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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
Unspecified
Every homo sapiens needs an outbuilding within the curtelage of their property
Welcome...to my Shed!
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Something of more-than-passing interest - that I noted at the Hereford weekend convention - was the Team's full and considered approach to the welfare of the attendees. Many little details and facilities around the place reinforced their determination to create a safe and welcoming space.
Indeed, Adam - the head of the Hereford team - posted the following article on the clubs Facebook page; this is a long but worthwhile read as Ad explains what they did, what they're trying to avoid and what they learned:/pic7514506.png)
This sort of thing should be a template adopted by more Conventions - big or small - because, for example, I couldn’t find an analogous policy on the UKGE website.
Life and Games (but mostly games) from Tony Boydell: Father, Grandfather, Husband and Independent UK Game Designer.
Archive for Show/Convention Report
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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
Unspecified
Every homo sapiens needs an outbuilding within the curtelage of their property
Welcome...to my Shed!
-
After the lo-ong night of the Eurovision Song Contest, Appleton House was snoozing off the heavy refreshment in the bright Spring morning leaving just me to get up to feed the dog his medicated breakfast and empty the dishwasher. Not being a particular fan of the E.S.C, I spent the evening watching Baby Driver with Arthur and then retiring early.
For my own entertainment this festive weekend, I had resolved to nip over, briefly, to Hereford for the Herefordshire Board Gamers* Here For Games Con - a two week online affair culminating in three days of in-person larks:/pic7512731.jpg)
Ad, Elaine, Yams and the team are a fiercely-efficient and tireless crew who have worked to make all of their events welcoming, safe and fun: there was a reserved quiet space, an affordable cafeteria, plenty of well-signposted areas, a well-stocked game library, some independent traders and a healthy bring-and-buy./pic7512732.jpg)
Catching up with a few old pals - including an Elbow Dance with the ever-effervescent Bez - I was only there for a couple of hours but spent it very will indeed in seeking out some bits-and-bobs. One of the catering folks - Matt - had, recently, raided their long-neglected attic and brought various treasures along to the Con to gauge interest; to be honest, after saying hello to Ad at the door, they were the first thing I spotted! Matt hadn't yet arrived and no-one had any idea what he would be asking for them:/pic7512734.jpg)
And some essential RPG editions for the growing RPG section:/pic7512735.jpg)
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Matt had a few more items on offer but my budget couldn't stretch that far BUT he knows the Museum exists and, hopefully, he'll stop by in future?!
Finally - knowing my curatorial role - Ad and Yams had set aside two editions of The Fury of Dracula - one regular (and incomplete), one with the metal figures - for me, should I wish. I, of course, 'wished' and made a donation to the cause by way of a thank you:/pic7512738.jpg)
Put them together to make 'one good copy'
I returned to find the house waking to the sunshine so I mowed the lawn, set out the patio chairs and the family lounged in the bright afternoon to celebrate youngest daughter's birthday: a most excellent use of a (full) Sunday!
*https://herefordshireboardgamers.co.uk/
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Tue May 16, 2023 6:15 am
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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
Unspecified
Every homo sapiens needs an outbuilding within the curtelage of their property
Welcome...to my Shed!
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I was up very early on Sunday morning to be on the road by 7AM for a short-but-sweet instantiation of Paul Harris' splendid Handycon convention. As a warm-up for the full breakfast later this year, this rehearsal - getting back on the organising horse - was raising money for Cancer Research. For me, it was a chance to push my agoraphobia to one side: a test run for a longer UKGE stay, Essen Spiel and who-knows-what in 2024.
With the doors freshly-open, I nervously stepped into the venue via a flapping Fire Exit:/pic7437447.jpg)
Lots of London working days pals seemed to be there - Richard, Ray, Jimmy, Paul - as well as folks I've met at bigger fairs since. There was a lot of 'halloo'-ing and 'how-are-you-doing'-ing but soon there was a strong urge to play something - and that something was Richard's copy of Square on Sale:/pic7436901.jpg)
Think bounce-out auctions meet Othello - bid on spaces and get a mini-countdown token; if it survives without being outbid - and counts down - you place a block and your bid becomes a dripping of income in subsequent rounds. Place a block that encloses all block-ed spaces in between it and one or more of your other blocks (orthogonally, diagonally) and you get to pop blocks on top of those enclosed blocks: and, thus, do the Towers arise. The game ends when one player has placed all of their blocks and then you proceed to scoring: each tower you are 'the top of' scores X points for you, where X is the total of all blocks (regardless of owner) in the tower PLUS some scoring on special crystals collected from seeded, empty spaces at the start of the game.
