I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got (mostly)

"What are some games that you wish you owned, but do not own? Why do you not own them today?"

Given that I proposed the question of the month, you might think I have a laundry list of games I wish I owned.  Truth is, I have more than I can handle and would really like to figure out a way to regulate the size of my game collection.  I plan on trading / selling some non-starters from my collection, either to friends, on eBay, or at the Rainy Day Games auction but forecasting out I can still easily see my collection growing by at least 25–40 games next year.  And that would be a significant deceleration from the last three years.  That’s not including the 8 games or so from KC’s Germany haul that I’m buying off of him.

There are only two games on my want list that I’ve played before: Taj Mahal and Conquest of the Empire.  Technically, I haven’t played Conquest but I enjoyed Struggle of Empires (its ancestor) which I recently traded away to Peter Loop in anticipation of picking up Conquest.  Conquest of the Empire is a game that Jacob and Matthew would play (unlike Struggle) and I like that it has two distinct games in the box.  Taj Mahal is one of the highest rated games on the geek that I’ve played but don’t own and I think it is a classic that I’d like to have in my collection.  I’m still not sure it will come out much, but is one the boys might really like as they get older.

There are four games on my want list that I haven’t actually played.  Two are out-of-print wargames that I think I should own but in reality I have enough friends in town that own the games that the only rational approach would be to try them first.  They also aren’t cheap.  The other two are games that I should be able to find without much difficulty.

• Hannibal: Rome vs. Carthage – I don’t own any of the card driven wargames and this one is consistently ranked as one of the best wargames overall. If it really does play in under three hours that’s another huge bonus.  I don’t own this today because, unlike some others, I do have some price sensitivity and in most cases I’m not willing to pay over $100 for a board game.
• We the People – The original card driven wargame, I want this one because of the American Revolutionary war theme.  I don’t own this one for the same reason I don’t own Hannibal.
• Battlestations – This sounds like a perfect fit for playing with the boys.  Board games that blend roleplaying with sci-fi or fantasy themes are a sure hit in my family.  I don’t own it because I’ve been holding off from new purchases post-Essen.  This will likely be an early 2006 purchase.
• Kreta – I’ve heard great things about this one from some reliable sources.  I haven’t been able to find this one at retailers yet and maybe I’ll be out of luck as it seems very uncertain if an American publisher will pick it up.  Should have brought this one back from Essen…

On the regulating collection bit, I’m seriously thinking about establishing a fixed quarterly budget for games in 2006.  Ahh, but how big?  That will be a topic for another day.