Show Report; UKGE 2019 (NEC, Birmingham)

We went for our annual visit to UKGE at Birmingham NEC, but this year we stayed off site and located ourselves in Coventry. The hotel prices were much more reasonable and it was only a 10-15 minutes train ride into the NEC, with 4/5 trains per hour and costing less than £3 for a return trip. Yet again the drive up on Friday was bad and we arrived more than an hour later than planned.

The show was basically the same as last year, with a huge array of traders, games, punters and events. There seemed to be fewer cos-players than previous years whilst the competitive gaming looked more crowded. One aspect of UKGE that I’m not sure about is its inclusion of competitive wagaming, there are enough dedicated wargaming shows out there and I cannot see what this inclusion brings to the table. UKGE should be about boardgame (and RPG?) related subjects and not miniature wargaming. The catering at the NEC remains poor but this year there was beer available in the evenings. We spent our time alternating between shopping, gaming, talking to traders and occasionally trying new kickstarter games. We did not visit the Bring and Buy (again); the queues were horrendous, but Chris did manage to sell his excess games and generate much needed dosh! My shopping haul is shown below:

We did not spend too much, and there was not an ‘outstanding’ game of the show to dominate peoples spending. Last year everyone appeared to have bought or were playing  ‘Photosynthesis’, whereas the mix of games this year was much more varied. We had to have the new ‘Clever’ game and from a hurried play, it seems interesting. I also wanted the ‘classic’ bidding game of High Society, which did not cost much. Ominoes was an impulse buy and demonstrates the importance of good customer interaction on a trade stall! I also bought ‘Western Legends’, a game I have wanted for some time, and I can say it weighs a ton!

Much of our time at the show was spent gaming in the ‘Open Gaming’ area and a list of the games played (plus my personal rating for each game) is given below:

Tiny Towns (bought by Val & Chris)	5/5
Apotheca (Thisty Meeples game library)	3½/5
8-Minute Empire (Thisty Meeples library)	3/5
Arboretum (Thisty Meeples game library)	2½/5
Ominoe’s (our purchase)	4/5
Unexpected Treasures ((Thisty Meeples)	4/5
Welcome To... (Thisty Meeples game library)	2/5
Doppelt So Clever (our purchase)	3½/5
Wingspan (bought by Val & Chris)	5/5

 

The best game played was easily Wingspan; a beautiful game with great artwork and components, combined with nice mechanics. I would buy a copy myself if a UK/European bird version came out, but until then we will content ourselves by playing Val and Chris’s copy. Tint Towns was also excellent as a game, but its price-tag seemed too high considering the rather average components. This year all the games we played were worth the time spent. I was not particularly enthused by ‘Welcome To...’, and ‘Arboretum’ needs more game time to fully appreciate the game play and scoring system.

Elaine and I left Coventry on Sunday morning feeling tired and not too overspent. We did not attend the final day but I think a full 3 days at UKGE would prove too much. We were gamed-out and I think a few days will be needed before we sit down to play any further boardgames.