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Legomancer
Remember what we learned last week from Gerald Ford’s death. This is not the time to start dredging up controversial things the man may have done. He served his country, he had some tough decisions to make, and we should simply mourn his passing and not sully the moment with cheap shots at his expense.
Much to Becky’s chagrin, 2006 was my second year as a full-on boardgame geek, and here’s a baker’s dozen of games that had some kind of big influence on me. (For comparison, here is last year’s list.) You can click on the titles to get to the BoardGameGeek (BGG) page about each game.
 El GrandeWe’ll start with a few “classics” that I finally got to play for the first time. After reading about El Grande time and time again on BGG, the reissue finally gave me the chance to actually play it, and I found it to be well worth the hype. This is one of those games that, even if everyone I ever game with already had a copy, I’d still want one of my own. |
 Taj MahalThis one barely squeaked into 2006; my first playing of this was last night. A game with a lot going on in it and yet doesn’t feel as though it’s all just thrown together in the hopes of something emerging. There’s a little something for everyone here, and I think my group is going to get a lot of play out of this in the new year. |
 The Traders of GenoaAnd the third “classic” game. I think this one kind of caught us all by surprise. We’ve only played it a few times so far, but each game has been different, and each game it seems someone finds some new aspect of it to tweak. There’s an incredible amount of depth here and I think we’ve barely scratched the surface on it. |
 CrokinoleI have to mention this one. My friends and I got to play it at a small game day event this summer and we were all instantly hooked. If a good board didn’t cost over $150, I’d already have one. This is an insanely fun dexterity game that few people can seem to get enough of. |
 AntikeI’m not much of a fan of dexterity games, but I loved Crokinole. Similarly, Antike became The Civ Game Dave Can Play. I’m terrible at civ games. I just can’t do the whole “big picture” thing. But Antike helpfully slices up turns into single choices, which, though causing agonizing decisions, at least doesn’t overwhelm me like so many other civ games do. |
 Twilight StruggleSimilarly, Twilight Struggle became The Wargame Dave Can Play. Oh, I know it’s not really a wargame — it shares more DNA with El Grande than with Advanced Squad Leader — but it’s enough of one that I was a little intimidated by it at first, despite being curious. Honorable Mention status here goes to Battle Cry, which showed me I might want to take a look at Richard Borg’s “Command and Colors” games if I want to get a wargame fix. |
 GheosThis was the first year I really paid attention to the new games released at the big game fair in Essen, Germany. Gheos was one of the ones I was interested in, one the few I played, and one of the two I now actually own. Bought on more of a whim (it’s pretty and inexpensive) than anything else, I was pleased to discover a pretty interesting game inside. |
 JustinianI own this other Essen game simply because my pal Mike gifted me with an extra copy he had. I was wary of it after reading a lot of Essen reports that crabbed about how it was completely random, offering players zero control. I’ve now played it a couple of times and fully feel that’s a load of kack. Justinian might not be the greatest game out there, but it’s not nearly the lottery people seem to think it is. |
 TikalIt wasn’t all New Hotness, though. Here’s an old favorite I fell in love with again, after first playing it several years ago. It was part of my birthday order, and I’ve really enjoyed becoming reacquainted with it. |
 Merchant of VenusThis is here for my newest regular gaming buddy, Matt, who brought some needed old-school sensibility to our group. Matt showed up with Age of Renaissance, Kremlin, and this one, which is loads of dice throwing, chit-flipping, pawn-moving fun. It also doesn’t heart that Matt’s a swell guy. He’s a great addition to the group. |
 Liar’s DiceIn fact, here’s a shout out to all my gaming homies. I’m fortunate enough to have two regularly meeting groups filled with great folks. Al, Anthony, Brian, Dan, Dave, Eric, James, Matt, Mike, Quinn, TJ, and all the occasional additional folks are a game geek’s dream. You guys rule. This is also here because this year I experimented with making my own games. One of the first I attempted was Liar’s Dice, which Mike introduced me to the night I first met him. I then brought my homemade copy over to the other group and they enjoyed it as well. LIAR’S DICE UNITES US ALL! |
 Heimlich & Co.And the other big “Make Your Own Game” success story of the year, my homemade version of Heimlich and Co. (For some reason I thought it was out of print.) I’m going to be experimenting more with print-and-play in the new year, now that I know how to produce some pretty good looking components. |
  Mission: Red PlanetThis is the Game of the Year for me. From the moment I saw the artwork I knew I had to have it, and I just hoped it was actually a decent game. It is in fact a very fun game, and the theme and artwork just make it even better. You can read more about it here. |
Roma - Nice two-player game that, after I played the first time, had me immediately wanting my own copy.
