Category Archives: by the numbers

by the numbers

BTN January 2018

by the numbers, gaming stats, stats

Wow am I late in getting this post out. Better get on with it…

January is that one month of the year that seems to drag on. I think the blindingly obvious thing from last month is I played a lot of Magic the Gathering. This won’t be the case for much longer. From May onwards it will drop considerably, I’ll still be playing it. Just not as often because the opportunities to play won’t be there.

Two legacy games (Gloomhaven and Charterstone) started last month. I enjoy that style of game, I like the way actions have an impact on future plays. It gives them extra meaning.

Three new games got to the table. One of them a legacy game.

Sadly I only played seven games all month. I think due to scarcity of funds, the start of the legacy games, being able to afford the other meet ups has been hard. So it’s meant I’ve not attended those and thus the opportunity to play more games has been less.

Anyway here are the stats…

Here are the updated measurements of my averages.

The final section as usual presents the data graphically so we can try and see trends. As you can see MtG has been distorting things a lot recently.

My Game of the Month…

This can only be Charterstone. Lovely art work (which I will go into a bit more in my next game report for it), worker placement (a mechanic I really like), legacy element, great components, once finished as a legacy game can still be played, a recharge pack allows the legacy side to be played a second time using the flip side of the board. Yeah delightful legacy game, and well deserved winner of game of the month.

Worst Game of the Month…

Yep there is a “winner” of this infamous award this month, and it’s down to its butt ugly awful artwork. Yep Escape the Dark Castle despite being an ok game, has dire art that puts me off wanting to play it. So for the art alone it’s getting this award.

Hopefully hitting the table in February…

I failed miserably last month to get these two classics to the table. So let’s see if I have better luck in February with them.

  • Suburbia – I really need to get this to the table. It’s been sitting in my collection for a while now. It’s shameful I haven’t played it yet.
  • Ghost Stories – another classic that has been sitting in my collection. About time this saw the light of day also.
  • Tao Long – I like abstract games, and I really need to get this Kickstarter to the table.

  • The weekly Friday Evening Gaming at The White Lion (or FEG@WL as I call it)
  • Every second Wednesday of the month we have our monthly meet up. This month that second Wednesday is next week. Which I’m not sure will be well attended by people in relationships. Their partners might get upset.

If you are in the area and want to attend one of the events, please visit the Fenland Gamers Facebook page for further details about the event. Hope to see you there

BTN 2017 Edition

by the numbers

It’s been an incredible year of gaming. But I think 2017 will be remembered as a year of big box and epic games. And big boxes do present a storage issue, let alone getting them to the table. Which to be fair I haven’t done too bad at doing.

I think it’s also been a year where I have been a little “flat” when it has come to getting excited about new games coming out or being announced, especially round or at big gaming conventions. At the UK Games Expo I went along with no shopping list, or I’ve got to see that game. Gencon and Essen nothing was grabbing me and getting me excited. To be honest in the list of games for 2018 I’ve seen on The Dice Tower nothing is really grabbing me for the up and coming year either.

Kickstarter has been busy this year, and I have to admit when it has come to the fulfilment stage of backed projects that my “reward” for the project has been the last one out of the warehouse. Which has been very frustrating. But there have been some great Kickstarter projects delivered. I don’t think any have been duds yet. Although Clans of Caledonia has been close with its production quality, and graphic design.

Right let’s look at the headline numbers for 2017…


I played 124 games!!!! That’s amazing. I can’t believe that. If you’d asked me to guess before hand I might have gone 70 – 80. The number of plays is super high thanks to two games. Mid year it was Star Wars: Destiny and the last quarter Magic the Gathering. Two games that exploit the addict side of me, but also allow me to do something I enjoy a lot, deck construction. The number of new games played is actually 70, because 6 of those games the BG Stats app counted as new were ones I had played before, but before records began with the app. But 70 new games played is incredible. I didn’t actually buy or own 70 new games! 23 of those games were owned by some-one else, and some of those new plays were games I’d already owned and finally got to the table.

Here are in no particular order my top 9 most played games of 2017.

