Category Archives: News

Next Meeting, 2nd June 2026

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 2nd June 2026 at the Horse and Jockey Pub.  As usual, we will start playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.  The pub is doing food, so those that are eating will be arriving from around 6.45pm.

This week, the “Feature Game” will be “Sharkspan” (better known as the Sharks and Reefs expansion for Finspan; base game rules, expansion rules, expansion review).  “Sharkspan” adds lots more cards and, in particular Shark cards, as well as a new scoring mechanism around the addition of reefs.  This is in addition to showing off the new acquisitions from UK Games Expo, of course…!

Finspan: Sharks & Reefs
– Image by stonemaiergames.com,
adapted by boardGOATS

And speaking of sharks…

Joe had been feeling a bit down, and mentioned this to Jeff one evening at The Jockey over a pint.  “You know what your problem is,” said Jeff, “You aren’t getting enough exercise.”

He went on, “I was feeling like you, but then I took up triathlon, and now I feel much more positive.  In fact, I’m planning to take part in a big race on the Western coast of Australia soon.”

Joe was impressed.  “That’s great – Australia sounds amazing, but aren’t you worried about sharks?  Didn’t a bloke die swimming there a few weeks ago?”

Jeff nodded, “It is a worry.”  He paused, then went on, “But the way I see it is that a shark could swim faster than me, but I could probably run faster than a shark. So in a triathlon, it would be all come down to who is the better cyclist…”

UK Games Expo 2026

Today, Sunday, is the final day of the twentieth UK Games Expo at the NEC in Birmingham.  There has been a notably larger presence of mainstream news reporting on the event this year, and it is reported that there are expected to be over fifty-thousand people attending what the organisers are claiming is the largest hobby games convention in the UK.  The milestone was commemorated by the presence of a “museum” at the entrance, with displays and photos dating back to its first event in the Clarendon Suites in Edgbaston.

UKGE 2026
– Image by boardGOATS

The idea was originally conceived by Richard Denning and Tony Hyams in 2006, but as the event grew, more people became involved and venue expanded, first to the Hilton and now to the NEC.  UK Games Expo (also known as UKGE), now features a wide range of activities covering different genres, including exhibitors, shows, seminars, re-enactors and cosplay.  There is also a large organised Bring and Buy Sale, with open gaming space for people to play their purchases.  Every year, the event grows and changes, and while some recent years have felt very, very cramped, this year felt much less so.

UKGE 2026
– Image by boardGOATS

Many of the boardGOATs have made the journey, some just for a day out, with others working on stands or visiting for multiple days.  The trade-fair grows year-on-year, but the origin and focus of UK Games Expo has always been current games and open gaming, there are also organised play-testing and tournaments.  As usual, there is a lot of game-related geek-fare (including puzzles, furniture, mugs, clothing, jewellery, and other nick-nacks) and there are more cool dice available to see and buy than most “normal” people would ever believe!

UKGE 2026
– Image by boardGOATS

Most games companies have a stand at UKGE, some with sales, some just demoing and most with both.  Games stores including Zatu, Travelling Man, Chaos Cards and Waterstones had a presence, as well as large multinational companies like Asmodee, Allplay, Czech Games Edition and Hachette, and many smaller, independent games producers.  One of these was Mazaza Games who produced the popular game, Kavango, and were demoing its upcoming Lodges expansion and their next game, Scavengers.

Cat Earth
– Image by boardGOATS

Surprised Stare were there as usual, with a solo version of The Cousins’ War and their recent reimplementation of Kingmaker.  Matagot presented a cute little painting game called Kanō, and for those with an interest in both cats and B-movies in game-form, Cheatwell Games had Cat Earth available for purchase (no, not a bag of cat litter…). This is just a flavour of what is now such an enormous event that it is impossible not to miss something, indeed, it is pretty much guaranteed.  But that’s OK, it leaves something to see the next day!

