Dragonmeet 2019

The wind was biting cold on Saturday, despite the sunshine, but it didn't stop us from having a great day out at Dragonmeet. This show used to be a regular part of my gaming calendar and then for a few years it just wasn't. No particular reason but I missed several years (and a change of venue) and it was only last year that I attended the show again. My eldest daughter and her friends were going, they had a spare ticket so I tagged along like the crotchety grandpa of the group...and I had a great time. So this year I had the show pencilled in on my calendar well ahead of time and I convinced the young padawan to join me. We met up with my eldest daughter and partner for what is best described at the premier roleplaying and board game convention in London.

The show is hosted by the Novotel complex in Hammersmith and is spread across several floors with a separate and very busy trade hall. Side rooms host day-long gaming sessions although you need to be fast to get booked in for a game. Hard-core gamers can play a range of participation games right up to midnight, but I was going mainly to look at the new releases and to do a bit of retail therapy in the trade hall.

The Trader Hall

I bought some of these resin figures last year.

The Padawan

A blurry picture of Ian Livingstone signing books. 

Another shot of the trader hall. 

Me and Dredd

There were plenty of participation games taking place. 

Dice... a gamer can never have too many!

The Bring and Buy was packed early on but quietened down as the day went along. Some really old stuff on sale here but often quite expensive. 

More boardgames being demo'd in one of the other halls.

Painting displays were also taking place. 

This is obviously a tabletop board and role-playing conventions, so may have limited interest to wargamers. Personally, having started with RPG's in my youth, I like to think I straddle both sides of the hobby. I was there mainly looking for miniatures and I came home with some very nice figures from a range of retailers. I also couldn't resist buying more dice...and a dice bag and a dice tray. My wife also bought me some Frostgrave figures (or so she found out after I got home) so not a total bust from a wargaming perspective. 

Dorneypalooza Board Game Weekender

Over the weekend some friends of mine ran what can only be described as a mini-convention in their house. As the title suggests it was board game oriented weekend (although there were also some card based games) and for those with the stamina there were a lot of options on offer. I was there on Sunday with three members of the Dagenham Delvers and we managed to fit in seven games over an epic 12 hours. 

Shadows over Camelot is a cooperative board game that uses cards and miniatures to add some extra dynamics to the game play. The players are different Knights of the Round Table and must work together to complete various quests to win the game. One of the players however is a traitor and their job is to remain undetected while working to undermine the efforts of the other players. The board and cards are high quality with some very nice plastic figures included as playing pieces. I was the secret traitor and managed to win the game by looking like I didn't understand the rules thereby masking my treachery behind a veil of stupidity. It was only partly bluff... 

Next up was the brain hurting Back to the Future Card Game. Players compete to reset history as they want it by changing certain linchpin events, which in turn changes one or more other events. Once you have history as you want it you need to prevent Doc Brown from inventing time travel in the first place, thus setting your version of history forever. The game mechanics are very simple, but maintaining and implementing any sort of strategy to win seems almost impossible which make this frustrating and great fun to play. John was the winner of this game in the end. 

We then went on to play Munchkin. This is one of those games where working against your fellow players actively increases the fun. For most of the game I was trailing in last place but made a late surge and we ended the game with all four players struggling for that last vital level to win. Derek was the ultimate winner and it was well deserved.

Next up was the very aptly named Castle Panic! This is a cooperative game with the players combining forces to defeat the advances of a hoard of monsters converging on the castle in the centre of the board. After just the first turn it looked like we were about to loose but somehow we snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. 

After lunch we started on probably the hardest game of the day, A Game of Thrones: The Board Game. It took nearly an hour to set up and the game play initially seemed very complicated, but it is definitely a game that deserves a second sitting to really understand it. In many ways we thought it was like a much more involved version of Risk, utilising plastic figures, battle cards, tokens, and card overlays to enhance the game. 

After the brain ache that was the TGoT board game we played a much simpler card based game called Cards Against Humanity. This is definitely not a game for the light hearted, easily offended or politically correct but it is damn good fun! Players must answer questions or fill in the blanks on the black cards from the statements on the white cards in their hand. The combinations are often hilarious, sometimes bemusing and nearly always offencive! Only the most despicable and low people can win this game, so well done to Derek for beating his fellow players hands down. 

