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The Wallace-a-Thon Update
Nov. 18th, 2008 11:51 pmMy Wallace-a-Thon for the year went way off the tracks in July when I got sick. I was still playing games, even when I was really not well, but I wasn't really pushing games, and I definitely wasn't rereading any more rules than I had too, so my noble goal of playing Wallace games ground to a halt.
Here's what I'd still like to play this year:
The Warfrog Games
Empires of the Ancient World (2000). Eric has a copy of this, and we've tried several times to entice other people to play, but there have been no takers, I think primarily because it's long and war-ish. A pity, as this is one that I barely remember from my one play.
Princes of the Renaissance (2002). This is one I own, so I'm pretty sure it'll get played, probably in December.
Struggle of Empires (2004). I'd prefer to play the original, because I like the Warfrog look and feel, but if not I can drag out the massive Eagle re-release (which I own). We'll see if I get time for this one or not.
Tempus (2006). If there was ever a game killed by pre-release overhype, it was this one. I wasn't too impressed at the time, but I'm eager to try it again now that I can play it with a less pre-judged eye. Unfortunately, a lot of other people were disappointed too. Eric has a copy, but it's another one that we've failed to get to the table.
The Treefrog Games
After the Flood (2008). One of the recent Essen releases, and the one I'm most excited about. This looks like an old-style Warfrog game, with lots of different actions used to manipulate your score in different ways. The rules remind me a tiny bit of Byzantium and a tiny bit of Brass.
Steel Driver (2008). This is a pretty neat release, because it's the newest iteration of Wallace's Prairie Rails series, except it's a nice production rather than the paper-thin Winsome Game productions of the rest of this series. Surprisingly, it fits right into the Treefrog line (or at least the Treefrog line as defined by the one previous release, Tinner's Trail), since it's a serious but short economic game with a relative single vision forward. I was also amused to see in the Designer's Notes of the game that Wallace intends to put out a railroad game from Treefrog each year. That's definitely keeping with his design history, which includes around a dozen railroad games.
(I received both of these in the mail today, and will try to get one to the table tomorrow.)
Miscellanea
Though I've called it a Wallace-a-Thon, my main focus has been on the Warfrog games, which IMO are Wallace's best. Runebound is really the only non-Warfrog game I might try (beyond the couple I've ever played), as it's sitting on my shelf, but it's generally been too long for what it returns.
Maybe I could get folks at Endgame to play the Sands supplement some evening ...
Here's what I'd still like to play this year:
The Warfrog Games
Empires of the Ancient World (2000). Eric has a copy of this, and we've tried several times to entice other people to play, but there have been no takers, I think primarily because it's long and war-ish. A pity, as this is one that I barely remember from my one play.
Princes of the Renaissance (2002). This is one I own, so I'm pretty sure it'll get played, probably in December.
Struggle of Empires (2004). I'd prefer to play the original, because I like the Warfrog look and feel, but if not I can drag out the massive Eagle re-release (which I own). We'll see if I get time for this one or not.
Tempus (2006). If there was ever a game killed by pre-release overhype, it was this one. I wasn't too impressed at the time, but I'm eager to try it again now that I can play it with a less pre-judged eye. Unfortunately, a lot of other people were disappointed too. Eric has a copy, but it's another one that we've failed to get to the table.
The Treefrog Games
After the Flood (2008). One of the recent Essen releases, and the one I'm most excited about. This looks like an old-style Warfrog game, with lots of different actions used to manipulate your score in different ways. The rules remind me a tiny bit of Byzantium and a tiny bit of Brass.
Steel Driver (2008). This is a pretty neat release, because it's the newest iteration of Wallace's Prairie Rails series, except it's a nice production rather than the paper-thin Winsome Game productions of the rest of this series. Surprisingly, it fits right into the Treefrog line (or at least the Treefrog line as defined by the one previous release, Tinner's Trail), since it's a serious but short economic game with a relative single vision forward. I was also amused to see in the Designer's Notes of the game that Wallace intends to put out a railroad game from Treefrog each year. That's definitely keeping with his design history, which includes around a dozen railroad games.
(I received both of these in the mail today, and will try to get one to the table tomorrow.)
Miscellanea
Though I've called it a Wallace-a-Thon, my main focus has been on the Warfrog games, which IMO are Wallace's best. Runebound is really the only non-Warfrog game I might try (beyond the couple I've ever played), as it's sitting on my shelf, but it's generally been too long for what it returns.
Maybe I could get folks at Endgame to play the Sands supplement some evening ...