Last weekend I was at ManorCon, which is a games conference that is one of the legs of the Dip Tour of Britain. I played in one game, even though I could have gone for three. So, why?
Well, ManorCon is about more than Dip, and half of my gaming club were there to do other things. None of them play Dip much at all, but most of them used to. Those who still play at all only do so sporadically on line, despite having been more into the ftf game in the past.
More than one game of Dip in a weekend is hard enough, especially if there are alternative games to play. In the other two and a half days, I was able to play Puerto Rico, Agricola, Age of Industry, London, Cuba, Tobago, Giant, Stone Age, PiIlars of the Earth, Braggart, Quiddler, some Hunter v Shadow card game, Dominion, World Cup and perhaps a few others I've forgotten. Plus three games of 7 Wonders with the new Leaders expansion
What's more, it was in a relaxed way, over a beer or two, with lots of chat and ribbing, breaks for food, wandering around to look at people playing stuff like the new Sid Meier's Civilisation and Age of Empires. And wander around the second-hand room a few times looking for bargains.
ftf Dip is great fun, but it takes a lot of time up and is pretty intense with 15-20 minute turns. The hobby seems to be just about recovering from a low point in the UK, partly thanks to things like this website: http://www.ukf2fdip.org/
It's also becoming a bit of a problem that there are basically only two kinds of players - hardcore guys who are all experienced enough and good enough to be able to predict the whole board pretty well, or relative newbies who mess up and let one of the old guard solo. The game I was in contained 7 of the former type - although Russia was playing his first ftf game and we had to keep reminding him to calm down and get his orders in on time. So it ended on a 5-way draw in 1905, essentially because EF v ART were at stalemate and no-one could see any advantage in a stab.
Well, ManorCon is about more than Dip, and half of my gaming club were there to do other things. None of them play Dip much at all, but most of them used to. Those who still play at all only do so sporadically on line, despite having been more into the ftf game in the past.
More than one game of Dip in a weekend is hard enough, especially if there are alternative games to play. In the other two and a half days, I was able to play Puerto Rico, Agricola, Age of Industry, London, Cuba, Tobago, Giant, Stone Age, PiIlars of the Earth, Braggart, Quiddler, some Hunter v Shadow card game, Dominion, World Cup and perhaps a few others I've forgotten. Plus three games of 7 Wonders with the new Leaders expansion
What's more, it was in a relaxed way, over a beer or two, with lots of chat and ribbing, breaks for food, wandering around to look at people playing stuff like the new Sid Meier's Civilisation and Age of Empires. And wander around the second-hand room a few times looking for bargains.
ftf Dip is great fun, but it takes a lot of time up and is pretty intense with 15-20 minute turns. The hobby seems to be just about recovering from a low point in the UK, partly thanks to things like this website: http://www.ukf2fdip.org/
It's also becoming a bit of a problem that there are basically only two kinds of players - hardcore guys who are all experienced enough and good enough to be able to predict the whole board pretty well, or relative newbies who mess up and let one of the old guard solo. The game I was in contained 7 of the former type - although Russia was playing his first ftf game and we had to keep reminding him to calm down and get his orders in on time. So it ended on a 5-way draw in 1905, essentially because EF v ART were at stalemate and no-one could see any advantage in a stab.