Spiel: Boardgaming in the UK

Yesterday saw me play the final game on my unplayed list. The game was The Swarm by Kramer and Kiesling and Cat and I played it two-player. Nice game which could be quite nasty, especially with the full compliment of players. As it turned out, after about 80 minutes, the game ended in a tie – we both had 142 points. Good stuff.

Later on, we also played a couple of games I’d not played in ages: Mole in the Hole and Labyrinth. What a good way to spend Father’s Day.

Conquest of Nerath
Boardgame for 2-4 players, ages 12+
Playing time approximately 120 minutes.
Published by Wizards of the Coast, designed by Richard Baker, Mons Johnson & Peter Lee

Lancaster
Boardgame for 2-5 players, ages 10+
Playing time approximately 60 minutes.
Published by Queen Games, designed by Matthias Cramer

Paris Connection
Boardgame for 3-6 players, ages 8+
Playing time approximately 30 minutes.
Published by Queen Games, designed by David V H Peters

Mammut
Boardgame for 2-5 players, ages 8+
Playing time approximately 30 minutes.
Published by Queen Games, designed by Kristian Amundsen Østby

New York
Boardgame for 2-6 players, ages 10+
Playing time approximately 45 minutes.
Published by Queen Games, designed by Dirk Henn.

Pamplona: Viva San Fermin
Boardgame for 2-4 players, ages 8+
Playing time approximately 45 minutes.
Published by Ghenos Games, designed by Massimo Pesce

Camper Tour
Boardgame for 2-4 players, ages 14+
Playing time approximately 30 minutes.
Published by Ghenos Games, designed by Spartaco Albertarelli

UEFA Champions League
Boardgame for 2-4 players, ages 8+
Playing time approximately 30 minutes.
Published by Ghenos Games, designed by Alfredo Genovese

NBA All Star
Boardgame for 2-10 players, ages 8+
Playing time approximately 30 minutes.
Published by Ghenos Games, designed by Alfredo Genovese

Camp Antics
Boardgame for 1-4 players, ages 7-14+
Published by Bereb Enterprises

Seven Dragons
Card game for 2-5 players, ages 6+
Playing time approximately 20 minutes.
Published by Looney Labs, designed by Andrew Looney

Rails of New England
Boardgame for 2-5 players, ages 12+
Playing time approximately 180 minutes.
Published by Rio Grande Games, designed by Walter H. Hunt & Gregory M. Pozerski

Red Dragon Inn 3
Card game for 2-4 players, ages 12+
Playing time approximately 30 minutes.
Published by Slugfest Games, designed by Cliff Bohm

 

 

Well the Spielfrieks discussion group has spoken and proclaimed the winners of the 2010 award to be:

7 WONDERS (Antoine Bauza, Repos Productions)
INNOVATION (Carl Chudyk, Asmadi Games)
LONDON (Martin Wallace, Treefrog Games)

I’m not surprised at the success of 7 Wonders and London, the former getting twice as many votes as any other game (54). However, Innovation is a surprise as it’s from a small producer and a relatively new designer – Carl Chudyk’s only other major design is Glory To Rome. I’ve not played Innovation but I’m now pretty keen to give it a go.

Steve Perkins has arranged a Monday night games session for 20th June 2011. The venue is:

The phone number is 01952 581225

The website is http://www.breweryinn.co.uk/

It will start at 7.30pm in the main bar area. There is no cost and no obligation to buy any food or drinks. Tea and Coffee are available at one pound together with of course alcoholic refreshment. Food is available for those who want to get there slightly earlier and have their tea from only three pounds.

Small World: Underground
Boardgame for 2-5 players, ages 8+
Playing time approximately 60 minutes.
Published by Days Of Wonder, designed by Philippe Keyaerts

Thunderstone: Thornwood Siege
Card game expansion for 1-5 players, ages 12+
Playing time approximately 45 minutes.
Published by AEG, designed by Mike Elliott & Brent Keith

Shards of the Throne
Expansion for Twilight Imperium
Published by Fantasy Flight Games, designed by Corey Konieczka & Christian T. Petersen

Black Gold
Board game for 2-5 players, ages 13+
Playing time approximately 120 minutes.
Published by Fantasy Flight Games, designed by Wilko Manz

The Horned Rat
Chaos in the Old World expansion for 3-5 players, ages 14+
Playing time approximately 90 minutes.
Published by Fantasy Flight Games, designed by James Hata, Eric M Lang & Jason Little

Glen More
Boardgame for 2-5 players, ages 10+
Playing time approximately 60 minutes.
Published by Rio Grande Games, designed by Matthias Cramer

