...alcohol may be man’s worst enemy, but the bible says love your enemy...

by Will Brasher

Welcome to those returning to the Conclave and those just appearing for the first time, well, take a seat, we are all friends here...

I've been taking my sweet time on writing up this one... nice to do so at least once a week tho...

This is a nice quick shift write up too, sad really as it should have been a social gaming evening. We did have one chap turn up but I had a chat with him, he had a cup of green tea and decided not to hang around and soon disappeared, I was advised another person showed up but left too. Ah well, perhaps on a Monday evening instead of asking people as they come in if they have a booking we should be asking if they have a booking or are here for social gaming? Likely. Well I guess also it was a Bank Holiday Monday so perhaps it was always going to be quiet, we'll see.

I do think it may have been better for me to be in longer in the daytime for a Bank Holiday as it seemed it was very busy in the day, I spent a lot of the evening trying to tidy the wall up!

A bunch of the usuals here but with the addition of Men at Work which I taught a group who just kepy playing! Always a joy when they take to a game well, I decided with the level of fun they were having I really need to try this game...

A group who comes in regularly took a pile of suggestions from me, I only took a photo of Secret Hitler but they had several others including Just One and Herd Mentality (kinda opposites to each other...) Great fun to teach them and chat a bit I need to line up more games for a decent sized table like them and for them too when they come back in again!

Well, that's all I have to say and that may be because I've been recovering as we closed a tad early and had a bit of a staff do as previously mentioned.

Recap: Steve, one of the owners, is moving onwards in life, staying with the company but moving to Bristol. His partner and him got engaged and are having a baby so made the decision to move to where they want to be... thus an excuse for a bit of a do...

Plenty of games going on, Tumblin-Dice as always is a favourite, my own copies of JamSumo (Second Edition) and also Werewords Deluxe Edition, FUSE and a quick The King is Dead: Second Edition too. There was then some NQ64 goodness next door including shots and a bit of DDR with Steve as on the first night out with him we had a dance off so decided to do the same again! I headed off home after that but some of them went to the Casino to the wee early hours, not my scene and I had plans for the next day so thought I'd been out long enough!

So what plans for Tuesday? Only a daytime gaming session with friends!

Originally it was going to be just me and a friend of mine, Adam, who had helped me considerably when I was moving house. I realised Mark was free, he has been helping out in the kitchen at work and is only here for a few weeks and also is of a similar temperament to Adam. Adam also asked Helen to join us, she bought along her kids: Rory and Isobelle! We set up a slew of games suitable for Isobelle and managable for Helen too as she was also looking after baby Rory. First up was Men at Work, without the penalties as Rory kept slapping the table so we just mucked about with it, followed by some Railroad Ink Challenge: Shining Yellow Edition. At this point Nathan finished his kitchen shift and joined us too so we had enough for some Tumblin-Dice ('If you haven't tumbled- you haven't lived' - should be the tagline), after this we split as Nathan fancied something a bit heavier so went off with Mark to play Blood Rage. We had some Battle Sheep, Loopin' Louie and ICECOOL, all just right for a young lady and people who had been drinking a few hours...

During this time the UK Playtesters of Birmingham started their first post-Covid meet up so I went and congratulated Tom Holness on getting Deckchairs On The Titanic funded on Kickstarter recently and introduced myself to the rest of them. In the future I'll do some special blogs on their games and the designers too, that should be fun!

I hung around as Hope was just finishing her shift and her boyfriend Felix was coming in and they wanted to play some games so, bonus gaming time!

So, finally got to play Men at Work properly, loved it as did Hope and Felix. Tokaido was requested next, just what I needed, a nice calm game after a few drinks! OK Play introduced to them next and after that a quick Abandon All Artichokes as I'd left my games there from the night before so thought they'd enjoy, they did! Hung around for Sam and Katy to finish as it would be Sam's Birthday at midnight, off to NQ64 for the 2nd night in a row, Hope & Felix like Pinball and Bubble Bobble, I even convinced Hope to play me at Point Blank too, she enjoyed it even if I beat her on most of the games! Quick Happy Birthday to our Sam and then that'll do for the day!

I spent Wednesday recuperating and, after the weekly phonecall from my Mum, did a spot of shopping and further unpacking and tidying of the flat.

That's pretty much me up to date. A nice eaerly week social session or two, doubt I'll see this much action for a while now though. Time will tell. Farewell Conclave, glad you turned up... remember... keep your conflict to the gaming table!