UK Games Expo 2015

Well, another UK Games Expo Event has come and gone and what a weekend! I had a great time as I'm sure everyone else did and as I have done reports for the previous two years of this event, I thought I'd continue the tradition and write a report of the 2015 event, the best one yet!

The first thing I noticed when I arrived was that this years event seemed to have a dramatically increased attendance and has most definitely outgrown the Hilton. I was quite glad when I read that next years expo will be held at NEC Hall 1 and the Hilton Metropole. The trade hall will be inside the NEC which should make getting your loot a more comfortable experience! Seminars and other 9am -5pm activities will also be held here. Open gaming, tournaments and RPG's will be at the Hilton  Metropole to allow more space for people to run games into the small hours. This is all welcome news indeed!

Imperial Stormtroopers guarded the entrance to the Expo to make sure no rebel scum got in.

The Friday is always less hectic, but it was still busier than last year. With the welcome addition of an open trade hall at 2pm. Open gaming is what I like to do on the Friday and the game library was operated by Thirsty Meeples Gaming Cafe staff. For a small refundable deposit of £10 you could take away one game to play, bring it back and get another one. They did a great job and it was nicely organised with a good selection of games right next to the open gaming area. The hall was large but it did annoy me that the tournaments were using up a lot of that space to the point where we struggled to get gaming space on the Saturday. There was an additional large marquee area outside but even that was full of tournaments and we couldn't find space. In the end we played on the grass outside until space was available. Certainly not ideal though.

Dale, busy changing the rules of his special ability and cheating

Student Bodies - great zombie game.

Tim and Chris Nicholls giving two damage

Chaos Ball by Coolminiornot

An afro Rich Baker would approve of.

The Expo hosted all the usual events; seminars, a family friendly game zone, cosplay, LARP, cinema, entertainment events, a playtest area, bring 'n' buy, special guests and much more. Parking was free, The food this year was a slightly different affair. Instead of the Hilton providing the catering, a food festival was held outside the front of the hotel. I was very impressed with the selection and there was even a red double decker bus, with an open top seating area, serving as a bar which was very cool! The selection of food was good with the likes of Becky's Bhajis, Big Daddies Diner serving great hot dogs, Spectacular Goat making fresh pizza, a meat grill, pan-asian cuisine and even a waffle caravan. There was also a cheap bar in the games room with snacks and other drinks available. Unfortunately I made a schoolboy error and bought a pint at the main bar...the fact that Boba Fett and Imperial Stormtroopers were walking about made me realise I was indeed drinking in a hive of scum and villainy. Especially villainy.

I must also make mention of the games programme. It was not just a map and information schedule like most programmes you are normally given at other events. It was more of a magazine with some very good articles and interviews, a great deal of effort was obviously put into this and all very nicely printed too.

Hmmmm, waffles.....

Cosplay

This is part of the expo I think we all enjoy. It was good to see that everyone had put a lot of time and effort into their costumes. There were two remote control Daleks there this year, going around threatening to externimate every human on the Earth. My only worry is that next year there may be an increased number of Daleks and their controllers may attempt to take over the Earth. And if it only takes one Dalek to destroy the mighty Cybermen, well, we are done for.

Boba Fett busy disintergrating disobedient children

This guy is a long way from Mordor

Whoa! Don't shoot, I'm not the droid your looking for! Luckily Lara Croft came out and this guy totally forgot me.

This guys Joker outfit was brilliant.

Rumble between a Jedi, the Joker, Cassandra Anderson and a Clone Trooper. 

Lara Croft. Didn't see her doing any handstands or somersaults though.

These little guys were going about shouting "Martini!" or something. So 70's. Or my ears are getting old and deaf.

Lara Croft, Again.

Cosplay Parade

I'm not sure what cosplay groups were there, but drop me a message and I will put the links up here.

Seminars

There was a jam packed seminar schedule this year; How to design scenarios for X-Wing, talks and discussions with games designer Eric Lang, "Representation in games matter",  "Behind the games industries curtain", creating games for licensed properties, a sci-fi quiz and special guest, Udo Schidmt talking about the marketing of Carcassone and revealing forthcoming releases for the game  Like STAR WARS CARCASSONE! No photography was allowed but Udo showed us the game tiles and demonstrated them.

I managed to attend two seminars but would have certainly liked to have gone to more; "Draw like a pro" and "Write like a pro" in particular. Both of these would make excellent annual seminars. There was no celebrity guest this year, which is a shame, but I did get to enjoy last years talk with Chris Barrie.