The last game of the day (after a very nice curry at the local Indian restaurant) was Pandemic. This is another cooperative game where the players work together to save the world from four deadly infections that risk getting out of control. The players must travel the globe to fight infection hot spots while also trying to research cures before the diseases get out of control. Good fun and enjoyed all the more because we were able to gain a team win to finish the day off. 

By the end of the evening we were all feeling a little exhausted but we had also had a fantastic day playing some excellent games. A big thank you must go out to John and Rea for giving up their home for the weekend to run this event. I think everyone considered it a massive success and we are all looking forward to Dorneypalooza 2! 

Killer Bunnies of Catan

The Dagenham Delvers gathered on Friday and played our way through a trio of boardgames that ranged from the funny to the bizarre and the excellent. Playing multiple games like this in a single evening gives us a chance to evaluate and assess which ones we would like to see come back for more in depth games. More importantly it lets us know which ones should be avoided!

Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot - What can I say about this rather strange game? Well for a start its not the sort of game I would have expected to find myself playing at a gathering of the Delvers. First published in 2002 by Playroom Entertainment it is for two to eight players and the manufacturers give a suggested aged suitability 13 and up (although the game is simple enough to be played by much younger kids). Games take between 60 and 90 minutes although a lot depends on random chance and the number of players. Its simple and fun to play with an emphasis on cartoonishly grisly deaths for your own and opponents bunnies. One the things I liked about the game was the fact that you play your cards two turns in advance, making planing vital. A fun 'popcorn' game aimed at families... or desperate former roleplaying groups in need of en evenings entertainment.

Killer Bunnies is a strange but rather funny game of Bunniecide for two or more players.

Relationship Tightrope - I have absolutely no idea why John even bought this game, let alone why he brought it along to Game Night. But having brought it along we decided to give it a go.  The aim of the game is to keep your relationship in balance by bidding against the other players for coloured markers (you guessed it, blue and pink). Pairs of opposite colours cancel each other out so the player with the least tokens of any colour wins. Lets just say this is possibly the most sexist game I have ever played, with all the artwork on the cards seeming to depict every gender stereotype its creators could think of. It was so bad it was almost funny. Almost. Trust me when I say we won't be playing this again.

Why John brought this game along (any why we played it) is still a mystery. The game mechanic is simple but the point of the game still eludes us.

Settlers of Catan - The last game of the evening was the popular and award winning Settlers of Catan. We should have got this game out earlier because we really enjoyed it. The game mechanics are quite simple but the complexity of interactions with other players makes this an addictive game to play. For the new players this was an easy game to get into although we could probably have done with a second game to really get into it. 

The third game of the evening (and the only proper one IMHO was Settlers of Catan. Two of the group had never played this before but found it very easy to get into the rules. 

All in all a pretty fun evening improved by the fact that we ended on a high note with Settlers. We will definitely have this back for a future session, assuming we can scrape together enough players that is!

Cthulhu Fluxx Card Game

The Delvers gathered on Friday for a game of Cthulhu Fluxx. I bought this game last week at Salute and this was its first outing. We played the original Fluxx game a few months ago and I have been keeping an eye open for this Mythos version for some time.

This is a self contained card game (none of that collectable nonsense) published by Loony Labs. There are a 'family' of Fluxx games on the market and the general concept is the same throughout them all. As players play cards from their hands they modify the rules of the game with those cards. This may mean that the number of cards a player draws or can hold in his/her hand may change as the game proceeds. All the rules you need to play are on the cards before you but with those rules constantly in a state of change (hence the name Fluxx) this is an easy game to play but a devilishly hard game to master. Throw in a few elder gods and you have a recipe for utter madness!

"Explore the dark and horrifying mysteries of the unknown as you battle insanity and fiendish cults in Cthulhu Fluxx! Follow the wild-eyed Poet, the obsessed Artist, and the expeditions of the Professor as they investigate Eldritch Secrets no mortal was meant to discover. Someone has stolen the Necronomicon from the library at Miskatonic Univeristy, and a Farm in the hills is undergoing a horrifying Metamorphosis. Meanwhile, unspeakable abominations stir in Penguin-riddled Tombs beneath the ice. Are you Inevitably Doomed to a lifetime of Nightmares in the Sanitarium, or are you, in fact, a Secret Cultist, worshiping the Minions of Darkness?

