blog - I simply don't play miniatures games anymore. Sure, Blood Bowl was tied for my most plays in '13 at 16 sessions, but this is far more a board game that uses miniatures than a traditional miniatures game. Plus I've retired from that league for now (though the invite to rejoin was left open), so this will unlikely be a game that sees many other plays in '14. The next most played miniatures game, and in fact the only other miniatures game that I played in '13, was Malifaux at 3 sessions. I'm glad that I even got any plays in this year, but given how much I enjoy this game and how much I have invested in it over the years, 3 plays is simply an unacceptable return on investment.
The other 4 games that filled up my top five were all non-miniature oriented board, dice, or card games. Tied for first at 16 plays was King of Tokyo. This push your luck dice game came out of nowhere for me, and, after a first less than stellar encounter with it, it went into heavy rotation as I began to realize its strategic component and really appreciated its speed and ease of introduction for new players.
Next up was Takenoko with 10 plays. While its cutesy imagery and theme left me a bit dubious at first, this game quickly became a favorite amongst all of our more casual gamer friends. This game provides for numerous avenues to victory and that depth, free of any daunting rules complexity, makes this game extremely replayable. For those that may be turned off by the theme, do yourselves a favor and try this one out.
In fourth place was 7 Wonders with 9 plays, which I think is an unacceptably low number. I've said it before on this blog, and will note it again here, but this game, especially with all of its expansions and when played with at least 4-5 people (though 8 makes for a spectacular experience), is without question the best game I've played since my reintroduction to board gaming over the last few years. While some ding the game for feeling like a series of single player games occurring at the same time, some of the cross-table mechanics introduced by the Cities expansion mitigate this aspect. This is one game that I would recommend any gamer include in their library, even without suggesting a trial run first, it's simply that good.
Finally, in fifth place is Seasons with 5 plays. This is another game that I hope to play more of in '14, and hopefully the fact that we just picked up the expansion for it will ensure that happens. Unlike Takenoko or 7 Wonders, I have a hard time explaining why I think this game works so well. It's a frighteningly complex looking game at first and is one that requires at least a single play through in order to even begin to calculate in-game how well your doing or what your viable strategies are. But the mechanic by which resources are calculated and the way in which the nature of those resources changes from season to season is ingenious and results in a very fluid game. I highly recommend that anyone check this game out.
As much as enjoy these games, like I noted before, none of them are miniatures games. Given that my gaming collection is still most taken up by my miniatures collection and the related assorted rule books, I think it's time to come to the realization that I might not be much of a miniatures gamer anymore. I still love the hobby, and will no doubt continue to paint figures even if they end up with little battlefield use, but there's no denying that I've become more of a board gamer and am returning to my roots at the RPG table.
Much of this has no doubt been driven by a lack of a consistent gaming group. My most regular collection of opponents move our normal weeknight get together to a day that is far less compatible with my schedule and, after flirting with Bushido, MERCS, and Infinity, is squarely back in the 40K/WHFB camp. The latter game I've never really gotten into and the former, while once the game that received all of my hobby attention, is in a current edition that I simply find unenjoyable to play. There are still a few Malifaux hold-outs amongst their ranks, and I did back the Wrath of Kings Kickstarter along with several of them, neither of these see the wide spread adoption amongst the group that warrant me making the lengthy drive over.
So, at this transition point in my hobby life, what do I see 2014 ideally looking like? Well, obviously playing as many games as possible, regardless of their type. But I'm still the type of gamer that enjoys the project aspect of his hobby, so to that end I hope to accomplish the following:
1. Organize my workspace. Since the move to the new house our time has been spent on getting the rest of the living areas into an efficient, comfortable, and manageable (as much as can be managed with a 1 1/2 year old ball of energy motoring about) form. This has unfortunately meant that I've completely neglected my hobby area, and the little modeling and painting that I accomplished was done in a sliver of clear desk space. Given that the room containing my workspace is no longer doubling as a guest bedroom, but my spouse's work from home office instead, means there's substantially more free space (removing a bed will do that) and should make for a much more comfortable environment.
2. Pare down the gaming collection. It's time for me to accept that many of the half-baked miniatures projects that I've conceived over the years are simply not going to happen. Given that the presence of these masses of unpainted pewter and plastic distract me from those projects that are likely to happen, it's time for the collection to be streamlined. The first stage will be identifying those projects that I do intend to tackle over the next few years and organizing the related figures into project collections. After that, it's going to be cataloging the extras for trade on Bartertown or sale on eBay. As part of this slimming down, my spouse and I will also be tackling our boardgame collection. Over the years we've amassed a few bookshelves of games, some that I have never been played or never replayed after an initial session. These could no doubt find a better home in which they wouldn't just sit on a shelf.
3. Assemble, assemble, assemble. Given the brutal weather right now, priming (given that I prefer spray cans), much less painting, is an activity that seems distant at best, but that doesn't mean that the production line needs to come to a complete halt. To that end I intend to spend the next few months assembling nearly every model within arms reach so that they're ready to go under the primer can the second the weather breaks, even if only for a moment. Given that the need to first clean and build a model is often enough of an obstacle to kill any momentum that I have to paint when inspiration strikes, having a backlog of figures ready to go should help keep me on task.
4. Game design. Like most gamers it seems, I have several notebooks filled with unfinished mechanics for miniatures games of numerous genres and scales. More than just vanity projects, these were all prompted by my belief that they were responsive to gaps in the current offerings. Some of these are just scribbled notes while others are nearly finished drafts. It's high time that some of these emerged into playable form.
5. Paint miniatures! This being last on my list shouldn't be interpreted as me valuing it the least as much as me recognizing that it's the least likely to be successful. After all, 2013 saw me paint only 2 figures. But that was the same number I painted in 2011 before '12 saw me comparatively explode in productivity, so perhaps I can hope for the same in '14. As noted earlier, I intend to organize my miniatures hobby work into project-oriented tasks with the following, conservative number of projects planned:
- Infinity - For the last 2+ years I've intended to make a go at putting a Haqq force together. Given that Infinity is the only miniatures game being entertained by any of the gamers with which I still gather, getting this force together is a likely prerequisite to me getting to push miniatures around the table at all in 2014. While I plan on starting small, with only a 250 point force, my desire to have a full linked team of a troop type for which only three models have been made, this project is going to require some extensive conversion work, a perfect activity for these blustery months.
- 15mm Late War WWII Germans - Another project that has languished for the last few years while my fellow gamers have amassed substantial collections of painted figures. Fortunately my questions about what color equipment German Panzergrenadiers wore have been answered and Plastic Soldier Company has provided me with some very attractive and affordable alternatives to Flames of War, so there's little excuse for me not getting to work on these whole hog.
- Saga Normans - The same crew working on the WWII project also recently became ensnared by this new set of rules, dragging me along (quite willingly) with them. I've long loved the Crusader Miniatures range of Normans, and this game gives me a perfect reason to finally purchase some.
Regardless of whether I actually accomplish any of the above, here's to a productive 2014 and to those of you who actually read my ramblings to this point, may you have a great new year as well!
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