Hello, I was inspired by the post in the RPG section titled, (Personal Great White Whales) and I thought that could apply to board games too.
Which games are on your wishlist, and one day you dream of getting with the right planetary alignment?Which conditions would make it possible for you to buy them?
I can think of two straight away, and both are Twilight-related on my list.
Twilight Imperium 4th Ed: one day, I will have children that are not so demanding that mum will be happy to get rid of daddy once a month for a full afternoon/evening, so I will remortgage the house and invest in all that cardboard and plastic and find at least three other crazy individuals to join me…
Twilight Struggle: Read above, but without having to remortgage (and fewer crazy individuals, incidentally)
Other than that, I have a few, but they are more achievable…
Chinatown (I don’t actually own this one, if you can believe that) - I wouldn’t know about this game if it weren’t for Quinns and for that, I curse his name. I don’t have any (analog) friends where the premise of this game causes anything but groans. Still, I dream of one day wheeling and dealing in this racist, retro-capitalism simulator.
Container Jumbo Anniversary 20th - Did you read what I wrote for Chinatown? Every single word applies here… Other than “racist”
Root - Let’s face it… I’m never going to have time and energy to do a The Teach for this even if I found willing subjects.
1830 / 1844 / 1854 / 1862 / 18Chesapeake / 18CZ - I own all of these with more pre-ordered/Kickstarted. I had discussed getting a game with my neighbor when we could figure out an entire Saturday to devote to it; perhaps 2021 will be better
I can’t really justify buying Through the Ages: A New Story with the previous edition sitting unplayed for so long. I think that’s about it? I tend to be quite ruthless with my purchasing desires. Once I decide I can’t buy something because reasons, it ceases to be something I want.
@lalunaverde, I could probably pick up a copy of Throne and Grail (and Age of Assassins) for you quite easily, but I’m not sure how international shipping works these days…
As far as hard to find games that I want to buy? That list is actually shorter than the list of games I own that I’m desperate to play:
Winner’s Circle - I have mostly given up on tracking this one down. I really expect it to get reprinted eventually.
Magical Athlete - I’ve heard this one isn’t even that great… But the mechanism used is so zany I would be remiss if I let a copy go unnoticed.
Bruges - I have a feeling this is going to be reprinted for a 10th anniversary so I’m in no rush… But as of right now copies of this are just ridiculous
Horse Fever - this is actually getting reprinted as Unicorn Fever which I somehow managed to avoid backing on Kickstarter. Definitely picking it up at retail since the original is so rare.
I like it well enough with the right audience. Actually, even the most sceptical audiences have all been won over so far. That said, it’s ripe for homebrew because the components are awful aside from the cute character art.
As a fellow person conversant with Root, I’d be happy to play asynchronously, preferably on Vassal or the forum (I still don’t know whether I like Root, but I’m willing to keep trying until I reach a conclusion).
My want to play list is mostly inspired by podcasts
El Grande I don’t have a huge amount of experience with area control, but this is supposed to be the grand daddy Tigris and Euphrates SVWAG say it’s the best game ever. I’m very, very tempted to try Yellow and Yangtze as a gateway game
Our eBay purchase of Terra Mystica should arrive today, only played on the app
I was really hoping for a game of Blood on the Clocktower at Expo.
I’m another who wants to try an 18xx
TI4 intrigues me greatly. However, I am terrible at games when I’m new to them (sometimes a lot longer than that) and it would be a long time to be bad.
Dune - for when I have friends who are backstab-resistant and won’t be genuinely offended by the amount of maximum ruthlessness needed to play, or the in-depth book knowledge!
Gloomhaven - this is on the wishlist and not already in my house simply for money reasons
Twilight Imperium 4th Ed and Cosmic Encounter - they look like classics and are at the top of many lists, but I don’t have a group who would sink the required hours into each
The Quacks of Quedlinburg - This looks perfect, great theme, push-your-luck is easy for everyone to understand
Seasons and Everdell and Fox in the Forest - I’m a sucker for Nature games
Atm the game I most want from my wishlist and that is definitely out of print and no signs of coming back is Quantum.
One of my items was resolved by friends recently. I was waffling about Alubari (the tea-themed remake of Snowdonia which we played and enjoyed at SPIEL last year) and it became unavailable but now one of our boardgame friends got it for his birthday and so I can remove it from my list Nevertheless, one big item on my wishlist remains “a tea themed game set in India” … but these always seem to vanish quickly after their first printing.
After the SUSD review I’d really like to play Condottiere at some point but I am not willing to go hunting for this. So not actually a whale…
The weirdest thing on my wishlist is probably the expansions for Leaving Earth… I bought the game last year in the US and was excited to try it. My partner sat next to me during my solo first game and said: “This could be optimized using Excel.” which ruined the game for me. However, he likes the game. I watched him play a two player one night and it’s fascinating to watch… so I kinda want the expansions… even though I don’t want to play.
There’s more stuff on my lists… but nothing quite so “pressing” besides possibly Innovation but there’s maybe a solution to that one coming up.
If I were to start a list of white whales that are just games I can’t get to the table… that is a different and much longer story dominated by me wanting to play area majority games and not knowing anyone else who does…
Here! I have the game and first expansion and the first time I tried to bring it to the table one guy who knew it said “No way, the teach is too long.” and since then it’s been solos vs the mechanical cat which are all fun but… I’d be all for a Vassal game.
Nevertheless, one big item on my wishlist remains “a tea themed game set in India” … but these always seem to vanish quickly after their first printing.