Orogenous Zones

CassSoren

(CSoren)

United States

Massachusetts

Recommend

or, Where Mountains Grow

I've loved the outdoors and hiking most of my life. I've hiked all over New England - from the rocky above tree line summits of northern NE to the lowland forests of southern NE. I love 'em all - whether it's going out for a few miles' bushwhack with the dogs because that piece of the topo map looks interesting, a Pemi Loop because what could be better than seeing the sunrise on Liberty and sunset on Bondcliff, or a long distance route that pieces together a route that connects Long Island Sound to Canada. Along the way I developed an interest in geology and other pursuits that help me to better know what's around me and how they came to be..

These are some games - good or bad - that I love simply because their themes touch on these interests.

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Posted Fri Oct 16, 2009 2:31 pm

1. Board Game: Erosion [Average Rating:6.30 Overall Rank:2752]

CassSoren

(CSoren)

United States

Massachusetts

This game arrived last night. I eagerly dug through the cards thrilled by the theme: building and eroding mountains. Orogeny is perhaps my favorite aspect of geology because I love spending time in the mountains and learning about how they came to be. I can't wait to try playing the game, but for $11 - this one was worth it for the theme alone.

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Posted Fri Oct 16, 2009 1:27 pm

2. Board Game: Outdoor Survival [Average Rating:4.43 Overall Rank:7934]

CassSoren

(CSoren)

United States

Massachusetts

Picked this up used - again, simply because of the theme. We still haven't played it. I love how it depicts the hikers' weakening status. I've never had to crawl but many is the time I've had to pull over for a nap on my way home from a difficult day hike.

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Posted Fri Oct 16, 2009 1:36 pm

3. Board Game: King Philip's War [Average Rating:6.94 Overall Rank:2939]

CassSoren

(CSoren)

United States

Massachusetts

Okay, okay, so I haven't actually played any real war games yet, but I really really want to - especially this one. Both the period of history and the geographic area interest me. I've hiked the Metacomet trail, we've seen a lot of the Connecticut river valley and the beautiful traprock ridges to the west of it in southern NE. Redemption Rock in Princeton MA, the site of Mary Rowlandson's redemption, lies along the corridor of the Mid-State trail. It's nearly impossible to hike in southern New England without being aware of King Philip's war.

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Posted Fri Oct 16, 2009 2:27 pm

4. Board Game: Timber Tom [Average Rating:6.68 Overall Rank:1563]

CassSoren

(CSoren)

United States

Massachusetts

I don't have it, but it's very tempting. I love the board which looks much like a topo map. I doubt I'll ever find Mallett's Vermont hoard but finding old farmsteads, mills, and logging camp remains is thrill enough to keep me off trail.

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Posted Fri Oct 16, 2009 1:58 pm

Marco Bing

(MarcoBing69)

France
Lyon

I just checked out link to Jean Pierre MALLETT (and the guy was French!) - so it seems I wasn't far off the mark by creating a game with some mountain man with hidden treasures! Thanks for the inclusion on your list Cass - glad to be "on board" ;-)

Posted Fri Oct 16, 2009 5:42 pm
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CassSoren

(CSoren)

United States

Massachusetts

I've seen a copy of your game, and truly, the board is lovely. I know of a few similar legends (confederate gold in VT lake come to mind) but when I found a link for Mallett and learned of the serendipitous coincidence of his French heritage, I knew it was the example I'd have to include here.

I've wondered why other games (especially American) that use a depiction of a real area don't follow the USGS topo quad standards. (Until this moment, it never occurred to me to wonder whether topo map standards might be different in other parts of the world.)

Posted Fri Oct 16, 2009 7:41 pm
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Marco Bing

(MarcoBing69)

France
Lyon

Just found some info at this linkwww.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Topography (after being prompted by your reply above)...

"...In the broadest sense, topography is concerned with local detail in general, including not only relief but also vegetative and human-made features, and even local history and culture. This meaning is less common in America, where topographic maps with elevation contours have made "topography" synonymous with relief. The older sense of topography as the study of place still has currency in Europe..."

It's not exactly an answer to your question about topo map standards but its interesting to see how the US and Europe do differ on what gets "mapped" when topography is concerned.

(Now I can say I have rightly included refuge huts, bridges, helipads on my 'topographic' map

By the way I just checked out a few websites for hiking trails in New England. I can see why the outdoors is such a tempting place in your part of the world. Looks great! - Cathedral Pines, Mohawk and Bear Mountains, etc...)

