Pasteboard and Plastic VI
Dave Simpson
England
Brighton
West Sussex
UKf2fDip.org - supporting Face to Face Diplomacy in the UK
Yes, it's very dark isn't it? Almost... black. Yes, I shall need to get the black out. Black.... BLACK!!! Like The darkness of space that leads into the chasm of clams.... My eyes!! My eyes are pies..and yours are lies...
-
So here it is then, a geeklist to log what we got up to in and around the "Pasteboard and Plastic VI" all-day gaming event which was held on Saturday 12th July, 2008 at the Scout hut in Saltdean (Brighton, UK).
This is my third in a growing series of P&P Geeklists, the previous ones being
Pasteboard & Plastic 4
Pasteboard & Plastic 5
Thanks to everyone I met and to those I played games with - and special thanks to Dick for organising another successful, smooth running Pasteboard & Plastic event.
The entry fees for the P&P events support the 42nd Brighton (Saltdean) Scouts
Pasteboard & Plastic also has an official game vendor - The Board Game Club. Thanks guys!
I'm interested to see what the other attendees thought, so add your games or comments accordingly if you would be so kind. If you bought something at the event and didn't get to play it, why not add that to the list too and ask for someone to come play it with you. That's what I'm gonna do.
The next event is PasteBoard & Plastic VII, which will be coming up a couple of weeks after Essen 2008. I hope to see you there!
-
1.
Board Game: Agricola
[Average Rating:8.25 Overall Rank:2]
Dave Simpson
England
Brighton
West Sussex
UKf2fDip.org - supporting Face to Face Diplomacy in the UK
Yes, it's very dark isn't it? Almost... black. Yes, I shall need to get the black out. Black.... BLACK!!! Like The darkness of space that leads into the chasm of clams.... My eyes!! My eyes are pies..and yours are lies...
-
Undoubtedly game of the day, so worthy of it's spot at the top of this Geeklist. My copy of the game was on the table within a few minutes of me turning up and once I had played my first ever game (in which I got soundly battered) I moved on to see what goodies had arrived for me, leaving others to play this again. Whilst that game was still going on, there was another Agricola game taking place on another table and there were also several copies of the game on sale.
We played with the I deck today and there is certainly a lot of interaction between the players using that particular deck, making it very different to the E deck that some of the folks playing with me had used earlier in the week at the regular Tuesday night Brighton Boardgames Club session. You might say almost too much interaction! Although I'd used a card to let me take 2 extra grain when I took grain, I couldn't do that without paying food to Al, and as food is generally pretty tight, I guessed that I night struggle a bit. That didn't really matter though, as I really enjoyed the game and watching how it all shaped up with different players trying different things. Ron, Al and Howard had played before and it showed. Helen and I were new (and it showed!). Helen scored loads more than me as well though, my score of 19 was miles behind everyone else!
The scope of this game with all the different cards and decks is amazing and I really can't see anyone who likes it tiring of it any time soon. The high proportion of very high ratings on the Geek is justified in my opinion.
-
-
Dave Simpson
England
Brighton
West Sussex
UKf2fDip.org - supporting Face to Face Diplomacy in the UK
Yes, it's very dark isn't it? Almost... black. Yes, I shall need to get the black out. Black.... BLACK!!! Like The darkness of space that leads into the chasm of clams.... My eyes!! My eyes are pies..and yours are lies...
-
The first purchase(s) on my pre-order list for P&P VI: Series 2 of the superb WoW mini's - in it's entirity.
I'd been looking forward to getting my hands on these for a while and I have a nice carry box to put these in. The series 1 mini's have looked a bit lonely in there these past few months. Series 2's two-seaters give the mini's game a lot more scope with some more interesting scenario's now available for use with the "right" kind of aircraft. No need to pretend planes are something they are not and no need to play with a mix of cards and mini's.
I'm looking forward to getting these on the table soon. Hopefully before the next P&P, although some WoW action at P&P VII looks like a definite as there was interest today in getting that arranged for the Autumn.
