Dramatic Consequences, November 18-21, 2010, Naish Holiday Village, Christchurch, Dorset
At a loose end for a session or two? Tired of putting on that next outfit and make up? Why not take a break at the Library of Consequences, our very own board game library!
At the Library you can try out the latest Euro games fresh from the Essen Spiel show, or a tried and trusted old master, such as Settlers of Catan or El Grande. There will be a large selection of British, American, German and other European games, including strategy and resource management games, board wargames, and family games. If you have a particular favourite, then its worth putting in a request in advance the librarians will try to make sure that the Library of Consequences supplies your dreams. Simply turn up and borrow the games! Table space will be provided, and you can book board game slots in advance as an alternative to freeform or tabletop gaming.
On arrival, and throughout the con, you will also be able to sign up to join in with board games in each of the gaming slots during the weekend. You can either sign up for a general board gaming session, or suggest / join specific games. If you have signed up for a session, please arrive promptly to ensure you are allocated to a table, so that games can start promptly. If you have not, all is not lost, please come along anyway at the start of any gaming period, and we will do our utmost to get everyone enjoying themselves.
The library will be in part Alan & Charlie Paull's personal
collection, supplemented by some of the Con Com's favourite games. We
can only bring as many games as will fit in our cars, so you may like
to ask us to bring something specific with us. The Paulls' collections
are documented on
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/collection/user/TabbySunLion and
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/collection/user/Alan+Paull
One or both of Alan and Charlie will be available throughout the Consequences weekend to demo, teach and play board and card games. If you would like help with arranging opponents at particular times, please contact either one of them at boardgames@consequences.org.uk They have different games on each list, so you may want to look at both. If you would like to ask us to bring a particular game please email boardgames@consequences.org.uk
Alternatively you can sign up for your chosen time slot whenever you like after you arrive – there will be sign-up sheets available – or just turn up when youre free and join in.
Battlestar Galactica: Board game of the recent TV series. You take on one of the leading character roles on the Galactica and have to jump the fleet all the way to Kobol, fighting Cylon ships and on board intrigues. And at least one of you is a Cylon traitor secretly working against humanity. We will have the Pegasus Expansion too for this session. Up to 7 players, 3-4 hours, team game of medium complexity.
Vasco da Gama: Hire crewmen, buy ships and explore the world. An excellent worker placement Eurogame by Paolo Mori, Vasco da Gama has a novel player turn order concept and plenty to think about. 2-4 players, 2 hours, medium complexity.
Agricola: Well established and top-rated Eurogame by Uwe Rosenberg. Can you set up and expand a medieval farm or will your family be begging on the streets? Worker placement with plenty of novel wooden pieces. Up to 5 players, 30 mins per player, highly complex.
Die Macher: The game of German party politics – it may sound like a boring theme, but this is one of the best Eurogames ever. Designed by Karl Heinz Schmiel (who also designed A La Carte!), it has an intricate and well integrated set of mechanics, including auction and bidding, but so much more besides. 3-5 players, can be 4 hours or a shorter 3 hour version, highly complex.
Power Grid: Another well loved Eurogame, this time with a 'building power stations and supplying cities' theme. Includes both auction and network building mechanics, and the possibility of running power stations on coal, oil, wind, garbage or uranium through a number of countries round the world dependent on the board selected. 2-6 players, 2 hours, medium complexity.
Factory Manager: From the same stable as Power Grid and perhaps a better game, this time building and running a factory in order to produce who knows what? Like many Eurogames, it doesn't matter what the factory builds, just its efficiency, so you're balancing money (always in short supply), workers (a very limited resource) and new factory components, in order to produce and store more than the other guys. 2-5 players, 60-90 minutes, medium complexity.
Stronghold: A Euro-wargame, if that's not a contradiction in terms. The theme is a fantasy siege of a castle, but there are 2, 3 and 4 player variants (teams where required). Evil goblins, orcs and trolls build their machines and use their numbers to try to break into the heroically led human fortress. There are limited placement spaces all round the castle for attackers and defenders, and the former give time to the defenders by carrying out necessary actions (building more stuff and moving more troops), then defenders use that time to re-deploy, recruit and build their own stuff. 2-4 players, 2-3 hours, highly complex.
Brass / Age of Industry: Two Martin Wallace games on the theme of the Industrial Revolution in the North of England. Age of Industry is fundamentally 'Brass Lite', the more accessible and shorter game. You use cards in hand to select locations and industries to build, so that you can construct your network of railways and factories to earn points, all (as ever) with not quite enough money to do what you want. 2-5 players, 2 hours (2-4 players and 3 hours for Brass), AoI fairly light, Brass medium complexity.
God's Playground: Martin Wallace's game on the history of Poland 15th to 18th centuries. A Eurogame with warfare overtones, as the players represent Polish nobles attempting to defend their estates from the depredations of various foreign invaders. There are elements of co-operation, because players must decide how they work together to defend the kingdom. It has area control and some bidding. 3 players only, 3 hours, medium to high complexity.
Small World: A more accessible version of the 1999 game Vinci, in Small World players have variable races with variable abilities and compete to score points for the control of different territories. Combat is by area control, and races expand each turn with a strictly limited number of pieces dependent on the powers they possess. A critical decision is when to make your existing race inactive (put it 'into decline'), so that you can have a new one and conquer pastures new. 2-5 players, one to one-and-a-half hours, light.
Dixit (and Dixit 2): A card game using beautifully painted, rather surreal images. Players have to describe a card so that some, but not all, of their opponents can pick it out from a group of similar ones. Dixit 2 is the expansion which simply provides a range of new and interesting cards to play with. 2-6 players, 30 minutes, light.
We also have a huge range of other games, light, medium and complex, which we are happy to run, teach or play, or you can borrow to play yourselves. These will include games from this year's Essen games fair as well as such old favourites as Ticket To Ride, 6 Nimmt, Colosseum, Ingenious, Mission Red Planet, Endeavour, Felix - The Cat in the Sack, Jet Set and of course this year's new Surprised Stare game Totemo the colourful totem pole building game.
We can pretty much guarantee to bring the new ones from this lot:
Contact us if you want to book a space, at boardgames@consequences.org.uk.
We welcome anyone, novice or expert or anyone in between. There will normally be one of us at the library, willing and able to teach new games and to encourage beginners. If you have any games you'd like to bring and teach to us, that is always good too :-)
| Game | Organizer | Players | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Friday morning 09.00-13.00 | |||
| Cosmic Encounters | Matt Nixon | 3–5 | Happy for peeps to stop by for a quick game if there if there is open space |
| Saturday morning 09.00-13.00 | |||
| Skallywaggs | Matt Nixon | 3–4 | The cutthroat card game of Pirate antics! |
| Gloom | Matt Nixon | 3–4 | The card game of unhappy families! |
| Grave Robbers From Outer Space | Matt Nixon | 3–4 | The card game of B-Movie madness! |
Please let us know if you'd like to organize any board/card games!