Quick shout out to the BG Stats app that allows me to easily track the progress of my 10×10 Challenge. It’s a great app to track the basic play or you could go for all the nitty gritty details of each of your plays (where did you play, who played, scores, etc.).
Summary of 10×10 through May
As of today, I am 45% through my plays with 210 days left in 2018. In my analytical head, I translate this info into needed to play a game every 3.8 days to stay on track. I’m still feeling that this challenge is doable, but now I’m running into the try obstacle that I’ve made great progress with the shorter games but the more involved games are left. In addition, I’ve had some recent acquisitions that have taken some of my gaming time. I’m looking at you Renegade and Oh My Goods! Two games have gotten to 10 plays already this year. One of those, Ex Libris, I discussed in my prior post about getting the plays in a week’s time. The second game that has hit 10 plays and then some is Legendary: A Marvel Deckbuilding game. The main driver behind the Legendary plays is the “Starter League” I found on BGG as well as the Champions expansion which included my favorite superhero, Nova. The league has 3 games a month so I got my plays in for those and finished off my 10×10 plays by early April and the May league featured the Champions expansion so I just kept playing. To date, I’ve gotten in 18 plays of Legendary in 2018 so far. Last year, it hit the table just 10 times. This has been a great game to setup at night on a weekend and play a couple games.
Remaining Plays
Remaining plays through May
Fallout is the first game that hasn’t been completed yet. I’m up to six plays for Fallout which is great since this game is one of the bigger games that takes some time to setup and play. This is so high in plays already due to the fact that this was played 3 times during Con of the North back in February. I’m evenly split between 3 solo games and 3 multiplayer games. The one benefit I’ve notice with more players is that the deck is cycled quicker. This means that the various storylines move along and more is discovered before the end of the game. With the solo plays of the game, I need to make focused decisions to explore a particular story line. The slower development of the story means that there is less opportunity to change strategies and shift focus. Fallout is one of the games that I’ll play to discover the storyline rather than trying to win the game. This is true especially when playing the solo game since it may feel that the game is impossible to win.
The remaining seven games have been played at least twice so far this year with 5 having 3 plays to date. Burgle Bros., Pandemic: The Cure, and Flash Point are my co-ops on the list that are a bit “swingy” in the sense that games can be quickly lost. If this happens, I usually end up playing two games back to back. Imperial Settlers (3 plays) tends to be a game that I play while watching TV or a movie. It’s not one I’ll overly think and plan out. I enjoy just building my little engine and seeing what happens. My lack of though comes through when I see some of the scores people tend to get in the game. The last three games: Scythe (3), Viticulture (3), and Nemo’s War (2) are the larger single play games that may be a challenge for me to get the plays in. Scythe will likely be the first one completed since I’m already eyeing up the Rise of Fenris campaign expansion that is due for release in August. The last two are proving to both be difficult for me to pull off a solo win. Nemo’s War is the longest of the the games and I need to be in the mindset to sit down for 2 hours to really focus on a game. I’ve played Viticulture a handful of times and have yet to win a solo game. The only win I’ve had was my first multiplayer game. When I play solo, I am playing with the Tuscany Essential board, but not the special workers or extra buildings modules from the expansion. I need to read up on those modules to see if that will help improve my win ratio.
Outlook on Completion of the 10×10 Challenge
I’m still feeling good that I’ll be able to complete my plays of the games I committed to. The challenge will be if new games come into the stable and take some time away from the challenge games. I’ve enjoyed re-discovering the fun of these games. Some of these games only saw a couple plays last year, but playing them again reminds me why I liked them so much. The new games still catch my eye and cult of the new is rampant in my game group, but I’ve still enjoyed playing these games solo on the nights I’m not gaming with others.