RogerBW's Blog

I've been wanting to rent the Bourne End library room again since I ran the second 1 Player Guild get-together back in 2018. So I invited along the community from discussion.tekeli.li, the forum that had a large influx of exiles from Shut Up and Sit Down when their own forum was closed, as well as local gamers.

As it turned out it was both a train strike weekend, and the second-hottest this year; but it also turned out that we had unexpected air conditioning, so those of us who made it shut ourselves in and played more games.

We started with my recent acquisition Rush n' Crush. Just as we were wrapping up the first round, a seventh player arrived, so I stepped back to be rules advisor.

It can get a bit fiddly at times, and I think I'll buy some extra (generic) dice so that each player can have their own set, but this is much more solid a game than the presentation (relatively unknown designers, grotty rulebook, the setting tied in to the AT-43 tactical miniatures game): it's not Rallyman GT, but it does have machine guns and mines and explosive death.

Onward to Colt Express, which as usual absorbed me too much to get many pictures. The Time Travel Car got used; and I think the final margin of victory may have been $5 from a cursed gem.

On to Unfathomable, the new differently-licenced version of Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game. I don't have much nostalgia for the older game, but I did feel a bit of a split approach to the new setting: on the one hand we're making hard choices to try to stay alive, on the other passengers are wandering up on deck to gawp at Mother Hydra and complaining because they don't have comfy chairs. I'd play again, but I can't see myself buying it, even without the huge gobs of green plastic.

Crash Octopus and Nusfjord were in play at other tables, and later The Quacks of Quedlinburg, Valley of the Kings and FUSE. (OK, so maybe Unfathomable is a bit faster than BSG was, but it's still not quick.)

On to Lemminge, always a favourite that doesn't outstay its welcome.

While other people were out for supper, two of us played A Game of Cat & Mouth, a dexterity game that uses a cunning system of magnets to make sure the flipper is never quite as consistent as one might like it.

My new copy of The Climbers, and it was lovely to see the players realising just how vicious it could be.

Which primed them for Shamans. It's all good fun until the ritual daggers come out.

Finally for Saturday night, Rip Off, in which you are required to tear up game components. While I enjoyed it I could never own a copy.

Back in on Sunday morning, and Concept to get things moving. Well, to get everyone except me moving apparently.

Then RoadZters, which I sold Pitch Car to make room for; I still think this may have been an error, but this was an enjoyably chaotic game and not as one-sided as one might have expected.

Sentinels of the Multiverse: Definitive Edition: Argent Adept, Haka, Fanatic, Wraith and Unity against Akash-Bhuta in the Ruins of Atlantis. Unity had trouble getting bots out, but otherwise this went beautifully, showing off the game's narrative-generation capabilities.

On to Coldwater Crown: I know nothing about competitive fishing, so for me this is mostly a themeless set-collecting game, but it's one I enjoy a lot for no obvious reason.

And then Tobago with the Volcano expansion. I still like original Tobago, and it's a shame to lose the perfect map system in which there will always be a largest zone of each terrain type no matter how they're arranged, but the Volcano allows for more means of interacting with other players.

Finally for me, Onitama in which I managed to turn a position of advantage into a defeat (mine). Another game I don't play often enough.

Played elsewhere: "classic" Robo Rally;

and Tang Garden.

Thanks to people's generosity we made a dent in the forum hosting bills, and I definitely plan to hold another of these.