[F] NL Gamesmeet 1.0 Meet Report
Leo Breebaart
NL Gamesmeet 1.0 Meet Report
----------------------------
Date:
Saturday 14 April 2001
Locations:
LaserQuest, | Chez Eelco,
Eindhoven | Geldrop
The Netherlands
Players:
Eelco Giele
Rolf Milde
Uwe Milde
Laurabelle
Cybercat
Flexor
Maarten Kreuger
Gerbrand
Arwen Lune
Jeroen Burger
Boris Bret
Kimberley Verburg
Jos Dingjan
Patrick Dersjant
Michael "The Roach" Janszen
Leo Breebaart
This past Easter weekend saw the first ever NL Gamesmeet, proposed,
organised and hosted in a most excellent fashion by Eelco Giele, may his
Empires never go into decline and may his Wokkel always be curled.
We rejected the usual afpmeet pub/cafe/restaurant environment in favour
of the more comfortable ambiance of Eelco's residence, where everything,
from the rain, hail and snow hitting the windows, to the large
quantities of available food and drinks, to the fact that his parents
had thoughtfully ran away to New Zealand when they heard we were coming,
conspired to create an atmosphere suitable for enthusiastically loud
sessions of gameplaying that lasted until deep in the night.
As agreed beforehand, we all met up at the Eindhoven train station on
Saturday in the early afternoon. The meet drew a satisfyingly decent
number of attendees, and was especially above average in terms of
infusing the benelux-meet community with fresh blood. It was, for
instance, a first afpmeet for Maarten and for Gerbrand, a first
benelux-meet for Laurabelle (over from Germany), and a welcome return
after almost a year's absence for Boris (back from France).
From the station we proceeded on foot to the nearby LaserQuest venue
(already familiar to most of us from previous afpmeet shootouts), where
for the next twenty minutes we ran, dodged, and occasionally stumbled
our way through a maze of twisty little passages, all alike, while
bearing large weapons of infra-red violence with which we discriminately
tried to blast each others' cybervests into flatliner purgatory, all
this to a pulsating soundtrack of loud techno, running footsteps, and
muffled cries along the lines of "Back! Back! Back!!" and "Don't shoot
me you idiot, I'm also green!"
The Red Team soundly trashed the Green Team, that much is known, but
computer error and/or staff incompetency denied us the expected hardcopy
score sheets afterwards. This was unfortunate, as half the fun of
LaserQuesting is spending the rest of the evening analysing the results
in excruciating detail, but I suppose those of us who didn't
participate, or who, say, ended up in 19th place out of 19 (I will name
no names) may have secretly been somewhat relieved. At least we got
compensation for our loss in the form of a price discount.
After this -- literal -- warming up exercise, we found our way to the
cars, distributed ourselves, and caravanned to Geldrop for the second
and major part of the meet: the actual gaming sessions. These, I should
explain, explicitly did not include computer games, but only concerned
h2h interactions aided by dice, pawns, safety pins, and many, many, many
pieces of betexted and bepictured rectangular cardboard.
Since there are not too many games one can play with sixteen people at
the same time, we split ourselves up into smaller subgroups of
fluctuating membership for the rest of the meet. Games played included
_Machiavelli_/_Citadels_ ("No Leo, you *can't* be King more than twice
in a row"), _Carcassonne_ (which I didn't play myself, but the chief
virtue of which I understand to be that it is a *short* game), _Settlers
of Catan_ (another one I didn't play, but which I believe primarily
revolved around sheep), _Talisman_ (a very complex role-playing
boardgame that outlasted all others in terms of duration), and _Vinci_
(not quite _Risk_, not quite _Diplomacy_, but great fun -- that is,
until your budding empire gets wiped off the board in a single turn by
the Evil Bitch Slave Trader Queen From The USA, not that I'm bitter or
anything).
Smaller games perpetrated on the fringes of the big stuff included
attempts to untangle (or retangle) Roach's bronze Snake & Star & Keys, a
sizzling USA - Netherlands match of _Rock, Paper, Scissors_ (after some
initial confusion over whether American or European rules should be
followed, this ended in a draw), a New-Zealand - USA bout of _Thumb
Wars_ (won by the USA who had a clear thumbal advantage), and of course
the party game of mystery and detection that never ceases to amuse:
"Which One Of You Snored So Loudly Last Night?".
