What's this blog all about?

"Board games? You play board games?" I hear you say... yes, but not unlike any board games you've probably ever heard of. Monopoly? Cluedo? Guess Who? Battleships? No, not by a long shot. One day someone introduced me to a great little game called "Carcassonne" - named after a French medieval town of rambling streets, walls and sections - where the aim is to score the most points using little random squares of road, walls and cities.
I was hooked and so began my, then our - the Bradshaw Tribe, adventure into Euro- and Ameritrash- gaming...

Friday 6 June 2008

How to learn new rules - play the game yourself!

I've been dying to play Bang! for some time now - http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/3955 - it looked a little complex and I really needed to get the rules under my belt before introducing it to the family. It's a nice cheap little game that is very fast moving and can accommodate up to 7 players. Everyone takes the part of different characters in a Western shoot out - all the roles are secret, bar that of the Sheriff. The roles are a mix of Outlaws, Deputies and a Renegade. Also everyone gets to choose a character card that affects the game play. Then everyone gets a number of cards to play with that can help them or hinder the others before a Bang! card is played which is basically a shot at someone else in the game. Normally the Bang! cards have a range of 1 ie the player either side of you but alternate weapon cards and other game play cards can increase this.

I dug out the game the other day and sat down and played all 7 players single handed! No mean feat! But it got the rules down in my head and it's quite a fun simple and most of all quick game to play. It can last 20 mins apparently according to the rules. I would recommend it and I hope to get the family playing it soon and even organise a theme night with some of the local players - bring your own hat, badge and pistol!

Aquaretto arrives!

Following on from the very popular family game Zooleretto, we found out that Aquaretto is available - a Sea Park based version of the original game that is a full game with new rules in its own right or it can be added as a super-expansion if you dare to the original. I picked this up from our local game supplier battlequestgames, very helpful and accomodating Andy quickly turned around an invoice and I was able to collect it within an hour of ordering.

I had a quick look inside and the components were as good as ever for Rio Grande Games with solid pieces, fantastic art and solid wood Meeples - but the base board is grass?? What sort of water park uses a grass base board and solid water tiles? Not sure about that but that is just esthetics. Cannot wait to play!

Tuesday 27 May 2008

Bank Holiday Gaming Madness!!

Wow! What a bank holiday weekend! What do you do when it's the standard UK Bank Holiday fair ie cold wet and damp? Get out your favourite Euro games and start gaming like mad!! This was a weekend we wanted to spend time as a family, and gaming is one of the best ways we can do this.



Firstly, it was one of Maya's favourites - Gulo Gulo. A fun family favourite - nice quick and simple especially for the younger gamer - results: Roshni won! :)



Ok, then it was Ticket to Ride: USA version. An excellent tactical game with nice and simple rules. Last time we played this, the Europe version, the kids just didn't quite get it, so we thought we would play the simpler US one in teams. So it was Kavita and I vs Roshni and Anita with Maya playing with her own stuff by her own accord. They started to get a good idea of what was involved to play, especially Kavita who started to get into the tactical side. Still, it was an Anita/Roshni win at a crushing 131 to 57.

Then came another big family fav, especially with Anita, Zooloretto. This is a brilliant family game with so many tactical aspects that are very subtle and easily played by the kids, even Maya with a little help. Anita obsolutely loves this one and it shows! :) Final scores Roshni/Anita - 35, Maya - 29, Kavita 26 and me bringing up the rear at 17.

The addons really bring great new dimensions to the game and are thoroughly worth it. Cannot wait to get Aquaretto!

Up next was Queens Necklace - a great little 'Days of Wonder' Gem trading game set in the 1800s or something in France. The idea is to purchase gems that may well sell for large amounts at the Kings court at three sales that will occur during the game. And that is what I love about Euro style games - the time limit on the back of the box is how long it will last! When they say 1 hr, its how long it will last because of in built game mechanics and rules. Its an amazing principle. So if we know we have only 45 mins spare, we dig out Zooleretto knowing it will last 45 mins. Again Anita won this hands down - Kavita: £140, Anita: £480, Maya: £240 and me: £280.

