12 Reasons why you FAIL at explaining Board Game Rules

🕑 6 min read

Yes yes. I intentionally used the word FAIL to illicit a visceral reaction of fear and disgust in you. Otherwise known as click bait. So let's not talk about whooo called whooo a failure and let's remind ourselves about the creative and hugely necessary art of Board Game Rules Explanations! Yay!

Holiday season is almost upon us, and we may be thinking about becoming jolly and teaching our families a new board game or two, after our festive roast lunch of choice; AND on Mondays and Tuesdays at NoBoG!

Below is a list of 12 'Don'ts' I have concocted from memory. If you have any more to share, or you wish to argue the exact opposite point... please feel free to comment! Sharing, after all, is caring.

So without further ado, why DO you fail at explaining board game rules, eh?

1. You've not read the rules yet, or recently. 
   Sounds obvious, however, it needs repeating for some of us. I've done it myself "sorry I didn't expect to be playing this game tonight... so I didn't read the rules! Can everyone help me pop out the tiles from the inserts please?". Don't be me. Do better. 
   
   
2. You've not watched an online play through of the game, or played before.
   Watching the game, or playing the game gives us greater memory recall when trying to describe the instructions efficiently. The more you play/watch, the faster and more accurate you can explain the rules. My favourite game explanations to sit through, always start with "I played this game 3 times now, and the last time I played was yesterday". My heart beat immediately calms down... ahhhh.
   
   

3. 

   It's just like Catan, duuude.

   The game is too complicated for the intended audience.
   Some players may not have realised how complex the game is going to become. Try starting off with a brief synopsis on how complicated it can get... give them a chance to pick something simpler or perhaps find a different group. Normally, the average time to complete a game is a key indicator of how tough it will be to learn the rules. Not always... but sometimes.
   
   
4. You share game strategies BEFORE the mechanics have been fully explained.
   Sometimes we can be too energetic and enthused about a particular game or part of a game. We may decide to describe what happened in prior games, hoping to teach players about our misfortune or success... save that for the end IF you have time. So please try and refrain from describing to players how you won a 'last round' victory by employing the 'church/beggar/owl/stone' strategy.. at least until the game is going.
   
   
5. You keep jumping to the edge rule cases, during the main rules explanation.
   Funny little extra rules for the first turn, last turn, or no turn etc... Try not to explain them all at once. Drop a hint about them, and remind everyone at the end of an explanation about the slight differences or special circumstances... like what happens when you tie as winners.  
   
   

6. 

   It's not the winning that counts.
   It's the fact that it ends is important.

   You forgot to tell everyone how to win the game.
   Not as easy to remember as one might think. Keep it simple at first, then come back later if it needs more fleshing out. I like to tell players this quite early on.
   
   
7. You also forgot to tell everyone how the game ends.
   Normally forgotten, until last. Good to bring it up naturally during the game explanation. "...and that is how we end the game actually. When all those cards are finally drawn". Then of course remind everyone at the end again. Simples. Do it. 
   
   
8. You go into too much detail when describing the turn structure.
   Keep your initial descriptions as simple as possible. "On your turn, pick up 2 cards, play one. Return other one to the discard pile." NOT "on your turn, pick up 2 cards, if you get a blue one then try to keep that one, but discard the green ones for at least the first 3 rounds of this 5 round game. Trust me bro.". Yeh. No. 
   
   
9. You take on way too many questions from the other players before the full explanation is completed.
   It happens. A lot. Perhaps answer a few questions as they come up, but if one or several players are preempting your explanation with continuous 'drill-down' questions, then its best to ask them to save their questions for the end. As some of the upcoming rules may just explain the confusion in greater detail. Not a hard and fast rule this one... but could save a lot of frustration.
   
   
10. You didn't wait until all the players were seated and waiting.
    Another super obvious one. Unless a player has experience with the game being explained, wait for everyone to be seated, watered and ready. Even if there is another experienced player, having them around might help with the explanations. So long as they don't mind keeping quiet as you maul the rules in front of them.
    
    

11. 

    Brave warrior.

    You may have forgotten, that playing board games is fun!
    During the stress of teaching board games to others, we can easily forget that this is supposed to be a fun evening. Slow down, smile, crack a joke if you feel like it. Once you have everyone's attention, trust me it will go a LOT smoother. My favourite one liner seems to get a great response most times, feel free to try it out for yourself - "The object of this game is to, win.".
    
    
12. You know all the above, yet you apply them in a random sequence for maximum confusion.
    Now, I'd love to tell you which order to explain Catan to your auntie with a short attention span, or 3 hyperactive cousins... but I can't. The suggested order in which we explain the rules is normally shown in each rule book. However, as you get to be more experienced, YOU can decide at which point to drop in the line, "OH! I forgot. Even though we are all racing towards 10 victory points, you have to beat all the other players by a gap of at least 2 VPs, or that 10 becomes 11. Plus remember your hidden VPs! They come into play when revealed. SO! Do you understand? It's 10 VPs to victory, unless it's 11... or 12. Sometimes 13. You'll see". Yeh. Good luck with that one if you forget to explain it to your mum or dad.

Finally, there really is no 'best' way to teach rules of a board game to 3 or 4 players who have never heard of the game before. You best recipe for success is simplicity through experience. So, bring your favourite game in lots, get it to the table and have fun explaining it; again, and again and again. It will get easier with time.

You got this! We believe in you. 

Game Night - Take That. Robbie's Revenge

🕑 8 min read

It's Game Night once again! Plus, Take That has gotten the band back together for one night of unbridled back-stabbery, and 'board game sanctioned' revenge. Yes, strap yourself in for the brutal, beautiful and recently re-released Spiel des Jahres winner from Nointy-Nointy-Six - El Grande. For the purposes of this post, all player's names have been changed to protect the King. We must protect the King!

It was a cold December Tuesday evening and the pub was packed to the rafters with 30+ NoBoGlins hungry for entertainment. They got it. We all got it. After the evening's introductions which included a new Board Game Bingo seasonal event being launched, 5 of us squared off to play one of the most bloody games in board gaming history. No, we're not playing a life sized Jenga tower, capable of crushing your sleeping uncle after Christmas lunch. We were of course playing the legendary El Grande, designed by serial games designers, Woflgang Kramer and Richard Ulrich.

As we sat down across from one another, it became apparent that two(!) members of Take That had brought along this exact same game. Here to settle old scores this evening were, to my right; the previously shunned Robbie, then Gary, Mark, Jason (the game owner), and me, why not.

