TURN 1 - Player Count
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the Whose Turn is It Anyway podcast returns to the UK Games Expo this year We're running a live episode on Friday
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the 30th from 12 to 1 where we want to meet our listeners We want you to come and join in on the show get involved or
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just come and participate bring your lunch and rest your feet for a while We hope to see you there and hope you have an amazing UK Games Expo
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[Music]
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Welcome to Whose Turn is It Anyway a podcast all about our gaming group and of course board games I'm Becky your
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current first player And I'm joined by other players JP Hello And Adrian Hello
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And we're going to talk about conventions this week But before we do that how is everyone doing today JP tell
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me All good All good Yeah Sun is out sun is shining and that just makes me happy
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I'm slightly annoyed cuz the weather forecast yesterday said we would do 4 hours where there was potentially going
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to be thunderstorms in it So I was really hoping for 4 hours of thunderstorms and it would be quite cool
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I know it's not the best thing for people getting struck by lightning or whatever but it's great to watch Thunderstorms are cool right Nothing 20
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minutes of rain and that was it But the sun did come out which was cool afterwards but I felt a bit disappointed that we didn't get thunderstorms Well I
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wanted a barbecue yesterday and I didn't plan one cuz it was going to rain It was supposed to rain and it rained for like
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you said 20 minutes max and then that was it I like sad time I spent the
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weekend um in a little village called Cud which is like a little seaside village with some girls from work and it
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was really really good and the weather was beautiful but very tiring because we did a massive hike on the coast Had a
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ramble We Well it was not what ramble it was a hike There was a massive hill The sticks involved Uh we should have had
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sticks I would have been much better with a stick Coastal path Yeah But it was so beautiful The weather was lovely
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Yeah Yeah So we picked a good weekend Yeah Yeah It was really really good Nice
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Yeah Nice
TURN 2 - Let's Talk About Hex
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So leading on to our first section let's talk about Hex Adrian let's throw it to
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you What have you been playing I've played a few games recently but most of them have been talked about either
Adrian - Blood Bowl Team Manager
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recently or we talked about them enough Galactic Cruisers was really good Uh I got a first play through finally of
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Beyond the Sun Um which was also good but I won't talk about those cuz we talked about them a lot Anyway so I'm
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going to do something I really try not to do which is now talk about a game that's out of print and there's no chance of coming back in Oh no So tell
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people what they want Yeah So so which I I really try to avoid cuz then you get
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people potentially hyped about a game that's very expensive or hard to get a hold of or both
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But Bloodb Team Manager the card game Oh yeah Is a is an old favorite of mine So
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way back when FFG and Games Workshop had a had a very good thing going and then
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again it's kind of a little bit there's lots of re people give reasons why that relationship split up but for one reason
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or another it did and it's not getting back together again And unfortunately they made a very good game called Blood Bowl Team Manager the game So anyone who
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doesn't know what Blood Bowl is it's basically like fantasy American football It's normally played with miniatures on
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a sort of grided map the main one But the team manager card game is is is exactly that It's designed to kind of
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replicate the feel of a of a game It's not really a game of Blood Bowl It's
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supposed to replicate the feel of a tournament of Blood Bowl Um so you play five tournaments or five rounds of which
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there'll be three tournaments between them and each player has a faction So
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for instance recently I had wood elves um who I don't really get on with but you pick it at random normally That's
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kind of what the rules tell you to do is pick at random but we had a goblin player and a scaven player and humans
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and someone else Um I can't remember what their team was Vampires maybe I can't think now Um and everyone gets
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their own like deck of cards and all you're doing is you're playing on them They've got a player Each deck is just
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made up of a bunch of players and you place one down There's like five pitches like these little cards that are just
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pitches that have um bonuses if you play in that game and only two teams can play in that game So
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once there's two teams at a game it's locked because you've got one each side like in the game American football Um
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and so you're playing players into one side or the other And if you just put your person down there if they're still if you if you still got a team there at
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the end of the game you get that bonus And then in the middle there's a um like
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a a bonus for for being victorious in that match basically So normally the middle thing is is the the good thing
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that you want to get And so you take it in turns to players and they'll either they'll do a
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number of different things is they'll move the ball that's on the pitch towards you or towards like or on the if
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you're it's the opponent's side it'll move it towards them It will allow you to hit someone So you pick someone
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normally someone who's squishier than you are and you'll pick them and try and hit them just a couple of dice and a bit
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like blood bowl There's kind of different options on the blood bowl dice Not quite as many with this but it's kind of doing the same thing
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Um or you'll cheat which is another thing that's in Blood Bowl which gives you like a negative or bonus points or
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might send a player off at the end of the game but that's all hidden information And the final thing you'll
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do is called sprinting which basically means that you will get to it's a bit hand management You get to chuck away a
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a cheap player and draw from your deck from So you're trying to kind of get the good players into your hand Yeah So it's
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it's just a bit of hand management And what happens is obviously you'll go around in circles and everyone will play their their players from their hand into
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the team into a game and there's always there's not always three out of the five turns there's a tournament on and anyone
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can join that tournament as well So there's five games going on for five players I think it is No I can't think
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Yeah it'll be five games for five players and then there's um a tournament as well that everyone can go into and
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you're just kind of playing this like it's a bit like an area control game really You're trying to get the most points on your side of the pitch to win
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the game and normally moving the ball towards you helps with that but doesn't actually like a game of Blood Bowl If
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you're an orc player you might not care about getting a good score You might just care about beating other people up So it's kind of has a good feel for
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Blood Bowl and it does a great job being a bit like like a sort of a smashup or one of those sort of area control card
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games similar to that and it's just a load of fun and I forgot
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how much fun it was Now I didn't have a particularly good time with the wood elves if I'm honest Um and I've missed
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out a bunch of rules around getting upgrades and fan factor and all the stuff that any Bloodb player would
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probably know a little bit about Like and the team upgrades are not a thing that's in normal Bloodb but it does
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tailor allows you to play upgrades but tailor it more towards your style So you kind of want to bring those out So being
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a wood elf player I'm particularly ballorientated Uh so moving the ball
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towards me pretty much happens on half the cards The other thing that happens a lot is sprinting So I get
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cers elf thing whereas an orc player will just be hitting lots of things that
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the goblin player all it does is cheat and all of its rules are ridiculous like throw this goblin to another game So
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it's like okay I'll take this goblin and pick it up and put it over there and it's just really fun Really um kind of
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encapsulates that feeling of blood bowl but there's a few like really tricky bits in it to watch out for So you can
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act because you can't be in the same game twice you can actually lock yourself into just one game So most people will
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be at two two games out of the five pitches in a five player game That's kind of makes sense right You've got one
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player on each side You'll get into two games If you're not careful people can lock you out So you're only in one game and therefore you're a little bit behind
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And if there's no tournament that is it You've got one game If not you tend to go hard into the tournament sort of thing And if a player basically like
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knocks out and kills all of your players on the team that space becomes open again So someone else can then start
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launching into your game Like they just randomly turn up and start playing in your game Yeah So there's a couple of
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like really tricksy bits that if you're not careful can really catch you out on it but that feels very bloody to me as
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well cuz it's very much there's a bit of luck in there and there's a bit of sort of cutthroatness and a bit of sort of um
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just trying to remember for me a big bit blood bowl is trying to remember what to do first and to do things in a certain
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order Um and it becomes second nature eventually just like the card game Um
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and Mark Monk had put up that he'd had a tournament recently and then a few friends who I used to play with a long
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time ago Um so we were all meeting up again and I was like let's get let's get that let's let's do that again So So I
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had a dreadful time with wood elves Um and the Scaven player who won it managed to get an upgrade out that every time
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they lost a match they got two victory points So they were just trying to get in as many cheating tank which is which
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is Scaven They're like rat people so they're kind of like skittery and quick and all that kind of stuff but they cheat a bit as well So it's kind of
