31 Consecutive Days Of Gaming

Posted on by Tim Porter
Last month I decided to see how many consecutive days could go by where I played at least one boardgame each day. All the games were face-to-face with human players, and with the actual physical games. No online or app plays counted towards the totals. No children were used nor harmed in this endeavor.
Yesterday I hit the milestone of 100 games played over 31 consecutive days. This is with over 89 gamers in 11 different locations. This info was supplied by the BGStats app, and the BoardGameGeek website.
31 days Capture

The feat of cardboard exploitation started by accident when I noticed that my local gaming group had gaming events over 5 consecutive days. It was made easier as I was also attending two gaming conventions on consecutive weekends. The big boost is that I am lucky to have a very active local gaming scene. Here is a shameless plug for my local Meetup group. I am the main organizer of the VCSB Meetup group and we meet around 4-5 times a week.

This still left some event free days. My long suffering gf has helped to fill in some gaps in the calendar. Being a sneaky person, I have used this as an opportunity to introduce her to some new games. Mwwhhahha. I was quite proud when she beat me at 7 Wonders Duel the other night. She was also very happy that she did not need to feed her people in that game. She hates Stone Age. 😦
The shortest game play in time was either Rhino Hero or Qwixx. Some of those games took only a few minutes. The longest game play was 12 hours playing Here I Stand (500th Anniversary Edition) with 5 other players. Some of the games were playtest games of games yet to be published. For purely social games like Concept; the one game play logged consisted of at least a dozen rounds.
 
My game plays are logged via the BoardGameGeeek website or the BGStats app. I have used both BGG, BGstats and the friendlessstats website to look at the game play data.
 
It is fair to admit that I am a tad OCD when it comes to logging my plays. I have been logging my game plays for just over 10 years. So far I have logged over 3800 game plays of over 600 different games.
My total game play H-Index is 27. That means that I have played 27 games a total of 27 times each. For more details about logging game plays please see this article https://venturacountyboardgamers.com/articles/logging-your-game-plays/
This game playing streak has helped towards my Twisted 10×10 Challenge for 2017.
10x10 Challenge
10×10 Challenge as per 24th October 2017
This year is looking to be a good year of gaming. One of my goals for the 10×10 Challenge was to increase the number of games that I played for two specific areas. These were firstly games that are published by GMT Games. I felt that I was not playing there games often enough. Secondly, I wanted to play more wargames (aka historical themed) games by publishers other than GMT Games. SO far I have met, and exceeded my goal. The 10×10 Challenge caused me to review my game playing patterns. It is easier to play non-wargames, as there are more people who are willing to play eurogames.
Some game play stats for 2017
Some game play stats for 2017
By the way, I am gaming tonight. The streak continues!
My username on BoardGameGeek is oi_you_nutter. You can see my game information in my profile. Let me know if you have questions on game logging, or any questions about my sanity, or the games that I play.
Tim
24th October 2017

10×10 Challenge and 10 Day Of Gaming…So Far

Posted on by Tim Porter

My Twisted 10×10 Challenge is making good progress. My Battlestar Galactica count is up to 53 games so far this year. My target is to play BSG at least 70 times. It will be tight to complete the required number. I am confidant as my local gaming group can often finish 2-3 games of BSG in one evening. So say we all.

October the 4th 10x10 Challenge
October the 4th 10×10 Challenge
October the 4th 10x10 Challenge
October the 4th 10×10 Challenge
oct 4 2017 - 2 Capture
October the 4th 10×10 Challenge

I am spoiled with local gaming opportunities. It has not always been the case. It is now possible to game, for no cost other than fuel, at least 4 times a week. A Monday evening meetup has been added to the weekly calendar of my local gaming Meetup group. With the semi-regular weekend events it has been possible to game 5 days in a row. Taking advantage of this I decided how long I could go where I play games on consecutive days.

So far I have gamed every day from Saturday, the 23rd of September, until today. There is no end in sight to this run of gaming. Only one day have I gamed in a non-public location. To keep the streak going I did play a (board) game with the girlfriend to bridge a game between events. I will do so tonight too. She is a good sport putting up with my shenanigans.

10×10 Challenge And More McGregors

Posted on by Tim Porter
12-July-2017 10x10
12-July-2017 10×10

My twisted 10×10 Challenge has been making progress in the more difficult “non-GMT aka the Other Wargame” category. This is great as I have been playing some interesting wargames. Many of these games are new to me too.

A wargame that I have been long wanting to play is The Big Push. I posted an After Action Report (AAR) for this game in a recent post here. Continuing with the WW1 theme I played In Flanders Fields with Ken Tee. This game is on the Second Battle of Ypres in 1915. This battle was the first use of poison gas in warfare, and is a key part of the game for the German side. We had to end the game early, but we hope to revisit the game soon.

Thee games especially helped to increase the list of the “other wargames” category. A category that I was concerned that I was falling behind on. The 10×10 Challenge has helped to add visibility to what games I am playing, and to add more variety to the types of games that I play. Job Done!

