Blog

St. Ives Tabletop

• Forty Fifth Session - Factories and Containers vs Nature
  11th January 2023

  It was our first session back since an extended holiday season break, but it was well attended with 15 returning players and 4 tables active. There were a few club favourites out, but also some new Christmas present games on the tables.

• Forty Fourth Session - Ra, Romans, and a Raffle
  30th November 2022

  This session was our annual charity night raising money for two local charities, East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH) and St Ives Food Bank with donations, a bake sale and a raffle. Eighteen gamers turned up to support us and there was the usual varied selection of games running across 3 tables with the long games featuring either Ancient Rome or Egypt.

• Forty Third Session - Space for Growth
  16th November 2022

  This was a 4 table and 15 player session with all the long games played involving space or growing plants or both. There was a nice range of new games to the club, including a quirky new starter game, and some returning favourites too.

• Forty Second Session - Werewolves, Zombies, and a Kidnapping
  2nd November 2022

  This session was shortly after Halloween and so we played a few thematic games. It was also the first time since COVID for an in person role playing game (RPG). Plus there was time for a back-stabbing train game.

• Forty First Session - Thrones and Bones
  19th October 2022

  This was another session with 2 pre-booked long games and another long game chosen on the night. In the end there were 4 tables active with 17 participants (including 1 new), which had either an area expansion or deck building mechanic.

• Fortieth Session - Flora and Fauna
  5th October 2022

  All of the long games played by the 16 participants (including 2 new joiners) had a nature theme this session; from growing plants, creating food webs and dioramas, or building a zoo, to a battle of forest denizens.

• Thirty Ninth Session - Peace, Perennials, and Precipitation
  21st September 2022

  It was a 3 table session this week with 13 gamers trying 7 games over the evening with themes covering biblical events, Roman entertainments, firework festivals, colonial diplomacy in Afghanistan, and competitive gardening.

• Thirty Eighth Session - Imperial Entertainments
  7th September 2022

  It was a slightly smaller session this week with 11 gamers split over 2 tables. The first table went with a quick warm up and then into a long game, while the other table tried a range of short to medium games.

• Thirty Seventh Session - Constructions and Crime Capers
  24th August 2022

  It was another warm summer day when we were grateful for a little air conditioning at the Corn Exchange, with 4 tables on the go serving 18 gamers (4 new) and 10 different games.

• Thirty Sixth Session - Fumbling in the Darkness
  10th August 2022

  The stars aligned… and most of the committee were busy. Thankfully, several people stepped in to teach or run games. We had 16 gamers attending, including 1 new face, and playing 8 games (6 new to the club) over 4 tables.

• Thirty Fifth Session - Kings and Creatures
  27th July 2022

  This was our most popular session since our debut back after lockdown session 13 with 20 gamers attending, including 2 new faces. We had 9 games out over 5 tables, 3 of which were new to the club.

• Thirty Fourth Session - Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Volcanoes
  13th July 2022

  The games this session had 2 definite themes: temples and volcanoes, or stocks and trading. It was a lively session with 12 returning gamers enjoying the aircon at the Corn Exchange on a hot summer day and playing 8 different games.

• Thirty Third Session - Mystical Meadows
  29th June 2022

  We had lots of new games out this session - 3 new quick options for the start or end of the night, and 2 new long games with a development theme. This week we had 13 returning gamers playing 7 games over 3 tables.

• Thirty Second Session - Rooting, Rolling, and Railing
  15th June 2022

  It was a big session with 17 gamers and 4 tables active playing a variety of animal, fantasy, train, trading, and space themed games. The blog title highlights the 3 games newly out on the tables this time, but there were a total of 10 different games played, some with a few plays each.

• Thirty First Session - Pre Jubilee Pandamonium
  1st June 2022

  This was a good session on the eve of the Jubilee holiday with 12 gamers across 3 tables playing 7 different games.

• Thirtieth Session - Big Fish and Brass Dragons
  18th May 2022

  This was a packed session with 17 gamers (1 new), which meant 5 separate tables on the go - we had to reshuffle the room and put a fifth table out partway through the evening. There were 10 different games played, a new club record, 6 of which were new to the club.

• Twenty Ninth Session - May the Fourth be with You
  4th May 2022

  It was a slightly smaller session this week with 9 gamers, 4 taking on the topical challenge of the date with Star Wars: Outer Rim, while the other table messed with trains and Roman diplomacy.