Square on Sale is a chin-stroking abstract that most of us could mock up with bits lying around the house; either that or you might be lucky enough to find a copy for a not-insane price from Japan!
I bumped into Guy from Tabletop Spirit magazine - currently available as a free PDF but hoping to crowdfund as a physical thing in the Summer; Guy saved me a preview print of the latest edition (containing my Cult of the Old column, of course!):/pic7437486.jpg)
I shall certainly be pledging when the campaign goes live (and I'll be sure to let you know about it here)!/pic7437488.jpg)
Jimmy - running the only Trade stand - was desperate for a game of something but couldn't leave his stocked corner...so I took a game to him. I always carry my 'J' prototype on the off-chance of getting some strangers to test/experience it's potty, sarcastic charms and I was obligingly-by Jason and Jay. Yes - Jimmy, Jason and Jay playing Jerusalem.../pic7436902.jpg)
Jerusalem!
It was a daft and delicious as always with Matt's and my revised rule-set speeding up the delivery of Level II and Level III municipal buildings: the bonkers ones. We diverted the river (several times), Jimmy built B-roads all over the place, my own Stock Car circuit entirely-enclosed the latter's Mansion and I flooded the Town's Eastern sector. And Jason ran an airfield in parallel to the Roman Road! I really must work on the reformatting for the Alpha Edition I'm planning to release later this year!
Lunch and a large coffee before testing something Snowdonia-shaped with pal David (no pictures allowed yet); on the whole I was very pleased with the way it went and took away a couple of minor niggles which I resolved on the long - but relaxed - journey home.
Thanks, Paul, for a great and worthy day; it felt nice to be out-and-about for a bit.
Tue Apr 4, 2023 6:15 am
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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
Unspecified
Every homo sapiens needs an outbuilding within the curtelage of their property
Welcome...to my Shed!
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Ben talks about love, politics, art, food, Monarchy, alcohol...and (occasionally) games:/pic7234559.jpg)
https://fivegamesfordoomsday.com/2022/12/16/5g4d-expeditions...
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Judge Not Lest Ye Be Judged!
16
Dec
2022
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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
Unspecified
Every homo sapiens needs an outbuilding within the curtelage of their property
Welcome...to my Shed!
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Dragonmeet is a long-running, London-based Winter convention that deals mainly with RPGs but dips its toes into the Tabletop space more and more. This year saw the launch of the new edition of bona fide 1980s classic Judge Dredd:
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Of course, I do have the original edition as well.
One of the line of immensely-popular (and still revered) 2000AD spin-off board games - see also Rogue Trooper and Block Mania - Judge Dredd is designed by His Ludic Highness General Lord Sir Ian Livingstone and is a master class in simplicity and story-telling!/pic7231022.jpg)
Promo ahoy! *glub*glub*glub*
Move around Mega City One trying to successfully-arrest Perps for a variety of crimes; of course, the Holy Grail being Judge Death for Littering. A deck of modifier and effect cards help you/hinder your opponents in this quest for VPs; indeed, anyone who has ever played this will recall the frustration of a well-timed Edwin Parsey.../pic7231023.jpg)
At the same time, a number of eBay discoveries arrived to further buttress my Galaxy's Greatest Comic portfolio and they also happen to fit the 'Gaming' category:/pic7231025.jpg)
It's a pain but I had all of this sort of thing the first time around; however, successive house moves - and accompanying, hard-nosed purges (What?!?!) - saw such things 'Skip'-ed*. Thank goodness for the Internet though, eh?!
From the sublime to the ridiculous,I also found a copy of this 'Must Have' curiosity for the 2000AD collector:/pic7231024.jpg)
As youngsters, no Christmas would've been complete without an Annual for each of us; Whoopee, Buster, Whizzer & Chips, Topper, Beano, Cor! and/or Shiver & Shake were daft and funny**/pic7231026.jpg)
I don't remember this cross-over at all but, then again, January 1985 saw me in the Sixth Form studying English Literature, Biology and Economics***: my main concerns were my girlfriend, my car and Benson & Hedges in that order.
*I pine for my lost Issue 1 of Deadline which will now set you back a cool £1000!
**And they're still rich source material for today's Viz Comic pastiches.
***Quite the selection, I know; I was winging it and picked subjects I enjoyed most after my 'O' Levels.
Fri Dec 16, 2022 6:05 am
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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
Unspecified
Every homo sapiens needs an outbuilding within the curtelage of their property
Welcome...to my Shed!