Then there was time for quick game of Diamant - always a favourite with Maya - and yes, yet again she wiped the floor with us! Maya: 43, Kavita: 35, Anita: 25 and Me: 18...

Finally today we played Eketorp. Just a great game - all sorts of fun - although I tried lots of tactical gaming and Viking raids on other villages, yet again Maya won us out (She is 5 remember...!) - 5th place - Me 17 points 4th place - Roshni 26 points 3rd place - Kavita 30 points, 2nd place - Anita with 32 points and finally Maya with a whopping 47 points!!

A great gaming weekend for one and all.

Wednesday 7 May 2008

Getting back up to speed in gaming

What with trying to find another one job, its been a hard time to fit in a game. Plus also the lure of the XBox doesn't help. Damn you Gates and your perfectly able gaming console. :)
We've fitted in a few games of F1 Racing and the very enjoyable Zooleretto - using the expansions which livens things up quite a bit :)

Thursday 24 April 2008

When parents game.....

Crikey been a while since I blogged - is that a bad thing? Anyhow, introduced another member of the family, my mum, came to stay and was introduced to Zooleretto and Diamant - a highly enjoyable hour and a half for the kids. Haven't really gamed for a while which is bad....so intend to get in some more asap. Less XBox Live, more board gaming - although Anita is happy to participate in both - how many husbands can say that?!

Sunday 9 March 2008

Gulo gulo....means "Wolverine"??


Surely this is a mistake.... when someone mentions a Wolverine, the first thing I think of that guy with the hair and claws from the X-Men. Not little cute furry things clutching eggs. But so it seems they are. "Gulo Gulo" is a great little game and much enjoyed by the kids. We played a couple of games last weekend.


Then last night, Anita and I played a great game of Ticket to Ride: Europe - after lights out for the kids and over a glass of wine and a drop of Malibu white rum. :) It turned out to be a complete thrashing by Anita - 120 points to 55. I tried desperately to link up Copenhagen to some place in Turkey but Anita cut me out by using all the trains up, leaving me with a 21 point penalty! Yikes! We agreed we should get the Ticket to Ride:USA edition at some point.


Final Score: Anita 120 Me 55

This morning we decided to crack open the new game Mystery of the Abbey - an interesting Whodunnit based in a monestary. A monk has been done over and it is up to each character to find out which of the 24 characters on the detective sheet did the deed. The abbey is divided up into a series of Latin named rooms, such as the Chapel, Bedrooms, Library etc. On each turn, the players visit rooms and question their fellow monks in the game to determine the characteristics of the wrong-doer - such as fat/thin, bearded/unshaven and which of the three Chapters. This is done by questioning the other players about the cards they hold or which they have marked off on their sheet.


Rooms also allow certain events to take place or cards to be drawn which effect the game. On each rotation of the game circle of players, the current First player moves a little Mass bell one space on the current Mass card until 5th rotation when mass is called (The little tinkling bell is shaken for effect) and all characters return to the Chapel.

It took a little while to get into with me returning to the rule book several times to help people out, but eventually we all got into the game with Anita finally revealing who she thought had done it and was successful. It was a little difficult to understand, especially for the children, what were the right sort of questions to ask, but eventually we all got into the swing of things. It was generally enjoyed by all but again, introducing adults-only to the game may present a different level of game play. Beware, this is a long game - 1 to 1.5hrs recommended.


Thursday 28 February 2008

Games games and more games!

Anita has gone games mad! She msn's me at work and says She's found Mystery of the Abbey - a sort of advanced version of Cluedo by Days of Wonder (So it must be good....) on Amazon from a US supplier for a decent price. Since when do wives go out and find games or take an interest in their husbands hobbies? That may sound incredibly sexist, but before I get a million complaints, she's never been interested in my games before. It must be to do with the fact that most of the games are a) WW2 based b) Some other war or modern battle based or c) Games Workshop.