-
-
Dave Simpson
England
Brighton
West Sussex
UKf2fDip.org - supporting Face to Face Diplomacy in the UK
Yes, it's very dark isn't it? Almost... black. Yes, I shall need to get the black out. Black.... BLACK!!! Like The darkness of space that leads into the chasm of clams.... My eyes!! My eyes are pies..and yours are lies...
-
Yep, I said I would not buy all the expansions for Carc when I bought the base game. So I'm not. Just this one. Honest. Another player colour, some more tiles, a few extra rules, nothing too serious. I could leave it alone, any time I want.
-
-
Dave Simpson
England
Brighton
West Sussex
UKf2fDip.org - supporting Face to Face Diplomacy in the UK
Yes, it's very dark isn't it? Almost... black. Yes, I shall need to get the black out. Black.... BLACK!!! Like The darkness of space that leads into the chasm of clams.... My eyes!! My eyes are pies..and yours are lies...
-
Whilst I dropped out after Agricola to pick up some goodies, the others went on to this. I got to have a go at it later on and was glad that I did.
Metropolys has a really clever auction/placement mechanic in which you place one of your 13 numbered buildings on the board and then the next player has to either place a higher ranked building on an adjacent sector or pass. Once a space has a building on it, it cannot be touched again. This can create dead spots where no-one can place a building next to yours, so you will then get the space cheaply. There's other mechanics to give VPs as well, which makes for a very entertraining game. I really enjoyed this and I think everyone else did as well, ig got quite a lot of plays.
-
-
Dave Simpson
England
Brighton
West Sussex
UKf2fDip.org - supporting Face to Face Diplomacy in the UK
Yes, it's very dark isn't it? Almost... black. Yes, I shall need to get the black out. Black.... BLACK!!! Like The darkness of space that leads into the chasm of clams.... My eyes!! My eyes are pies..and yours are lies...
-
Having enjoyed a number of games of LNoE in the past few months, both at a previous P&P gathering and on Tuesdays, snapping up this expansion from the BoardGameClub boys was a no brainer. Haha. Zombies. No brainer. Mmm, Braaaiiinnnsss!
I'd had this sitting on an order for a while as well and it was another purchase that got interest on the day, so I will be taking this along to the Tuesday night sessions soon as well.
-
-
Dave Simpson
England
Brighton
West Sussex
UKf2fDip.org - supporting Face to Face Diplomacy in the UK
Yes, it's very dark isn't it? Almost... black. Yes, I shall need to get the black out. Black.... BLACK!!! Like The darkness of space that leads into the chasm of clams.... My eyes!! My eyes are pies..and yours are lies...
-
Al's been wanting to play this for a while and he'd put the call out for investigators in the weeks leading up to P&OP VII, so in the afternoon, 5 intrepid investigators (represented on the board by some pretty cool prepainted "Dunwich Detectives" figures we bought in the day) faced off against Great Cthulhu himself. Typical! we picked the hardest Great Old One, the daddy of them all.
Luke and I had not played this before, but although there's loads and loads of cards, the game is pretty easy to follow. We thought that we might just be a bit short of the mark, but having turned around from quite a lot of monsters on the board and lot of open games at different times, we finally managed to all meet up in the church to ensure that we all got blessed before facing up to Cthulhu.
-6 dice and the recharge of one hit counter after each combat round make Cthulhu really tough. After a slow start, the dice rolls came good and Cthulhu was taking a bit of a mauling, but then the Investigators began dropping by the wayside one by one. Gary, Al and Luke dropped round on round and in the end Miguel and I needed 8 hits with 10 dice, but neither of us was blessed any more. We didn't make it, we got done by 3 hits. That's a pretty close run game and it was tough all the way through. No idea if it's always like that, but it was tough enough and interesting enough to keep my attention.
-
-
Dave Simpson
England
Brighton
West Sussex
UKf2fDip.org - supporting Face to Face Diplomacy in the UK
Yes, it's very dark isn't it? Almost... black. Yes, I shall need to get the black out. Black.... BLACK!!! Like The darkness of space that leads into the chasm of clams.... My eyes!! My eyes are pies..and yours are lies...