UKGE 2026
– Image by boardGOATS

Spiel des Jahres Nominations 2026

It’s May, so it’s time for the nominations for the annual Spiel des Jahres Awards.  There are now many other awards (including the recently announced Golden Geek Awards), many of which are more suited to gamers.  However, the Spiel des Jahres and its sister awards the Kennerspiel (“expert’s” game) and Kinderspiel des Jahres (children’s game) are still the most prestigious and sought-after awards in board gaming and certainly the ones that carry the most weight with more casual gamers.  Of the three categories the most desirable is the family award, the Spiel des Jahres or “Red Poppel”, however, the Kennerspiel is typically of more interest to gamers.  The nominees for this year’s awards have been announced as:

 

One of themost noticable features of this list is the presence of two of the biggest, names in board game designe—Reiner Knizia, one of the most prolific games designers and Donald X. Vaccarino who designed the first deck-building game.  These are great names from the past, who have been shaping sales for the last thirty years, but are still producing great designs.  In contrast, the third game in the list requires and app and is based on QR codes.  It will be interesting to see which of these games receives the final award.

The Spiel des Jahres Awards
– Image from spiel-des-jahres.de

Next Meeting, 19th May 2026

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 19th May 2026 at the Horse and Jockey Pub.  As usual, we will start playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.  The pub is doing food, so those that are eating will be arriving from around 6.45pm.

Since we didn’t play it last time, this week, the “Feature Game” will be Pinched!, a set collecting, scheming and bluffing game where players are “Wealth Redistributors” (also known as Burglars; review & video tutorial). In this game, players take it in turns to be the Mastermind and plan a heist on one of the Mansions, with other players trying to muscle in on the action and come away with some swag.

Pinched!
– Image adapted by boardGOATS

And speaking of burglars…

Jeff was continuing his life of crime and had broken into a large house when he heard a voice, “Jesus is watching you.”

He dismissed it as paranoia and carried on rifling the cupboards when he heard the voice again, “Jesus is watching you.”

This time, Jeff knew it wasn’t in his head so he looked round the room and saw a parrot in the corner. He walked over to the parrot, and again it repeated, “Jesus is watching you.”

Jeff asked the parrot, “Is your name Jesus?”

“No, it’s Moses,” the parrot replied.

Jeff laughed and said, “Who on earth names a parrot Moses?”

The parrot answered, “The same person who named the Rottweiler Jesus…”

Next Meeting, 5th May 2026

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 5th May 2026 at the Horse and Jockey Pub.  As usual, we will start playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.  The pub is doing food, so those that are eating will be arriving from around 6.45pm.

This week, the “Feature Game” will be Pinched!, a set collecting, scheming and bluffing game where players are “Wealth Redistributors” (also known as Burglars; review & video tutorial). In this game, players take it in turns to be the Mastermind and plan a heist on one of the Mansions, with other players trying to muscle in on the action and come away with some swag.

Pinched!
– Image adapted by boardGOATS

And speaking of burglars…

The cost of living crisis had left Jeff and Joe short, so much so, that they had resorted to robbery. One night, well actually, in the early hours of one morning, they had donned masks and broken into an off-license. They were not trying for cash (and would have been unsuccessful anyhow as the takings had been taken away), they just fancied a little drop of something to keep them warm at night.

Squinting in the dark, Joe turned to Jeff and asked, “Is this whisky?”

Jeff replied, “Yeah, but not as wisky as wobbing a bank…”

Next Meeting, 21st April 2026

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 21st April 2026 at the Horse and Jockey Pub.  As usual, we will start playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.  The pub is doing food, so those that are eating will be arriving from around 6.45pm.

This week, the “Feature Game” will be the Magic Tower expansion to Die Wandelnden Türme (aka The Wandering Towers), a light game that is very popular within the group.  This expansion consists of five expansion modules, which can be combined arbitrarily (base game rules; base game review; expansion rules; expansion video review).  In this game, the graduating class of the Ravenrealm Magic School compete to demonstrate their mastery of magic by travelling to the legendary Ravenskeep.

Die Wandelnden Türme
– Image by boardGOATS

And speaking of magic schools…

Jeff had got himself a place at Hogwarts and the sorting hat had put him in Hufflepuff. While out on a broom with a Gryffindor and a Ravenclaw one day, a magic wind took them and left them stranded in a desert.

While trying to work out what to do, they stumbled upon a dusty old lamp.  The Grifindor picked it up and gave it a little rub with the sleeve of her robes.  Almost instantly, a genie popped out and said he would grant them each one wish.

