A Solo Obsession and the Covid-19 Launchpad
OK, so I play board games and war games. Often with others. Sometimes on my own.
Especially on my own during pandemics.
War-gaming is not a new obsession, just one that lay dormant. For context, I played classic Avalon Hill board games as a teen in the ‘80s with a couple of friends. Those games now live in the loft except when I dig them out for a nostalgia hit.
Especially on my own during pandemics.
War-gaming is not a new obsession, just one that lay dormant. For context, I played classic Avalon Hill board games as a teen in the ‘80s with a couple of friends. Those games now live in the loft except when I dig them out for a nostalgia hit.
However, life intervened and the hobby went into cold storage until I discovered Cardiff’s superb games shop Rules of Play.
Starting with the classic game Carcassonne, I’ve built up a collection of modern board games. They are the fantasy space to which I retreat.
This blog opens as the UK exits from its first three weeks of Covid-19 isolation and as our government declares we remain in this state for at least another three weeks.
There’s plenty to keep me busy - work, the kids, living in this strange altered state - but in lunch breaks and in the evenings, I have a bit of time on my hands. I also have lots of games that, in normal times, I don’t play often enough.
Isolation demanded a project.
As the lockdown started, I got hold of a game from Rules of Play. Falling Sky: The Gallic Revolt Against Caesar recreates Caesar’s campaign in Gaul in the years c.54BC - 52BC. Sound niche? It is.
The game is the sixth in GMT Games’ COIN system, which simulates counter-insurgency conflicts, from drug-running in Colombia to the Vietnam War to Gandhi’s campaign against the British Raj. Falling Sky is the first game I’ve played in that series.
These games lend themselves well to solo play. I bought Falling Sky to create a distraction from the anxieties of isolation, with no expectation of playing the game other than by myself; my wife and kids are unmoved by my hobby.
Where things took a weird turn was the decision to post my play of the game, blow-by-blow, turn-by-turn, on Twitter.
For the first ‘year’ of the game, I did just that, attracting a few new followers and a great deal of incomprehension from the people who normally follow my unexceptional Twitter feed.
Starting with the classic game Carcassonne, I’ve built up a collection of modern board games. They are the fantasy space to which I retreat.
This blog opens as the UK exits from its first three weeks of Covid-19 isolation and as our government declares we remain in this state for at least another three weeks.
There’s plenty to keep me busy - work, the kids, living in this strange altered state - but in lunch breaks and in the evenings, I have a bit of time on my hands. I also have lots of games that, in normal times, I don’t play often enough.
Isolation demanded a project.
As the lockdown started, I got hold of a game from Rules of Play. Falling Sky: The Gallic Revolt Against Caesar recreates Caesar’s campaign in Gaul in the years c.54BC - 52BC. Sound niche? It is.
The game is the sixth in GMT Games’ COIN system, which simulates counter-insurgency conflicts, from drug-running in Colombia to the Vietnam War to Gandhi’s campaign against the British Raj. Falling Sky is the first game I’ve played in that series.
These games lend themselves well to solo play. I bought Falling Sky to create a distraction from the anxieties of isolation, with no expectation of playing the game other than by myself; my wife and kids are unmoved by my hobby.
Where things took a weird turn was the decision to post my play of the game, blow-by-blow, turn-by-turn, on Twitter.
For the first ‘year’ of the game, I did just that, attracting a few new followers and a great deal of incomprehension from the people who normally follow my unexceptional Twitter feed.
I enjoyed the interaction, which included some nice comments from the game’s designer, Volvo Ruhnke, but the stream of Tweets I was churning out started to feel oppressive.
I played the game to completion. Taken out of context, the image below, which captures the end game state, probably won’t make much sense to you. To me, it marks the end of an enthralling journey, depicting the position after the Gaulish Aedui faction squeezed a narrow win, having stabbed Caesar in the back as he scrambled around to suppress northern Gaul.
Yet, as I reviewed the game, it became clear I had butchered the rules. There were so many significant errors that I had to chalk this down as a trial run, a test of the sophisticated but complex COIN system.
That, however, could not distract from what was still an awesome gaming experience.
I played the game to completion. Taken out of context, the image below, which captures the end game state, probably won’t make much sense to you. To me, it marks the end of an enthralling journey, depicting the position after the Gaulish Aedui faction squeezed a narrow win, having stabbed Caesar in the back as he scrambled around to suppress northern Gaul.
Yet, as I reviewed the game, it became clear I had butchered the rules. There were so many significant errors that I had to chalk this down as a trial run, a test of the sophisticated but complex COIN system.
That, however, could not distract from what was still an awesome gaming experience.
I had also enjoyed creating the narrative. It felt like something I wanted to do more of, but maybe not on Twitter. Maybe on a blog instead.
So here we are: a blog in which I will, from time to time, play solo war games, some new, some vintage, creating the storylines that these richly themed games demand.
I will never write a novel, so this will be the closest I ever come to writing a story.
So is it time to give Caesar another run out? Soon, certainly, but not yet.
For now, we must travel from Gaul to India...
I will never write a novel, so this will be the closest I ever come to writing a story.
So is it time to give Caesar another run out? Soon, certainly, but not yet.
For now, we must travel from Gaul to India...
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