-
I fancied a wargame, so I thought that I would do it properly. ASL is quite a heavy game to get in to, so the starter kits seem like a simple way to get in to it. I managed to get a read of an ASLSK1 rulebook and the infantry only bits therein seem simple enough to follow. There's only 10 pages or so of rules to this and nothing more awkward than a heavy MG to deal with.
Come on then guys, some of you who were there today were either playing wargames or ASL curious, so let's get some ASL action going...
-
-
Dave Simpson
England
Brighton
West Sussex
UKf2fDip.org - supporting Face to Face Diplomacy in the UK
Yes, it's very dark isn't it? Almost... black. Yes, I shall need to get the black out. Black.... BLACK!!! Like The darkness of space that leads into the chasm of clams.... My eyes!! My eyes are pies..and yours are lies...
-
Whilst pre-ordering stuff before P&P VI I was in an ASL frame of mind, so I thought it'd be worth going for all three SK's! In for a penny, in for a pound.
SK2 adds 2 more boards, let's you use flamethrowers, demo charges and the like, introduces artillery and only a few more pages of rules. OK, you talked me in to it. This would be the first bits I'd really have to learn having already read the SK1 rules, so it makes sense.
SK3 gives tanks as well, so it's a fair overview of the basics of the ASL system. The decision then is move on to full ASL or not, but that's a way off yet.
-
-
Dave Simpson
England
Brighton
West Sussex
UKf2fDip.org - supporting Face to Face Diplomacy in the UK
Yes, it's very dark isn't it? Almost... black. Yes, I shall need to get the black out. Black.... BLACK!!! Like The darkness of space that leads into the chasm of clams.... My eyes!! My eyes are pies..and yours are lies...
-
After a stroll down for the (becoming traditional) fish and chips break, Al, Gary, Miguel and I settled down for a quick light game.
Infernal Contraption (and the sabotage enabled expansion deck) is a game which is really easy to play. Everyone makes a main line of power cards and contraption cards, with add-on cards that can go above or below this line. The trick of the game is to make everyone else burn more cards than you do from their draw pile, so you're the only one left with any cards.
Partway through the game it became evident that my draw pile was the largest, so I became everyones target. I was really quickly knocked right down to being almost out. I didn't want to have to start pouting if I was out, like it says you have to in the rules (!) so I had to play the one card I had up my sleeve, which was an equaliser card. This allowed me to take up all the draw piles and evenly redistribute them. The other guys then ended up sabotaging each other as these cards have to fit where you can fit them. No-one could really affect me at this point, and everyone else ended up running sabotaged machines and running out or draw cards, leaving me with 2 left at the end for the win. Another tight game and again it went down well.
-
-
Dave Simpson
England
Brighton
West Sussex
UKf2fDip.org - supporting Face to Face Diplomacy in the UK
Yes, it's very dark isn't it? Almost... black. Yes, I shall need to get the black out. Black.... BLACK!!! Like The darkness of space that leads into the chasm of clams.... My eyes!! My eyes are pies..and yours are lies...
-
A P&P tradition. Sometime around 9pm or so we get folks together for a few rounds of werewolf. There were 13 of us this time so it was absolute chaos!
We got a couple of games in, but I was pretty hopeless in both games. I didn't work out who could be the wrrewolves fast enough in either game and then in both game I was killed. In the first game, I was lynched by my fellow villagers (swines!) and the second time, I was ripped up by the werewolves at the point when I would have started to become dangerous to them. Curses!
The werewolves did really well in both games - well done guys!
-
-
Dave Simpson
England
Brighton
West Sussex
UKf2fDip.org - supporting Face to Face Diplomacy in the UK
Yes, it's very dark isn't it? Almost... black. Yes, I shall need to get the black out. Black.... BLACK!!! Like The darkness of space that leads into the chasm of clams.... My eyes!! My eyes are pies..and yours are lies...
