UK Games Expo: Coming Up

 

As I sit waiting for my kettle to boil and provide the much needed caffeinated substances I desperately crave after a weekend of insufficient sleep, let me tell you about why I am sooo very tired. You see, I’ve been at the UK Games Expo. And it was awesome!

Thousands of visitors, hundreds of exhibitors, and an untold number of meeples, spread across three days in the gigantic hanger that is NEC hall 1, the UK Games Expo 2016 was a sight to behold! I don’t think there is any doubt that this is the premier board gaming event in the UK, and a tremendous achievement for Richard Denning and his team.

This was my first time at the expo, so I can’t compare to previous years, but that’s ok because I’ve had the opportunity to record a pile of short interviews with a ton of the exhibitors who can tell you all about that and more. I’ll be sorting them out and editing them over the coming [insert appropriate time period here] so you can [hear/read] them on [date; remember to edit once released so I look like I know what I’m doing].

I got to meet a fantastic array of people, from some kind folks in the open gaming hall who let me jump in on their Guilds of London game, and then proceeded to teach me a game I had just bought, to the incredible guys from the Cambridge design group (responsible for the likes of Elysium, Twilight Squabble and I really shouldn’t have started listing games because I’ll need to leave so many out and oh dear I’m sorry guys!) and the organiser of Playtest UK, Rob Harris (who gave us a great interview! Listen to it here) A big shout out to Chris Marling for introducing me to them all! I met a huge swathe of industry people from across the UK, publishers and my fellow media folks, many of whom I had only ever interacted with on Twitter (Big Red Barrel, Gaming Rules!, Toucan Play That Game, Angel of Dice). I even met the Dice Tower’s Tom Vasel (“Creaking Shelves, that’s a great name!” he very politely told me… I think he said “great”. He definitely said “great”. I think), and shook Paul Dean’s hand (to be fair, everyone who attended the Shut Up & Sit Down live podcast on the Friday got to do that… be sure to listen out for my ridiculous laugh). I was blown away by just how amazingly friendly everyone has been!

But the games! You want to hear about the games! And oh my goodness there were so many games. So many that my sleep addled brain could not be sure it hadn’t forgotten some last night. I think I’ve noted them all down. All the ones I played. I think I did. Oh God I hope I did. If I forgot your game then I am so sorry! Here we go…

• Scythe – read my First Impressions here
• Beyond Baker Street – First Impressions article
• Colony – First Impressions article here
• The Networks – First Impressions
• Guilds of London* – Full review up here!
• Imhotep*
• Karuba
• Mystic Vale – First Impressions article here
• Adrenaline – read my First Impressions here
• Pandemic Reign of Cthulhu – read my First Impressions here
• Game of Blame* – Got a review here
• In a Bind!
• The Rose King* – Review here!
• Codinca
• Escape the Aliens from Outer Space Ultimate Edition
• Ominoes* – One final review here
• Tatsu – First Impressions
• Nine Worlds
• Nina & Pinta

What we are going to do over the coming month or two is to do a series of First Impressions articles, or reviews if I now own the game or a review copy (*), so the question is, what do you want to hear about first!?

Leave a comment, send me a tweet, let me know what game has you excited and I’ll try and get that up as soon as possible!

Reviews will take a little longer but First Impressions articles can be ready to go as soon as you like! Then there is interview material, video recordings (hell, just the video of the Orctioneer wielding his giant mallet is worth watching on its own), photographs… so much stuff to chat about. Really, you guys should all be subscribing to make sure you don’t miss anything!

Final note, regular followers will notice that this isn’t my usual Kickstart Your Week post! That’s because I was way too busy this weekend to get it written, but also a sign of a slight change in format. The plan is to move from a weekly article, to a monthly post (Kickstart Your Month?), showcasing only the most exciting games, that I keep updating each week (don’t want to miss out on anything!). The first of these new articles will be up next week!

So there you have it! A lot to look forward to! Let me know what you want to see first!