Ok let’s look at the two challenges I set myself for 2017. The first up was a challenge to get my city building themed games to the table. I kind of bent the rules on this one and included plays for the later half of 2016 as well. Still not managed to get Suburbia to the table.

The second challenge was to encourage me to get my bigger games to the table. To be fair this challenge should have been updated to include Twilight Imperium 4th Edition (TI4). There are at least three on the list that I really want to get to the table, and need to try harder to achieve this. But I got Star Wars: Rebellion to the table three times in the year, A Game of Thrones hit the table five times, Xia twice, plus TI4 twice in the month it came out. So it’s not as if I’m not getting the big ones to the table.

I’ll be setting a couple of new challenges for 2018 in the next couple of days and I’ll share what they are on here.

And there you have it, that was my 2017 in gaming.

BTN December 2017

by the numbers, stats

Wow that’s Christmas and New Year been and gone, back to work tomorrow. But it’s also the end of another month of gaming. Which sadly for you lot means more boring stats, and very little insight. Let’s just jump right in with the numbers this month.

Again I beat the numbers when it comes to plays, mainly thanks to MtG. But the played games once again falls just short.

The final section as usual presents the data graphically so we can try and see trends. Yes I played lots of MtG more than the previous month.

My Game of the Month…

This month there are a few contenders for the title. I think any other month anyone of them could claim the title. But one with its immense scope, and just the fact it is so epic, and truly lives up to those words, it can only be Twilight Imperium 4. I hadn’t played the third edition (hopefully during the Summer). But this updated reprint by FFG which includes parts of some of the expansions is truly an epic game.

My gaming moment of the month…

This has to be one of my students MtG game in the tournament that we held at the end of term. Two students were playing, one student was playing dinosaurs and had pumped up a single creature to a 19/19 which he promptly sacrificed using fling to do unblockable damage to the other player. Thinking he’d won with that killing blow, he packed his cards away. It was then pointed out to him that his opponent had on the field a creature I think it was that had the text on it saying that he was unable to lose the game, and his opponent couldn’t win, so he hadn’t won. It was impossible to reset the game to its previous game state, so his opponent was declared the winner. The students reaction was so funny, and over the top. It has to be the gaming moment of the month.

Worst Game of the Month…

It is the season of good will to all, and luckily there has been no game to be thrown into the Nantucket Wing of Shame this month.

Hopefully hitting the table in January…

I’m leaving the two classics that I shamefully haven’t played yet on the list for January.

▪Suburbia – I really need to get this to the table. It’s been sitting in my collection for a while now. It’s shameful I haven’t played it yet.

▪Ghost Stories – another classic that has been sitting in my collection. About time this saw the light of day also.
The weekly Friday Evening Gaming at The White Lion (or FEG@WL as I call it) is usually on a Friday, but double check on our Facebook page first.
Every second Wednesday of the month we have our monthly meet up. This month that second Wednesday is the 10th. Some of us are starting a Charterstone campaign that evening.
If you are in the area and want to attend one of the events, please visit the Fenland Gamers Facebook page for further details about the event. Hope to see you there

BTN November 2017

by the numbers, gaming stats, stats

Well that’s November done and dusted, we are now on the home stretch to 2018. But how did I do gaming wise in November? As you will see this was an amazing month for the number of plays. In fact a record breaking month! But the number of games I played was a new all time low. The reason for that is that there has been no Friday Night Gaming at the White Lion for most of November. I’ve more or less stopped organising these because of lack of interest. But as you will see I have played a few games of Magic the Gathering this month. Most of these games have been against my students, one or two of them seem to have become addicted to the game.

Anyhooo, here are the stats for November 2017…

Here are the different measures for the average. It’s pretty obvious that the plays smashes them all, but the plays is considerably under.

The final section as usual presents the data graphically so we can try and see trends. This big spike is going to skew things a bit I think.

My Game of the Month…

There was only one new game in November and because of the issues I reported with the size of the components and the hard to read numbers on the tiles, I can’t in all honesty make it the game of the month. So for the second time this year there is no game of the month.

My gaming moment of the month…

This will be the first of an “as and when” addition to this monthly retrospective.

Worst Game of the Month…

The board game world breathes a big sigh of relief as once again there is no new entry to the Nantucket Wing of Shame. Although the Barenpark Cellar of over hyped games does take up a lot of room in it.