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underhanded like Scaven So he was just trying to get into as many games as possible in order to but just not really
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putting too much into anything sort of thing just to cuz he kept getting s like I think he got it out in the first round
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So then after that he was just trying to he was getting almost like four to six points just from being in games whether
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he won them lost them whatever sort of thing So So yeah so really enjoyable Um
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as I say unfortunately there's there's two expansions which luckily my group has got Um it's not my copy but the
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group got it ages ago and they've still got the two expansions which are now really hard to get hold of Like you can
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kind of get hold of Blood Bowl Team Manager but the actual expansions are really hard to get hold of Yeah So why
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would you play as someone who's never played either Blood Bowl or this card game why would you play the card game over regular Blood Bowl Is it close
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enough or is it just very very similar or they're two very different things one is very much like a war game So blood
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like the main Blood Bowl is very much a war game dressed up as an American football game Um and the design of Blood
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Bowl is very much around either league play or tournament play So you'll play several matches in a week or in a day or
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whatever or like if it's a league Quite often leagues are like 3 to four months and you'll play every week and then your
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team develops over time and that's where these kind of team upgrades and upgrading your deck with extra players
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and star players and all that lot that you can do all sort of simulates that feel Um and the card game is just like a
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game of Blood Bowl is a couple of hours and as I say normally you can play one-off Blood Bowl games That's normally
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what I've done previously You can do it but it's kind of tailored towards the idea of a tournament or a league So
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you're normally committing to a lot of time Whereas the the card game it doesn't it doesn't play like Blood
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Bowl but it gives you similar feels Like if you've played Blood Bowl before you'll feel right at home with and sort
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of oh I I'm playing as a high elf player or whatever I know exactly what a dwarf player I know exactly what I got to do here What to expect from it Yeah So yeah
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so it gives you those vibes but it's it's very much just an area control card game As I say the one that always comes
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to mind is Smash Up So if you're used to like Smash Up or anything like that as a game you'll kind of start to feel where
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you're at with Blood Bowl team manager as well So yeah I had a great day I don't like what else but I don't like
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him in Blood Bowl either So I think that's uh I think that's just a thing But yeah I had a load of fun Got to play
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with some old mates which is good And um yeah unfortunately it's not available There's just there's a few of that
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Warhammer 40k and Warhammer stuff that was produced with FFG that's just not
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around anymore unfortunately It's a bit like Battlestar Galactica It's just it's never coming back right They're not
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they're not going to work together ever again It's not going to happen I I really want to play it I love Blood Bowl
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Um but yeah uh never had the opportunity to play the team manager but yeah if it ever comes along I will absolutely give
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it a will It sounds cool It is Yeah it's cool JP what's been on your table Well
JP - Pirates of Maracaibo
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not actually on my table So last episode I mentioned I was going away for a gaming retreat for um uh David Ty and
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family and friends and uh yeah I'm back now Back now Had a smile on his face the
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entire time In the past it's happened Yeah I had had a awesome time Fantastic time Met loads of cool people Uh many of
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David's play testers and met his brother Adam So if you're listening to Adam hello And uh yeah played lots of stuff
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that I can't mention So that's kind of annoying and frustrating Ooh you're
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you're special Um but what I will uh talk about is a game that kind of
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surprised me which is Pirates of Maraco
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Heard about it but never played it So David says "Oi JP come and play this." And I was like "Yeah sure." Wasn't
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really that bothered by it if I'm being honest I used to own Maribbo the big boy
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and I enjoyed it had my time with it played it four five times I moved it on
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It was kind of like it was what it was you know and uh so I I wasn't expecting
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a lot from this little brother Pirates but God I really enjoyed it It's going to be better It's got piracy Yeah it's
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it is better Spoiler alert I think it's better than Maraca Now why is it and
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what is it So well basically in Pirates America you were playing pirates and we
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did the expansion which I cannot remember what the hell the expansion's called but it added uh proper asymmetrical pirate powers in and uh it
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had new figureheads for your boat that you could kind of get throughout the game It was cool It did what it did So
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um the board isn't really a board It's a bunch of cards uh arranged in kind of
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columns uh in kind of a staggered alternating pattern Um and you do have some card pieces that are representing
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these islands that are kind of signifying the value of three different gems or or precious goods So you got
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pearls and emeralds and stuff like that Um and just like regular Maraco you have
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a ship And your ship you'll move one to three um cards or columns ahead And you
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can kind of go up and down and and you can kind of sail around to a particular card and then you can do an action And
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there are depending on the card you're going to depend on the action So if it's a general um ship or equipment card like
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compass or telescope or whatever you can buy it using your the balloons and um
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and basically put that into your little tableau and bobby dazzler you've got something usually giving you money or VP
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income Um which is always nice Everyone likes a bit of income don't they Um or you can go to an island or a specific
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place And when you do that you get to uh basically put a gray cube onto your onto
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your pirate ship And then your pirate ship has all these different windows in it where it unlocks you either one-off
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abilities or ongoing powers and uh effects and abilities whatever And what's cool about that I think just like
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regular Marakyo is you've got your your first bank of abilities which you can choose freely from And then once you've
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put I think it's like eight of your gray cubes you unlock the next tier and then you unlock the next tier So the more you
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put down you'll get more but you'll never do them all It was it's kind of choosing and picking what you want to
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kind of lean into which I always like cuz it just makes it a bit different every time you play So you're doing that
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And um yeah if you want to kind of do any raiding at these these islands um
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you can kind of you got these three dice a yellow a white and a green roll the
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dice and then off you go You can kind of reroll Yachtsy style I think once as well if you want to kind of get through
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numbers and depending what you've rolled you uh can kind of raid and do different raid abilities So just think of it as
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costs So if you got six on the dice you can spend two of the swords to to to get some money or you can do something else
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or whatever So just different things you can do Um so you're kind of just like sailing along um and other players are
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doing the same and then when you get to the end where you get to the the bay um
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you're basically triggering the end of the round So if you're first to get there you'll get a bonus So it kind of
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encourages you to rush there but if you rush there you're not getting everything So it's like you know if you hold back
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you're getting lots of things but if you're the back and then someone's rushing you're probably not going to get to the cards maybe you want So it's that
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tussle of what's everyone else doing which is Maraco all over which is where am I what are you doing how we get and
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it's also like dog park Dog park but very much more basic I'm sure Yes Uh
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it's exactly the same Yeah You picking up balls and buying of course And on the bay area you've got uh kind of a land
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expedition And again very similar to Maracya where you can move uh your mele across and different benefits getting
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things as you go uh as well which is pretty cool Um and yeah it it's once
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you've done that you'll reset and you'll do two more rounds So it's three rounds I think Maracy was four from memory Um
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but so Pirates of Marra is three Um the other way you kind of get big scoring is you'll have uh oh god what do they call
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them big kind of building settlements or something and they usually cost a lot of the balloons They're like 18 or
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something like "Oh god how am I going to get that?" But you build your engine up and you eventually do it and that usually unlocks some multiplier at the
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end of the game So yeah you kind of reset rinse repeat and you've kind of got different um tier decks of cards So
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the initial round you'll have lots of ones once you start buying them or or
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taking them You'll put the twos down in place So they'll get marginally better as the game goes on And then once you've
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done three rounds bish bash bash you're done And for me what I liked about it
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was it speed So it's kind of like Maraka the the big game It's giving you everything that's kind of what the game
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is but you can play in an hour So it's like oh wow And you still got a bit of
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crunch in there and you still got a bit of thinking in there It doesn't whilst it is probably lighter I don't think it
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loses a lot in in it shrinking down I think it just makes it more compact and
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and uh yeah it just keeps the play time really snappy So you're like I'm doing this doing that you'll go I'll do
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my move that thing buy that you'll go So you know it's really fast and uh yeah I really appreciated that But yeah
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it surprised me That's nice for a change isn't it Not having to wait around the agonies of trying to make the best move
