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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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Goodness but Bank Holidays really mess with one's routine, don't they?!
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Everyone Needs A Shed
Life and Games (but mostly games) from Tony Boydell: Father, Grandfather, Husband 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!
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The short-list of nominations for the United Kingdom Games Expo (UKGE) Awards 2023 are in! Yes, good folk; hold on to your trousers as the Best of the Best are pitted - gladiator-like - against each other in the hot, musty stadium that is the N.E.C Halls 1 & 2!
I'm just gonna jump right in and pick my own winners - how about you?!/pic7491123.jpg)
Best Abstract: Um...I don't know any of these. Best Accessory: Er...a playing mat?! Best Board Game (American Style): Eh?/pic7491124.jpg)
Best Board Game (Euro style): Earth, probably; because everyone has wet their pants for it - R.I.P. Terraforming Mars and Ark Nova, apparently. Best Board Game (Strategic): Who? Whither John Company 2nd Ed? Votes for Women et al? Best Card Game (General): Has to be Village Rails any - and every day - of the week; it should be on the SdJ list too, you know. Best Card Game (Strategic): Even though I moaned all the way through my one play, it's sure to be War of the Ring: The Card Game. No competition, if one's honest. Best Children's Game: I'm not a child so I have no idea; never heard of any of them. Best Dice Game: They're just words printed on a web page - totally blanking./pic7491125.jpg)
Best Expansion: None of the above. Best Family Game: I'm voting for Matthew Dunstan! Best Gaming Novelty: Has to be James's book - it's utterly riveting and brilliant and far outshines an Advent Calendar that should've been in the Best Accessory category instead! Best Miniatures (Something): Pffft. Best Miniatures (Yadda-yadda): Meh. Best Party Game: (wakes up) Oh? (drifts off again)/pic7491126.jpg)
Best RPG (Thing 1): Not my current bag. Best RPG (Thing 2): Not, for this year at least, for me. Best RPG (Thing 3): Off my RADAR. Best Variant: Variant? Of what?! Colour me bewildered.
So, all-in-all, a hot mess of brand placement with a dash of myopia and only a (tiny) sprinkle of very fine things indeed; I fear the nomination process - send the Judges copies of your stuff rather than an objective assessment of how the whole industry has meandered in the prior 12 months - has severely limited the choice to small-but-keen independents and whatever the major sponsors are pushing this week.
Disappointing.
Oh, that hair...
Mon May 8, 2023 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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My sleepy, Forest of Dean town finally hits the big time:
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Trending on Social Media as the perfect picture of our Times!
#coronationday #charles3
In other news, the Museum had an amazing day raising a truckload for new display cabinets and exhibit shelving! Huzzah!
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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 find myself experiencing a crisis of conscience with regard to the British Monarchy: I quite liked Charles III when he was Prince of Wales but in the case of him now being 'our King', I find he has lost much of his sleeve-tugging, concrete-despising, biscuit-flogging, conservational charm; with the loss of the Queen came, for me, the loss of the last, fraying connection to the idea of Monarchy.
Legion are the family photos of the 1977 Silver Jubilee celebrations with the Union flags and the Street Parties and the Ceramic Mugs and the specially-minted £5 coins for every schoolchild in the land (I was nine); that hazy, faraway time when it was (seemingly) harmless and bright and romantic to have a Royal Family. Elizabeth: the Nation’s Grandma./pic7495085.jpg)
The irrepressible Steve Bell (from 2014)
In the last few decades, though, that picture-book has fallen apart with a Netflix dramas-worth of infidelity, detachedness-from-reality, privilege and general (unaddressed) bad behaviour. It is time for us to move on and forge into a sci-fi Future - a tomorrowland of equality and fairness!
But you have to admit, don't you?, that we Brits do this pageantry and pomp so very, bloody well! The eye-melting visuals, the choreography and the faux-medieval dialogue in the face of a cost-of-living crisis and the (actual) heat-death of our planet: surely it's worth the multi-millions for this costumed tomfoolery to ease our anxiety and provide a momentary distraction from Armageddon? Surely?!
Of course it's not and that is why I'm going to spend the day talking about - and touting - board games, drinking ale and generally avoiding getting hooked into chirpy conversations about the jug-eared, elephant in the (Throne) Room. I don't want a fight or 'owt.
