Evaluate the risk of taking actions, plan the order in which you will carry them out according to the risk involved and then execute the actions in that order. That is the heart and soul of Blood Bowl.
Blood Bowl is a board game for two people where two opposing fantasy teams (as in made up of elves, dwarves and such) play a “football” match.
It has a very interesting game mechanic (summarized and simplified): during your turn you can do an action with each of your players on the field, some of which will require a dice roll, and if you fail a roll your turn ends then and there automatically. This implies that when you are going to play your turn, you have to have a clear idea of what you want to do (or the disposition of your players on the field at the end of your turn), and execute your moves in an order according to a “minimum risk – maximum benefit” principle.
It’s very tactical, but I’ve chosen it as a “make me better” game for the following reasons:
- Risk analysis: The first thing you do evey turn is see what actions your players can do and assess their difficulty (this is normally an easy estimation of a percentage probability of success), according to their disposition on the field.
- Constant planning: After your risk evaluation, you plan the order in which your players will act and start performing those actions. But they might not be having the effect you wanted (eg. you want to knock someone down, but you just push them), so you will (probably) have to re-plan the sequence on the go.
- Choose your next words carfully, they may be your last… this turn: As I’ve already mentioned, failing some actions ends your turn, so you really have to make tough decisions on whether to take the risk of doing one action before another or the other way around.
I only have one con for this game: it’s not what I would consider a “social” game.
Lastly, just mention that the game has been around for a few decades and has evolved and improved over the years; and there is a huge community around it, so it won’t be fading away any time soon.