Our top ten board game seller of last year - Number 10!

Last year we had one of the best years for board games sales, but what were our top ten sellers? For the next few days we will take the time to look at each one and give you a brief overview of the rules.

Starting today with one of my families all time favourite games...

Number 10

Splendor is a game for 2-4 players. Splendor is a fast-paced, gem drafting, card development game that sees players take on the role of gem merchants, battling through the renaissance to mine raw materials, transform them into precious stones and then sell them on to the rich and affluent.

Splendor is a game published by Space Cowboys, who also published T.I.M.E Stories, you must build your might and worth and attempt to dominate the market. You'll use your resources to purchase stronger and more expensive cards with the gems you already have. If you're lucky, your work may even catch the eye of one of the nobles, and they may just pay you a visit, adding to your prestige points pool.

Each turn, a player may choose to either take three different coloured gems, two of the same colour (as long as there are two gems left in the stack), purchase a card or reserve a card. Using these four moves, you must construct a strategy that will give you an advantage and make increase your wealth, allowing you to access those stronger cards while also increasing your prestige.

The first player to 15 prestige points will bring the game to a close, but be warned. As soon as 15 or more prestige points are obtained by a player, the game continues for one more round, so you may just find yourself losing to a player who had planned a big move before you declared your 15 prestige points.

Splendor encourages the use of cunning strategies and devious moves and this creates a game that plays wonderfully well. The colourful and detailed artwork makes this a must-have for any board game collection and will have players wanting to play again and again.

You can come in and play this great game by booking one of our tables, take a copy home to borrow, watch a video review of the game and play with the family or purchase a copy from our website.

Our improved painting sessions.

Starting from tomorrow we will be offering a variety of painting options. 

For those that just want to book a table, you are welcome to still do this. It is completely free to do this and all you need to do is book a small table and tell me that you want to paint in the comments (so that I don't set up scenery).

The new options that we will be adding are...

OPTION 1 - A space to paint for up to 4 people. You will get use of our magnifying light, model holders and turntable. This is £1 per person. (although we currently on have two lights in the shop)

OPTION 2 - A space to paint for up to 4 people, use of the light, model holders, turntable and use of our range of 50+ paints, plastic glue and spray paint. (spraying will need to be done outside)

You will just need to bring your models and a paint brush!

To book these options, simply look under our book a table options and find "Painting Station Booking". Sessions are available on Friday and Saturday afternoons and you can book for up to 4 people. Each person can choose a different option. You can also either pay online or pay when you arrive. 

The session lasts for up to 4 hours and if you get thirsty or hungry we have cold drinks and snacks available. In this cold weather the heater will be on and you can even get yourself a coffee!

BOOK A PAINTING SESSION NOW!

White Dwarf - January edition

 

White Dwarf is Games Workshop's premium Warhammer magazine, packed with amazing content each month – including new rules and background, short stories, regular columns, special guests, and more.

Here’s what you can look forward to in the January issue:

Contact!
Letters, questions and pictures of miniatures sent in by you, our readers.

Worlds of Warhammer
What does it mean to be 'only' Human in the 41st Millennium?

Inside the Studio
Check out the games we’ve played and the models we’ve painted this month.

WARHAMMER 40,000

- Flashpoint Herald of Misery: Bitter Ambition
New background that focuses on Warsmith Czagra of the Iron Warriors, as he begins his conquest aboard the Herald of Misery.

- Flashpoint Herald of Misery: The Untamed Ark
From flailing pseudopods to heaving flesh, we present new rules for 6 different types of Warp-Infected Entity Tiles, and a whopping 6 bespoke Missions for fighting Boarding Action battles on the Herald of Misery.

- Arks of Omen
An interview with Andy Clark and Richard Butler about their latest cataclysmic creation and story arc for Warhammer 40,000.

- Echoes from the Warp
Duncan Waugh joins us to provide insights into the all-new way to play Warhammer 40,000 – Boarding Actions. Bring your space suit!

- Tactica: Close Quarters
Duncan returns! This time he’s written a tactics article about fighting on spaceships, and opening and closing doors.

- Ground Truth
A tactical look at a Boarding Action mission from Arks of Omen: Abaddon. How will you tackle this challenge?

WARHAMMER: AGE OF SIGMAR

- Flashpoint Clash: Of Fang and Fungus
New background and rules for a campaign of underground war between Gloomspite Gitz and Skaven. Provides background and a host of new rules, as well as a narrative battleplan, The Warped Heart.