The rules explanation was handled professionally by both Jason and Robbie. Unfortunately my attention was too easily diverted away from 'rules' by a colourful board, and the beautiful cardboard tower looming in the corner. Everyone was smiling and in high spirits. Very strange. I though we were here to declare war.

The Tower of Mystery

Game turns in El Grande comprise of a very straight forward set of actions. Once turn order has been established, each player plays (face-up) one of the 13 numbered cards from their hand. The cards are numbered 1-13. The higher the number, the earlier you will pick up one of the 5 unique draft-able action cards, which drive the game forwards. The lower the number, the more troops (meeples) you can enlist from your supply in readiness to place onto the gorgeous map of medieval Spain. The player with the lowest numbered card also becomes the first player, next turn. The game is broken into 3 consecutive rounds of 4 turns each. Scoring phases happen at the end of each round. Ultimately, the aim is to score victory points by occupying territories (worker placement style) in Spain, shifting troops from one place to another, right up until the scoring phases happen. Then whoever has the most meeples in one territory, wins some victory points. Some territories offer varied consolation prizes for both 2nd and 3rd places, sometimes they don't. There is also a huge tower to drop troops in, secretly accumulating meeples, until it too is scored! A powerful bonus is up for grabs by winning the 'tower' game, because during a scoring phase, each Grandes (player's) meeples contained in the tower are unceremoniously dumped onto one territory of their choice, BEFORE the end of round scoring begins. Ooo it's spicy. 

The Sparkly King does his walk

Ok. So, there is a lot of toing and froing going on as the Grandes vie for area majority of profitable territories. During the game, placing and removing of troops is massively hindered and empowered by where the King is (a huge, glitzy gold wooden meeple), which is moved each turn by the player who takes the 'King' action card. The game is brutal, and not just because having a majority of meeples in a territory is as fleeting and fickle as love itself. One minute, you might think you're getting married, but in the next second, you are splitting your board game collection with them and arguing over who gets Scout. WE ALL HAVE SCOUT!!  Get over it, please.

The 5 actions cards which are drafted by players in turn order, allow them to deploy meeples, move meeples from one territory to another, and move other players meeples into or AWAY from territories you control. If that wasn't enough chaos and heart break for you evil doers... some action cards allow you to relocate the King, thus freezing all meeple movements in that territory. Finally, a Grande with an insatiable blood lust, could just 'assassinate' a whole swathe of enemy troops (meeples), sending them back to their supply. Ouch. There is so much more to this game than I've just explained above, however, it's time to get back to the game at hand... 

First player up, was Robbie, with a real mission to rub everyone's noses in their flourishing solo career, immediately took the King action. They deployed a whole bunch of their meeples into a high scoring territory, and then slid the King onto it. Thus, stopping all additional movements both in and out of the space. This was bad enough, however Robbie had also managed to imprison the majority of Gary's troops in a territory which they could not possibly prosper from... pretty much destroying Gary's 1st, 2nd and possibly 3rd turns. After the first 4 turns, Robbie was riding high with an excess of 20 points. Mark, Jason and I were close (not close) behind, and Gary was bottom of the charts.. with zero points. It was a first round massacre. Game over? Not yet.... 

It's not over Gary. Ok. Now it is. 

Robbie continued moving further ahead in round two, with Mark a close 2nd. Jason and I were trading 3rd and 4th places with each other. By the time it got to the closing few turns of round 2, I had begun to formulate a new strategy; draft a large number of new meeples into my court, and set myself up for a lucrative final turn, with first player privilege. This would have been a great plan, however Robbie, 'Robbie'd' my territories, even though I was clearly going into the final round in last position. It's really hard not to take this game personally, but Robbie was on a Rob-page, and I kept my cool. Unfortunately for Robbie though, Gary had declared war on them, as revenge for the first round shenanigans. Which was met with a lot of gas lighting... and probably the best quote of the evening, from Robbie:

"You know what Gary, I think we got off on the wrong foot here...." 

This of course was the understatement of the century, and normally those kinds of remarks would come from my mouth... with a cheeky grin I might add. This game was going nuclear. If you look up the meaning of war in the Oxford English Dictionary, you might find a portrait of Gary grimacing at Robbie, playing El Grande.

Prince Mark of Spain

Mark, the silent assassin, was diligently infiltrating the most valuable properties, and scoring plenty of 2nd and 3rd place rewards. Mark didn't particularly upset anyone, even when provoked. Personally, I think they played the most diplomatic game of the session. Jason, I believe, had relegated themselves to 3rd place quite early on. They played for the fun and enjoyment, and regularly popped up to give someone a bloody nose, just to remind us that they were still playing. Gary passed me on the score tracker several occasions, and we were fighting for last and 4th places. Then, I changed strategy again. I decided, that I wanted to give Gary some help (to my detriment), in the hopes that they might rally both Mark and Jason to work closer with one another to undermine Robbie's solo carer. I mean Robbie's winning position.

At first, it didn't work very well. Gary decided to use their new uplift in points and creative ideas to beat on Robbie some more (good), but Mark and Jason did not follow suit (bad). In fact, Mark sided with Robbie more often than not, in the hopes of consolidating their 2nd place, keeping them as close to Robbie as possible. Quite clever, and not easily manipulated.

Eventually, however, my machinations bared some fruit. The dysfunctional pop band gradually began to rob Robbie of some territory rewards, and used their drafted action cards to efficiently protect themselves against the 'sledge hammer' tactics employed by Robbie, so successfully. Or in other words, doing a 'Robbie'. The results of which meant that Mark closed in on Robbie's lead and I actually did set myself up for a profitable final round.

My strategy was not to make any more enemies so close to the end of the game, and take risks on certain properties, leaving myself open to being taken advantage of. The danger with this strategy is exactly that. Because there are so many ways to rob other players of scoring victory points, it feels like a menacing victory point buffet of both pain and pleasure. Meaning, some players may simply make inefficient or emotional plays which may adversely affect you, purely by accident, or coincidence. 

Tight closing scores. 110/106/100/96/87

The final scores came in at the end and it was actually quite close. Robbie, the Hammer of Spain, won with 110 points. Mark, the Prince of Spain came 2nd with 106 points. I managed to reach 100 points, Jason came 4th with 96 points and poor Gary never fully recovered from the first round massacre with 87 points. 

