Category: Games

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Last year, June 2016 to be exact, I took part in my very first company “HackFu” event. I had decided that my first years’ attendance would be as a competitor, to get a feel for the event from an attendees point of view, before attempting to become part of the team that would organise and run the event for the following year.

“HackFu” is a two day, completely immersive, story based, learning and development event, run by MWR InfoSecurity for its employees – and most recently organised and developed by chronyko, for MWR. In the month before the event attendees begin to receive parts of the storyline, beginning with some soft detail before getting into the hardcore minutia shortly before the event. The entire event is themed, and actors are brought in to portray characters within the storyline.

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The New Year comes round so fast! Too fast for my liking. Mostly because it means that we have to stop buying new board games until we’ve played through our library.

For those of you who are new to the blog, or to the idea of a Board Game Truce, it is quite simply a single rule that Amy and I force ourselves to live by each and every New Year. That rule is as follows:

We shall not purchase any more board games until we have played all the board games we own, at least once.

Games themselves count once, then each expansion pack also counts, unless it makes sense to combine the packs (judges final decision etc.) For something like Carcassonne we would play the two expansion packs we have separately, for Escape: Curse of the Temple we put the two expansion packs we have together into one game as it makes more sense to play them together as a single expansion. However we would still play Escape twice. Once without the expansions and secondly with both expansions.

Escape, Curse of the Temple: You can't have more fun in 10 minutes!
Escape, Curse of the Temple: You can’t have more fun in 10 minutes!

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The latest game to turn up on the Board Game Truce this year was Small World. It’s a game that Amy and I have played once or twice before but it’s not something we’ve regularly gone back to.

Last night as we got through an initial “rules refresher” game, then another “proper” game, we wondered why we hadn’t picked it up as often as we both really enjoyed it.

For two players you start with a smaller world map (up to five players can be accommodated on a much larger map than the picture below); the aim of the game is to get to the victory point total first. Victory points are gained through conquering areas of the map, for which the player gains one victory point at the end of each round.

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So, another year is upon us and with the bells of Big Ben still ringing in our ears it’s time to begin the big Board Game Truce of 2015.

For those of you who are new to the blog, or to the idea of a Board Game Truce it is quite simply a single rule that Amy and I have to live by and that rule is:

We shall not purchase any more board games until we have played all the board games we own at least once.

It’s quite a simple rule really. What it does mean is that the game playing becomes competitive with a running total of who’s won the most games, and for games such as Castle Panic or Pandemic, did we beat the game.

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Wow, that was some year. 2014 will go down as the year I married the amazing Amy Kimber and had the most amazing party afterwards –  as well as the year I left my good friends at The Site Doctor in Herefordshire to take on a new challenge at Stericycle ExpertSolutions in Berkshire. (Still miss you guys!)

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It will also go down as the year I managed to convince the company to spend over $10,000 USD on Pluralsight licenses for the team – a remarkable Christmas present for them all and a huge sign of continuing investment, as well as the year I was off to Copenhagen for one of the weirdest conference parties ever. Singing YMCA to about 300 drunk developers was definitely a highlight.

The end of the year also means that an annual tradition has come round again… Board Game Truce 2015 starts from the 1st of January. For a few months those fantastic guys and gals at Eclectic Games in Reading will not see either Amy or I – it’s like going cold turkey. I shall upload the list shortly, but be warned, it’s grown. We’re up to 82 games and there’s still Christmas to get through!