What games did you enjoy at UK games expo (or other games convention)?

[asparagus]

I thought of this question when I realised how many people from this website were in the UK championship. We were bowled over by two games in particular:

First of all there was evolution. This did quite a good job of modelling the struggle for survival and as a game had many valid strategies for success.

Secondly was Völuspá. This is a tiling game themed around Norse mythology. Rather than matching tiles as in Carcassonne the game feels a bit more like a 2-dimensional card game.

We also liked (but not enough to buy):

The Magnates: a game of power - we have Polish connections so Polish history was intriguing.

Terra Mystica - quite good but extremely heavy.



Linkback: https://www.carcassonnecentral.com/community/index.php?topic=2775.0

[Clownfeet]

what did you think of the whole expo Asparagus? I thought it was great but Saturday day was so loud and busy in the main hall. And it was tough to get a free gaming table in the evening on the saturday as well. luckily we jumped on a ticket to ride tournament table that had just finished and stayed the whole evening there.

Here:s the games i played:

Surviving:One Month in - unfortunately the guy didn't have any copies yet to play (they were on the boat) but we did have a 20 min play with his prototype set and really liked it. A great little survivial semi co-op (he used the term PvPvE) where you explore a zombie infested hex city, fighting and hoarding and picking up survivors. The mechanism for actions by flipping cubes around was great, the 8-bit artwork was absolutely fantastic and the changeable layout with bottlenecks and deciding to have a more casual solo effort or get everyone in the mixer kind of game was excellent. We both put our name down for a copy.

Ice-Cool - looks like this was the hit of the expo to be honest. Dexterity flicking game of collecting fish and trying to hit each other. Everyone was enjoying it and having fun. Most places were sold out and my bro picked up a copy for his kids and they already love it.
Karuba - Heartbreakingly, post playing this, it seems every shop had sold out. We loved this. Tile laying, temple linking game nominated for SdJ and can now see why. Right up our street and really fun - would be a great gateway game.

Everdark - another prototype which was, unbelievably, completed booked up for playing the entire weekend. (i guess they are very happy about that!) - really unique mechanisms of revolving concentric circles on circular stepped board. You work your way around this semi-coop trying to save the city, fighting the bad guys and trying to get outside and collect resources. all the while trying to mess up other peoples plans but also work together to not lose the game. We loved this and will be on the kickstarter when it starts as long as the price is good.

Caverna - I finally picked it up and it was everything i ever dreamed of! although i bought it on my joint account so the wife is not overly happy! at least i got £25 knocked off retail price!

T.I.M.E stories - we played the first 15 mins as we didn't want to spoil it - loved it and i'm sure it will appear in one of our birthday presents this year!

Codenames, Pictures - the game was fairly protoypey still and i guess they have some cleaning up to do. but it looked really fun and there's a lot more scope for interpretation which i think will help anyone who gets stuck with thinking of words. All of the pictures were quite obscure designs so you could use little bits to get the picture instead of the whole picture itself...if that makes sense!

Fog of War - a brilliant little wooden tank strategy game where you have to move and fire on each other. The beauty of it was that you didn't know how strong each tank was (written on the base of each) and so you weren't sure who would win each battle. very clever.

Things we also saw or bought were - Elevenses, Scythe (saw the game, looks incredible but HUGE!), new art style agricola, tiny epic kingdoms, village and many many more!

[asparagus]

what did you think of the whole expo Asparagus? I thought it was great but Saturday day was so loud and busy in the main hall. And it was tough to get a free gaming table in the evening on the saturday as well. luckily we jumped on a ticket to ride tournament table that had just finished and stayed the whole evening there.

The lowest point for me was Friday evening. We wanted players for evolution but everyone we saw seemed set up. They used to have little flags so you could announce you were looking for players. I think they should have a noticeboard or an app or something to hookup players.

Apart from that I thought it was great.

Fog of War - a brilliant little wooden tank strategy game where you have to move and fire on each other. The beauty of it was that you didn't know how strong each tank was (written on the base of each) and so you weren't sure who would win each battle. very clever.

Of the games you mention this sounds most interesting to me.

[Clownfeet]

yeah, we were trying to find some people to play Caverna with us but as you say, everyone already seemed set up. I think everyone was just so excited to be playing their new games they've bought that there wasn;'t much movement between games!!

I see you tried out Terra Mystica. It's probably one of my all time favourite games. It's very deep and very strategic. The first few times it's very overwhelming but after that you really get into it and it fast becomes people's favourite. I try and get it onto the table at London on Board at least once a week. Which faction did you play? do you remember?

[asparagus]

I see you tried out Terra Mystica. It's probably one of my all time favourite games. It's very deep and very strategic. The first few times it's very overwhelming but after that you really get into it and it fast becomes people's favourite. I try and get it onto the table at London on Board at least once a week. Which faction did you play? do you remember?

I had the nomads. One person had half an idea what he was doing (not me). I started though because I could see a nice line of hexes to terraform. I came last. I can see the point of it but I don't think we get to suitable clubs often enough or have enough keen players in family to consider it.