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ever Yeah it's just fun Just fun Yeah really enjoyed it And I think the expansion added forts that you can kind
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of fight and then um when you take that fort you can put it on a particular space and you're bored and then it
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starts unlocking uh powers and and effects and you start chaining a few
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things together Nothing mad Um so you can kind of do that and also adds rum
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barrels Who doesn't want rum barrels You're a pirate and uh you can kind of get room and and also has these black
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market tiles that you have and it's a bit like Great Western Trail like the buildings So you can put the uh black
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market tiles onto specific uh islands and and places so that when you visit them you're getting bonuses as as you
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visit them So it's kind of like some little little seedy things there which is cool Um so yeah and you can also kind
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of get treasure and you can bury that treasure using spades I quite like that Proper pirate Yeah you're kind of
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getting stuff and hoarding it into your little hideout and then yeah basically digging it away and and stuff It was
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cool Really enjoyed it for what it was I was like did you want to get that I'm like don't know But yeah I'd recommend
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it if you've not played Maracy at all I'd say it's pick the pirates one up cuz it's fast Yeah that's that's the one
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that's speaking to me Not just cuz it's pirates but that is a big part of it Yeah I it's parody and Have you got it
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No Oh okay No but I would absolutely play it again Fun fun little game So you
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said the board is sort of modular basically because it's these cards put together And then you said you sort of at the end of each round you get to the
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to a bay So do you but then you I thought oh maybe you'll reset But then you sort of said oh you put buildings
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down So when you get to the bay do you just go back to the beginning and start again You kind of you kind of reset Yeah
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Which is very maribro which is you get to the end it's like right we're done End of round Everyone back to the start again The trouble is not the trouble but
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the difference is is that because you sailed across the path or everyone has picking cards up refreshing new cards
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back down right So therefore the the board state has changed for your next run right So there's new things to buy
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there's new things to check out there's new things to see So it's an ever evolving board It's because you never
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cross the same bit of water twice No exactly So new things might happen It might be this time there's a a new
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island that's been discovered or whatever So it kind of thematically makes sense But he said "Yeah don't
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think of it as I'm sailing the exact same parts of the sea It's just it's a new route but mechanically it's the
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same." Yeah I did when you said it was modular I thought "Oh maybe you're going to choose a different layout as if you're going to a different place in the
21:33
second round sort of thing." So I thought "Oh okay." But yeah it makes still a modular board setup isn't it
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Pirates go pirating and uh doing things So it's pretty cool I really enjoyed it Nice Good How about you Beex Well I
Becky - Board Game Apps (BG Stats / Aftergame)
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realize I haven't played any games since my I know what I have been doing is watching a lot of TV which is something
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I very very rarely do So I watch the entire of Severance Yeah I need to watch
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it It is really good So no spoilers but a guy goes down to his kind of office
22:02
and he forgets everything that's happened that isn't in the office And then when he comes back home again and goes back up in the elevator he forgets
22:09
everything that happens at at work And like is there secrets at work What is going on And it's it reminded me a
22:14
little bit of Lost Yeah So if anyone ever kind of watched Lost I mean the trouble with Lost was every Well yes But
22:22
every single episode raised more bloody questions There was no answers ever This
22:27
is a little bit similar but not quite as bad as that but the premise is really interesting It was really good And then
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I rewatched not really safe for kids so don't listen to this children Um it's a BBC series called Harlots which is all
22:40
about um brothel in the 19 No in the 1760s London This sounds right on my street It is a really really good
22:47
program We're not in London It's really I love London The characters and the
22:52
I've watched it before Um but I don't know what maybe watch it again but the characters and the story lines it's just
22:59
so good Probably not very realistic I would hope but there we go Yeah Really
23:06
good If you've seen Downtown Abbey the youngest um like Lady Sibble the posh
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lady she's like the head the head har head harot And you just think "Oh Lady Cibble what what happened to you This is
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you're not living in the shiny house anymore." But it's really good Would recommend it Yeah So that's that's all
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I've been doing You not been playing any games No I mean I've been sort of working on the live episode for our um
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Yeah convention episode so that's exciting Yeah That's the the most suggest game
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I've been really Yeah So get you playing some more Yeah I haven't even played Dark Nova I mean that that surprised me
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and everyone Oh yeah This is it This is it I just I've I've been keeping a really good track this year which I
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would recommend everyone does actually on one of those kind of like app game tracker apps I can't remember what the
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one we use is called BG Stats There we go BG Stats And I just kind of scrolled and I was like "Oh I haven't played
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anymore." But it's actually you I've played a lot more than I thought I had If I'd have just been using my memory to go what what have I played this year
24:08
Yeah And it's really interesting I find that app extremely useful for when
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sitting down to do this recording for that reason which is like right what am I going to talk about And I go right I fun through and have a look and go oh
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yeah completely forgot about this thing but now I've done it how many years I've been doing it Five Yeah know it's fun
24:26
This is my my first year But do you record your games I I don't record my games Oh I the thing I do is that as
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soon as I've played a game I rate it on BGG Oh okay And then so that kind of
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helps So it kind of help like because I always I also like at the beginning or end of a year doing sort of the top 100
24:44
doing the pub mele thing It's good fun though So if you've rated it then it pulls it into that and then yeah quite
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often there's a bit of oh I've accidentally rated two versions of the same game sort of thing or whatever So you'll have to delete all that outlier
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but it's good And then normally if I've played something like three or four times and then I notice my sort of
25:03
opinion on on it's changed as I've played it a bit more I'll go back in and rerate it whether it's better or worse
25:09
Um I'll go back in and rerate it So I still kind of keep a track of what I've played but not every time I've played it
25:14
who's the who's what got what scores all that kind of stuff Yeah I I'm not I mean it's never me the scoring highest so I I
25:21
shouldn't bother keeping the score but I I do because it's boxes to be filled in isn't it So that's fine But I do like
25:26
the fact that you can see how many games you play Especially when you do like a a board game in weekend and you've got
25:31
like just a ton in there I just really like that Yeah it's kind of cool But then also when you do look back in the
25:37
year and you go Christ how many have I played this This is mad How many hours
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this I don't care It's great But it makes you feel like you can justify your collection a bit more doesn't it Yeah Yeah So that's that's quite nice Yeah I
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mean speaking of apps then just thought about it The other one that we use is After Game game Yeah I have to give a
25:56
shout out to I don't think we spoke about it on the pod I did a social media posty thing um not so long back saying
26:01
"Oh check this out because our gaming group is just It's really good isn't it?" Yeah just adopted it And I was
26:07
looking for a board game uh gaming group managing app for ages and I know a lot
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of people use Meetup and uh we used to use Facebook um events and uh yeah so we
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we'd been triing it for I don't know what a month or two and uh yeah and I've
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now we've now got people who just refuse to use Facebook actually starting to see games that go up in the group which is
26:32
quite nice and uh yeah we've now merged with uh Dan's group as well and uh yeah
26:39
we've had some games where some of his group have come to ours and things like that So it's been really nice I I think
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if you want to board gaming app it's free Doesn't cost anything after game
26:51
Check it out and uh yeah see if it works for you But yeah would recommend Nice easy user interface That makes sense It
26:57
looks good It does It does Well people were talking about it today on the on the socials weren't they So um so I I
27:05
sort of put my bit in and said it seems to be working for us Um you plan a game you can plan a gaming day or an event
27:12
which then you can put games in and it just seems to do kind of what you expect it to do Well we've started planning our
27:20
podcast episodes through it as well It's all in one It's all in one place Unless you're me and then you can't figure out
27:25
how to put the event on So you just schedule a game of Finsspan So this is Fins Span tonight This is Finsspan tonight Yeah And the next It was
27:31
confusing We got three games of Fin I just couldn't It wouldn't let me I I was doing on my phone I tried I just like
27:36
"Oh I just can't be asked to hit about anymore We're just putting I just wanted I wanted a way to be able to basically
27:42
remind myself it was tonight rather than just putting it in my calendar and to be able to say these people on this episode
27:47
these people on that episode." But what I like about um after the fact that you can be quite specific with the kind of I
27:55
don't want to say the level of player like we categorize people but you can say everybody needs to be able to have
28:02
played this before but this is not a teaching game or this is a teaching game or you can say I've played this enough
28:07
and I can teach it So I like the fact that you can be quite specific with that sort of thing and there isn't that whole
28:12
stupid thing that Facebook did where oh wait it's suddenly over subscribed who was the last person in who's it who's
28:18
got a who's like last in first out sort of a thing Yeah It manages seats properly So if you take if you're in an
28:24
event you take a seat and is Yeah And if there's no more seats left you can't get in and it's like that's exactly what you
28:30
need And uh yeah and also if you're coming to kind of get in on a game you
28:36
can say to people I want to play it but I've never played it before I don't know this game or I can't really remember or
28:42
I've got So you need at least one person who's Yeah And I I really like the fact that you can be specific in in your
28:48
level of understanding of the game I think that's really really helpful Check it out It's cool
28:54
Right So onto our main segment [Music]
TURN 3 - Main Event: Our 'con'quest chronicles
29:07
Time for our main segment which is all about board game conventions So love them or hate them there's a variety of
29:13
different types there I think probably enough that everybody would find something they wanted if they were
29:19
prepared to seek them out and have a little look So basically what do we
29:24
think of organ conventions I mean this is kind of a bit precient because we're recording this and hopefully by the time it comes out it'll be on the two days
29:31
eve of in my opinion the best UK convention games convention Yeah which
29:38
is it will be starting in Yeah two days from the release of this episode depending on when you're listening to it
29:43