(Source: BoardGameGeek.com)

The box contains 100 cards and a simple rule sheet, but as already stated most of the rules are on the cards themselves. The game is designed to be played by 2-6 Players but the optimal number is somewhere in the middle. Most games will last about 30 minutes but a lot depends on the number of players involved, the draw of cards and whether players start to gibber uncontrollably mid play.

Limping along together

A handful of The Delver's will be meeting later tonight and once again we will settled on a simple board game as our entertainment of choice for the evening. Its been a bit of a struggle getting the group together for a game recently. We all have the sort of busy lives that prohibit anything like a regular schedule of games and just getting together a minimum number of attendees can be difficult to say the least. Around midnight when the guys have gone home and I have finished tidying up I'll probably find myself thinking about where we are going and worrying about the future of the group, just like I do after most game nights.


[This has morphed into quite a long post and sort of an 'open letter' to The Delvers; so you might want to get comfortable and settle down before reading it. Alternatively just hit the +1 button below and pretend you've read it!]  


The Times They Are a-Changin'

According to the Bob Dylan song "Then you better start swimmin', Or you'll sink like a stone" and he was right. If we don't make an effort to change the format of our group it'll sink without trace and before we know it the Delvers will be no more. We've been discussing this issue for years as our schedules have got busier and the games have become fewer, but the catalyst for this latest round of naval gazing has been the demise of our 4e campaign. Our GM has effectively left the group (although he seems reluctant to admit it) and what started as one missed game night has turned into 8 months of missed games with no end in sight. Its not his fault, he has kids, commitments and a demanding job - life has temporarily got in the way of gaming for him.

Other members of the group have their own issues and commitments to deal with. Three are actors and the very nature of their work means they are either away on shoot's or tied up in the evening with performances etc. They make those game nights that they can, and we all appreciate the chance to meet up, share news and relax. Of the eight members of the group probably only two of us have something that could roughly be described as a 'regular' job with regular hours. So a rigid schedule of games is bound to fall foul of our lifestyles.

Multifaceted Gamers
Most of the gamers I know have more than one hobby. I have a theory that if you are inclined to take up a hobby you have already crossed an invisible dividing line between those that do and those that don't. Once across that line, the barriers to taking up another hobby - and another and another - are only limited by how much spare time you have. So most 'hobbyists' (for want of a better phrase) have multiple demands on their time, and gamers are no exception. I'm a roleplayer and a wargamer, and I love Photography, and reading, and painting, and living history, and... well, you get the picture.

So expecting every member of the group to have the same level of commitment to roleplaying games would be pointless. Aside from our busy careers and home lives most of us are also trying to find time to squeeze in several hobbies and spending days and weeks planning an RPG campaign is increasingly unrealistic. Our last GM discovered this last year and so far none of the other Delvers have been able to find the time commitment necessary to run a campaign of our own and I'm just as guilty. I started preparing a HEX campaign but progress stalled because I got sidetracked by other things (namely my 6mm North Africa project). The lesson I take from this is that we need a much simpler approach to RPG's with a focus on quick, single session games that don't require lots of planning.

Shiney!
I'm the only wargamer in the group but I can still see an element of the traditional gamers desire for 'the new' in my fellow roleplayer's. They may not be out buying miniatures (there are only two of us that own a painted mini let alone paint them) but the desire to try new stuff is as strong as it is in any wargamer. The drain on our collective wallets is constant and never ending.

Over the years we have indulged in Fantasy RPGs (D&D, Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay), horror RPGs (Call of Cthulhu), Sci Fi RPG's (Dr Who, Traveller) and Super Hero RPGS (Marval Heroic) and there's a very real liklihood we will eventually play some Pulp games (HEX) as well. We've dabbled with CCG's (Babylon 5 and Magic: The Gathering) and countless boardgames of varying genre's. Variety is the spice of life as they say and you don't get much more varied than the gaming tastes of this group.