Games designer Eric Lang talks about...designing games. 

My Weekend

My own experience was off to a bad start, Rich "Retroking" Baker was the designated driver. We had breakfast and went to the car.
Rich: "Where's my keys? Sean, where's my keys? I gave them to you!"
Sean "I dunno!"
Me: *facepalm
Rich "I left them in the door and told you to lock up last night because you  f***ers were being too slow."
Sean: "I don't remember you saying that..."
Rich: **************** ******* ** ****** ** ****

I used to love the Muppet Show when I was a kid but being part of a live show, I didn't like. Luckily someone had handed them in and we were finally off.

I won't go into any other antics of the weekend. Like four of us being in a family room making a racket and getting moaned at by staff, recording each others snoring, Rich's Sonic the Hedgehog duvet he brought along or going down for breakfast at 7.30am and being asked "Have you pre-booked?". No I haven't, it's included in the room price. Just stop talking and give me bacon! You're a Premier Inn not the Waldorf Astoria. There is more but I can't go into details...

Rich "RetroKing" Baker relaxes without a pint, because its over £5

Rich loves the bring 'n' buy and I'm surprised he's not been banned from it to be honest. Last year I felt like a mule heaving his games about. Felt like playing Buckaroo personally. And, err, this year wasn't actually that much different. Except mule duty got split three ways. I was steeled to quitting that role for the rest of the weekend though.

You can't see it, but this queue extends back to the border of Scotland.

Got the weekend started at the board game library as none of us, err, actually brought games in for us to play, it was all for the bring n buy. Worst gamers ever. We had a go on a game called Abyss. It was pretty good, but a bit limited. It had very lovely box art though. Then we all headed over to the bring and buy room to check out the new set up....and I must say, I didn't like it. The games were more organised, the checking in system was computerised and looked much faster and more efficient, with barcoded labels being generated from everyones pre-entered details. But the narrow lanes meant it was difficult to take time to look at the games as people were all pressing by bashing you with their Canyon Extreme Hiking 80 litre backpack and walking off without saying a word. I had to leave as my temper was beginning to fray a "little".

At 2pm the trade hall was open and ready to rock. Previously the trade hall opened on the Saturday, so this was a welcome change. My loot list was small....Small World Realms and the card expansion, oh and X-Wing. That list kind of grew, although I didn't see Realms there, and I came back with X-Wing, a Star Wars Death Star playmat, some ships for X-Wing and Talisman "Deep Realms", designed by my friend (and hopefully designated driver (*wink) for Games Day 2015), Mr Jon New. Good job Jon, I see you have many cards in there that will mess up my normally flawless Talisman game.

s/

This year I was pretty pleased I got to play some Kickstarter and demo games. First up was a dungeon crawler card game called SideQuest, which was set up just outside the open gaming room. I really enjoyed this - quick, easy to learn and a much more portable game than Descent! After a chat with the game designer, I will in fact be helping out with some of the art in this game.

Another Kickstarted game I got invited to play was called Fell. I really love the concept of this game. Think Nintendo's Monster Hunter and that's the theme for this. We didn't get to see all the game as it was set up to play fast demo games, but the basic idea is that you set up a monster from a set of decks, torso, head, left and right leg and left and right arm, with each body part having its own attributes and special abilities. The aim of the game is to defeat the monster with a group of heroes. I can see a great potential for this game but I think miniatures would be a great addition. You can support the Fell Kickstarter campaign here.

The final demo game I played was "Orction!". I absolutely loved this and the game creator - Elliot Symonds who hosted it, was very entertaining to play against. This game was launching at the expo but I sadly ran out of money for games by the time I discovered it. The game was all about being an Orc Warlord buying and trading slaves to fight for glory. Elliot was very keen to point out that now orc slavery has died out, it's not a politically incorrect game to do. Each turn of the game gives you a lot of different options and of course the auctioneering, which is varied in itself. Unfortunately we couldn't finish the game, it's definately a good party night game and I will be ordering a copy after my wallet has recovered from this show. There is no point me trying to explain it further, so head on over to Quirkative's website and read more about it.......here.

We played using a proper Gavel. Cool

Auction lots. This was actually good fun to watch.

Elliot also held an auction of Kickstarter games and unwanted Christmas presents his brother had given him which was a bit of fun. I would definately recommend a visit to the Quirkative stand if you see these guys next year!

