One thing that came as a slight surprise was the number of boardgames we managed to acquire over the last couple of weeks! Frequent readers will note that I only really discuss my miniatures game activities on this blog, but I would predominantly consider myself to be a boardgamer. In fact this blog was only started to prompt me to greater activity on the miniatures gaming front, which indeed it has done!
But this post is mainly about boardgames, as this time round The Works was very generous to us! My wife (hurrah, wife! ;) ) often comments on my optimism, in that, without fail, I have to enter every The Works shop we pass just on the off chance that they might have some boardgames. This all stems from some time in early 2006 when I went to the Bristol branch and found they had a huge amount of starter sets (£5) and boosters (£1) for the Lord of the Rings collectable miniatures game. Needless to say I bought as many as I could carry. Since then, my optimism has been rarely rewarded. One time I got a cheap copy of a Dungeons and Dragons boardgame (never played...) and I think I got some boosters for the Star Wars Pocketmodel game one time. So pretty unsuccessful. But I am never deterred!
On our honeymoon I found one game to buy in the Oxford branch and five in Shrewsbury! It was like one of those dreams I have where I find an amazing gaming deal and it turns out to be untrue (yes, I dream about games pretty frequently. And zombies. Sigh). But enough chit-chat, here's a pic along with brief descriptions and links to Boardgamegeek.
Citadels: A quick card game based around a role selection mechanic with the theme being the development of a fantasy city. I picked this up a couple of days before the wedding when we realised we'd failed to bring any games with us for the honeymoon. Played it a couple of times in the evenings. Quick and pretty light.
Blood Bowl: Team Manager and Ora Et Labora were our honeymoon treats for ourselves. When we go places we make a point of trying to support local game shops, especially when they have such pleasant staff as The Gameskeeper in Oxford. They appear to be an older husband and wife team. Husband seemed a bit grumpy about the whole thing, but the wife was very knowledgeable! Blood Bowl: Team Manager is a card game version of the fantastic Blood Bowl boardgame. But it does differ in terms of the card game being focused on a season of several weeks and matches represented by 'highlights' which players complete to win. Yet to play it properly, but it seems like a very fun game, probably better off for not trying to recreate the boardgame too closely. Ora Et Labora is the latest Uwe Rosenberg offering. I love Agricola, but missed out on Le Harve. All I can say about this at the moment is that it looks very good indeed and I can't wait to play.
The following were all bought from The Works for £7.99 a pop. Not bad when you consider they'd usually sell at the £25 plus range!:
Oregon: Developing farms and settlements during the time of the American West, this is probably one of the lightest of the games we got. It looks very pretty, but I am unsure how much the abstraction will damage the theme. But in any case, it looks like a good light game from a read of the rules.
Notre Dame: Competing for prosperity and influence in 14th century Paris. I realised when I picked this up that I've seen a group playing it at the wargame club I have been going to.
Amyitis: Interesting idea for a game: players are nobles hoping to gain influence with the king by putting resources into the creation of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon!
Royal Palace: More nobles with a desire for prestige, this time in the court of French Royalty during the 18th century. At least I assume it is as the rules never outright reference the time period and I have had to guess based upon mention of Madame de Pompadour...
La Cittá: Enough with the nobles, let's travel to Italy during the Rennaisaince and develop some city states! This has been hovering on or nearby my wishlist for ages so was a total no-brainer to pick up.
Fast Flowing Forest Fellers: Finally a bit of fun from that lover of alliteration, Friedemann Friese. Grabbed this when I saw it by itself in Oxford. Not entirely sure it would have made the cut if on display with the others, but who can object to a silly game about lumberjacks racing down river on logs? Actually, given my primary blog audience is wargamers, don't answer that!
So I am one happy bunny right now! If anyone is interested, I'd be happy to post more details or reviews of any of these games. Also, if any of you happen to be near Solihull and fancy a game of something, just let me know!
Right, now I have to leave you to punch out and bag all the components for these beauties!
Welcome back and once again my congratulations to you and the dear lady wife. What a wonderful haul you have there certainly going to be paying more attention when I pass our local branch now!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Michael. Finds like this come down to one of two things I believe. Luck or perserverence. After about 5 years of always going into every branch I see, it seems to have paid off!
DeleteWelcome back. Congrats to yourself and the memsahib. Sounds like you had more fun on your honeymoon than I did on mine (we went to Vegas - it was cheap, and we were poor back in '93).
ReplyDeleteLook forward to more blog reporting.
Thanks. I'm looking forward to more blogging in the near future, but have a few more pressing deadlines to meet first! Our honeymoon certainly wasn't an extravagant affair, but it's all about who you are with and what you do with your time. To be honest we were both pretty exhausted after the wedding, so it turned out to be a good thing that we only had a short drive rather than a long flight before we could relax!
DeleteIndeed Congratulations to you both. I must start checking out 'the works' stores properly!
ReplyDeleteIt's amazing what you can find. Sometimes. Persistence is the key!
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