2021 10x10 Style Challenges

[Captbnut]

Most of my favourite games seem to play best with 3 or 4 players and we currently mostly play with 2. Hopefully in person gaming will resume at some point.

With that in mind I won’t be doing a 10x10 for 2021, more like a 30+x3+!

Race for the Galaxy/ San Juan
CO2
Merv
Anachrony
Agricola
Imperial Assault
Villainous
Terra Mystica
Terraforming Mars
Great Western Trail
Watergate
Decrypto
Voyages of Marco Polo
Puerto Rico
Root
Innovation
Brass Birmingham
Gloomhaven
Pitch Car
The Resistance
Hansa Teutonica (assuming it enters the country)
Eclipse (just once would do!)
Feast for Odin
El Grande
Yellow and Yangtze
Castles of Burgundy
Age of Steam
Through The Desert

[Marx]

I’m a sucker for lists. There is no way I will actually play all of these, but:

Armada/Legion/Infinity = 0
Imperial Assault/Journeys in Middle-Earth/Blackstone Fortress = 0
Twilight Imperium 4/Eclipse 2nd Dawn/Star Trek Ascendancy = 0
Forgotten Waters/Stuffed Fables = 0
Xia/Outer Rim = 0
Level 7 Omega Protocol/Defiance = 0
Galaxy Trucker/Space Alert = 0
War of Whispers/Dune = 0
GKR Heavy Hitters/Battletech = 0
War of the Ring/Sekigahara/Space Hulk = 0

Edit:
I’d also like to keep a running tally of all the games I own but haven’t played yet… since I would like to get them played. The current list of 13 is:
Android, 51st State, New Salem, Shadespire, Vindication, Lisboa, The Undercity, Crusaders Thy Will Be Done, Andrenaline, Anomaly, Defiance, Wildlands, and Stuffed Fables

[Whistle_Pig]

Here’s my “play before buying any new games” list. I’ll let you decide whether you think I’ll manage it :

• Coup: reformation
• A fistful of meeples
• Food Chain Magnate: the ketchup mechanism
• Gaia project
• Ghost stories
• Ghost stories: white moon
• Good cop bad cop
• Imhotep
• Import/export
• Kingdomino Duel
• Kodama: the tree spirits
• Mr face
• Oath: chronicles of empire and exile
• On the origin of species
• Pipeline
• Railroad Ink Challenge: yellow
• Railroad Ink Challenge: green
• Railroad Ink: blue
• Railroad Ink: red
• Samurai spirit
• Shasn
• Tiny Towns: fortune
• Town builder: Coevorden
• Twins
• Welcome to Dino world
• Wibbell ++
• Yokohama

[MitchtheDM]

It’s my first time trying a 10x10 so we’ll have to see how this one goes, but I think the games will be a balance that should be do able for me. I’m excited to try. I’m trying to really dig deeper on games that I really enjoy.
so here’s what I’m playing

• Arkham Horror: The Card Game
• Champions of Midgard
• Clank!
• Dominion
• Ethnos
• Gloomhaven
• Res Arcana
• Star Wars: Imperial Assault
• The Taverns of Teifenthal
• War Chest

Wish me luck!

[Kat]

In the spirit of this flexible 10x10 style challenge, I’m going for a combination of ten plays to get to know games in more depth, three plays to get the feel of some new games (*) and a few in between. Learning from 2020, not much can’t be played by two players in lockdown.

Like @Marx, will also keep track of the secondary goal of reducing owned unplayed games . Hopefully it’s not too much of a moving target…

Game	Target	Notes
Android: Netrunner	10	20 plays of this in 2020, but there remains much to learn
The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine*	10	Looks like good fun
Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion*	10	Not sure I’ll ever find time for the original, but this seems a little less daunting
KeyForge	10	79 plays in and still feeling the Call of Discovery
Summoner Wars*	10	Been keen to try this since hearing Christy’s review on The Five By
London Second Edition*	5	Have to give this a go after all the positive comments on this forum
Lovelace & Babbage	5	Played this for the first time recently and loved it
Mystery Rummy	5	Three flavours: Capone, Ripper and Rue Morgue
Wingspan	5	Can’t go wrong with birds and pretty components
Alchemists*	3	As per London Second Edition
Architects of the West Kingdom	3	Great graphics, great design, can be done and dusted before bedtime
Azul*	3	In the queue for years, must be near the front by now
Chronicles of Crime*	3	Haven’t solved any crimes on a board since Scotland Yard (1983)
Citadels	3	As per Lovelace & Babbage
Flamme Rouge*	3	As per London Second Edition
Masque of the Red Death*	3	Hoping for more success getting in 3+ people together this year
Myrmes	3	First played this just before New Year’s, need to get those ants optimised
Steampunk Rally*	3	Must play this birthday present from three years ago
X-Wing Miniatures: The Force Awakens*	3	An outstanding item from Wil’s Tabletop list
Games owned but not yet played	59	Play more games!

