by Jonathan Warren
At this time of year lots of people make New Year resolutions. You know, the things we say we're determined to do this year, but have quite forgotten about by the first week of February. I want to quit smoking - well, that's easy for me, as I never started in the first place. I want to quit the heavy drinking - well, I don't drink to excess either. I want to lose weight - well, my weight is fairly consistent no matter what I seem to eat and I am 'average' build, whatever 'average' means (my wife says that I'm just 'lucky').
I don't really make resolutions; I have never seen the point in making them. However, there are some goals that I really would like to accomplish at this early stage in the year (just remember that February is just around the corner, so not long before I've forgotten, heh?).
1. I'd like to cull my game collection somewhat. I have far too many unplayed games sitting in various boxes. I started this well, selling games on a Facebook board gaming group. My wife is happy... she has been eyeing up a new 3-piece suite for some time and the proceeds WILL go to that. How come, my money is always spent on what the wife wants? Anyway, we do need a new 3-piece suite, so I'm moderately happy to go along with that.
2. The second goal is for
Fenland Gamers. We have seen our little group grow in the six months it's been running, from two of us to almost twenty members (some of whom we're yet to meet, so I'm not sure if I can claim that just yet). Our main monthly game evening gets an average of seven of us, which I think is an amazing growth, considering that when we started, Matt and I thought we'd have a really hard time finding gamers in the area. I want the group to grow a little more during 2016, hitting at least ten on average at our main meet.
3. Another goal for Fenland Gamers is to have a better website. Our website is functional and does what we need it to do - that is, organise our gaming evenings - but it is run on a free domain and server provider. That is fine for now because domains and server space from a more reliable provider cost money; we run Fenland Gamers as a free group and I wouldn't want to charge, as some groups in the surrounding area do. I am privileged that the venue we game at is provided at no cost to us.
Whether or not these goals get reached is the subject of another post later in the year (perhaps February? ;)), but for now, I'm happy to start with those.
Moving on, our first unofficial session of 2016 (the official main group session is next Wednesday) was an impromptu session that took place on Wednesday evening 6 January. Matt, Darren and I met to get a game of
Viticulture Essential Edition played. I have been determined to meet with my friends and get them up-to-speed, ready for the Fenland Gamers Drinking Games session to be held later in the year (that will comprise
Vinhos,
Brew Crafters,
Glen More and Viticulture); this might have the added bonus of attracting more members... perhaps for the wrong reasons though!).
I have mentioned already that I expect that once the extended board from
Tuscany: Expand the World of Viticulture is added into the game, Viticulture might well surpass the excellent Brew Crafters to become my favourite game.
After a slow start - I had to nip home to pick up the metal coins that I had forgotten to pack - the game got going. It all integrates well to deliver a tight, tension filled, thematic worker-placement Euro game.
Although we played a rule incorrectly (a game changing rule, regarding the bonus action spaces), this was still a very good introduction for the others. Darren won the game, eeking out small point bonuses here and there, with Matt and I concentrating on fulfilling contracts. The incorrect rule would have changed the entire flow of the game (and made it a better game in my opinion), but we really enjoyed the tension that the game provided.
I mentioned that I do have the Tuscany expansion for the game. Whether we play with the 'Legacy' aspect to this or not is yet to be decided. As the Essential Edition already contains almost all of Tier 1 of the Tuscany expansion anyway, there might be no point in playing the game in that way and instead just jump into the expansion that we find the most appealing.
It got the seal of approval from Darren and Matt; in fact, Darren has already placed it on his wishlist.
Planned for this year at Fenland Gamers are a couple of team games. The first being
Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective. I want to run this one evening for a team of sleuths during winter. The plan is to have two teams and each play one of two cases (case number 1 from the game and a fan-made case). Once this is done, those that want to carry on and explore the other cases will form a single team and then we'll go from there and work through the game cases.
At the session, Darren brought up for discussion the other team game. Of course, that game is
Pandemic Legacy: Season 1. We have now put together a team for this and it is now just a matter of getting that team together at the same time to get the game underway. We're really looking forward to this.
Finally, Matt brought along a recent Kickstarter delivery that had piqued my interest,
Trickerion: Legends of Illusion. I am interested in magic, so a game with this theme was bound to be of interest to me. We did not have the time to play it at this session, but we had a good look at it. I am impressed with the artwork; it really gives it that Victorian period feel, the beginning of a golden age of magic with some of the most influential performers of the art. Of course, all those great performers were nothing compared to
"the most influential magician in the history of magic" (his words) and,
'The man Paul Daniels could have been' (Loughborough Times, 2009), David Lemezmer. In fact, this game is crying out for a David Lemezmer promo ;)
Things are looking good for Fenland Gamers and I am looking forward to gaming with a great group throughout 2016.
