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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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Life and Games (but mostly games) from Tony Boydell: Father, Grandfather, Husband, Curator of the Museum of Board Games (in Newent) and Independent UK Game Designer.
Archive for Tony Boydell
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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!
-
F.O.B.I: (abbrev) The Fear of Becoming Incomplete
A compounding, emotional state similar to - but distinct from - FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) that relates to games a gamer already has rather than those not yet purchased. More specifically, it is the urge behind the continued purchase of expansions, add-ons and promotional items in order to maintain a product's completeness; this is due to products being virtually-unsaleable on the secondary market if they're not comprised of 100% of the publisher's release history 'to date'*.
The severity of FOBI is proportional to the length of time the product has been curated within the owner's collection and is exponential.
Recent, serious outbreaks of FOBI have been associated with Terraforming Mars and Root.
*see also Unrealistic Future Value Syndrome and Creosote's Disease
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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!
-
It's been five weeks since we last met at The Kings Arms and over a year since I played Attention All Shipping:
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Seven, eager players - all fresh from various holidays - jogged cheerfully into a baking Back Room; with the promise of a gentle, narrative experience I tempted Richard - who does like a story to his games - and Sandra to the table right next to the patio doors: ah, just the slightest of breezes to cool us as we played!
I should be entirely honest and say that while both enjoyed the play - Richard, in particular - I was very much aware of a number of issues that need to be addressed...and the infamously-rejected THEME is NOT one of them./pic7721341.jpg)
I was particularly aware of the ratio of general upkeep time versus player action time ie. your turns are too short relative to the busy work of processing the weather. The problem, I'm sure, is that your dice workers (more pips = better actions) can only be used once ie. any boat maintenance or learning is done at the expense of being able to fish and vice versa, which feels weird because fishing is the heart of the game.
First thoughts involve splitting an individual turn into two, distinct phases with workers able to be used in both:
Sea - trawlers sailing over the horizon in the pre-Dawn to fish, pilot, explore shipwrecks, deliver to lighthouses, sell their catches and so on; and, Port - workshop lights shining in the darkening evening while repairs and improvements are made, studies are undertaken and stories told.
I also need to overhaul the Fisherman's Tale (mini-quest) cards to attune them to these new phases and make them more easily read 'across the table'. To be frank, it was a bit of a roller-coaster experience - despite my calm demeanour - as I wrestled with the little niggles as they showed themselves!
We still had half-an-hour or so to go, and you will be shocked, amazed and (possibly) dismayed that the filler I chose to close the evening with Richard and Sandra was - deep breath - Splendor:/pic7721343.jpg)
Splendor does backwards things to my brain - everything is opposite! - and I'm still unconvinced it is actually a game; I think I'd rather play Century: Spice Road but I didn't much like that either. No, I chose this because it was the only thing that would work in the time-frame and I'm a big boy now and just sucked it up. As it transpired, Richard remembered hating it the first time he played too - but that didn't stop him (almost by accident) cornering Emeralds and (mercifully) ending proceedings.
On the other table, young Joe was scoffing his way through a large tray of gratis roasted potatoes - the kitchen had gone a bit overboard, apparently - which didn't stop him winning a Splendor of his own and participating in some dice-related Pandemic fun with Paul, Tom and Gary.
A quick chat with Landlord Wayne, before the plod home, confirmed that he has some delicious plans for The Gathering of Chums in November: it was really good to be back!
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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!
-
I am between work contracts at the moment and, imminently, expect to receive some new kit and get going BUT - until then - I'm knocking around the place. With the weather unseasonally lovely, loitering my library room was not an option so Mrs B and I trundled over to Stroud for a browse. Half of the town is a bit scuffed and modern but the other half is rather picturesque; all of it is settled on the western escarpment of the Cotswold Hills, at the meeting point of the Five Valleys.
Keeping to the scenic side, we found a couple of bits-and-bobs in the Charity shops and scoffed a hearty-and-delicious brunch in a tiny café next to the Church:/pic7719293.jpg)
Our loot!
Mostly stock for the gift shop, the Cluedo dual-language edition caught my eye...:strip_icc()/pic7719415.jpg)
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...as did an initially-innocuous book, for £2.95, on an unremarkable bookshelf:/pic7719366.jpg)
Quite rare, apparently!
We stopped by Fireside Books - who had just acquired a large Tolkien collection - and they helped us with a valuation. With a bit of luck, this fortuitous bibliographic find will end up having covered the cost of the other main arrival of the week:/pic7719294.jpg)
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A hard-to-find villain supplement.../pic7719297.jpg)
...and a couple of scenarios thrown in for good measure!/pic7719298.jpg)
The RPG shelves are expanding with fabulous examples and will soon demand a proper corner for their display!
All-in-all, a splendid and worthwhile escape from the house!
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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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Both of the Batesons - that's Ben (Boffo) and Becky (Smudge) - have their birthdays at the end of the Summer and like to celebrate with an open house. I've lost almost all contact with the Friday gathering at The Drop Inn for a number of reasons and, so, like to pop along whenever I can to their cheery, little abode; a sea of familiar faces greeted me after I'd squeezed the Volvo on a slim sliver of drive space:
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We opened with a 'full 7' 7 Wonders with a sprinkle of Cities; Gerv and I tying for the win in Game 1 and everyone within a point of each other in the second:/pic7717392.jpg)
Ian had to leave, so the remaining six set up an expanded Pictures and paused to dive into the tremendous cheese and meat buffet our hosts - via their local pub - had laid on: *burp*
With full tummies, Pictures continued with us using some new materials - the Azul-like tiles and the pegs/orange felt:/pic7717393.jpg)
Becky's amusing 'ascanse' view of the World had the rest of us scratching our heads until we all settled on the maxim "Whatever you THINK she's constructed, discount it and pick something else entirely" - this worked for a couple of rounds when she had a 100% hit-rate. However, I seemed to be the most 'in tune' and snuck a couple of points ahead for victory!