Thanks for starting us off @Captbnut, good luck @Marx, @Whistle_Pig and @MitchtheDM!

[COMaestro]

I know I’m going to give myself some kind of gaming challenge this year, I just need to figure it out. As I said in the Gaming Goals thread, it’ll likely be a 20 x 5 or something similar.

[COMaestro]

Okay, I got it. My challenge will be a 18 x 5 with an additional 10 x 1 to get to 100 plays. I am hoping to use the x1 for games that are lengthy or completely new to us, especially ones which have sat for more than a year. There are a number of unplayed ones in the x5 category as well, but ones which look less complex to explain, or I can solo.

18x5

Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion
Orleans
Chinatown
Everdell
Imperial Assault
Arkham Horror the card game
War of Whispers
Galaxy Trucker
Castles of Mad King Ludwig
Lords of Vegas (w/Up expansion)
Unmatched
Space Hulk: Death Angel
The Bloody Inn
Concordia
Istanbul
Legendary: Marvel
Pandemic Legacy: Season 1
Marvel Champions

10x1

Shogun
El Grande
Condottiere
Dungeon Petz
Pandemic: Rising Tide
Inis
Looney Quest
Lowlands
Five Tribes
Hansa Teutonica

This will be an incredible challenge still, but I hope with a number of x1 goals, and a more conservative x5 for other games, that I will be able to achieve more plays on my challenge than previous years.

[Marx]

@Marx

Armada/Legion/Infinity = 0 (0)
Imperial Assault/Journeys in Middle-Earth/Blackstone Fortress = 0 (0)
Twilight Imperium 4/Eclipse 2nd Dawn/Star Trek Ascendancy = 0 (0)
Forgotten Waters/Stuffed Fables = 0 (0)
Xia/Outer Rim = 0 (0)
Level 7 Omega Protocol/Defiance = 1 (1)
Galaxy Trucker/Space Alert = 0 (0)
War of Whispers/Dune = 0 (0)
GKR Heavy Hitters/Battletech = 0 (0)
War of the Ring/Sekigahara/Space Hulk = 0 (0)

I actually managed to get a game of Defiance in!.. well, the tutorial mission, but I planned to play more, but the TTS module doesn’t have more. It’s just the tutorial mission! Very frustrating (it’s also… not terribly well designed? The dice rolling is a pain, and a lot of the mechanical elements aren’t well polished).

@Marx

Android, 51st State, New Salem, Shadespire, Vindication, Lisboa, The Undercity, Crusaders Thy Will Be Done, Andrenaline, Anomaly, Defiance, Wildlands, and Stuffed Fables

Boom. One down, 12 to go.

All in all… better than I expected, sadly. But what can ya do?

[COMaestro]

18x5

Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion - 0
Orleans - 0
Chinatown - 0
Everdell - 0
Imperial Assault - 0
Arkham Horror the card game - 0
War of Whispers - 0
Galaxy Trucker - 0
Castles of Mad King Ludwig - 0
Lords of Vegas (w/Up expansion) - 0
Unmatched - 1 (1)
Space Hulk: Death Angel - 0
The Bloody Inn - 0
Concordia - 1 (1)
Istanbul - 1 (1)
Legendary: Marvel - 0
Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 - 0
Marvel Champions - 1 (1)

10x1

[X] Shogun - 1 (1)
El Grande - 0
Condottiere - 0
Dungeon Petz - 0
Pandemic: Rising Tide - 0
Inis - 0
Looney Quest - 0
Lowlands - 0
Five Tribes - 0
Hansa Teutonica - 0

Well, 5/100 is not as good as I would have hoped, but not bad considering my life. And one of my single plays is complete, much earlier than expected.