Mind you, they did give us the second best Punk song of all time*:
*the best is, of course, The Damned's New Rose
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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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Recently, I was reminded - while reading the superlative Everybody Wins by James Wallis - of the curious Ticket To Ride-ness of fellow Spiel des Jahres winner Thurn and Taxis and how - back in the day - I rather enjoyed it. A copy passed through the household, I think, though I may have been imagining playing the plentiful editions washing around the games clubs and conventions of the mid-to-late 2000s. Talking of 'washing', I do recall the singular "joy" of someone spilling a whole pint over it in the side room of The White Lion pub in the dim-and-distant (though I can't find any blog record of it).
Anyway, lamenting its absence from the Museum's library of Good Things(TM), I posted a hopeful WTB on a trading group and sat back to watch the various commentary versions of "You'll be lucky, mate". As it turned out, I was lucky - VERY lucky - when long-time gaming pal Lee (from those magical Magic days!) said he had a copy along with expansions in his attic:/pic7494983.jpg)
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One sensible and cordial transaction later and the trio are in safe, curatorial hands; onward, stout yeo-people, to educate and inform the attendees of the Wednesday club!
Simultaneously landing on the doormat - albeit with significantly less of a thud - was a very tidy copy of St George & The Dragon Game
from Chad Valley Co Ltd.; this 1930s race game loosely co-exists the four British Patron Saints in a card-driven, no skill charge from their castles to (be first to) the oversized Dragon./pic7494987.jpg)
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The cards are bent-to-all-buggery by 90 years of damp/dry but the images are crisp and bright and the gold-painted, cardboard 'tokens' are the winner's pot when a race is done (the idea being you recreate several dragonslaying quests with the richest Saint being the overall winner)./pic7494988.jpg)
A player draws a card, unseen, from their randomly-distributed mini-deck and if it matches as the next step in their own line, they place it and advance the Knight./pic7494989.jpg)
If it belongs to another player, that player can claim the card and if it follows on immediately from their own sequence - a sequence descending from Castle->10->9 and down to 2 - otherwise it's not really clear what happens with an unusable card - to the bottom of the Drawer's deck?/pic7494990.jpg)
Who knows? Not BGG because I can't anything about it hereabouts, so I spread my (inter)net a little wider and not even The World Of Playing Cards (https://www.wopc.co.uk/uk/chad-valley/flutter-met-st-george) can provide further assistance./pic7494991.jpg)
Perhaps expand the initial seeding of coins to a full, equal distribution then have a 'Entry Fee' for each race while also offering players the chance to buy their cards and stow them on the top or bottom of the deck during the 'running' itself? Couldn't hurt to give it a try...
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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've been staring at the wall of games in my (overflowing) library room and finally buckled under the weight of "never gonna play it"s and "never gonna play it again"s. With the Coronation of King Charles III* just a couple of days away, I decided one of the weekend's Museum attractions should be a game sale:
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Just some of the outgoing items.
With an element of perfect timing, an on-the-spur-of-the-moment article I knocked together for a local advertising booklet plopped onto the doormat; hopefully alerting the sleepy residents of my sleepy town that there's something of passing interest to be seen between the Church and the Spar convenience store::strip_icc()/pic7494526.jpg)
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With the car stuffed to the tops of the windows with boxes, I trundled it down to the Museum and let it steep in the hot P.M. while I attended to the specially-booked visit from Matt and Martha: Bristolian gamers and part-time podcasters (Boardgame Buddies). As is now traditional, I welcomed them with quiz sheets and set them on their quests immediately: chatter, banter, facts and anecdotes. Rumbling tummies took them away in the mid-afternoon so I decanted the sale items into the shade; we would meet again just a couple of hours later at The Kings Arms. These young folks are big on games but short on some of the older, classic fare so I felt legally-bound to introduce them to Keyflower:
Quickly, with the straightforward teach out of the way, we settled in to the usual high-interactivity, conflicting decisions, distraction techniques, bluffing and paranoia that underpin this ripe-for-a-twenties-reprint magnum opus./pic7494089.jpg)
David is a very good analyst and it was really a race between him and me for the laurels; while offering some advice along the way, one's first Keyflower is always a learning experience, and the air was filled with Matt's frustrated "Fuck a duck!"s as Autumn transitioned to Winter. Thankfully, he and Martha very much enjoyed the experience, despite being (a little) sharked by the two old men!
