This week saw 6 gamers at The Hop Pole Inn including 3 newcomers: not bad for our second week. After a quick gaming warm-up with Love Letter, we welcomed Chris (a massive fan of Martin Wallace games) and another Peter, new to board gaming but a veteran of Magic: The Gathering. Our other newcomer was my wife Emma, a gamer more by association than choice but also keen on Eurogames such as Village and Carcassonne. The first win of the night went to Peter who was first to score 2 points in Love Letter having shown considerable cool in the heat of battle to defeat Neil in the final throes. The rest of the evening was wiled away in the company of The Lords of Waterdeep, where only the bravest and shrewdest tactitioners may emerge triumphant. Ranked a dizzying 26th place on Board Game Geek this surprisingly simple game provides a tactical challenge that would keep all but the most hardcore of heavy wargamers interested. Based on a worker placement-type mechanism, players take turns assigning their agents to a number of spaces on the board with the goal of recruiting priests, wizards, thieves and warriors to complete quests. Quests give you points, and points mean...well, not prizes. This is one of those great breeds of games where scoring happens all the way through and not just at the end meaning that virtually anyone could be the winner depending on their hidden objective. The scoring at the end revealed two exciting fights: the battle for first place, and the scrabble for 4th, both of which were decided by a mere handful of points. Congratulations to Jon who continues his winning form from last week; commiserations to Peter who was beaten into fifth place by this grateful author. Maybe I'll win a game next week... |
This was it...the big night...the launch of Bromsgrove Board Gamers. My stomach was fluttering. Would the room be set out properly? Would anyone turn up? Would people have fun? I needn't have worried. The room was warm and perfectly set out and 5 people had a great time.
First up was Love Letter, a card game ranked a lofty 86th position on Board Game Geek and available on Amazon for a mere £7.51 brand new. Jon Gameson got his first win of the night by beating out fierce competition from Neil Curtis in the last round. If you're very lucky, I'll show you my Minister. http://www.alderac.com/tempest/love-letter/ Next up we played Family Business, a lovely gentle-sounding game that is anything but. Edward Kendrick brought this cut-throat game that's all about wiping out the other "families" of mobsters before they eliminate yours. Contracts, family influence, vendettas and mob wars; these are the currency of a brutal but entertaining game of tactics and good timing. The last man standing was Jon who got his second victory of the night but sadly couldn't protect 'Pretty Boy' Floyd from the firing squad. http://www.boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/170/family-business Cue Castle Panic, a game with 2 variants: fully co-operative and semi co-op. After the bloodthirsty nature of Family Business we decided to play full co-op to help set our new friendships back on track. An hour and dozens of dead monsters later we had successfully defended 4 out of 6 of our castle's towers and were victorious. http://www.firesidegames.com/castlepanic.html Lastly, Draughts master Tony Boyle from Bromsgrove Abstract Games showed us a thing or two about serious board games when he brought along a new game called Retsami. We nominated Neil as our champion and, with the combined brains trust of 4 vs 1, he beat the local master. http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/31975/retsami Maybe I'll win a game next week..... |
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October 2016
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