ArcWorlde

I was pleasantly surprised to see the Warploque Miniatures game, ArcWorlde, had a stand at the expo. I've seen this companie's miniatures before online and it was really good to see the mini's in the flesh at last. The game is the work of Alex Huntley, whose sculptural work  I have seen over at Coolminiornot over the course of many years. I think it's really cool to see someone go from posting pictures of their hobby work online when they are young, to having a stand at a show this big and be doing it a professional level. I love stuff like that. You can visit Alex's website and find out more about ArcWorlde and its amazing miniatures here or visit their Facebook page. Or do both.

ArcWorlde team

Prints were also available at the stand.

My personal favourite

The game world 

Work in progress Dragon being sculpted by Alex

And so another Expo came to close with a Cosplay parade and the award ceremony for the games released in 2015 and that was it for another year. Well done to all the staff involved with the organisation and running of the event, it is going from strength to strength and I'm already looking forward to next year!

The award ceremony

Thanks for reading!

dfb

UK Games Expo 2014

The UK Games Expo 2014 was held over the weekend of May 30th - 1st June at Birmingham's Hilton Metropole Hotel near the NEC. I attended and had a great time last year, so this year I was obviously going to be drawing some comparisons.

I travelled to the event from Cornwall (home of Grublin Games, /plug) with two friends. Not a bad trip up, but plagued by endless roadwork sections with 50mph limits and no roadworks actually going on. There is a rule I believe about "Not touching a black mans stereo" but when that black man is playing One Direction and laughing like a maniac, you have to be a rulebreaker...Shame I didn't have a hammer. We stayed at the Premier Inn not far from the venue and it was a great hotel. Recommended. I was quick to commandeer the King Size bed while the other two losers got the single beds. Happy days.

OVERVIEW

The parking was annoying. We got told to use some distant North carpark which was free and there would be a shuttle bus. We did this, but a sign said the bus was not running!! So we found a much closer car park for free as well. Guests at the Hilton attending the event received a discount on the parking also. Very commendable! It certainly felt like a bigger event than last year! There were a lot more people attending and the venue's air conditioning struggled in some of the smaller rooms, particularly where the seminars were being held. MANY cider breaks were needed! If you want to play new games and meet lots of people in the process, this is the event to attend for sure.

The food court was a major issue last year, with people having to sit on the floor and eat. This year was much better with plenty of dining tables and...chairs!! Proper cutlery was also provided and the hall was always open. Food prices were much the same as last year and drinks were discounted with beer at a reasonable price and actually cheaper than my local! The menu was very similiar to last year, not a problem for me and I thought the quality of the food was good provided you ate when it was freshly put out. The staff were friendly and the service was very good I thought. The only issue was Saturday night at the main bar which was seriously under staffed with a long waiting time.

The event was well laid out, better than last year, cosplayers in the foyer, lots of free gaming space, trade space and tournament space. I don't think any complaints can be made about the arrangement of everything. So to the organisers, a big thank you for making things better than last year!

FRIDAY 30th MAY

The Friday was open gaming, Bring and Buy sale and a few tournaments. For us - Pandemic the Cure dice game . Whilst I hadn't signed up for this I watched with interest and it was certainly a fun looking game. My friends team did well and were in the final, but unfortunately lost....

"Team Awesome" at the Pandemic - The Cure tournament. Came 2nd, so maybe Team "Nearly Awesome"

The Game setup, Nice and simple with some cards that you can buy to add effects and bonuses.

The Bring and Buy sale this year was quite crazy. Whilst Friday was busy, it was certainly possible to drop your games in and have a good browse. Saturday and Sunday however, had people queuing out of the door! Very busy indeed. I picked up a few bargains, Discworld GURPs being my favourite purchase for a mere £5. The Bring and Buy sale charges a 10% commission which gets donated to the Addenbrookes Charitable Trust, Heartline and Cancer research UK. Some very worthy causes.

After a hard days gaming and routing through the Bring and Buy I was ready for some cider.

SATURDAY 31st MAY

The show in it's entirety was open today and my own day was going to be mainly seminars - most importantly Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone's seminar, the guys who got me into all this stuff! The traders hall had a vast selection of games and associated products, both secondhand and brand new of course. The show has it all going on today, tournaments for Catan, Warmachine and other games, RPG gaming in 7 of the hotels rooms, Playtesting for new games still at prototype stage, a kids games room. There is lots to do for everyone and I'm not sure I could think of anything it's missing to be honest.

