Off to a resort hotel for the first of a planned
series of holiday-conventions.
"Resort hotel" is something largely outside my experience, and it
was an odd feeling: on the one hand, a reasonably large and pleasant
room for the conference space, on the other worn carpets and a
generally shabby atmosphere. (Also the car parks clearly hadn't been
re-lined since the 1990s at latest; no modern car would fit in the
available spaces.)
Some readers will remember the Britannia in Stockport, and this seemed
to me roughly on a par with that, fairly level with a modern Holiday
Inn or Ibis: clean, acceptable, but nothing special. And yet I heard
several people talking about how luxurious it all was.
The food was all right, but again unremarkable. Broccoli under a heat
lamp doesn't taste of broccoli any more; but there were at least fried
eggs for breakfast (if no mushroom, and far too far south for black
pudding).
On the Friday evening I got into a game of
SCOUT,
followed by Nokosu
Dice
and then a demonstration game of Sentinels of the Multiverse:
Definitive
Edition
(Wraith, Tachyon and Nightmist against Baron Blade in Megalopolis).
The view from my bedroom window. (The glass structure is the top of
the dining room.) A sign of a hotel that hasn't had a refurb in the
last 5-10 years: no mains sockets by the bed.
"You can see the sea from here."
What was tricky was getting into games, I think for two reasons; the
taste of most of the people there ran more towards heavy euros than
most of what I had with me (several groups were playing Voidfall,
which I have to say they seemed to find a lot more fun for the first
three hours than for the last two—I suspect learning games are better
with fewer players), and quite a few of them had made group
arrangements before they turned up. Also, while there were probably
100-150 gamers on site, many of them took time away in the spa, gym,
etc.
But I did get in some
Project L
with the Finesse tiles,
and more Nokosu Dice.
After lunch and walking around the town a little, I got into a game of
Ticket to
Ride
on the Japan map (Shinkansen are usable by anyone, but you get
points for having built more of them than anyone else). My second ever
play of a Ticket to Ride game, and while I didn't love it I did see
the appeal more than last time I played.
Then I introduced
Lemminge
and I think got some more people interested in getting hold of a copy.
On to five-player
Trio, for which my
memory still isn't really good enough, but I managed to do all right.
And some more Project L to finish the evening (no Finesse this time).
On Sunday morning, I got in a game of
Piepmatz
but with a four-hour drive ahead of me, and already fairly tired, I
had to get going for home.
I'd go to another one, but only if I could arrange to go with some
friends. (And I know someone who lives nearby, but residential places
were the only ones available.)