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Kevin Whitmore
United States
Albuquerque
New Mexico
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I own a lot of games. As listed on BGG, I have 280, but there are a few more around here. Even so I have 515 games listed as "previously owned" here on BGG. A very few of them have been reacquired, but generally once they leave my shelf, they are gone forever.
So I have decided to write a few columns talking about the games that didn't make the cut - the games that I at one time owned, but decided to remove from my collection. Maybe this will interest someone - maybe not! Comments are welcomed, and will be taken as encouragement to continue.
The A's:
Ab die Post - At one time I owned every big box game released by Goldsieber. I had conceived that they were "my" game company of choice. I had a great fondness for original Entdecker, really liked Linie 1, and began seeking out their early releases, while eager awaiting the newer ones. (Goldland was the last of this line.)
Ab die Post made me realize that a big box did not translate to a big strategy game. The game is a lightly themed race. Players fly their planes racing for the win. But the theme had some rather magical thinking as you could (and would need to) repair your planes while in flight. The little shaker for the storm and the random turn order was cute. But Ab die Post was just too random and too silly for me. So eventually I decided to bust up the Goldsieber collection, and Ab die Post was one of the first to be trimmed.
Abilene - There are actually two versions of this game. I've played both, but briefly owned the later version with the plastic pieces which could handle more players. Abilene is not a bad game. My memory of this game is now vague. But I recall enjoying my first play enough to attain a copy for myself. This is the sort of game that I find great fun to play for the first time, but that didn't deliver as much fun on the second outing. My basic belief is that many eurogames don't have enough depth to keep me coming back for multiple iterations of the same game. Abilene would now likely be great fun to play again. But its years later and it would be fresh again.
Ace of Aces - This is a game from my early years of buying hobby games. I rather liked this game, and it provided lots of entertainment back in the early 80's. But, honestly, sitting around flipping through a book with an opponent doing the same is not my current idea of gaming. Clever idea, and I'm glad I experienced it when it was new. But I feel I can do far better anymore. But it might still be a good game for car/airplane rides or other situations where two people are unable to play a game with multiple pieces.
Adel Verpflichtet - Another of my early ambitions, after discovering German games, was to collect all the Spiel des Jahre winners. I discovered German games in the late 90's, and the SdJ was a lot more influential at the time. They had honored Settlers in 95 and El Grande in 96, and it seemed that these new strategy games were sweeping away what had preceeded them. So collecting the SdJ winners seemed like a great idea when conceived. But this plan came apart relatively quickly. I tried a large number of the earlier pre-Settlers SdJ winners, and just didn't like them much. Adel Verpflichtet especially seemed like a vacuous game to me. The strategy, such as it is, was much more about gaming the other people at the table.
Africa - When I finally parted out the Goldsieber collection, this one endured on my shelf for quite a while. I still think this is a rather good Knizia game. I parted with it after realizing no one in my game group was much interested in it, and it had not been played in years. Africa is a game of lots of little decisions, that add up to a bit more than some players recognize. Some folks feel it is totally random, where I found it had a bit more depth than my opponents were seeing. If you get a chance to play this game, go for it!
Afrika Korps - I also am a wargamer, and for a brief period of time a friend and I were exploring the earliest titles in wargaming history. This inspired me to actually collect all the games of Charles S. Roberts, founder of Avalon Hill. Afrika Korps is perhaps the best loved Charles S. Roberts game. Sadly, this game passed through my hands unplayed. I would have loved to play this, but my wargaming opportunities faded away.
After the Flood - I count myself as a Martin Wallace fan. He has a knack for creating flavorsome games that appeal to my interests. Unfortunately often his games do not hold up for me. After the Flood was billed as a 3-player game, only. I was put off by this game. It featured all of the classic 3-player wargame problems I have encountered in other games. I had expected better!
Age of Exploration - Back in the early 90's I was playing games, but had never heard of German games. We did however especially enjoy TimJim/Prism games, which seemed fresh and innovative in comparison t the games we played from Avalon Hill. Age of Exploration was one of the games from TimJim/Prism that we never played. I finally tracked a copy down, and sadly promptly bogged down. Perhaps this game is too slow, or perhaps my expectations had been ruined by too many modern euros, but I struggled with the rules and the pacing. Maybe it would have been good back in the earlier era.
Blah, blah blah. Enough wool gathering for this first entry.
-- Kevin
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