Year In Review:
2012 Review
Review – 2012
This Year Was… …:
2012 has been such an eventful year both in international and domestic waters. We had Megaupload shutdown, the Greek financial meltdown, the Premier League Championship going to the "noisy neighbours", Chelsea winning the Champion’s League by some miracle, Lebron James finally getting his ring, the Euro with one of its most one-sided finals in the history of the competition, the women’s badminton debacle at the Olympics, the iPhone 5 vs the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, the devastation of Hurricane Sandy, Walt Disney’s odd purchase of Star Wars & Indiana Jones, Barack Obama staying on as President, Gangnam Style taking over Youtube and the world, the tragic loss of young life at Sandy Hook Elementary, the end of the world NOT happening, and I guess most important of all, having an additional member to the family! (plus all the minor life changing details that such an event entails)
As with the previous year, I present to you a summary of my gaming goodness for 2012:
I was quite a bit more diligent in updating and maintaining my BGG account this year (username: Hayen), making sure I recorded plays and not letting my microbadge coupons expire like they used to in the past. Considering how little I played after July when Padawan Mini-geek arrived, it’s pretty amazing that I managed to maintain an average of 3.3 games played per month for 2012. I suspect that it must have been the paranoia of not being able to play anymore games setting in that spurred me to rack up my plays before the half year had expired.
Winter is coming… I must have MORE!
As with the year before, I have yet to hit any fives or dimes (games with more than five "fives" or ten plays "dimes") within a calendar year and to be strictly honest, only Glory To Rome, Agricola, Hansa Teutonica, 7 Wonders & The Resistance have crossed into the threshold of fives over the entire time I’ve owned these games. The only games with dimes (with many unrecorded plays) over the time I’ve owned them are Race For The Galaxy & Dominion: Intrigue. I suspect the only way I will ever reach "fives and dimes" is to make the pilgrimage to the local meet-up a weekly affair or host the sacred site of boardgaming myself on a weekly basis.
Ahhh… I wonder when I’ll be able to take part in the annual boardgaming pilgrimage to Spiel in Essen
I’m happy that I managed to try out all my new acquisitions for the year and hopefully will get more plays of them in the coming year but some of the oldies under the category of [Want To Play] would be:
Belfort - We still have not beaten Milo at this and I have yet to utilize the Trading Post as part of my strategy
Dungeon Lords - I just can’t get enough of Dungeon Lords’s theme and am definitely looking forward to the expansion Dungeon Lords: Festival Season
Glory To Rome - A great game I can’t play much due to the learning curve on this baby
Through The Ages: A Story Of Civilization & Titan - Again, terrible learning curve but good enough with two Players, Mo & I just need to set aside a LONG day for these two juggernauts
Troyes - Dice rolling at its best!
More of the good stuff please
Padawan Mini-geek still requires lots of attention and nap times so boardgaming will still take a back seat for the next 6 months or so. For those interested in project Padawan Mini-geek, she has reached the stage where anything and everything needs to be licked and tasted and has started to chuckle at the strangest things (namely her Father, the Jedi Master). We’re looking forward to her learning to sit up on her own, hold her own feeding bottle and mastering chess.
I don’t have a chess set or I’d try and take a photo of Padawan Mini-geek before she’d lick all the pieces
New Games I Bought:
It turns out that I actually increased my collection by 144% last year which is the expected reaction of a new boardgamer. This year, I managed to rein in my collector’s tendencies and only purchased 5 new games, a modest increase of 23% to my collection.
The following is a list of my acquisitions of 2012:
Dungeon Petz - Ah Mr Chvátil, why do you torment my budget so? I just couldn’t resist this purchase
Ora Et Labora - Being a huge fan of Le Havre & Agricola, I just couldn’t pass this one up
Seasons - Tried this on BoardGameArena and just loved it!
Small World - Got this at a 30% discount at the closing down of a Boardgame Cafe
The Resistance - Ditto the above
Oh wait! I still have space on my kidneys! Score space for boardgaming hobby
I’ve actually set up an annual budget for my boardgaming hobby and managed to stay within the budget despite the tremendous temptation from BGC’s Black Friday Sales! I must say that this would be the first time I couldn’t participate in it. I’ve lined up some potential purchases for next year’s budget, let me know what you think if you’ve already played or currently own them:
Airlines Europe - A serious game for a big group of people, something I don’t really have right now
Innovation - Being a big fan of Glory To Rome, I’m tempted to break my rule on "No More Deck Building Games" for this one
Ticket To Ride - This is for Operation Gamer Wife, to all those on a similar quest, I offer only heartfelt encouragement for your resilience
Suburbia - I may be getting caught up with Sim City fever but I really want to play this game and decide if I want to own it thereafter
Last but definitely the hardest to resist:
Mage Knight - (1) It’s by Mr Chvátil (2) It’s a Fantasy game (3) It’s got tonnes & tonnes of goodness! The proprietor of my FLGS has offered to lend me his personal copy to test out. I don’t know how much longer I can resist
I shall delay giving into temptation
New People I Played Games With This Year:
Our regular gaming group has grown and shrunk by exactly one person in 2012. We were happy to welcome Bro D to our group although he has now left for home of Big Ben to upgrade his noggin and boardgaming prowess. We shall look forward to the time he returns and further determine his progress.
I also hosted a session at my house with my previous cell group members and introduced them to Shadow Hunters & Hansa Teutonica although the latter didn’t go down quite as well but has expanded the number of people I know willing to play some boardgames in their spare time.
I’m also looking forward to having some sessions with my cousin’s family next year. After giving them Hare & Tortoise as a Christmas gift two years ago, they’ve expanded their gaming library extensively and it warms my heart that boardgaming has grown just a little bit in our community.
I have also agreed to help facilitate (basically supply games) a regular meet-up for young adults although the idea is still in its infancy stages. Look forward to hearing more of that when it does transpire.
Next stop… 2013!
Closing Thoughts On 2012:
2012 has been a year of more change than usual (since the world is ever-changing) with the birth of Padawan Mini-geek. My boardgaming hobby has certainly not diminished in 2012 but if anything I think it may be that it is not growing as fast as the industry itself. It may be such that come 2014, I would only be posting about old games on this blog because you just can’t catch them all or play them all at the rate new games are coming onto the market. I may even start reviewing boardgames for children since Padawan Mini-geek should only reach novice level of Through The Ages: A Story Of Civilization in about fifteen years or so. We’ll have iPhone 20 by then.
This is true mastery… or the abuse of Gameshark
But that’s alright, change is a part of life and Padawan Mini-geek will be a one year old next year, which means she can probably roll dice, if she doesn’t eat them first.
Ooo fuzzy dice
Have a great 2013 everybody!
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