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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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With everyone gearing up for the UK Games Expo this weekend, travellers from afar (and not quite so afar) are arriving in the Country and settling themselves in. Naturally, with a few days to kill, I have been encouraging those with whom I am in contact to nip down to The Museum Of Board Games; where necessary, I can also offer a railway station pickup option:
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Ledbury!
The first such visitor (this year) is the highly-esteemed and semi-legendary Mr Hanno Girke of Lookout Games with his son Jakob:/pic7539507.jpg)
Having expected a rather sleepy Bank Holiday in Newent, the town was fair bustin' with wanderers who shared my cave of treasures with my honoured guests. A round of Tiddley Golf then led to Hanno's offer of a sneak-preview of some new Lookout goodies; with the weather so lovely, it seemed appropriate to settle ourselves in the courtyard under the big sun-shade - first up was a new two-player game in the Mandala family from Trevor Benjamin and Brett J. Gilbert:
It has a feeling of 'Go' as you place your coloured tile to replace one already on the board OR flip a tile in place to make large, scoring areas for each of the six colours. You're only allowed one area for each colour and the order of claiming determines the value of the tiles in that area at the end ie. first colour claimed will be 1 pt per tile whereas your last (sixth) will be 6 pts per tile in the final area. Played/swapped tiles sre flipped and cannot be replaced/flipped further so - eventually - it is no longer possible for a player to make a legitimate move...and then you proceed to scoring.
The second prototype is, apparently, the ONLY physical (factory proof) copy in existence:/pic7539509.jpg)
Oooh - pretty!
Forest Shuffle is Innovation (sort of) meets Wingspan and Race for the Galaxy in this combotastic, hand-management and tableau-builder. On your turn you can either
a) draw 2 cards (mixed from the 'clearing' and/or the top of the deck OR
b) put a card into play and pay the 'cost' (in hand cards) and possibly trigger an effect or ability.
Trees are the main card type around which animals, insects and other plants can be tucked; non-tree cards come in horizontal and vertical 'split' versions, so you decide whether they're tucked left/right or top/bottom. VPs come from straight card values, set collection (eg. butterflies, hares, tree types) and lots of other forest habitat-appropriate channels.
Forest Shuffle is brisk and familiar and would certainly scratch the aforementioned Wingspan itch in a far smaller footprint and quicker play time: we were done with our three-player test in 45 mins and there was still plenty more left to explore! Indeed, Hanno has left the copy with me for playing at tonights (Wednesday) club - on condition I bring it back to him on Friday - so you'll be getting their thoughts in tomorrows session report!
Checking our watches, we realised we could make the first Birmingham New Street train of the evening, so I secured The Shambles' gates (we were the last ones out) and beetled through the verdant country lanes to the Station. Another lovely visitation!
Everyone Needs A Shed
Life and Games (but mostly games) from Tony Boydell: Father, Grandfather, Husband and Independent UK Game Designer.
Archive for The Museum of Board Games
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Today 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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This is the book of the generations of 'Un jeu de bataille avec pièces mobiles sur damier' from Mademoiselle Hermance Edan.
And Un jeu de bataille avec pièces mobiles sur damier did live as a Patent and begat L'Attaque.
And L'Attaque begat Aviation
And Aviation begat Dover Patrol
And Dover Patrol begat Tri-Tactics and also Stratego
And Stratego begat The Generals
And Tri-Tactics begat Swords & Wizardry/pic7516288.jpg)
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Look-up tables rather than printed 'Strength'.../pic7516290.jpg)
...and special powers...
...a Princess to rescue rather than a Flag to capture.../pic7516291.jpg)
...and a board which reminds me of:strip_icc()/pic7516459.jpg)
And they all begat to 100th anniversary edition.
Actually, there's a little more to this story (conflicting source references, patents and more) and I believe that Adam In Wales will be doing an extended history about Mme and the derivation of this signature design in the near future!
Sat May 27, 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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Oh, those innocent times back in the 1980s when Rolf Harris was on our TV, Jimmy Saville on our radio and Prince Andrew was delighting in finding himself a bride after elder brother bagged Diana; when we were in the middle of conflicts in Northern Ireland and the South Atlantic. How we depended upon the board game publishers to keep us entertained - cue: the behemoth that was Waddingtons and their hilarious new game:
Bombshell is a light-as-air, dexterity game with funny character names and a chunky bit of 'popping plastic' to fill a rainy afternoon. Only, shortly after release (in 1981), a Police Bomb Disposal expert - Kenneth Howorth* - died trying to defuse an IRA device in Central London and the game was withdrawn.Quote:From a newspaper article dated November 20th, 1981:Okay, so this is a real confluence of unhappy circumstance and a joke that fell painfully-flat:
Responding to growing public outrage, the makers of 'Bombshell' ceased production of the children's game in which clumsy bomb disposal experts get blown up.
