Originally published at Thus Sayeth the Lord…. You can comment here or there.

Every month or so (lately, it’s been more “or so” than anything else) some friends and I get together to play boardgames– things like Settlers of Catan, Puerto Rico, Carcasonne… I’m not a spectacular player, but for me the point is more the cameraderie than the game.

I like games that allow multiple ways to win, and specifically ways that allow you to win without hurting another player’s chances. I wish I could say that this was an ideological commitment to being a Maker; but if I’m honest, I have to admit that it’s because the combat mechanics that most boardgames employ is so clumsy, so involved, and requires so much time that I lose interest in the exercise. The game we played last night– a boardgame adaptation of the computer game Age of Mythology– is a sterling example of this. The combat mechanics are fairly senseless, and it takes an enormous amount of time to muster your armies, duke it out, and win or lose.

My strategy developed into a campaign of produce and appease. I’d produce large amounts of resources, build up my city– and be attacked by another player for my resources. Instead of defending, I’d willingly give up my resources. Since I had so much, it wasn’t a hard decision. Again– I wish that I could say that this was part of my clever plan– balancing how many resources I could lose against the resources it would cost to replace any military units killed– but really, it was more a matter of my not wanting to devote twenty minutes to figuring out the optimal way to play the combat.

And surprisingly, I won the game against two players who had vast, unconquerable armies. Because the other players were concentrating on a military strategy to win, they were in direct competition. By removing myself from that competition– by playing a different game than what the majority of the other players were engaged in– I was able to optimize my avenue for victory point generation, and build, build, build to victory.

In other words, I was really, really lucky that Ages of Mythology doesn’t work like the real world.