Why Not Heavy Board Games

Let’s start out by looking at why I don’t generally buy heavier board games. And it comes down, mainly to one thing. They are harder to get to the table. Even the in the case of campaign games, that are heavier, which I do buy, they are harder to get to the table.

Generally there are a few more things, pieces, to the game. And so that is potentially going to make it harder to get to the table. But most of what makes it harder is that the games are more complex. That means that teaching the game is going to take longer with new players. And with the group I play with, often, it means I have a more limited target audience. Generally, for any gamer and game group, the more complex a game is the more you will limit who you can play with.

Side tangent, that isn’t a bad thing. If you really only love heavy games of whatever variety it is that you like, and you only want to play thoughts, cultivate a group to play with. Just know that the group is going to be smaller than if you play lighter games.

Why Lighter Games

So, I already answered this question, some. But lighter games get to the table easier. I can pull out these one off games to play without much effort and teach them really quickly. And generally they aren’t going to be as long, either. That means that you can get in a few games during a night.

I actually did something similar to the Brother’s Murph. I maybe didn’t get rid of light games, but I stopped buying a lot of them because I wanted to play heavier games. But I realized that those slightly heavier games, games that my wife might not be as interested in, things like that, just aren’t as useful to have in my collection.

The question for this is, is it better to have a lighter game that you like and play 10 times a year or a heavy game that you like and play 1 time a year?

And with that question, how well do you remember the rules? I shouldn’t say that heavier games only get played that little, but for a lot of people they do. See the side tangent up above. But often times the less often you play a game, the harder it is to remember how to play that game. That is another reason I like lighter games, even if I play it less often, the rules are simpler so I forget fewer of them.

Why Heavy Campaign Games

But then, on the flip side, I play and buy heavy, big, long, campaign games a lot. And I love my campaign games, but that flies in the face of why I buy lighter games, doesn’t it? And why I avoid heavier games with the longer rules teach and more set-up and pieces and side cases to keep track of. So a campaign game probably is not something I would buy.

But there is a difference for me with a campaign game versus a one off heavy game. The main one is that when I play a heavier campaign game, I play it a bunch. With my campaign game group, it’s every other week. For Malts and Meeples, it is weekly. So, it takes care of one of the issues, namely, heaving to relearn the rules.

Now, even with Tainted Grail, which we have played 30 or so different sessions of, we need to look stuff up every once in a while. But at this point it is rare that we do that, and the core game play, we don’t need to refresh anything on that. So that makes the whole process much faster to get through with the game. There is still a fair amount of set-up, but we don’t need a refresher.

That is very different than a game I play less recently. For example, I know and like games like Blood Rage and Lords of Hellas a ton. But because I play them less often, it is way more work to get them back to the table. And that is for me as the person who owns them. I could still, after not playing Gloomhaven for a while, sit down and teach Gloomhaven easily to people because I was steeped in it for so long.

Final Thoughts on Board Games

There isn’t a right way to buy games or to play games. I always go back to a quote from The RPG Academy. “If you’re having fun, you’re doing it right”. Now there is more to that about breaking rules that makes more sense for RPG’s. But the concept is the same. If you and everyone at the table are having a good time, doesn’t matter if you play a heavy game, a light game, a trick taking game, a campaign game. The point is to have fun.

And really, the most important thing is to know your group. Would I love to play a few heavier games more often, most certainly. I’d love to get Atlantis Rising back to the table soon, but it’s a bit more of a teach. Or Blood Rage or Lords of Hellas, both would be a blast to play again, but also more work to play again. I tend to keep those heavier games off to the side. And I know with my monthly game group, I need to keep it lighter.

So know your game group, Cultivate it to what you want, and maybe keep some games that aren’t quite as heavy on your shelf, if you have a game night like I do.

How do you find yourself buying games? Has it shifted over time?

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Publisher Portrait: Horrible Guild

Horrible Guild was founded in 2014 by Lorenzo Silva. Back when it was founded it was known as Horrible Games, but in 2019 they changed their name to Horrible Guild. This Italian board game company is known for making innovative and different games, which I’ll be talking about shortly. Horrible Guild is another company that does a lot of their initial funding for games on Kickstarter, but they have more of a retail presence than a Kickstarter only game company. You can find more about them on their website, here.

