Author Topic: TGBCW—August UK Meet-Up; My journey to my first ever KFC (Read 3400 times)

Willem · « **on:** August 29, 2021, 02:47:14 AM »

So whilst talking on discord a while back, the topic of KFC came up.
I mentioned that I actually never had KFC before, which caused a bit of an outrage...
Dan and Decar decided it was time to plan a meet up to ensure I would get the KFC I deserve. Rich was quick to join, and The Great Board Gaming (Free?) Big Chicken Weekend Great Britain (abbreviated to TGBGBCWGB for your convenience) was born!

So yesterday we met up in Oxford and after the necessary delays on the road, we all managed to get to a pub and start some nice games!
Game 1: Spicey
Rich was quick to start us off with a card game of Spicey.
A fairly easy game to learn (although we didn't use the red cards?) And fun to play! In the beginning we were all a bit hesitant to challenge eachother, which helped me win the first round. Tom won the second round, and we got a great game in our collective minds now!
(I forgot to take a picture)

Game 2: The Crew
I hadn't played this one before either, but boy did I like it!
Simple enough to understand, it's a game of winning tricks. However, the game adds an element of teamwork, with missions to complete and a narrative to follow. We won a few and lost less, so overall I'd say we won!

Game 3: Bandito
As I said on Discord; I'm pretty sure Dan got this one out just to annoy Rich.
It was a fairly quick game and we did enjoy it. I again forgot to take a picture though

KFC Time!!!

This was it!
For some reason I ended up being first of the 4 to order, which ended up with me just randomly tapping on the order screen and hoping for the best.
I was not disappointed with my order

I think we all enjoyed our lunch

Change of Venue!
When we arrived, my gf decided to head into town, and soon after texted a picture of this place called Geek Retreat. We decided to see what it was, and it was actually a gaming place. They have lots of space/tables available and not a bad collection of games to play.

As we brought most of our own, we didn't need too many of them, but still. You don't pay for the table, but they ask to order food/drinks regularly.
So we got some drinks and time for the inevitable...

Game 4: Carcassonne Amazonas
As they had Amazonas there, we figured we should make sure we got a game of Carcassonne played! Rich confessed he has it, but never played it!

So we went through the rules, and got to playing!
Decar's boat got ahead down the river quite early, but all of us managed to catch up. Rich went sailing ahead to secure first down the river, but it was in vain against Tom's jungle-management. He ran away with that victory

Game 5: The Fort
Tom pulled this game out, which said on the box to be 20-40 mins.
That probably was meant for the rules explanations, as that took a while.
Towards the end we got a bit better with our turns, but I think we all need another shot at the game in order to work more on strategies.

Dan's departure
As Dan had to leave, we all went back to the parking to exchange all the stuff we had for eachother. Decar was the big winner with a big box full of goodies, but I think we were all very happy with our new stuff!
I got 1 of each new bags, one of which is going in my Carc20 box; it feels right.
I also got a second edition of the Russian drawstring bag. Decar ordered a bunch a few years ago, and now was the right time to deliver

More Gaming! Game 6: Forbidden Island
We swapped Dan for my gf, and the four of us went back to Geek Retreat for food and more games!
Whilst waiting for our burgers, we played a Forbidden Island! We all had played it before, so we went through it fairly quickly. In the end, we didn't win, but we had fun; that's what counts!

Game 6: Carcassonne
We saw we had about 20 mins to spare before we had to get the bus back, so figured we should play a game we all know and are familiar with....
Carcassonne it is!
We played a fast game, finishing very quickly! We mostly focused on our own things, except for Rich who joined a few farms and shared a nice city with my gf for a good amount of points.
No surprise he won this one by a lot!
Fun fact: By my second to last turn, I was on 0 points, only to score a 9 points road. During end scoring however, I got about 50 more points and ended in 3rd

Overall, a great day, with some nice food!
Really nice seeing you guys again, and as we said, we will have to plan TGBGBCWGB2 soon!

Decar, Rich, Willem, Dan

Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=5450.0

Decar · « **Reply #1 on:** August 29, 2021, 03:20:27 AM »

...and don't forget those two random people that join our photo in KFC

The Great Big Chicken Weekend was most awesome. I'm sorry I was so late, I got 20 minutes from home and then realized I left something, so had to go back. Then I had to stop for petrol and by the time I got back on the right side of the dual-carriageway a car and broken down (with 2 blown tyres). Eventually I managed to catch you up.

I do enjoy Spicy. It's a tidy bluffing trick-taking game, I love the art too. I was happy with my convincing win on that second game.

The Crew is a great co-op game too. I love how varied the simple mechanics are used. I think generally, we made a good space crew. Hopefully, we'll get to complete all 50 missions eventually (maybe on BGA).

It's safe to say I over chickened; but it wouldn't have been a BIG Chicken weekend without too much chicken. With the most important aspect of the Big Chicken weekend out of the way, we headed to Geek Retreat.

I have to say, it's a interesting concept for a game space. They don't charge for tables, so we spent about 2 hours in there and I think we spent less than £15. This was why we decided to go back and get dinner!

I enjoyed playing Amazonas again, it has been quite some time since I last played, and it's definitely up there with my favourite Spin-offs. My convincing victory mainly came down to sharing a large jungle space with Rich the Fish, and getting a good boat boost in the mid game (for about 15 points or so).

My explanation of Fort was quite brief. And it looks likely a fiddly game, but I think we all managed to get into the flow quite quickly. The main mechanism is trying to spot what other people are trying to do, and make the most of other people's public actions, and then make sure your private action is the thing that's pushing you ahead. I don't like some of the wording around public and private actions. It says things like one of your actions must be completed fully, but doesn't give clear examples of a partially completed action just to help reinforce the mandatory and optional parts. I'll read the rules again before we next play. I think the 40minute mark was pretty optimistic, but maybe next time we play we'd be more focused on the end game.

Thanks to Dan, Rich, and Willem for acting as postmen, and filling the boot of my car. I'll be updating the postman thread shortly!

I enjoyed playing Forbidden Island again, I love how the game manages the timing. I think we had a pretty unlucky start and did well to get so close to completing the game!

As for speed Carcassonne, I didn't see any good farming opportunities until it was too late. So I scored first and ended in last

Can't wait for The Even Bigger Board Gaming and Big Chicken Weekend Great Britain (TEBBGABGWBG)!

Decar · « **Reply #2 on:** August 29, 2021, 03:57:44 AM »

Also "My First KFC" sounds like a Kid's spin-off

Bumsakalaka · « **Reply #3 on:** August 30, 2021, 04:31:55 AM »

Nice review +1 for me

When reading Game1, Game 2, ... And where is Carcassonne. And than it came

Odoslané z SM-A202F pomocou Tapatalku

Willem · « **Reply #4 on:** August 30, 2021, 04:52:41 AM »

As we all brought several games with us, it's always a risk that Carcassonne gets left behind

But when we saw Amazonas at Geek Retreat, it was a quick decision, and in the end a game of Carcassonne was perfect and short to bridge 20 mins

Bumsakalaka · « **Reply #5 on:** August 30, 2021, 05:42:25 AM »

Yeah, basic Carcassonne can be really uick game, when just play and not "calculate" how to protect your meeples before "blocade"

danisthirty · « **Reply #6 on:** August 31, 2021, 02:36:41 AM »

Thanks for that great write-up Willem. Not much I can add, other than to thank everyone for their presence and to say how much I enjoyed myself (despite finishing last at possibly everything!)

Already looking forward to TGBVPASDFOKGUTOSOPKBDFPJHUOK[AF[HKO