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...

Wednesday 26 June 2013

Once you stop it's hard to get going again!

This was a good blog but when you get lazy you end up missing a few posts then it runs away and then it gets hard to get back into.

So I've missed a lot. Games, christmas, birthdays, gaming events, new games....

Here is a quick run down -

New games: Star Wars Miniatures, with an extra XWing, YWing, TIE Advanced and TIE Fighter! That's 7 ships in total! 7 Wonders Cities.

New events: We've been going to a couples night at Brians place several times; with Dale and his wife Jo along with Jenny, Brians partner. It has been brilliant fun the times we have done it; most of the time playing 7  Wonders - although one night we played Texas Hold Em poker. Except Brian is an absolute Poker card shark and poker psychologist! He read us all like a book and after we won a few games each, losing and making chips, he suddenly kicked into gear and took us all to the cleaners! :)

Sunday 23 June 2013

First family play of Elder Sign!

I've had this game a while now, but never managed to understand the rules, let alone play a game! So today Anita said to play a game we've not played before and I got out the few games we have that we've never played or played as a family. Elder Sign is based around the Call of Cthulhu universe and is a card and dice game. After dashing through the rules (as Anita hates rules reading on the fly!!), we set the game up and the family were introduced to their first Fantasy Flight multiple chit game!

The idea is that the game is set in a Museum where one of the ancient Old Ones is about to break out of its slumber and attack the world. All that stands in its way is a team of intrepid investigators in suitable 1930s get up. The "board" is 6 cards laid out 3 x 2 with an Entrance card at the top. The old one has a set number of Elder Signs required to defeat it. Each card is an Adventure split into "mini adventures" that have to be solved to win the card. The card if won gives prizes, if lost the characters are hurt mentally or physically.

To complete a mini adventure, players have to roll dice. Firstly you roll 6 and try to match the symbols required in the Adventure. Matching symbols means you have to put that dice aside. If you fail to match all symbols you have to put one dice aside and roll again. Cards allow you to add a yellow and/or red dice which give you a better chance of getting the symbols you need.

If you win a card, you can win new cards to allow more yellow and red dice and hopefully Elder Signs! There are several others rules but that's about the main core of the game.

The family loved it!! The look on their faces as we rolled dice was ultimate tension! We have to get it!! We all enjoyed the game and can't wait to play again.