F:AT's 2016 10 x 10 Quest to Kill the Cult: TALK THREAD

Black Barney wrote: It's not fair! Mumu got to put Magic and I didn't! Can I put Magic? I'll definately play that 10 times this year.

Also if I play an electronic version of Scrabble, can I put that?

Did you read the comment? I want to play the cards I own more, so I will only count sessions played in my house with old cards, and as it is easy to rack up multiple games, I will only count sessions as one game. It was all about playing what I own, and I own a fair few magic cards that don't see enough table time.

Picking out 10 games (plus alternate) was a bit harder than I thought. It made me think about "like to play" vs what is "likely to be played". I'd love to play Chaos in the Old World a dozen times in a year, but that's just not likely to happen. It made me think about who I gamed with and what I wanted from gaming and how I felt my gaming scene was going to take shape over the year. So here's a few comments about the various selections on my list and reasons for their inclusion:

Dungeons & Dragons: Attack Wing - This one should be easy to hit. I have a steady opponent and we've already logged a score of games in 2015, so this should continue as we work through the campaign.

Star Wars: Armada - This one is an optimistic pick. Without an opponent at this time I'm going to rely on getting to the open gaming Armada nights that one of my local FLGS has been running. Can't think of a better place to play though considering the guy running the event is the current Armada World Champion.

A La Carte & Catan Junior - In my family we're starting a Wed Night Family Game night. A La Carte is a family favorite and Catan Junior is my daughter's game that needs love. The potential pitfall is the plans of a 2 year old and keeping him distracted/entertained once the games come out and those bright colors and tiny bits become mystical objects of desire.

Space Cadets: Away Missions & Thunderbirds - These are my solo options, so they should be locks. Thunderbirds has already seen over a half dozen plays by me since receiving just a few months ago so I anticipate this on the table when the expansions arrive (20 is actually my target here). SC:AM is going to be my Gears of War replacement this year which is a game that always sees at least a dozen plays a year.

Blood Rage & Mansions of Madness - A current favorite and an old favorite, both games are going to hinge on the mood and attendance of Sunday afternoon gaming at the FLGS (not to mention a very fickle attention span). I'm optimistic I can make this happen though.

Lost Cities & Mr Jack - These picks are for my wife. The other night she was commenting about how I have a tendency to drop new games on her and she never remembers the rules to any of them between games. So these picks are for her and to give her some consistency and stability. And with Mr Jack holding a special place in our relationship it's time to dust off the ol' boy.

Arcadia Quest - Ten plays means two campaigns. The success of this hinges on who shows up to the game group and consistency. I have three others targeted in my mind and hopefully I can make it work.


As a side note, it's interesting to see a Quest to Kill the Cult end up with so many newer games (less than 3 years old) on the list.

It's going to be hard to find a game that I've played 10 times in my life. This year, apparently I'm on 6 games of Machi Koro.

But the worst about this 10 x 10 concept for me is that it favours short, repeatable games, rather than evening long sessions. I'd rather play Spartacus than 4 games of Puerto Rico in the same evening. I'm constantly trying to get my backlist whittled down. And at least in the last few years I've managed to play almost everything I bought at Spiel. The cult of the new has not the power over me anymore. But 10 sessions of one game...? unimaginable

Is it a "players" problem that people have, or a "players that will ensure the same game 10 times" problem?

I know what it's like to commit to something for your own betterment and having absolutely nobody want to join...

It's going to be hard, but for me, I think it's going to be worth it.

I'm not anticipating getting anywhere close to this goal. It's more a way to center myself and make good on all of those moments of "we should play this more often." My list reflects all sorts of things. Some of those games (like Le Havre and Fury of Dracula) are games I like that I want to really dive into, some (like Epic Duels) are ones I am likely to play a lot anyway, and some (like Five Tribes) reflect games that my group has already enjoyed and played plenty anyway. That also leaves out some games (like Magical Athlete and Wiz-War) that I love but aren't loved by my friends.

This is honestly a challenge tailor-made for me, because I'm one of those guys who has to make myself play new games. That's the most backwards quality for a game critic, but here we are.

SuperflyTNT wrote: Is it a "players" problem that people have, or a "players that will ensure the same game 10 times" problem?

I know what it's like to commit to something for your own betterment and having absolutely nobody want to join...

It's going to be hard, but for me, I think it's going to be worth it.

Don't get me wrong, I think those of you that manage this, or even just 2 x 10, are pretty badass even if that's all they play in the year. I just do see myself committing to that with the amount of gaming I get..

Things don't seem too bad actually. I seem to have managed 11 games of Gauntlet of Fools in the last two years, and 9 of FFG Civilization (and I know I've played a dozen or so of that before). Ten in a year still seems pretty far out though

Some thoughts on why I chose what I did
Cthulhu Wars - just received and it is expensive so to some degree it will need to see a lot of play to justify its price
Settlers of Catan - I have played a fair bit, but I just received a big frame for holding it in place that I want to use more
Space Cadets: Away Missions - just received and haven't played it yet, so hopefully this forces me to play it lots
Pandemic Legacy - A bit of a soft entry, as I am fairly certain this will see 10 plays for one group, and the other group will also probably buy a copy to play through
Dominion, Survive - these two are the softest entries in the bunch to make it easier for me, but given I have a large Dominion collection, it needs to justify its place at least.
Mage Knight, Arkham Horror, Eclipse - the real meat and potatoes of the challenge. I love these games and want to play them more, but their length prevents me from playing them more.
Magic the Gathering - the controversial one, but as I said earlier, this is all about playing the cards I own, not playing new cards.
King of Tokyo - this will easily see 10 plays, so is in here to cover for a shortfall somewhere

I think 5 games will easily see 10 games (Settlers, Pandemic Legacy, Dominion, Magic and King of Tokyo), so it is really how the other 6 go. The one I hope doesn't see 10 plys is 7 Wonders, which one of my groups loves but I am very mediocre on.