Flarchcon 2017

Last week was the annual Flarchcon week of gaming hosted by Rob March. As is normal we played a bunch of games, played with his awesome dog Denali, and consumed lots of nice food and drink. The revelation for me was playing Quartermaster General 1914 for the first time. I had read the rules a while ago, but the game had not gelled in my brain. The original Quartermaster General game is very simple, hence it pays fast and frantic. The new game in the series adds a number of mechanics that seem to muddy the clean and simple gameplay. Or so I thought it did. I was wrong. Quartermaster General 1914 is a great little 5 player wargame. It still plays fast, and has a good amount of bluff and strategy. The players have more options, which in this case works well.This game is worthy addition to the multi-player wargame category.

The disappointment of Flarchcon for me, was after a full day of playing Virgin Queen we only got to the start of turn 5. It was a tight game, with all the players trying hard, and the game ebbing and flowing. The longer game suits the side that I played, the English. The longer game has more events that swing the game into new areas. We rarely get to explore those aspects as the game often ends in turn 4. We had some serious gameplay queries that caused the game to pause. The thing to remember with such a game is to keep it flowing. Saving a few minutes here and there would have allowed us to play that extra turn. This could have resulted in an actual winner being determined. Instead we had France with 22 points, and myself as England with 19 points. The game was just getting fun when we ended the game, out of time.

Battlestar Galactica

Unexpectedly, I am falling slightly behind the curve with my Battlestar Galactica plays. The Tuesday night group has been having a problem getting a quorum for BSG. It has been a problem all year. We have managed to recruit a new guy into the regular pool of players. New Chris is shaping up well. I am looking forward to being airlocked by him in a sneaky cylon treacherous move.

On July the 23rd there will be another Sunday event at McGregors Craft Beer and Wine, in Moorpark. The first event there attracted 17 people, a good crowd for a first event. I am hoping for more next time. It would be great if we get some beginners or newcomers too.

Board games and Beer at McGregors in Moorpark

Here are links to the Ventura County Strategy Boardgamers Meetup event, and my Facebook event.

Tim

12th July 2017

3500 games played, 10×10 update and TableTop DOG 2017

Posted on by Tim Porter

This is a longer post with three, no make that four main topics.

First, let me focus on one of the reasons why I started gaming back when I was a young pre-teenager. After my father bought me a second-hand library book on WW2 I gained an avid interest in history.  Back in the 1970’s historical wargame’s were they only type of ‘real’ games available for me to play with my brother, and my school friends. So a connection between history and board games was formed that continues to this day. Therefore it was great to see an airworthy B-29 named FiFi at Camarillo Airport. My inner historian, coupled with the rampant gamer , immediately wants to break out a game involving Boeing B-29 bombers. Wrooommm.

3500 Games Played

It was only when I got back from last weekends GMT West “Weekend at the warehouse” did I realize that I had passed the grand total of 3500 games played. And by games played I actually mean games that I have logged on BoardGameGeek. The number of 3500 does not include all the board, and card, games that I have ever played. I first began logging my games played back in 2007, and my start was rather erratic. I have covered my thoughts, suggestion, and ideas for game logging, in too much depth, in an separate article here.

Let me sum up some snippets based on these 3500 game playes:

  1. I have played Battlestar Galactica 521 times, and it is still a great game.
  2. With 68 plays, Codenames is my most played party game.
  3. My most logged wargame is Labyrinth: The War on Terror with 58 plays. This is a game when I was proud to take part in the playtest process.
  4. The game that made me hit 3500 logged games was Cards Against Humanity. This game is one where you actually do not want to play it too often. It is a horrible game, for horrible people. I am a horrible person. With the right people this game is an absolute hilarious experience, and we do not bother tracking who won.
  5. Despite playing the game 15 times, I have never won a game of  Wings For The Baron. Even so, it is a great economic-wargame hybrid.
  6. Some games I play for the benefit of other people. With 46 plays, Battle Cry is a game I purchased primarily for use at the Wargame Bootcamp as an introductory wargame.
  7. There are 279 games that I have played only once each.
  8. I have met many good people, and a few not so good people playing these games. I have also made many good friends playing these games.
  9. I still cannot effectively shuffle cards, and dice still hate me.

My twisted 10×10 Challenge for 2017

For a joke I twisted the standard 10×10 Challenge into a BSG focused grid. My joke backfired on me as I committed myself to the challenge. After a few hectic weeks of gaming it was about time for me to update my 10×10 grid.

10x10 grid
10×10 grid with the games played so far in 2017
Games played
Games played so far in 2017

This Saturday is TableTop DOG 2017 on International Table Top Day

I am hurriedly plotting activities for the attendees at this weekends TableTop DOG in Oxnard. This is our 4th event on Table Top Day. With over 40 people already signed up we are expecting a bigger event than last years event.

As this is an official Table Top Day event there will be kiddie and family friendly games at hand; along with the usual mix of euro, strategy, wargame, thematic, and party games we normally play.

Tim

 

10×10 Challenge update and Upcycling Punchboards

Posted on by Tim Porter

The page with my latest 10×10 Challenge for 2017 has been updated. I am making progress but I have concerns on making all of the categories.

IMG_2715
10×10 Challenge

Christieann took some photos of used punchboards being used as drawing templates in her classroom. It is a great example of upcycling. You can find out more here.

Upcycle board game punchboards
Upcycle (or resuse) the punched countersheets as drawing templates for younger kids.