Warfare

Today was Reading's own wargames show, Warfare. Despite having lived nearby for years, this was the first time I've ever attended... shame on me! Claire decided to come with me and see what all the fuss was about and was slightly astonished to find that she got in for free. I assume it is either to try and attract female gamers, or for suffering wives who have been dragged along... we're not quite sure which. Thankfully, Claire seemed to enjoy it and played her first ever wargame! Unfortunately our zombie hordes were all beaten by an 8 year old girl who had been playing for most of the afternoon while her Dad ran one of the ww2 demos.

I also stopped by the Gripping Beast stand and was given a lesson in Saga as I've been reading you lot going on about if for ages now. I have to say I'm impressed. Simple rules, but plenty of strategy thanks to the dice... now I just need to read the rulebook and decide which force(s) to build so I can get some friends involved. The demo used the ground floor of their forthcoming Great Hall kit which is absolutely gorgeous and will be mine as it makes the perfect demo area. The Great Hall will be coming boxed with a book of new scenarios with missions such as rescue the princess. If you can't afford the Great Hall, there will be a version of the book that comes with a poster of the hall floorplan.

They also had an early version of their new game, Jugula, running which looked like good fun. This game has you building a team of gladiators and sending them off to fight in the arenas. Apparently it comes with a campaign system to allow your school to grow and the fighters to evolve over time (if they survive!)