Monday, July 21, 2014

10 games, 10 times. The 10 x 10 challenge.

Since I've been bed ridden the last two days with a bad back, I thought I'd take some time to think about the 10 x 10 challenge.

I believe I first read about it here on the Itinerant Gamer and then here on Tabletop Diversions.

I don't believe I'll bother with posting it to Board Game Geek, or worry about getting 100 games in over the next five months, but just try to select games that I want to play and play them. So while I was lying down and trying not to have a back spasm, I came up with the following list:


  • Battle Cry
  • X-Wing
  • Death Angel
  • Machinas
  • Roman Seas
  • Armor Grid
  • Warhammer Fantasy Battle 3rd Ed.
  • Squad Leader
  • King Maker 
  • Swordplay
So lets break these down a little.

Table top games:

X-Wing, Machinas, WFB 3rd Ed, and Swordplay all fall into this. Roman Seas and Armor Grid could also fall into this category or be their own category since they are both print and play.

Board Games:

Although Kingmaker and Squad Leader are what I would call "War Games" they are from the subset of games that were played on solid game boards with cardboard chits. As opposed to other games that had folded paper maps. Battle Cry has more of a parlor game feel to it, like Risk but is still fairly nuanced.

Card Games:

Death Angel was, surprisingly, the only card game on the list. We have played a fair amount of Munchkin around the house, so that may be why I didn't think to include it.

So I'm hoping to play some new games and break out some old ones that haven't seen the light of day in a long time.

And if you think to try this out for yourself, let me know how it goes.

I'll try to get the ball rolling this week.

10 comments:

  1. Glad to see you've taken up the challenge! I've found that it really does make a difference (playing many times instead of just 1). I really should post an update on my blog about this. Good luck!

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    1. Thanks John, I look forward to reading about your follow up.

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  2. can we take games we played since January or shall it start from July? I will try to get it done, but focus on a 10x5 plus extra if possible. :)

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    1. Hi Cedric, I believe the official rules do say that you can count games already played this year. I'm not going to bother with posting to BGG, so I'm not going to worry about the "rules" too much. I just want to get more games in and I think focusing on playing a few is a good idea.

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  3. Great idea for a challenge, sounds much more fun than a painting challenge! Playing games more than once a year is also a good idea :-)

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    1. Thanks Red Dog, as my rules and game collection grows I seem to play games fitfully and never really get a handle on them. I'm hoping this will also help me figure out if I really like some of them or not.

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  4. Now there's a challenge, hope the back eases up soon though Sean.

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  5. Hi Michael. Thanks. The back is being stubborn and so am I.

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  6. Sorry to hear about your back problems - hope it gets better soon.

    100 games? That's a lot of time to play; I don't think I could manage that. Though now that I come to think of it, my wife and I did play Ticket To Ride (Europe) solidly for at least 6 months when we first got it (2-3 games per evening, most evenings...).

    Most of your choices are solo or 2-player games, so that improves your chances of multiple plays. However items like Kingmaker really need 4 or 5 to work well; can you get commitment for a number of plays from that many people?

    Death Angel is a good game and I like it a lot. The dynamics change quite a lot depending on the number of teams in play, though - so you might wish to try it with 1, 2, 3 or 4 players on different occasions just to see the difference.

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    1. Thanks Hugh. Although I would like to play with multiple players I may end up playing it all solo. I don't think I've ever had a chance to play Kingmaker with anyone. It seems to me it might be a good one for a first foray into VASSAL.

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