- Flashpoint Rondhol: Stemming the Tide
The Kraken Blades continue to harry Ka-rokk’s forces as they move into Lendu.

- Fantastic War Hosts: Lords of War
From moonlit monochrome to the psychedelic colours of Tzeentch, Lords of War presents a host of beautifully painted and converted heroes and villains from across the Mortal Realms.

KILL TEAM

- Battle Report: Deadly Hangar
Matt’s Warpcoven, the Prodigal Sons, and Lyle’s Kommandos, Da Sneaky Ladz, battle to the death in a Kill Team Battle Report.

- Kill Team Engage!
The final part in the White Dwarf team’s epic Kill Team campaign reaches its climax, but who’s the winner?

- Operation Briefing
What’s the best way to score your Critical Ops objectives? Elliot Hamer investigates.

WARCRY

- Warriors of the Depths
A tidal wave of new rules and background for using the Idoneth Deepkin in Warcry. Look out for new Tidal Raid rules, along with 2 new Quests, an Encampment, a bespoke Lesser Artefacts table, and background tables for Idoneth Deepkin warbands.

WARHAMMER UNDERWORLDS

- Glory Points
More Nemesis deck building insights! However, this time John Bracken provides guidance for building a deck for the sneakiest gitz around – Grinkrak’s Looncourt!

MIDDLE-EARTH™ STRATEGY BATTLE GAME

- Middle-earth Battle Report: Savage Assault
Can Faramir’s Men of Gondor hold back Gothmog’s Orcs amidst the ruins of Osgiliath? Includes a new narrative scenario Skirmish In Osgiliath, and features both the heroes from the new Battle of Osgiliath boxed set fighting over some gorgeous new Gondor terrain...

Also included in this issue are the following free inserts:
- 2023 Hobby Bingo Card, with a miniature photography backdrop on the reverse side
- 6x Warp-infected Entity Boarding Actions game tiles

The Thursday Night Thing!!! (TNT)

 

We have been running our TNT events on Thursday evenings for sometime now and have decided that there needs to be a change. Firstly not every event needs to be a tournament, in fact most will not. Instead they will be a mix of casual games, beginner sessions, leagues and the occasional tournament. Secondly there will be some events that will feature very regularly (and this will reflect the popularity of the games, changing as people's interests shift.) Finally there will be a schedule of events which we will try and announce a month in advance. 

We started things off with two weeks of Dreadball, last week we did the final game of our 2022 league followed by this week with a beginners session to start finding new players for our league event which is start in February.

Here is the full schedule for January and February. It is subject to change and the best way to keep up to date is on our discord channel ... 

JANUARY 5th      DREADBALL EXHIBITION GAME (END OF 2022 SEASON)
JANUARY 12th    DREADBALL BEGINNERS SESSION
JANUARY 19th    DUNGEON BOWL BEGINNERS SESSION
JANUARY 26th    HEROCLIX CASUAL PLAY EVENING

FEBRUARY 2nd   BLOOD BOWL BEGINNERS SESSION
FEBRUARY 9th    DREADBALL BEGINNERS SESSION AND CASUAL PLAY
FEBRUARY 16th  DUNGEON BOWL BEGINNERS SESSIONS AND CASUAL PLAY
FEBRUARY 23rd  HEROCLIX CASUAL PLAY EVENING

We should have March's schedule before the end of this month. If you have anything that you want adding to this then please let us know.

Battlefields - Who were the winners in 2022?

Battlefields was a two week event held in the store that saw players come together for some final battles of the year and compete to be the 2022 Champions. There were 5 events in all which featured some of our most popular game systems. Here are our Battlefield '22 winners...

Magic the Gathering - Piers Kennedy

Played over two nights, competitors competed in both Standard and Pioneer formats. There were six rounds in total and after Piers won the standard part of the event, just couldn't be caught.

Pokemon - Tavah Parry    

Played over three rounds of standard (best of three games). The turnout was good and there were some great games and after 3 hours of play Tavah was unbeaten and walked away with the victory in the final round. 

Dreadball - Tobey Hearne / Gary Cambell-Smith

Tobey was dominant throughout the league and never really looked in much trouble and won our first ever event. The exhibition match was a playoff for the top three teams, a chance to get some final glory. The game was brutal and the 'Fast and Furious' won on the final seconds of the game!!!