• Twenty Eighth Session - Animals, Boats, and Windows
  20th April 2022

  We had 15 gamers this session, including 3 new joiners! We had 3 long, 2 medium, and 2 shorter games on the tables.

• Twenty Seventh Session - All the Z’s
  6th April 2022

  We had 14 gamers this session, including 1 new joiner, which let us play 2 long games with a Z theme (Zombies and Zimbabwe) and the final table giving Everdell its fifth outing.

• Twenty Sixth Session - Pulsars and Theology
  23rd March 2022

  We had 12 returning gamers attending the session, giving another evening with 3 long games active with 4 players each. Everdell was out again for the fourth session in a row, joined by Pulsar 2849 and Nicaea providing an extensive range of gaming styles and themes.

• Twenty Fifth Session - Space Race
  9th March 2022

  We had 12 gamers attending this session, 11 returners and 1 new member. The big game of the evening was Gaia Project, with a table of enthusiastic players that had been lined up in advance on Discord. Everdell was out for a third session in a row, and The Quest for El Dorado was a new game for club night, rounding off the longer games with the 3 tables nicely split with 4 gamers each.

• Twenty Fourth Session - Building Crew
  23rd February 2022

  We had 16 returning gamers at this session, meaning we needed to build a 4-table 4-player crew for each long game.

• Twenty Third Session - Wet Woodland Deliveries
  9th February 2022

  Twelve returning gamers attended the session on a typically chilly February evening. We started with a warm up game of Welcome to the Moon for the first 6 to arrive, with 2 players who had experienced the game in session 21 and 4 learners. People picked up the concepts pretty quickly and soon there were rocket sections filling up, system errors triggered, and finally blast off. There was also a quick game of Three of a Crime, a light deduction game, to divert a couple more members until we reached critical mass and could split up for the evenings long games.

• Twenty Second Session - Fire! Fire!
  26th January 2022

  With fewer committee attending we asked for attendees to run more games and basically make this session work. Our youngest committee member was there at the start, but she seemed more interested in climbing the stairs and had to go home for her bedtime. Thankfully our amazing members made a brilliant session. So let’s kick the tires and light the fires¹ on this session report.

• Twenty First Session - Diversity
  12th January 2022

  It was a quiet first session for 2022, but not surprising with high levels of that virus still circulating. However, the 9 gamers attending had a fun evening. The only commonality I could come up with about the games played was their diversity; in topic (space, nature, history) and play mechanics (flip and write, pick, pass and play, or area control, and conspiracy).

• Twentieth Session - Charitable Euphoric Tinners, Collectors, and Penguins
  1st December 2021

  This was a milestone twentieth session in person and a new format with the inaugural charity night.

• Nineteenth Session - Engines, Elections, and Ecology
  17th November 2021

  Some of the regulars were ill and so this session we had 10 players, 9 returners and 1 new joiner, trying some new longer games and a few favourite quick games.

• Eighteenth Session - Post-Apocalyptic Martian Magic on Rails
  3rd November 2021

  We had 13 players this session (11 returners and 2 new joiners) trying 3 new games and 4 repeat performances.

• Seventeenth Session - A Very Mixed Bag of Games
  20th October 2021

  We had 18 players this session, 15 returners and 3 new. With some of the committee adhering to the contain the contagion (cold not corona) advice, a few tables were hosted by normal members demonstrating games they had brought, which we encourage all weeks but was particularly helpful this session. Such a variety of themes for games were played this week that I can’t come up with a clever title for the session, if anyone can link wine growing, Machiavellian city building, peaceful Roman economic development, and power supply please post on Discord!

• Sixteenth Session - Multiple Cities and Mysteries
  6th October 2021

  This was another bumper session with 17 attendees, 12 returners and 5 new members, over 4 tables and playing 9 board games. It is great that word of the club is spreading and people are coming along to see what is on offer.

• Fifteenth Session - Trading Trains, Lost Civilisations, and Dystopian Worlds
  22nd September 2021

  This was another 3 table session with 11 attendees (all returners) playing a varied selection of game themes and mechanisms.

• Fourteenth Session - Clans and Cities
  8th September 2021

  Thirteen people turned out for the second session back post-pandemic, including 5 new members and 8 returners. Only a few different games were played this session, all about building civilisations from clans to cities.

