Table Games, Mini-epics, and Retirement Games

I’m getting ready to send another order to my online game store. There’s some new things I’d like to buy, and some older games that I want to add to my collection. So I’ve been pondering my choices, and once again I face the question that confronts most gamers sooner or later:

Do I buy the games I love, or do I buy the games that will truly get played?

Of course, phrasing the dilemma this way is at least partly a false choice. Because there are lots of games that I truly love, and that get lugged to my gaming group and get played. Repeatedly. And of course I’m never going to buy a game that I hate.

But there are games that look attractive to me that I know will sit on a shelf for years if I buy them. Many of these are wargames. And I know that if I dwell on them, read favorable reviews, and look at the photos of them posted on BGG, I may cave and acquire yet another strategic military simulation that may never feel the smooth varnished surface of a table beneath its hex map.

To clarify my thinking, I decided to do more than just ponder the merits of specific potential purchases. I’ve started to consider the various categories of games, and which categories are the most desirable. For me, it’s convenient to divide games into four categories: light table games, heavy table games, mini-epics, and retirement games. Here are my definitions of each.

Light Table Games. You know—fillers. These are the simple family-friendly games that can be played in an hour, or maybe an hour-and-a-half. These are games that I can play with my in-laws, and non-gamer friends. Many of these are eurogames, and gateway games for newbies. Games in this category that I already own include Clue, Settlers of Catan (my wife’s favorite), Union Pacific, and Ticket to Ride Europe.

Heavy Table Games. These are meatier, more complex, and can take longer to play than light table games, but they can still be played in under four hours or so. In other words, the gamer games. These are the games that I usually play with my gaming group. Many of my favorite games fall into this category. Some that I own include Power Grid, Puerto Rico, Fury of Dracula, A Game of Thrones, War of the Ring, Conquest of the Empire, Liberte, and Serenissima.

Mini-Epics. These are games that can last for hours and hours, but still can be completed in one day. Most of these are wargames (and I mentally throw many quick-playing wargames into this category just because I don’t play two-player wargames with my gaming group). Games in this category that I own include Paths of Glory, Here I Stand, For the People, Third Reich, Totaler Krieg, and Europe Engulfed. Arkham Horror gets shoved into this category because it sometimes takes more than four hours to play.

Retirement Games. These are games that I probably won’t be able to play until I retire (or at least until my daughters grow up and leave home). These games need a room dedicated just to gaming so the game can be left set up for days or weeks. I only own a couple of these: Decision Games War Between the States, and the SPI/TSR version of Advanced ETO. Huge wargames can still sometimes fascinate me, but this is the category that I try hardest to avoid. In my more disciplined moments, buying these seems a waste of money.

So back to the eternal question. Do I buy the games I love the most, or the games that will get played the most?

I’ve decided to buy only games in the first two categories. Even though I could easily buy nothing but heavy table games, I think I’ll pick up a light one just to have an additional game to play with non-gamer friends and in-laws. Right now, Around the World in 80 Days is my prime candidate for a light game purchase. I’ll suppress my inner Napoleon and avoid purchasing any wargames. But I’m not sure if this is because I’m becoming wiser with the passing of time, or because there aren’t any new wargames around this second that beam the phrase “Buy me!” directly into my subconscious.

As the years go on, I’m sure my game collection will bulge with eurogames, while my remaining wargames will disappear into the storage room. But every now and then, I’ll pull out a box, unfold the paper maps, and imagine cardboard armies advancing across the hex-covered terrain. And I’ll whisper to the box:

“Wait till I retire.”