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Ever thought about spending more than just a day playing games? Well, I’m in a group of four friends who a few years back decided to spend a week or so away on retreat, playing board games, visiting local places of interest, eating home cooked meals and we’ve been doing the same thing each year, choosing various places in the UK to visit. This year we went to Cornwall booking a large four bedroomed stone built self-catering cottage in some obscure location, but ideal for isolation and peace but close enough for a few nice walks and visits to local places of interest. Each retreat we get two picks each, randomly selected, to select the board game of our choice from the games we all bring, plus any fillers we all agree on as time allows.
Day One
As we arrived in late afternoon we didn’t have much time for a long game, so after unpacking we took a walk around the area to stretch our legs and enjoy some exercise. Much of the locality was wooded and/or farmland so quite peaceful, but with the narrow lanes you do have to watch out for vehicles and the we discovered the hedgerows have solid stone walls at their core.
The games we played began with Entombed, a game I reviewed in advance of the Kickstarter campaign and not a bad little filler. It is one of those games that is easy to pick up and play and suitable for most including younger players. Players take on the roles of explorers trapped inside a pyramid, waiting for the opportunity to escape whilst avoiding the cursed inhabitants.
Following this we played Nova Luna. This is a popular filler in our group and involves collecting tiles and fulfilling tile colour related conditions on placement. The basics of the game are straightforward but being successful at the game requires some careful planning and selection of tiles and sometimes choosing tiles that other players want. The game is quick enough to fit into an hour or so gap between longer games or at the end of the day when you don’t feel like starting something new or learning and playing a harder game.
Day Two
The first player pick was Europa Universalis: The Price of Power – Deluxe Edition. This was going to take a day to play, but after all, this is a main reason why we have these retreats, to take the time to enjoy these leviathans that otherwise wouldn’t get to the table. Europa is a very involved game. There is a bit of a steep learning curve, but the game becomes easier as you play and you see the actions play out. The game is essentially about domination and area control, but it is also deeper than that. Religion plays a part and can help or hinder you campaign based on whether it matches your state religion or not. But you can do well in Europa through political scheming and expanding your horizons to the colonies. Expansion is essential as this increases your wealth and military potential so expect players to be expanding as it is core to the game. Overall, despite its length – and we only finished one age – we enjoyed it. The game is asymmetrical and despite historical events and leaders which are incorporated into the game, players can take their empire in whatever direction seems appropriate.
Day Three
Through the Ages: A New Story of Civilization was the choice next. This is a group favourite and usually gets played once a year. For a group that meets mostly once a month, that’s frequent! This game is about empires trying to achieve a greater cultural dominance over others through the ages from antiquity to the modern era. You select cards from a row depicting leaders, wonders, technology and civic buildings to build your empire whilst avoiding potential threats from the other empires. Every game we play is different, largely because of the availability of cards and the varied makeup of the empires but also because whilst there are standard moves and priorities, choices are influenced on the circumstances each turn as they arise. In any event, this game always delivers. It is a long game, but again, it is why we set aside the time so we can better appreciate the game.
Day Four
We do like to visit the locality where we stay and explore the heritage and places of interest. Given how far away Cornwall is for most of us, we had to take the opportunity to visit the Eden Project. I would recommend it. It houses a couple of biomes, one for a Mediterranean climate and another for the rainforest. It has some great garden spaces too so if you are in the area, I think it is worth a visit.
On our return we played Andromeda’s Edge. This was another new game to the group with a sci-fi theme. Essentially it is game of exploration, establishing developments, building an economy and advancing on five different power tracks; all of which determines victory points. We enjoyed the game and definitely one we’ll likely play again as soon as we can as there is good scope for replayability and player interaction. It is also a game where although there is an inherent hostility between the factions, there is plenty of opportunity to develop independently. The real contest is over the resources on moons and being able to develop on a planet first; but even here, whilst developments are vital, collecting resources, building new ships, and buying new power modules are also crucial to success.
Day Five
Today, since the weather was looking good and the report for the rest of the week worse, we paid a visit to Tintagel Castle. The site is in ruins, yet it still conveys that aura of an imposing site right on the cliff’s edge in a prominent position. It must have been an imposing structure all those centuries ago and a key strategic defence as well as a home. Linked to Arthurian legend, you can’t escape the theme in the little adjacent town.
After navigating the rather tricky single-track lanes on our return to base camp we continued with the board games and next up was Quacks of Quedlingburg. This is quite a popular game in our group every now and again it is good enough and short enough to fit into a gap. Quacks is a push your luck game, but it does have enough depth to be a varied interesting game where careful planning should see some reward. There is no escape though from the luck as despite planning, you are still drawing tiles randomly from a bag, but nevertheless I do prefer Quacks to many other push your luck games which generally I’m not a fan of as at least Quacks has a degree of choice in what additional tiles you add to your bag as the game progresses.
Next up was Anachrony and another enjoyable new game for the group. This is futuristic themed game played out over several turns based on the idea that the world is doomed from an impending cataclysm, seen coming through time travel and now each faction seeks to prepare to evacuate its members; the faction most successful at doing this will then form the new world council in the post cataclysm world. As the game plays out, players use their workers to take actions involving research, recruiting, building and mining to achieve objectives. The game allows players to gain resources in advance from the past to then repay those debts through time travel. Each faction has asymmetric abilities and then there is a good degree of replayability and player interaction, so we all felt very involved out of turn.
Day Six
This was the final day of gaming and we made sure we got as many good solid choices in as we could. We started with Ark Nova, a popular choice since it was first played at last year’s retreat. In this game, players build a zoo, building the enclosures, buying in the animals that will generate income and improve the zoos reputation, inviting sponsors in for support and achieving milestones and objectives along the way including through partnerships with other universities and other zoos. It’s a very colourful, richly themed game and one where the game end is triggered when your reputation score and income score cross on the scoring track – as they start at opposite ends.
Dead Reckoning was next, and again a game that was played last year saw another play with expansions rules. It’s an area control game of pirates seeking to control islands through influence for their wealth and strategic positioning and ultimately the victory points they grant to those with have secured a level of control. During the game, players seek to secure objectives and trigger the end game. Fighting other pirates in inevitable, largely because it’s a key way to get access to a secured island or simply loot an enemy ship.
To wrap up the retreat, we started a game of Too Many Bones, again another new game for the group. We had accidently set the game on hard mode and I’m sure we made a few errors, but despite an almost TPK (Total Party Kill), we did just survive to a point where we called it a night anyway.
So, there you go. Our fifth annual board games retreat. This retreat was as enjoyable as the others and although we barely played fillers, it was a great opportunity to play some good new long games that the retreat is designed for as well as one or two old favourites. So why not arrange a retreat for yourself and some friends? We find four is a great number. We share cooking duties, not just to spread the workload but also two of us are vegan/vegetarian, so we tend to cook a vegan option and a meat option with usually some shared element eg two different curries with shared basmati rice, naans, pickle, chutney and poppadums! The retreat really is a great way to relax and unwind and play some of your favourite games.