My regular group will get at least 10 plays of a few games next year, but those few will also take up most of our gaming time since we like longer games. Best of luck to everyone though.

I gotta say I'm going to be really impressed by folks that manage to reach multiple high numbers. I likely could MAYBE get one game (prolly Spartacus) to 10 plays if 2016 was going to play out like 2015.... but my 2016 is going to be such a drastic change I honestly have no idea what kind of gaming opportunities will be around.

On one hand I will be moving mid-year back to my hometown where I have tons more friends and family that will play games with me. But I know with my coming responsibilities and changes I am far more interested in spending time on other hobbies that have been more time neglected... I have had just enough board games over the past few years to not crave doing them so much, unlike fishing and various other activities. Add all the new job, house, and kids growing up stuff into that mix and I think we'll just have to see. Should be an interesting list to read after the year is done.

I have an excuse for my newer games- I moved to a different continent five years ago. It's not a total excuse, though. I have at least ten games that are from early in my move that I didn't consider, and I could have gone with those.

There was a challenge two summers back to play a single game three or four times, and as best I can tell I'm the only one who managed the task and wrote about it. I think 10x10 is crazy ambitious, but more power to the people taking a shot at it.

S.

I remember that one. I picked a game and then moved to a new state, so I never did do it.

Here's some rationale for my games...

Sure, why not?

1. Cosmic Encounter - I play this game plenty, though probably not at a clip of 10 games a year. But my purpose here is to get some of the modules played, like Space Stations or Technology. I also want to focus on smaller games if possible, since I find I'm playing with enormous groups a lot.

2. Imperial Assault - Just bought this, and I'm starting a campaign on Saturday night. I'm sure I'll be able to hit 10 plays between that and the odd skirmish here and there.

3. Pandemic Legacy - The only thing keeping this from happening is the fact that we are halfway through the game already. There are only 12 potential games to play in our set, barring any future expansions that come out later this year.

4. WWE Superstar Showdown - This won't be a hard one to hit, although I have almost no wrestling fan friends (that I know of). Mostly it's a new game that I want to play more.

5. Five Tribes - Probably my favorite euro of the last few years, I like it a lot in its original form and even more with its expansion. It's been popular with my friends, and my wife has also been known to play the odd game.

6. Star Wars: Epic Duels - Kind of like WWE, this will be an easy one to play. But the difference is that my son plays this one, and I wanted one of his favorite games on the list.

7. Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation - This is one of those games that I want to play more. Every game makes me want to play another.

8. Mascarade - It's a short one, but it plays best with large groups, and I want to see a lot of the expansion characters in action.

9. Le Havre - This is the longest shot on the list, partially because of its length and partially because I only have a few friends who play. But every time we see it on our shelf we say, "we need to play that more often." Now I have some motivation.

10. Fury of Dracula 3E - It's my favorite game of 2015, and I wanted to play the original more often as well. Ten plays is a tough sell, but I'd be happy with even half that many.

11. Bohnanza - It's an oldie but a goodie, and it plays well with non-gamers. Since I only game with my friends once a week, this is a way to get in some plays with other people.

Pete, what are we calling the cutoff for these games? I'm starting Imperial Assault on Saturday, so does that not count since it's technically 2015?

The motivation behind my list was easy, I just listed all the games I own. Since I own less than ten, I had to get creative so I put two games that I my ex-wife owns that I'm very likely to play with her (I think that's what we're planning for xmas this year, for example).

This will be fun

I guess I'll add my thinking behind my list in here too.

1- High Frontier. This will almost certainly be solo. I want to make time to play something relatively involved. It was this or Fire in the Lake.
2- Churchill. I really like three player games. Everyone at my group is allergic to them. I can either do this solo, or fudge and include VASSAL games.
3- Blood Rage. It was a coin toss between this and Chaos. I want to push this more.
4- Argent: The Consortium, because it's a solid, excellent game, and I know I can get people to play it.
5- Shadows of Malice, because I need to work my imagination more. Will be a solo experience.
6- La Granja. This game is every euro I need in one box. I can play it solo, but I know I can get players.
7- Shadowrun: Crossfire. We are playing this weekly right now. Again, there's the solo option to keep on track also.
8- Elder Sign. My wife's current favourite game. It's almost certain we'll play 10 times.
9- Pandemic. My wife's second favourite game. Likewise.
10- A Study in Emerald (1st) ed. This will not happen. But this is my favourite game, and I want to try to make it happen. Getting three plays of this would be a victory.
11- Blood Bowl Team Manager. I can probably get this played 10 times.

Going back to the relative newness thing- for me this is about drawing a line in the sand. I don't expect to buy any/many games in the next year, I feel like all my bases are covered. Excluding quirky, unusual, or stupidly cheap punts.