As already indicated, Eelco and his +5 Fridge of Holding did a brilliant
job of keeping the masses fed and quenched, even if the sugar-poisoning
we nearly inflicted on ourselves with the puffed rice manna was only
barely compensated for by judicious applications of the more salty
Wokkels. Eelco's pasta dinner was a treat as well (Danish feta cheese
notwithstanding), and afterwards everybody heaved big content sighs and
redistributed themselves for new rounds of gaming, with the exception of
Laurabelle who was tired and went to bed, thus continuing the slightly
worrisome tradition of American females spending large parts of their
benelux-meets in various states of hibernation.
Although this was a gamesmeet, some of the more traditional afpmeet
activities happened as well: fluffy toys were deployed, with as most
noteworthy newcomer the Confederate WASP (the P stands for Pig). The
book _Mammoth II: Longtusk_ had slid its way back into the Netherlands
again. Attempts to actually set fire to it were not successful, but
ensured that the book now smells bad physically as well as
metaphorically. It was finally rewarded to Cybercat, which means it will
probably show up again at the next meet -- if only we had thought to
hide it in Laurabelle's bag while she was sleeping...
Moderate amounts of the usual PDA geeking took place, meet virgins were
presented with the benelux-meet newbie alien finger monsters, and this
meet's brown-paper-envelope moment came courtesy of Hypatia and Penny
Parkin who had felt that Eelco's new-ish motorcycle license and
accompanying red BMW were happy tidings that needed to be made known to
a wider audience, and what better way to ensure this than to have a
minion present Eelco a "Made in China" bike, with, according to the
English blurb on the box: "talking 2 sentences with siren sound and
blinking blue lights blinking front lights with friction motor"?
Around 3 a.m. most of us had finally finished our gaming, and we
unfurled our sleeping bags, hoping to catch at least a few hours of
sleep. This was made slightly more difficult by (a) the Talisman players
over in the far corner still going at it and continuing to fill the
night with intriguing chatter of the "the thieves steal all your gold
coins and hide them in the oasis" kind, (b) Eelco standing in the middle
of the room and for some reason giving a lecture on the dehydratory
effects on the human body of drinking too much water, and (c) the
already touched-upon loud snoring by person or persons unknown, but
suspected to be Flexor -- but we managed.
The following morning we very gradually allowed ourselves to become
sentient. Our numbers already thinned by now, the remaining attendees
were nevertheless enthusiastic enough to start a final round of gaming,
after which we helped Eelco clean up, admired the bike (the real thing)
and finally went our separate ways. Boris, Jos, Kimberley and myself
boarded the train northwards, and we spent the final hours of the
journey in pleasant if slightly yawnful conversation, some of which was
even about Terry Pratchett (and some of which was about Hermione's
anomalous anemones -- but never mind).
In conclusion, I think it's safe to say that the first NL Gamesmeet has
been a terrific success, and I can only hope that we have witnessed the
beginning of another benelux-meet tradition, and that the Gamesmeet will
take its place alongside such established entries as the Videomeet and
the pre-Clarecraft meet.
Eelco, when were your parents thinking of taking their next holiday?
--
Leo Breebaart <l...@lspace.org>
Leo Breebaart
> > _Mammoth II: Longtusk_ had slid its way back into the Netherlands
> > again. [...] It was finally rewarded to Cybercat [...]
> Cybercat, mmm. Anyone care to explain what the reasons were for giving it
> to him? Flexor?
I think I did the actual rewarding, based on some atrociously bad pun,
which, thankfully, I have by now completely forgotten.
> > The following morning we very gradually allowed ourselves to become
> > sentient. Our numbers already thinned by now, the remaining
> > attendees were nevertheless enthusiastic enough to start a final
> > round of gaming,
>
> Care to elaborate on this, as by this stage I had already left because
> of family commitments.
We first sat around talking and having breakfast and geeking PDAs for a
while. Then half of us played a shortened round of _Vinci_ (only 60
points needed to win instead of 100), and the other half played
_Machiavelli_/_Citadels_.
This kept us all busy for another, I don't know, 90 minutes or so. After
that, Laurabelle really had to leave with Uwe and Rolf in order to be on
time for the train she had to catch in Koeln, and so that signalled the
end of the gaming and the start of the cleaning activities.
> It's been quite a different meet, but the formula actually works quite
> well. The only thing I personally regret is only having played two
> games, albeit quite long ones - first Settlers of Catan, then
> Talisman.