-
I bought this on the day in it's Incan Gold incarnation. It's a quick push your luck game that is simple enough to hook in some non gamers every once in a while and fast enough to be a light filler for the more serious gamer crowd. Definitely one to take to the cons.
-
-
Dave Simpson
England
Brighton
West Sussex
UKf2fDip.org - supporting Face to Face Diplomacy in the UK
Yes, it's very dark isn't it? Almost... black. Yes, I shall need to get the black out. Black.... BLACK!!! Like The darkness of space that leads into the chasm of clams.... My eyes!! My eyes are pies..and yours are lies...
-
I've had my eye on this for a while and funnily enough, like Twilight Struggle at a previous P&P, this game was looking at me all day, so in the end I went for it. I really enjoy TS and as this is generally thought to be lighter and faster, I am sure I will like 1960 as well.
-
-
Miguel Sanhueza
England
Brighton
East Sussex
-
I managed to jump into a game of this seconds after it had started with Martin and Adrian, and I think it got played several times throughout the day by other folk. Definitely one of my favourite games with loads of different VP choices to make throughout. The game has the perfect playoff between trying to complete your own islands and gathering the right vikings or special tiles, and preventing your opponents from doing the same. It's like a mini multi player jigsaw that isn't as obviously cutthroat as it really is.
Every game ends in either cursing an earlier decision that cost you those last few points, or sitting smug in the knowledge of your superior strategic play.
On this occasion, I sat cursing. Well done to Martin.
-
-
Miguel Sanhueza
England
Brighton
East Sussex
-
I turned up half an hour 'late' so missed out on the initial start up games, but kept myself happy with browsing the myriad games that people had brought along. Gary was wandering around looking lost too, so we found a table and got some two player action in. We started with Pitch Car that was available on the Bring & Buy table. Set up in two minutes, then some frantic scurrying round the table like the big kids we all are. Gary was enamoured by the hefty box and bagged it, despite having promised himself he wouldn't buy anything on the day. A common 'complaint'
-
-
Miguel Sanhueza
England
Brighton
East Sussex
-
Another lightning set up and speedy play had this game onto and off our table in about 3 minutes flat.
Fun, fast, furious and any other f-starting words you care to describe this game.
-
-
Miguel Sanhueza
England
Brighton
East Sussex
-
And finally, Gary and I got onto something a little meatier.
Now, because everyone knows that 13 hours solid gaming in one day is not enough, Gary had been round to mine the night previous to have an evening of Command & Colours: Ancients.
It had been my first time with it, but luckily Gary helped with remembering all the little exceptions and fiddly bits to the combat that need to be considered. Lots of fun and nice to play something out and out confrontational for a change. No worries about hurt feelings here! 
We managed two more games on Saturday, replaying scenario 213 Camalatrum from both sides, Gary wiping the floor with me both times. The only thing I can think to blame are Garys home painted dice. Erm, that or my wooden block incompetence. Yes, that sounds more reasonable.
-
-
17.
Board Game: Antike
[Average Rating:7.21 Overall Rank:226]
Gary
United Kingdom
Brighton
Sussex
-
Played a five-player game of Antike. Ann, Glyn, Martin and Phil were the other players and after a brief and a possibly confused (as it was me doing it) run-through of the rules - we kicked off for some Mediterrean conquering action.
They early stages passed peacefully enough, with players expanding comfortably to fill the board. The middle stage saw increased levels of tension as everyone restated their intentions of not getting involved in any fights, while at the same piling on the armies and fleets (although I'd completely failed to get even a second iron-producing cities in the early game and decided on a desperate bid to win through technology advances). And so to the end game - deals were broken, threats were made, armies were mobilised, temples were burnt and (IIRC) four out of the five players found themselves just one card away from victory. All-in-all a very enjoyable game. But the icing on the cake was I won (for th efirst time ever at Antike) - I offer you all the chance of revenge next time.