Carcassonne: 10 Year Special Edition
Boardgame for 2-5 players, ages 8+
Playing time approximately 45 minutes.
Published by Rio Grande Games, designed by Klaus-Jürgen Wrede

Carcassonne: Dice Game
Dice game for 2-5 players, ages 8+
Playing time approximately 10 minutes.
Published by Rio Grande Games, designed by Olivier Lamontagne & Klaus-Jürgen Wrede

Carcassonne: The Phantom
Carcassonne expansion for 2-6 players, ages 8+
Playing time approximately 45 minutes.
Published by Rio Grande Games, designed by Klaus-Jürgen Wrede

Well the list of 200 games originally nominated has now been reduced to 25. Voting now takes place to pick the three winners with the results due to be announced on Friday 17th June. The full list of finalists is:

20th Century
7 Wonders
Age of Industry
Alien Frontiers
Asara
Catacombs
Dominant Species
Forbidden Island
Founding Fathers
Fresco
Glen More
Inca Empire
Innovation
Kaigan
Key Market
London
Luna
Merkator
Navegador
Poseidon
Samarkand: Routes to Riches
Sid Meier’s Civilization: The Board Game
Sun, Sea & Sand
Troyes
Vinhos

Well three of my nominees didn’t get through: Dragonheart and Mr Jack Pocket are both light two player games so I’m not surprised these didn’t receive the same support as their bigger box cousins. Seeland was probably my last pick so again not too upset about that. My votes for the three winners are going to 7 Wonders, London and Navegador. However, I’m really surprised at how many of the 25 finalists I haven’t played – 11 to be precise, although I own two but haven’t yet played them (Kaigan and Vinhos).

 

Over at the Spielfrieks user group, the first round of nominations for the 2010 Meeples’ Choice Award is under way. From a list of 200 games released in 2010, people vote for their 10 nominees and those 25 with the most votes go through to a second round of polling. From this smaller selection, people can pick three games and the three with the most votes are then declared as the recipients of this year’s award. 

There were a few games I was surprised weren’t included in the long list, such as The Resistance, Rallyman and Telestrations (although, on checking, the last of these was actually included on the previous year’s list). Anyway, I voted for 7 Wonders, Dragonheart, Fresco, Glen More, Key Market, London, Mr Jack Pocket, Navegador, Seeland and Sid Meier’s Civilization: The Board Game. The one game I expect I would have included had I yet played it is Vinhos but I expect there will be others who vote for it and I may have managed to play it before the final round of voting.

I’ll publish the results here when they are announced later in the month.

Issue 53 of Counter magazine is now out, running to 84 pages. There are articles on The Gathering 2011 and the games Martin Leathwood got to play while there, a comparison of the three versions of Alan Moon’s Airlines that now exist, and a guide to fun, noisy and quiet games.

On the review front, there are twenty full reviews, including Cargo Noir, Castles of Burgundy, Olympus, Strasbourg and Tikal II among others, plus there are three mini reviews by Ben Baldanza and a couple of children’s games covered. The usual letters pages, Mike Clifford rambling and look back at the games from five years ago round off another excellent issue.

Dominion: Cornucopia
Expansion for Dominion for 2-4 players, ages 13+
Playing time approximately 30 minutes.
Published by Rio Grande Games, designed by Donald X Vaccarino

Struggle for Catan
Card game for 2-4 players, ages 10+
Playing time approximately 45 minutes.
Published by Mayfair Games, designed by Klaus Teuber

War of Honor
Expansion for Legend of the Five Rings for 2-4 players, ages 12+
Playing time approximately 60 minutes.
Published by Alderac Entertainment Group, designed by Bryan Reese

Warhammer: Invasion – Legends
LCG expansion for 2 players, ages 13+
Playing time approximately 45 minutes.
Published by Fantasy Flight Games, designed by James Hata & Eric M Lang

The Gleaming Spiral Asylum Pack
Call of Cthulhu LCG expansion for 2 players, ages 13+
Playing time approximately 30 minutes.
Published by Fantasy Flight Games, designed by Nate French, James Hata & Eric M Lang

I played several good new to me games this month. Most played was the Lord of the Rings Card Game, which is interesting as a solo effort but i’m not sure I will be getting the monthly add-on packs. Biblios was a really nice quick card game and Pergamon was a fun game about archaeological digs and museum exhibitions. I also really liked the Keltis card game, possibly more than of the other variants. Any of these could have been the winner but, by a nose, Rallyman gets the plaudits (although I’m hoping we can get the time down a bit).

The unplayed games list is down to just 6 so, unless I go mad buying stuff at UK Games Expo, I may be able to polish off the rest this month. We’ll see!