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Since posting - and having others post - about the delicious 'Chums 2022' curry feast prepared by Mrs B, I've received several requests for the recipe. It's no great secret taken, as it is, from one of Brit Cook Jamie Oliver's earlier books; so...
The Lamb Curry:/pic7222710.png)
And there's the rub.../pic7222705.png)
The Butternut Squash Curry:/pic7222847.png)
An Aubergine Dhal:/pic7222849.png)
Some Chickpea Bread:/pic7222850.png)
Now, please, enjoy your meal!
It's bonkers...but lots of fun!
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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
Unspecified
Every homo sapiens needs an outbuilding within the curtelage of their property
Welcome...to my Shed!
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The rowdy feasting of Saturday night left the Boydell household - and various guests - fast asleep as I rose for the first coffee of the day. I turned the television on to the live Cricket T20 World Cup Final (Eng vs Pak, for when Ben came down) then ambled to the King's Arms to check how things were going with our generous landlord*
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He was delighted with the Chums' consumption of ale and snacks and was DOUBLY impressed by everyone's good humour and consideration! We're a proper credit to the hobby, folks! Pleased-as-punch, I wandered into the silent skittle alley and waited for the others to emerge.
Lindsay, Phil and MrShep were first in so I grabbed them for a warm-up Mondrian: The Dice Game:/pic7177386.jpg)
Chuck dice (in a variety of ways), score and collect value tiles and colours (for majority scoring) in this perfect, dextrous filler (from those talented buggers that brought you The Red Cathedral, no less!).
We were finished just in time for watching the end of the T20 Final AND playing the now-traditional, Big Chums Agricola: MrShep, Matt, Richard, Boffo Bateson and myself locking horns on this now-legendary, agrarian battlefield./pic7177387.jpg)
Drafting the cards, this was a no-nonsense tussle with Boffo and MrShep seemingly staking claim for top honours early-doors with some lovely opening Occs and Minors. Matt nudged his way into the action with the first Family Growth of the game, then I began to settle into my Clay/Plowing combo supported by tons of 'future stuff'. Richard, in typical manner, was rather preoccupied with pure card interaction and came a cropper (excuse the pun) in the mid-game when a mis-play sent him spiralling to the back with no real hope of recovery!/pic7177389.jpg)
Come the end of Round 11, I realised that my own Farm was going to fill up by itself! I was sorted for food, animals were breeding well, the crops were happy in their soil and the family was growing steadily; oh, that feeling of everything being available to you at exactly the time you need it! Both Ben and I were in the 40s (a rare win for me), John and Matt in the mid-30s and Richard scrubbing about in the bare earth of his 23 point smallholding.
A play-test session, next, with Aaron and Tom and David; a full four player debut for the new, streamlined (rules AND playing time) Jerusalem/pic7177390.jpg)
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The Hermitage, out on the pub's decking, was quickly overwhelmed by the Womens' Institute...
As bonkers as always, I was very pleased with the way it all played out from a core mechanisms point of view and was especially happy when Aaron provided perhaps the greatest observation that I have ever heard in a playtest session: "Show me the reasons why this game has to be played free-form as opposed to being on a pre-printed board!". The USP, the allure, the pure JOY of Jerusalem is the total lack of boundaries in the building BUT, of course, if you're going to let players build anything anywhere there needs to be a bloody good reason to do so...else you might as well have a fold-out map! He also suggested the trimming of personal municipal building cards in hand (to further focus attention on what will be available to build in the game). Tom's comments about the central Planning Department board led to the idea for personal PDBs which are also your Mansion and also your reference...this makes working out who has taken what from where FAR simpler! Man, there is a reason you playtest games and there is a bigger reason you need to get Aaron and Tom and David involved: absolutely brilliant!
Somewhere amongst all of this, and several turns around the Bring-and-Buy table, the whole room stopped for the Armistice silence and roast Sunday Lunches and then I found myself - joined by Arthur and David and Lindsey and MrShep - for the last game of Chums '22:/pic7177392.jpg)
Rats!
First Rat is a race game with resources in exactly the way that Res Arcana is: oh, but the opportunities for setting up God turns and combos is wholly-distracting when all you need to ensure is that you dump out your scoring cubes as quickly as possible. First Rat is a dream of a game - full of clever twists, player interaction and the funniest, best-integrated and best-implemented theme since Dungeon Lords! If you've not come across this already, I implore you to seek it out immediately: rats building rockets (to send to the Moon) made out of tin cans, lemon juice, baking powder and calculators, energy drinks, apple cores, comics and backpacks! Lindsey won, just ahead MrShep, with Arthur close behind. A fine way to end three days of moving cubes about...