Galactic Knights

 The Galactic Knights Cosplayers were there, collecting for charity and posing for pictures. Some great quality costumes and even a remote controlled dalek going around exterminating everyone. And even a mysterious blue police box had appeared from nowhere this morning...

Boba Fett, trying hard not to disintergrate people

It was 09.27am when I took this picture. Is that not too early to be hunting for Jedi?

Trade Hall

Too many traders to list here but good to see a lot of home grown products from art to dice bags to homegrown games, it's not all large, world dominating games companies products in here!!

One example of this is Cornish games company, Grublin. They had a very successful Kickstarter campaign for their game "Cornish Smuggler". The game has done well and was released at Essen last year. They now have something else in the pipeline, a new Kickstarter for a new game - Waggle Dance, so please check it out and show some love for the indie guys out there, wherever they may be!

Russ with Cornish Smuggler

Dice games are becoming popular in our games club. Luchador is a wrestling themed one which currently has a Kickstarter going for its second edition. Check it out HERE.

Luchador Mexican Wrestling Dice Game!!

The mighty Forgeworld were there with some awesome models.

When I took this picture the room went funny and eerie music started to play in my head - "La La--La La...." I suddenly  felt very small and all the toys started to walk towards me - SCARY......or I drank too much cider.

These guys had more dice than you could shake some dice at.

Pretty pictures!

This old boy was awesome. He  was taking out everyone pulling that suitcase around and smashing it into them. Me, my mate. Get in his way - BOOM! Down you go sucker.

Seminars

There was an interesting and day filled schedule for seminars. These were held in two rooms over the two days and covered many topics from running Kickstarters to games design, women in games, music, art, the future of RPG's. An impressive list with highlights, for me at least being a talk by Chris Barrie of Red Dwarf and Brittas Empire fame and a talk on the early days of Games Workshop with Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone.

Chris Barrie was very amusing to listen to, unfortunately I got no pictures, as I forgot to charge my batter...I mean, something wrong with camera and stupid technology, etc. He talked about his career, did some impressions, talked about production process of Red Dwarf and took questions. He even hung out at the bar in the evening and talked with everyone.

Rimmer is such a Smeghead!

Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone are two of my favourite games industry personalities. They brought D&D to the UK, produced the Fighting Fantasy game books and created Games Workshop. Steve and Ian showed a series of old photos and gave a talk about the early days of the company and their careers since. They announced plans for some resin kits of characters and monsters from the Fighting Fantasy series designed for painters. This project is still in the pipeline but some of the figures were shown to the audience. Steve and Ian also did a book signing after the talk and I got some of my stuff scribbled on and had a quick chat with Ian Livingstone.

A proper catalogue with a proper price.

Iain McCaig is an awesome artist. One of the first logo designs.

Here is TALISMAN!! Bob Harris shows his prototype game to Steve and Ian. I am the proud owner of the original art for the 4th Revised Edition Talisman board. And NO, it's not for sale!

I hope they were joking when they said this was Japanese cover art for Death Trap Dungeon.....

Competition entries to choose the name of the company Steve and Ian were creating!

Open Gaming

There was plenty of space for people to bring their own games in and play with anyone and everyone. But there were also demo games set up near the trade area for people to come along and have a go at. Too many to list them all, so I took a few photos of games in progress. If you don't have many games of your own then these demo games are great. A games library is also in operation where you can sign out games from the collection of the expo organisation and go and play.

Arena, wasn't keen on this game, but I did like the idea and the little characters were pretty cool!

Cthulu Dice. I didn't join in this one as I had already played it more than enough over the previous week.

Yu Gi Oh demonstration stand was here again,

Firefly is a pretty good game!

Boss Monster, nice little card game.

So that was pretty much it. I took part in a Dominion tournament on the Sunday. A little disorganised to begin with as they had only sourced one copy of the game! But thankfully it got sorted out fairly swiftly and we were able to get on with it. Personally, I think we could have done without the break and just run it and finished it after lunch.  Starting it at 1 or 1.30pm would have been better. I didn't do well, getting a 4th, 2nd, 2nd (1 point off first) in my games, but I did enjoy playing and it was nice meeting new people!

Also got a chance to catch up with some people I met last year. We had an interesting game of Talisman late into the night where I was totally robbed and mercilessly hounded by dark sorcery. Thats my excuse anyway!! Looking forward to next years already. If you haven't been to this event before and are a gamer, I would recommend you come next year!

"Give me that lanyard! Or I will look for you, I will find you and I will kill you!"