of course but yeah So if you haven't got your tickets abandon all your plans Get down there Get down there depending on
29:50
which direction you across there Yeah So the one we're mentioning now is of
29:55
course the UK Games Expo which is held every year around the end of May to June
30:01
at Birmingham NEC And it is three massive halls Two halls of which are
30:08
kind of selling board games demoing them showing showcasing them and then one
30:15
ginormous hall of playing goodness Open gaming with lots of yellow playmats Yeah
30:22
there it's just a sea of yellow isn't it If you're lucky If not then you're just on the normal tablecloth and then that's
30:27
like roughing it Yeah Sad times You feel like the porpa don't you
30:33
But I think I think probably they evoke a bit of dread for some people because
30:40
it it can be an assault to the senses So I guess I mean maybe we should talk
What type of board game conventions are out there?
30:46
about the kind of board game conventions there are So we've mentioned one which is the UK GE which is in the reason I
30:52
think I like it so much is because for me it hits that perfect sweet spot You can see the new hotness You can see some
30:58
of the old classics but more importantly you can move away from that and you can sit down with your mates and play the
31:03
games which is in my opinion what I want to do I want to see all the new stuff but what I actually want to do is buy
31:09
the new stuff and I want to play it Yeah If I'm not going to play it I want to open the boxes and explore all the
31:15
little bits That's what I actually want to do And in the UKG you can do that And there is plenty of room even though it
31:22
is very very well attended Was it about 50 odd thousand You know what I can never remember the numbers It is it is
31:28
you know there's a lot of people there Fair Yeah There's food Yeah There's drink There's a bring and buy sale
31:35
There's a board game library So it's got a bit of everything that I like And it's
31:41
an excuse to kind of go away with your mates for the weekend which is also really up my up my street I don't know
31:49
where I was going with that alley What which is the NEC Yeah So that that's why
31:54
I like that games convention but I think it kind of it picks the best bits about lots of other other conventions So I
32:01
guess you two have been to all of the Well yeah You you've both been to all the other ones we've been to haven't you
32:07
So yeah we think between us all we probably had a good spread of the various different types But yeah I mean
32:13
if you're talking about the types and categories Games Expo is kind of mainly a commercial um kind of place to to buy
32:21
and look around and and get involved in the hobby But you're right it does have that unique thing of open gaming which
32:27
is always appreciated And and tournaments And tournaments Yeah a lot of tournament play organized play Yeah
32:33
for I spoke to a friend who years ago went to the UK Games Expo when it was
32:39
more tournaments and less Yeah Oh wow when it was more it was almost 90% or
32:45
80% tournaments and open gaming Wow And then sort of slowly over the years it's
32:50
definitely evolved into what it is today which is the Britain's biggest convention and as you say it's a lot of
32:57
promotion demo sales space but they've still got the tournament space They've still got the open gaming space So it is
33:03
a bit of a mixed Yeah it as you say it's kind of that melting pot of all different types I think it finds that
33:08
middle ground Then you've got lean into the spectrum of full kind of
33:15
industry commercial side of it You've got your essence spiel which is pretty
33:21
much the release window for most games not all of them but for most games in the calendar So at least a third to a
33:28
half sort of thing of all games A good chunk will come out at Essen in October of every year and that's basically all
33:35
geared around the new hotness Yeah And what is coming the hype the the next
33:41
best thing and that kind of stuff So but there is no open gaming So there's
33:46
zero as a convention It is just that there's not even really seating space They they actively take it away in
33:52
that's how I felt when I went which was a fantastic experience I'm so glad I went But it it actively seemed like they
33:58
did not wish you to play They want you to shamble around the halls and buy and check things out and which I don't have
34:04
a problem with I'm I'm I'm all for the buying of crab So you kind of got that that commercial uh aspect and you know I
34:10
don't know around Gen Con and Origins whether they are similar to Games Expo
34:16
or whether they're kind of on their Essen side where it's just purely demos and releases and things like that We've
34:22
not been but Gen Con is definitely to feels like it's towards the Essen and origin from talking to people feels like
34:28
it's a bit more towards the expo but I don't know We not been Yeah we've not been So I can't speak from experience
34:34
just when I've spoken to people cuz at one point my plan was to do a different expo every year Um between money and
34:42
current situations that's plans on hold Um tough isn't it But um it's certainly
34:47
there I still you know I still want to go and do some of the Japanese conventions and stuff like that at some point cuz Oh nice they they seem really
34:54
cool as well Um but anyway yeah as you're saying you kind of got that end of things which is which is fully
35:01
industry industry Your your other thing your other end of the scale is probably
35:06
more like Grid Con and stuff like that which is 99% open play space You might
35:12
have a stall or like a local supplier selling selling what they've got from their store You might have a couple of
35:18
promo or demo spots tables that will sort of play things but otherwise they're almost entirely there for you
35:25
just to play games for the whole weekend Yeah Um and we probably go to them more when we talk about like and again you
35:32
get different scales So when we talk about like the Fox and Hounds um that we support with that is what 40 people 50
35:39
people It's not intimate It's Yeah 70 Oh is it 70 70ish I think is the max It's
35:45
It's not very big at all but I think that's part of some of its charm And when you hear about some of the other
35:51
ones that are around and there are quite a few others like that um they sort of
35:56
have that that charm of being a local Yeah sort of thing that can't expand
36:01
more than it is normally without moving somewhere And then it goes all the way up to probably Grid Con is probably one
36:06
of the bigger ones Some of the aircons maybe but the aircons have a little bit more it's a bit more like a small expo
36:13
has a has a bit more expoy space but still seems to be predominantly gaming space Mhm Um I think it's nice to have
36:21
that mix but I guess it's horses for courses isn't it If you're interested in
36:26
looking at new stuff then great go to those really big busy massive environments if you're you're would rather kind of hang
36:34
out with your friends in a in a bigger version or maybe kind of catch up with people that you see on on the kind of I
36:39
don't want to say the expo circuit like we go to millions but you do see the same faces in lots of places and that's
36:44
actually really nice even if you don't know these people you you know that you you know that you've seen them you know
36:50
and I think that's you wouldn't get that necessarily at UK GE because there is thousands of people I use you say that
36:56
but I use the UK GE to see people I I haven't seen in years Okay I guess if you're going to make the effort to go
37:02
that is one that you might all be deciding you're going to go to together like a hub It's not it's not that I just bump into everyone I used to know at the
37:09
UK because I and we'll talk about this in a little bit I spend a lot of that time just wandering around probably more
37:15
than anyone else of our group does I just constantly on the move and because
37:21
where I've sort of gained from previously you know they're nearer London and stuff like that I know that they're there every year I just keep an
37:27
eye out for them and I'll bump into them loads There's people from Extra that I don't get to see very often She's just down the road really It's only an hour
37:33
away I have no excuses to why I don't see them as often as I probably should but I often see them more at the expo
37:40
than I do at going to exit sort of thing So it is
37:45
an event isn't it that you kind of block time out in your calendar because I'm sure we're not the only group that kind
37:50
of realize that actually there's just not enough nights in the week to play all the games we want to play and fit in every other bits of you know family kind
37:58
of stuff you have to do So you actually put time to do this This is a calendar
38:04
event isn't it Yeah And I think that's similar maybe in a way of some things like maybe full board gaming where it's
38:09
almost kind of bordering on a bit of a holiday I wouldn't I wouldn't describe the UKG as a holiday because it's tiring
38:16
and it's full on but it is a getaway whereas I think some something like fullboard gaming which happens in key is
38:23
it happening again next year I think so yeah that's a really great that can be as absolutely chilled as you want it to
38:29
be and that is more like we're going away for the weekend and there's board games rather than this is a big fullon
38:38
you know something you have to kind of almost mentally prepare for which and I'm I'm a pretty kind of extrovert kind
38:43
of a person but you still have to prepare for the UKG You kind of have to put your your mental armor on to to to
38:50
thrust yourself into this humongous this throng of people Yeah And there are more
38:55
sort of holiday say Fox and Hounds is kind of a bit of a holiday as well and stuff I've talked about it before
39:01
There's a dream of mine is to go on the um Dice Tower cruise It does sound
39:06
awesome where you spend what I think it's eight days I think it is on a cruise and basically yeah half of them
39:13
are doing the island visits half the days and half the days are at sea where they've got lecture the lectures on and
39:20
they've got open gaming space and all that kind of stuff and it is half holiday half board game which is kind of
39:26
how full board can feel if you want it to be that way as well sort of thing Depends on your budget I think it does
39:31
depend on your budget Do you want a Caribbean cruise or do you want to go to Tall Key Yeah I mean that that's kind of
39:37
where you're at But yeah the Dice Tower cruise I think it would be awesome to do one I really want to do it Would be
39:43
great Really want to do it You bring a really interesting point in there Adrian about the kind of the talks and the other things because that is something
39:49
that happens at some of these conventions I think the UKG is one of them Obviously we've got our live episode there but they have talks and
39:56
kind of discussion topics and I don't want to quite say lectures but yeah seminars is a great one So varying
40:03
different people that are involved in board gaming in some context might talk about a certain topic or or not
40:09
necessarily a contentious area but they'll talk about a certain aspect of gaming I remember one I really wanted to
40:15
go to last time was a Terry Pratchett kind of talk and that wasn't really actually about board gaming It was kind
40:20
of board gaming adjacent I suppose And I think there was a a woman that gave a talk a couple of years ago about kind of
40:26
gender and board gaming which is something I think is quite interesting because really it's kind of coming more to the front with people being more
40:34
mindful or or specifically choosing certain games because of I don't know where they were made or the
40:39
socioeconomic group of people that make them or gender whatever I think that's people is in people's minds now in a way
40:46
that maybe it hasn't been before I think it's interesting to know how that can affect some people's choices So they
40:52
they do talks about that kind of thing at the UK G I don't like I haven't been to many of the other big conventions so
40:57
I don't know if they do that kind of lectury type thing It's there's quite a few of them now that do it Um live
41:04
podcasting Just drop that in there now as well But that's very popular as a kind of a a
41:09
seminar lecture style as well one big thing and we'll I suppose it kind of
41:14
moves on to another type of of convention So there's a couple more that I think are kind of left to discuss but
41:20
the the one you've kind of led me on to is the tournament convention Gaming Yeah And it does it does skew
41:28
that way but but tournament board gaming is a more of a thing Yeah So I mean Curly
41:36
entered the Ark Nova one last year Um but Terraforming Mars has had a community Pandemics's had a community Uh
41:43
I think bowl has a community isn't it What's that Blood Bowl Oh yeah Again that's more wargaming side of things But
41:49
um even like Blood Rage and those had a tournament in the past but tournament conventions is a whole different beast
41:57
You want to talk about putting your armor on Yeah It is knackering You will play four or five if if you've signed up
42:03
to the tournament you will play four or five games a day and you'll potentially do two or three game days of gaming Y
42:10
where you get up by 9:00 you are stood opposite an opponent and you won't stop until 6 7 8:00 each day That is a big
42:20
commitment commitment and a big ask and you will either thrive on that kind of thing or you won't And I found different
42:26
systems do different things So Malifo is a big Malifox player What's Malifi It's a just a war game It's based in this
42:33
bizarro world where basically every genre exists at once It's a horror western um
42:41
Japanese like steampunk Victorian okay sort of world all crammed into one
42:48
Um and I really loved that as a tournament thing But 40k is tournament I've done a couple talked about them
42:53
recently it doesn't doesn't make me as excited to do a whole like weekend
43:00
of that But anyway a lot of what's happening now in the industry is
43:06
companies are releasing their new products are showing off their latest miniatures at these events So they wait
43:12
until an Adepticon or a Gen Con or a Salute which is our local one salute's a
43:18
little bit less um prestigious and they don't really do these kind of release sort of uh they'll show releases off in
