I have left it far too long after the fact to do this write up justice and I will probably have forgotten to mention stuff but for what it is worth this is my account of the weekend:
I must start this report by saying that, sadly
, due to a bit of last minute rushing about I forgot to take my phone so I have no Photos of this years event, so I will have to use a few stock photos from
BGGWe got there early on the Saturday, even managing to beat Nick in which meant we got to start opening the Stall whilst we waited for the Cavalry to arrive. Not long after the covers were taken off we started to get the first customers making enquiries and purchases. Unfortunately we did not manage to get time to grab a demo table near the stand so when Nick, Phil & Sally arrived I ended up grabbing a table just laid out by the Staff in the middle of the hall.
Neil arrived with my last few Essen games and we sat down to start setting up a game of
Karnag. I had played this before on the previous Wed night at
Spirit Games but it ended up not being one of the players cup of tea. In the end it was only the two of us but I have to say it workled reasonably well as a 2 player game. It will require a few more plays to get the handle of the mechanics and actions but the more I get to play it the more I seem to like it, it is not the best game in my collection but certainly worthy of more table time.
We then played
Vanuatu which was one of Neil's Essen purchases, this was a really fun little game that I would like to have another try at sometime.
We then broke out one of my favourites:
Kingdom Builder No two games of this are ever the same, especially now that I have the
Nomads expansion mixed in with it. As always this was fun to play.
Next we had a game of
Ginkgopolis another Essen release. An interesting game, that plays relatively quickly, there is a certain amount of luck and the rules take some explaining/understanding but on the whole a fun experience that I would like to try again sometime.
We had to leave early on the Saturday due to a prior arranged event but we returned on the Sunday ready for more games.
Having obtained
Batavia the previous day at the Bring & Buy we proceeded to punch this out and have a playtest game.
This is a wonderfully crafted game with some excellent components, the gameplay is quite simple but at the same time there is depth and strategy here as well. I really enjoyed this game and so was very please with my purchase.
We also had a go at
Caylus Magna Carta which was an interesting game, which we only played the simpler rules of as a couple of us had not played before. This was quite fun to play but I am not sure if this really grabbed me enough to try this again, though in fairness I should give it at least one more try with the more advanced rules as this sounds like it has much more to it with them in play.
As my second one of these events I was still impressed by the friendly Organisers and Venue Staff. The venue staff were extremely friendly, engaging and willing to help out which was really nice to see.
The food options were a little odd and not necessarily always good value but this is clearly down to the venue and outside of the control of the organisers, also this is my own opinion others may feel differently.
Spirit Games was given a much better position within the main hall, this meant we all felt much more a part of the action this time around. Hopefully they will get a similar position again next time around.
Whilst the event had quite a few rooms of gaming available, which were mapped out on a small piece of paper given with the tickets, it was easy to miss out on these as people tend not to look at bots of paper handed to them at events, a few prominent signs would have gone a long way to help herd people around which would have facilitated more games being played and groups getting together.
The other strange thing is the Bring & Buy room which is only run for two short periods on the Saturday, there is a brief time for sellers to go and register their items placing them in the room for sale. I understand this takes up valuable playing time, that I would be reluctant to give up if I was running the event, but the problem is that without proper announcements it is easy to miss this especially if you are in the middle of a game. A few shout outs for Sellers and opening of the room for Buyers would go a long way to ensure everyone gets a chance to make best use of this facility, which is very much appreciated.
On the whole I had a very enjoyable weekend, with a chance to meet new people and try new games which is always good fun.
A big thankyou to the organisers for all of their obvious hard work in putting this event together and look forward to next years event.