As if by magic, folk began drifting away - Ben and Jana to the railway station, our Blog pals to the North) - hugs and gratitude accompanying them out of sleepy Newent. And, then, there were suddenly just four playing Riverboat.
The landlord, himself weary after a bustling weekend of Pub Service, was more than happy to take my immediate reservation for next year: The Gathering of Chums 6, 10th-12th November 2023!
*he lets me have the function room for free
Thu Nov 17, 2022 6:15 am
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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
Unspecified
Every homo sapiens needs an outbuilding within the curtelage of their property
Welcome...to my Shed!
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Saturday at Chums is an initially-split affair: me hanging about the Museum in case any invitees want to come and look at the precious things (hello, David!) and everyone else making in-roads on the delicious beers at The King's Arms (just up the road)!
Ben Maddox (5G4D, of course), Jana, Giles and Nick kept me company by playing The Princes of Florence - something all-bar-Nick were entirely new to:/pic7177378.jpg)
I am an exceptional teacher of PoF - not difficult as the rules overhead is small, it's the delicious timing and auctions that tie everyone up in knots - and we were away in no time. An early 7PP Prestige card acquired - and criteria met - gave me the confidence to steadily pace the VP track in the knowledge of a big, unknown-to-the-others jump at the end./pic7177382.jpg)
For the first time in ages, I won! It was a close race behind, though; and everyone pronounced it utterly-splendid and bloody-marvellous and wholly-wonderful etc etc.
We joined the hurly-burly of the King's Arms' function room and I took my place at the hotness table for War of the Ring: The Card Game:/pic7177379.jpg)
It all got a bit lairy betwixt the Free Peoples and the Shadow, TBH...
WofR:TCG is exactly what it says on the box - or should that be 'the socks', which is how everything was packaged to keep it safe in Ben's luggage coming over from Germany! Craig and I played The Monsters and Mordor respectively, while Ben and Jana took up the Hobbit, Rohan and Elven mantle. You're basically playing out cards to 'win' VP cards - a battle card and a Place are available each round - and if you get far enough ahead DURING the game OR have the most VPs at the end, your 'side' wins.
Cards can be kept back in reserve (in play but not allocated yet) OR thrown straight into the fray; frustratingly, a long series of effect resolution queries resulted in the following, repeated, response:
The Hobbits consult the rulebook The Hobbits tell the Shadow that they can't do that/it doesn't work that way/just "No!" The Shadow (Mordor player) whines like a baby for a bit The Free Peoples win the cards.
(Repeat, ad infin-bloody-itum)
It looked pretty dire for the bad guys, to be fair, as I - Sauron - found my Orc-ish forces unable to be involved in battles because we didn't have the right icons. Gandalf popped up and dicked around a bit, the Elven rings were destroyed to our simultaneous dismay and pleasure and by the time the 9th level path was won, we were staring at a one-point defeat. Craig, the Monsters, suddenly fingered his previously-unused ring and realised we'd forgotten to include it in the tally: we were actually TIED!
Of course, whenever there was a query, the rules-lawyering Hobbitses scurried straight for the bloody rulebook with that quiet air of confidence that had attended them for the previous two hours...only to find that the Shadow wins the tie-break!
Our celebrations were entirely restrained and dignified*
Before my next game - and another glass of the delicious winter toffee milk stout - I stopped by to see how Arthur was enjoying his brief stay in the games room:/pic7177380.jpg)
ArtArk Nova - he enjoyed displaying his Badger very much.
I was called into action for a game with some folks I'd not yet gamed with - Phil and Michelle - and was happy to teach Michelle's copy of Nusfjord:/pic7177381.jpg)
It was a low-scoring game and I found myself singularly-unimpressed with the buildings on offer...so I went big boats. Phil pipped me by the one, magic point but Michelle and David were just behind. Again, following my principle of being as helpful as possible (pointing out errors, opportunities etc), everyone was entirely pleased with the proceedings: the more people that continue to play this superlative game, the better!
A-and then, with most wicked speed, it was 7PM and time to crocodile the room full of people out of the Pub, up the road and into Appleton House for the traditional Saturday night curry:/pic7177383.jpg)
Food!
Mrs B excelled herself by cooking spicy lamb, butternut squash and chicken curries, lentil and aubergine side-dishes and hand-crafting more chick-pea flatbreads than I have ever seen in one place before; forty-or-so chums chatting and choffing and warming the place up with their good humour and grace!
