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Yes, this makes 2 posts in one day. MADNESS!!, you say. Yes, it may be.

So, I was curious. What do ‘average people’ think when they consider board games. And by ‘average’, I mean those that don’t know what BGG stands for and those that aren’t aware that hundreds of grown men and women actually spend cold, hard cashmoney in order to enjoy 4 days pushing around wooden cubes and playing with miniature figures. To me, this is great fun. But to the world at large - read: those that do not frequent this blog (which is so close to 100% of the world’s population as to be a statistic only calculable by NASA - they’d rather trim their nosehair or go to weekly proctologist visits.

In order to come up with said data, I went to the place all hardcore researchers go to: Digg. This may not be accurate, but at least it’s more popular than this blog. Therefore, it is fact. Here is what I found. For those that wish to reproduce my statistical analysis, you may follow by tracks by searching Digg with ‘board games’. Clever, huh?

So the first link that caught my eye brought me to this guy:

Yikes, right? Yeah, he’s just having a bit too much fun, methinks. I never have that much fun playing board games. Am I doing it wrong? What game is it that has caused him to bare his teeth in a grimace/laugh of frightening proportions? Ah. Right of course. Monopoly.

Yes, it is due to this post, detailing the ‘Honest Monopoly board‘. It’s gotta be better than the original board… I’ve never looked like that playing any game, let alone Monopoly, that’s for sure. Well maybe I have, but it’s never been caught on film. That I know of. Perhaps he’s stabbing himself outside the photo after being forced to play Monopoly with his relatives for hours on end… hence, the grimace. I suppose we will never know.

What else did I find… Well, more stuff about Monopoly, of course! Why do people keep coming back to this game and keep buying this game, when no one actually seems to like it very much? Damned if I know. However, if you ARE forced to play it with your relatives, here’s an article guaranteeing you success over your Great-Aunt Milly with the mustache, EVERY TIME. Yes, you read correctly. You can win at Monopoly, every time you play. I’m sure your failure at winning this vexing game of dice and free parking has been gnawing at the back of your mind for years, eating away at your delicate and fragile ego. Well, never fear, here is the link to your salvation.

Thus far, I have to say I was pretty underwhelmed by people’s impressions of board games, out there in the wider world. Then, I found it. The article that I was searching for.  The 5 Greatest (and 5 Worst) Board Games Based On Films. Here’s an eyeopener. If these games are the mainstream public’s idea of the best games based on movies… oh god. I think I should quit designing games right now. Here’s what they came up with… and remember, these ones are only the BEST ones.

Alien

The Great Muppet Caper 3-D Game

Jaws: The Boardgame

Incredible Hulk Smash

Dawn of the Dead

Wow, now there’s a list. The only two that even have enough ratings on the Geek to be ranked are Jaws and Dawn of the Dead, and those are ranked at 4294 and 3106, respectively. Ouch. Here’s my list of suggested replacements, though they’re not actually based on movies at all…

Alien - Doom: The Boardgame (I would have gone with Space Hulk/Mutant Chronicles, but they’re not especially available)

The Great Muppet Caper 3-D Game - Clue: The Great Museum Caper … the both have ‘Caper’ in their names! Neato!  

Jaws: The Boardgame - Get Bit! Eat people. Swim with no appendages. Fun for the whole family!  

Incredible Hulk Smash - Battleball. Plenty of Smash! and fun, no Hulk. Seems like a good tradeoff.

Dawn of the Dead - Last Night on Earth. And it’s good!

I won’t go into the bad games that they list. It’s too tragic to comment on, frankly.

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It’s not quite been a year since my last post.

I suppose I could go on about all the things that have kept me from writing on my blog, but it’s really only been 2 things: 1. I’m lazy. 2. I have very little readers, so I figure that if I don’t write, not really anyone is missing out. Of course, #2 is likely directly a result of #1. Hmm. Time to eradicate #1.

So what’s new with me? Well, Supernova has been printed and is available to the lucky few who preordered. The retail copies are making their way towards retail, being towed by snails, somewhere on the eastern side of the US. There’s been a shwack of feedback on the rules from the people who’ve played it, posted to the BGG page.