As a result of this meet, I have spent *way* too much time on-line this
week, browsing games-related web pages, reading game reviews,
subscribing to rec.games.board, and now in fact intending to buy four
extremely promising looking games: _Castel_, which is a sister game to
_Machiavelli_, co-created by the same author, and with equally gorgeous
graphics; _Evo_, the latest game from the _Vinci_ author, a little
American party game called _Apples to Apples_ that looks as if it's
going to be a bucketload of fun, and finally _Princes of Florence_,
which *everybody* is raving about.
At least two of these games (_Apples_ and _Castel_) should be relatively
short games, and perhaps when the next Gamesmeet is organised we could
try to focus more on these kinds of games, so that there can be more
mingling and people will have the chance to play a larger number of
different games instead of just a single one that takes six hours.
Or we can skip the LaserQuest and simply start six hours earlier. :-)
--
Leo Breebaart <l...@lspace.org>
jester
<l...@lspace.org> wrote:
>
> As a result of this meet, I have spent *way* too much time on-line this
> week, browsing games-related web pages, reading game reviews,
> subscribing to rec.games.board, and now in fact intending to buy four
> extremely promising looking games: _Castel_, which is a sister game to
> _Machiavelli_, co-created by the same author, and with equally gorgeous
> graphics; _Evo_, the latest game from the _Vinci_ author, a little
> American party game called _Apples to Apples_ that looks as if it's
> going to be a bucketload of fun, and finally _Princes of Florence_,
> which *everybody* is raving about.
>
Can I just recommend Chez Geek <http://www.sjgames.com/chezgeek>?
And this looks interesting, if anybody's worried about Quake withdrawl
symptoms for CCDE or similar:
<http://www.sjgames.com/frag/> (currently in playtesting)
Andy Brown
--
http://www.jester.nu
AFP Code V1.1a AC$/Mu-UK dx@ s-:@ a UP+ R>+ F h> P-- OSUD-: ?C M-
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Gideon Hallett
<snip>
> AFAICS youse went to bed earlier, about 2.30 or so. I distinctly
> remember it getting dark in the other room, whilst we were about
> halfways playing Talisman.
>
> > This was made slightly more difficult by
> > (a) the Talisman players
> > over in the far corner still going at it and continuing to fill
> > the night with intriguing chatter of the "the thieves steal all
> > your gold coins and hide them in the oasis" kind,
>
> Quite a nice game, but not short. IIRC we played it for about six
> hours or so, and only ended it as we wanted to go to sleep, and we
> had a chance to give up when Eelco got into the final stage.
Good grief; you mean there are other surviving sets of Talisman out
there?
If any of you good people should feel like visiting at some point,
I can offer you a choice of Talisman (1st edition + all expansion
sets), Kings and Things, Dragonquest, Cry Havoc and Chaos
Marauders, as well as sundry more normal games like Trivial Pursuit
and Stratego.
Gideon.
(Who remembers when Games Workshop produced stuff that was actually
worth having; and regrets that he never managed to get Battlecars.)
Sylvain Chambon
Hallett wrote:
>Patrick Dersjant wrote:
[Talisman]
>> Quite a nice game, but not short. IIRC we played it for about six
>> hours or so, and only ended it as we wanted to go to sleep, and
>> we had a chance to give up when Eelco got into the final stage.
>
>Good grief; you mean there are other surviving sets of Talisman out
>there?
>
>If any of you good people should feel like visiting at some point,
>I can offer you a choice of Talisman (1st edition + all expansion
>sets), Kings and Things, Dragonquest, Cry Havoc and Chaos
>Marauders, as well as sundry more normal games like Trivial Pursuit
>and Stratego.
<envy>
<drool>
Ahhh... you (collective "you", also including all the crowd at the
NL Gamesmeet) know you can be charged with Generating a Wave of
Nostalgia. Which is a hanging offense.
At school (uni), I was part of the Gaming Club. We played basically
every game we could lay our paws on (including a LOT of Risk, for
some reason, but also a fair bit of Diplomacy, some... whatwasit,
set in Medieval Italy, Condottiere... Chess and Go, of
course... role-playing whenever we could fit it in... Dune, the
board game, was very good too... and a lot of others (I've got a
terrible memory at names).
