How my collection grew - blinking into the light.

by Caroline Black

From now on it’s easy to see how my collection grew. It’s all documented on my blog. The drawing of 2021 saw my collection at about one hundred games. I had passed a firm threshold I had promised myself that I would never pass. There were games scattered all round the house. In the study, in the Kichen and the lounge. But most of my collection was under my bed, which I took a photo of when I bought a new mattress.



One of my Christmas presents was Cartographers. I played it mainly solo but then hit upon the idea of playing it solo over zoom. I sent each page a blank map in the post. It worked quite well really. I had also managed to get a few games off my shelf of shame during lockdown including the excellent Carpe Diem, which I had been playing an Yucata. I ended up buying several games I had discovered Yucata including Underwater Cities and La Granja.

I’d been doing my blog for a good six months and it had 14 views the first day. Then one day I hit the front page. Soon I had over 200 subscribers. I began putting a bit more effort into it. Lots os spare time meant I was posting every day.



The U.K. games Expo was a grim affair. Much smaller than previous years. However, it did mean that I stayed in a better hotel than usual, due to depressed bookings and due covid. We played Blood on the Clocktower which was not a fun experience. Apparently I was drunk so everything I thought I knew it turned out I didn’t? I still don’t understand what people see in this game. The highlight was playing two player Agricola in the bar.



In June the gym reopened. I was so pleased because I had missed it so much. It took months to get back my former fitness but I more or less achieved it. My mental heath, something that had never caused me any concerns in the past, had deteriorated during lockdown. I had started suffering from insomnia which was led to depression. I started finding it really hard to get up, going to bed early, not opening post. In an attempt to turning things around I started having personal training sessions. Yet despite being physically tired I still struggled to sleep.

We continued playing round my house. I remember I bought My Farm Shop which went down well despite its awful artwork. I also finally got Concordia which had been on my wish list for a couple of years. I bought it cheaply but it never really lived up to its promise.



Finally Jez persuaded the leader of the club to start playing down the pub again. But the club was no longer on Meet Up and a lot of members never returned. I remember playing Incan Gold. I can not a big one for party games but I just love this game. Basically it’s a game of chicken. I bought Meadow which I wasn’t particularly enamoured by it. We played it a few times and it really grew on me and became one of my favourite games.



I had decided against the Glen More II: Chronicles Kickstarter but succumbed when I found it cheap in a ding and dent sale. I’ve alway bought games in ding and dent sales. I am not too worried in my games aren’t pristine. It proved better than its predecessor. I really like the tile overbuilding aspect of this edition.



Kickstarters I backed included the deluxe edition of Castles of Mad King Ludwig: Collector's Edition and Everdell: The Complete Collection. My most expensive games to date.

It was about this time I bought Fantasy Realms. We literally played this dozens of times at the end of most sessions. I even began keeping a sort of league of the highest scores. I quickly bought the expansion Fantasy Realms: The Cursed Hoard.



Another game we discovered around this time was Planet Defenders. We had a session round my house when we painted the robots and Jez painted his resource containers for Everdell.



Around this time Canopy delivered. I just love the “peek” mechanic, known as Winston’s draft. Despite being only two player, I played it relentlessly. Cascadia also delivered but this never really gelled with me. I just find it frustrating because someone else always takes what you have been eyeing up. I bought Shelfie Stacker which I adore but nobody else really does. We also had a four player game of Limes which I had always wanted to play, using two boxes.



I also bought the Carcassonne: 20th Anniversary Edition. That bought my number of copies of Carcassonne to six. But this is my favourite after the winter edition. By the end of 2021 it finally felt like we were getting back to some sort of normalcy.


Thank you for reading my blog. If you liked it then please click the green thumb [microbadge=23724] at the top of the page or if you are a real glutton for punishment subscribe.