What just happened? Well, Robbie decided to forgo ALL pleasantries and like a fox being let loose in a hen house, they turned Gary's game (and to a lesser extent mine) into a coop full of blood soaked feathers and body parts. Total destruction. 

Mark, played at a similar pace all the way through. Precise, non-confrontational, unassuming, small calculated gains and wins. A potential winning formula to be sure. In one particular move, Mark benefited from a well placed King pawn move and earned a serious amount of victory points, JUST as a scoring phase came up.

I had been out-played early on, and when I regathered my senses for a fight back, this happened to be the time that I was kicked around like a school-yard football. Thus my plans were only partially realised as a result - particularly in round 2. I eventually settled for less efficient moves and plays, which were designed to cause friction between my opponents. Hoping to remove me from the  line of fire long enough to change my fortunes. Who knows... maybe I could spark a war between the leading pair of Grandes?

Jason, I felt, had been caught in a losing position early on too. However, they decided to plough on as best they could, and attempt to secure a solid 'middle' ground position. Jason had a great distribution of troops across Spain, but failed to utilise turn order as well as the rest of us. Ultimately, this led them to rely more heavily upon the luck of opportunities given, rather than opportunities created.

Finally, Gary. Poor Gary. Their first few turns and round, was almost a complete write-off, thanks to Robbie. These first few moves secured both the winner and the loser of our game. Gary eventually found some creative tactics to cause damage and raise themselves up to 3rd position at one point. However, they were unable to hold back their rage at Robbie and failed to consolidate that position for long enough. They did however, manage to control their turn order in such a way to cause maximum discomfort to the rest of us Grandes. What. A. Game.

If like me, you don't really enjoy many take-that mechanisms in your board games, then let me give you some hope for the future, in particular for playing El Grande. Most take-that mechanisms appear to be unavoidable, punishing actions which do little to help with your own immediate progression. They are designed (in the most part) to hold back your competitors; rather punitively, I might add. 

El Grande is different. Yes it's brutal, yes it's punishing... but the actions are so clearly informed by your own needs and desires, that it is HARD to blame another player if you happen to be the victim of a blood bath. Hard, but not impossible.

This game lends itself to experience, diplomacy, manipulation and a sharp tactical mind. Of course being flexible is advantageous but without a good plan to start with, you may as well just be having fun playing 'king maker' for your opponents amusement. You never know, perhaps one turn they may cut you some slack... but don't bet on it. This is El Grande, after all. 

Even though I can't wait to play this game again, we do not foresee Take That reforming for one more gig (rematch).. but never say never. Emotions were raw and feelings were hurt - but in a good way. The second best quote came after the game from the lead victimised Grande himself, Gary:

"I love it when I can spend an entire evening having my ass handed to me, and still have a great time."

Have a great gaming night yourself, and yes, if you ever get the opportunity, try a game of El Grande. 

Board Game BINGO! - Duncan's Dilemma

🕑 3 min read

Click to get a closer look!

Tis the season to be jolly, and boy do we have a REASON to be jolly this December. Duncan from the one and only Games Room in Norwich has kindly donated a brand new board game to NoBoG, for us to give away to one of you lovely NoBoGlins.

So in typical board gaming fashion, we have decided to hold a 'gaming event' to decide who gets it.

Get ready for.... BOARD GAME BINGO!!

During all 3 Tuesday evenings in December, you will be invited to pick up a NoBoG Board Game Bingo card and pen from Ian. Each card, if handed back in at the end of the evening, will give you one entry to the grand prize draw at the end of this month. Simples!

'Terror Below' with Duncan

BUT. Before you hand it in you may want to try to fill it up as much as possible by crossing off any board games you hear called-out during the evening's introductions. 

Each card has a 3x4 grid, with 12 random board games on it. Every card is unique, and here are the rules for scoring:

1. Each card has to be handed in that evening and is worth 1 victory point (VP).
   
2. During introductions, when board games are being called out, if a game on your card is mentioned, cross it off!
3. Each time you manage to fill in an entire column (3 boxes) you will earn +1VP.
4. Fill in a row (4 boxes) and you will gain +2VPs for each row.
5. If you manage to sit down and play one of the games you have crossed off that evening, then circle that box and gain another +1VP to your score.
6. You get to put an 'X' on one additional box of your choice before you hand it in as a bonus!
7. At the end of the evening, total up your score, put your name on the card, and hand it in to Ian, or whoever is Master of the Bag/Hat/Box that evening.
8. The contact details and score will be snipped off, and posted into the chosen container. All this information will be destroyed after the Grand Prize Draw has taken place.
9. The remainder of the Bingo Card, is retained by you, and may be given to Duncan to be used as a 5% off voucher on any purchase in The Games Room. Thanks Duncan!
10. At the end of the month (date TBC), 3 names will be drawn out of the container. The NoBoGlin with the most VPs in that group, WINS! Ties will be decided by who was drawn first - first player privilege. If the same name is drawn out more than once, the VPs are simply totalled up together to form one explosive score for them! The drawing of names will stop once 3 different NoBoGlins are picked.

Clear as mud? Great. See you all there for fun and games, and BEST OF LUCK!!

WhaDiYoB? - The Thief of Baghdad (2006) and 12 Thieves (re-published 2017)

🕑 7 min read

Welcome back again, to our 'What Did You Bring?' segment! This week will be taking a look at a game which was last mentioned (favourably) in our NoBoG Blog 8 years ago! 12 Thieves by Thorsten Gimmler, and published by Queen Games. 

Under cover of the night, in the far away city of Baghdad, 5 opulent Palaces and their riches, have become the targets of what can only be described as organised flash mobs of thieves. Each Thieves Guild (player) has access to 12 thieves plus 2-4* palace guards on their pay-roll (*depending on the number of players). The aim of the game is to bribe your way into the treasure vaults of the palaces and then carry away chests full of gold and precious stones. The first player to secure the contents of 4-6* treasure chests (*player dependant), wins! 

If you were imagining some kind of 'Oceans 11' heist or caper, full of twists and turns with a rich theme... then please feel free to look away. The theme here is only lightly pasted on. At the beating heart of 12 Thieves is an area moving, hand managing, tactical, abstract puzzle game and race(?). There is a healthy dollop of luck needed to achieve more than other players in the same amount of time, but don't despair, if you like pitting your wits against your opponents and out thinking them, then you're in good company here. 