The Gryffindor said, “I really wish I was back at Hogwarts,” and in a puff of smoke, she was gone. The Ravenclaw then added, “And I wish I was back home with my family,” then she disappeared too. Jeff sadly said, “Aww man, I’m so lonely now, I wish my friends were still here…”

Next Meeting, 7th April 2026

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 7th April 2026 at the Horse and Jockey Pub.  As usual, we will start playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.  The pub is doing food, so those that are eating will be arriving from around 6.45pm.

This week, the “Feature Game” will be Igel Ärgern, which roughly translates as “harassing hedgehogs” (rules; video review and tutorial).  It is an older racing game in which, similar to Turf Horse Racing, players move any pieces, though rather than betting on the winner, players use other players’ prickly critters to obstruct, annoy, and generally harass their opposition.

Igel Ärgern
– Image by boardGOATS

And speaking of prickles…

Two toothpicks were strolling through the forest and spot a hedgehog.  “Oh,” said one of the toothpicks, “I didn’t know there was a bus…”

Next Meeting, 24th March 2026

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 24th March 2026 at the Horse and Jockey Pub.  As usual, we will start playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.  The pub is doing food, so those that are eating will be arriving from around 6.30pm.

This week, the “Feature Game” will be SCENERY, which is a tableau building, tile laying game where players are creating hiking routes through a hexagonal landscape with tiles of varying altitudes (rules).  The game is by the same designer as Nova Luna, Habitats, Powerships and Waddle, Corné van Moorsel.

SCENERY
– Image from kickstarter.com

And speaking of hiking…

Jeff was planning a trip in the northern Cascades and he was really hoping his friend Joe would go along.

“Sounds great, but I’m not sure I can afford it, or even get the time off work,” said Joe sadly.

“That’s a shame, I had some hikes planned and really wanted you to come along,” answered Jeff.

“It sounds a lovely idea—I’m sure you could find someone else to go with you though.” replied Joe.

“Oh, but I really wanted YOU to go,” Jeff went on.

“Well, I’d love to, I mean, we always have so much fun when we are out and about, don’t we!” added Joe.

“Well, yes we do, but it’s not that,” Jeff explained, “I read that you should always go hiking with someone in worse shape than yourself—there are bears out there…”

Next Meeting, 17th March 2026

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 17th March 2026 at the Horse and Jockey Pub.  As usual, we will start playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.  The pub is doing food again, so those that are eating will be arriving from around 6.30pm.

This week, the “Feature Game” will be Planet Unknown, a sort of poly-ominos tile-laying game where players are trying to develop the most successful planet (rules, review and instructional video).

Planet Unknown
– Image by BGG contributor PZS69

And speaking of unknowns…

Jeff was chatting to his mate Joe over a pint at their local.

“I keep getting these calls from unknown numbers,” said Jeff.  “It’s really weird,” he continued, “They just sneeze and then cough a bit, and then they hang up.”

“Have you registered with the Telephone Preference Service?” asked Joe.

“No, not yet,” replied Jeff, “But I hear they are very good at stopping cold calls…”

Next Meeting, 3rd March 2026

Our next meeting will be on Tuesday 3rd March 2026 at the Horse and Jockey Pub.  As usual, we will start playing shorter games from 7.30pm as people arrive, until 8pm when we will start something a little longer.  The pub is doing food again, so those that are eating will be arriving from around 6.30pm.

This week, the “Feature Game” will be the new Bordeaux Expansion for one of the group’s favourite games, Viticulture (base game rules, review and how to play video; expansion rules and review).  With just a new board, this new expansion incudes an engine building element by changing the actions and adding upgrade options.  It also makes a number of other small tweaks that effectively provide a faster start to the game (for example, players begin with income and only one field making the fairly standard strategy of selling land early in the game obsolete).

Viticulture: Bordeaux
– Image from stonemaiergames.com

And speaking of wine…

Jeff was relaxing with his girlfriend, sharing a bottle of wine, when she said, “I love you so much. I don’t know how I could ever live without you.”

Jeff was surprised, but very pleased—she’d never said anything like that to him before.  In disbelief, he replied, “Is that you or the wine talking?

She answered, “It’s me talking to the wine…”