Hopefully hitting the table in December…

Clans of Caledonia did make it to the table in November. So I have dropped that off the list.

  • Suburbia – I really need to get this to the table. It’s been sitting in my collection for a while now. It’s shameful I haven’t played it yet.
  • Ghost Stories – another classic that has been sitting in my collection. About time this saw the light of day also.
  • Twilight Imperium (4th Edition) – came out earlier than expected. A couple of game sessions are set up to play this, hopefully they will happen.

  • Every second Wednesday of the month we have our monthly meet up. This month that second Wednesday is 13th December. More details on the clubs Facebook page (link at the bottom of  this post).

Click on the image to get a larger view of the gaming sessions planned so far for the month of December.

If you are in the area and want to attend one of the events, please visit the Fenland Gamers Facebook page for further details about the event. Hope to see you there

BTN October 2017

by the numbers, stats

We’re back baby! Well after the dip last month, this month has bounced right back. Getting some of my students hooked on MtG has helped a lot on this front.

In general you can tell when I have played a collectable game of some sort in a month because the number of plays shoots up.

Some old friends found their way back to the table (Guilds of London, The Manhattan Project and Kemet). And I was pretty glad they did.

I think that there has been a good mix of different weight games, and types of games this month. I’m almost tempted to say it’s been a very strong month for games played if we look at what I actually got to the table.

Here is the stats for October.


Let’s look to see if I beat the averages. I totally smashed the measurements for plays. Not even close. But for played games I under performed for everything but the mode measurement.


The final section as usual presents the data graphically so we can try and see trends.

My Game of the Month…

There were three new games that I got to play this month. The first was the micro/filler card game Red7,  the second the horror co-op survival game Sub Terra and the third was the second edition of the Martin Wallace board game London. All completely different games, yet really enjoyable. Sadly all the baggage that surrounds Sub Terra rules it out from the running for this title. I think both of remaining two games are good enough to get the much coveted title of my game of the month. But I think that the quality issues of the cards in London are enough to give the title to Red7. It’s a harsh way to lose, but I had to use something  as the deciding factor.

This is a great game, fun to play, sounds simple when you hear the rules, but surprisingly complex. Plus With the basic, advanced and variant rules able to grow with the players as they become more familiar with the rules. Worthy winner of my game of the month.

My gaming moment of the month…

I think it has to be the “hey look over there, nothing to see over here” play in Kemet, when Liz stopped Dave from winning, leaving it open for me to get victory. That was an awesome moment. 

Worst Game of the Month…

What’s happening yet another month where this infamous award has not had a single nomination. If I’m not careful Jonathan will be putting the Nantucket wing of shame to other uses, like housing new purchases instead.

Hopefully hitting the table in November…

Two out of three ain’t bad. I managed to play multiplayer Commander in October and by the skin of the teeth play Zombicide with the Big Bang Theory Characters. Sadly I didn’t get Hero Realms to the table. But I think I need new goals for November.

  • Suburbia – I really need to get this to the table. It’s been sitting in my collection for a while now. It’s shameful I haven’t played it yet.
  • Clans of Caledonia – when this kickstarter arrives (it was in the post at the time of writing allegedly) this will be getting to the table ASAP.
  • Ghost Stories – another classic that has been sitting in my collection. About time this saw the light of day also.

We have our regular events happening which are:

  • The weekly Friday Evening Gaming at The White Lion (or FEG@WL as I call it)
  • Every second Wednesday of the month we have our monthly meet up. This month that second Wednesday is 8th November and will be meeting up at The White Lion.

Also this weekend our Magic the Gathering League Season 2 kicks off, here are the dates for when it is being held.

There will be other gaming sessions going on also in November. Details will go up on our Facebook page for when and where.

If you are in the area and want to attend one of the events, please visit the Fenland Gamers Facebook page for further details about the event. Hope to see you there

BTN September 2017

by the numbers, gaming stats, stats

I enjoy this monthly opportunity to look back and reflect on the previous months gaming. But when you see this months numbers, holy cow the impact of Dale and I not getting a chance to play Star Wars: Destiny is massive. It’s a very busy time of year for us, new timetables, not a lot of gaps where we are free at the same time. I think we have found a slot one lunchtime we are both able to play a couple of games. We will have to see how that goes.