Plenty of time left of the clock, so the crowd dwindled back out into the evening and returned to the Pub:
Matt, Steve, David and I had a go at this bonkers rummy affair with special abilities and unique character scoring rules. The 'rank' (character) you have the most of is who you are (how you score) at the end of the game: some characters want you to have few of them, some want more, some score in convex and concave manner and there's a couple of real weirdos thrown in too. It's actually very straightforward BUT the tiny player aid and twisted scoring criteria makes your head spin; with a bit of reformatting, that can be rectified and this will be a lovely opener/closer for a Wednesday evening. Just don't get too hung up in the bizarre 'back-story'!
It wouldn't be Chums without Wildlife Safari, of course; and, still wary of by six month ban following PLUM PORTERGATE last year, we brought young Will** into the fold:/pic7177388.jpg)
The first couple of rounds went pretty smoothly - Will showing very good potential with a sweep of varied Fauna drafts - but it all went a bit South when Steve decided to offer Will advice by showing him the cards in his hand and David being allowed to change his choice of 'Last Animal Drafted' twice in the penultimate round! That David would then go on to win in the final reckoning further compounded the woes of an increasingly-victimised Matt who called 'Big Foul!' after my taking of a table selfie...which accidentally showed a glimpse (albeit blurred) of a rhinoceros card in his Hand! It was all getting far too tense, to be honest; so we agreed to nullify the result, shake hands and all be friends again.
To diffuse matters, I proposed we closed the late evening out with some Modern Art (the Oink Games version); those new to it fell at the hurdle of wanting to buy everything! This led to a round 4 return of $240,000 for Steve off the back of a $200,000 spend! This old hoss, here***, bided his time with timely buys and cheeky sales to come out a good 100K ahead of the nearest competition! And, so, to bed...
[To Be Continued]
*Narrator: they were loud, sweary and obnoxious.
**some of you will remember Will from Museum Saturday reports
***me!
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Wed Nov 16, 2022 6:20 am
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Chums '22 - Thank Games It's Friday!
15
Nov
2022
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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
Unspecified
Every homo sapiens needs an outbuilding within the curtelage of their property
Welcome...to my Shed!
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The anticipation is everything and the last week or so, leading up to Friday 11th November, was a quivering bundle of excitement: Chums 5 ahoy! What started as a milestone Birthday party being used as an excuse to have a long weekend of nothing-but-games, has now become a standing agenda item in my Year and...just as long as the greatest group of pals a bloke can have still want to come, of course!
Despite a clash with Paul Grogan's GRIDCON - which removed several original invitees from the list - we still managed to entice 50+ splendid folks - including visitors from as far away as Newcastle, Berlin (!) and Bangor - to spend three mild Autumn days drinking, eating, chatting, laughing and pushing cubes in the Forest of Dean.
Now that I have the Museum, the Chums' Friday is given over to The Shambles; it served as the central meeting point prior to accommodation check-ins and - along with the Cobblers pub - the day’s main play venue. At one point, we had brought in ALL of the chairs from the courtyard to accommodate the bustling throng...it didn't help that genuine, non-Chums popped in for a browse as well; however, all the hustle and gaming bustle lent a fizzy atmos to the building!
Let me rewind a little, though, to the quiet beginning with the arrival of Newent Knight - Paul - to try out a tweaked version of Trevor Warren's NUMBRO prototype:/pic7177359.jpg)
NUMBRO v2.0?!
I've added some modern mitigation and scoring elements (rows, columns, diagonals and primes) as well as a way to bring the game to a close earlier that 'someone covering all 36 of their spaces' (which might take far too long when relying on die rolls) - reminder: roll 3d6 and use +,-,/ and/or x anyway you like to cross off numbers from your 1-36 grid*.
Gerv, cheery as ever, popped his head around the door and we decided to give something from the Museum a run out:
Despite some slight (still persisting) confusion about how like-for-like treasure/pirate cards work**, we got 30 minutes of play before Paul pinched all of my gold bars and sailed home to his 20+ value Harbour for the win; it didn't help that I delivered all of my first, full ship's treasure to a neutral port a couple of turns earlier! The combat system is rather neat but the unresolved exchange rule dogged our decisions and our effectiveness - thus, I'm sure we were playing it entirely wrong!
Son Benedict arrived to watch the shop while I nipped into Ledbury to fetch (International) traveller Mr Ben Maddox and former Berlinner Jana from the railway station:/pic7177362.jpg)
A hearty welcome!
