Big Bang Burger Bar

SabreCON (http://www.leicestersabres.org.uk/sabrecon/) This was a new event being hosted by The Leicester Sabres (http://www.leicestersabres.org.uk/) (University of Leicester's Game Society) where Spirit Games (http://www.spiritgames.co.uk) had a stall at which I was demonstrating games.

This years event had the traders and Spirit Games (http://www.spiritgames.co.uk) Stall in the main hall, ours was right next to the Coffee Shop (Bonus!!  +:coffee=+::coffee:)
(https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-JHn-nWX4uQo/T3g_UGQDmeI/AAAAAAAAAJc/CPbar3MWU8Y/w491-h368-k/2012-03-24%2B12.44.16.jpg)

We managed to squeeze the entire stock for the stall as well as all of us into one car, making our way through the rather heavy fog that had descended across most of the midlands, and made it to the venue in good time!. The stall was setup really quite quickly by Sally as me and Phil lugged all the boxes from the car, as we had managed to forget the sack truck DOH!  ::)

Only managed a couple of demo games this time around, the first one being Lords of Waterdeep (http://www.spiritgames.co.uk/single.php?menu=2&sub=4&game=6104)
(https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-E4mqSAcBim8/T3g_UNrODJI/AAAAAAAAAJc/RXTEU0nA9R4/w661-h496-k/2012-03-24%2B12.39.52.jpg) (https://plus.google.com/photos/107181235392958093201/albums/5726396541058326817)

This is a really well put together Worker placement style game with a D&D theme thrown over it. The theme does not really feel worked into the gameplay and could easily be replaced with another. That said the mechanics of the game are extremely solid and well thought out. The game flows well as well as being easy to pick up with minimal effort, it also plays quite quickly which is very good for this style of game. I really enjoyed playing this and the components are well made with an excellent insert that takes all of the pieces after punching, excellent job. I would gladly play this again.
Phil:112, Alan:105, Me:102 and Sal:88

We then had a quick game of Martian Dice (http://www.spiritgames.co.uk/single.php?menu=2&sub=4&game=5845)
(http://www.spiritgames.co.uk/image/comgames/5845.jpg) (http://=http://www.spiritgames.co.uk/single.php?menu=2&sub=4&game=5845)

This is a really quick dice game where you are trying to collect sets of symbols (Humans, Chickens, Cows) whilst avoiding getting Tanks which you have to collect, but you can negate the tanks by collecting Green Death Rays to destroy them. The problem when you get tanks is that you either collect the Death Rays or the Humans/Chickens/Cows thus do you push your luck or play safe. You either stop after a roll or you can push it until it is impossible to collect anymore then you score your hand. If you have more tanks then Death Rays you lose and score 0, otherwise you score what you have collected. The winner is the first to score 25 or more. Sal:26, Me:13

Finally we tried a game of Pirates of Nassau (http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/104498/pirates-of-nassau)
(https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-5OJ8IOdzSbw/T3g_UIngnQI/AAAAAAAAAJc/1YcpjXc7ebA/w500-h375-k/2012-03-24%2B15.31.39.jpg)

This was a new game and we were all determined to give it a go and see how it played. This is a pretty looking game with some nice components, the rules are a little hard to get your head around at first glance and we found ourselves having to continually look them up as the symbology on the pieces did not feel intuitive. Player references with the a guide to the symbols would be have been nice to have, after a few turns we mostly got a handle on what was going on but things were not as smooth as I would have liked. For me there is far too much downtime in this game as there is a lot of options for people to consider and there is little one can do to prepare your turn in advance, as other people can scupper your plans quite successfully. This should be a really nice game, it has a pirate theme after all, but for the complexity of it it is just too slow to play and there are other games of similar or longer length that are both more enjoyable and do not feel like they are taking a long time to play.

This was a real shame as I was looking forward to trying this game, but there are a lot of different games and players out there and there will always be some you like and some you don't.
Sal:76, Phil:70 and Me:59

More pictures can be found on my Google+ SabreCon Album (https://plus.google.com/photos/107181235392958093201/albums/5726396541058326817).
The venue itself was a lot quieter this year compoared to last, but the committee were as helpful as ever in helping us to get setup and connected to the internet. The venue, as last year, was good with everything to hand in the way of Drinks/Snacks. Sadly these did close early which seemed a bit shortsighted as they missed out on at least another half-dozen sales as people finished games in the late afternoon/evening and wanted some sustenance. Once again there appeared to be no signs on the outside to advertise where or how to get to the event but at least Security at the Barrier appeared to be aware of the event and able to give guidance. A few signs near the road with the event name and some signs near the barrier advising people to buzz for security to open the barrier would be nice, also some road signs once inside to help point people to the Car Park near the hall.