We chatted for ages while the other table called their Nations early and then we scattered into the night; it being Ted Lasso day, I had an urgent appointment with Mrs B and the television.
*less hair but bigger ears in this unnecessary sequel
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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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Last Saturday, it was a bright and busy day made even brighter by the dropping-in of pals for some playtesting and the impromptu appearance of a familiar pair of Tradition-loving travellers; MrShep and Avril were on their way to Cornwall for some worm-charming larks and took a brief diversion off the M5 to Newent...and it would've been very rude to not invite them for a game:
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(clockwise, from bottom-left): Dave, Paul, Avril, John and Tom.
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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 Sun was (mostly) out for the May Bank Holiday as I sat in the quiet Shambles courtyard waiting to entertain visitors. I'd lugged the Tiddley-Golf table into the open air - propped up to make it level on the mossy cobbles:
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The whole place was locked when I wandered down at 0930HRS - the car park gates and the street corridor - and, from the look of the High Street when I went in search of a large coffee beverage, so was the entire Town! Actually, two of the charity shops were slowly decanting material onto their frontages and the newsagent was dispensing papers but that was it - the warm rays falling upon untrammelled paving stones and undriven tarmacadam.
I was rather hoping the first of a series of bright May Monday holidays would lure folk from their slumbers but even if they had ventured into the Centre, there was nowhere to get a cup of tea with a slice of cake: a howling injustice! I complained as much on the local Business WhatsApp and was quickly chastised for my presumption (having suggested all the various catering outlets put together a rota to make sure at least ONE is open when tourists pass through)::strip_icc()/pic7490596.jpg)
My point: spectacularly-missed.
It wasn't all silent, brooding gloom in 18 degree temperatures though; shortly after I'd unclicked padlocks and switched on the lights, a mum and son stopped in for 40 mins. New to the area, the Museum was on their 'must check out' list and we covered a lot of ground in that short period; the lad was surprised by the sheer volume of things to see and do and pronounced a fervent wish to come back again. Naturally, I invited them to Wednesday games...
Talking of Wednesdays, Joseph - one of our regulars - passed through in search of something to play with the family / his under-the-weather Mum; we played full games of Ominoes and The Cousins' War (Second Edition) and he took copies of both. Also, I received confirmation of a special visit request for Wednesday lunchtime too; hopefully, as with Tim and Pam's a few weeks ago, I can convince them to stay for the session at The Kings Arms later?!
The WhatsApp continued to scroll with various indignations and stick ends wrongly-grasped, so I tucked the iPhone into my back pocket and did some cutting and sticking: a new Snowdonia: Grand Tour thing - a skeleton mockup with which to rehearse actions and placements - along with v7 of Callestock (Ben has been tinkering with some of the occupations) and another revisit of Bazelgette, the game about building London's sewers.
Drawing close to the mid-PM and with no sign of curious wanderers of any stripe for at least an 90 minutes, I was about to call it and close early when an urgent pacing broke the silence in the courtyard; who should appear but most excellent pal Gerv! It's been a couple of months and it was a pleasure to see a friendly face in what had been a rather lonely day's opening! He stayed for a while, chatted and then the working day was done.
The next BH is just a week away but before then we have a Town-wide, streets closed celebration of King Charles' Coronation: open, as usual, for exhibit perusal I am brutally-culling my modern games collection for a Bring & Buy too - if you're in the Forest of Dean area (or, indeed, close enough to come and make a day of it), you could pick up some rather splendid bargains!
Tue May 2, 2023 9:27 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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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 reward the generosity of support from my Museum patrons, I offer various gifts at various levels; for the £10 band and above, it’s an annual care package of curios - my chance to say ‘Thanks!’:
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This weekend, I am pulling them together ready for hand-delivery (locals) and posting (both National and International!). The cartons come flat-packed and need to creased, folded and assembled; the small box games are vintage (spares of exhibits) and some eminently-tradeable Boydell promos - there’s a little bit of elbow grease in every one
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