[Whistle_Pig]

• Coup: reformation
• A fistful of meeples
• Food Chain Magnate: the ketchup mechanism
• Gaia project
• Ghost stories
• Ghost stories: white moon
• Good cop bad cop
• Imhotep
• Import/export
• Kingdomino Duel
• Kodama: the tree spirits
• Mr face
• Oath: chronicles of empire and exile
• On the origin of species
• Pipeline
• Railroad Ink Challenge: yellow
• Railroad Ink Challenge: green
• Railroad Ink: blue
• Railroad Ink: red
• Samurai spirit
• Shasn
• Tiny Towns: fortune
• Town builder: Coevorden
• Twins
• Welcome to Dino world
• Wibbell ++
• Yokohama

[Kat]

Nice work getting your challenges underway @COMaestro, @Marx and @Whistle_Pig
Look forward to hearing how you went @Captbnut and @MitchtheDM

— January —

Game	Month	Total	Status
Android: Netrunner	-	[0/10]
The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine*	-	[0/10]
Gloomhaven:JOTL*	-	[0/10]
KeyForge	13	[13/10]
Summoner Wars	2	[2/10]
London Second Edition*	-	[0/5]
Lovelace & Babbage	1	[1/5]
Mystery Rummy	2	[2/5]
Wingspan	-	[0/5]
Alchemists*	-	[0/3]
Architects of the West Kingdom	-	[0/3]
Azul*	-	[0/3]
Chronicles of Crime*	-	[0/3]
Citadels	-	[0/3]
Flamme Rouge*	-	[0/3]
Masque of the Red Death*	-	[0/3]
Myrmes	1	[1/3]
Steampunk Rally*	-	[0/3]
X-Wing Minatures: The Force Awakens*	-	[0/3]
Games owned but not yet played	2	[2/60]

Quite pleased with January’s performance. Not getting too ahead of myself though, as it’s likely progress will slow now that the KeyForge target is complete.

The Myrmes game resulted in much higher scores than last year’s first play, so we’re starting to get the hang of it. There’s a fair amount of planning ahead required, therefore plenty more scope for improvement as we get to know the game in more depth.

Played Summoner Wars and the Rue Morgue version of Mystery Rummy from the games not yet played list, and enjoyed them both. As feared, this category is a moving target, up one already as Unmatched: Battle of Legends, Volume 1 proved impossible to resist now it’s finally back in stock.

Good luck for Feb everyone!

[MitchtheDM]

Not sure the best way to share this but
Screenshot_20210202-000306|427x500

So pretty good on all fronts so far, tho I realise this will be harder than I thought haha.

[Captbnut]

Race for the Galaxy/ San Juan (3)
CO2 (3)
Merv (0)
Anachrony (0)
Agricola (0)
Imperial Assault (4)
Villainous (3)
Terra Mystica (1 I’m counting Gaia Project!)
Terraforming Mars (0)
Great Western Trail (0)
Watergate (0)
Decrypto (4)
Voyages of Marco Polo (1)
Puerto Rico (0)
Root (1)
Innovation (10)
Brass Birmingham (0)
Gloomhaven (0)
Pitch Car (0)
The Resistance (1)
Hansa Teutonica (4)
Eclipse (0)
Feast for Odin (0)
El Grande (0)
Yellow and Yangtze (0)
Castles of Burgundy (1)
Age of Steam (1)
Through The Desert (1)

Mixture of real life, Zoom , BGA and TTS. I’ll struggle for player count while lockdowns are in force, but it’s been a decent start.

[COMaestro]

Wow, I am envious of your progress. You played a lot last month!

[Whistle_Pig]

My husband has decided that he wants in on the board game challenge action, so he now has an 11x2:

• Age of Steam
• Altiplano
• Archipelago
• Babylonia
• Caverna
• Citrus
• Cyclades
• Glen More 2
• Hypoborea
• Okanagan
• Rising Sun

(We will need to acquire Age of Steam)

[Captbnut]

Having kids who are old enough to ignore you helps for playing 2 player games

[COMaestro]

We can sometimes get away with that, but typically have to limit it to games with fewer pieces. Ironically, I include Patchwork in this list, with all its polynominoes and buttons, but they are easy to keep track of and put on the edge of the table away from the kids. Something like Imperial Assault or Everdell just can’t fly. Also, my wife needs to be well rested to feel comfortable learning a new game, which is something that is difficult to achieve with our kids (which means I probably should not put so many new games on my challenge list, but it IS supposed to be a challenge, so…).