Incredibly there was only one new game played this month. I don’t think that has ever happened. I’m going to have to review the stats, because if it did then it was in the early days of record keeping I’m sure.

Super happy that Scythe got to the table twice. It’s a great game, and once that new expansion hits will be hitting the table even more. Also two other big games hit the table this month. It’s kind of important to acknowledge the impact these games have on the number of plays for the month. Take Star Wars: Rebellion for instance. That game for Diego and myself on Saturday took four hours to play (including the new setup involved with the expansion). If we had been playing lighter games instead we might have got three or four games/plays in, in the same time period.

I also wasn’t able to attend a couple of gaming sessions this month due to life stuff, other commitments. So that also would impact the stats a little. But not by much.

Anyway enough waffling, here are the cold hard and fast numbers from the BG Stats app for September.


Averages time. I only beat the mode number of plays in September. The others I was not even close. And I repeat this with the number of games played also. Under on arithmetic mean and median, just over on mode.

The final section as usual presents the data graphically so we can try and see trends. After the fluctuating recent highs, September looks like a stock market crash on the plays front. Maybe I should normalise the previous months so they don’t have the Destiny numbers and see how big a drop it is if any?

My Game of the Month…

There was only one new to me game this month. But I don’t like to just give an award by default. Does Broom Service warrant being game of the month? I liked the game, it has some nice mechanics, great artwork. But still I’m not sure it makes the grade to be game of the month. So no winner this month.

Worst Game of the Month…

I’m glad to report no candidates for this award this month.

Hopefully hitting the table in October…

But going to put the ones from the last month back on for October.

  •  Zombicide – I want to get this to the table with the Big Bang Theory characters and see how they do in the zombie apocalypse.
  • Hero Realms with the character expansions.
  • Magic the Gathering Commander (with more than two players)

  • The weekly Friday Evening Gaming at The White Lion (or FEG@WL as I call it)
  • Every second Wednesday of the month we have our monthly meet up. This month that second Wednesday is 11/10/17.

I’m hoping that if you click on the image you can see what days we have stuff planned for so far in October.

If you are in the area and want to attend one of the events, please visit the Fenland Gamers Facebook page for further details about the event. Hope to see you there

BTN August 2017

by the numbers, gaming stats

OMG! What a month of gaming. Despite Jonathan being tied up with his new life event, who I would normally be playing more games with over the Summer, but was not able to. I still managed to play more games than last month, and get more plays in (that’s Star Wars:Destiny mainly). Some of those games were even big “epic” games. Games that take more than a couple of hours to play.

I had my son Nathan visiting for a few days and managed to get to play some games with him. Two club members birthdays also meant opportunities to play great games, with some amazing people in celebration of those birthdays.

Seven new games hit the table. That was pretty good. Plus I got a play of a game that although shown as new (I had played it before, but that was long before I started recording my game plays, but if you search back far enough on here you will see I talked about the plays at the time) kinda was! Well I hadn’t played Memoir ’44 as a multiplayer Overlord game. It really was great fun.

Yeah the Summer hols have been really great this year.

Without further ado, here are the nicely presented gaming stats for the month.

Let’s now look at these different measurement of averages for the month. The number of played games this month is a cats whisker under the average (which ever one you choose apart from the mode). While the number of plays smashes the ball out of the park.


The final section as usual presents the data graphically so we can try and see trends. What it tells me is I need to play more games!

My Game of the Month…

This month there was a field of seven potential candidates to choose from for my game of the month. But in reality that field was only four of them. Those four being Tiny Epic Quest (TEQ), Mansions of Madness Second Edition (MoM:SE), Battlestar Galactica (BSG), and The 7th Continent.

As I’m writing this post, and looking back at these games, I’m thinking this is really a hard decision to make. Which one has me chomping at the bit to play it again? Which one stood out above the others? MoM:SE certainly impressed me. So much so it inspired a new section. But was that enough to grab this prestigious award? BSG was fun. TEQ was The Legend of Zelda on the tabletop.

