The trouble with time
The primary problem with time is that it has this nasty tendency to flow in just one direction, and yet it is by our feeble attempts to learn and grow that we continuously try to dig up that which is past. Note that when I say feeble, I only mean inefficient rather than unnecessary.
Since the dawn of human culture it has been the goal of every individual and societal construct to try and replicate in culture what life has done with biological evolution. Unfortunately for human culture, its system of memory is not quite so perfect as is DNA. There is the side benefit of creating infinite variety, that being the fodder of evolutionary progress, but the downside is that some memory can then get lost unexpectedly and quickly.
Our only salvation from this as individuals is to create as many connections with the people around us as possible, and then to waste no time in learning everything that we can.
Which brings me to the secondary problem with time. It is limited. We commonly say that there are not enough hours in the day to do everything. Choices must be made.
It is always a sad event when a loved one is taken from us, especially when it is seemingly before their due time. The focus can be very different depending on the age and the relationship to the departed. With the young, the focus is often on future events and development that will no longer take place. With the old, the focus is on decisions of the past that you might have done differently, opportunities that might have been taken, but were not because one thought that there was still time. When the departed is someone you have known lifelong, you relish the memories that you shared. But when you lose someone that you cherish, but have known all too briefly, the loss is different and far more prone to creating that irksome thing called regret.
Some time ago I made a choice to take my family on an adventure. This choice was not made unilaterally and to most observers I believe the experience has been, for the most part, valuable for all involved. That said, these experiences have come at the cost of time that could have been spent with others. The math at the time dictated that odds were good that we would still have learning opportunities with those we were leaving behind. Sadly, in some cases, this was not to be.
In many ways I will regret taking my family away for these two years. Whatever benefits of experience or future financial stability are difficult to weigh against time that could have been spent learning from a brother, a brother in law, an uncle, a father, a father-in-law, a grandfather. The opportunities for an efficient transfer of memory are now gone. Now all we can do is reconstruct what we can from the other connections that were left behind.
The very fact that there were connections left behind is why we cannot allow regret to take hold. For regret just gets in the way of that reconstruction process. Regret takes up time that should, going forward, be spent creating new memories and experiences. While it is true that some memory and experience is gone, it does not mean that I cannot honor that memory by doing what I can to continue learning and move forward.
Thus in memory of James and Ron I will tinker, repair and build. I will learn to hunt and fish, or barring that, value, care for, and experience the wild places. Most importantly, I will value the time that I get to spend with the family and friends that remain, doing my best to make that transfer of memory from one generation to the next just that little bit more complete.
Games I have been playing:
The one possible practical upshot to having spent the last couple weeks living by myself is that I have been able to get a lot of board game meet ups in. Whereas normally I would not feel like I can go out and play 2-3 times per week, you can do these things when you are on your own. So here are some things that I have been playing of late.
Vast: The Crystal Caverns - This is a fantastic game to play, but a devil to teach. Because the gameplay is completely asymmetric, there is no possible way to explain the game rules and mechanics to a whole group at once. Every player has different rules and different goals. Your best bet is to get the group together, hand out the rules sheets, and then just let everyone read for 20-30 minutes, answering the occasion question when it comes up. I think this game will get the most enjoyment when there is a solid group of 4-5 people that know all of the rules for all of the roles, and it can be treated as a self contained RPG dungeon crawler.
Dreary Hamlet - Sometimes you need to play a game incorrectly once before you really get to appreciate the correct flow of the game design. This was one of those cases. The first time I got this monster hunter survival game out at a meet up, we missed a critical rule and the result was lopsided and not all that fun. The next time was much better, with a much closer result. The other lesson learned is that I probably did not need to get the extra set of coins with this Kickstarter. I am sure they will get used, but in retrospect, they are not that great. As for the game itself, the artwork is stunning, and the variability of the monsters and spells makes for good replay value. Even for players that seem to incur the wrath of the dice gods, there is still enjoyment to be had, as the first to die off is not out of the game, they then get the satisfaction of screwing with the other players from the grave, at least until they join them.
Scythe - As expected, this has gotten a lot of play time at the local meetups. Only once have I presented this game and not had a full table of willing players. As such I believe I can make some judgements based on experience. First, the artwork is beyond compare. I have a lot of pretty games in my collection and this one is up there with the best of them. Second, any of the faction/player board combinations that I have tried all seem equally balanced and fun to play. While some of the mech abilities seem a bit lame (mostly the ones that alter combat power), I am sure that there will be a situation where that little alteration will prove critical. Part of the problem here is that I o tend to avoid combat, and that has gotten me into trouble on a couple occasions. More than once I have made the mistake of believing that other players are as averse to combat as I am. Those games I usually lost badly. But I learn from these lessons. Games that give you an opportunity to learn and improve strategy for the next time are valuable indeed. This is certainly one of the best.
North Sea Saga: Shipwrights of the North Sea - The first install meant of the North Sea Saga is a fun little set collection, resource management game, where the goal is be the first to build your fleet of four ships, with the captain who built the best fleet the winner. I would generally consider this to be a filler type game, and probably won’t play it a whole lot out of the context of the other two in the series. but in that context it is a beautiful thematic set-up for the next two games.
North Sea Saga: Raiders of the North Sea - This is a wonderful worker placement game with one of the simplest worker mechanics I have ever seen. On every turn you place a worker, and pick up a worker. That is pretty much it. If you can handle that, you can play this game. The depth of strategy comes from the planning of the raids and the timing of collecting the necessary resources and crew for those raids. Delay too long, and attractive raids will be taken out from under your nose. Move too quickly, and you will lose out of precious points. Ultimately it does come down to how well you can manage the timing of resource collection versus spending those resources. The variability of the crew cards does give enough of a random element to give replay value, but you do also have to know how to effectively use those cards. Spend too much time going down a fruitless path to your own peril.
North Sea Saga: Explorers of the North Sea - The most recent installment I have described as Catan-ish game of area control and planning. As the players build out the board, opportunities to score are exposed and strategies begin to form. As the game goes on, there is just as much import given to deciding what things can be accomplished, and what things should be left behind. Whether your strategy relies on collecting livestock, building outposts, conquering settlements, or destroying ships, you have to pay attention to them all or wish one of your opponents running the table.
Simurgh: Call of the Dragonlord - I am still not quite sure what to think about this game. My first problem is that I need to formulate a better way of teaching to new people. As pretty as the board is, it is just busy and unclear enough that it can be a chore for new people to decipher. The other thing I need to straighten out is the setup. A better storage solution would help. one of the reasons that setup takes so long is that sorting time with the various tiles. If these were organized better, and if I took the time to sort them back out after each game, that would be easier and faster. It is the classic deckbuilder problem. You have items that need to be sorted for setup, but naturally get randomized during the game. Regardless, I still think the game is different enough from the other worker placement games in my collection that warrants Simurgh the requisite effort.
Token Trilogy and new coins - Darn you Stonemaier Games! Why do you keep coming up with products that I must throw money at? The latest edition of their upgraded components finally arrived, along with the extra set of Viticulture and Scythe coins that I ordered. The next thing I need to do is print off the list of games for which these tokens can be used, though I already have ideas. I routinely use the upgrades for Simurgh, and am pretty sure I can make use of them in the North Sea games. My only irritation with this batch is that each box has six compartments, but usually more than six kinds of tokens. Grr. storage irregularities. So now I either have to keep them in the ziplock bags, or have wells that are mixed up. Or I can face my old gaming storage enemy: foam core.
