www.theblisspages.com - Saltdean
www.theblisspages.com - SaltdeanLinks on this page: Railroad Tycoon : Elasund : Manila : Saboteur : Werewolf
The last time I went to a similar event was the Marcham Games Convention near Reading in Berkshire, a gathering of 40-60 people for 12 hours of games playing in November 2002. Saltdean in November 2005 was equally enjoyable and well-organised.
I'd like to thank Dick, a regular at our gaming group, for organising it so well. We had an attendance of around thirty.
I wanted to concentrate on new games, mostly those I recently bought in Essen. As you can see from my bags, maybe I was a little optimistic about how many I would get through! You might also like to look at my board games pages.
You can click on any pictures for a larger version (each between 18-50Kb in size).
If you have any comments, or have found any errors or omissions, please drop me an email.
We started with a big game and one I've been looking forward to playing since I first heard about it. When I say Railroad Tycoon is big, I actually mean huge!
The board is bigger than my dining room table, and that is its biggest problem.
We had to spend most of our turns on our feet, both to reach the other side of the board, or even to see it, as it is unfortunately, very reflective. Having said that, I enjoyed it and think it's a good game.
I concentrated too much on trying to fulfil the tycoon card I was given at the beginning of the game, and as usual, overbid to become the start player. I ended up with too many loans, which meant that I was always short of money. The north-eastern part of the board is crucial, and I never got there. I am looking forward to playing it again soon.
Rules in English are available from BoardgameGeek.
players: Bernard, Howard, Jim, Mike, Steve
playing time: 2.5 hours
top
Latest in the Settlers saga, Elasund is a vicious game, where you are trying to build a city.
As long as you have the right permits, you can build over other buildings, even if, unfortunately, they are owned by other players.
The rules are not very well-written, but we soon got the hang of them, and some devious plays and significant strategies soon became obvious. Ten victory points are needed to win. I managed to place a large building over several other players' permits which gave me two victory points, and as it covered two double windmills, which give trade points, I got another two, giving me an unassailable lead.
players: Fiske, Jim, Joseph, Mike
playing time: 2 hours
top
This was a game I saw at Essen, but didn't buy.
Manila is from the same stable as Niagara, a game which is on my want list.
There were some interesting mechanisms. You bid to become harbour master, which gives you the right to select which three of four goods are shipped, buy shares, and give your favoured boat a helping hand. Having first placement is also useful - but it does all come at a price, as the bids got very high. You only had three men to place, betting on which ships would make it to port in three dice rolls, and which would founder on the way. Successful shipping sees the goods' share prices rise, and the game ends when one share gets to 30. Player aids are available from BoardgameGeek.
players: Tim, Rudger, Jim, Ben, Mike
playing time: 1.6 hours
top
Saboteur is a small card game that I nearly missed out on at Essen, but luckily Richard bought one back for me. We were playing dwarves, happily mining for gold - or so you would think. There were some dissenters in the ranks, and they stopped at nothing to prevent the gold being extracted.
Roles were handed out secretly at the beginning of each round, and then mining commenced. When we played saboteurs we had to pretend to be furthering the cause, whilst cursing our cards and tunneling into dead ends, falsely accusing other players of being saboteurs and breaking their tools.
A fun game, which can play with up to ten players.
Whilst playing it, I couldn't stop singing to myself, "We'll dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig, dig the whole day through..."
players: Ben, Jim, Helen, Tim, Mike
playing time: 1 hour
This was the last game I played - though the remaining stalwarts borrowed my copy of Diamant and may have gone on to have played a few more...
Werewolf is a great party game, and can take many players. Rules and player aids are available from werewolf and BoardgameGeek.
In the village are two werewolves - the only protection a village seer. During the night the werewolves strike. In the morning, the surviving villagers cast around for someone to blame - and lynch them. Usually the hapless victim is just another villager, or worse, the seer, but sometimes they get lucky, and a werewolf howls no more. Will evil triumph?
players: Val, Chris, Martin, Dave, Helen, Howard, Jim, Rudger, Tim, Dick, Mike, Steve
playing time: 1 hour
topI'd like to thank everyone you played with me, not least for putting up with my laboured explanations of the rules of games I'd never played! I hope they enjoyed them as much as I did - the games that is, not the rules!
I look forward to playing these games again, but I still have more than a few games from Essen which I haven't played yet...
I look forward to the next Saltdean Con.
top
:
: © Mike Bliss 2011