Ninja Poetess

by thegamecrafter

The Game Crafter (https://www.thegamecrafter.com/) is pleased to release these new nobles into our online board game parts shop! They come in 5 colors and 2 sizes (Large and Small) and are perfect for representing the aristocracy in your games.

Large Nobles are here: https://www.thegamecrafter.com/parts?q=noble%20large&hPP=25&...

Small Nobles are here: https://www.thegamecrafter.com/parts?q=noble%20small&hPP=25&...

by Mike Fogus

My mind goes off on fancies seemingly on its on sometimes and while hanging out with a friend a new one came over me. You see, he recently purchased a small mobile RV and invited a few people over to check it out. In one small corner of the RV he had a small collection of traditional family games. The RV was quite small and had space for the essentials with a tiny bit of additional space, in a tiny nook about 13" x 13" x 13", for about five games. His plan was that when he retired he and his wife were going to travel around the country in the RV and that would be his life. It sounded like a great plan, but of course I thought that in my own little nook I could do a little better with my own game choices than him.

What would I do if I had to reduce my game collection to only five games? I truly enjoy reading the lists of 50-games and such, but what about the lists at the extremeties such as this one? Well, my thinking is that I would choose games that have one or two key characteristics:

* Allow for a lifetime of study
* Have flexible components allowing the play of other games

I guess in both cases I could just pick 5 game systems and be done with it, but I want to try and think of five games that I love instead that also happen to support other games using the same equipment. Note that the games in italics are amongst my top-100-150 favorite games.

Having said that, here goes.

Go

The game of games and truly the one game that I would choose if I had to reduce to only one game in my collection. While I enjoy a variety of games, Go is the one that provides the best potential for a lifetime of study. In addition to supporting Go, the Goban and pieces would also allow me to play many more lovely games, including: Slither, Symple, Ayu, Gonnect, Connect6, Alea Evangelii, Oust, Renju, Sygo, and Tanbo.



Shogi

Shogi has displaced Chess as my favorite in that family and indeed the difference in rules has almost completely obsoleted my hard-earned Chess knowledge. The game is a masterpiece and has more of an internal consistency than Chess. The board is a 9x9 grid and it and pieces from the Go board would also allow me to play the following: Guerrilla Checkers, International Checkers, Morelli, Veletas, and Amazons.



1830

There are many 18XX games* that could take this position, but honestly if I had to pick only one then it would be the king of them all, 1830. The game is representational of everything that's beautiful about the 18XX system and is flexible enough to support shorter and longer play scenarios. While the game is not supportive of additional games in the same sense as other games on this list, 18XX is a great example of a non-obvious game system, allowing for a bevy of possibilities as shown in the vast richness of the ecosystem.



Sticheln

My favorite trick-taking game is none other than Sticheln -- a game that turns trick-taking on its head. While the deck is incredibly flexible for hosting other games and has been known as a useful tool for game design, truly the best game for the deck is indeed Sticheln itself. That said, the deck allows the play of a vast number of other card games, including, but not limited to the following: Schotten Totten, Lost Cities, Raj, Loco!, Parade, Haggis, Bridge, Bridgette, and even Potato Man.



Pyramid Arcade

The last game in my teeny-tiny collection of five is the only overt cheat in the lot. That said, the best game in the Pyramid Arcade set is Homeworlds and truly I would buy the game merely for that game alone. Homworlds is a great combinatorial abstract strategy game with a seemingly endless set of options on any given move. However, in the box is also Volcano, which is in its own right a great abstract also. Rounding out the abstract goodness is Martian Chess, a nice take on the classic game. However, since my set includes extra pyramids as part of the Kickstarter exclusive it's open to host even more gems such as Branches and Twigs and Thorns, Pikemen, and IceTowers!



So that's it. It's a Spartan collection for sure, but one that's quite versatile. It's a collection that would certainly enhance the life of the future RV-bound me. But what if I had a little more space -- say the size of a suitcase? Well, I'll tackle that one next time...

* I seriously considered putting 504 into this slot instead, but 1830 is simply too good to pass up.

by Phelanpt

You balance rocks on a piece of wood.

[o]This is more or less what I came up with during a "Describe your hobby badly" post. :p [/o]