Now she is buying games all over. Well I say she, she finds them, I pay for them lol. Anyhow, we found some more in the 'states. Would have been really good price too with the $0.5 to the £1.00 except for the outrageous postage costs......

Monday 25 February 2008

Spread the joy of gaming

I was chatting to an old friend on msn the other day, a great guy from school who is a PhD in Astrophysics or something. Anyhow, we started talking about our game collection and I introduced him to boardgamegeek. He came back in a few days and was enthusing about two games he wanted to get and where to get them from, Puerto Rico and Pandemic. Even his wife wanted to get in on the act and was interested in Eketorp! Spread the news people! Yay!

Our ever increasing collection - in a trunk!



And here is a picture of our ever increasing collection of Euro games - This is just a part of our total game collection. Hidden in a sturdy oak trunk in the front room that is also a handy play surface.

Wednesday 20 February 2008

When neighbours play games!

Friday was a great success. Andy and Maggie came over in the evening bringing wine and chat. We got down to a game of Zooleretto, which after a few moments of confusion and questions, was thoroughly enjoyed by all. Having adults only play adds a certain spin to the game - immediately Andy started to impliment a strategy and was doing very well. It was a VERY close game, with final scores:
Anita - 28
Maggie - 26
Andy - 25
Me - 22

With some more red wine poured out, we ploughed ahead with a game of Eketorp. The first round is always a little slow to start which helps in a way to get the newbies used to the rules. Then we started in earnest and it turned out to be a very good game, Andy turned into quite an opponent and I daftly went for broke on the last turn to get some extra building materials, leaving no one in the village to find it attacked from two sides!! With no defence, they got away with two bales of straw! The rotters! Final scores -
Me - 40
Anita - 31
Maggie - 26
Andy - 21

Overall they loved it and enjoyed themselves. It was a great way to de-stress and they couldn't believe there was such well designed games which had well built parts and were fun to play. They are looking forward to the next game evening - especially to play "Mystery of the Abbey".

Mystery of the Abbey arrives!

Hurray, Mystery of the Abbey has arrived! Why am I enthusing so sadly?? It took about 5 weeks to arrive! Ok, they sent it from the US but by what? A paddlesteamer? Anyhow it's here now and looks a typical Days of Wonder game - gorgeously printed board, well made cards and pieces. Can't wait to get on with it!

Sunday 10 February 2008

A Friday night of gaming fun planned

Just been around to invite our neighbours and friends, Andy and Maggie, for a relaxing evening of wine, nibbles and games. Ok it may not sound great, but they are both teachers, a highly stressful job, and next Friday marks the start of half-term (hurray they say!) so it'll be good for them to cool their heels with a free evening of fun, over a bottle of wine or three. Probably introduce them to Ticket to Ride: Europe, then maybe a quick filler like Formula Motor Racing and then finish up with something like Zooleretto or Citadels. Should be a nice evening in!

Monday 4 February 2008

A weekend of gaming - yay!

Well, what an action packed weekend that was - gaming wise.

Friday night involved a fun game of Zooleretto - this is quickly becoming a family favourite. Saturday we picked up two new games from our local game supplier, www.battlequestgames.co.uk, a great guy called Andy based in Horsham who can get in any game on a whim and we save on postage as we just take a drive over! :)

The games were Gulo Gulo and Bohnanza. The first was received with much anticipation as it is a really kid friendly game where players play gulo gulos/wolverines sent to rescue a baby one from the bird lair. A series of octagonal markers mark out which coloured egg from the nest must be stolen - these eggs vary in size from large blue ones to tiny child-size-only-fingers yellow ones. The problem is that the nest (A wooden bowl) has an alarm - a stick with a small egg weight on the top. The idea is to take an egg without any other eggs falling out and/or the sticking falling out of the bowl to the table. Tricker than it sounds. If you successfully take that coloured egg, you move on to the coloured tile you uncovered, otherwise you move back to the last tile of that colour. Maya and the girls love this game, especially Maya with her tiny fingers. But fortunes change quickly and you can look like you are winning and suddenly the alarm goes off and you fall back several spaces.... recommended for 4+

We didn't play Bohnanza, although I plan to try to get in a game soon. In the evening, Anita and I played an enjoyable game of Ticket to Ride: Europe over a glass of wine. This game makes an enjoyable experience of strategy and skill with the children who just really didnt get the idea.