Basically, here’s the gist of it: I suck at writing rules. Now, those people who have posted are far too nice to come out and say it like that, but that’s essentially the truth of the matter. It seems I do suck at writing rules. Sigh. But that’s okay, cause it means I can learn from this and try to improve on them… Which is my plan. That, and the next game I come up with, I’m definitely getting someone else to write the damn things.

What else is new? My lovely wife and I are traveling the globe this blustery winter and are heading to Belize for a much-needed 3 week vacation. Can’t wait for that. Considering our current temperature up here in Calgary is round about -30 Celsius, it can’t come too soon. We so often ask ourselves why we live here. Anyone? I seem to recall it having something to do with maintaining steady jobs and income and whatnot. When it’s -30, it just doesn’t feel worth it.

I think I’ve learned a crucial board-gaming wisdom about myself. I think I’m not as much of a Euro-gamer as I thought I was. A few years ago after discovering the hobby that is boardgaming, I figured that I had to buy any and all Eurogames coming out. So I did. After having played a bunch of them, I’m less than enamored with a lot of them. I think I prefer a little bit of dice in my Euro. Some combat is nice too. Dare I say it? I like theme too. I don’t know what this means on a fundamental level, but I can say that I’m going to avoid dry, mechanical, mathy games from now on, if I can. You may notice that my collections’ trash quotient has risen recently, with the purchase of Last Night on Earth, Doom, Mutant Chronicles, Risk:2210 and Dust. We’ll see how they go over.

Now that you all (all 3 of you) are up to date on my life, I can feel like I’ve done my blog justice. For this year, at least.

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This weekend is going to be great; games on Friday night and Sunday!I’m hoping to get one or two of the new ones I’ve got on the table. Possibly Fire & Axe. Can’t wait.

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So, you’ve given an overview of the game.. could you explain your turn in more detail?

Sure. Each player gets 4 tiles of their color and a starting hand of 4 Battle cards. The Battle cards are (initially) chosen by the players in a similar fashion to Fairy Tale; you start with 5 cards, select one to keep, then pass the remaining cards to your left. This continues until all players have 4 cards they have chosen. Not only does this allow you to ‘build’ your own starting hand (thus ensuring it isn’t horrible), it also can give you something of an idea of what your opponents’ have, which is good information.

So on your first turn, you have your Battle cards and tiles to place. You also get 3 RUs to start the game. That’s your money. They are pretty scarce throughout the game, so you have to be cautious about how you use them. Resource management certainly plays a part here.

You get a play aid, which indicates that all of your technologies - Weapons, Shields, Engines and Comms - are at 0. This means you get no bonuses to begin with. Shucks. These techs aren’t complicated tech trees; they rise in a linear fashion, with the higher the tech, the bigger the bonus. The techs mostly do exactly what they sound like the do; Weapons gives you a bonus to your hand when you’re the attacker in Battle. Shields give you a bonus if you’re the defender. Engines let you place extra tiles on the board on your turn, Comms let you draw extra battle cards. The cost of each tech is the same as its level. So if I want to raise my Engines to level 3, not only do I have to have the preceding level, but it will cost me 3 RUs for that level. In order to keep them balanced (as Engines is really an attractive option), Weapons and Shields each give a bigger bonus that Engines or Comms. So while Comms gives you 3 extra cards for level 3, Weapons and Shields will each give you a bonus of 4 for their level 3s, respectively. Get too far behind on those and you could get blown up, but good.

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I haven’t written about Supernova much lately. It’s likely due to the fact that I haven’t played it much either. This, however, is because the prototype is off getting all fancified. And by ‘fancified’, I mean done up right and proper by Mike Doyle. I feel simultaneously excited, nervous and scared about it, kind of like how many feel just before opening the door when set up on a blind date. That being said, I know it’s going to turn out fantastically. Mike puts so much time and effort into the details of his creations, I simply can’t wait to see what he comes up with.

On with the Questions and Answers!

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