RogerBW's Blog

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.)