If you check my BoardGameGeek profile for the past year and a half, you’d probably see that I’ve pretty much played jack in that time frame. That’s not entirely true. I had some gaming late in the year that I never accounted for and doubt that I could remember much beyond another fun play of A Victory Lost and a botched up play of Storm Over Stalingrad (that’s right nephew #4, we messed up. We were supposed to use 2 dice.) There’s also some games that have been added to the bookshelf during last year that I don’t think I added to my collection. So though it shows me a gaming camel over the past 18 months, I’ve played Apples to Apples and some Catan dice a few times. So yeah I’ve played something, just not much.
I happened upon my latest fix listening to The Dice Tower podcast from a few episodes back. I don’t get into it like I used to. Joe left 100 episodes ago, so the wargame aspect has been light, and since buying games isn’t a high priority anymore, I still listen because I’ve been there from the beginning. I found out about gamesbyemail.com.
GamesByEmail is a site with a variety of games that you can play with your friends over the internet. The cool aspect is that you play it on your time by your schedule. When you have time, you check out your account to see if it’s your move (you’ll also get an email notification when it’s your turn). If it is, you can make your play and then forget about it until you have time. During the work week, I’m usually able to make 1-3 turns, but the weekends have been prolific. (Today has almost seemed like we’re playing in real time during some spurts. I’ve been addicted to checking my email to see if it’s my move. :) )
My buddy ClanB and I have been playing a Risk clone for the past week or so and it’s been a blast. There are a variety of options you can use to set up the game and some are quite interesting. We’re into our 3rd and 4th game at the moment and are waiting for the Toolman to get his PC fixed to join us. (Any other interested parties in joining us, just let me know what email you want to use.) I liked Risk as a younger boy, but I probably never played it more than a few times. I’ve more than doubled that in the last weeks.
There are other games that we’ve yet to try, but I’m looking forward to giving them a try. They’ve got clones for Axis and Allies, Diplomacy, and Acquire, plus a whole lot more.
Let me know if your interested. I’m sure Clanny and I will get bored of beating on each other before too long. There’s only so many variations and strategy of 2 player Risk.
On this day…