Glyn Owen-Hughes, managing director of Waddingtons Manufacturers, said the company would also take back any games currently on store shelves.
Waddingtons had promoted the game -- in which inept make-believe explosives experts fall victim to crippling explosions if they fail to remove bomb components from the board -- as 'explosively funny.'
The withdrawal followed outrage expressed by public figures including Prince Charles who said the game was 'in dreadfully bad taste.' In Parliament, Home Secretary William Whitelaw described the game as 'extraordinary' and said 'no home secretary could be in favor of it.'
Several large department stores, including Harrods, had already announced they were removing the game from their shelves.
The attack against 'Bombshell' was launched Thursday by Stephen Howorth, 21, son of police bomb disposal expert Kenneth Howorth, killed three weeks ago while trying to defuse an Irish Republican Army bomb in the shopping area of Oxford Street: 'It is an insult to the men in my father's profession who cannot speak for themselves,' he said.
Howorth's widow, Ann, said the game was an insult to both bomb disposal experts and soldiers serving in Northern Ireland: 'It is ridiculous that it will be on sale in Oxford Street at Christmans while the police are warning people to be on the lookout for real bombs,' she said. 'Children could start thinking of bombs as a game.'
Owen-Hughes earlier denied the game was offensive and said it was not designed to 'denigrate' bomb disposal experts. The game depicts Major Disaster, Sergeant Jimmy Jitters, Private Tommy Twitters and Piper Willie Thumble attempting to defuse bombs. The player whose officer is left surviving at the end of the game is declared the winner./pic7518159.jpg)
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At any other time, this Buckaroo meets Dad's Army would've decorated the market for a month or two until Xmas was done and then - like so many others - faded into obscurity./pic7518162.jpg)
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With Tony's hand for size comparison (!)/pic7518171.jpg)
In other post, I received this brisk and colourful set-collector:/pic7518173.jpg)
And it tied up with the other parcel perfectly:/pic7518175.jpg)
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenneth_Howorth
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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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Oops! I did it again! In my grand quest to let everyone know about The Museum of Board Games, I got myself onto a local BBC Radio show and did a bit of "co-hosting"(!):
When I say 'co-hosting', what you have are a number of live chitty-chats and a bunch of 'recorded in the background' snippets for insertion throughout the evening. I even managed to convince Jon to play a music-based board game quiz for the listeners: three songs that lead you to the name of a well-known board game - how soon did YOU guess the answer?! It's a four hour show so, maybe, I can find a way to download and edit the best bits some time?
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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 found a real bargain in my searches for more books to go into the Museum's library:
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1st Edition.
The acknowledged, definitive guide to the games of the 19th century, Francis Reginald Beaman Whitehouse's work was the first proper vintage game-related book that I bought - found in the corner of a Ross-on-Wye antiquarian book shop. It made me aware of Historical Pastime or a new Game of the History of England from the Conquest to the Accession of George the Third, which I subsequently bought from two Yorkshiremen at Essen Spiel in the late noughties.
I acquired a 2nd edition from a London branch of Oxfam in the early teens, which was the copy F.R.B.W had donated to The House of Commons Library.
The new copy of the 1st edition is signed by the good man and makes reference to Chad Valley Co Ltd. of which, we all recently discovered, he was Chairman in the 1950s!/pic7518177.jpg)
As well as being a game chronicler AND a game publisher, he also dropped in (for the Co.) a game-related Patent or two:/pic7520929.png)
All fascinating!
Tue May 23, 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 have several games in the Museum that make use of the jigsaw concept as a core mechanism: Passing the Buck, The Wombles Game, Situation 4 and Situation 7. They're all from the 1960s onward, so it was intriguing to discover a jigsaw-based game from much earlier - Mappa-Mundi by Waddingtons (1924):
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It's a jigsaw of a map of the World.../pic7516283.jpg)
...but also a knowledge game where some of the jigsaw pieces have press-outable sections.../pic7516287.jpg)
...that will accommodate 'Capital City' tags.../pic7516286.jpg)
...which can be checked, for correctness, by an accompanying fold-out map:/pic7516285.jpg)
Players are given their own set of tags - drawn at random, one from each of the colour sets - and then given the task of locating the positions of their cities for points:/pic7516311.jpg)
Three-to-four hours for the Solo Mode?!