43:25
cabinets and talk to you about them but they don't do like a presentation like you get in a gen Gen Con or Adepticon or
43:30
an Origins even to some extent or a PAX um and they will show you what's coming up for the future So they'll show you
43:36
like grayscale versions of the miniature designs and they'll talk about some rules and have seminars that way So
43:42
that's become a real big part of that community as well And quite often they'll live stream that out to everyone
43:49
as well So they'll especially like Games Workshop um and uh Sean who obviously a
43:56
little bit of a delicate position at the moment Uh but they are they've been particularly good at showing off what's
44:01
coming up um and FFG through atomic mass games and stuff like that So that's another type that I think I'll probably
44:09
one of the very few Maybe Davey as well probably has a bit of experience of doing the tournament I did I did conventions Yeah I didn't I have not
44:15
done a tournament convention but I have done tournaments at conventions I did Key Forge Oh you did You did crocodile
44:22
as well didn't you Yeah Oh gosh Yeah I forgot the crocodile I think I was the best in the group You were the best in the group JP Yes I don't know how that
44:29
happened Um but no the key forge one when you're talking about putting your mental armor on Yeah Christ that was a
44:35
day You are knackered at the end of each day and then you've got to be on your aame haven't you That's the whole point you're you're pitting your I just
44:40
realized that I probably didn't care enough Yeah that's how I felt About an hour and a half in I was like "Yeah I've
44:47
had fun now and uh I'd like to just do something else." Um whereas I saw grown men crying and uh lots of different
44:54
things and people shouting at each other and thought "This is not for me It's just too serious It's just And you would
44:59
have just done just a few hours You imagine doing two days where at the end of the first day quite often the lines
45:06
are drawn in the sand you are top half bottom half you are Yeah You know cuz
45:11
you're playing seven or eight games sometimes at these two two-day events So you are you know where you are If you
45:16
are even in the top half quite often at that point you're really going for it And if you haven't slept or you're not
45:22
feeling great or you've had too much to drink as I've seen the night before and you don't turn up to that second day it
45:27
does make feel like the first day was a waste of time cuz you've just fallen over at the second day And it's happened
45:33
to me I've watched it happen to other people as well It is tough but if you like it you will thrive in it You'll
45:40
love it You'll make it part of your calendar I think the other type of convention
45:45
we've not really mentioned unless anyone's got other thoughts after this but the one I'm thinking of is your
45:51
Comic-Con Yeah So because board games have become such a part of of
45:56
communities and the way people are especially RPGs they have become a part of the
46:03
Comic-Con experience as well you can go and collect go and find your collectibles you can get your board games all that kind of stuff and it's a
46:10
bit more of a a general Now I've not been to a a proper Comic-Con before like
46:15
properly but I have done some local ones and they feel from what people have told
46:20
me very similar where you've kind of just got this mix of people turning up just to celebrate whatever their fandom
46:27
is M um but quite often there'll be people selling their board games and all that lot and there'll be groups of
46:33
people talking about what they enjoy doing whether that's wargaming or or um
46:39
or board gaming or just um or if they're cosplaying they will just be excited
46:44
about whatever it is And if you're not cosplaying and you see someone cosplaying as a character you like whatever just go and talk to them
46:50
because they're always happy to they're Yeah They're super invested aren't they Yeah salute people turned up from the
46:56
50irst doing their Stormtroopery thing and you know at the time Legion I think had just come out when I went and saw
47:02
them So which is a Star Wars game and they were just everyone was just happy to talk Star Wars in that area where the
47:07
50irst was and the Legion and all that lot It's somewhere that people that are often really into a thing like a fandom
47:14
or whatever a franchise they're often really really
47:20
really into the thing And that is I'm not saying mocked necessarily by it but not really perhaps understood by a lot
47:26
of people So when you're then surrounded by people who you know get it in the same way that you get it that must be
47:33
such a lovely feeling from from my experience and again I I'll sort of reiterate this limited is that fandom
47:40
online can be quite toxic Yeah Yes Fandom in person generally pretty good
47:46
and getting better by the year sort of thing So I do remember it being quite toxic in person when I went to some of
47:52
the local ones at one point and then now it's just everyone's just happy
47:57
to be happy about their thing There's less I think I feel like there's less gatekeeper keeperiness like know you're
48:03
not a real fan because you don't know this real obscure thing you like this specific
48:09
episode you only got into it 5 minutes ago I've been into it for 15 like all right have a day off you know everyone's
48:15
allowed to have a nice time and I think that's and I I do know some cosplayers who have come up against the whole oh
48:22
you're a woman or you're this age or whatever you can't possibly understand the fandomness of it but Again every
48:29
time I speak to them they say it gets less and less So which is which is great There's always going to be an
48:35
isn't there Like you you can't factor that out There's always going to be that's the constant truth The
48:40
are in in lovely ComicCons or just going down your local pub or at work Yeah So
48:46
you can't get rid of them can you But it's nice that it's that people it's tangibly less That's that's really nice
48:51
But as you say with those all those different types of conventions and say I might have missed different types but I think that gives us a good cover
48:58
um you will find a group or a type that you sort of like and want to go to and
49:04
all that kind of stuff and and people are generally pretty welcoming at these things Yeah Um I think one of the good
Attending conventions on your own
49:09
things at say Gridcon um and the UKG is there is board game libraries Yeah So
49:15
you can usually find some group of people to play with even if you might be really kind of overwhelmed with gosh
49:21
there's so many people Could I possibly go on my own This is going to be weird And there's a lot of people that go on
49:26
their own and quite a lot of these smaller conventions I know that the Fox and Hounds is one of them Partially that's because we help with it So I know
49:32
this is existing Um there's often like a Discord channel or some form of message
49:37
group or board or chat beforehand that people that are going on their own can kind of maybe schedule in a couple of
49:44
games so they at least know that they're going to be kind of involved with other people at a certain point And maybe then
49:50
you can think oh actually well we really enjoyed playing that game Mr Random person I didn't know Oh do you fancy playing whatever And I think that's
49:57
really nice that that kind of inclusivity happens Um and people are
50:02
generally just really happy to get people involved in games I don't think I've maybe because it hasn't happened to
50:08
me but I've never seen anyone sort of obviously standing around not doing something or been cast away Do you know
50:15
what I mean Like it it seems people are generally really happy to to involve people That's kind of the the more local
50:23
kind of open gaming kind of conventions are are definitely designed to be that
50:29
social space you know Um it's a bit like where I went the other weekend to this
50:34
this gaming retreat I didn't really know anyone Not really And even David I know but I don't know him know him Um do you
50:41
know what I mean Yeah Like we spoke and we we've had a good laugh about things and you know played tested some of his
50:47
games and things but yeah So it it's always a bit nerve-wracking Yeah And I'm an extrovert right I I'm I'm like
50:54
normally quite comfortable with this And I know Adrian you spoke years about right is why the very first few episodes
51:00
we did and I talked about my hesitation of going to these things Your anxiety about this going to some of these things and I completely get it I completely
51:06
understand that It's so much easier to not do it Yeah Yeah And I remember with Expo I think it was the before my first
51:13
ever visit I was planning to go up on my own and I bottled it and I didn't do it
51:19
for whatever reason cuz I think it was just too easy not to do it rather than going just do it you'll have a great
51:24
time Um and uh yeah and it's just it is difficult But yeah when people put those
51:30
mechanisms in place and organizers like Paul at Gridcon who's so mindful of it
51:35
he's so mindful that he'll find people what are you playing if he finds anyone that's kind of in that state he will
51:42
find you someone and he'll be getting you playing something with someone within 10 minutes Um so yeah scale that
51:48
up to the bigger conventions If you're going to like a demo table the chances are you're going to be playing against
51:54
three other people or playing with three other people that you don't know at all 100% So it's almost like an organized
52:01
group of people that don't know each other And then you might really hit it off with one person and you end up oh you bump into them around oh do you
52:07
fancy playing this Oh yeah let's play that And so those kind of I can't say friendships but kind of mutual like
52:13
friendly acquaintances can kind of happen And that's and that's really nice Yeah And we had that where I think uh a
52:21
couple of us were playing Escape the Dark Castle and this and this was years ago Um I always remember it but this
52:28
father and son said "Oh would you mind if we kind of demoed with you?" Said "No no come across like no problem." We had
52:34
such a laugh Yep and we just kind of like yeah just had such fun with it We
52:40
didn't take anything seriously We were there just to play the demo whatever And uh his son was just like massively into
52:45
it and it was just really good to to kind of experience it But I would say actually you're more of an advantage
52:51
actually at these bigger conventions if you are on your own to demo because you can that one seat that slip right you're
52:59
more likely to get slip slip into those seats where if you're going as a three or four trying to get you all to demo at
53:04
the same time have to book a spot You have to book it at that point Never do it Whereas ones and twos we we did it at
53:09
Essen didn't we Becky We we sort of walked around cuz we were I think every Oh they were playing Elder Scrolls for 5
53:16
hours and we were like "Let's go around." And loads of people were like "Oh do you want to play this?" There's there it's a four player and there's two
53:22
of us sat here and sort of and we just joined in really well didn't it And I think going back to the whole Gridcon
53:28
sort of piece is I think one thing that works well is because it's quite awkward
53:33
if you just kind of walk over and go can I join this Because everyone has the right to say no And I wouldn't be offended if anyone said no to me joining
53:40
a game because they've we want to play with players like their friends whatever But I've never seen one of these event
53:46
where there isn't a players wanted sign You can put up next to the table and it indicates immediately to sit to just
53:53
come down come and sit down and play the the kind of it it's like that dating thing like so it's like if you're going
53:59
to a a bar not that I've done this but sure no cuz I've been married and uh
54:04
stuff um yeah married and things but he's like that you know I'm single or do you wear
54:11
like a special hat or do you have like a Okay sure he's like I'm single or I'm this I'm that whatever back in my day
54:18
they were called traffic light parties traffic light parties there you go I just missed out on so much of life I've never been chated up at a bar or gone to
54:24
any kind singles event ever So traffic light parties were if you wear green
54:30
you're you're up for whatever I'm ready to go If if you're wearing red then off
54:36
limits Don't even approach me And if you're amber then there's kind of let's have a chat and get to know each other
54:41
There could be something So you don't basically don't all the women just then wear amber to be kind of like oh well I
54:46
don't want to look too kind of You normally get more guys in green than Yes I'm sure you do Lot of women in red guys
54:52
and then a few in amber And then it's normally quite a good mix in in the amber cag Yeah So yeah but it's what a
54:59
what a world I feel like But it's that kind of thing isn't it Which is basically it removes the awkwardness of
55:04
you having to approach the table and going um is there hello you don't know me but is there a space that I could
55:10
come and play with Can I come and play with you guys Um whereas quite clearly saying I need a player for this game and
55:15
feel free to sit down Mr or Mrs person and let's play You've invited that You've kind of got rid of the
55:20
awkwardness haven't you I'm inviting the invitation Yeah And the more conventions that do that system the better We've not
55:28
we've not seen one I've certainly not seen one that doesn't that doesn't do that It's sort of a shared agreement almost
55:35
that places now have that isn't it I think there was even some at the expo wasn't there There probably was you know
55:41
thinking about I don't know whether that was bought by maybe people locally or not but I've definitely seen players
55:46
wanted signs up Um and that's a good point isn't it If you're going as a two or maybe even a three but actually you'd
55:51
be really open to somebody coming in and joining your game take your own little sign Make your sign Camp out Get your
55:58
space with a yellow playmat Put your sign up You'll find someone There's thousands of people in that hall So
Tips for convention goers...