12 Thieves was republished in 2017 by Queen Games, after it's initial release in 2006, again by Queen Games - under the old name of The Thief of Baghdad. It was also nominated for Spiel des Jahres in 2007. I played the 2006 version, which contained wooden meeples rather than cardboard tokens. Interestingly, the games designer Thorsten Gimmler designed one of my favourite filler games too - No Thanks!. 

So, let's quickly talk about the mechanics and game play before I let you how I really felt about 12 Thieves. 

12 Thieves (2017)

Players take their turns in clockwise order, playing cards from your hand in order to move guards from one palace to another, and 'deposit' your own thieves into treasure rooms. The colours of the cards played correspond to the colour of each palace. So to get a thief into a treasure room, you  must have one of your own (coloured) guards posted at the palace of your choice, plus at least 1 more guard of another players (or a neutral guard), and the correct number (and coloured) cards. If you have your guard positioned, and the right card(s), you may sneak one or more of your thieves into the palace courtyard. Treasure chests in each palace require 4-7 of your thieves to be placed, to take them. Each palace has 4 chests to steal. 

Once your turn has ended, you draw 3 more face down cards from the deck into your hand in readiness for your next turn. 

As one would expect, there is more to this game than simply being in the right place at the right time, with the right cards. You may move your own palace guard from one palace to another, by again, playing a card of the same colour as either the palace you are leaving, or the palace you are going to. You may also, move one of the neutral (non-affiliated) guards by spending 2 cards, 1 of each coloured palace involved in that move. You might be asking why would you do this. Well, for a player to sneak a thief into a palace's treasure room, you must have one of your own guards, plus another guard to pay one card for each thief you drop off there. However, if there are 2 opposing guards at the palace, then you must bribe using 2 cards per thief to drop them off. If there are 3 opposing guards, then the cost is 3 cards each thief. So you can see that your passage to success may be made more expensive or blocked entirely by opponents jerking guards around just before it becomes your turn. Ouch, you jerk. 

The Thief of Baghdad (2006)

There are another couple of rules worth mentioning, before this chaotic masterpiece can be rendered fully in you mind. When you move one of your own guards from one palace to another (paying the card cost), that guard may also take a single thief of its own colour from the treasure room of the palace it is departing from, and deliver it, free from additional cost, to another palace's treasure room. So long as the maximum number of thief movements (and drop-offs) does not exceed 3 in the same turn, that is. The other rule is; if you can't do anything on your turn, or you simply don't want to do anything, you may instead go directly to drawing 3 cards, plus an additional wild card called a Dancer. This Dancer card can represent any colour you want it to be. It's very, very useful when you want to impress all the another thieves guilds with your forward planning and slick tricks. Totally not luck though. 100% skill. 

There it is!! A beautifully simple, yet thinky, abstract board game which will last you 30-60mins, depending on player numbers and levels of susceptibility to AP (Analysis Paralysis).

Be more donkey.

My final thoughts on this game are; give it a try if you get the chance - definitely before you consider buying it. 12 Thieves gets a healthy 6.4 rating on Board Game Geek, and that somehow feels right to me. The game is fairly cheap, and the production quality of the original release is way better than the latest 2017 release. However... it will not spoil your enjoyment of the game. One other thing I found about the game is, that there seems to be some useful 'cheat codes' you can use to hack the game. My first play, I was obsessed with what everyone else was doing. I moved guards around continuously looking for short cuts towards victory, but mainly to be chaotic, only to end up serving my opponents with 'open goals' - which amounts to palaces with only 2 guards of 2 separate affiliations. Believe you me, they took advantage of every opportunity I provided them with and used their experience with thievery to force me to lament a hand of cards which did nothing for my cause. ARGHHH!!!

By the time I got to my second game I had discovered the 'hacks', and then richly became enemy number one. As a result, I effortlessly glided to victory under a chorus of muted groans from my lesser gilded opponents. This game is easy to learn. It makes you feel powerful. It can also make you feel like a donkey. I love donkeys. Adopt a donkey! Do it!

Anyway, that's enough. See you next time. 

Game Night - ALAN!! A complete Leg-End.

🕑 10 min read

It's not like we, the Townsfolk, haven't seen travelling bands of (so-called) heroes before. After all, many of us rely heavily upon their lucrative trade. It's just that these ones in particular, more than any others, had thought so highly of themselves. In the not so distant past, yes, we may have suffered minor raids by The Dragon of the Northern Mountains, but nothing we couldn't easily recover from in time.

With each new group of 'dragon horde coveting' strangers came its challenges. Yet, when they eventually built up the courage to  travel north and 'save' our town, we would never hear from them again... and life continued on in relative peace. 

This time was different, though. We got what we dreaded the most. Word had reached us that The Dragon was defeated, and now, so was our main way of making a living. To add insult to injury, those potty-mouthed, blood-thirsty, patronising (not in a good way) out-of-towners, turned up on our door steps to rub our noses in it too. 

Thank the gods they hated each other more than they paid any attention to us... or we, too, might have become ash, along with most of our town. What did we ever do to deserve heroes like these?

Welcome once again to Game Night at NoBoG! 30+ NoBoGlins, and a few first timers, came together to play games on 6 fuzzy tables. It was a very busy evening indeed. For the purposes of this post, all player's names have been changed to protect the murder-hobos and meta-gamers.

It took a while (years), but I managed to get a game of Fiasco RPG back on the felt again and run it at a NoBoG evening. If you are unaware of what Fiasco is, then please let me quickly fill you in. 

Fiasco is a games master'less, dice'less storytelling, tabletop roleplaying game for 3-5 players. Each player will 'star' in a total of 4 'scenes' over 2 acts of play. The aim is to improvise a story together; setting up highly incendiary situations, testing relationships to destruction, and grabbing what we want when we can... and all just for the fun of it. A typical game of Fiasco begins quite conservatively and then rapidly descends into mayhem and hilarity, lasting usually between 2.5 - 3 hours. 

To kick this game off, the players discuss and collectively choose one of the 3 Playsets available in the core game box. Each playset is a backstory, genre, and micro-environment from which the players get to draw inspiration from and roleplay within. Mechanically, each playset comprises a deck of 54 cards full of thematic story-telling devices to wet our creative whistles with. During the set-up, which is an enjoyable part of the game too, all players are invited to choose a relationship with one of their neighbours to the left or right of them. Once complete, they are all then invited to take a moment to discuss their roles and character ideas. Those connections are then added to with needs, objects, and locations. All of this is meant to build up and facilitate the flow of ideas in order to weave a story and (hopefully) reach an explosive/surprising conclusion.

