General chatter - discuss anything here

[Mortis]

Anyone from here off to Airecon next week? 

[Captain Kelsten]

Anyone got/played Frostgrave? It’s a miniature agnostic narrative skirmish game, a mish mash of D&D and Warhammer Mordheim. 

[therearerules]

On 02/03/2023 at 13:39, Mortis said:

Anyone from here off to Airecon next week? 

Yeah! I'm there Thursday evening, Friday evening and all day Saturday, Sunday. I'm also buying Stationfall on Thursday, and intend to be a skilled enough educator to teach it straight away (if anyone wants to play it). That and maybe run some BotC in the evenings.

[michael]

Can't go, too soon after my spinal surgery, so travelling is out of the question, let alone demo games and running a booth.

[Stejay]

13 hours ago, michael said:

Can't go, too soon after my spinal surgery, so travelling is out of the question, let alone demo games and running a booth.

Bloody hell, you’re still having spinal issues?  Seems like *years* since I saw you first mention it.

 

Hope it helps and you heal up well.

Also, are you ever going to podcast again, even if just for what I’m sure would be a very welcome guest appearance on that one about men’s pants and computer games? @elmo @murray @jcafarley

[michael]

Yeah, 15 years and they finally got me in for an operation which actually fixed everything! However, there were complications (ie: the surgeon fucked up my sciatic nerve so my entire right leg is now a weak lump of meat, so walking is a struggle). It may heal up by itself, but that could be up to 8 - 12 months...

 

I have no idea if I'll ever podcast again, I get the feeling there are enough middle aged white guys talking about video games and tabletop stuff, so what would I bring to the table that's different? 😂

[moosegrinder]

Being someone who talks about that shit that doesn't make me want to shove my thumbs in my eyes?

[Fondue]

On 03/03/2023 at 14:50, therearerules said:

Yeah! I'm there Thursday evening, Friday evening and all day Saturday, Sunday. I'm also buying Stationfall on Thursday, and intend to be a skilled enough educator to teach it straight away (if anyone wants to play it). That and maybe run some BotC in the evenings.

I'm heading up too - will keep my eyes peeled! 

[jonnyalpha]

I'm missing Airecon again as we're on holiday. Next show will be the UKGE in the summer. I've managed to acquire another game while away as I won Ark Nova in a competition from the 2 wood for a wheat podcast which was a nice surprise.

[therearerules]

A new contender for worst rulebook ever arises in Stationfall. It's a simple game full of small complications and twists, all it needs is a learning game, then a game with all those twists. Instead the game opens with a baffling array of everything, then staright into the strategy of a tutorial game. Genuinely the worst rulebook ever, it's absolutely impossible to learn anything from it. The educator in me is compelling me to rewrite the whole thing and create a learning game.

Also it's actually three rulebooks, a tutorial game, a dossier of characters ~(the only place you'll learn how they effect setup) and then a glossary which explains how things work using a decimal number system that's incredibly unhelpful. At no point does the gmae actually tell you how to play it. Abysmal.

[scottcr]

Just back from Airecon… had a great time… kind of hungover though and got the post expo blues now  but… played tons of games 

 

All the games I played 

Arkham horror

Scout
Monster v hero
Love letter
Heat
Small World - War Craft
Castles of Burgundy 
Bristol

Dune Imperium
Cacao
Evil dead
Ready steady bet
Behind the throne

Hobbit- an unexpected party
Alien

[michael]

Seeing all the posts on Twitter from folks at Airecon over the weekend and I've never felt more left out of this industry.

[Captain Kelsten]

Anyone going to the UK Games Expo this year? Looking to go to my first one. They worth attending? 

[shynra]

I'm going with 3-5 friends. Have been going for about 6 years now. I'd say it's worth it. 

 

It a big event with lots of game stalls and publishers showing of games +indie section and stalls showing of great games too. You can try out games there, get bargains in stalls, see some of the new games for the first time in the UK. There are talks too. 

 

The bring and buy was really good last year a better layout and had bargains/some older games you may be hunting. 

 

What I do like about it compared to the London events I've been to is the open gaming section. A few big section open during the event and after the event closes to play your games or grab games form their game library. So usually if we done enough at the expo we can sit and play some games into the night (or if travelling back play a bit later so trains are not as busy) 

 

In terms of bargains some new games are deep discounted, in its launch I grabbed star wars outer rim for £40 there. Have not seen it cheaper since for example. (probably better examples  about) 

[moosegrinder]

4 hours ago, Captain Kelsten said:

Anyone going to the UK Games Expo this year? Looking to go to my first one. They worth attending?

 

Given your accent surely you don't live far away from it anyway?

 

We've been a few years and it's always fun. Try and avoid Saturday, it's fucking bedlam.