As a group we clearly like variety and don't like to be tied down to a particular game. We also all have different opinions about what makes a good RPG game. Some like them complex, others hark back to simpler days, some like miniatures based games others prefer pen and paper only. I think this goes some way to explaining why we have found it increasingly hard to hold down an RPG campaign, especially in recent years. With our erratic schedules it just takes too long between games for us to progress with a story or keep up to speed with the rules. Eventually some of us loose interest [Sorta like reading this post!] and when the group is in discord things just don't work properly.

Location, Location, Location
Another problem we have is the lack of a suitable games venue. For years most of the games have been at my house, but this has meant packing my family off upstairs out of the way. That was OK when the kids were little, and entertaining them was just a matter of finding a suitable film to watch on the bedroom TV. But my kids are getting older and don't want to be exiled upstairs whenever I have a game... and for that matter neither does my wife. She's a great sport, and dutifully trots off into internal exile on Friday nights, but its not fair on her and I know it.

When I win the lottery and buy a big house I'll make sure I have a large purpose built game room, but in the meantime we'll just have to make do with what we have. And what we have are seven semi regular players and therefore seven potential venues to meet at (hint, hint!). One of the advantages of sharing games around like this is that everyone gets a chance at an evening where they don't have to pay for a taxi or get the bus or a train. Hosting a game needn't be strenuous.

Put it out of it's misery, or find a solution
I remember reading a great article on GnomeStew a few years back about the GM that decided enough was enough and dissolved his gaming group. At the time I read it and thought "I'm glad that's not my group" but now I realise it is us.

We have reached a decisive moment in the Delver's history and we need to change what we do or the group will fall apart. Sooner or later we will call it quits and go our separate ways, and that scares me because I know that 'the group' has kept us in contact with each other even as our lives have diverged and members have moved away. More than that it has given us thousands of hours of shared adventures and stories that can never be replaced. I'll be an old man - sucking food through a straw - and I'll still be telling tales of my adventures in Greyhawk and Krynn, Pelinore, Ravenloft and the Forgotten Realms.


Ramming home my points in 'The Conclusion'
So there are my thoughts and ideas. We need a more flexible approach to game nights, with 'event' games rather than a schedule. If we are going to play RPG's we need to find systems that encourage single session adventures and are easy for the GM to prepare and run. When we aren't playing an RPG we need to embrace a broader range of games to keep things fresh and interesting. And we need to be a bit more creative with where we have games, sharing the load a little better. Whatever we do we need to do something, because the status quo just isn't working.

I hope it hasn't sounded like a long moaning rant, because I don't feel like that at all. My main concern is ensuring we stick together as a group and if that means shaking things up a bit then that can only be a good thing.

Scooby-Doo! Monster Mall Game

Scooby-Doo! Monster Mall Board Game

I'd like to start this post by stating that I am a serious gamer, honest. But I'm also a father and occasionally I have to play games that wouldn't normally recommend themselves to me. This game (ages 6+) is definitely one of those games. I have to grudgingly admit it was fun to play but that might have more to do with my opponent than the game itself. . 

My youngest daughter (the new Padawan Learner now that my eldest has grown into a Jedi) got this for her birthday and needed a willing opponent, preferably one that would let her win (she's not daft you know). The game is basically a supermarket trolley dash where each of the Mystery Incorporated team need to find four items while being chased by monsters. That pretty much sums up the game and the rules. 

Published by Paul Lamond Games Ltd in 2010 this is firmly marketed at very young players (hence the target suggested age range) with very simplistic rules and card stock counters. It also comes with two coloured dice and a fold out game board. 

Wiz-War by Fantasy Flight Games

On Friday four of The Delvers met to play the board game Wiz-War by Fantasy Flight Games. This is part board game, part card game and comes with high quality card tokens and a set of nicely sculpted plastic miniature playing pieces representing the Wizards. The aim of the game is to steal the enemy wizards treasure or, better still, kill them. Either action will earn the victor one victory point and overall victory is achieved when a Wizard reaches 2 points. 

Wiz-War is a Tom Jolly designed game by Fantasy Flight Games

The quality of the contents is impressive including these miniatures. 

Each player controls a Wizard and each is trying to steal the others treasure or kill them.

This part board game, part card game resulting in a fast paced and unpredictable game

Dave (on left) is looking smug because he has an attack planned. 