Our group chose the Dragon Slayers playset. After creating a bangarang of interdependence between our characters, we descended upon the (un)suspecting denizens of the town. Here's a somewhat embellished dramatization of what went down... from the perspective of the beleaguered Townsfolk. 

What was not entirely obvious to the townsfolk was how this mismatched band of travelling clowns managed to best a literal dragon; let along our Dragon in her own lair. She had made short work (or so we were told) of all previous 'heroes' who used our town as a base camp. That's not to say that the provisions and equipment we sold were subpar. So, if at any point a vicious rumour about us wafts your way, try not to be too judgemental. We're good folk, trying to make an honest living. Unlike the 'heroes' of this story.

Like I said, we heard that The Dragon was defeated. A party of locals were being organised to locate what was left of the dragon's horde when 'they' finally turned up; in the evening at our one and only tavern. First, a pair of disgruntled elves, spouting xenophobic cuss words, named Zadkiel the Spellweaver and Dagan the Aloof. Now, our town was a diverse mix of folk from all over the land. However, this fact was completely lost on them spiteful little elves. Word had it that they were plotting to accumulate as much of their companions loot as possible before fleeing with it. 

The other 'pair' appeared to be human in ancestry and of magical means. Some of our town's tavern-goers nicknamed them the 'Rain Dancers'. This stemmed from witnessing them waving their arms around a lot in close proximity to one another, looking to the heavens in exasperation, then concluding with gormless looks of concern when nothing happened, or indeed zilch was going their way at all. The robed and more worrisome looking one screamed, "Alan!" quite a lot, to which Alan responded with "yes, your Mighty. " They both smelt of death and despair. 

Lastly, and by no means least, was a brute of a dwarf who we believed to be the groups 'meat-shield', as described by modern-day adventuring parlance. Gwarl the Deadly had a penchant for harassing a bewildered Alan for elven biscuits and murdering our orc neighbours who lived just down the trail. We caught wind of this fact when our very own town mayor made an impromptu visit to one of her cousins for mid-afternoon tea and to open their new orphanage. 

Beware an elf bearing gifts.

All in all, it was quickly decided that if this murderous, ill-tempered, lying bunch of back-stabbers didn't kill each other soon, we would probably have to send for help from The Big City for reinforcements. Or face the very real possibility of the total destruction of our homes and businesses. 

As rumours of their plans spread, our finest townsfolk minds began to formulate plans of their own. Our very own Town Merchant, who happened to be elven, was contacted by the adventuring party's elves. For some insane reason, they bartered away the rights to the dragon's skull for elven crackers! What idiots!! We immediately went to work, following both Zadkiel and Dagan, in the hopes that they would lead us to the dragon's horde. Unfortunately, late the next afternoon, we lost contact with our comrades who were involved. However, reports say that the pair of disgruntled elves turned up at our tavern with some crackers, in a sack splattered with blood. Perhaps we had underestimated them somehow.

Arundel and Alan. Winning. 

Elsewhere, our town's librarian, who hired out her spare room and cellar to the mystical pair of humans, had some interesting news too. He overheard them discuss releasing an undead plague of untold misery over the land, via the dragon's egg they had newly acquired during their raid on the lair. They must be brains of the outfit. However, we later found out that their plans were put on hold when Alan discovered that the dwarf, Gwarl, had mistakenly eaten the raw dragon egg, rather than the chicken egg which had also been close at hand. Alan of course, neglected to pass on this important information to Arundel The Mighty, at least until after they both had completed a necromantic ritual gestating the farmhouse chicken egg, into what turned out to be a very very angry and murderous bird indeed. 

It was at that point that several reports came back of buildings spontaneously exploding or setting themselves alight. We're not entirely sure what happened, as most of us were too busy grabbing our children and elderly, and running for the foot hills. In time, though, what really occurred was reliably passed back to us. The dwarf had suddenly come down with an acute case of flammable breath and explosive farts - apparently confirming that he indeed had eaten a dragons egg. In the midst of setting fire to our tavern and adjacent properties, Arundel the Mighty had decided to use a magical staff's abilities on the dwarf, in an attempt to reincarnate and regurgitate the chewed up remains of the dragon embryo. This was a time critical objective, since Gwarl had not yet had a chance to sit down and dispose of it at the khazi. 

Gwarl needed to lie down for a bit.

Success! The newly awakened and conscious belly creature proceeded to gnaw its way through the chest of a rather surprised birthing dwarf. It was at this time, that one of the disgruntled elves, Dagan, decided that they had seen enough of this madness, grabbed all the available loot and made a break for it.

While a confused and fiery baby dragon destroyed the rest of our town, what was left of the adventuring party piled on to Dagan and tore them apart for their treacherous behaviour. We're not sure how many of the treacherous acts already carried out so far constituted an execution in their eyes... but apparently stealing stolen treasure crossed a line somehow. May the gods have mercy on all of their souls. If they still have a soul, that is. 

After a few days of rough travel, we, the Town's refugees, arrived at the Big City gates for food and shelter. We passed onto the authorities the whispers which had circulated regarding what remained of those so-called 'heroes'. They were last seen wandering off into the wilderness, however, we could not be certain. For all we knew, they might have infiltrated our travelling party for protection in numbers and we unwittingly granted them access to the City. 

Never have I met such a sorry bunch of accidental dragon slayers in my life. Worse, they are still out there, unquestionably oblivious to the mayhem and destruction they are leaving in their wake. 

My beloved husband never did return from his last shift at the tavern that afternoon. Leaving behind four young children. Maybe he was the lucky one? However, I doubt it, as he was last seen having his face pecked off by that fowl bird and then spontaneously popping out of existence. If you ever read this account, my darling, please remember us, and come find us. Together, we'll exact our revenge...

Ok, so our final thoughts.

I have played Fiasco over 20 times by now, to a varying degree of success and intensity. The feedback from our first time Fiasco players this time, was that the game really makes you think. Which was later clarified to mean, that there was little (by way of mechanics) in the game to help new players to prepare for being put in the spot-light so early on. If I recall, I experienced this on my first few games too. Having to work with only 'creative vapours' can feel very intimidating, and may cause a small amount of stress. 

Fiasco is a rules light game, and the driver of the current scene is an individual player who uses their time to try and forward their character's agenda. Other players may and will jump in from time to time with helpful suggestions, it is in fact recommended! However, players, who are only experienced in roleplaying in games where the story is driven and underwritten by a sole person - a Games or Dungeon Master; could easily feel a little abandoned and uncomfortably short of ideas. 