[Captain Kelsten]

25 minutes ago, moosegrinder said:

 

Given your accent surely you don't live far away from it anyway?

 

We've been a few years and it's always fun. Try and avoid Saturday, it's fucking bedlam.

No I don’t 😅

[Captain Kelsten]

1 hour ago, moosegrinder said:

 

Given your accent surely you don't live far away from it anyway?

 

We've been a few years and it's always fun. Try and avoid Saturday, it's fucking bedlam.

Are you going this year? I’m going on the Sunday. 

[phresh]

Went on the Sunday last year (first time) doing the full 3 days this year with our gaming friends. One day didn’t really feel enough to actually play anything, so can’t wait to have a really chilled time. Hopefully going to book a ttrpg session or two as well. 

[revlob]

UKGE is one of the highlights of my year. I love it.

 

Last year I went on all three days, allowing me to experience it with friends, family, and on my own. I'll be doing the same again this year.

[jonnyalpha]

I love the UKGE and have only missed a couple since it started back in Birmingham at the old Masonic Lodge building. It's massive now in comparison.

 

I'm traveling down on the Saturday morning this time and will stay Saturday night so we'll get a day and a half there. Really looking forward to it.

[Captain Kelsten]

Mini Muk meet??

[instasis]

UKGE is great. Been going for about 12 years I think (my first one was the last one in the Masonic lodge). I don't think I've missed any except the COVID ones since.

 

I always avoid Saturdays, but both Friday and Sunday are good days to go. I've tended to do Friday with Moose and Donk and then started going with the family on Sundays. They're starting to merge now.

 

I actually prefer the Sunday sessions in terms of experience. Everyone's knackered, everyone's calmed down a bit and there's generally less people. I don't enjoy the Friday morning maul to queue to get your tickets and then queue to get in. It's frustrating they still haven't sorted that. Sunday removes that frustration.

 

Lots of people swear on the Bring and Buy but I really can't be arsed. It always feels like a maul for little pay off.

 

It's worth checking prices while you are there. Some things are fantastic, many things are good but in some instances they can be more expensive. Gameslore, Zatu and Chaos Cards tend to be good for bargains.

 

It doesn't bother me that on a Sunday there is less to choose from, but you will spend a lot of money if you are inclined to do so, so budget accordingly. 

[therearerules]

I've got a stand, and very little stock to actually sell there, so by Sunday I hope to just be hosting a casual chat stand instead, in which case I'll insist upon a muk meetup there.

[Welrain]

On 14/03/2023 at 13:12, michael said:

Seeing all the posts on Twitter from folks at Airecon over the weekend and I've never felt more left out of this industry.

do you still work for a gaming company?  I’ve lost track. Used to love Little Metal Dog Show and I think that ended when you started to work in the industry or something like that.

[moosegrinder]

On 18/03/2023 at 19:30, Captain Kelsten said:

Are you going this year? I’m going on the Sunday. 

Yeah I'm going Sunday. Be good to say hi

[Stejay]

 

On 04/03/2023 at 16:46, michael said:

Yeah, 15 years and they finally got me in for an operation which actually fixed everything! However, there were complications (ie: the surgeon fucked up my sciatic nerve so my entire right leg is now a weak lump of meat, so walking is a struggle). It may heal up by itself, but that could be up to 8 - 12 months...

 

I have no idea if I'll ever podcast again, I get the feeling there are enough middle aged white guys talking about video games and tabletop stuff, so what would I bring to the table that's different? 😂

 

Great news about the operation overall then, and good luck with the complications easing up sooner rather than later too.

 

Regarding podcasting, you were always a great and easy listen, whether in your ruder, more man-child video game, or maturer, laid back board game chatting persona.  Come back to us!

[michael]

18 hours ago, BubbleDragon said:

do you still work for a gaming company?  I’ve lost track. Used to love Little Metal Dog Show and I think that ended when you started to work in the industry or something like that.

Yeah, I have my own little company that's just about to release our second game, Blaseball: Wild Cards! I don't think we're going to do a booth at UKGE, I'll get one of the shops to sell it on my behalf, but I'll definitely be coming over for the Friday.

[Lying Cat]

Excitingly my copy of Hegemony has turned up at last. I must have got a cursed capitalist copy though as a whole bunch of the cards have really serious blemishes on the back, and there are enough different sorts of cards in the game to make opaque sleeving them pretty much a non-starter. I'm sure they'll issue me some replacements, but I always hate this waiting period after submitting a request.

 

I guess I've been scarred by Asmodee and two instances of refusing to replace actual misprints because they didn't have any spares on hand, and didn't know when they'd get them and don't bother contacting us again about it.

[bobin]

Speaking of Blaseball, was happy to see a surprise parcel waiting for me today. 
 

Nice work, @michael

[moosegrinder]

Oooh I hope mine turns up before the weekend. Who did it come with?