In this absolutely-mint copy, I also received this humanising treasure:/pic7516284.jpg)
As if this impeccable edition of a (very) rare and curious, 100 year old game wasn't already enough to pluck my nostalgic heart-strings...
Fri May 19, 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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With work and holiday commitments, the Club is just about hanging on to a couple of tables each session - which is nice - encouraged, occasionally, by committing to a multi-play of a particular favourite in advance. This week, everyone was teased into coming with the promise of some Victorian Societal malarky ie. the utterly-splendid and entirely-wonderful Obsession:
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With at least one new player each time, we're not yet at the point where we can add Obsession: Upstairs, Downstairs but the base game - with the miscellaneous promos - is heartily-sufficient.
I took both Will and Sandra under my wing on Table 1 and left (the experts) Richard and Paul and Joe on Table 2. Will - often visiting the Museum - is very much new to the whole board gaming world and, to be honest, I was very worried when he popped into the Kings Arms' back-room - how, on Earth, would he react to this immersive Euro?! The teach was rather schoolmasterly as I was keen to reinforce each of the key concepts while, deliberately, ignoring some of the fringe elements like spending reputation for free actions./pic7519359.jpg)
The general mood of play was encouraging and focused on the capacity for storytelling rather than cold action efficiency and mechanics - not that this stopped Sandra from absolutely killing the process and sailing over the 200VPs threshold with relative ease! I'm not sure what Will thought but I hope he, at least, enjoyed the narrative. On Table 2, Joe - confidently hiding behind his five Monuments - was pipped to the win by Paul by just two points - that's just one, half-decent Guest!
In other news, I have been chatting with Mr Dan Hallagan about something Grand Tour-related and, from me, something to add to the Obsession Universe - exciting times!
Thu May 18, 2023 9:43 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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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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A recent trip to IKEA has garnered a Volvo-ful of Ivar shelving and glass cabinets: almost £700 worth, funded by last weekend’s sale of some of my modern games:
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Of course, now I need to deposit and assemble them at the Museum; a proper reshuffle is imminent…
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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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Another week, another batch of time travel-enabling material*; it must be my advancing years, but I adore losing myself in a previous age (not in a Brexit-y type way, either).
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It's certainly fascinating to see what folks make of now classics when they were new products, as in The Gamer and its review of Hartland Trefoil Ltd.'s Civilization or the barely-ten-years old Escape from Colditz:/pic7508991.jpg)
Sumo (1990s), of course, regenerated into Counter and had a good life until the late 20-teens. The Gamer, on the other hand, made it to eight issues before melting into nothing taking a fair chunk of Subscription funds with it (from all Internet accounts)./pic7508992.jpg)
I now make sure I have the eBay app to-hand as I catch up on 40 years passed; who knows what essential, potential exhibit nestles amongst those yellowing, glossy pages?!/pic7508993.jpg)
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Or what (slightly-horrifying) views might be expressed:
It was a different world, back then./pic7508995.jpg)
Or what superb nuggets of academic interest:/pic7508996.jpg)
The above company bio is, perhaps, the most detailed I have seen in my researches and - rather wonderfully - links several key areas of my own personal interest:
Chad Valley Co Ltd. themselves - some of the most charming and beautiful pieces in the Museum bear their mark; The buy-out of Glevum Games - local to Newent, the stones of their Southgate Street factory barely remain; and, Reference to Mr F.R.B Whitehouse - company director and, more importantly, author of Table Games of Georgian and Victorian Days - of which I have both the 1st (1951) and 2nd (1971) editions; the latter being the copy Mr Whitehouse, himself, donated to the House of Commons Library!
There is a direct, publishing lineage that connects Games & Puzzles to The Gamer to Games Gazette to Games & Puzzles 2.0; subsequent, but decreasingly-successful, incarnations from the same editorial/writing crew. Alas, this has been the way of things ever since: magazines rising and falling in quick succession (G.M, Imagine, The Last Outpost, Games International and so many more), introducing themselves with enthusiastic mission statements before suddenly not being there anymore.
Today, we are immensely lucky to have Tabletop Gaming, Senet, Tabletop Spirit (shortly to transfer from digital to physical format) and, of course, Spielbox; these are memory boxes for future generations, so let's love them while we've got them.
*thanks again (as always) to the splendid Mr Phil Dennis who should be regarded as a Honorary (Assistant to the**) Curator of the Museum
**this is an American Office reference - a big one***
***that's what she said etc
Fri May 12, 2023 9:32 am
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