Things and stuff at home brought a premature end to my away-day - I was very much hoping for a Ben, Becky and Tony 'Gric - and so I left everyone to the sunniest of September afternoons. A disappointingly-brief encounter but - for the couple of hours - a rich and delightful one.
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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!
-
With the small window of opening at the moment, folks who really want to visit the Museum are encouraged to message me in advance OR - if you're staring at the darkened building - give me a call on my mobile as I live but 8 minutes walk from the centre of town. This weekend, Andy and Tina pinged me on the Facebooks to check that I'd be around-and-about as they would be bicycling in from Ledbury (7 miles away) and wanted to be absolutely sure I was 'in'; fortunately, they avoided a torrential downpour - pedalling between the raindrops - to rock up at the soggy Shambles cobbles:
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A goodly-time spent perusing and chatting before Andy stowed a minty-fresh copy of Everbody Wins in his rucksack and they both set off along the green lanes!
In other curatorial news, the integration of the Upstairs room is now complete though - to be honest - I've always sent visitors to take a look at The Secret Gallery anyway and now there's a second good reason to!
As for new arrivals? A small set of recent Magic: The Gathering cards has been installed in the TCG cabinet - a shiny 'One Ring', Gollum, Sam and Frodo that combine to make a larger tableau picture AND a little seen Pepys board game needed to be checked and catalogued::strip_icc()/pic7712787.jpg)
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From its BGG game page:"We will call the first player 'the Leader'. They throw a red die and consult the compass at the top of the board. There are 6 compass points and each points in a different direction. The number rolled dictates the direction of movement, for all players, this round. Then the Leader throws a black die and moves their ship that many spaces in the correct direction.":strip_icc()/pic7712790.jpg)
Each player after that does the same, throw the black die and move, but not the red die as that is only thrown at the start of the round. There is a little choice in movement. You can decide to 'tack' and move in the direct opposite direction of the compass throw, but you don't move so far, in fact, you might not move at all.:strip_icc()/pic7712791.jpg)
There are perils to be avoided, like rocks or the dreaded Seaweed Sea where you just float randomly until clear of it. The first player to sail into Treasure Bay wins.":strip_icc()/pic7712792.jpg)
It is, overall, a rather lacklustre design; surprising, given the rest of the Pepys range - surely a good card-play mechanism could've been carried over?!
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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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/pic7714831.png)
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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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Ah, ‘tis blackberry time and I always stow an extra dog-poo bag for hedge (rather than canine) fruit collection:
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Obviously, Forest Shuffle has a blackberries card AND my beloved Plums features this plump, tart delight but where else in the gaming world can we find them?
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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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To supplement the RPG section of the Museum, I snaffled this delightful set of Grenadier Models:
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Love the art!/pic7712784.jpg)
A Guide to the Gribblies./pic7712783.jpg)
The Usual Suspects./pic7712785.jpg)
Er, hang on - whut?!
Melted in error = "Ochre Jelly", apparently!
Now, how best to display these?
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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 a VERY clever title indeed
I love cartoons and have been known to scribble a few of my own, from time-to-time; so, it was most excellent to happen upon a 1970s badge of anarchic little sod Willy the Kid by the splendid Mr Leo Baxendale:/pic7705608.jpg)
The badge now sits, proudly, with my complete Willy the Kid annuals collection AND the recently-arrived biography of the aforementioned hero of childrens' comics:/pic7705604.jpg)
(badge, bottom-left; biog, bottom-right)
Among Mr B's best-known creations are the Beano strips Little Plum, Minnie the Minx and The Bash Street Kids - obviously pretty meaningless for those of you outside the UK but - here - they are fucking legendary!/pic7707290.jpg)
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The grotesque style and black humour - liberally sprinkled with violence - were exhilarating to us youngsters in an age of war- and school-themed fare./pic7705607.jpg)
Our dear pal, Rob, was a huge 'Willy' fan and we managed to find him a long yearned-for copy of Willy The Kid Book 2 and a Leo-signed, limited print in the mid-90s - well before you could easily source this stuff via eBay and the Internets./pic7705606.jpg)
In 2000, shortly after Coppertwaddle was printed and Hesketh's Legacy was morphing (slowly) into Bloody Legacy, I corresponded with Mr Baxendale with idea that he might illustrate a Surprised Stare game in his inimitable style:Quote:Re. your idea for a board game; (leaving aside that I stopped drawing some years back) I don't think it would work commercially: you need a 'brand name' that has the instant recognition flash for the maximum numbers of people, and my name doesn't have that. I am known to a large number of disparate people, people like yourself - I've just been scouting around in my mind for a generic name for them, and the only one I can come up with, off the top of my head, is 'The Intelligentsia.'The briefest of brief encounters with a Legend.
That's not the same as my name being a brand name, though. Some of my creations have that 'brand name' commerciality, and they are my creations for The Beano. The copyrights to them are held by D.C. Thomson & Co., so if you had in mind to create a card or board game around those characters, they are the people to ask. DCT do come to licensing arrangements, so you could try approaching them if you're interested.
I'd always associated Newent with growing beautiful vegetables and whatnot, but as you're in IT I'm evidently behind the times. Good luck with your card game company. I'll just have a look at your website now....
Kind regards Leo Baxendale
Fri Sep 1, 2023 6:15 am
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