Underground Gamers Barnes' Board Gaming Blog

League Updated to 10 August

Stuart — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 09:45:58 +0000

Steve S is still at it, after winning the cup in the 2008-09 season and with Mark being the current holder he wants to win back the cup and re-house it in it’s rightful place on his mantle piece where the gap has never been properly filled. However, Jerry is the new kid on the block and after gaining 5 points on Steve since the end of June he should soon be able to smell his fear (I’ll bring some wet wipes for Steve’s seat in the next session). Mark has dropped further back loosing 5 points on Steve over the period, perhaps he doesn’t want to retain the cup (does it clash with his decor?).

Time circuits on. Flux Capacitor… fluxxing. Engine running. All right!

Colin — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 22:01:23 +0000

Marty Mcfly: “Wait a minute, Doc. Ah… Are you telling me that you built a time machine… out of a DeLorean?”
The way I see it, if you’re gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style

http://www.wunderland.com/LooneyLabs/BTTF/Default.html

Hello from exactly a month from now! Doc Brown here, although I think I’ve only played (unsuccessfully) Chrononauts once, so I’ve encouraged those Looney Lab fellows to create this clever twist features scenes from the trilogy of Back to the Future movies.

League Updated to the End June

Stuart — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 19:55:50 +0000

Steve S is making an early claim for the coveted Bernard Cup and has opened a 13 point lead over Mark and Jerry. Remember the old saying ‘what goes up must come down’ and with Jerry and current cup holder Mark both prowling in the wings, I’m sure that this is going to become close over the coming months.

For now though, all hail Steve S the king the winner of the 1st quarter of the year. Lets see if he can keep his cool over Summer and maintain his lead.

How are games scored?

Stuart — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 21:00:54 +0000

Now I know there are lots of questions around how the games are scored and Scott our league scorer and referee has provided the following guide as to whether the games we play are classed as ‘Big’ or ‘Small’. So here goes:

Large: HURRY CUP, DUNGEON QUEST, MARAKESH, ESCAPE FROM ATLANTIS, SCOTLAND YARD, SABOTUER, GUILOTINE, ADVENTURERS, DOMINION, YEAR OF THE DRAGON, FORMULA D,ADASTRA, TRI 3D, AVE CAESAR, INCAN GOLD, RACE FOR THE GALAXY, PUERTO RICO, WORLD CUP 1966, PANDEMIC, GRANADA.

Small: TRADING ROUTES, HEIMRICH & CO, DAVID & GOLIATH, BIG BLOKUS

Now the points scored are:

Large Game: Winner 5pts; 2nd 4pts; 3rd 3pts; 4th 2pts; Others 1pt

Small Game: Winner 3pts; Others 1pt

If the game is longer than 2 hours all points are doubled.

Scott – please comment if any of this is wrong!

Let’s kick it for the World Cup 2010

Stuart — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 10:37:06 +0000

While pondering what theme to use for the 3rd Tuesday in June session there was only one choice, the World Cup and football (or soccer for those Americans amongst us). I know that Russ has a copy of the 2006 ‘The World Cup Game‘ which is a good fun football game which can be played and enjoyed by footie fans and those who aren’t so keen on football too (although it is a bit of a struggle to get the play it for the first time!). The best thing about the game is that it can be played by up to 16 at the same time and has good levels of interaction for all.

However good football games like this are in short supply. I remember as a child playing a 1950-60’s football game which included player position cards (including inside left!) which was great fun (for a 7 year old) after a bit of a search I think I found it on the geek (called ‘Goal!‘) – but I can’t be sure as I think the game I remember also had a zoned pitch but it was a long time ago!

Given that football is such a big interest for so many people world wide it’s amazing to think that the format has failed to make a bigger impact in a board or card game format. The most successful football game I can think of is Subbuteo, however given that it is less a game of strategy and more dexterity and skill I’m going to rule it out of this discussion.

Do you have any thoughts on what are the best footie games of all time? The geek holds ‘The League‘ as the most highly rated (by 3 people) but I’m not sure that’s right!

At last, the moment you have been waiting for….

Stuart — Sun, 06 Jun 2010 19:01:18 +0000

Yes, I know it’s been a while. But yes, your £10 sub fee is well worth it as the league has been lovingly updated to the 1st June session and Steve S sits pretty at the top with a whopping 10 point lead over David T (the silent assassin). Further down the table sits Richard, making a bold early claim for the coveted cup with a good consistent run and 29 points to show for it.

Bernard Cup for 2009-2010 won by Mark; Congratulations….

Stuart — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 21:00:42 +0000

Amazing. Mark has bludgeoned his way to the top of the league by a single point to take the coveted Bernard Cup from Steve S. This goes to show that hard work and sweat can get you to the top of the podium. Although, and I’m sure you’ll all agree, David, the long term leader of the league, was extremely unlucky to lose out by such a small margin in the last session of the year. Still lets not let this take the shine from Mark’s famous victory. Enjoy the glory Mark!

Introducing the Brighton DipCon 1

Stuart — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:34:44 +0000

Your chummies at Underground Gamers have great pleasure to announce that our older sister club, the Brighton Boardgames Club will be hosting a leg of the Face 2 Face Diplomacy 2010 Tour of Britain.

Details can be found in this PDF – Brighton Dipcon 1 or on the Face 2 Face Diplomacy website.

In summary, it will be held on the 7th-9th May in their usual venue, the Brighton Railway Club – so don’t be shy, put on your best talking face and support the Brighton boys.

Happy Birthdays to Yous

Stuart — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 15:46:05 +0000

Happy birthday to Mark, Steve S, Scott and Steve H isn’t it weird that so many of our club regulars have birthdays around the same time. Handy that they all love gaming and present selection is easy – “another board or card game”! good to see the boys happy!

While on the train was thinking what is the game of the moment. My personal choice is Caylus – I played it for the first time in a UG session a few weeks ago and really liked the game play and the mechanics. Particulaly where you can cut players off (by moving the bishop back) who have taken production risks by venturing far ahead of the pack. Clever as it works as a regulator for the pace of the game stopping players venturing too far and triggering the next game phase or the game end. Also I liked the way where by any player can use the buildings erected by all players but must pay a duty to use them. This gives the game a further victory strategy – either build the buildings for yourself and to compliment the other buildings you have or build buildings that you know other players will want to use (so you can profit from them instead). Great stuff – after a few more plays we’ll stick a review on the site. Another game we had out recently was Cuba – again an interesting game which will require a few more plays to get used to. The interaction was limited but probably because we were not challenging for the elections as much as we should have been. With a few more plays I can see this element of the game getting really interesting.

League table updated to mid January

Stuart — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 21:18:00 +0000

The league has been updated the middle of January (eg. not including the 3rd Tuesday session) and wow, David’s once impregnable position at the top has been brutally whittled down to a single point by a ruthless Mark who has bludgeoned his way through 58 games at an average of 2.2 per game. Stevie is rapidly approaching their behinds again with a single point!!!

Now only four sessions remain and can David hold on to the coveted top spot and prise the Bernard Cup from Steve S.