56:04
saying that kind of brings me on to the kind of next thing I wanted to talk about which is kind of tips for first-time attendees or maybe not
56:11
first-time attendees but perhaps if you've only ever been to one type of convention and you're looking to kind of
56:16
do some more other ones I think the first thing I would say as a tip is look
56:22
for those signs If you're going on your own and this is a new kind of whole whole new world whole new world for you
56:28
don't you dare close your eyes Oh there's a carpet flying up through
56:34
the window Look at that Sorry I could help myself Look at look for those signs and make use of them maybe yourself if
56:39
you want to And don't feel awkward to ask Equally don't feel offended if
56:45
someone says no Although like you say Adrian I've never I've never seen that happen I'm sure it happens It must do It
56:50
must do I've seen it happen but it was taken with good grace because someone just came over and went "Look don't
56:56
suppose I see there's three of you It's a four player game I don't suppose you'd let me sit on And they're like "Look we're just going to we just wanted to
57:03
rock with this We ever do it every year sort of thing." And they went "No I totally get it You didn't have a sign up I'm going now." Sort of thing And it was done in really good grace And that's
57:09
really nice isn't it And that is really nice And I guess the only caveat I would say is maybe just try and have just a
57:16
modicum of of social awareness Yeah I think as a hobby we're probably quite
57:22
well known that maybe some of us don't have so much of that But if someone's kind of giving you the the the kind of
57:29
showing you their shoulder and not kind of just have an awareness of it If you don't if you don't have good social
57:35
skills and I I don't confess to have great social skills just stick to the rules Like look for those signs that say
57:41
players and then just come over introduce yourself ask if you can join That's it And then if there's no signs then don't worry about your social
57:47
awkwardness and just go I'm not going to bother trying to join that game because it hasn't got a sign up at it I'll follow I'll follow the kind of rules
57:53
specifically We're a good group for following the rules aren't we If the signs make use of the signs I'd say Yeah
57:59
definitely What else would you say for your top tips I think it depends on the convention type If you're going for the
58:04
more um kind of commercially industry type ones the bigger ones then like just
58:13
it's it's like what your parents would say like just make sure you wear comfy shoes like 100% and make sure you wear
58:19
your underpants that don't chafe you You know anything like you're going to be doing a lot of walking you're going to be on your feet a lot and be be prepared
58:26
for it to be warm Yes Les people clammy It's going to be clammy lot of clammy
58:32
pennies in your pocket Take some wet wipes or some alcohol you know cleany stuff Wear shorts even in the winter If
58:39
you're going to like if you're going to an October November event if you are going to an Essen you can wear shorts
58:45
It's just getting getting back to your hotel it will be a bit chilly but it's just preparing yourself and and it's
58:51
easy to forget cuz you get excited about the weekend or whatever and then you get there and you go "Shit why did I pack
58:57
these shoes?" Like my feet are going to be killing me by the end of the week Yeah Um but things like just take bottle
59:03
of water like check check the rules make see what you can take in and what you
59:09
can't A bottle of water is probably fine Food sometimes food or not food
59:14
Sometimes certain types of drink alcohol all that kind of stuff will be in the rules So one of my pieces of advice is
59:21
going to be check the rules Check what bags you're allowed to take All that kind of stuff So we know that UKG um now
59:28
basically ban the board game bags big bags the big giant a big cube As I've
59:34
proved you can wipe someone out quite easily Um even when you're being really really careful and even when I felt I
59:40
was aware of it the second you step outside that building you still are wearing that because I was so mindful of
59:45
it inside the halls cuz I was taking it literally from the there's a shop and drop at the UK Games Expo You buy a box
59:51
for the day I had loads of games to sell I'd agreed sales for sorted all that out
59:57
Put the put the thing on my bag back full of bait games I'd bought Exited the
1:00:03
hall Was very careful about how I exited the hall being mindful of the fact that I wasn't supposed to have one of these bags The second I left that hall I
1:00:09
totally forgot I was wearing one and just wiped someone out And so just be mindful of all of those Check the rules
1:00:16
There are nearly always the big ones especially there are nearly always rules check the rules and if you are allowed
1:00:21
drinks snacks whatever do load up on them Take a I take now like a little um
1:00:27
like a little man bag that I take with me that just sort of slings over my shoulder and that's always got a couple
1:00:33
of drinks couple of chocolate bars um stick of gum that kind of thing in there Keep you going right Yeah But yeah
1:00:39
talking about the games and stuff like you always kind of go right it's gaming weekend It's my chance going to bring
1:00:46
all the games that I want to play Now again depending on convention just remember you might be
1:00:52
lugging that around Yeah Right And if you're at the expo you know getting from your car to the convention unless
1:01:00
you wait for the shuttle bus it's a bit of a trick Even if you do wait for the shuttle bus it's still a lot of lumping
1:01:05
around isn't it It's a lot of f you're looking around and if depends where your hotel is if you stay in there and you got to get So you know just be smart
1:01:12
What I do is I typically um I'll take like my board game bag I'll go to the
1:01:19
hotel I'll have my kind of library there but then each day I'll probably put one game in my rook sack Y and that's what I
1:01:26
take in cuz at the end of the day like if everyone brings one game in our group we still probably won't play them all
1:01:31
and buy three and buy three This is it Exactly So it's like just be mindful like you might want to take all your
1:01:37
games but be realistic about it Are you going to actually play them all Um cuz there's a lot of a lot of weight that
1:01:43
you're flinging around It doesn't feel heavy to start with but then it really really does And it differs if you go
1:01:50
into more local convention where you're playing open gaming that do what you want cuz you literally just walk in and
1:01:56
dump the games Yeah We fill up our car like a Tetris kind of game It is the library It is the library Yeah Um which
1:02:02
which works fine but then still then you've got to be mindful how much am I bringing in at once Yeah how much if
1:02:07
everyone my top tip for that bit would be buy those kind of kind of reusable
1:02:13
shopping bag type little Asda whatever insert it here however don't buy those ones cuz everybody's got those and it's
1:02:20
I don't know maybe it's just me being anxious about it but I want to know that my games are mine and then not I'm not
1:02:26
going to accidentally nick someone else's like I did by accident at Gridcom once I didn't nick it but somebody gave
1:02:33
me um forest shuffle thinking It was my I had taken forest shuffle and we'd
1:02:39
played someone else's forest shuffle and then packing away someone was like "Oh there's your forest." Oh oh brilliant
1:02:44
Thanks I put it in my bag Only like the next day did like a not a friend of a
1:02:50
friend but like an acquaintance of an acquaintance go oh it's Becky isn't it I hope you don't mind me saying "Is there
1:02:55
any chance that you could have accidentally taken my forest shop?" I thought "Oh yeah I absolutely could have." when I went in and and I I looked
1:03:02
in the car and I'd left it in the car and I was just so apologetic I I said "I'm so sorry." And he was absolutely
1:03:08
fine about it cuz it that's the trouble A game's a game isn't it The boxes are very similar Well they're identical in
1:03:14
fact So if you know your copy of this and my copy the same Yeah I mean the only reason I knew it was his because I
1:03:19
hadn't or I had added the expansion to it and he had or the opposite And so
1:03:24
that was how we knew which is great So I've taken to putting a and this is probably something that people aren't
1:03:30
going to want to do but I've got a little stamp with my name on it cuz I'm that kind of person So on the lid of my box it's got my name on it Now of course
1:03:37
that means if I'm going to sell it that's difficult As we all know I don't sell my games so it's not a problem It's
1:03:42
not a problem But maybe put if you are not that kind of committed to your games put a bit of paper in it with your name
1:03:48
on it or your phone number whatever But I would say buy a shopping bag that is quite different
1:03:54
Top tip TK Maxx1 pound50 giant big massive shopping bag and there's about
1:03:59
10 different designs So now I've told everyone to do this maybe everyone's going to have the same temp but do you know what I mean Get get a differentish
1:04:06
one that isn't just your little red one I think what everyone wants to know is
Get a picture with the Whose Turn Granny Trolley
1:04:12
with Expo this year is the granny shopping trolley making a return or not
1:04:17
Well you can't actually fit that much in there can you Oh I don't know Sad times if the granny shopping I
1:04:25
do like taking the I like taking the granny granny shopping trolley for not games for all the other accessories that
1:04:31
I buy So I mean I am 40 now I probably can legitimately have a granny trolley and
1:04:37
that's not a thing right So who knows maybe granny trolley will make it its
1:04:43
appearance Whose turd is it anyway Granny trolley maybe make an appearance It's not paisley It's stripey It's quite
1:04:48
a funky granny trolley as they go But yeah Well if you bring it we should say
1:04:54
to our listeners if you if you do see us walking around about get a photograph with the granny trolley the who's turn
1:05:01
granny trolley and uh put it on the social right Yeah Or snap it in like you
1:05:06
know like covertly that we're not noticing If you don't want to come up and say hello totally fine Take a picture of it and um Yeah post it Post
1:05:14
it up Tag us up on Yeah Do it on Facebook We would love that That would be so amazing if you could do that Um
1:05:20
you're just gonna get a lot of pictures of like the backside of me pulling this bloody granny trolley now Maybe I'm not
1:05:25
quite a game for that I like this This is a great idea Let's do this But make sure you've thought about what you're
1:05:31
going to transport your games in That's a really important one for me anyway And don't get eyes bigger than your belly in
1:05:37
the bring and buy sale She says like that's never happened to her Speaking of the bring and buy
Back to some more tips...