What Are Their Games Like?

So, I mentioned this above, but Horrible Guild really tries to create unique games. Now, not all of these games are small, but a lot of them fall onto the lighter side of board gaming. But because they are lighter, that gives them a really good chance to be creative in what they are doing.

Horrible Guild is probably best known for the game Railroad Ink. This was a roll and write that hit the markets towards the front end of the roll and write craze that we are still actively in. Now, a roll and write doesn’t sound that unique and it isn’t, but it is a good demonstration of the quality that Horrible Guild puts into their games. It came with dry erase boards and markers instead of sheets. And the dice are nice and chunky that you are using not just your standard dice. This is something that is consistently throughout all their games. They really give a ton of toy factor to what they create.

Board Game Spotlight

Railroad Ink/Railroad Ink Challenge

I have been talking about this game a lot lately. That’s mainly because there was an app that came out for Railroad Ink Challenge, and it’s great. But also the game is a ton of fun. I played it recently over on Malts and Meeples. But this game is really worth talking about, especially because in the Challenge version, it gives you a lot of think about. And because it is the game that put Horrible Guild on the map for them. Railroad Ink is all about connecting routes, making long roads and train tracks, and nothing that revolutionary. However, it takes what we already know and leverages that.

Then Challenge adds in a whole lot more, well, challenges. Basically timed requirements where if you get them done in time you get more points. Plus a few more places to score points. In some ways Challenges is less punishing because you can score points with towns and double up the use of dice. But it’s more punishing because you now have those goals or challenges you’re going for. And those sometimes don’t match well with the dice, or what how you started. Do you want to score well there or go more for routes. Both version, though, a ton of fun.

Potion Explosion

When I think Horrible Guild, though, this is the game I think of. And that is because this game has so much toy factor. It is like playing an app game, but as a board game. In Potion Explosion you pull out marbles and they drop down , if you hit two of the same color together you get those two as well. It can create a great chain reaction that is so satisfying. But beyond that, it also has fun combo game play. You use the marbles to make potions. You use the options to get more marbles. It’s not complex, but out on the table it looks like so much fun, and its good for a wide variety of gamers.

Similo

This game is arriving in the mail today. I have yet to play it, but it is a big one for them in that Horrible Guild has a ton of expansions for it. What is drawing me to the game is that it’s a cooperative party game. Now, cooperative party games are becoming more common, but this one seems like a lot of fun. It has almost a bit of a Codenames element to it. One player is it and they have a secret card, out of 10 on the table, they want you to guess. And then a handful of cards to give you clues. They can’t say anything but with the cards they play, they tell you if it’s similar or different. Then the other players need to eliminate cards. Super simple, but super fun looking.

Tiny Turbo Cars

Finally I have one that I backed on Kickstarter. This one hasn’t shipped yet, still in production and development. But this one again has that amazing toy factor. You race cars across the living room floor. Well, the board game version of a living room floor. But the toy factor element, a little controller, that you program how your turn is going to go is just amazing. It’s a sliding puzzle and it looks like an RC controller. So you slide it to create that program in real time. I am so excited to get this one in.

Final Thoughts on Horrible Guild

As I talked about at the end of the video on Malts and Meeples on Wednesday, Horrible Guild is a company that I really pay attention to now. I just like their stuff. They make really fun games, generally really accessible games, and sometimes that’s what I want. I clearly love massive board games like those that Mythic Games and Awaken Realms put out, but I can’t only have that in my collection. So Horrible Guild gives me so many unique and fun twists on games that I’d have never thought of.

What is your favorite Horrible Guild Game?

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The advice in this article, hopefully, will help people be able to decide what to buy in a more responsible manner but also decide what to keep. As when I cull games, I often consider what group I’ll be playing it with as well as other factors.

The Premise

I talk about this from time to time about how I have multiple board game groups. I play with a game night group. There are times I just play with one or two people. I play with a board game club group and a campaign group. And, I play board games solo. Plus, I often play games with my family as well. So I play games with six different groups, counting solo.

