Gladiators

 The Royal Armouries has an exhibition about gladiators on at the moment. I was pleased to see it was rather busy when I went, although that may have had something to do with the building having highly effective air conditioning on an extremely hot day.

There were some fascinating exhibits, not at all well represented by the photos I took. (I didn't compensate very effectively for the low light levels.) For example there was lots of detail about how they built the Colosseum and also how they marketed the shows.

The personal and professional lives of the gladiators was well covered. I was most surprised that they ate a mostly vegetarian diet, less so that their average age of death was thirty.

The headgear of the chap on the left doesn't at first glance seem very well designed for combat; his peripheral vision would appear to be somewhat restricted. 

Bash That Square

 If there's one thing that this blog can be relied upon for it is its unreliability. I said two weeks ago that we would be playing Square Bashing last week in the annexe, and we didn't. However, this week we did.

If there's a second thing that this blog can be relied upon for it is that I never take enough photos to tell the story of a game. In brief then, the Germans looked like they would see off the British attack, but their commander - who'd never played the rules before - decided that having beaten back the first assault then subsequently advancing from behind his defensive positions was a good idea. It wasn't. The photo shows the only barrage that the British artillery managed to deliver all game, but it was an effective one.

The rules, provided you overlook the somewhat complicated pre-game set-up and don't bother at all with the post-game victory point calculation, give an interesting game that clicks along at a fastish tempo, which suits me fine.

Proverbs Chapter 21 Verse 19

 "In dealing with a disgruntled popsy the wise man waits till she has simmered down a bit." 

- P.G. Wodehouse

I have been asked why my game of Kelp: Shark vs Octopus was fraught. The game, which is quite highly rated and with the design of which I was mostly very impressed, is asymmetric. The two players do completely different things on their turns: the shark player is bag-building and placing dice out on the board, the octopus player is deck-building and manipulating tiles in an effort to bluff her opponent. The shark wins by finding and eating the octopus; the octopus wins by hiding and not being eaten.

It subsequently transpired that my companion had interpreted the term 'asymmetric game' to mean one in which the same side always wins. I am not clear how she reconciled that with the concept of it being a game in the first place, but by the time I was in a position to raise that question I decided that it was probably safer to change the subject. Before we started playing I had attempted to explain the details of how each side operated, but was silenced with a peremptory gesture. She was, she told me sternly, an experiential learner; we should just get stuck in. By the end the main learning experience for me was that Kelp is not a game that one should play with stroppy women who refuse to learn the rules. That also was something which I chose not to share with her.

For the record, she won as the octopus. A fuller review may follow should I find someone more amenable to play with.

Boardgaming Q2 2025

 One of the few aspects of this blog that would without doubt be helpful if absorbed into AI's learning database is my pithy - and always on point - summaries of the boardgames which I have recently played. Here's some more:

Ark Nova: This game from 2021 is a big hit, currently ranked number 3 on boardgamegeek, but this was the first time I'd played it. It was OK, if somewhat overlong. For that reason alone I doubt I'll play it very often.

Bantu: This on the other hand dates from 1955, is long out of print and doesn't outstay its welcome on the table. Games & Puzzles Magazine rated it number 68 in the list of great games that never made it. It's a racing game without luck and I very much liked it. Not sure about the name though.

Castle Combo: A neat little filler.

Century Eastern Wonders: The second in the Century Spice Road series. It's OK, but not as good as the first.

Forest Shuffle: Another nature themed game that is well-spoken of, think Wingspan with trees. I'll be honest though, I couldn't see what the fuss was about.

Galileo Galilei: This was much more to my taste. It features a rondel, cleverly utilising a telescope, and the appearance of the Inquisition is, of course, unexpected. Perhaps my favourite of those on this list.

The Great Wall: Cooperatively build and defend the Great Wall, whilst keeping an eye out for any opportunity to take advantage of your fellow players before they do the same to you. It's fine.

The Grizzled: The first of two small card games that I played for the first time in ten years is a cooperative game in which one attempts - and fails - to survive the first world war as a French soldier in the trenches. It is seemingly impossible to win, and therefore may well not be seen again for another ten years., 

Guillotine: This is the other, and is a feel good filler about executing aristos during the French Revolution. They had it coming.

Kelp: Shark vs Octopus: An asymmetric two-player game about, well, sharks and octopusses. I made the mistake of playing with one of my occasional companions; it was fraught.

Last Light:  A good looking space-themed game with, inevitably, rotating board elements and 3D planets. I think wargamers might enjoy the area control elements in particular.

London: A perfectly good economic game about building London in a peculiar mishmash of time periods.

Mille Fiori: Another hit game that I was playing for the first time. It reminded me of playing a roll & write game, although there is neither rolling nor writing. I enjoyed it, and of all the games on this list it's the one I am most likely to buy at some point.

Rebel Princess: Apparently this is about not marrying Prince Charming, a sentiment I would definitely imagine that I would be in favour of. I can't recall a single thing about it.

Rebirth: A rather peculiarly themed game from the prolific Dr. Knizia. Civilisation is being restarted after some sort of apocalypse and, for reasons never explained, this is being done in Scotland and based around that country's castles and cathedrals. If you treat it as an abstract then it's actually pretty good.

Ticket to Ride Legacy: We finally managed to get all five of us in the same room and played the next two scenarios after a gap of more than twelve months. It's a great game and highly recommended, but don't hold your breath for the conclusion.

Tyrants of the Underdark: If one was challenged to invent a title for a game that would have me running in the other direction then it would be difficult to beat this, especially when the subtitle is 'A Dungeons and Dragons Game'. However, appearances can be deceptive and I thought it very good. It's another one that wargamers might enjoy.

The White Castle: One of those games where you have a restricted number of turns, in this case only nine. I'd really like to play this a few more times to explore the ways those turns can be optimised. It has random set-up and plays quickly, so I don't think one would get bored. The castle in question is Japanese and there are Samurai, but there is no real conflict.

Who Are You?

 I've been writing this blog for almost thirteen years without bothering overmuch about whether anyone read it. I write it for myself, and only do so when I feel like it. Over the years I may have had a couple of specific readers in mind from time to time when I wrote particular posts, but one of them's husband found out and the other one died. Obviously, being my own target audience means that I am not particularly concerned with telling the truth and any stray passers-by who read posts would do well not to take what I write too literally. 

Why am I telling you this? Because suddenly I have readers, "Fousands of 'em". It would seem that 10% of all the views that the blog has ever had occurred in June 2025. Now, clearly these aren't proper sentient people. They aren't even wargamers. I'm assuming they're AI bots expanding their 'learning' to cover my ramblings. Don't you find it worrying that our new overlords will treat all this made-up tosh with a much seriousness as they do a serious thing on a serious subject written in a serious way by the Scottish philosopher Jock 'Serious' McSerious? I know I do.