Pasteboard & Plastic XV

"Caylus with guns" First game

 Pasteboard and Plastic is the name of the games days organised by Crabro and held three times a year in the scout hut at Saltdean to raise money for the local (42nd Brighton) scouts and of course to provide geeky fun for local gamers. In this case lots of gamers in what looked at times to be a record turnout, certainly for the Summer event when even geeks may emerge blinking into the sunlight for holidays.

I turned down an offer of a place at another game of Rise of Empires as I wanted to get myself a cuppa and have a browse through the games on sale. I can't resist a Western theme though and first game of the day for me was Carson City, a game memorably and accurately described by one of the players as "Caylus with guns". I had forgotten a lot of what I had learned in my previous plays of this some time ago and didn't cover myself in glory. I played a fairly solid game I thought but was lulled into a false sense of security by the almost pacifist play in my last experience of the game and consequently missed the arms race which left at least two of my opponents able to automatically win duels against me without needing to roll a die. Enjoyable but rather more serious than I am used to with genre games. Not a "yeeha!" or "Draw ya varmint" to be heard. An expansion featuring ladies of the night was mooted however. Thanks to my opponents, Kevin, Simon and Steve.

Just some of the games on sale

Between games, I was drawn back often to the games on sale. There was a mouth-watering array of shrink-wrapped new games on display in addition to a well-stocked second-hand sale or trade table. My indecisiveness eventually cost me a nice cheap copy of Ra - a game I like, and possibly Airships, an attractive looking new game. I drooled over several big, high production-value games dripping with cards and miniatures (e.g., Castle Ravenloft, Mansion of Madness and a Heroscape basegame) as well as some expansions to games which I already own, like Ticket to Ride and Carcassonne. In the event I persuaded myself that I could not afford to buy games and expansions which I knew would not be to my groups' taste and would sit forlornly on the shelf unplayed. Hard not to point birthday money at Ravenloft given that it can be played solo though but as would be expected of such a big game, it was quite a lot of money despite the very competitive, and of course postage-free, prices of BoardGameClub who were supporting, and joining in, the event again.

Second hand games - I wish I'd nabbed Ra!

Power Grid was the second game I played I think, but on an interesting map I hadn't played before: Japan. I didn't stand much of a chance against young agile minds but it was a very enjoyable return to a game I really like. In the end I was able to have built and power 17 cities but in the same turn both my opponents built up to 18 and could power them all. First and second was decided on money and was, I think, won by Waaru by four electros.

Crabro & others at the back prepare the raffle

At some point I stopped for tea and sandwiches and retreated outside to check the state of the Tour and then decided to stop trying to read the F1 quali on a phone screen in bright sunlight and spent a few minutes back in the car with a cuppa and Radio 5's coverage of the damp ten minute final session. Result - Hamilton rather a long way back but a brilliant run by Scot Paul di Resta for sixth in his Force India.

Returning to help with the raffle set up I then watched the intriguing "Bag O' Geek" and San Juan, among other goodies, go to other ticket buyers but at least I managed to pass on Bionicle to perhaps a more appreciative owner. It has some nice and potentially very useful bits if nothing else.

Raffle prize donations

Last big game of the day for me was my own Pillars of the Earth, a worker-placement game I really enjoy. We played my German version but with no trouble owing to the beautiful card and board paste-ups by its previous owner, Carver, designer of Warrior Knights. In keeping with my general performance this week, I came a none too convincing third despite having acheived my aim of maxing out my gold, owning several blue ("metal") cubes and obtaining both the cards needed to convert these riches to victory points. Very enjoyable nevertheless and always nice to play with MaOldie and her offspring, in this case Waaru. Matthew made up the group I think.

My German copy of Pillars of the Earth

After this there were a number of more "filler" type games including Wyatt Earp, unofficial member of the Mystery Rummy series, (yes I came third/last with only $17,000), Spoof of which I think I may have actually won a game, and Flaschenteufel which was sadly abandoned after one hand owing to the arrival of hot food from the local takeaways just as the rules were beginning to come back to me. Chips and cards do not mix unless they are poker chips, however.

Glory to Rome: mrwendal, Waaru and Petra Pan

One of my current favourite games and rather more than a filler really, Glory to Rome hit the table and I was very pleased to finally have a proper win. albeit shared with waaru who had ended the game without realising I had equaled his score.

Finally I got a couple more of my light games played. Diamant and Guillotine require almost no rule learning and very little thought about strategy so were ideal for the end of the day and were played in suitably light-hearted fashion by myself, Waaru, Petra Pan and mrwendal to continue the practice of using "geeknames", plus Abby and Mickey whose alter egos, if any, are unknown to me.

I left slightly before the final die-hards around midnight but feeling rather guilty about not staying for the wash up as I usually do, did clear away one or two tables and chairs to appease my conscience.

Another very good P&P thanks to Crabro, BGC, and everyone who played, brought games to sell, donated prizes etc. Hopefully, a substantial amount has been raised for the local scouts.

If anyone ever reads this and is interested in the event, there are "geeklists" on Boardgamegeek.com covering most, if not all the past P&Ps and a metalist here. There is also a Yahoo group which will keep you up to date with details of future events here, run by Crabro's alter ego Sevenwattbulb. Mike, sporting one of his trademark colourful shirts in the picture above also writes the events up on his very interesting website: Theblisspages