-
-
Gary
United Kingdom
Brighton
Sussex
-
First game of day - why not pick a brain-burner that you've only played once before?
Debs and Luke were in for a three-player of this one - and it looked so easy at first - then the possible choices started to sink in. The game only has about three rules, but even that seemed too many.
Debs grabbed a well-earned victory with Luke a close second (I'm not saying where I finished  ).
An elegant game - but just not my cup of tea (oh..talking of tea - it was time to put the kettle on, make a cuppa and have a wander  ).
edits: add some emoticons
-
-
Luke Moscrop
New Zealand
Christchurch
Canterbury
-
Garry opened up a game of this by Martin Wallace (probably my favourite game designer). While I thought it looked a bit dry in theme, this was in fact a terrific economic game in terms of play. Typical Wallace.
I'd be keen to pick a copy of this.
After some frantic bidding on mines and then development through turns 2-4, Mike finished first by beating me on a tie-break and Debs, then Garry closely behind.
-
-
Luke Moscrop
New Zealand
Christchurch
Canterbury
-
I luckily managed to acquire this through the BoardGameClub guys - I understand I was quite fortunate as they hadn't had many in!
Well, I'm glad I've got it because I really enjoyed this co-op game which I managed to play with Phil, Glynn & Debs.
We decided to play the beginners game but even then we failed very early on when I caused the 2nd epidemic (having also caused the 1st one on my previous turn)!
We immediately tried again, and this time, a little better prepared, we worked well together to share ideas on how to co-operatively cure the 4 diseases while still keeping the existing cities from having an outbreak.
Loads of table talk, many different options we could have taken, in the end led us to victory just in time (well sort of...we cheated slightly by backtracking two people's turns once we realised the game was about to end).
Still, very enjoyable and good to play at around 45mins.
-
-
Garry Clarke
United Kingdom
Horsham
West Sussex
-
I was just sitting at the table after playing Tinners' Trail when Mike got this out.
It was like a 2 hour trip to the dentist (on second thoughts the dentist would have been the better option).
-
-
Debs Dennis
United Kingdom
West Sussex
-
Although we've played this several times in our Thursday night group this was my first time in English. I liked the game before but got very confused with the text on the cards so this was a whole new experience. Having read the book earlier this year it was great to be able to understand the characters on the privilege cards and, for me, it gave the game a whole new dimension.
I played this with Helen, Ron and Adrian, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, so thanks guys!
-
-
Dave Simpson
England
Brighton
West Sussex
UKf2fDip.org - supporting Face to Face Diplomacy in the UK
Yes, it's very dark isn't it? Almost... black. Yes, I shall need to get the black out. Black.... BLACK!!! Like The darkness of space that leads into the chasm of clams.... My eyes!! My eyes are pies..and yours are lies...
-
Nope, didn't play it, but I was watching Saturdays highlights whilst finishing off this list. Cav's 2nd stage win of the tour - Superb!
-
-
David Larkin
England
Brighton
Sussex
-
This was a new one to me, but I really enjoyed it. Really nice bits (the ice flow hexes are really good) and interesting game play. You are trying to cross the Bearing Straits by jumping or swimming from ice flow to ice flow. If you go via a smooth edge movement is free, but you need a rope (which you leave behind)to cross a jagged edge. You also need fish, for the energy to swim the gaps, or to feed to polar bears (to avoid being the meal yourself). You collect rope and fish left around on the ice flows (or if you have some rope go fishing!). You can also move or rotate the ice flows giving yourself and easier (or your opponents a harder) route.
The only slightly annoying bit was the pan dimensional rucksack, which can only hold three items, all of which are available to any of your explorers wherever they are in the world (OK so the game wouldn't play so well if each explorer had their own rucksack).
Another game I may be bringing back from Essen!
Dave
-
-
David Larkin
England
Brighton
Sussex
-
Still enjoying this one, although I think the expensive first build cost me the game as I wasn’t able to take advantage of the other players choices often enough due to a lack of cards.
Dave
-
-
|
|