1:05:43
sale always bring some cash Yes 100% So Essen Expo all of them are getting
1:05:50
better I think for taking card So if you're going abroad make sure you got a card with 0% fees on it for spending
1:05:57
abroad Um but then always make sure you've got some amount of cash on you So the bring and buy is always cash only at
1:06:04
the expo but both Essen and Expo I've been to stands that only accept the cash which is fair
1:06:12
Yeah Um especially if you the Wi-Fi is a bit dodgy and whatever expo hall part I
1:06:17
think was it was its ess their their um BP machine you know
1:06:23
what's it called like a handsfree what am I trying to say the card reader card reader card reader that's it chip and pin kind of card reader it just wasn't
1:06:30
working there's I've been at salute where a whole corner didn't seem to have any available Wi-Fi so they were like
1:06:36
waving the card readers in the air sort of thing and in the end I just went I'll give you some cash instead like I I
1:06:41
hadn't wanted to cuz I'd wanted to save cash for elsewhere but you were just like well you got no option so And the cash points run out immediately don't
1:06:48
they in these places So do do things They normally charge you Yes So get you some cash out beforehand Yeah Or if
1:06:54
you're going abroad get get a decent amount of money because you can always It might cost you a few pennies but from
1:07:00
experience and having to use the bank of Rob that year Yeah Rob could have borrowed 20 Rob was not buying anything
1:07:07
but had bought a fair amount of of foreign currency He could Yeah he could have he could have made quite a bit of
1:07:12
money had he charging We all we all ran out of money a bit earlier than expected
1:07:17
We ended up borrowing it from him and you might not have a bank of Rob to walk around with So you might not So prepare
Spend time before on your plan of attack
1:07:24
So I'm in real two minds about this So previous years I haven't sort of made my
1:07:29
plan of attack I haven't kind of made an itinerary or I've had a couple of stores
1:07:34
I really must go there So for example this year not surprisingly I've got to go and see the um Chris Priscott
1:07:42
Fetching Fetching Feathers Fetching Feathers Yeah got to go and see that because it's it was it aired at Aircon
1:07:47
Aired it It made its debut at Aircon Um but it's at the UKG so I've got to go
1:07:53
and see that now You just want to get a copy don't you I Well yeah One of the first 25 Is it I don't Uh he's got Yeah
1:07:59
he's got 75 Yeah To to Yeah So I do and I'm really interested to see what he's brought out with this I sort of want to
1:08:06
make a plan of attack for other places but I don't know I like wandering around So I'm just depends like it depends what
1:08:12
you're there for Like we we've got I say we not all of us but some of us have got like press duties Yeah So for those that
1:08:20
got press duties are probably more likely to try and plan and and and see up front about which publishers we want
1:08:27
to go and see and for what reason and what's being released and and Essen more So I think Essen you kind of need to do
1:08:34
that because if you don't do that it's too big It's too much going on You'll miss stuff right You just you just will
1:08:40
But I'm with you on Expo I'm like I'm quite more lazy affair on with Expo I
1:08:45
think I can it's it's big but it's still small enough you can get round it and have a look And uh with three days you
1:08:52
can pretty much see things and then you go on Sunday and go is this new There's
1:08:57
less people I'm sure I walk past this three times at least but I don't remember that But like it depends on your your personality depends on what
1:09:03
you're there for And you know this year I've probably done the most planning for
1:09:09
Expo than I ever have Okay And I've got a list I've got things games I want to check out and publishers I want to see
1:09:15
Just personally just not even from a press point of view Just personally I want to check that out Um so yeah if you
1:09:22
want to make the most out of anything like that then Planet the apps are usually really good And yeah this is
1:09:27
what I was going to say is certainly Essen and Expo and and definitely Gen Con because I remember looking them up They'll have a list of new games to buy
1:09:34
new games to demo that kind of thing And they'll also have exhibitor lists and normally just beforehand a map if sort
1:09:41
of thing So I love a wander around all of them It's the first thing I do It's the advice I personally give everyone is
1:09:49
go and see the ones where you think they're going to run out of the stuff you want first make a beline for them and then just wander around and see
1:09:55
what's there and try and book in demos and mind map it out a bit and be well I'll come back here a bit later and all
1:10:02
that kind of stuff and have a bit of wander around but I'm probably the most planned of the group and always do not
1:10:08
feel like I've planned well enough at the end of it and that's really all I do is I look up I'll watch a few YouTube
1:10:14
videos see what people are excited for and then I'll look up the new to buy new to demo list and I'll look up the
1:10:19
exhibitor list and I'll kind of map out where I want to go what I want to see And again I'll just asterisk If it's
1:10:26
like I must get this game I'll asterisk it make sure I get there as quick as
1:10:31
possible Um and if it runs out always ask if there's going to be more cuz sometimes sometimes there is sometimes
1:10:38
there isn't Yeah Sometimes have a daily stock So just for fairness ask Yeah Just ask the question because if they all run
1:10:44
out on the Friday and you got two more days to go knowing whether it's worth going back or not is a big deal Yeah
1:10:50
Yeah Yeah definitely I think last but not least unless anyone's got anything else
Try and be open to the experience and try new things
1:10:56
to add just be open to like seeing games or looking at games that you might not normally be interested in I think there
1:11:02
is a lot of that kind of oh come and look at my RPG stuff No I know I'm just not interested So I'm not going to waste
1:11:08
their time and and I know what I'm like I'll start feeling sorry for them and I'll potentially convince myself that
1:11:13
maybe I will like this one day and I'll but might buy something and I don't want to do that cuz I'm not going to enjoy it
1:11:19
So maybe avoid the ones that you know you're absolutely not going to be It's just not your bag But if someone offers
1:11:26
you a demo think actually why not Why not I'm going to give it a try You can always walk away It's not the no one's
1:11:32
making you stay there You can leave whenever you want Yeah Most of the stands are people who are proud of
1:11:37
something they have done or proud of the company they work for There there are some but they're generally in the
1:11:43
minority There are some paid people who are paid just to stand there and sell you stuff Yep
1:11:49
95% of the people there are people who've designed products or work closely
1:11:54
with them or just you know are demoers who are happy to be demoing a game they like They will passionately talk to you
1:12:01
about anything and everything So just get involved like if you don't Yeah
1:12:07
Stuck in Yep And enjoy it That's the main thing isn't it Is just have fun You're there to have fun You wouldn't be
1:12:13
going to these events to not have fun right Like that's the reason why you've gone to them Yeah If you're not having
1:12:19
fun don't go What Just as you say if you're not having fun for whatever reason just come away from it Just come
1:12:25
away from it Reset recheck figure it out what it is Yeah Don't go back next year
1:12:30
Yeah It might be that's not the convention for you Try a different one Different style different vibe You'll
1:12:36
find one I think if you're in the hobby you'll find one type that you will like more And even within our group we can
1:12:42
all probably say our favorite one will be different for different reasons Absolutely which is fine which is what
1:12:48
it's about See I guess our takeaway is like you just said there's one for everyone Try a few until you find one you like Yeah Or go to them all like we
1:12:55
try to Yeah Or do every one of them and tie yourself out and have no money Yeah
1:13:00
And that about wraps that one up I reckon Okay sounds good Thanks [Music]
TURN 4 - Receive, Sleeve or Leave
1:13:12
guys Now it's time for receive or leave So this is very badly kind of um cobbled
1:13:20
together I have to say But then the favorite games of mine to play at a convention So would you rather sleeve
1:13:26
receive or leave Lords of Water Deep Lost Ruins of Arnack or Septima And
1:13:32
these are all games I talk about liking to play at conventions Okay I think it's cuz I find them comforting cuz they're
1:13:40
they're not necessarily difficult There's a lot of repetitive kind of things going on and I like that in a
1:13:46
convention because you you can't listen too much to instruction because it's too noisy Yeah So lots of water deep lots of
1:13:52
with the scoundrels and scallwags whatever it's called expansion I don't Yeah that's it Scoundrels of scallag I
1:14:00
thought she was talking about our neck expansion I was like oh is that what it's called No Scoundrels and Scalport
1:14:06
Scoundrels of Skullport Yes absolutely So lots of water deep with the expansion Lost Ruins of Ark Yeah or Septima Right
1:14:12
Easy Easy for me Right Leave Water deep Bogger off Piss
1:14:19
off Don't care Sorry You know my feelings I think I ranted
1:14:24
about it about 10 episodes maybe 15 episodes ago Done So that one's out I
1:14:30
think I would sleeve Arnack because it's a game I haven't
1:14:36
actually played that much I think I probably played it about two or three times max ever And I don't know why I
1:14:43
haven't played it as much uh as as I probably should have I don't know Just
1:14:48
either just opportunity cuz you're wasting your time playing June You could be playing the better version but that's
1:14:55
Well I think you're in the wrong crowd for that Yeah Don't at me cuz I don't care Yeah Yeah Don't know But the thing
1:15:02
is with Arnack I haven't played a lot of the newer expansion stuff I've not played half more than half of the
1:15:09
characters So there's a lot in there that I think I haven't like tapped into And I think actually it's just had this
1:15:16
new adventurous box release Sexy yeah I'm a big I love a big box I love a
1:15:23
big box Um so I'd say leave that on then I'd receive Septima even though I
1:15:28
actually have sold it Yeah Yeah I'd happily receive it again and then maybe I'll sell it again I don't know But you
1:15:35
play well a couple more times with the omens and shape shifters and then always with omens and shape shifters I still haven't played with shape shifters I
1:15:41
know I know I mean you might not enjoy it Becky Um cute little animals Yeah the
1:15:46
animals are cool but the thinking puzzle ratchets up Oh maybe Maybe not then Yeah
1:15:53
And it's because the um where normally you get to the end of the round you get your cards back right Well this you
1:15:59
don't So you have to kind of play the right card to get the cards back with the shape shifting and just adds another
1:16:06
dimension which is fun I just use those little the pieces as a a little aid memoir as to what color I am Yeah I just
1:16:13
put them on the front of my board is just nice They're quite pretty No So that's that's me That's what I would do So I'm I'm going to try and give Arnac a
1:16:19
bit more of a fair shake I think Okay Adrian how about you I'm leaving Lords of Water Deep cuz it's even with the
1:16:27
nice meeples Yeah it's just Yeah I have again I've ranted about this before but
1:16:35
it has the whole mandatory quest Not when I freaking well play it It does not
1:16:40
They get in the bin but it's a it's a requirement to to get that game closer
1:16:47
because it's got it's got no catchup mechanism apart from mandatory quests So it's a feel bad catchup mechanism It
1:16:54
slows people down I would love to see a second edition of that where they
1:16:59
rethink how mandatory quests work and they revisit it But knowing Wizards
1:17:04
that's never going to happen No probably not I've taken some of the mandatory quest out Not all of them but some of
