From Cardboard to Keyboard and Back

In case IpBoG isn't enough proof for some people that board gaming is alive and well in Ipswich, UCS is hosting the International Board Game Studies Association XVIIth Annual Colloquium. It runs from Wednesday the 21st to Saturday the 24th of May and costs £140 for the whole thing or £45 for an individual day. So if you're a fan of board games, or maybe just really into colloquiums, this might just float your proverbial boat.

Beaten by Innominate Objects

This week was a bank holiday so we started in the afternoon, a few hours earlier than usual. We whipped out Ghost Stories, a cooperative game where Taoist monks are trying to save a village from being overrun by ghosts. This is a notoriously hard game and, although we were still in the game when Wu-Feng was incarnated, we didn't manage to destroy him before all our monks were killed. Even on the easiest mode this game is tough.

More people showed up so a few of us played Smallworld while a couple of guys played Netrunner. Johnny was off to a good start in Smallworld but probably too good. Often an early lead can mean you're picked on by the other players. Johnny ended up coming in last with Enga finishing first. Muir was beaten twice at Netrunner but he'd only brought along a standard starter deck, hoping to teach some new recruits. His opponent had cards from the latest expansions made into a strong custom deck. Muir never stood a chance. After Netrunner they teamed up to take on the cooperative card game of Space Hulk: Death Angel, but Muir continued his losing streak and they were beaten by the game.

As the evening approached a few more people turned up. Matt had appeared half way through ghost stories and was watching intensely. Sure he could beat it, he rallied the troops and started his attack while I gave Elder Sign a go. Like Ghost Stories, Elder Sign is also a dice rolling, cooperative game where players attempt to destroy monsters before an evil incarnation is summoned but unlike Ghost Stories it's set in the world of the Cthulhu mythos. You can win the game by either stopping the final incarnation from being summoned (which we were so close to doing), or by defeating it after it is summoned (which we were so close to doing). Unfortunately two nearlies still amount to a loss. Matt was over confident and also lost Ghost Stories but, ever determined, he reset the game and started again. We were not doing well against the board games tonight, being beaten every time by inanimate objects.

While I played King Of Tokyo and Love Letter, Matt was calculating every move and lead his team to victory against Wu-Feng. As people headed home we finished up with one final game of King Of Tokyo, this time with Dan's Power Up expansion. Some games of King of Tokyo end pretty quickly where as some take a while. This one was the latter. Matt however must have used all his board gaming skills on Ghost Stories because his monster was taken out in the first half the the game. I stormed ahead after a slow start using all my dice rolling skills (along with the Jets card, allowing me to take no damage when I yielded Tokyo) for a surprise win.

Back to the normal 7:30 start next week, board game fans.

Bank Holiday Board Gaming

In celebration of the fact that we don't have work we'll be board gaming from 2pm this Monday. It's just like the usual 7:30 start except 5 and a half hours earlier. If you can't make it that early or just don't want to then you can come down at 7:30 as usual and we'll all still be there. Or feel free to turn up and time in between.

There's a Facebook event so make sure you join and share with all your best pals!

Italian Cowboys

Fourteen people turned up this week, splintering off into three groups. One playing Relic, an updated version of Talisman set in the Warhammer 40k world. In this game there were no winners. Or losers. Mainly because the game lasted such a long time they didn't manage to finish it. A draw perhaps? Perhaps not.

A couple of new faces pitted themselves against Theo in a game of Clash of Cultures, a tech-tree based, civilisation building game. Theo ended up winning, hopefully not putting off the new members too much.

The rest of us embarked on a 7 player game of Citadels. Johnny pulled off a surprise win on his final turn, playing the bell tower, a card which allows a player to end the game with 7 districts instead of 8. Having this card in his initial hand I suspect he was quietly confident throughout the game, although the last time I played Citadels I started with the same card and somehow finished close to last. Johnny, you have truly bested me, Sir.

Staying with the 7 strong group, we donned our ten-gallon hats to play Bang, an Italian game of hidden roles set in the wild west. Revealing my alliance with the outlaws early by shooting at the sheriff I was quickly taken out. It looked like an easy win for the forces of good but Matt was able to dodge most of their shots by hiding behind a barrel and managed to pick off the sheriff for a victory to our team of murderous bandits.

It's bank holiday next week but Cult is open and IpBoG is going ahead. In fact there's talk of starting in the afternoon and making a day of it. I suspect Darren just wants to get a full game of Relic in. If you're interested let us know on Twitter or Facebook and we'll arrange something.

Are You The Baron?

I should probably start by relieving any unwanted tension and letting you all know that Dan turned up at the correct time this week. Unfortunately, true to form, our ratmen from last week has gone into decline with only 10 attendees this time but a lot of new faces making up the replacement race. Probably forest elves or something. If you've not read last week's blog you'll have no idea what I'm talking about.

We started off with a 9 player game of Mascarade. Matt won by being the cheat. But only as in the character, not by actual cheating. Unless you count being the only person to have an actual game plan cheating. In that case he is guilty of carefully tracking cards while everyone else fumbled around trying to remember who they were while claiming hopelessly that they are in fact the king.

Mike arrived and we split into two groups playing 7 Wonders and Cutthroat Caverns. Mike looked like he was going to win Cutthroat Caverns, racking up a lot of prestige early on but Inka somehow managed to keep almost all her health until the end of the game, finally stealing victory as the only surviving player.

While the others settled into a game of Bruxelles 1893, a worker placement, Art Nouveau themed game, I played a few rounds of Love Letter. Mike had an easy win, gaining more tokens of the princess' affection than the rest of us put together. Matt had some more beginner's luck, going on to win Bruxelles 1893 for his second victory of the night.

Tabletop Day

This Saturday International Tabletop Day is happening all round the world and luckily Ipswich is part of the world. In celebration of this there's a Tabletop Day event happening at the The Thomas Wolsey. Board games from 7:00 onwards with rumours of a Tsuro tournament. Be excited!