GamesExpo 2017 - Day two

Day two was the first day of the Expo proper. Following breakfast all four of us met up in the queue with eager anticipation. Mike and Ed arrived with much longer arms than the evening before (not due to any sort of strange sexual activity during the night - they had carried Ed's Black Library back catalogue from Joe's car, for the Bring and Buy). And before long, we were allowed admittance into the main hall.

Above: The queue. You could cut the expectation with a blunt measuring device. 

Whilst Ed and Joe went off to register their items at the B and B, Mike and myself found Dark Ops Steve for a bit of a natter.

Above: Happy Mike and Cool Steve.

Joe and Ed return to us after not much time, Ed carrying a list of his books on a roll of paper longer than all of our combined arms. Through the wonders of modern technology (an app), Ed was able to keep track of how much his items had reached during the Expo.

The first game of the day was a new one, Daring Dustbunnies being demo'ed by Hopwood Games. We were impressed, and I can see us buying it on release.

Above: Mr Hopwood, playing his rabbit and vacuum cleaner game with 'Hoppity' Mike.

Next, another game in development, Colour Guards. This was from a father and son team who were very happy for us to be critical friends. We enjoyed the chess based game, and the opportunity to give feedback and advice. We wished then all the very best with their project. 

Above: Mike deploying his figures for a game of Colour Guards.

And on to our next game. Between Two Cities Capitals. A game of random town planning, with an element of working together. 

Above: Our three constructed cities.

You need to be living under a rock, up a mountain in deepest darkest Peru, to be unaware of Games Workshop's release of Warhammer 40K eighth edition (due this Saturday). Apart from some recent games of Kill Team I have struggled to enjoy the current version of the game. I found that the ability to chose certain army builds with formations, or allies, provided such over powered armies, if you were a fair player and wanted to just take a balanced army along to a tournament you were more than likely to spend the day getting your backside handed to you. No fun.

However, noise on 8th edition seems to be much more favourable though, so I am looking forward to having my faith restored. GW were at the Expo, and that's where we found ourselves next. Joe and I had a demo of 8th as Mike and Ed looked on.

Above: Eighth edition action going down.

Above: Mike and Ed holding back their excitement for the new 40K. 

I took many a picture on Friday. Here are some more to illustrate some of the things we saw and did.

Above: Hawk Drop Fleet spaceships.

Above: Apparently this was the last chance to see The Avenger.

Above: TT Combat were doing two amazing terrain deals. Just £100 for all this!

Above: And a similar £100 for all this!! Pity my bank balance and storage space is limited.

Above: Bushido is a game which benefits from nice terrain. GCT Studios have joined forces with 4Ground, and this is the very pretty result.

Above: A theme for the weekend - People. Lots of people

Above: Next, Ed, Mike and myself were shown how to play Elemenz. A dice resource game where you decided how best to use your earth, wind, water and fire. (Are we in Boogie Wonderland. No. Birmingham). 

Above: Being the terrain geek of the group I was more interested in this brilliant Wild West Exodus table rather than the game or the figures. 

Above: Waffle heaven from the food court.

Above: Mike and Jo's bromance continues as they enjoy a romantic walk in the rain to the waffle van. 

Above: Waffles eaten and it was to the main gaming room at the Hilton to find Simon, Amit,  Tom and a table to camp their until the early hours of the morning. But what to play that's new? The answer, Mysterium. This was a little bit of a sea change for us. A cooperative game, no dice, and lateral thinking a bonus. And very enjoyable experience it was, once you got your head around a set of different concepts. 

Above: The mystery of Mysterium demystied.

I continued to keep track of the game results between the four of us during the day, and with 4 points for a win, 3 for second, 2 for third and 1 for fourth, the table at the end of day two was as follows:

Mike 42

Joe 44

Ed 30

Alex 25

And with that, and all four of us playing in tournaments on the Saturday, it was to bed.

Happy dice rolling.

Alex