[Captbnut]

End of February. BGA has turbocharged some of this…

Race for the Galaxy/ San Juan (47) 44 - yep, just in February
CO2 (4) 1
Merv (1) 1
Anachrony (0)
Agricola (0)
Imperial Assault (6) 2
Villainous (3)
Terra Mystica (1 I’m counting Gaia Project!)
Terraforming Mars (1) 1
Great Western Trail (0)
Watergate (0)
Decrypto (4)
Voyages of Marco Polo (1)
Puerto Rico (0)
Root (3)
Innovation (60!) 50 - in a month!!
Brass Birmingham (0)
Gloomhaven (0)
Pitch Car (0)
The Resistance (1)
Hansa Teutonica (7) 3
Eclipse (0)
Feast for Odin (0)
El Grande (1) 1
Yellow and Yangtze (0)
Castles of Burgundy (1)
Age of Steam (2) 1
Through The Desert (1)
A new entry, Troyes (14) 14

A lack of IRL games has been counteracted by going mad on BGA

[Whistle_Pig]

• Coup: reformation
• Everdell: Spirecrest
• Everdell: Pearlbrook
• Everdell: Bellfaire
• A fistful of meeples
• Food Chain Magnate: the ketchup mechanism
• Gaia project
• Ghost stories
• Ghost stories: white moon
• Good cop bad cop
• Herbalism
• Imhotep
• Import/export
• Kingdomino Duel
• Kodama: the tree spirits
• Mottainai
• Mr face
• Oath: chronicles of empire and exile
• On the origin of species
• Pipeline
• Railroad Ink Challenge: yellow
• Railroad Ink Challenge: green
• Railroad Ink: blue
• Railroad Ink: red
• Samurai spirit
• Shasn
• Tiny Towns: fortune
• Town builder: Coevorden
• Twins
• Welcome to Dino world
• Wibbell ++
• Yokohama

Made some good progress this month. You may notice that some more games have snuck onto the list, although in my defence I didn’t buy any of them

[Marx]

@Marx

Armada/Legion/Infinity = 0 (0)
Imperial Assault/Journeys in Middle-Earth/Blackstone Fortress = 0 (0)
Twilight Imperium 4/Eclipse 2nd Dawn/Star Trek Ascendancy = 0 (0)
Forgotten Waters/Stuffed Fables = 1 (1)
Xia/Outer Rim = 0 (0)
Level 7 Omega Protocol/Defiance = 1 (0)
Galaxy Trucker/Space Alert = 0 (0)
War of Whispers/Dune = 0 (0)
GKR Heavy Hitters/Battletech = 0 (0)
War of the Ring/Sekigahara/Space Hulk = 0 (0)

One more game of “Forgotten Waters” done (lovely story telling), but we still haven’t finished the first mission because it had been a long time, so this was just a refresher game.

My bosses at the game store have asked me to do livestreams, and we (myself and the boss’s wife, Natalie) always play something to start the stream off. Mostly dexterity games, but the result is that I’ve played Go Cuckoo, Catacombs Conquest, Rhino Hero Super Battle, Flick 'Em Up, and Railroad Ink in the last few weeks. Nat’s good-natured about it and pretty competitive, so they’re fun games, albeit on the shorter side (I basically have 15 minutes to teach and play each of them). But, hey, at least it’s something, right?

@Marx

Android, 51st State, New Salem, Shadespire, Vindication, Lisboa, The Undercity, Crusaders Thy Will Be Done, Andrenaline, Anomaly, Defiance , Wildlands, and Stuffed Fables

Nada from the “List of Shame”, sadly. Finished painting the last of the LotR Shadowed Path models, going to try and finish up all my remaining SW Legion models (two units of ARC Troopers and a unit of Republic Specialists) this weekend, and then I think all the Infinity Defiance models get started. Maybe I’ll aim to have those finished by the end of March? Seems like a reasonable-ish goal.