As I spent the last two nights in London, I managed to get to one of the regular sessions of the London On Board gaming club. First time I’ve managed it, won’t be the last I’m sure. Good venue at the Red Herring pub in Gresham Street, even more so as it’s only a few minutes walk from where I usually stay around St. Pauls.
They tend to get 30 – 40 players each week and a good variety of games were available to play. There were a few playing Memoir ’44, some playing Steam, Automobile was definitely present and some lighter games as well – the Automobile players went on to play Meuterer, which I was jealous not to get to play as it is on my unplayed list.
However, I managed to get in three games in under three hours: Fits, which after 5 plays, still remains a very entertaining puzzle game; a three player Small World, where I got pipped at the post by a come-from a looong way behind win by Michael; and China, which I’ve not played before in that incarnation. I quite liked the omission of the intermediate scoring round present in Kardinal & Konig / Web of Power. However, it played enough like the earlier version that I knew what I was doing much more than my opponents and cruised to a comfortable win.
Many thanks to everyone I played with and to Paul Lister, one of the organisers who gave me that extra kick to make the effort to go along. I’m very glad I did and, when Paul is in the Shrewsbury area next, he must get in touch to come along to one of our sessions.