It is taking waaay too long to write up all the games we played at our sessions, so this year we’ll do short summaries of the monthly highlights.
We had our 4 regular meets, 1st Wed, 2 Sats and Final Friday and I’m pleased to say that both Saturday meets were new year-on-year highs for those days. Particularly pleasing is the return of familiar faces. Some people lost to us are returned to the fold. Let’s hope some more pull their figure out and get back where they belong, with us. Friday was also good, with 17 people, 3 of them new. Wednesday was down on last year with only 12. It’s curious that we get more people on the Friday evening than the Wednesday. After nearly 2 years of 1st Wed, the most we’ve had is 17, never enough to even pay for the room. What can we do to boost the evening visits? Also, we’re leaving the Harlequin Coffee House and bringing Final Friday to the RI, starting next month. The Harlequin is a great place, but it wasn’t working out.
It’s good to see the games bought recently, at Essen and from The Works, getting a nice run out. Confusion, La Citta, FlashPoint Fire Rescue, Gloria Picktoria, Nuns On The Run and the brutal K2 getting lots of attention, but top of the list is What’s My Word? which is a word game all about words. Well, everybody that looks over a player’s shoulder sees it’s like the old Mastermind, you try and deduce the opponent’s secret word from the score they give you for your guesses. But only when you play it do you discover just how fiendish the damn thing is. It’s turning into a real brain-burner and if you want a good 2 player game to try at home, give it a go.
Linie Ein is also getting several plays. A re-issue of a classic old game by Stefan Dorra, some players clearly don’t like it as you can get in a hole. But for most players, it’s quick, fun, and more a battle of wits than you’d expect. There are a lot of these very good games from just 10 or 15 years back that nobody today has heard of. You lot, with your Resistance and 7 Wonders and Cult Of The New! There’s a mass of great games, behind you!
Another mystery is the location of our copy of Mosaix. It is missing. Bring it back, puhlease.
In February, we’ll be demoing our games again at Vapnartak 2012, the big wargames show in York. More on that later, but BM! was born at Vapnartak in 2005. Yes, we’re coming up on our 7th birthday. Our 2nd meet in February will be the day if you want to make any cakes. Vapnartak is also a good place to sell some older games, to make way for the new. And yes, finally worn low by your tears, we will get a copy of 7 Wonders, and also Dixit.
But demoing our games in public is very important to the club, and something we’ve neglected last year. Taking our modern games out and showing people what they’re like does take effort, but it makes a difference. This year, we’re planning something new: Taster Sessions. We are going to invite people in for a quick run-through of some games in a sort of speed dating fashion. We’ve had a meeting with York CVS to start it rolling, and we should have some firm news soon.
Next meetings are this Wednesday and Saturday, with Vapnartak on Sunday.
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