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Kevin Whitmore
United States
Albuquerque
New Mexico
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I just concluded a survey of my 500+ games that I have removed from my collection. So a corollary line of thought was to call out the games I've kept, despite their low rating or poor rank on BGG. (Don't worry, I don't intend this as a series.)
Civil War - This is an interesting development, albeit a stub that never went anywhere, in the history of wargame development. It's a Charles S. Roberts design, which means it is playable, but not especially well tuned. In this game he is introducing the new wargaming concepts of: the hex grid, odds, columnar odds table, etc. However, the players still use traditional plastic pawns as their pieces. I think the concept is brilliant. Unfortunately the game balance is off, and its on my list to try tweaking this into a better match. This is a game on the sidelines of history. As I write only 29 geeks have rated it.
Cosa Nostra - Sure, it's basically Parcheesi. But it's Parcheesi with a gang theme and drive by shootings!
Grand Prix: A Sports Car Racing Game - Another obscure one. This game comes from 1956. In fact it may have been the first game Avalon Hill ever bought to reissue. It is clearly the antecedent of Le Mans, the race game AH released in 1961. Here's the thing. This game (and Le Mans) are waaaay too slow. But I love the bones of this system. Each car is individually rated by manufacturer (which are authentic brands). So the Triumph is not as fast, but much more nimble than the Mercedes. I enjoy seeing how each car stacks up against the competition.
Im Zeichen des Kreuzes - Before there was Shogun their was Wallenstein. But before their was Wallenstein their was Im Zeichen des Kreuzes. Now I will freely admit Wallenstein is a better game (haven't played Shogun yet). But IZdK is still cool. It recreates the first crusade! What an unexpected theme. The board is very appealing. Unfortunately the game play has a few problems. One variant I enjoy applying is the simple discard any two cards to move 1 space. But even so, the battle for Jerusalem does have issues. I've seen some ideas floated to make this work better, but I'm not convinced they have fixed it yet. So maybe I will...
Liebe & Intrige - This is not a good game. But it is the perfect theme for my house. I've lost count of all the English 'manners' shows I have watched with my wife over the years. So this is a great theme for a game to play with my wife and her tea and crumpet friends!
Mare Mediterraneum - I've written before about my fascination with Jean du Poël's games, especially the ones he made while operating Historien Spiele Galerie. I own a few more, still. But if I were to only own one of his games, this would be the one. It is epic, it is beautiful, and yes, it is flawed. I have written my own game to play on these materials, inspired by the original idea. Maybe we'll play it one of these days.
Oregon Trail - I bought this game when it was new, back in 1981. While I have played it as a multi-player game, I have mostly had fun with it as a solitaire game, and as a background setting for some old west role-playing games. For extra credit you can read my session report here: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/314263/on-my-way-to-sant...
Packen Wir's! - Karl-Heinz Schmiel is (rightfully) admired for creating the epic Die Macher. But as evidenced by A la carte, KHS is not afraid to take some chances with his designs. So if you've never heard of this game, well, you missed something very unusual! The game comes with doll house furniture, wooden dowels, and a bit of a game. You just have to supply the laughs.
Spice Navigator - I enjoy having games that deliver something unexpected. Spice Navigator is the only game I know of where your sense of smell and knowledge of spice identification comes into play. Sadly the original rules don't really encourage enough of this, and the game can bog down. But I wrote some alternate rules, which worked pretty well the one time we tried it.
Totopoly - My copy is old, a pre-WWII edition with metal horses and the board that has a page you turn to get to the second board. Totopoly was a sister boardgame to Monopoly back in the day. You buy your horse, then you train it, and eventually you race him. Random? You bet. Fun? Even more so!
Thanks for reading!
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