Over all, the game was really fun, with plenty of belly laughs - especially around our failing and flopping magic-using apprentice Alan... who (of course) eventually went insane. 

Story telling and improvisation is a skill, there's no doubt about it. So if you are lacking in that department or are in need of some practice... or you want to show-off your quick thinking, razor-sharp wit, give Fiasco a go. It's an experience to behold. 

See you later.

WhaDiYoB? - Space Base (2018)

🕑 6 min read

Welcome back again, to our 'What Did You Bring?' segment! This week will be diving into a game which doesn't seem to have made many appearances at NoBoG in recent times. Space Base by John D Clair, published by AEG. 

In a galaxy, far, far away, but not that long ago - a space base has become home to your space fleet. As the newly minted Commodore of your Fleet, it is your mission to trade and increase your wealth and influence; all in the hopes of ultimately becoming the Admiral of the Fleet! 

Space Base is essentially a race which encompasses a tableaux building dice rolling game, where luck plays a big part along with some quick thinking, and some satisfying tactical choices too. 

This game is fast becoming an ever-green, and is the most popular game by John D Clair, according to BGG. I suspected that quite a few of us may have somehow over looked Space Base, due to there being a galaxy full of other rising stars. So here's my take on it, and why I think you might want to dip your toes in, roll some dice and do some intergalactic exploration if you get the opportunity. 

Space Base is one of those games where learning it is easy, however mastering it will take numerous attempts. John Clair has given to us a highly sensitive set of in-game controls and customisation which imparts immediate feedback. It gives me a sense of excitement and anticipation when I know I am sitting down to play it again. So here goes.

If you have ever played Machi Koro, then you will have a head start on understanding parts of this game. Each player begins with a tableaux (space base) of 12 sectors equipped with the same 12 space vessels. On your turn you roll two six-sided dice. The number on the dice correlates to each numbered sector. So if you roll a 6, you gain the (blue coloured) bonus given by the vessel docked at sector 6. However, alternatively you may split the dice total, for example, if you rolled a 4 and 2, you may collect the individual bonuses on sectors 4 AND 2 instead. Roll a doubles and you get to use the same number twice if you wish. Typical bonuses include additional Credits, increased Income and/or more Influence (victory points). If you collected credits then they are added to you running total. You may then spend credits on a new vessel (only one purchase per turn) bought from a multi-level (tiered) market place. However, even if the vessel you wish to buy is less than your current total, your credits are still returned back to zero for that turn, thus wasting any remaining credits. At the very end of your turn, your credits bounce back up to your last income level. This means, you will have to save your credits for a BIG purchase a few turns down the line. Or, you could concentrate on raising up your income level, giving yourself a powerful launch pad, to be able to afford the expensive vessels found in the 2nd and 3rd level markets. 

In Space Base the first player to 'max out' their influence tracker at 40 points, wins. You can do this by purchasing vessels which give you influence bonuses on yours and other players turns OR by buying some of the single use Outposts which are priced from 1-40 credits. The larger the outpost you buy, the more influence (victory points) they will score you. These outposts usually are acquired towards the end of the game to speedily increase your influence, so you can swiftly and/or sneakily nab a last gasp victory. 

If Space Base was simply just the game I described above then it would still be quite an enjoyable one. However, there is a little more to it. Let me explain. 

You may have been thinking, wait, if I only have 12 sectors, and I buy a new vessel to dock at one, where does my old vessel go? Is it decommissioned? No. It is sent into space (deployed) to explore and trade in the furthest reaches of the galaxy. What this means in game terms is that it is flipped upside down, and slipped under you player board at the same position it was first docked at. You now earn a new (red) bonus from that vessel each time the number is rolled on any of your opponents turns! Not only that, some vessels will give you unique power-ups that can be used to increase or decrease the sector number rolled that turn. So now you have a small engine builder which can help you find some more of the good luck needed to win a campaign. Indeed, how you choose to arrange and deploy your fleet over your space base provides you with a unique path to victory. Plus, just like with Machi Koro, advanced players will be taking note of where their opponents are strongest or weakest, and try to take advantage of this information. 

Final thoughts.

I was introduced to this game a few years back after falling in love with Machi Koro. As soon as I began playing Space Base, I knew I would adore this too. For such a simple game, it really pushes you to be creative with your choices, and try your luck at engineering a smooth running warp core, which works on both yours and your opponents turns. Failing that, you can go for brute force, save your credits up and purchase a super-powered vessel or outpost, and put all your xenomorphic eggs in one nest. 

Space Base sprawls out quite satisfyingly over a large table, and is reasonably priced for what looks like a LOT of game. I suspect that many of us will play this game several times before we manage to grab ourselves a well earned victory though. It is worth saying that since this game is dice roll driven, you could easily benefit from a really lucky set of dice rolls, and artificially get your fleet's warp drives running at warp 9 prematurely.

Space Base will play quite easily in 1 hour, however if you play at the higher player count of 4-5 players, or most of you are first time players, plus some of you are prone to analysis paralysis... then put aside another 30minutes for sure.

See you all later!

Game Night - TAKE THAT and Party?

🕑 8 min read

Hi! Game Night is 'Back for Good'! We're not going to be 'Up All Night', but we are hopeful that it 'Could Be Magic'. For the purposes of this post, all player's names have been changed to protect the victims of both sharks and pirates.

This, was our first Tuesday evening game night of September, and it brought to us another 25(ish) NOBOGlins. After briefly catching up with Gary, I decided that I was going to join in with them and play Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest. Never played it before. Heard a lot of good things. We're all going to be SKY PIRATES! 

After the usual WHADIYOB introductions, we found ourselves with 6, yes SIX players!! OMG... this was going to be an amazing evening, I think 'I Found Heaven'. 

Let's GOOO!!

This game looked impressive, and easily spread out over our huge table. Gary initially warned us that our game might take over an hour; before efficiently ploughing onto explaining the rules. On my left was Howard, Mark, Jason, then Robbie, and finally Gary (on my right). It turns out that a few of us were "old salt" and had played before... not me though.

What a table of riches!

Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest is a fairly recent re-print (and re-publishing) of an older and much loved 2012 version. In case you haven't played before, the cut and thrust of this game revolves around every player starting with the same hand of 6 cards (crew members), drawn from a pool of 40. Then we simultaneously choose one, play it, reveal it, and then deal with them in initiative order. Each crew card also has a unique power which affects the game in lots of cool and interesting ways too. The aim is to collect as many of the valuable loot tokens as possible, whilst avoiding relics which normally penalise you. Plus; force opponent's crew members to walk the plank (die), using your unique crew powers, thus hindering others and helping you to your villainous victory. The pirate with the most loot wins. Sounds easy...right?

My first wake up call that something might be rotten in the state of Demark, was being removed from the island (turn order) by another captain's crew powers and by the cutlass loot tokens. Unfortunately, in this game, if you are stymied too many times during a single round, it can prove to be a problem. Hence my first criticism of this game. When playing a 6 player game, a lot of 'out of turn' take-that powers can and and will be deployed. Resulting in bloody-brawls full of highs, lows and the haunting cries of "Please! Not me again!", "I'm not even winning!" and "Why do you HATE ME?!". "Aaaarrrrgggghhhh!! Batten down the hatches ya bilge sucking land lubbers!"

I had been warned prior, that Libertalia was a festival of 'by the skin of your teeth' escapes, brutal put downs, revenge, and of course clever predictions which lead to great plays. Which all sound amazing fun! So why didn't it 'feel' like that to me? Ok, no more review stuff - what actually happened?

Howard and Mark moved quickly into the lead by a good margin, closely followed by Gary. Unfortunately Jason and Robbie  (poor Robbie) got to walk the plank several times during the first round because "dead men tell no tales". I performed poorly by simply tripping myself up and over thinking, only to find my actions were over-ridden, or weaker than expected. However, when it came to round 2, I was beginning to understand what I needed to do, and was grabbing some valuable loot tokens. Yay me. 

Going into the final round, both Howard and Mark were really beginning to pull away. Gary's plans appeared to have paved the way for a great finish, and Jason was gaining good ground too.  Unfortunately for Robbie and I, we had been "scuttled" a few too many times early on to make a serious dent in our deficits. This is part and parcel of a competitive game like this one, and as the game's "scally wags", our inexperience was showing.

Robbie's not a fan. But we love him still. 

I'm not entirely sure, but I may have been witness to some frustrated plays made by Robbie. They began to unleash 'The Flood' on some of us by purposefully selecting the cutlass loot token and began "swabbing the deck" with extreme prejudice. I was here for it. I would have probably hi-fived Robbie if I got chance, but they made a speedy exit after the game (probably to utilise some of their notoriety and pursue a solo career). Suddenly our plucky six-some was now a band of five. Howard won Libertalia, closely followed by Mark. A predictable end, to a 2 hour game.

Afterwards, I was reliably informed that playing Libertalia several times is mandatory for a good time, and I do love me a good time. I enjoyed the table banter, and yes, I do look forward to giving it another go in the future.  

Next game please!

Fantasy Realms, one of my favourite short (filler) games. 5 players went into this game, and 3 of us had played it before. It's a super fast hand management and set collection game which has the tendency to end way too fast. Rome wasn't built in a day, but a Fantasy Realm can be built in 20 minutes. 

Each player is dealt a hand of 7 face-down cards. When it is your turn, you simply either pick a card from the remaining deck, or pick a face-up card from the discard pile. You may only have 7 cards, so you have to discard one before the turn moves on to the next player. All discarded cards are arranged face-up on the table, and when there are 10 cards left discarded on the table, the game ends immediately! How you decide which card to pick up, what to keep and the one to discard is all based on the strength of the hand you currently have. The idea is to build the most valuable (strongest) fantasy realm before the world ends. Each card you have has a strength value, and when added together, they become your final total. Some cards work together to multiply up strength, some cards penalise you for having particular cards and of course a few cards penalise you for not having certain other cards. It's a complete mess for new players - but a game plays so fast that it is entirely possible to rush through 2-3 games without even blinking.

Try it. Try blinking. I've already played 3 games of Fantasy Realms. 

After explaining the rules, I let everyone know that a score of over 100 was great for first timers, and if you managed to get to 150 then you did very well. Scores of 200 or more were available for experienced players, as knowledge of the deck is key to optimising your hand for a godlike total. 

What a starting might look like

Our winner from last game, Howard, scored an impressive 199 points! Plus Howard managed to make good use of the Gem of Ordering card, which provides massive bonuses for a set of cards in numerical order. Always satisfying when a player manages to do this. Gary and Mark (our first timers) scored well with 135 and 150 points. I remember finding it quite difficult to get anywhere near 150 on my first few attempts - so this was a amazing to see. Jason, who was our other experienced player (with 20 games under their belt) did exceptionally well with a score of 239! However, I managed a rare win by scoring 2 more points, totalling a huge 241, which a BIG number for me - so I was delighted. 

In our last game we all had to endure multiple 'take-that' actions which took their toll on our fragile plans. Fantasy Realms is not particularly known for hostilities. BUT experienced players know when to hold onto certain cards to deny other players big totals, and when to focus on their own burgeoning realms. Jason though, was witness to me picking up the Candle card, which when combined with the Book of Changes, Bell Tower and any one Wizard, adds a massive 100 points to your final score. Unknown to me, was that Jason had the Bell Tower, and decided to hold onto it for the entire game, denying me my bonus 100 points. HOWEVER... what he didn't know was that I had the Mirage card, which can duplicate the Bell Tower.. thus giving me the bonus in the end. I also managed to find the Necromancer which added another card to my hand at the very end just before scoring AND the Collector who added another 40 points for having 4 Wizards. Game over.

NEXT!! 

The Origami artwork is stunning.

Fast becoming one of my favourite short, set collection games, we reached our final game of the evening, the beautiful Sea Salt and Paper with 3 players, Howard, Gary and me. This was my 4th, maybe 5th play, and I still hadn't quite worked out how to defeat others yet. I do love it though. Simply, each player has an option of either picking 2 cards from a face-down deck, discarding one, and keeping one for their hand. OR, pick up one of the face-up cards from either of the 2 discard piles. Easy stuff.

As you collect your set of cards you are given opportunities to play pairs of cards face up to score points and gain additional actions from doing so.  For example: have another turn, or blindly pick another face-down card for your hand etc. In this game though, the 'take that' shark/swimmer combo pair was being used profusely. It would appear that blood was in the water again and it was time to 'Pray'. 

