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100 Games Reference Sheets and Counting ...
Universal Head
Australia
Sydney
NSW
Professional creative visual communication: www.universalhead.com
Game summaries and reference sheets: www.headlesshollow.com
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Way back in 1981, on my sixteenth birthday, a schoolfriend gave me a copy of a game called Cosmic Encounter. While I’d been playing role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons for a few years, I’d only recently been enjoying boardgames. Cosmic Encounter is a bit of a classic in the small world of boardgames; it’s been through editions by Eon (the 1977 original, and the one my friend gave me), Mayfair Games, West End Games, Games Workshop, and the toy giant Hasbro among others—sixteen different editions apparently.
So it’s a nice coincidence that the one hundredth entry on my HeadlessHollow.com Games Sheets page (and uploaded to Boardgamegeek, of course) should happen to be for the new Fantasy Flight edition of Cosmic Encounter, which I just bought. One hundred entries! That’s countless hours of unpaid writing and design work—summarising rulesets, designing reference sheets, deep-etching scanned logos and making backgrounds. Why the hell do I do it?
I have no idea. I suppose it’s the same reason I can’t imagine being anything but a graphic designer. I love to make something that is well designed and has a useful purpose, and I love boardgames, and if there’s one thing that improves the experience of playing a boardgame it’s a) not having to trudge through the rulebook for a refresher course everytime you play one and b) having something next to you during the game that saves you from pausing the action while you look something up in a rulebook.
The great thing about boardgames is that you can get completely immersed in the experience. It’s a very social experience: a group of friends gather around a table and play out some form of shared story, whether co-operatively or competitively. A good reference sheet stops you from being wrenched out of the flow of that shared experience and back into the nitpicking world of the rules that hold it all together.
Basically, it just makes the game more fun.
Also, I get a great deal out of satisfaction from the fact that they seem to make games more fun for a lot of other people all over the world too. I’ve even had people gather together online to buy me a game so they could get reference sheets for it. These are just a few of the scores of comments I’ve had from people who have downloaded my sheets:
“I love your rules summaries, they are the first thing I look for on Boardgamegeek when I have bought a new game.”
“I wanted to drop a note to say thank you for all of the game summaries you’ve made, I find any game that you’ve made a sheet for to be that much more enjoyable when I play it.”
“I just felt you should know that you have fans out there (as if you didn’t know already). I’m one of them. It is only right that you be told! I really appreciate all of the work you’ve done for the gaming community. I know I’ve used and abused your good will and fine work for months, now! Thanks again for all the great work you’ve done!”
Hey, so I’m not changing the world. But I’ve made a few people out there a bit happier. Thankyou for all the kind comments.
So, here we are at one hundred entries, with the rules summary and reference sheet for Cosmic Encounter. Gathered together on this list are the ones I've uploaded to BGG (the only one not here is for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay).
As usual, print out in colour on card, laminate and trim for best results! Enjoy!
(PS: Sorry I didn't link directly to each downloadable file, but it would have taken me forever ...)
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Universal Head
Australia
Sydney
NSW
Professional creative visual communication: www.universalhead.com
Game summaries and reference sheets: www.headlesshollow.com
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Universal Head
Australia
Sydney
NSW
Professional creative visual communication: www.universalhead.com
Game summaries and reference sheets: www.headlesshollow.com
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Universal Head
Australia
Sydney
NSW
Professional creative visual communication: www.universalhead.com
Game summaries and reference sheets: www.headlesshollow.com
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Universal Head
Australia
Sydney
NSW
Professional creative visual communication: www.universalhead.com
Game summaries and reference sheets: www.headlesshollow.com
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Universal Head
Australia
Sydney
NSW
Professional creative visual communication: www.universalhead.com
Game summaries and reference sheets: www.headlesshollow.com
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Universal Head
Australia
Sydney
NSW
Professional creative visual communication: www.universalhead.com
Game summaries and reference sheets: www.headlesshollow.com
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Universal Head
Australia
Sydney
NSW
Professional creative visual communication: www.universalhead.com
Game summaries and reference sheets: www.headlesshollow.com
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Universal Head
Australia
Sydney
NSW
Professional creative visual communication: www.universalhead.com
Game summaries and reference sheets: www.headlesshollow.com
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Universal Head
Australia
Sydney
NSW
Professional creative visual communication: www.universalhead.com
Game summaries and reference sheets: www.headlesshollow.com
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Universal Head
Australia
Sydney
NSW
Professional creative visual communication: www.universalhead.com
Game summaries and reference sheets: www.headlesshollow.com
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Universal Head
Australia
Sydney
NSW
Professional creative visual communication: www.universalhead.com
Game summaries and reference sheets: www.headlesshollow.com
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Universal Head
Australia
Sydney
NSW
Professional creative visual communication: www.universalhead.com
Game summaries and reference sheets: www.headlesshollow.com
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Universal Head
Australia
Sydney
NSW
Professional creative visual communication: www.universalhead.com
Game summaries and reference sheets: www.headlesshollow.com
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Universal Head
Australia
Sydney
NSW
Professional creative visual communication: www.universalhead.com
Game summaries and reference sheets: www.headlesshollow.com
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Another big job with a stack of reference cards for all the bits of equipment and skills available in the game - along with customised 'equipment packs' for each player character that hopefully speed up the game.
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90.
Board Game: Thebes
[Average Rating:7.26 Overall Rank:169]
Universal Head
Australia
Sydney
NSW
Professional creative visual communication: www.universalhead.com
Game summaries and reference sheets: www.headlesshollow.com
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Universal Head
Australia
Sydney
NSW
Professional creative visual communication: www.universalhead.com
Game summaries and reference sheets: www.headlesshollow.com
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Universal Head
Australia
Sydney
NSW
Professional creative visual communication: www.universalhead.com
Game summaries and reference sheets: www.headlesshollow.com
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Universal Head
Australia
Sydney
NSW
Professional creative visual communication: www.universalhead.com
Game summaries and reference sheets: www.headlesshollow.com
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I'm very pleased with this reference pack; it's a complex game and I think the reference sheets make it much more playable. I'll be adding the Normandy expansion soon.
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Universal Head
Australia
Sydney
NSW
Professional creative visual communication: www.universalhead.com
Game summaries and reference sheets: www.headlesshollow.com
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Another game with my own graphic design, and therefore easy to make sheets for.
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Universal Head
Australia
Sydney
NSW
Professional creative visual communication: www.universalhead.com
Game summaries and reference sheets: www.headlesshollow.com
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Universal Head
Australia
Sydney
NSW
Professional creative visual communication: www.universalhead.com
Game summaries and reference sheets: www.headlesshollow.com
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Universal Head
Australia
Sydney
NSW
Professional creative visual communication: www.universalhead.com
Game summaries and reference sheets: www.headlesshollow.com
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Universal Head
Australia
Sydney
NSW
Professional creative visual communication: www.universalhead.com
Game summaries and reference sheets: www.headlesshollow.com
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Universal Head
Australia
Sydney
NSW
Professional creative visual communication: www.universalhead.com
Game summaries and reference sheets: www.headlesshollow.com
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Universal Head
Australia
Sydney
NSW
Professional creative visual communication: www.universalhead.com
Game summaries and reference sheets: www.headlesshollow.com
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Professional creative visual communication: www.universalhead.com
Toronto
Ontario
Sydney
NSW
Zürich
Switzerland
In particular, FFG should definitely be giving you some commission as many of their games are almost unplayable without your guides.
If you are every in Switzerland I will buy you many beers to compensate you for all the unpaid labour.
Kraków
Cheers!