Posted Fri Oct 16, 2009 8:42 pm
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5. Board Game: Assault on Mt. Everest [Average Rating:7.16 Unranked]

CassSoren

(CSoren)

United States

Massachusetts

I doubt I'm closer to finding a copy of this game than I am to someday being on Everest. The ideas in this game mirror those we face as hikers - which equipment to bring, when to use it, who to hike with.

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Posted Fri Oct 16, 2009 2:01 pm

6. Board Game: Race for the Summit [Average Rating:6.21 Unranked]

CassSoren

(CSoren)

United States

Massachusetts

I'm a hiker, not a climber, but it must be good because it involves mountains and summiting.

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Posted Fri Oct 16, 2009 1:41 pm

7. Board Game: Climb! [Average Rating:6.04 Overall Rank:4434]

CassSoren

(CSoren)

United States

Massachusetts

Twister for your fingers? Maybe I mostly hike, but I've climbed a few times - enough to know that this wouldn't teach someone how to climb rock or lead a pitch any better than a climbing gym.

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Posted Fri Oct 16, 2009 1:47 pm

8. Board Game: Fast Flowing Forest Fellers [Average Rating:6.58 Overall Rank:963]

CassSoren

(CSoren)

United States

Massachusetts

Logging: a pet peeve of most hikers I know. Many are the times we've searched for the other end of a trail leading out of a clear cut area that the loggers were supposed to have flagged. I've sunk thigh deep into mud in a big Maine paper mill clear cut. I like my forests - I do not like piles of tree trunks with slash littering the ground. On the other hand, as RnR is quick to point out, the selective logging that happens in the tree farm near home is a far better sight than seeing it devastated for a housing development.

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Posted Fri Oct 16, 2009 1:52 pm

9. Board Game: American Megafauna [Average Rating:7.05 Overall Rank:1224]

Wulf Corbett

(Wulf Corbett)

Scotland
Shotts
Lanarkshire

Part of this game involves changing the terrain of North America through geological eras. And part of that involves specific orogeny zones where mountain terrain can be placed.

It's about the only game I know where the word 'Orogeny' is used in the rules

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Posted Fri Oct 16, 2009 6:15 pm

CassSoren

(CSoren)

United States

Massachusetts

How could I have forgotten! Yes, this one has caught my attention, and is on my wish list (or if it isn't, I need to fix that) despite the 8 hour play time, though I suppose I thought it was more about the fauna than the terrain.

Posted Fri Oct 16, 2009 7:24 pm
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Wulf Corbett

(Wulf Corbett)

Scotland
Shotts
Lanarkshire

It certainly is more about the fauna than the terrain (or, more accurately, the Biomes - terrain is only important in regard to the food source it provides), but the Biomes are the most important influence on the fauna. Your creatures must follow and adapt to the available food and living conditions.

And 8 hours is excessive, even slow players like us can finish a full game under that, and you can finish at the end of any era for a shorter game.

Posted Fri Oct 16, 2009 7:46 pm
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Giles Pritchard

(caradoc)

Australia
Shepparton
Victoria

Awesome game! Climactic changes play a key role here too!

Great fun! If you have a mind and the space the game can be left set-up and played over a series of sittings - that's how my wife and I play.

Cheers,

Giles.

Posted Sat Oct 17, 2009 1:47 am
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CassSoren

(CSoren)

United States

Massachusetts

Yes, we're working on creating some kind of set up that will allow us to play longer games in a series. Space isn't an issue, nor are the dogs - it's the cats. There's nothing they like better than to stomp Godzilla-like through a game, destroying cities, maps, and disrupting score boards and woe befall the meeples in their path.

Posted Sun Oct 18, 2009 8:45 pm
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10. Board Game: Niagara [Average Rating:6.59 Overall Rank:646]

Davido

(davido)

United States
Mather
California

Maybe a bit of a reach, but laying the board on the box with the falls dangling off the edge as players scoop gems from the banks sounds pretty geological to me

And it's still in the Northeast US/SE Canada

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Posted Fri Oct 16, 2009 9:11 pm

CassSoren

(CSoren)

United States

Massachusetts

Gems can be found in the northeast too. The first I ever saw - or knew what I was seeing - was garnet bearing schist on Moosilauke in the Whites. It's supposed to be common in VT road cuts (gotta love the Roadside Geology books!).