Backgammon - TRULY classic game that I only played for the first time this year.
Maharaja: Palace Building in India - Gorgeous game I really loved that’s high on my want list.
Leonardo da Vinci - Interesting Essen release that I’ve only played once (it’s not available in the US yet) but which I expect I’ll be playing more of in the new year.
And what will 2007 bring? More gaming, of course. I have some other classics I still need to have a go at, such as Wallenstein (being re-released as Shogun, and I think James already has it on order), Goa, Modern Art, and the copy of Die Macher James has. I want to try out a true wargame, even if it’s just the copy of Arnhem: Across Six Bridges I got from MMP’s special offer. I do plan on slowing down my game purchasing considerably, though Blue Moon City and Maharaja are tempting my tummy. I want to play more with print-n-play games, and there’s a lot on my shelf I need to either play or trade. Also: I’m going to exercise more, completely quit biting my nails, write more letters, and learn a foreign language. Mostly, though, more gaming.
I have completed my first masterpiece with my new graphics tablet:
I call it, “Why Are You Still Drawing Lines? I’m Not Pressing Anything! Now Hang On, I Thought This Button Made It Go! No, Not a Dot, a Line!” It’s probably the first in a series.
So I have a bit of a learning curve to get over, and that’s before I even start trying to learn how to draw. But a little more practice, a little more experimenting, maybe a glance at the actual manual, and soon I’ll be taking requests on things to draw, all leading up to my Masterpiece of a comic about Harry Potter, the Silver Surfer, Han Solo, and Legolas teaming up to fight Daleks on Babylon 5 (twist ending: the fight is actually taking place in The Matrix!)
You can click on that image above if you want a large version of it to use as your Windows wallpaper, by the way.
Finished the Showcase Presents: Shazam! collection last night. Those are the weirdest damn comics. Hell, Superboy comics look downright pedestrian compared to that weirdness. DC seemed to want to aim it towards younger readers with stuff like this:
And this kid-friendly scene:
But there’s a sort of forced charm to the endeavor that makes it all come off as a little creepy and almost soulless, which is strange because I know the original Captain Marvel stories weren’t like that, and I know that writers like E. Nelson Bridwell, Elliot S! Maggin, and Denny O’Neil don’t turn everything they touch into creepy, but there’s definitely something weird going on here.
Still, there’s a lot of interesting stuff going on, such as guest appearances by such mid-70s superstars as:
Henry Kissinger
Ron Scheer, Vice President of the Scott Krauss News Agency
And of course, Captain Marvel battles some of the most evil beings in the world, such as:
Mr. Mind
Henry Kissinger
Things get especially weird in the last quarter of the collection. The Shazam! Saturday morning TV show had debuted, and suddenly the comic takes a drastic turn to reflect the goings-on there. Specifically, instead of hanging around the city battling Mr. Mind and Black Adam, Billy Batson and Uncle Dudley head off in an RV to battle Mr. Mind and Black Adam in various American locales such as Detroit and Columbus. Suddenly the Wisdom of Solomon isn’t enough…since Billy’s RV has a magic colander that can speak to the ancients from whom he gets his power, Billy suddenly has to call them once per story to work out Sivana’s cryptic threats like, “I’m going to blow up Niagara Falls!” This is also when various Vice Presidents and Directors of Human Resources at all sorts of hitherto unknown media agencies start putting in appearances. (Weird as all this part is, it’s still more interesting than the TV show, in which supervillains were nonexistent and the incredible power of Captain Marvel was instead used to put bullies in their place and catch poachers or stuff like that.)
One could argue that a comic that already featured a villainous alien worm with eyeglasses and a radio around its neck was already weird, but I swear to you, this stuff is even more bizarre than the Golden Age stuff, and as I said, more bizarre even than other Silver Age stuff.
You’ve got to feel sorry for Captain Marvel. Once DC got their hands on him, nobody had any idea what to do with him. You get these weirdo stories, then the TV show, then he gets folded into the regular DC Universe where he’s no longer marvelous, just another redundant strong guy that can fly. And now he’s apparently going “dark and gritty” to appeal to that mythical readership that loves Captain Marvel but really wishes more people in the book would get raped.
Poor Big Red Cheese. The Monster Society of Evil couldn’t take you down, but DC sure as hell could.