But I think The 7th Continent is edging it. I think the share scope of the game, the fact it has captured those “choose your own adventure” books from my childhood/teenage years, the replay-ability, the innovative save system. Plus I have to admit sadly that when I see the box I think “I must get this to the table again”. But it doesn’t stop there. Even though I have the game, I can’t wait for the Kickstarter that reprints the game! They are are promising new expansions. Which I want. There is a shit load of content in this game already. But I want more. Plus I want to buy the sleeves for the none standard cards. But mainly I want the new expansions.

This really does deserve to be my game of the month for August.

My gaming moment of the month…

This will be the first of an “as and when” addition to this monthly retrospective. The winner of this inaugural adhoc award can only be Mansions of Madness Second Edition, and the ultimate betrayal and screw job that got me a solo win for this co-operative game (you can read a badly written account of it here). It was hilarious when it happened. We were still talking about it a couple of days later. I’ve been boring colleagues at work with it all week. But then the looks on their faces of “do I look like I give a feck?” or as if I had just shown a card trick to my dogs was worth it.

Worst Game of the Month…

Once again this infamous award has no game to hang itself around.

Hopefully hitting the table in September…

Wow, I managed to get three out of the five to the table from last months list. I really thought I was going to struggle to get any to the table. My track record isn’t great. September is a busy month for us academics. We are expected to work! New students etc. So I am going to keep this a short list this month, and add just one new game.

  •  Zombicide – I want to get this to the table with the Big Bang Theory characters and see how they do in the zombie apocalypse.
  • Hero Realms with the character expansions.
  • Magic the Gathering Commander

As usual we have our regular events for the club, which are:

  • The weekly Friday Evening Gaming at The White Lion (or FEG@WL as I call it)
  • Every second Wednesday of the month we have our monthly meet up. This month that second Wednesday is 13th September, and will once again be at The White Lion.

Below are a sample of the current events/meet ups that we have planned for September.

If you are in the area and want to attend one of the events, please visit the Fenland Gamers Facebook page for further details about the event. Hope to see you there

BTN July 17

by the numbers, gaming stats, stats

“School’s out forever, School’s out for summer”

The start of July is a busy time. We’ve just said good bye to the students, work is being externally moderated (that’s a nervous time for sure), staff development is taking place, some planning is going on for the new academic year. Yet while all that is going on we can see the light at the end of the tunnel that is our holiday.

Despite a busy two weeks Dale and I still managed to squeeze in 39 games of Star Wars: Destiny for the month. Or team building as we like to call it. Two afternoons of our holiday have helped with this.

But I’m jumping the gun, you haven’t seen the numbers for the month. So here they are…

I played some big games this month. And I’m loving that. Not only that but a couple of them got to the table more than once. The MtG league started, it was well attended and everyone had a great time. A date was also set for the next league day (see below).

So let’s look at the three different types of average for my data.


I’ve managed to beat the averages on number of plays. But the games played failed to beat two of the measures.

The final section as usual presents the data graphically so we can try and see trends.

My Game of the Month…

I liked Descent, but I think there can only be one winner this month.  This months game of the month is …

Xia is soooo epic. I don’t get tired of describing it as Elite the board game. I can’t wait to introduce Nath to this game. I think he will like it. Just play this sandbox game, you will be impressed by the quality of the components, the game play. It’s just amazing.

Worst Game of the Month…

I can gladly declare that there is no new inductee to the Nantucket Wing of Shame or Barenpark cellar of over hyped games for this month.

Hopefully hitting the table in August…

All new games this month. You will notice I have put a few of kickstarters on the list that have either just arrived or I am expecting to arrive during August.

  • The weekly Friday Evening Gaming at The White Lion (or FEG@WL as I call it)
  • Every second Wednesday of the month we have our monthly meet up. This month that second Wednesday is on the 9th.

Please note that the BSG game below is now at the maximum player count.


If you are in the area and want to attend one of the events, please visit the Fenland Gamers Facebook page for further details about the event. Hope to see you there

BTN June 17

by the numbers, gaming stats

June started off with the UK Games Expo. I played some games there but not as many as the majority who attended I would imagine.

