UK Games Expo roundup

Once again, UKGE is over for another year. I always intend to do a write up after each day, but to tell the truth, I was exhausted each night.

Starting on the Thursday we (my friends and I) went up early. Ostensibly so that they could drop stuff off at the Bring & Buy and avoid the huge queues on the Friday. Needless to say that worked out way better than expected. Yes it cost us an additional nights stay, but really it meant that we didn't have to rush and we could relax into some of the Open Gaming on the Thursday night. There were quite a few other people there, and I even managed to bump into another member of the local gaming group.  Shame that they kicked us out of Hall 3 at 6pm.

Anyway, after a quick stop at 5 Guys for sustenance we adjourned to the Hilton for more open gaming. With the extra day we could get some decent gaming in so we did a mini-league of Heat Pedal to the Metal with the expansion Heavy Rain.

Friday was definitely a shopping day. Manged to pick up some goodies in the form of T-Shirts, a hoodie, more tea, and a few games. Although I cut back on the number of games I bought at this years expo because last year there were a number of issues. Firstly carry the damn things around, and secondly the eye rolls and "tuts" that I got from The Wife on my return. So, although I did buy a couple, the wasn't an overwhelming number. I did get the Prelude expansion for Terraforming Mars which gives a huge kick at the start of the game and can cut down on the game play time.

Steve and Dave had booked to see No Rolls Barred. So Tom and I played a game of Vale of Eternity. Interesting theme, but I don't think it would enter my regular game rotation.

Saturday was a mess. There was a huge influx of the weekender brigade and it got real crowded, real quick. So much so that we decided to abandon any pretence of shopping and go to the gaming areas in the Hilton... except they were packed. Fortunately we found one table who were just packing up and we managed to grab it before other vultures got in. We spent the rest of the day playing.

Although we tried to get a big enough table for Firefly (Dave had brought his anniversary edition which was freaking huge!) we had to abandon that thought and we carried on with various other games.

Sunday was better. We grabbed a large table first thing in the morning and  got to play Firefly then. There were quite a few people wandering past who were looking on and taking photos. It's an impressive game when laid out like this.

Last year, the game of the show was Scout. This year, I think the most impressive for me was Moving Wild, another Oink game. However it was only after playing it that I decided to get a copy of my own. But on returning to the stand, I found that they were only selling them at signing sessions which clashed with other things going on so I wasn't able to get hold of a copy. Needless to say, it got added to my Wishlist.

All in all, we got through a number of games, we didn't manage most of the things we intended. But there are a number of things that worked out well, and things we need to remember for the future.

1. Going up on the Thursday was a good idea. It made travel a lot less stressful and made things easier overall.
2. One highlight on Friday morning was meeting Peter Vaughan of Cardboard Alchemy.
   
   
3. Avoid shopping on Saturday. No point in those kinds of crowds. Grab a big table early and camp there throughout the day with excursions to the Hilton car park for the food trucks etc.
4. Sunday morning for shopping for any last minute bargains and then back to the gaming tables.
5. Bringing a waterbottle was a definite plus. As you can imagine drinks and food in a captive market such as the NEC is horrendously expensive. Bringing your own drink is a good idea. Better yet, get some of those fizzy Vitamin-C tablets and drop a couple of those in your bottle. You'll be glad of the extra boost during the day.
6. Make a plan. The Expo website lists all the events and goings on. If you're one of the kind of people who enjoys these live action events then you really need to plan everything out. Do so at least a week in advance, and make sure everything is pre-paid.
7. Book a better hotel. I was in the Ibis Styles. Not a bad hotel as such, but there were a couple of issues.
1. Firstly it's quite a jaunt to the rear of the whole NEC area and it's really not fun walking there. Carrying havy backpacks and bags.
2. Secondly they use a magnetic card doorlock system. Which is all well and good, but the electronic/explosive/contraband scanners used by the NEC wipes the cards each time you go through one of those arches. It's a pain to get your room card re-made every time you return to the hotel.
8. Get a trolley. Backpacks are fine (I have a BoardGameTables one) but it can get tiring carrying everything around. A trolley is a much more sensible idea. But don't bring it into the NEC halls when it's crowded.

Once the hotels let me, I'll be booking for next year as well.