Wednesday, January 08, 2014
Fuzzy Flow

It was a good time saying goodbye to Ben by getting in a few games. It was over games that we met. I know I speak for myself and I think I can speak for Ben in saying that good games played with good friends provide great joy. There's something about getting lost in play and the mental agility that must accompany it that satisfies me in a way that nothing else does in the same way.

We played Ice Flow twice and Stratego once. 

Stratego was a childhood favorite that I've only recently dusted off and re-evaluated as an adult. It holds up really well. And since I never get to play Hammer of the Scots (I need to wait about a dozen years for Zeke!), Stratego does provide a nice fix in its simplified "fog of war" mechanic. For me, Stratego remains the best mass market game of the 20th century. It truly is a "classic."

The Stratego match could have gone either way, but a few missteps by Ben in the mid-game meant that the last third of the game was a simple mopping up job.

Ice Flow is a game that I've almost gotten rid of since I haven't played it in such a long time (unfortunately describes most of my collection). Now, I'm convinced it's a keeper. It's one of those deceptively simple games with a lot of (mostly tactical) depth to it, a great theme, and great components.

The rules are just fiddly enough that we messed things up a few times, but I think that we both had a good handle on the game after two plays. I won the first match and Ben won the second. The tiebreaker is to occur in Canandaigua after we've both perfected our polar bear faces.


Posted by trawlerman at 4:37 AM
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