Dale and I are playing Star Wars:Destiny a LOT! Which has really pushed up the number of plays this month. With playing it so much is it no wonder it was number 3 in my Top 100 Games (that I own and have played)?

I am surprised how few actual games I have played this month. I know that I was unable to attend one FEG@WL this month, and a couple of weekend sessions fell through. But still I’m shocked at how low this was. Probably one of the lowest months on that front.

Let’s look at some other measures. Still no attractive graph. So you are stuck with plain raw data.

The final section as usual presents the data graphically so we can try and see trends.

My Game of the Month…

Out of the new games to me that I played this month, only one really warrants this prestigious award, and that’s Orleans . The other new games for the month were on the whole good, but not game of the month material. Ok Kanagawa may have got it otherwise.  

Worst Game of the Month…

This won’t come as any surprise to anyone, but we do have a candidate for this infamous award this month. Do bears shit in the woods? Well they have and it contained this game. Yep Barenpark is my Worst Game of the Month for June. I’m not going to say anything else about this horrendous game. I’ve already said enough about it through out the month.

Hopefully hitting the table in July…

But going to put the ones from the last month back on for July.

  • Magic the Gathering – hoping to get a league running for the Summer.
  • Broom Service – final month on this list.
  • Mech vs Minions – no movement on this either.

  • The weekly Friday Evening Gaming at The White Lion (or FEG@WL as I call it)
  • Every second Wednesday of the month we have our monthly meet up. This month that second Wednesday is 12th, and will be at The White Lion.

If you are in the area and want to attend one of the events, please visit the Fenland Gamers Facebook page for further details about the event. Hope to see you there.

BTN May 2017

by the numbers, gaming stats

Wow where did May go? The day this post goes live sees me travelling to Birmingham for the UKGE, after having seen Wonder Woman. A great way to start off the month of June and end half term.

I know after last months amazing record breaking figures it was going to be hard to top that or get close. But still it does seem to be a bit of a drop. Looking at the games played there have been some “epic” games hitting the table in May. For example Star Wars Rebellion was just over 5 hours of game time, and although we were nearly finished, we didn’t finish. Then there was 3 hours or more on Eldritch Horror. So bigger, more meatier games in May. Plus one or two organised meet ups fell through due to life, the universe and everything.

As the “stats” show I played more than the average this month. But was under for the played games.

The final section as usual presents the data graphically so we can try and see trends.

At the moment it looks like my overall trend for 2017 is I’m playing more than 2016.

My Game of the Month…

Not many new games (to me) hit the table in May. I think that the contenders for this highly regarded accolade have to be Star Wars Rebellion and Terraforming Mars.

A tough choice indeed. If my Verses posts and the pairwise comparisons I have been doing have taught me one thing it’s how to make tough choices. Plus how to avoid those tough choices.

I liked Terraforming Mars. But the share epic nature of this game that manages to capture the original trilogy is just mind blowing. FFG knocked it out of the park production wise. This is an awesome game. It deserves to hold the title of my game of the month for May by itself. 

Worst Game of the Month…

Game publishers around the globe will be breathing a big sigh of relief because there are no new inductees into the Nantucket Wing of Shame (still located at Jonathan’s house, despite him actually off loading said dire excuse of a game to some poor unsuspecting sap).

Hopefully hitting the table in June…

Wow I can tick two off this list for May. Star Wars Rebellion and Star Wars: Destiny both got to the table. For June I’m just going to leave it to these two remaining games on the May list.

  • Broom Service – I think a special learning session needs setting up for this.
  • Mech vs Minions – need to arrange a big session for this I think.

Fenland Gamer Events for June (so far)…

The Fenland Gamers celebrates its second birthday this month. 

After Junes monthly meetup it will be moving to a temporary location until a new home has been found for it.

  • Saturday those at UKGE are meeting up.
  • The weekly Friday Evening Gaming at The White Lion (or FEG@WL as I call it)
  • 10th – our first AGM! 
  • 14th – The monthly meetup (it’s the second Wednesday of each month).
  • 17th – T.I.M.E. Stories session (all places taken at the moment)

 If you are in the area and want to attend one of the events, please visit the Fenland Gamers Facebook page for further details about the event. Hope to see you there.