I spent all my Tuesday afternoons in second year playing games
(Tuesday afternoon was maths, and the math teacher could be relied
upon not to say anything more than what was in the book, so provided
we went to the "small group problem solving" sessions we were
assured to get a decent grade).
I feel homesick now, because of you.
So... when's the next Gamesmeet? I might even try to make it...
Sylvain.
--
Sylvain Chambon - gou...@lepcf.org
New and improved! http://gourou.lepcf.org
Leo Breebaart
> So... when's the next Gamesmeet? I might even try to make it...
We'd welcome you with open arms (or at least with nifty alien finger
monsters).
I don't think another Gamesmeet is going to happen until after
Clarecraft, though. How'd you feel about coming to Woolpit first? It's
usually a fun weekend, and I'm sure lots of afpers, not just the Dutch
ones, would enjoy meeting you.
--
Leo Breebaart <l...@lspace.org>
jester
<diog...@freeuk.com> wrote:
<snip>
>
> (Who remembers when Games Workshop produced stuff that was actually
> worth having; and regrets that he never managed to get Battlecars.)
Cheap & Nasty rip off of SJG's Car Wars it was. 1st Edition Battlecars
didn't even let you turn corners (that got changed very quickly 8-)
Andy Brown (who remembers Games Workshop when they sold other people's
stuff)
The Roach
says...
> a little
> American party game called _Apples to Apples_ that looks as if it's
> going to be a bucketload of fun,
Ahh yes, Apples To Apples, by Out Of The Box Games. It _is_ very much
fun, and really a party game, nothing serious. You _can_ play it for any
amount of time, up to a certain numer ofg points, a number of rounds,
whatever... and dies often come up with 'huh?' moments of its' own.
--
penI'yIn 'ej pechep
The Roach (www.roach.demon.nl - Filks, Stories, poems...)
(Spammer trap - when replying by e-mail, check headers for User-ID and
domain, else you're addressing my spambin...)
The Roach
diog...@freeuk.com says...
> Good grief; you mean there are other surviving sets of Talisman out
> there?
Talisman 2nd ed. - still with the puzzle board and cardboard counters -
including all expansions but Dragon (whic h somehow has escaped me :-( )
Melusine
<diog...@freeuk.com> wrote:
<snip>
>If any of you good people should feel like visiting at some point,
>I can offer you a choice of Talisman (1st edition + all expansion
>sets), Kings and Things, Dragonquest, Cry Havoc and Chaos
>Marauders, as well as sundry more normal games like Trivial Pursuit
>and Stratego.
Of course, you might also care to remember that there's a
scary landlady...
Mel
--
\\\\ "You do it, I can't be buggered"|
\\\\\__, clanw...@bigfoot.com - Defending the|
\\\\\^c rights of apathetic hedgehogs since '00|
Peter Ellis
>
> Of course, you might also care to remember that there's a
> scary landlady...
>
I take it that's a warning, and not one of the games?
Peter (loving dangerously...)
Peter Ellis
news:9c1r8r$vh0$1...@library.lspace.org...
Living! I meant living!
*argh*
Peter
Laurabelle
wrote:
>NL Gamesmeet 1.0 Meet Report
>----------------------------
<snip>
>This past Easter weekend saw the first ever NL Gamesmeet, proposed,
>organised and hosted in a most excellent fashion by Eelco Giele, may his
>Empires never go into decline and may his Wokkel always be curled.
I am going through *serious* Wokkel withdrawal. Those things
are nearly as addictive as the puffy rice.
<snip>
[Leo played games, including...]
> _Vinci_
>(not quite _Risk_, not quite _Diplomacy_, but great fun -- that is,
>until your budding empire gets wiped off the board in a single turn by
>the Evil Bitch Slave Trader Queen From The USA, not that I'm bitter or
>anything).
Awww Leo, I didn't know you cared. :-)
<snip>
>In conclusion, I think it's safe to say that the first NL Gamesmeet has
>been a terrific success,
Very enthusiastically seconded!
Laurabelle
--
I have this itching feeling in my subconscious that I
don't have a husband, two kids, a cat and a car, if you
know what I mean.
-- Maggie Trias
Andy Davison
<9c1raa$vi0$1...@library.lspace.org>, "Peter Ellis" <pj...@cam.ac.uk>
wrote:
>Living! I meant living!
I wouldn't mention Duckman in any posts if I were you :)