Tracy Baker: Two for the Show—Wise Fwom The Gwave!

I was dismayed to learn that Ben Baldanza was forced to abandon this column so he could focus on work, so dismayed that I asked W. Eric Martin if I could make a feeble grab for the baton and at least try to keep pace with the sterling example Ben set. I know I’m no match for the creative wit he brought to this column, but I can at least guarantee to approach the subject of two-player gaming with the same amount of passion.

I adore two-player games. It’s easier to find foes who match your skill level and easier to find people who are interested in the types of games you like to play. Downtime is cut to the bone, and overall playing times for most two-player games are short enough that you can pack a lot of them into a single session. Best of all, as Ben pointed out in his initial column, there are just a ton of options to choose from these days if all you can scrounge up is a single opponent.

I’m not nearly as famous in board game circles as the other contributors to this site, but I’ve been a full-time freelance writer for ten years now and have written about board games for Knucklebones and a few other publications during that time. I’ve been a gamer since childhood, cutting my teeth on video games with a Fairchild Channel F and on board games with a beat-up copy of Operation. Since then I’ve owned nearly every console in existence and have amassed a collection of over 300 board games (a number that certainly won’t impress any of the other writers here but is more than enough to convince my friends and family that I’ve gone off the deep end). To put my preferences in perspective, I’ll steal a page from Ben’s original column and list my personal top ten favorite two-player games:

• BattleLore (plus expansions): This is Commands & Colors done right. Now if they’d just shoehorn the Lore and War Council mechanisms into C&C: Ancients…

• Mystery Rummy #1: Jack the Ripper: The best rummy variant of all time, ever, amen. Figures that my copy was one of the few games destroyed when my basement flooded and now it’s out of print. Paging Valley Games!

• Lost Cities: Loved it, then hated it because I thought it was too simplistic, then came to love it again when I realized it had subtleties I’d never plumbed. Battle Line is the better game, but Lost Cities hits the table much more often.

• Twilight Struggle: Such a fantastic tug-of-war match that I don’t even care when I lose. One of my dreams is to make a custom copy with a magnetic wall-mounted map and hundreds of miniature flags.

• Battleground: Fantasy Warfare: I can’t paint, but I love miniatures games and this card-based gem scratches the itch without emptying my wallet.

• Blue Moon: How the heck did Reiner Knizia design so many decks that vary so much relative to one another and yet are balanced so well?

• Crokinole: Zopp and Tumblin’ Dice—two excellent dexterity games that I also own—can only sit on the shelf and wish they were as popular as this classic. It’s finger-flickin’ good.

• Octi-X: Navia Dratp is a deeper two-player abstract, and Dungeon Twister is prettier to look at, but nobody ever wants to play those when Octi-X is available. Elegant, accessible, and much trickier that you’d expect.

• Hammer of the Scots: Rommel in the Desert is technically a superior block game, but I don’t feel comfortable screaming “FREEDOM!” using an outrageous Scottish accent when playing it, so the nod goes to this game instead.

• Lord of the Rings: The Confrontation: This is the game I wanted Stratego to be, and a Lord of the Rings theme that actually works is pure icing. Is there any type of game Herr Knizia can’t knock out of the park?

Although I stuck with “pure” two-player games for this list, many of my favorite games are designed for more players but perfectly accommodate head-to-head play. I’ll explore those in a future column, and if there are any other topics you want covered or any particular two-player games you want reviewed drop me a line and I’ll see what I can do.

Many thanks to Eric for this opportunity, and here’s hoping Ben enjoys reading this column even half as much as I enjoyed reading his (assuming he has time to read anything these days).

Next Time: Asymmetrical two-player games

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Comments:

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I think Commands & Colors: Ancients is the best Commands & Colors game. The Battlelore Lore mechanism adds hollywood fx that makes the game more random. I don’t want to see this stuff in a ancients wargame. If you want Lore and cards with infinite unbalanced effects just play Battlelore. I’m happy with my CC:A 60 cards deck that I perfectly know. Posted by Javier Barón on Sep 2, 2007 at 09:34 AM | #

Welcome aboard, Tracy.  Looks like you’re off to a fine start.  I look forward to reading your future columns about the fascinating topic of two-player games. Posted by Larry Levy on Sep 2, 2007 at 10:04 AM | #

Javier - C&C: Ancients is outstanding, and I really like the way the different units are implemented, but I wish there was a mechanism in place to give you some sort of consolation prize when you roll blanks. I’m not suggesting they add magic or anything, but maybe let you collect points for really horrible roll and then let you spend those points to activate extra units or trigger a special ability. The nice thing about BattleLore is that every roll is rewarding in some way, which can’t be said about many games where the combat is resolved using dice. Posted by Tracy Baker on Sep 2, 2007 at 01:13 PM | #

Hi Tracy. I understand your point of view, but sometimes a bad roll is just a bad roll, and you don’t have to be consolated by anything, that’s life, it’s just plain bad luck. And luck is part of all battles… and all games. The important thing to me is that CC:A is a game more strategic rewarding and a lot less luck dependent than Battlelore. Posted by Javier Barón on Sep 2, 2007 at 05:47 PM | #

Tracy, thanks for taking over! I greatly look forward to your views on two-player games as well. Posted by Ben Baldanza on Sep 3, 2007 at 07:44 AM | #

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