Shelf Toad of the Year

Mark, you’re bad at games, though.

Duel in the Dark is really fun. I’ve played maybe 5-6 times and it’s quite engaging. The 3D stuff and altitude stacks really are kind of great, especially for the price.

Shellhead wrote: I gave Earth Reborn a serious look, because its sounded like something I might love. What I saw was:

-those ugly cards covered with a whole alphabet of symbols.
-cool miniatures that I would probably never get around to painting
-a game that would be a pain to set up
-a game with a steep learning curve

Definitely had some toad body parts, at the least.

I own Earth Reborn (and its not been played in a few years)- we should get together and play it sometime soon!

In defense of a shelf toad...

What's truly wrong with having shelf toads? It's a matter of perspective. Shelf toads are often diamonds in the rough. It's "ok" to keep a once beloved game with the expectation that you'll get to play it again. it's comforting to keep unplayed games on the shelf as reminders of the good times that they represent. It's "ok" to keep good games on the shelf with the hope that they'll get played one-day!

It's HOPE that keeps these games around. I'm a huge fan of HOPE since it drives the human spirit!

If things couldn't just sit idly on a shelves without becoming shelf toads, then civilization would never have invented libraries which contain thousands of books that often sit upon a shelf waiting for someone to read them. Just as good books can still have value so do good games even if they sit on a shelves waiting patiently for that day when they'll get played. Shelf Toads, FELIX CULPA!

Shelf toads, I have many. Being a wargamer, it's sort of par for the course. You buy games because they seem interesting but many are difficult to get played. I don't mind this. It brings me no distress because I expect it. There are toads though that fill me with remorse because I just know that they are great and fun if only I could convince the weaklings I surround myself with to play them, they would see and agree that they should be played more.

Such games as Starcraft, Throneworld, Sword of Rome, Paths of Glory, and Bolide. None of which, admittedly are of current release but year after year I look at them on my shelf and sigh with longing.

But as Ashi from Samurai Jack said, "Hope lives! It is everywhere! I have seen it!"


_{Man just got the chills watching that scene again. So damn good.}

If it wasn't for hope, I wouldn't buy board games at all.

Not Sure wrote: If it wasn't for hope, I wouldn't buy board games at all.

That’s why I now only buy games I ~KNOW~ will be played. Light, simple dice games and Tiny Epic X type games. My next big purchase will be Pandemic THE CURE. I suspect even Roll for the Galaxy will be too deep.

This is also why I took up another hobby. I don’t paint much anymore. I don’t build terrain. These things are wishful thinking at best, and I’m far more practical than sentimental.

SuperflyTNT wrote:

That’s why I now only buy games I ~KNOW~ will be played. Light, simple dice games and Tiny Epic X type games. My next big purchase will be Pandemic THE CURE. I suspect even Roll for the Galaxy will be too deep.

Same here. Stuff like Cthulhu Wars looks awesome as hell, but if it won't get played I've wasted my money. That's not to say I won't backslide on occasion.

I just sold 22 games today and yesterday. The only sliding back I’m doing is if Billy Jean comes on the radio.

I wasn't even joking.

I just treat it as disposable income, or voting with cash. I'm lucky enough that a couple of games a year don't put any real impact on me, and I have enough shelf space in my house to hold my (modest by boardgame standards, stupidly large by normal people standards) collection. Once in a great while, I actually get to play something I like, when the stars line up right and everyone's not too busy with life.

I try to buy stuff that intersects between what I like and what my kids will play, and once in a while I hit a winner there. But mostly I buy stuff I think I'll like, and wait. Sometimes I'll buy them *just* so the sales count, and maybe the developer and publisher will continue to design and print games that I like.

For 2017, my toad was Conan. I really enjoyed that game, warts and all (hah!), but my group was less enthused. I managed to get it played a few times when it was still new, but then it quickly went dormant.

My all-time toad would be Space Hulk. I just can't get two-player games to the table. I need to find someone/some way to fix that.

Runners-up: Clash of Cultures, Cyclades, C&C:Ancients

Stoic is right to some extent, especially for those of us that enjoy long and complex games (like Here I Stand...) I have a pretty huge library of actual, you know, books that fills most of the shelves in my house. I'm probably never going to reread any of them unless they're reference material, but I keep them because I enjoyed them and my girlfriend's kids have snagged one or two in the year that we've been in the house. Games are kinda the same way. Some of them you hold on to just for the dim prospect that they might get put on a table again. I haven't played The Hellgame in years. But I will never sell it because it was a small print run from an indie developer that will never get reprinted and there might be one day in the distant future where someone looks at the shelf and says: "Hey! Let's try that."

Stoic, that felix culpa was fantastic. Thanks for that. Given my current situation, most of my gaming shelves are host to toads but I don't really perceive them in that way any more. I did for awhile last year, and it stressed me out a little, but now that I've stopped buying/backing games I don't feel like the toads are really bottlenecking anything. It feels like having a well stocked whisky bar. I'm not going to be drinking every damn night, but when I do I'll have shelves full of the good shit to choose from.

My shelf toads (multiple because my game count has snuck up to three figures but opponents and opportunities have dropped) are basically in two groups:

Not Enough People Available to Play:
BSG - My favourite game but one play in four years !
TI3 - I did play it last year but someone else's copy because they had opponents, and actually getting to play TI4 for the same reason.
A Game of Thrones - I bought the 4-player expansion because it drops player numbers and time - but haven't been able to get four players yet.
Mare Nostrum & Expansion
Spartacus - On the infrequent occasions when I do get four players there are always games (including Marvel Heroes shellhead) ahead of it.
Warrior Knights
Fortress America

Too Many Other Games in Front Of It (the proper shelf toads I suppose):
Arkham Horror - It's been sidelined by Eldritch Horror.
Merchants & Marauders
Tide of Iron - Whenever I have a two player day (quite often) something always comes in front of it, often because i just can't be bothered reading the rules the night before. I still haven't used the 'Days of the Fox' and 'Normandy' expansions yet.
X-Wing - Same as ToI.
Twilight Struggle - just seems too much effort these days for the fun.

Actually one other category ... those I keep for nostalgia or just can't make myself sell them:
Star Wars: The Queens Gambit
Space Crusade
Samurai Swords

Seeing several people say Star Trek Ascendancy here...FWIW, my games are running 2-2 1/2 hours now with 3. It’s a weeknight game for us, starting at 6:30 and finishing by or around 9. Only hit the 3 hour mark with 4 players but that seems kind of reasonable. Would never ever ever ever play with 5. We’ve all played at least a few times now, a couple of us a lot, so yeah, the time becomes less of an issue when you really know the game. It’s not at all a case of playing on autopilot, it’s still rich, reactive play. And, as I said to Barnes, it really is probably a better game than most new things you’re putting on the table. You just gotta, you know, play it.

Yeah, that's a really good point- the more you play it, the less time it takes to play it. And I think never playing with 5 is a GREAT idea. In fact, even with the expansions out there, I still feel like 3 players is the way to go.

Ugh, now instead of divesting I'm thinking about getting the Borg before they are gone...has anyone played with the solo rules for them?