Back at the Museum, several more arrivals allowed us to (finally) give Housing Drive a go with the full six players:/pic7177363.jpg)
Die rolls allow you to collect various resources - building licenses, associated build requirement tokens (red, green and blue), cash and other (Chance-like) cards. The aim is to get a) a license for between 1 and 5 houses then b) collect and/or negotiate for the acquisition of the tokens; when the license is complete, you cash it in and add houses to you board. When someone's board is full, the game ends immediately and proceeds to final scoring.
Scoring is based on the amount of loans taken - you take loans when you don't have enough cash in hand to pay for stuff/negotiations - divided by the number of houses built: the smaller the loan-to-house ratio, the better you chance of winning. Of course, NO loans and lots of houses is (almost) an auto-Win.
Quite a lot of the mechanisms are rather tasty; too much cash-in-hand forces you to pay back a loan and the open negotiation (a la Chinatown) but the weak spot is, naturally, the randomness of the die rolling. If you don't roll for a card then you can't have the chance of picking up a license and you can't build houses without a license and - very specifically in the rulebook - your are NOT allowed to trade licenses as part of negotiations. First thoughts from the mind of a designer would be to replace the dice with (perhaps) a rondel AND allow licenses to be part of negotiations...
As we finished the 'shorter' game (one half a player's housing estate needed to be completed, done-and-dusted in 40 mins), the North Wales contingent arrived - Tom and Aaron and Philip - with Aaron bearing an offer of an Exhibit-for-loan:/pic7177364.jpg)
The International Collectors' Edition is a thing of great and rare beauty; my hands were trembling as looked through the cardboard treasure but I couldn't accept his offer of borrowing it for my CCG cabinet: those cards are worth more than everything else in the Museum combined! Mournful, but resolute, I declined and we pulled out another old game instead:
Roll-and-move is the periphery of this oblique, Wacky Races-themed race game BUT it's the races themselves that are the genius in this game: through various actions, you can accrue modifier cards to go on your four vehicles (Steamship, Aeroplane, Hot Air Balloon and Automobile) which then - during various flavours of actual race - translate into marbles being put into a central centrifuge! The tray has a small dimple, near the spindle, that can take just one marble: spin the centrifuge, press the spindle to stop it and wait for the marbles to settle...the player whose coloured marble rests in the dimple gets points (in a big race) or can win cash off an opponent/Dick Dastardly (one-on-ones).
Ultimately, you're looking to score enough points from the big races to get to the finish line first while having enough money to keep your modifier stock (and, therefore, your ample participation in those races) healthy. It was an absolute blast and neck-and-neck right up the last spin!
More of the Cult of the Old when Aaron pulled Bermuda Triangle off the shelf:/pic7177371.jpg)
Roll, move (maybe bounce someone back to the nearest Port space) and dock to collect cargo cards with a variety of printed values; spin a spinner to determine the direction, rotation and speed of the 'storm' and watch as it rolls over your magnet-infused plastic boats and sticks them to its underside:/pic7177370.jpg)
...it makes people disappear!
No control, no skill: just dumb-as-nuts fun - most modern gamers would hate it.
Without really noticing, it had gotten VERY dark outside and rumbling-tummies would soon send us in search of a slap-up chip-shop supper; though the weather remained balmy, we did fall foul of a shower coming in from the North! Ha-ha-ha! See what I did there?! Yes! It was an almost 100% blogtastic reunion of the North-of-England based Brit Blog Crew in the very persons of John, Lindsey and Caroline:/pic7177391.jpg)
(a group piccy from the Sunday PM)
Stuffed to bursting, there was plenty more fun to be had; I distracted the blogfolk for King Thief Minister which Lindsey very nearly won (a wrong choice from two on a Peasant call-out); it was left to me - a couple of circuits of the table later - to pull off that triumphant roll call***.
The evening progresses with so much still to be done:/pic7177367.jpg)
Obsession/pic7177369.jpg)
Glory To Rome/pic7177372.jpg)
Princes of Florence/pic7177373.jpg)
Hare & Tortoise/pic7177375.jpg)
Snowdonia (with The Wye Valley Tourer, Mr David Larkin in attendance and watching Giles make use of Mrs Larkin's Washing Machine for a thumping victory)
Only the dregs remained at that late hour, so we closed with a classic before pissing off to The George for some extended drinking:/pic7177377.jpg)
Heimlich & Co
We ended up being a little later than originally-planned; a couple of us wrestling with locked gates before riding the beer scooter home.
[To Be Continued]
*I might put together a PnP page for this at some point
**If you have four points of treasure and the top two cards of the pirate deck are a '2' and a '3', how do you resolve 4 vs 5? Do you NOT get that second pirate card and lose the difference?
