BenG500

Actually, I have a game called Viticulture that's about running a Tuscan vineyard and making wine. The players' score markers are corks and the marker for annual income is a wine bottle. I can imagine it feels like a never ending battle sometimes. Like I said, some stretches were so clear I could almost see the bottom! Thanks! Haven't we all at some point? I actually have the Star Wars Collectors Edition with pewter characters and brass coins! That said, a game of Monopoly when I was a student was what prompted me to look into more modern board games three years ago and I have to say that, compared to what's out there now, Monopoly is an objectively awful game. It's too long, too random, too confrontational, player elimination sucks and almost everyone plays with their own house rules which invariably make the game even worse. The awfulness of Monopoly warrants a thread all of it's own however, so I won't digress further right now! I text my dad the next day to ask if their overnight stay was fine, he joked that they "kept a night watch" but in all seriousness he said it was a very peaceful night. I might be tooting my own hobby horn but board games are currently in something of a Golden Age, the market value and sales of board games have been going up for fifteen years straight. Board game cafes are becomes more popular (we have two in Nottingham) and since book shops like Waterstones are selling modern games now, they're becoming more mainstream. I used to play a lot of online video games as a teenager but since getting into board games, I haven't touched my PC for anything other than renewing my car insurance. In a world with more and more screens, tablets and digital devices they're an excellent way of getting everyone to switch off, sit round a table and delight in pushing little wooden bits around a board.

I'm just a gamer, but games I own that don't (or won't) get played get culled annually and there are always other board gamers willing to buy them or trade their own unwanted games. This trip was something of a "last chance" for Castles of Burgundy as it wasn't well received by my fiancee or my friends, as such it's unlikely to ever get chosen for play!

Hi all! Just this weekend gone my old man and I did four days on our boat from Barton Turns Marina to Coventry Basin. I stumbled across this site just today while seeking as answer for the large numbers of coconuts floating through Coventry. As a keen boater and something of an amateur blogger (chosen topic: modern board games) I thought I'd sign up and share our journey. Our first day, Friday, we set off from Barton about 11am. Chilly but calm, it was ideal conditions. Despite setting my out-of-office to "I will not be answering emails." somehow my company iPhone pinged to alert me to 11 unread messages. Dad's phone was ringing and buzzing pretty quickly as news spread about the boat fire at Barton which happened just a couple hours after we left. While our boat isn't moored up anywhere near, if it was been happening as we were preparing to set off it no doubt it would have delayed our departure. Progress was pretty slow up to Fradley as were at the back of a queue of boats, behind a first time hire-boat crew who readily admitted to me at one lock that they "had no idea what they were doing." They asked some advice which I readily gave, especially about how to minimise their boat being throw around when going up locks. I don't know other boater's experiences but our own are that certain locks on the T&M between Barton and Fradley are particularly fierce and I suppose it must catch people out when they go back onboard to find all the cupboard doors thrown open. After a much needed recuperative pint at the Swan we turned onto the Coventry and moored up just shy of King's Orchard Marina. Dinner eaten and news watched, time to indulge my second passion beside narrowboats. Board games. Friday night's game of choice was The Castles of Burgundy. A modern classic, despite its admittedly drab exterior it's a very tactical game that rewards careful planning and play. Players are 15th century princes of Burgundy seeking to exploit and improve the land in their estates, building towns and silver mines, rearing livestock and conducting trade. It was a win for me and dad enjoyed the game all the same but was critical of it's artwork and colour scheme. This is a common complaint of Castles of Burgundy, and is one of many reasons I'll be looking to sell or trade it later this year. The next day was fairly quiet and uneventful, we went up Glascote Locks without issue, and moored about a mile before the first of the Atherstone Locks. Saturday night's entertainment couldn't have been any different from the muted colours and medieval theme of the previous night, as new release Terraforming Mars hit the table. Players control corporations with a hand in the terraforming of the Red Planet, turning it from a lifeless desert into a thriving new world. Using cards that represent various events and technologies (all somewhat grounded in real science and theory) players try to increase the planet's temperature, oxygen and surface water while also building cities and other infrastructure. It all sounds quite complex but the actual core rules are relatively simple, Dad picked it up pretty quickly and before long was dropping asteroids onto the surface not only to increase the temperature but also to destroy my budding supply of plant life! I managed to squeeze out a win, but I was hounded all the way round the scoring track. Day three, Sunday, and Atherstone Flight was the main event. Once again we found all but one of the locks set against us but thankfully the final four had volunteers on. Informing them of our destination, two gave very negative reviews and recommended against staying overnight in the basin. The other two were more positive, conceding that while all cities have their bad spots, with Coventry Basin being outside of the city center and more of a commercial hub than a night-life hub it was actually rather quiet. Talk on the boat mainly focused on last night's Martian exploits, with Dad asking about how to improve his tactics for a second game that night. We moored up after Nuneaton once we'd found a spot away from the railway. And play again we did! This time it was much more competitive and we were closely matched the whole game. I pipped him on the final turn as I had enough money to build two last cities, but we both scored higher than the previous nights and the gap between us was much smaller. I am sure had we played a third game he would have finally beat me! Monday, and the stretch of the Coventry after the junction with the Ashby was virgin territory for me. After noticing coconuts floating in the canal we started to count them, wondering if up ahead there might be a load of palm trees overhanging the canal, but it wasn't until Google brought me here today I found the answer. As we came into Coventry the canal varied wildly in quality, at points being almost choked with leaves and debris, and sometimes completely clean with clear water and devoid of rubbish. A few shopping trolleys and a rather decayed suitcase provided navigational obstacles, as did the wind inside Coventry Basin as I turned the boat around before mooring up. I got my train back to Nottingham while Dad waited for his friend to arrive for the return leg. All-in-all a very enjoyable four days, some great father-son time and I can cross another completed canal off my list!