Not every game I own works with every group. I wouldn’t pull out Gloomhaven and try and make that work at a board game night. First off, 8 people can’t play Gloomhaven at once, at least not well. You’d be sharing duties on a character or house ruling everything. On the flip side, I can’t play Codenames Pictures with myself. But, both games are in my collection, because they work for groups I play with.

What Are Your Groups?

So when buying, or selling, a board game, I think it’s useful to think about first what your groups are. Do you play games mainly solo and with a significant other, except for holidays? Do you have a regular gaming group? Or is playing at parties and get together how you mainly game?

By defining the group(s) that you play with, you can start to define what types of games that you might want to get or keep. Now, there is something to be said for groups growing and dynamics changing over time, but that doesn’t mean buy everything and wait for that to happen so you can play those games. Most games will be available to some extent for a long time, whether it’s new or cycling through used. So start by defining your groups.

Let me demonstrate:

• Board Game Night Group – party games, bigger group games, sometimes light to medium games if we split into groups to game
• One or Two People Group – generally games that can be played a few times in a night, a chance to pull more off of the shelf that I don’t normally
• Board Game Club Group – big thematic games, generally not campaigns but heavier ones that don’t get played during game nights, also longer games
• Campaign Group – campaign games that’ll be played over multiple sessions
• Family Group – light games, card games, and party games
• Solo Group (aka me) – campaign/thematic games, and smaller games with solo modes

Using That Information

Once you define your groups, you can start using it to decide what games to buy. You can see some things, light games on the list twice, campaign games and thematic games show up, group games and party games show up. So when I go out do I look for those types of games in particular?

Well, kind of. I won’t ignore any game when I am searching because what groups I game with isn’t everything. But when I look at a game, let’s say I were to pick up Gloomhaven off the shelf knowing nothing about it. I’d look at it and see that it is a big campaign game. So I’d ask myself, will my campaign group get to this any time soon, will I get to it solo anytime, should I put this giant box down while I think about this? And it might be that my campaign group and I won’t get to it for two years, and I still might pick it up.

Or, let’s give another example, Isle of Cats. That game is fairly light, but not light enough for family gaming. But the theme is a lot of fun So I picked that one up because I love cats, I can maybe play it with the board game club or the board game night groups, but for sure can with the small group when those happen. But that’s only one of my groups, so is the value there for me? Well, because I love cats and because I can get it played once in a while, yes.

Not Using That Information

There also are times where I don’t use that information. Tannhauser which I picked up recently is a great example. That is a complex game that is going to take some work to get to the table. I don’t know that I have a great group for that right now, or I have one person who would probably want to sit down and learn it with me. But it’s a game that I really want to play, so I grabbed it when I could.

The question to ask yourself then is, am I willing to put the work into finding a group? Do I want to try and track people down to play this game. That is going to require work on my behalf and am I willing to do it. There are going to be some games, like if I can find Battlestar Galactica at the right time and right price. I probably have a few people who I can play it with, but to get a group together will be effort.

Really, what I would be doing is creating a new gaming group. It would be a group that I could add to the list. Those people who like one day epic games. Some overlap maybe with the Board Game Club Group, but not fully. And everyone likely has a grail game that they want to get. And those games, especially, I don’t think need to fit into a group.

Right or Wrong

So I bring this up that this isn’t a hard and fast rule. Some of this question came up because the person who was asking has a game that they love but they don’t have a group for. It might not be the right time for a game, so get it and keep it if you want. And it also might not be the right time to try and make a new group for gaming that would play it.

But, for a lot of gamers who really like to buy games and try new games. I think it can be a useful exercise to think about your groups. I said use it for buying, but I’ve used it for selling as well. Cosmic Encounter just this week is one that I sold not because I didn’t like the game, I do, but because I don’t have a group. So when looking at your shelf, consider the groups you have.

I’m actually going to do an exercise, as I go through and organize my board games again soon, and put in my notes on Board Game Geek what group the games are for. That is more for me, so if I find one that doesn’t have a group and I’m not that excited about, it can be one to sell.

Do you consider who you play with when you buy board games or sell them?

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