Games in a Pub – 6th January 2013

A new year and a new pub, the Crow and Gate, Crowborough

With the beginning of the New Year we decided to take our merry band on the road and try out a new venue. We have been meeting at the Blue Anchor now for 2 years and it had been my hope to bring the wealth of modern board and card games to the attention of the wider community, not just gamers.

The reality is that with a few exceptions and in spite of the redoubtable efforts of Damian (the landlord at the Blue Anchor) to interest his clientèle in our activities, largely little interest has been shown. So following the premise of nothing ventured nothing gained the idea is to try a new nearby location and see if the winds of chaos result in a different outcome! Time will tell.

Match Report - 21st December 2012

A festive meeting with lots of Saboteurs!

With Christmas just around the corner there was a festive feel to the evening and a welcome visitation from one of the regulars at the pub.

Claire and Brian had just scooped a copy of Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers at a local charity shop for £2.50 (a steal) so it didn’t take much convincing to interest Crispin in a variant on one of his favourite games.

Games in A Pub - 9th December 2012

A group of Convicts and Samurai arrive at a new pub! 

With carols at the Blue Anchor and an expected full house it was time to take our games group on the road and move about 2 mins (by car) towards Uckfield to the Crow and Gate. I am not sure what the diners made of as we started our first game of the evening Alcatraz: The Scapegoat , listening to us get into character and drop each other in it.

Match Report - 3rd December 2012

A big turnout, 2 award winning games and lots of munchies

Six of us started the evening with one of the group’s favourite fillers, Hick Hack. Although in this case it was being played with Karen, Brian and Claire who had never encountered this amusing family game where the farmyard birds try to eat as much feed as possible whilst avoiding the unwelcome attentions of the local fox population. During this game Natalie and Daniella arrived and we thought the group was complete, and then there was a ring on the doorbell and Alex unexpectedly joined us. As the group settled down with Dominion at one end (Brian, Daniella, Alex and Natalie) and 7 Wonders at the other end the door bell rang again (I was beginning to feel like Bilbo (in The Hobbit) at this point and there was Ben.

Games in a Pub – 25th November 2012

One big Mayan game and the return of the the pirates

Tzolk’in: The Mayan Calendar (the beautiful worker placement game)finally made it to the table. This was one of my favourite games from Essen but being a more medium weight game it needs the right opportunity. With 5 players this wasn’t ideal, as it is a 4 player game, but as this was my best opportunity to date I took it with both hands - offering to teach the game to the others and watch / check out rule clarifications as the game progressed. This is a reasonably complex game and whilst I had played it twice Simon ‘s interjections as I walked through the rules (based on having watched a 40 min video about the game on BoardGameGeek) where very helpful.

Match Report – 19th November

A welcome return!

With Brian’s health issues pretty much behind him now we saw the welcome return of Claire and Brain after what has been for them a difficult year. Taking one of our occasional trips to Daniella’s we were joined by a couple of her offspring plus ‘mum’ bringing our number to 10.

Crispin and Malcolm led a game of Ticket To Ride: Europe at one end of the room (eventually won by Leonie) which saw Tom either desperately disappointed at loosing to his sister or listening for the sound of trains on the track depending on your interpretation of the photo’s! Mum had never played a game of this type before and was heard during the rules explanation to say “maybe I should have stayed watching the TV”. However by the end of the game she had enjoyed it so much she was talking about the possibility of buying a copy of the game.

Games in a Pub – 11th November 2012

3 Return whilst 1 leaves 

Oliver had told us all a couple of weeks ago that he would be moving out of the area soon and as this would be his final night with us he was given free reign to choose the evenings games.

First up was a game of Braggart, reviewed here, this was a game that has been played at our games evening a number of times and with much laughter. It is one of those games which can be played at two levels. You either go for points and don’t worry about the cards or go for fun reading out the boast (made up of a Foe and a Deed card plus optionally Scene and or Result cards). I think this game lived up to Oliver’s hopes and may yet be his first game purchase as he felt his family would enjoy this one.