Do I love Earthborne Rangers yet?

I spent the two weeks leading up to Christmas in the USA, visiting my son Phil who back in early 2024 moved to Richmond VA, taking my daughter-in-law and three of my grandchildren with him. We had a great time, and lots of games were played, including some bizarre games of chess (with a 4-year-old), some Micro Macro for kids, and Outfoxed! which was a huge hit. The kids rapidly dispensed with the need for adults to be involved, and set the game up for themselves any time they had a spare moment. (Incidentally, I was put onto Outfoxed! by a recommendation from Actualol.) Anyway, this is all tangential to what I'm posting about...

I spent the last couple of weeks before our transatlantic trip playing my new copy of Earthborne Rangers (ER). I am very drawn to sandbox games – my shelves include copies of Sleeping Gods, Xia Legends of the Drift, Star Trek Captain's Chair, Oath (yes it feels sandboxy to me), and Merchants of Venus. I was getting past the initial learning hump and starting to feel at home in the game's very appealing world. There were some weirdnesses about time and location which I was deciding whether or not to be irritated by. But the trip meant I had to put the game aside for a few weeks – which is blessedly simple to do.

When we got back home I felt the urge to set up a meaty game on my desk to play in solo mode. I had been reading and listening to enthusiastic raves about Fate of the Fellowship (FotF), but was of course unable to find a copy. So my thoughts turned to War of the Ring (WotR), in particular my copy of the 2nd edition of which I am very proud with its painstakingly painted miniatures. So after a brief struggle I mentally set on one side the idea of picking up ER again – at least for the time being – and carefully set up WotR for 2-handed solo play (inspired by memories of Ricky Royal's video play through) and had a great time. Just look at this photo, the two hobbits with their heads down, plodding across the emptiness of the Emyn Muil. Enemies in every direction, shelterless, friendless. I admit this game elicits feelings in me of pity, sorrow, anxiety; doubtless gaining power from its peerless source material.

So the question that bothers me is – given that I passed over ER to play WotR, does this mean I haven't quite been hooked by ER yet. Indeed, I quite fancy having another go at WotR, this time with the Lords of Middle Earth expansion (with miniatures I recently painted). There's a lot to be said for doing this while the rules are still fresh in my head. I do hope to get back to ER soon, but if FotF comes back into stock any time soon, it could be a while.

1830 at work

I have recently – over the last couple of years or so – been renewing my interest in 18xx games. This is  largely thanks to the 18xx.games website as well as the excellent Derailed podcast (now sadly defunct). And 18xx's growing profile has made it slightly easier to find opponents. It also helps that companies such as GMT and All-Aboard Games are making beautifully produced 18xx games. It's no longer necessary to tolerate a print-and-play vibe to explore the 18xx world.

I have a battered copy of 1830 – arguably the godfather of the genre – which I opened up for the first time in decades. I was surprised to find my handwritten records of games I played in the early 1990's, when I was in my early 30's. Five games dated between Oct 1991 and Oct 1993, which I played – and this is the bit that astonished me – with colleagues at work (at the time I worked for Winterthur Life in Basingstoke). There were also records of three more games dated between Nov 1994 and Nov 1995, which were played – less surprisingly – with my gaming group in Salisbury. 

But back to the 91-93 games – how on earth did I manage to persuade three of my colleagues to play 1830 with me?! Tom Smith, Ian Mitchell, and Chris Whitley (may they be blessed forever) – none of these were hobby gamers. 1830 is not a short game, especially when played by relative novices; you're facing 6-8 hours of intense concentration. Did I pay them to play? Or am I more persuasive than I imagine? And how did it work logistically? I vaguely remember meeting in the staff restaurant after work. Surely we could not have completed an 1830 session in one evening (some of us, me included, had a substantial commute to get home) so did we leave the game set up to carry on (unmolested by cleaning staff) next day? Or did we record and pack away the game every time (seems unlikely). But then the whole thing seems unlikely. Nevertheless, there is the evidence in Quink washable blue. It happened. 

Which leaves me impressed with my hunger to play such a chewy game and my willingness to drag non-gamers into the fun. Mind you, these non-gamer colleagues were fellow coders and techie's, so perhaps that explains some of it. Is this something that I would have done more recently? Well, writing this post has reminded me that in my last lab position, just a handful of years ago, I allowed a colleague to talk me into playing NetRunner with him after work. It's the circle of life.