Monday 28 January 2008

Gaming weekend.....

Well what a weekend that was.... everyone was very excited about having a whole weekend of gaming, especially me in that Dad was due over and I wanted to show off out new front room lay out and the game storage table with all the games. Sad I know but there you go.

Friday evening we played
Formula Motor Racing - a great little simple play-by-placing-cards game using two plastic cards per team on a strip of 12 car places. As the cards are played, events take place in the race and positions change and cars crash out. Very simple and exciting, easily played by Maya (4) with little prompting - until it got to the point where Anita was giving "Strategic advice" on her card placement. In the end Anita came 1st and 2nd.

Then we had a game of
Zooloretto, a fab zoo based management game from Germany. It looks complex but it is very simple to play - although this is not to understate its beautifully simple strategic side that the girls (even Maya) managed to pick up on - go German game makers!! Basically you have a zoo which you have to fill up the attractions in order to gain money to do more things with your zoo, expand it, move animals about, buy animals etc. Each turn everyone places a card counter onto a wooden "Lorry" with three spaces on them to carry animals, stalls, money etc. Then everyone takes the turn to draw a card and place on a lorry of their choice.

The player can keep doing this or take a lorry (Say they want the lorry with two elephants and the drinks stall or dustbin as Maya calls it.) and distribute the animals in the zoo. Any spare go into the barn. Once the counters have run out, then scoring takes place. Animals in the barn count against the final score. This is a basic coverage of the game but it is very compelling to play.

Unfortunately a broken washing machine, that lead to a 4.5hr round trip to Farnborough, on Saturday messed up our plans - so no gaming on Saturday and we were so tired, we didn't do any on Sunday!! :(

Thursday 24 January 2008

Our first post - hurray!

Welcome back to our gaming blog!! We have not blogged about our games for around 2 years and in that time Blogger had changed and and somehow I lost access to the original blog, even though I could see it. So I copied all the original posts, stuck them here and continued under this new blog. Here goes!


Welcome to our gaming blog. That sounds rubbish, but there you go! Basically this is a web log of the Bradshaw Tribe (Frank, Anita, Kavita, Roshni and Maya) and our board gaming experiences and game plays. Now that sounds really dull, but basically until a few months ago we as a family thought board games were all Cluedo (Or Clue for our American friends), Monopoly and Buckaroo. Fortunately at some point of doing research into the Advanced Squad Leader (ASL) system, I fell over the fantastic site www.boardgamegeek.com.


This amazing site provides detail, reviews, help, photos and all manner of other details on EVERY game, it seems, on Earth! Using this site I documented that as a family I owned about 50 games. Crikey. But if I had so many, then why were we not playing them? Why were the children always face down in a gameboy, or playing separately in their bedrooms and generally not having fun with us as a family? Because all of these games were old, or wargames, or so out of print I dare not touch them or unpunch the counters without fear of them loosing value on Ebay or something when they are sold by the kids in the future to house us in some old peoples home.

Then I thought Hang on! Games are there to be played with, not observed from a ritual distance and taken out every so often to be loved over and then put away again! After chatting to a few people and joining the local geek guild, we started to find out about other games, family games, euro games, games made by people other than those at MB, Waddingtons and other wonderful UK game makers.

"So what is a Euro game?" I asked
"It's a game made by a European game maker." They told me
"The Germans make games?!"

And not only them - but lots of people in lots of countries. In some sort of jingoistic, euroism madness, I assumed only us Brits and Americans made games of quality with hot pressed Chinese made parts. But as it seemed, lots of people world wide also knew how to make and play games! The shock and horror! And apparently, they were a hell of a lot better at it than us!