Battlequest games due to open in Horsham yay!

Oh yeah, www.battlequestgames.co.uk is opening a shop down the road from us - a rare thing indeed an independent gaming shop, but this one is just down the road! Local gamers will go bankrupt! :)

A Sunday of gaming fun

Today was a nice sunny Sunday and before I was tasked to tackled the overgrowing garden, we sat to play some games. Poor Kavita had homework to attend to so Roshni, Maya, Anita and I had a game of Zooleretto, Diamant and Formula 1.

Zooleretto was a good blur of animals, money and competition. You have to be quick on your toes to outwit Anita at this game; yet with the competitiveness it also brings out the friendly banter of helping each other to achieve the animals we need. With this game we played with the Petting Zoo, Elephant/Zebra/Flamingo mini-add ons and Polar Bear cub add ons, giving just the right balance of complexity vs fun. A few times Anita asked Maya if she was ok or needed help but she shook her head and said "I'm thinking" lol.

Final score Anita (41), Me (28), Roshni and Maya (18)

The zoos build up; the Polar bear is still up for grabs;	The game is in full swing - they are usually a fast, frantic affair with hands all over.

History is changed!! Again!

So, I challenged Roshni to another game of Memoir '44 - seeing as the results so far were 2 - 0 to her! This time Maya got involved to see what was what. After a little bit of explanation of what the dice meant, Maya was able to pick up what was going on. The two of them shared dice rolls, which lead to be bit of excitement between them if one failed a hit, the other was encouraged to score. They also started to employ a lot of good tactics with their Command Card disadvantage.

So, the scene was set - my British forces hitting Sword beach 6th June 1944, which the girls vigorously defended. And defended they did!! It was terrible! No matter how I tried, I couldn't make head way; then about half way through, the right sector made a big push and things seemed to be going our way; one bunker was knocked out and the German artillery was forced to retreat but suddenly the left sector collapsed and the right sector took a sudden beating; then a Commando unit was wiped out and an Artillery Barrage card against a tank unit ended the British assault on Sword Beach!!

5 stars to my 1 - Roshni wins again

Memoir 44 is an amazingly simple game to play but is by no means simple in its approach - tactics, loss and wins, back and forth, I found it so much more playable than ASL. I cannot wait for Battlequestgames to open in town...more on this next post

Sword beach assault start	Things not going well for the British!	They think it's all over - it is now!

Back on with the blog and the gaming!

We're back on track with the blog - cranked it back up, copied in the old text and images and set up the new url.

Loads has happened in the two years since we've been away, bought and acquired new games - sold a load - like my entire ASL collection - shock horror - for a whopping £1057 on ebay!!! Journal 6 went for £54 - West of Alamein £101!! I used some of the money for birthday gifts and stuff (plus MOT and service is coming up) but I'm ploughing some of it back into my new favourite gaming system - Memoir '44!!!

More on that later.

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!

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.