Games Expo 2019

Just back from a good day at Games Expo. Really need to think about 2 days next year so as to get more time to actually play games and to hear some of the lecture sessions. As ever compared to Salute the audience is a lot younger, more gender balanced and full of families.

So, some of the things that caught my eye:

It's always worth a quick walk around the competition tables to see what is going on. This is the miniatures end with (I think) Fields of Glory and DBM competitions.

 Some heavy duty 6mm troop lines!

The ultimate RPG table - a flat mounted video screen that can display whatever terrain you want!

Where wargaming and table top gaming collide. Song of Ice and Fire table top game (I think) with simple plastic miniatures. Ugly as sin! Why bother with the fancy terrain cloth?

Love it! Gaming the retail space!

Multiverse War. My daughter (serious gamer) rated this best-in-show yesterday and tempted to agree with her. It has elements of wargaming and boardgaming, but strikes me it combines them better than Memoir 44 etc. You start with hidden hex tiles between your bases and uncover the terrain as you advance. Some simple DMs for terrain and troop types, and development ladders and unit manufacture akin to an RTS. Going to Kickstarter soon. Check it out also on BoardGameGeek and Facebook. I'm already working out how to play it on 10cm Hexon tiles with my 6mm or 20mm WOTR armies!

Blast from the past - L'Attaque. My uncle used to have this and we played it a lot as a kid. My parents then got me Tritactics (the land/sea/air version) one Christmas which got played continuously.

Leaders. Sold out by the time I got around to it.  A cross between Risk (which the board is almost stolen from) and Twilight Struggle, but mediated by a tablet app. Looks well worth buying.

Didn't try it, but they 3D scan your face off a smartphone and then 3D print you onto a figure. Very tempted to give it a try.

My only real purchase, Beyond Waterloo is a counterfactural hex-and-counter style game from an old (2011) copy of the Against the Odds magasine which recreates the whole of the situation in 1815 after Napoleon returned from Elba. So this isn't just the 100 days, but the Spanish, Italian, Rhine fronts as well. Very apt as Nick and I are just getting to the culmination of our 100 Days Campaign (see next post) and have been talking about a whole-1815 campaign like this for a while.

I did buy a couple of other things - but didn't walk away with them so I'll wait til they arrive. Things I didn't get were a moon mat (but think I can source from Deepcut) and a Traveller book (as they'd sold out of the new Compendium.

All in all though a good day.

Games Expo 2018

Not for want of trying but I haven't been to Games Expo since it moved off the Hagley Road probably 5-6 years ago. But this year I finally got there, and boy has it grown!

As well as the big trade hall there was also at least 1/2 a hall for competition games, and a great bring and buy.

The British Historical Wargames Society had a competition going on, most Art de l'Guerre by the looks of it with some huge ancient & medieval armies in 6mm. Pity about the blue cloths though!

There was also a hug X-Wing championship going on, and by the end when it was down to just a few tables there were big crowds and sporting "whoops" around all the final games.

The main thing about Games Expo though is always for me trying out new games. There was a neat "playtest corner" full of short games in development that you could try out where the authors were after specific feedback. I tried one game out there, a card game based around skateboard tricks - slick mechanics, easy to play. In touring the stands I also tried a very good robot game, Robot Royale which starts on Kickstarter this week, and was very simple but needed a lot of thought and played out in about 15 mins -  so exactly my kind of game! I'll post the link once its up as I'll certainly be buying a copy.

In terms of trends - lots of games with "oversized" pieces - a whole forest in one! Lots of brand extension - eg Westeros Catan, lots of miniatures with "tabletop gaming" a real thing, some nice 3D printing of pieces, some good kids games. Overall a great mix.

In terms of my loot, very limited, but was deliberately trying to avoid buying any big boxed games as I know I don't really have the time and have two at home (Thunderbirds and Traveller Crad Game) still to play when Jo get's home. But this is what I got:

A 2' x 2' one-inch generic mat for modern and SF skirmish.

The Traveller Mindjammer setting book. Not aware of Mindjammer but interested in SF-RPG takes on transhumanism and talks about rules to adventure in the "Mindscape" caught my eye.

Worth the trip for this as far as I'm concerned - the only real gap in my Traveller Alien Module collection (not too concerned about Darrians!), and last time I saw one and failed to buy it (as they had lots else I did buy ) was about 6 years ago in Vancouver!


Plus that Kickstarter....


So overall a great show, and will still plan to go every year (even if I only make 1 in 5!)