***it really is quite the rush to win KTM using the Peasant's ability!
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Tue Nov 15, 2022 6:20 am
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Anthony BoydellUnited Kingdom
Newent. Glos
Unspecified
Every homo sapiens needs an outbuilding within the curtelage of their property
Welcome...to my Shed!
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The last time I was at the NEC was in 2019: the year we'd snaffled sixty advance copies of Foothills and it was going to be a big year for both Tony Boydell and Surprised Stare Games! Jump cut three years and it's 7.30AM on quiet Friday; I find myself seated alone on a Ledbury platform, waiting for a Midlands train, with a rolling suitcase packed with 'pitch' prototypes (Attention All Shipping & Polygonia), copies of Corgi Dash and an emergency bag of Wine Gums.
With hotel prices (£200+ per night), NEC parking fees (£17 per day) and fuel costs (£40 for a round trip over 130 miles) being somewhat outrageous everywhere and all at once, it seemed entirely sensible that my return to one of the big conventions should be via the far cheaper daily commute model: slower, perhaps, and at the whim of train crew shortages certainly, BUT a £15 fare and £3 all day car parking is just too obvious a decision./pic6900817.jpg)
It also helped that Alan and Charlie (SSG, of course) had arranged to get me an exhibitor pass, so I waited at the entrance to Hall 2 as the gates opened at 0900HRS exactly and the UK Games Expo was officially happening. Ten minutes - and a short walk to the CORRECT rendezvous point - later, I was in. Lordy, oh Lordy but it was busy:/pic6900586.png)
10 mins after opening...
Some errands needed to be completed first (including package deliveries, confirming pitch times with Matthew Dunstan and so on) and there was plenty of bumping in to old pals along the way as a zig-zagged through Halls 1 and 2:/pic6900585.png)
(clockwise from top left: Hanno Girke (Mr Lookout Games), Tim Clare (Author & Gamer*), Smoox Chen (Taiwan Boardgame Design),
Bez (Stuff By Bez), Andrew Harman (YAY Games) and, of course, Michael Fox (II) (Wayfinder Games)
The first pass of the main spaces took about an hour after I'd spent a short while catching up with the Paulls at their big, centrally-located, shared Stand: copies of the Deluxe Master Set bowed the point-of-sale counter while a smart preview of the new Kingmaker glowed proudly in a cosy nook./pic6900591.jpg)
Echoes of designer Tony popped up in other places too: Scandaroon apparently making its annual appearance in the Bring 'n Buy and a mock-up of the UK Mini Express expansion map on the Moaideas Game Design booth:/pic6900021.jpg)
While the initially-emptied suitcase filled up with goodies during the day, this return to 'normal gaming life' was more about the people than the cardboard; aside from those pictured above, it was glorious and marvellous to share chattering time with Brett J. Gilbert, Rob Harris, Ricardo from Devir, Amy at Chaos Cards (museum patrons!), the Alley Cat Games crew - Caezar, David Digby and Mike Nudd (who also signed my museum-donation copy of Waggle Dance from Bright Eye Games) and Iraklis from LudiCreations! The latter - Alley Cat and Ludicreations - were in receipt of the aforementioned design pitches and discussions about a new edition of Paperclip Railways respectively!/pic6900592.jpg)
And a good morning to you! Tuffley gamer, Jeric, helps out Smoox on the TBD stand.
It was all rather overwhelming and, come 4PM, I'd reached my nervous limit and scurried back to the station to come back home. Indeed, anxiety has played no small part in my personal return to a gaming scene that was entirely within my comfort zone three years ago; both Bastion and Leiriacon saw me take to one side with a powerful home-sickness. I expect the same will be true of Essen Spiel also - which may affect my travelling channel/"duration of stay" decisions. What a silly, old sausage I am.
Saturday was cold and damp on the provincial railway but brightened, no end, by a chat with a French Digital Artist as we waited for the 0700HRS; there was a conference - Electromagnetic Field (https://www.emfcamp.org/about/travel) - at nearby Eastnor Castle, where she was speaking and networking. I learned about vintage computer system art/graphic recovery projects and 3D printing with actual clay...and was happy to recommend XX by Rian Hughes in return.
Arriving just before the barriers dropped, I was able to perform a quick wander through the Bring 'n Buy: a totally over-the-top warehouse of too much stuff and no chance of reviewing it all. I did spot a couple of must-buys for the Museum, though:
Schoko & Co. (£5) - the first Euro Game I ever played. I played it on the same evening that Alan and Charlie Paull came over to discuss the official foundation of (and document signing for) Surprised Stare Games! We played S&Co by way of a celebration...and my life changed from that point! DropMix - introduced to this daft nonsense at last year's Gathering of Chums by the amazing Mr Matt Green (I), this was an insta-grab at £20.
