A little overboard, perhaps...

I am expecting Twilight Struggle and the latest issue of C3i Magazine (#17) from GMT Games to arrive today. Twilight Struggle looks like an interesting "card-driven" game about the Cold War. Early reports indicate that it is a light game (for a wargame) with only eight pages of rules (again, not a lot for a "wargame") that will take 2 - 3 hours to play. I've seen the game compared to El Grande in that it's basically an area influence game (which makes sense given the subject matter... Sounds like it will be fun to play.

Came into a little bit of money after the New Year began, thanks to PTO Cash Out policies at work. So, I decided to order a few games:

• Imperium 3
• Great War At Sea: Cruiser Warfare
• Great War at Sea: The Mediterranean
• EastFront
• Hammer of the Scots
• Crusader Rex
• Fire In The Sky (FITS)
• Breaking Away
• Silent War

Hmmm, perhaps I got carried away...

First Game Played in 2006

The first game I played in the new year was Reef Encounter. This is a game I've been wanting to play since it was first released at Essen 2004. Now that Z-Man Games has published it, "the rest of us" now get the opportunity to play this game. Make no mistake, Reef Encounter is a very good game.

Yes, it's somewhat difficult to understand the rules on first reading them. The game system and theme are unique and this makes it difficult to easily compare this game to other games. This is the problem most gamers run into, I think. Someone completely new to gaming, with no pre-concieved notions, might have no problem understanding the rules.

But don't let the rules put you off. Read them and then sit down and play the game. Refer to the rules frequently and in a round or two, it will all seem obvious. The game system really is straight-forward.

Reef Encounter is a very good game with a lot of potential. I can't wait to play it again!