I arrived in Birmingham on Thursday afternoon after a fairly uneventful journey, despite my SatNav trying to direct me into an industrial estate rather than to my hotel. After picking up my pass and grabbing some very expensive chilli, I headed to the Coiledspring preview event to try and get a look at some games before they get released. The room was already packed with gamers and after wandering around for a while I got collared for a game of Codenames, a brand new prototype from designer Vlaada Chvátil to be published by Czech Games Edition. A very simple party game that I suspect will do very well when it is released. I then had a chat with Roger who runs Coiledspring games about games based learning and played a couple of games they sell (Chickyboom and Sushi Go!). Sushi Go is a set collecting card game that uses a drafting mechanic to add some tactical decision making to the process. It is a quick and effective little game and winner of the Expo's best card game award 2015.
Friday morning was horrible and rainy so I stayed in my hotel doing some work for my CILIP* chartership before visiting the brand new Birmingham Library. After a couple of hours strolling around the rather impressive building and their huge selection of books I hopped back on the train to the NEC Hilton for the first proper day of the Expo. There was much to see, as I perused the vast quantity of trade stalls, here are a few things that caught my eye. Shadows of Esteren is a really pretty medieval horror RPG inspired by Celtic mythology (which is right up my street), but I was put off by the fact it seemed to needs multiple rulebooks to play and certainly wasn't cheap. Another RPG that I noticed was Faith, a Sci-Fi game that blends RPG and boardgame elements. This one is probably not for me as I'm more into rules light, freeform games these days, but it does have some very good artwork and an interesting mechanic for resolving test with cards. Pedion Modular Battelfields currently have some foot square modular terrain tiles on kickstarter, which would be great for anyone who has a lack of space to store bigger wargaming boards. Before I dashed back to my hotel to avoid the impending rain that was forecast for the evening I played a demo game of Fell, a new cooperative game that is being kickstarted by Grimejack Games. The idea is that you play a group of adventurers who fight against a randomly generated monster. The game is OK but lacked the kind of tension and urgency you get in a good coop game, like, for instance, Dead of Winter.I was up bright and early on Saturday, only to find that there was a massive queue for breakfast. No worries, I thought, I'll head to the Wetherspoons in the NEC and get breakfast there.....
.....Wetherspoons was closed. One Cafe Nero coffee and croissant later I headed to the launch of the boardgame redesign competition, where you take an existing boardgame and use its component to create something completely new. I have entered the competition, so some of you'll inevitably be roped into playtesting my creation. After the competition launch I decided to go to the playtest area to see what new games I could play. The game I ended up playing was called Touristico (I think), a Euro game in a similar vein to Ticket to Ride. You play as London Tour operators trying to get tourists around specified routes to gain points. Each turn you gain coins which you use to bid on the ability to use certain types of transport and also to visit locations. You have to carefully plan which cards you need and hope your competitors don't block you off. Whilst the game was very much still a prototype the mechanics were well thought out and it was a really enjoyable game to play.
Once I finished the playtest I attended 2 (and a half) seminars. I joined Eric Lang's (designer for Fantasy Flight Games) talk on the game industry from a professionals viewpoint halfway through and then attended talks on representation of minority groups in games and on how to design and publish RPGs. By this time it was mid afternoon and after a quick break for lunch I wandered back to the playtest area where I tested another new game called ConTRAPtions. This was a game of memory and bluffing, trying to collect cards to complete a steampunk device without others being to guess what you are building. The game already had some nice artwork and very simple rules but we were able to suggest a number improvements to the layout and design of the cards. I wanted to head back to my hotel to watch the FA cup final so just had time to play a couple more games, the first being The Spoils, a collectible card game, and the other Om Nom Nom, a simple family boardgame. I'm not a massive fan of CCGs and The Spoils didn't change my opinion on this but I'm sure some of the club's members would be interested in it. On the other hand Om Nom Nom is unlikely to join the selection of games played at the club but is a well designed, quick game for playing with kids.
Then it was Sunday. In an attempt to play as many games as possible I headed back to the main halls to see what else was available. Before heading to a couple more seminars I managed to play Camelot: The Build, Oddball Aeronauts, 27: Five Elements and Push It. Camelot the Build is a simple tile placement game where you are looking to maximise your own scores but minimise opportunities for your opponents. Oddball Aeronauts is a great little card game that doesn't require any table space; picking attributes to attack and defend with and simply turning cards over in your hand to form a discard pile. 27: Five elements is a fairly low budget and low cost card game of risk and reward, choosing between taking points now or letting them increase but risking your rivals taking them. Finally Push It is a game that has just been funded on Kickstarter featuring wooden discs that you push or flick towards a jack at the centre of the table.After attending some more seminars on the secrets of game publishing and on creating games for licensed properties I made a dash around the trade halls to finally buy some games before my carparking ran out and I had to drive home. After some deliberation I managed to keep my spending in check and bought copies of the Seafarers expansion for Settlers of Catan, the Breakin' Atmo booster for Firefly and Sushi Go!. I also backed Push It on Kickstarter, and then won a copy of it in the prize draw! I had a great time and hope to be able to attend again next year given it is a week later and therefore shouldn't clash with throwing a piece of plastic around a field.
*Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals
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