RogerBW's Blog

2019 was another very boardgame-ful year.

I bought quite a few games, but only about half as many as in 2018; I've definitely got to the point that I think "which existing game in my collection will I get rid of in order to give this one house-room", as well as "you're saying lots of good things about this new product but it doesn't actually seem all that exciting". I didn't see anything hugely innovative come out in 2019; it mostly felt like more of the same (especially the great roll-and-write cash-in following the huge success of Ganz Schön Clever).

My Eddington number for games in 2019 (the largest number E such that I have played E different games at least E times each, also known as an "H factor") was ten, up from eight in 2018, because of my mostly-successful attempt at the 10×10 challenge. Overall, since I started logging boardgame plays in January 2016, my Eddington number is up to 17, from 16 at the end of 2018. In 2019 I played 427 games in total (up from 342 in 2018).

I also completed the 52 game challenge and the Alphabet challenge. All right, so I'm gamifying my game-playing. It's still fun.

I ran Firefly and The Resistance on forums, as well as lots of V-Commandos.

I discovered Tabletop Simulator on Steam late last year, and I've been using that to try out games that I'm thinking about buying, to play with a remote friend, and to produce the odd official implementation for games companies (Dwarf, Ominoes).

I kept going to the Marlow Tabletop and Board Games meetups, as well as to Stabcons and Handycons – and Airecon a second time, and a small event in Leighton Buzzard. For bigger shows, I went to UK Games Expo and Essen (and I hope I'll be able to do both again).

I'm still not going to do a Top Ten list, but one or two new-to-me games that particularly impressed:

Racing game: Rallyman. I found a copy of this in the January Handycon Bring and Buy, after having enjoyed it at the 1PG meet in October 2018, and snapped it up. (And ended up running the Rallyman competitions on BoardGameGeek.) It's a lovely mechanism for solo play, and OK for multiplayer; I think Rallyman GT will improve the multiplayer experience, and I look forward to seeing how it works.

Arguing game: Blame Space. Picked this up on a whim after a demo at Expo, and while the full game tends to drag a little, with just five roles in play it's a good filler.

Does your head in game: Mental Blocks. In a good way. I love it.

My List of Shame (games that I own, that aren't up for trade, but that I have not yet played) at the end of the year:

• Among the Stars: Revival
• Among Thieves
• Assembly
• Leaving Earth: Stations
• Lux Aeterna
• Odyseja
• New Dawn
• Shogunate
• Talon
• Thunderbolt Apache Leader

Italicised entries were on last year's list too. (I don't normally count expansions, but both Revival and Stations make significant changes to gameplay.)

Kickstarters that arrived:

• Human Punishment: Hell Gate (I haven't actually played HP since this turned up)
• Aeon's End: The New Age
• Small Star Empires (not played this for far too long)
• Sensor Ghosts and Assembly (waiting for replacement bits that fell out of the poorly-sealed cardboard mailer)

Kickstarters still outstanding from 2018 (all in theory arriving early in 2020):

• D-Day Dice (yes, I ordered the large cards)
• Project L
• Rallyman GT

Kickstarters newly backed in 2019:

• Dwarf
• Hostage Negotiator Career
• Dice Hospital expansion
• Thunderbolt Apache Leader expansions