1:17:10
them over a lot less Unfortunately I'm leaving that And don't get say I've played plenty of games of it and it had
1:17:15
its time for me where I enjoyed it and now it's it's unfortunately
1:17:20
not really I remember playing that with you at one of the first conventions when we went to the 24-hour board game marathon and you absolutely ram raided
1:17:28
my my play You just mandatory quested me like a mofo Yeah it's cuz you were ahead
1:17:33
and that's what you're supposed to that's what you have to do in that game So offended I haven't go Um interestingly the best version of that
1:17:39
is the app because the um AI players are not as heavy-handed with the mandatory
1:17:46
quests Yeah and it doesn't feel it doesn't feel so bad when you're ahead and then get slammed on top of you on
1:17:52
top of the other It just needs rebalancing that part of it Anyway so
1:17:58
that's Lost Ruins of Arnack was an I've only played it once and it was at the
1:18:03
expo when I wasn't particularly up for playing much but it didn't deliver what
1:18:10
I was hoping it would So that is the receive Um I wanted to go through the
1:18:16
deck a few more times Uh the rest of the bits were fine but you don't go through the deck enough to make it what I was
1:18:23
hoping it would be Um and having never played Septima and it not being high up
1:18:30
my mind clash want list I guess I'll put Septima in sleeve
1:18:35
It doesn't You hold the cards a lot so it is helpful having those cards sleeved I'm not going to lie So it doesn't
1:18:41
particularly tickle me but I think it's for me unfortunately the best of a bad
1:18:46
bunch Sorry for that No offense Taken Age into three of my favorite games That's fine I thought you meant Mine
1:18:51
Clash then No Yeah No I was going to go off my soap box I realized what you meant Yeah absolutely Three crap choices
1:18:58
Mine Clash has three or three games that I really like So it's not that's not
1:19:04
It's just not one of the It's not It's just Yeah Even when JP previewed it and was talking about preview I thought that
1:19:10
sounds interesting not interesting enough for you for me to want to go out and buy it or whatever So
1:19:17
I happily give it a go but um yeah it's just quite a big box to take to a big
1:19:22
convention I will say So I wouldn't be taking it to the UK GE but I take it to every other convention Now what would
1:19:27
you choose See I think for you this is a hard I did
1:19:33
this where I just picked three games I love and then went "Oh this is a problem [Music]
1:19:40
I mean as much as I love Lords of Water Deep you you do make some good points The mandatory quests are a absolute turd
1:19:49
They are turd And Adrian's right If you take them out the game doesn't work Yeah you're right But it's just such a
1:19:56
comfortable game Yeah but I think out of those three I am going to have to leave that one which which makes me sad It
1:20:03
doesn't sad Put Lords of Water Deep out onto the porch shotgun in mouth and you're cockying it and you're shooting
1:20:09
it dead cuz it's got rabies It would be nice as glue for another board game Hey hey hey
1:20:17
But I think out of those three that is what I would have to choose That is what I would have to choose Um what about the other two Where you going Because they
1:20:23
both just fill different little niches in my in my You picked them Becky I know This is why
1:20:29
it's hard because I did just pick three games I like I want to sleeve Septima because I have
1:20:36
sleeved it with the premium sleeves because you have to sleeve it But I think for
1:20:41
replayability I think I prefer Lost Ruins of Arnac for for sleeving So I think I'm going to I'm going to do I'm
1:20:48
going to copy you JP I'm leaving Lords of War Deep even though it makes me sad Really sad Leaving Arnac Leaving Arnac
1:20:55
and and receiving Septima Yeah I think so So we can all agree that Lords of Water
1:21:02
Deep needs to go in the bin I will never hear That's what I took out of that No no no It's had its time Let's move on
1:21:10
Like terraforming Mars It's had its time Don't now Come on Adrian Please Here Come on
TURN 5 - Penultimate Turn: What's Coming Up
1:21:17
[Music]
1:21:26
And with that we go into our penultimate turn So what's coming up in the calendar We've mentioned UK GE so we can't
1:21:32
mention that again now So no it's it's literally two days It's we're we're I'm
Get the Whose Turn Is It Anyway Cheesy Bangers Playlist
1:21:37
making the cheesy bangers playlist probably as you're listening to this or thinking about it But the bad things
1:21:42
about the cheesy bangers playlist is I'm not going to be in the cartoon and I won't be able to listen to the cheesy bangers players cuz it'll be Curly's car
1:21:48
and driver's choice Obviously we need to mix the car You can you can join in my car and just let Curly drive himself on
1:21:54
his own Yeah I've got space Are you going to let me listen to the cheesy bangers playlist Oh yeah Excellent Adrian loves a cheesy Maybe what we do
1:22:01
then is I make the cheesy bangers playlist We share it on Spotify and then we can all listen to it and I'll just
1:22:06
have my earphones in and I'll listen to it myself Curley can put on his whatever he's putting on I love this idea And
1:22:12
then we can have like a My favorite trip to expo is when me and you beex karaoke
1:22:17
classics and Kenny Rogers or whatever it was isn't it Brilliant Yeah Islands in the stream Well we were just duetting
1:22:23
that bad boy up there It was brilliant Yeah So I think that's that's one thing that expo Yeah All right I shall make
1:22:29
the cheesy bangers playlist And if the readers readers what if the listeners also want to join in the cheesy bangers
1:22:35
playlist I will put it in the show We'll put Yeah We'll put a thingy in There you go So this is it with two requests
1:22:41
Cheesy bangers playlist of Spotify and the photo of the shopping Take photo of the shopping trolley That's all we need
1:22:46
Try not try to cut out the picture of my ass with the shopping trolley Please people for for everybody's sake For
1:22:53
everybody's sake You won't be able to fit the granny trolley picture in there Fair play
1:22:58
So penultimate turn then Yes What what you got coming up that isn't the UK GE I am so excited for Apex Legends So I've
1:23:06
just had my pledge Sorry Adrian I've had my pledge um land uh last Friday and I'm
1:23:14
not going to lie I've had a bit of PTSD sorting it out cuz I made a stupid
1:23:19
attempt to try and punch it out um Friday and I had a games day on Saturday which uh people came around It's like a
1:23:25
belated birthday thing Really great Really had a good time But I thought "Oh start punching it out." And you know
1:23:31
when you start these things and you go "Oh my god everything is everywhere on the table and I didn't have enough time to finish it."
1:23:37
have to finish it if you're going to start it Whenever you do any kind of organizing you you take everything out the cupboard and throw it on the floor
1:23:42
and it's always a nightmare Yeah I had to kind of put it I had to kind of bag up the components just so that they're
1:23:48
together Yeah And then just kind of put stuff back in the box higgledy piggledy and then get to it again Making me feel
1:23:54
a little bit sick It's making me feel a little bit sick And then I got to it on Sunday and got it all back out and sorted it all out and now the world is
1:23:59
right again So yeah it's all packed away It's all organized and it looks fantastic and read read the rules you
1:24:07
know the usual shenanigans And I just can't wait to play it again cuz I had such a blast with it a couple of years
1:24:13
ago Me and Adrian played on gaming rules And uh I've just been itching to try it out again And and now we got all the
1:24:19
legends and all the different so much opportunity and it's just going to be death match battle royale stuff And I'm
1:24:25
not a big shooter guy on video games really I used to be but not now But
1:24:30
there's something about this I'm just I can't wait to just play it Yeah I'm with you on that game aren't I So looking
1:24:35
forward to it Couple of weeks Nice Adrian what about you Couple of things I have belatedly started really getting
1:24:43
into Starcraft 2 Oh Um which is a real time strategy computer game
1:24:50
and I used to love them Sort of fell out of love with them and then someone happened to mention it In fact I
1:24:56
mentioned it because there there's a miniature miniatures game coming out of it and someone said "Well you don't play
1:25:01
Starcraft though so what do you want to know about it?" And then that's it I started playing Starcraft So got a couple of games of that booked in The
1:25:08
other the board gaming thing though is uh hopefully next weekend I have a game of Deep Regrets in which our group has
1:25:15
played a few times Yeah my friends who've got the game who are bringing it with them have played it a couple of times now We interviewed Judson from
1:25:23
Tetex Games who was a delight and very funny and just clearly passionate about it all and it's great to see him getting
1:25:31
as much love shown on all the socials and all the forums and all that lot as we felt when we demoed it and we wanted
1:25:37
to interview him off the back of the demo So I'm excited to play a full game cuz I still haven't played the full game
1:25:42
I've just played the demo and talked to him about it But really excited um to be getting that to the table and it's as
1:25:48
say it's just lovely to see people falling clearly falling in love with it It's a great on all the socials Such a
1:25:54
fun That's the word It's fun Yeah and the bantery fun that you can have around You don't have to take it seriously It's
1:26:01
just it really creates a nice environment You can make good kind of sort of vaguely thought through choices
1:26:07
but you still don't know what's going to be the side of that card And I really like that about it The artwork is
1:26:12
fantastic The regret cards are just hilarious Funny Just brilliant It's just brilliant Are you checking out the Even
1:26:18
Deeper Regrets at Expo Cuz the they're going to be demoing the expansion Oh are
1:26:23
they Yeah I'll have a Okay Have a talk then Yeah But yeah and I've openly um
1:26:29
talked about my dislike for all thing M Mr Wibbles the the the octopus It's not
1:26:35
really Cthulhu though is it really It's not but it's not generally a theme that I love But I think the game play and the
1:26:42
feel of it and the design especially the um we talked about it before you know the the the shadows on the back of the
1:26:48
cards and stuff is so well thought through All well thought through and so yeah I can't wait to give that a go
1:26:54
fully Yeah um next weekend Nice Enjoy Thank you I
1:27:00
haven't got many games any games in the lineup but I'm going to research the UKG and what I actually want to get out of
1:27:06
it this time And I want to take more time to chitchat to people cuz I like
1:27:11
doing that And and yeah kind of I just felt like I did a lot of wandering
1:27:16
around which I do like to do I think there was quite a bit of time I think Curly's friends came the next day and so
1:27:23
it was all that kind of oh what time we going to do this Oh no we can't get started on that thing because we might not have time to finish So there was a
1:27:30
lot of that kind of thing So I did a lot of wandering and I should have done more interactive stuff So I think I'm going
1:27:36
to try and do more of that Cool Yeah sounds good to me So with that our final
TURN 6 - The Final Turn
1:27:41
turn is wrapping up Um please like and subscribe and tell all your friends about how amazing this podcast is if you
1:27:48
think it is And if you don't think it is why are you still here listening to the end Um we have coffee for those amazing
1:27:54
people that decide they want to chuck us a few quid and help us upgrade our tech and all that kind of good stuff So thank
1:28:01
you very much for all those guys And thank you for everyone that even that doesn't do that We love having our
1:28:07
listeners and we love you interacting with us So please please do that as much as you can And um thanks everyone And
1:28:14
whose turn is it I think it's still yours Yeah Yeah it is You know you know whose turn it really is don't you # Expo
1:28:21
Granny trolley [Music]