Derek (L) and I plan our attack during the Team game. 

My Wizard win the winning move, having stolen the yellow wizards treasure and returned it to my base square.

Each game lasted about an hour and was easy to learn and master. The game can be played by two to four players against each other or as 'teams' of two per side. The rules provide loads of scope for backstabbing, deception, traps, murder and mayhem, making it fun, fast paced and a good laugh too. We certainly enjoyed it and I expect this game will get played at future Delvers game nights.

Variety and all that...

Its been a busy week one way or another and I had almost forgot to post about The Delvers game last Friday. As usual we didn't play our D&D 4E campaign (I think that's dead on the water) but we did manage to gather together six players for a change. Instead of playing our campaign we pulled out a few alternatives and actually managed to fit in three quite different games.

Derek is a bit of a Dr Who fanatic and brought along this simple game to play. We were halfway through playing it when I realised it said "Ages 6+" on the lid of the box! 

John brought along several card based games including Fluxx. The rules start off simple. Everyone has three cards then each turn you take a card from the deck and play a card. 

Some of the cards are New Rules so the game gets progressively more complex as it goes on. We had two relatively quick games with these but decided to finish the evening with something else.

The last game we played was the Back to the Future Card Game. Each player has a unique set of pivotal events they must fix in time before time travel gets 'uninvited'. Players can change Linchpin events which in turn change several 'Ripplepoint' events to change as well. 

With six players all trying to manipulate the timeline to their own ends it quickly became very complex and frustrating. Time and again vital linchpins were swapped back and forth thwarting any attempt at a plan or strategy. Good fun but very frustrating.

We had a fun evening, swapping news and catching up as we played. We also set our timetable for the coming weeks so hopefully we can get a few more games in and avoid cancelled meetings.

The DDD's play Tigris & Euphrates

By Gygax beard, The Delvers have actually had a game! We have had a very flaky schedule this summer with lots of cancellations due to holidays, work commitments and just plain old bad luck. Our ongoing D&D 4e campaign has died a death and nobody is sure if we will resurrect it. On the other hand we have played a wide range of alternative games - having a  blast in the process - and last night was no exception.

So three of the DDD's got together after yet another long break between meetings and yet again lacking the Evil GM and his campaign. So we pulled out a variety of card and boardgames ahead of our gathering and chose Tigris & Euphrates, a game we have not played before, as our game of choice for the evening.

With three players the board soon gets 'busy' as each Kingdom grows

The game has up to four players each trying to build and control their own kingdoms by the placing of tiles. The aim of the game is to have the most balanced Kingdom and uses a variety of card tiles and wooden counters to control the game. The tiles represent farming, trading, religion, and government and players collect victory points in these same categories. The winner is determined at the end of the game by counting  the number of points in your weakest category, which encourages players not to get overly specialized. 

The tiles and counters are very good quality with good artwork on them. 

We all enjoyed this game which lasted about two hours. I think now that we have had a chance to try out the rules we would certainly give it another go. Of course next time I would endeavour not to make the same mistakes again and end up last last last. Did I mention I came last? Hmmm... But a game is a game and this was far better than cancelling yet another meeting of the DDD's. 

Dagenham Delvers Risky Business

I've had a very busy weekend - again - and shot a load of pictures. I'll post them as soon as I can but first off here's a couple from Friday. The Dagenham Dungeon Delvers gathered for our first game in weeks. Our GM wasn't prepared to continue our D&D 4e campaign (work commitments etc) so we pulled out Lord of the Rings Risk. We had a great time and playing against Peter (the Evil GM) was a real blast from the past. We wasted many an afternoon playing Risk and Diplomacy when we should have been studying back when we were at Sixth Form together! Anyway here's a few pictures.

Setting up took longer than expected as we read the rules and tried to remember how the game worked.

Initial deployment was a little too random for the 'Good' players and we suffered later in the game as a result.

The big epic battle between Good and Evil pretty much set the tone of the game

Pondering his next move... 

We all had a good time even if the 'Good' players (myself and Dave) got a bit over extended and suffered as a result. Not sure if we would play this again, especially as we have a large collection of other games just waiting to be pulled out of the cupboard.