A couple of hours saw me returning to demo duties on the SSG stand by way of a thank you; it was also, I guess, a chance to formally (and physically) close off that chapter of my gaming life. I was joined by Nick O'Neill, John Shepherd and Neil (one of my oldest pals) in advance of our scheduled sit-down-and-play of a much-anticipated Atiwa:/pic6900587.jpg)
Hanno delighted in berating me for not remembering the rules but, to be honest, it all came back to me in the first 20 mins; we stuck a little on the 'Maintenance Phase' - where a rigorous sequence of river pollution, bat management, income and 'breeding' occurs - but everything sped up and ran smoothly by the mid-game./pic6900588.jpg)
Worker placement gets you resources - which you take from your personal supply in most cases - and more space on which to place those resources (landscapes and settlements); the key is to get a good flow of those resources back-and-forth because you'll be spending the stuff you've grown and nurtured on your terrain in order to grow your family (the villager - pink - pieces in this prototype) and attract as many fruit bats as possible (those beyond your first 10 are a VP each)./pic6900589.jpg)
While you're focused on your own tableaus, you do need to snipe some of the plumber WP spaces before the others. It's another winner from Mr Rosenberg, you mark my words!/pic6900590.jpg)
(from left) Neil, Nick, John and me.
Caroline (The Dyslexic Gamer) joined us as an observer - and sometime 'Advisor to Tony' - during our Ghanaian exploits; we also teased out the story of how Lookout Games was started from Hanno, when he stopped by to see how much of a hash we were making of the new jewel in their crown!
After shitting fruit seeds over the Savannah, the Blogger Quartet (me, Caroline, Nick, John) and Neil grabbed a coffee and some rare tablespace to relax, chat and prepare for our 15.30 seminar: "Blogging on BGG":/pic6900594.jpg)
Tucked away in the business suites, thirty or so folks turned up to hear us talk about the Whys, Whens, How Longs and Oopsies of Blogging:/pic6900937.jpg)
As MC, it was absolutely bloody marvellous to hear other people speaking about the process, the benefits and the pitfalls of pushing the written word in a cosy, largely-unrecognised corner of the biggest board game resource on the Internet. The audience listened patiently to our musings, asked insightful questions and we filled a happy hour together; we even got a lovely round of applause at the end!/pic6900595.jpg)
If I have one complaint at all, it's that the Seminars - in general - seemed to have been given the most cursory of glances: the printed catalogue containing no detailed list (referring one to the Web, instead), no recording facilities** and very small signage. I'm not sure if I could suggest any better ways of tearing folks away from the lure of boxes-for-sale beyond:
a) holding the seminars in the evening, when the trading halls are closed and provide no distraction; and/or,
b) asking Shut Up & Sit Down to sit in on everyones' session!
Pausing, briefly, to meet and chat with Lisonix (Superfluous Somethings) and her cheerful family***, I was once again carried off to the trains by a cold, hard knot of flight response in my stomach.
It was 100% worth the time and effort to come back to the show: familiar, friendly and fun. Of course, as my first ever time experiencing it from "the other side of the demo table", the show was tinged with melancholy. However, long-awaited fist-bumps, handshakes and hugs with friends - old and new - washed all of that away in an instant.The Obligatory Haul Picture:/pic6900596.jpg)
*check out Coward: Why We Get Anxious & What We Can Do About It at your local, independent bookshop
**Don't worry: John did get something on his iPhone!
***pop a pair of glasses on Mr Lisonix and he's the spitting image of Matt Leacock!
- Schoko & Co.
- Kingmaker
- Scandaroon
- Paperclip Railways
- DropMix
- Foothills
- Mini Express
- Waggle Dance
- Atiwa
- Uwe Rosenberg
- Matt Leacock
- Hanno Girke
- Mike Nudd
- Andrew Harman
- Brett J. Gilbert
- Michael Fox (II)
- Matt Green (I)
- Matthew Dunstan
- Smoox Chen
- Bez Shahriari
- David Digby
- Lookout Games
- Surprised Stare Games Ltd
- Devir
- Moaideas Game Design
- LudiCreations
- YAY Games
- Taiwan Boardgame Design
- Stuff By Bez
- Alley Cat Games
- Bright Eye Games
- Wayfinder Games
Tue Jun 7, 2022 6:20 am
- [+] Dice rolls
