Summary
Everything aside, 2023 was a fun year in terms of boardgaming for me.
| Items | 2022 | 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| # different games played | 107 | 94 |
| # plays | 406 | 476 |
| # game sessions | 50 | 99 |
| # play time (hours) | 700.17 | 709.25 |
| # ave daily play time (hours) | 1.93 | 1.95 |
| Game | #Plays |
|---|---|
| Dune: Imperium | 160 |
| Gaia Project | 27 |
| Ark Nova | 23 |
| Codenames | 20 |
| Beyond the Sun | 12 |
| Great Western Trail | 12 |
| Point Salad | 11 |
| Terra Mystica | 11 |
| Brass: Birmingham | 7 |
| Richard Garfield’s Carnival of Monsters | 7 |
| Crisis | 7 |
| Age of Innovation | 7 |
| Concordia | 6 |
| Sabika | 6 |
| Sidereal Confluence: Trading And Negotiation In The Elysian Quadrant Remastered | 6 |
Yeah, and I didn’t finish a 10×10. Close, but didn’t. Again, Dune: Imperium…
Dune: Imperium
By this time, Dune: Imperium feels a lot like Dota 2 to me. I enjoyed playing it, but it isn’t something at the top of my mind. It would not be my first choice and I slightly feel guilty playing it knowing full well there are something out there I would enjoy more.
But I have a group who loves it and particular friends who want to play it again and again. And again. Most people in my groups knows how to play it. It is rather quick. It requires almost no setup. For me myself, I don’t have to think that much while playing (and the last few dozen games I have been playing quite carelessly). It is like instant noodle.
160 packs of instant noodles… though.
Everything aside, Immortality was a great expansion that added new strategies and enabled many new playstyles. I also got to play Uprising three times, and would be excited to try it again. Not 160 times though.
Terra Mystica, Gaia Project, and Age of Innovation
And Terra Nova to a certain extent… But this will be mostly about Age of Innovation
I enjoyed all 4 games in the Terra Mystica family. My favorite is still Terra Mystica at 5p, Gaia Project at 4p, while exploring Age of Innovation to see its place in the family. Terra Nova is in a weird spot where it is supposed to be the introductory game, but I just go straight to Gaia Project for that.
This year I got into an incident when I refused to play Terra Mystica with Landscape fan-made mini expansion. It left a sour taste. It was a great year for Gaia Project though. And near the end of 2023 came Age of Innovation, and wow.
Reading through the rulebook long before the release, I had my doubts. Firstly, it didn’t have randomized maps like Gaia Project. Secondly, it felt less elegant with more types of resources. Thirdly, the drafting made it feel like some wild combos might break the game balance.
Playing it for the first time, I indeed got a really nice combo. And you know what, it helped me realize that the game was similar to Terra Mystica: The interactions and the game state changes from other players would be enough to counter that.
Pros:
- Drafting keeps the game fresh, especially amongst a group of experienced players. Applying the snake draft variation for now, since I am not a big fan of the original nor bidding. There are also many factors affecting the your choices during the draft, empowering players with interesting decisions.
- Returns on investments are the more optimal and the most apparent amongst the three main games. Actions usually have immediate short-term and notable long-term impacts on your strategy.
Cons:
- Still wish that the game has configurable maps.
- Illusionist is imbalanced.
- Drafting has a big impact on the entire game. This is the same problem with TM and GP though.
Excited to:
- Try reverse snake draft
- Use other TM maps for Age of Innovation
- Get about 20 – 30 plays more to have a better basic understanding of the game
And in the end, to be honest, aside from outlier like Illusionist, I don’t care a lot about the intrigues of balances as long as I enjoy the game. Especially when you have a lot of opportunities to adjust its strengths. I also have a tendency to try whichever others feel weak (Like, getting back to Dune: Imperium, I played Ariana for weeks whenever I could just because a person in the group kept claiming Ariana would be impossible to win except by luck.)
Scholars of South Tigris and West Kingdom Tomesaga
Not in the list of most played, but Scholars of South Tigris and Paladins of West Kingdom did make a mark this year for me. I also got a friend I enjoyed playing 2p games with. So a nice combo overall.
Scholars is impressive. It’s simpler yet gives more meaningful choices than Wayfarers. I haven’t got the chance to play it at 2p yet, but it is properly what I try next.
I also got to play West Kingdom Tomesaga. It was an interesting experience, but unfortunately, it was at 2p. There seemed to be a lot of snowballing and it felt hard to come back at 2p. Would love to try it again at 3p.
Overall, I gained further respects for both West Kingdom and South Tigris series, and felt tempted to give North Sea a try. Though for now, I do have Raiders of Scythia, and it is also a very good game.
Need to give more love to their Circadians series though.
Sidereal Confluence: Trading And Negotiation In The Elysian Quadrant Remastered
There were moments earlier this year where I imagined Sidereal would become a hobby game and I found a group to play the game monthly. Maybe it’s not too late to do it.
I was impressed by this game late last year, and it is still the game I thought about most frequently this year. It was just hard to get the games on the table since my groups mostly play euros. Sidereal feels like an euro at its core, but negotiations seem to go against what most my groups look for.
So playing Sidereal meant to venture out of my comfort zone to look for new people. It was just too much of a first step.
Maybe I should just play Catan for now?
Crisis, Sabika, And Concordia
I played this game on 3 different occasions.
- The first time, we ended a game at the third round. Reseted and played another game.
- The second time, we failed two times before getting a full game.
- The third time, we failed twice, got one game with an early victory, and one full game.
Crisis is a simple game that I won’t hesitate to introduce to a new player. Rules can be explained within 10 – 15 minutes, and it seems the first try won’t run for long so it isn’t like I have to deep dive into the rules that much.
Yet it is exciting around that one simple mechanic where players together determine if the game can go on. And we get to see the result at the end of every round, keeping it engaging. The part about blaming each other was fun too.
On the same note, I got to play Concordia a lot more this year, thanks to a sudden interest in the game from a few members in the group. It is also another simpler game, with excitement building around the ending where scores are tallied.
I just felt a lot more appreciation for simpler games this year. Crisis and Concordia aside, kudos to Sabika for another straightforward design without many moving gears.
Weather Machine
Well, since we were talking about gears… here are some thoughts on another game I wished I had played more. The gear game…. I meant Weather Machine (love these metal gears, by the way).
As much as I adore Lacerda’s designs, On Mars was a tipping point for me. There were just too many moving parts resulting in a less enjoyable game. His most straightforward design to me was also the most enjoyable one: Kanban EV.
And Weather Machine felt like a good coming back to basics. It wowed me the first time, and it wowed me more in later plays. It reminds me why I love Lacerda’s games. It’s all about the gears. His games are all about one gear connected to another into a big complicated thematic system. And it would be extremely fun when the amount of gears feel just right as in the case of Weather Machine.
Into 2024
I don’t see a lot of changes in 2024 aside from less Dune: Imperium. But overall, what I look forward to this year would be:
- Trying simpler designs and trying a lot more new games.
- A lot more Age of Innovation
- Gaia Project Expansion
- Playing 2p more
That’s a wrap. A big thank to everyone who was part of this journey. Happy boardgaming!