Monday 28 July 2008

Euro / new boardgame burnout

Once in a while I feel like I am having a burnout. There are different kinds of burnouts. Sometimes I feel like not playing any games for a while, but this "burnout" that I'm having now is not of this type. The one that I'm having now is Euro-specific and new game-specific.

I always keep up-to-date on boardgame news on the internet. Reading about boardgames on the internet is a daily routine. I often download rules of new games that are made available on the net. Lately I am finding that many new games, especially Eurogames, don't excite me anymore. Sometimes I can't even get myself to finish reading the rules, e.g. in the case of The Golden Age. Confucius took much effort to go through too. Other recent game rules that I have read and found that they don't interest me much are Nefertiti and Tinner's Trail. I can't say these are poor games, since I have not even played them. But I get the "yet another Euro" feeling when I read the rules. Not that these games do not have new innovations, or are not thematic, but I just couldn't find anything really exciting about them. In contrast, I look at my collection of games, and wish that I can play more of some of these games. Maybe that's a good thing. I have far too many games that I don't play enough of. There are many games that I know I will enjoy more after I play more and explore and learn the strategies. There are some that I just want to play to have a good time. Lord of the Rings: Sauron, Lord of the Rings: Battlefields, Caylus, Age of Empires III. In this "burnout" mode, it is easy (well, maybe I should say easier) to convince myself to not buy new games and instead spend more time on games that I already own. But then, I still religiously maintain my game wishlist. Well, actually more a watchlist of games that I may buy. Only a few of them are marked as must-buy.

Lord of the Rings: Sauron

The must-buys now (which can sometimes change) are Race for the Galaxy: Gathering Storm, Axis & Allies Anniversary Edition, 10 Days in Asia and Agricola (pre-ordered). The may-buys are a very very long list. 32 games currently. Most of them will eventually drop off to the won't-buy list. Here are some that I am interested in.

Metropolys sounds like an interesting game with a spatial element. Seems to be quick too. I am interested to try this. Scott Nicholson's video review gives a good overview of the game. Dominion seems to be a complex card game, and being a big fan of Race for the Galaxy, I may like this too. Roll Through the Ages is a dice game by Matt Leacock, designer of Pandemic. This combined with the theme of Through the Ages, another favourite game, makes me very interested. Ticket to Ride: Nordics is a likely purchase, since this is also a 2-3 player only game like Ticket to Ride: Switzerland, which Michelle and I like a lot, and have played a lot. This should be worth the money because we will likely play a lot of it.

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