Let the games begin!

Welcome to A Valid Strategy!

Webster's Dictionary defines both "valid" and "strategy" as...just kidding, I'm not going to start out with that. Let's go to the next paragraph, shall we?

For over 20 years, my friends and I have had several game nights, whether they were Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons (which I strongly dislike), video games, or board games. The game nights themselves varied from weekly to annually over time, until last summer when it became a weekly routine. As some of us purchased additional games, mainly myself, to keep things interesting, one of them suggested that I start a blog about board games.

But where to begin? Would I actually do this? And why would I, when there are so many blogs and vlogs out there to begin with? If I did start one, how would I do it? Why would I do it? How could I make mine different from others? After watching several YouTube videos showing how to play certain games, as well as a few episodes of TableTop, I thought to myself, 'These are games that gamers play. What about games for non-gamers?'

And that's the format for this blog. Designed as a tutorial with titles to make it sound like a collection of college courses, A Valid Strategy will introduce non- and casual gamers to board games that they most likely have not heard of, and that they may enjoy. Sure, some of these games may be basic to the serious gamer, but I'm going to try to bring some of you out of your comfort zone of Monopoly, Clue, and Scrabble. In addition, I'll be going over common player mechanics such as card drafting, deck building, and worker placement, and how they're used in said games. As this blog is designed as a beginner's course, I will not be reviewing the complex, deep strategy games that usually take 3-4 hours to play, and possibly several sessions to finish. The majority of the games featured here will be very basic, and will take anywhere between 30 minutes to two hours to play.

As for the title? It was taken from a friend of mine who loves the complex, in-depth games who would often comment with "That's a valid strategy." My friends and I joke that if the game doesn't take 30 minutes to set up, has a manual that's not over 60 pages, and takes less than three hours to play, then it's beneath him. While the other preschoolers were playing Candy Land, he was playing Risk. My other friends like the complex games, so, to reiterate, although we and they have played Gloomhaven, Keyflower, Scythe, Power Grid, and Caverna: The Cave Farmers, you won't see them "taught" here... unless my friends write "advanced" tutorials for them.

Since this is both my first time blogging, and I have a limited resource of games, my other goal is to get at least one game out a month. As time goes by on this project, I may extend it to two or even three games. 

I hope the games featured here will pique your interest, and maybe even open a newfound admiration for board games, as it has for me. In addition to my own friends, I've been going to a second weekly game night at my local game store, and have met a lot of cool people. Happy reading, and keep gaming!