Kill Team - Phil Bright

This event consisted of 4 rounds over 4 different kill zones. The event was spread over two nights and it was a truly intense experience. Phil played consistently well throughout and by winning his final match managed to claim the overall victory by just one point. 

Battlefields - Dreadball Exhibition Match

Here is a quick write up of our final Dreadball match of 2022...

1. KDGames: 

   Following the league victory of the Dwarven Destroyers earlier this year, they return in a special exhibition match against the Piledrivers and The Fast and the Furious. This time however there is a twist as the other teams from the league will be combining to field an impartial team who's job stop the teams scoring and do as much damage as possible. It's all to play for tonight, so may the best team win.

2. [7:29 PM]KDGames:

   

3. [7:44 PM]KDGames: 

   The DD open the play and score a sneaky 1 point

4. [7:53 PM]KDGames: 

   The PD advance forward a grab one of the balls only to be hit by one of the impartial team.

5. [7:58 PM]KDGames: 

   The impartial team follow this up by hit both the other teams but the FF come off worst losing a player completely

6. [8:08 PM]KDGames: 

   The FF start their game with the captain knocking one of the impartial team to the ground and a quick score from an unmarked player. This is rewarded by a ball to the face from the launcher. (Another player is down)

7. [8:08 PM]KDGames:

   

8. [8:12 PM]KDGames: 

   Seeing the successful hit from the FF, the PD making an aggressive move only to see their own player removed as a casualty.

9. [8:13 PM]KDGames: 

   The captain does take the opportunity to score and the game is tied at 1 a piece

10. [8:20 PM]KDGames: 

    The dwarven supporters start to stamp their feet and shake the already unstable pitch, knocking down serval players.

11. [8:39 PM]KDGames: 

    The FF see the opportunity to score, the captain attempts to continue the charge but ghis tome can not get through the impartial team and we have another casualty of the game. There is still a chance to score and a great run ends with a shot for three points... and it's a.... miss!!

12. [8:42 PM]KDGames: 

    In what has been a brutal match so far more canage happens as the impartial team strike hard and the pitch us beginning to look a bit empty.

13. [8:42 PM]KDGames:

    

14. [9:02 PM]KDGames: 

    The impartial team are really charged up now and the convicts in their team start foiling using their concealed knives. The final PD player is taken off the pitch and they now need to Hooe their subs can save the day.

15. [9:03 PM]KDGames: 

    The pitch rocks uncontrollably and players and balls a moved around the pitch. Can the DD make the most of this distraction.

16. [9:11 PM]KDGames: 

    Unfortunately not, but the FF do and take the lead

17. [9:16 PM]KDGames: 

    At the end of the rush the PD have one of the balls and the other is loose in the DD end.

18. [9:38 PM]KDGames: 

    The next rush sees lots of tackles but no change to the s score. The PD bring on another two players and start the take up attacking positions.

19. [9:41 PM]KDGames: 

    They make a sprint for the ball but can only kick it closer to the FF end.

20. [9:46 PM]KDGames:

    

21. [9:47 PM]KDGames: 

    With the ball sitting pretty with no one to defend it, the PD make the run and score 3, taking the lead

22. [9:49 PM]KDGames: 

    The FF score in the DD end and move into second place.

23. [9:55 PM]KDGames: 

    The DD also score and now its 4-2-1, could the PD win this?

24. [10:08 PM]KDGames:

    

25. [10:08 PM]KDGames: 

    The DD go for it, they have a slim chance to win this, it starts with a good throw.

26. [10:09 PM]KDGames: 

    ..... it is a great shot, they have done all they can. They lead by 2 points.

27. [10:11 PM]KDGames: 

    The PD can still hold on to this game, but need to make every action count.

28. [10:11 PM]KDGames:

    

29. [10:12 PM]KDGames: 

    The first action does not go to plan and results in a downed player, that might be the PDs last chance.

30. [10:14 PM]KDGames: 

    They do get the 1 point but it's not enough.

31. [10:19 PM]KDGames:

    

32. [10:20 PM]KDGames: 

    It's all down to the FF now, it's all or nothing. The run is good the pick up is good, just one good throw from their star player and the match is theirs.

33. [10:22 PM]KDGames: 

    ......... the throw is accurate and they score 3. The final score is 4 - 2 - 1 to the Fast and Furious!!!!!!

34. [10:26 PM]KDGames: 

    It what was a great game, there were 6 casualties, countless injuries, lots of events and some great plays resulting some epic points.