...Alternate title: I Guess I'm a Boardgamer Now
Long time no blog. I blame the usual suspects: work, school, life commitments. Honestly though I've been in a bit of a creative funk since the new year, considering the state of the world. I've stalled out on my Super Mission Force campaign, waiting on painting one stinking miniature. My sculpting sits stagnant and even my comic book reading has tailed off as things have gotten busy. Despite this malaise, I have actually been doing quite a bit of a very specific type of gaming.
My recent discovery, the incredible boardgame Leaving Earth, is probably the most fun I've had gaming in the last 10+ years.
Last year I bought a near complete collection of the old RPG 2300AD for ~$200. Then, realizing I'd never play it, I sold the collection to Noble Knight Games for $100 in store credit. Buy high sell low, that's my motto! Anyways... despite the poor financial strategy, that $100 in credit led me purchase Leaving Earth and its expansions in January and hours and hours of gaming enjoyment.
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| Sometimes you just find rocks |
Leaving Earth is a boardgame without a board, using only card tiles. The theme is realistic management of a space program, starting in 1956 and ending in 1986. It's got exploration, danger, excitement, arithmetic. If you're a space nerd (check!) and a math nerd (check!) and a solo gamer (check!) then you want to check this game out. I'm missing sleep and sneaking home from work to play Leaving Earth, it's that good!
I've only played solo but that's really the only way I want to play. The replay value is off-the-charts: I'll spend 7 days playing a massive 30 year game and as soon as I'm done I'm setting up the next one.
The art is so good that I'd probably try LE even if the rules sucked... but they don't. Extremely tight mechanics with clearly written rulebooks and a constant creator presence over on BoardGameGeek. I even reached out to the designer, who is also the artist, to ask how he created his illustrations. His response was immediate, friendly, and detailed, which matches his responses to rules questions on BGG.
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| Just look at that art! |
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| The full game is a table hog |
My only (very minor) quibble is the exclusion of (solid core fission) Nuclear Thermal Rockets. The game has speculative (for 1956) topics like wetlands on Venus, a hollow Phobos, and Moon bugs (all of which enrich the game, even if scientifically inaccurate today) but NTRs were actually seriously considered as the front-runner technology for manned Mars missions in the 60s-70s, with full power tests conducted here on Earth. My propulsion textbooks from college all have three rocket classifications: chemical, electric, and nuclear. The omission of one of the major types of feasible rocket propulsion bugs me but not enough to give the game anything less than a 10 over on BoardGameGeek.
I talk a lot on this blog about games I'd like to play but other than my bi-weekly AD&D session I do very little actual gaming. As a RPG enthusiast and wargamer I've always thought of boardgames as "simple" and rather noncommittal, too casual for a "serious gamer" like me. I've since realized that to be a serious gamer one needs to actually play games.
So, if you'll excuse me, I need to set up another round of Leaving Earth. Maybe I'll record it for this blog.
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