This game is played in rounds, and ends when one player reaches 35 points or more. Each round is curtailed by the players themselves. Once you have at least 7 points in your hand combined with any pairs played on to the table, then you can simply call STOP! Everyone counts up their card set values and adds them to their running total. There are a few more rules surrounding this, but I'll save that for an up and coming review. 

In our game, ATTACK was the only form of defence as each player proceeded to plunder the other's
hands; fishing for Mermaid cards and probing for valuable Penguins. In the first round I was shark attacked twice, leaving me with only 3 cards when STOP was called. So, I got a big fat zero. Cue the grumpy face. 

Amongst the very, very funny banter at our table, we also experienced a hilarious situation when Gary picked up 2 cards and immediately played them both as a pair, declaring loudly that he would be using his Shark & Swimmer combo to steal a card from my hand... again. This was a 2-fold mistake. Firstly, you can't pick up 2 cards and play them both in that same turn, you have to discard one first. So, a disappointed Gary pocketed the shark card and discarded the swimmer card. Secondly, I had a shark card in my hand, so of course I picked up the rejected swimmer, and immediately dealt Gary some 'rough justice' with it. It was amazing good fun, and my only regret was that we didn't get to fully finish the game before 'turfing out time' was upon us. In the end we called it a draw... but somehow I lost. Not complaining though, as it was a memorable night. 

This evening was FULL of highs and lows, frustrations and so much 'take-that' that it was difficult 'Holding Back the Tears' sometimes. I may have my criticisms of games which encourage such gratuitous amounts of player smack downs, however, sometimes you gotta 'Get Ready For It', and 'Don't Say Goodbye' too early. 

We will return next week; with more cutlasses and sharks than ever before. Just you wait!

All fingers and thumbs - a dexterity night

It seems a long time ago now [ed: yes it is Ian, better late than never I suppose], when 6 Noboglins bravely decided it would be fun to try out some different dexterity games. First up was a sneaky game played by early arrivals on the Tuesday, a recently arrived Kickstarter game in the Itten games 'funbrick' package. 5 different games, with this one a game arguably the standout game in the campaign, but does it live up to that promise?

Viking See-saw follows a design that's been done before, of balancing a see-saw, by adding items and trying to avoid it tipping over to the other side. What sets this aside from all the others though, is the quality of the components. There's real variety in the items you need to add, from a plastic gem and ball, through quirky wooden meeples, the wooden cargo that serves as the game's timer (and punishment for failure), through to the stars of the piece, metal cubes that might look like Terraforming Mars cubes, but represent the quality that game was mocked for missing. The brass one in particular is intimidatingly weighty, making it quite the decision as to when to use it.
Wobbly hand rating: Challenging but far from impossible

Then onto the games proper, and Men at Work is notable for its quality components as well, and dexterity games do seem improved by having quality, rather than flimsy pieces.

The premise is you're working on a building site, where there is a 'laissez-faire' attitude to health & safety, but making that worse, employees want to show off when the boss eventually turns up, by building higher than anyone else has built before, plus if they cause an accident, it's the next player who has to clean up the mess before they take their turn. What could go wrong? Lots, but often the wobbliest construction is still remarkably resilient... until eventually it (catastrophically) isn't. Many of you will have played Jenga, and felt frustrated by the laborious setup before play commences. This game solves that by laying out a just 3 grey chunky 'supports' and then laying out a mere 3 chunky coloured wooden 'girders' resting on them. The game is ready to play inside a minute or two. On a player's turn, a card is turned over revealing whether they're placing a worker or a girder, plus whatever additional criteria they have to satisfy. Some are easier than others, with girders touching other girders being a blessed relief for the naturally clumsy, but the workers carrying 'bricks' and/or little wooden 'beams' usually eliciting great apprehension.
Wobbly hand rating: Sometimes easy, sometimes verging on impossible

We followed this with an evocatively titled game game that plays in a similar way to Men at Work.

Catch the Moon starts with two wooden ladders, and each turn adds another, in the manner of Southern Italian builders

The only constraint is a die roll with 3 possible instructions on it. It seems simple, but unlike the relatively obvious areas of stability/instability in Men at Work, those ladders had a nasty habit of twisting around when another ladder was added to it, which is an absolute nightmare when instructred to add the 'highest ladder yet'.
Wobbly hand rating: Deceptively and surprisingly variable

Next up was a very different game, that goes under a few different names, but involves mechanised plastic monkeys throwing rubberised coconuts into coloured plastic cups. I think ours was called Crazy Coconuts

It also comes with some optional cards, which we quickly decided were a poor addition to the game, adding annoyance that distracted from the fun. This was probably the surprise package of the night, for what is ostensibly a children's game, it was a bundle of laughs, and again it came down to a good choice on components. You remember the mention of rubberised coconuts earlier? They were crucial, as it enabled laugh out loud trick-shot moments of a coconut landing perfectly in the cup, but bouncing out again. Or the reverse of initially missing the target, but a friendly bounce finding a cup nonetheless. The greatest trickshot however, from the winning team's star player, was a shot that landed in one cup, bounced out, only to then land in an opponents' cup, thus stealing it from them. Definitely one for 'all ages who can enjoy a giggle'
Wobbly hand rating: A winner, as there's a bit more force and a little less delicacy required

Finally, we closed with flipships, a very different beast.

It's themed on space invaders, where you flick your cardboard ship tokens through the air, trying to land them on the cards that represent the invading aliens. Each ship has a special ability that might make it easier to hit an alien ship; be more effective when it does; or help you assault the mothership (landing the ship token inside the cardboard constructed mothership). It's a game that can be a little tough to get the hang of, finding that right angle to lauch the ship, so it threatens the target and not the adjoining table (or in the words of Monty Python, does not so much fly as ... plummet).
Wobbly hand rating: Avoids the pitfall of requiring delicacy, but it's definitely an acquired skill

A nicely eclectic mix of games and as a side-note, two of these games I'd never played before, but was able to quickly work out the rules in the last ~ 5 minutes of the previous game, in order to be ready to teach it. For someone who prizes simple rulesets, dexterity games can be ideal. An evening of purely dexterity gane is not something I'd want to do every week, but as an occasional thing, something I'd look forward to again, especially if I can persuade Paul to bring along Flickfleet (flicking dice from plastic ships, at opponent's ships, and massively more fun than I imagined). Also to look out for is the game 'Push It!' that Alison has brought along, that's arguably the perfect pub table dexterity game. Damn! I'm starting to get excited for a follow-up....