• Thirteenth Session - Back from Lockdown
  25th August 2021

  Live sessions were able to resume on 25th August with a bumper turnout of old faces, new but previously virtual members, and some completely new joiners who had heard about the club and came along to try. The Corn Exchange has changed a little over the last year causing some initial issues with the hot beverage provision, but we managed to get the tea flowing and have some ideas to improve for next session.

• Interim Online Sessions - Going virtual
  17th July 2021

  The club had to suspend in person gaming due to the persistent pandemic, and started online sessions fortnightly instead. Some of our regulars have continued joining in this way, and word has spread with quite a few new members also joining us. Sessions start at 7:30pm using voice comms over Discord and we have largely settled on Board Game Arena as the platform for games, although Tabletop Simulator and Boiteajeux have also been used. We tend to first play a few short, simple games while we see who is joining the session, followed by a longer game, and finally, for those with the stamina, another 1 or 2 shorter games. Some are games that club members own and have had outings at the in person sessions (see other blogs/reviews) and some are new games discovered through the online platforms.

• Twelfth Session - Birds, Skye, and Villagers
  11th March 2020

  We had 14 attendees this session despite the spring chill, with two games from last session making a reappearance and some new players learning them. There were a lot of games involving villagers, crafting, building, or topically fighting epidemics.

• Eleventh Session - Athletic Ninja Escapes
  26th February 2020

  We had 19 people this session, making it the new record breaker for both total number of attendees and biggest RPG game! It included competitive birding, civilisation building, ninja training, and a first trial of an escape room in a box.

• Tenth Session - Mars, Mordor, and Menageries
  12th February 2020

  Nine people turned out despite the cold for this session, including one new member, which included settling on Mars, battling evil to defeat Sauron, and building the best zoo.

• Ninth Session - Heroes, Horrors, and Homage
  29th January 2020

  This was a great session, even though only two committee members could attend, with heroes smiting evil, haunted houses and wonderous civilizations. This is a very quick summary of what was played - we’ll be back with a full blog as usual for the next session.

• Eighth Session - Spirits, Ghosts, and Things that Go Bump in the Dungeon
  15th January 2020

  It was a good start to the New Year despite a few members falling victim to the seasonal bugs. We had 11 gamers, all returning members, with games involving an island of spirits, clanking in the dungeon trying to steal a dragons treasure, and a city surrounded by ghosts.

• Seventh Session - An Abundance of Islands
  4th December 2019

  This week was the seventh St. Ives Tabletop session, with 10 attendees in total including 1 new gamer and 3 games tables. The theme of the gaming took us to 3 different islands: 1 cursed, 1 inhabited by spirits, and 1 Scottish.

• Sixth Session - Shipwrecks, Survival and Scuba diving
  20th November 2019

  It was the sixth St. Ives Tabletop session, with 11 attendees in total and 2 new gamers. Some of our avid RPG crew were unable to come so instead 3 board game tables were set up, one with the infamous game Robinson Crusoe as requested.

• Fifth Session - Mars, Wind and Fire
  6th November 2019

  It was the fifth St. Ives Tabletop session and we had another good turnout, despite missing 2 of the committee members, with 11 attendees in total and 1 new gamer. Due to the shortage of committee members, we decided to focus the session on board gaming and not to run a RPG table. That gave us 2 tables over the course of the evening with firefighting, fortune telling, kingdom building and terraforming!

• Fourth Session - Garden Planet
  23rd October 2019

  A record breaking session with the most attendees so far (15), the most different board games played (7), and the most game plays in a night (9 - 2 games played twice). Not forgetting an RPG table trying to bring some modern infrastructure to a fantasy setting!

• Third Session - Excitement and Evolution
  9th October 2019

  Another good turnout with 8 returners and 3 new gamers meaning 3 tables ran over the course of the evening involving investigations, prison breaks, boasting, climate change and evolution!

• Second Session - Time and Wonder
  25th September 2019

  Our second session had good attendance with 9 returning players and 5 new gamers joining, which let the session start with 4 active tables. In fact it was so active that we rearranged the RPG table so they could better interact, while the board gamers explained rules for new players and in one case rolled lots of dice. The RPG table was where John led a lively Cthulhu Dark one-shot session, with 4 adventurers going on a journey through time in the village of Dunwich and resulting in some of the crew descending into insanity.

• First Session - Architecture Great and Small
  11th September 2019

  It was the first session of the St. Ives Tabletop gaming club on the of 11th September and we weren’t sure what to expect. So it was great to be joined by some new keen gamers and after a little deliberation we worked out how to split up based on peoples games preferences and had 3 tables running.