Longtime Dakkanaut
Central Valley, California
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Greetings all,
I logged every single game I played in 2012, including system / category, month, # sessions and total hours for each.
I like to document and organize data, and there are few things to me more fun than gaming. As a result, I kept a detailed record of my gaming time this past year to learn and assess as well as maintain good memories.
To log individual games played, they were broken down into the following categories:
Board & Dice Games (i.e., Super Dungeon Explore, Zombie Dice, etc):
Card Games, (i.e., Gloom, Wings of War, Munchkin)
our Pathfinder RPG sessions
and lastly the 22, yes that's right, 22 primarily miniature games or Living Card Games I either dabble in or play fully myself.
This has changed after a year of experiences, however, as some fat has been trimmed.
Those games by hour and # of sessions were:
By Hours compared to sessions
Angels 20: 19 games totaling 16 hours
AT-43: 1 game totaling 4 hours
Battlegrounds Historical: none
DUST Tactics 20 games totaling 34 hours
Dust Warfare 1 game, 1 Demo totaling 3.5 hours,
Fanticide 9 games totaling 20.5 hours
Firestorm Armada none
Hordemachine: 8 game totaling 13.5 hours
Infinity 1 demo totaling 1 hours
Lord of the Rings LCG 1 game totaling 2.5 hours
Mage Wars 6 game totaling 12 hours
Malifaux 8 game totaling 14.5 hours
Mechwarrior: none
Mutant Chronicles: 1 game totaling 1 hour
Pathfinder RPG: 6 sessions totaling 14 hours
Puppet Wars: 1 demo totaling 1 hour
Heroclix: 28 game totaling 34.5 hours
Uncharted Seas 2 game totaling 3.5 hours
War at Sea: 2 game totaling 3 hours
Warhammer 40K: 2 game totaling 7 hours
Warhammer Fantasy: 13 games totaling 28.5 hours
War of the Rings: none
Results:
I played a roughly equal amount of 13-14 or so hours of Board games, Card games and Pathfinder (each category)
Total Games: 157 Total Hours: 172
That's a lot of good times!
It was interesting to view what months I had more time to play than others. January was particularly rough due to holiday recovery, and is proving to be the case in 2013 as well.
conversely, July was the peak, with summer gaming of nearly 28 hours.
Running by Month 2012:
January: Total Games: 8, Total Hours: 12.5
February: Total Games: 12, Total Hours: 19 hours
March: Total Games: 19, Total Hours: 22 hours
April: Total Games: 15, Total Hours 19
May: Total Games: 15, Total Hours: 27
June: total Games: 20, Total Hours: 25
July: Total Games: 16, Total Hours: 27.5
August: Total Games: 16, Total Hours: 23
September: Total games: 11, Total Hours: 18
October: Total games: 14, Total Hours: 24
November Total Games: 9, Total Hours: 23
December Total Games: 5, Total Hours: 7
I kept track of every session and estimated hours fairly regularly for accuracy. What this process helped me do and clarify was help determine which games I was going to sell or trade away.
Last year I ditched:
MERCS
Firestorm Armada
Puppet Wars
Three games I did not play off my list: Mechwarrior, Battelgrounds Historical, and War of the Rings.
another game I played only once was AT-43.
I hope to get in at least one game of Mechwarrior this year.
all of my LoTR and War of the Rings painted models I am simply using as Fanticide custom warbands now.
I have too many games I am playing only rarely in comparison to the money invested, which is a concern. Variety, however, is the spice of life, and many I have friends or my son or other family membes committed, which encourages me to hang on despite the clutter and cost.
Final Observations:
Most Bang for my Buck: Heroclix with 28 games, spanning both friends and family, which is nice. Both Trek Tactics and the vastly under-rated Lord of the Rings clix took my living room by storm last year.
Two notable and close runner-ups: Dust Tactics & Angels 20, each played at least twenty times, with Dust being my girlfriend's favorite mini game and Angels 20 doubling the size of my Merced gaming group due to appeal and low buy-in price.
favorite New kid on the block: Fanticide, a setting and rule set I've always wanted. Not only does Melissa love Satyrs, Centaurs and Flying Monkeys, she has beaten me every single time we've played.
Nostalgia I will never sell: Both MW and AT-43 have a high nostalgia rate for me, however, so I will keep them even if they rarely make an appearance.
surprisingly off the radar: War at Sea was not in heavy rotation with my Merced group or my Fresno friends. Too much new stuff in '12 we think.
Trying to resist / biggest heart break: Infinity, which I feel I won't have enough time to play to even remotely learn well. We'll see, I'm very close to buying a starter.
Most Anticipated: Battlegrounds Historical, because it is essentially a miniature mass battle game that just uses cards, so storage is minimal in comparison, easy to tote, and is reportedly quite good. Plus it is the only full-on historical system I own.
Hoping Beyond Measure: a new Mage Knight Collectible or expandable miniatures game may be the one and only new system I fully jump into this year, should it happen at all. My partner wants it to happen, and so do I. Take our money Wizkids, fond memories trump common sense.
Most Tournament Play: Warhammer Fantasy, primarily in Bako with the Professor for nine games in the south valley. Followed by the excellent Steamroller Warmachine addition of 3 games to my record (most of them losses!).
and lastly, on a very positive note, our FAVORITE new game of 2012: MAGE WARS.
Superbly play-tested over the last five years, this mana-based game of combat in an arena between Mages is a non-collectible, interesting, intense and well crafted version of Magic the Gathering. While definitely a card and spellbook (deck) building system, it looks and feels like a minis game too, with visual acuity and movement important. LIke Magic but hate the randomness and expensive cards? Check out Mage Wars, it shall blow your mind into 2013 bliss.
and on that note, It's time to get back to painting.
How did all of you do? what did you sell? what did you love? what was inbetween?
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