International caching - 5 countries in a day

We haven’t had a lot of time for caching recently, but an occasion presented itself recently when we could not just grab a few caches, but could cache in no fewer than 5 countries in a single day! [I did look at adding in Luxembourg, but never realised before how inconveniently situated it is]. The occasion was a road trip to stay with friends who live between Dusseldorf and Essen – the draw being Spiel at Essen the following day.

Well it is said that planning and preparation are key to performance and, true to form, I commenced my planning at around 7.30pm the night before. That was exactly 7 hours before we were due to leave with just a little question of some sleep to squeeze in as well. The plan was to find two ‘cache and dash’ locations in each country close to the chosen route. How difficult could that be? Well quite difficult really – the cache density is considerably lower in Europe and the language issues meant that the cache descriptions were double dutch to us – quite literally in Holland. Anyway sufficient possibilities were found and uploaded to the GPSr and I sloped off to bed for a couple of hours kip.

Leaving home at 2.30am. our first port of call was ‘Ghosts & Goblins - 7 – Ghoul’ in Chiseldon, part of a series that had only just been placed and less than 5 minutes from the M4. Even in the dark the cache container was clearly visible from the car and it proved our easiest find of the day. One down at only 2.40am.

The next port of call was Membury Service Station 10 miles eastwards down the M4 to pick up ‘The Teddies Motorway Mayhem Membury M4 East bound’. This is on my regular commute to work and, for once, my usual policy of “I just can’t be arsed” had paid dividends and an easy find was available, exactly as promised by the hint.

Thereafter followed a nice straight-forward run down to Dover. We had a stop for a coffee and bacon roll on the way and were still parked up waiting for the ferry at 5.30am.

We were first car onto the ferry as well (for the first time) and, unsurprisingly, the first off. Our luxurious Sea France vessel awaited. Well it wasn’t that luxurious really, but I don’t think you can quibble for £48 return. The continental breakfast was a snip at only £6 and before we knew it we were launching off the ship ramp into Calais and hitting France just like in Saving Private Ryan. Except there were no bullets, or dying or Germans (except the one in my car), but you know what I mean!

The plan unfolded – the next cache was in a quiet part of Calais. This was ‘La Plage (Géocalais 4)’ and was quickly found . It was in a cassette case (ever heard of them children? They were a bit like iPods …) which makes for a nice slice of nostalgia, but a pretty poor cache container. Anyway who am I to criticise our snail-eating neighbours, after all it was my first cache in La France.

We then set off for a nearby park to locate French cache #2. Ten minutes later and despite a text exchange with the UK for translations, we still couldn’t locate the damned thing. To cap it all I managed to step in a helping of Chien poop and was far from pleased. The words “Bloody French” and worse were heard ringing around the locality. It took me 15 minutes to remove this particular piece of France from my shoe. If only I had a longbow to hand, I could have re-enacted my own version of Agincourt with the local canine population of Calais.

However not to be outdone, we relocated to a park near Calais town hall to bag no. 2 in France. 15 minutes later we still hadn’t found it and our quest for 2 caches in each country suddenly became a quest for 1 cache in each country. Persistent light rain later reinforced this decision. Anyway a note to all readers – don’t organise a caching trip to Calais, you’ll be very disappointed and you’ll end up hating the BLOODY FRENCH. Having said that, there is nothing amiss about Catherine Deneuve ….

Anyway it was off to the Autoroute and the quick road to Belgium, home of Poirot, Tin Tin and, um, that’s just about it actually. Next stop was a Service Station on the motorway between Gent and Antwerp. Needless to say, our run of continental DNF’s continued. This was turning into a disaster – all that planning time had been a waste!

Luckily our trusty car-bound GPS has a ‘co-ordinates’ setting and so we put our back-up grid reference into it and zoomed to our next Autoroute exit point. Unfortunately our trusty

Garmin led us into a farmyard (quite literally) on the wrong side of the motorway. We beat a hasty retreat – you don’t want to provoke a Belgian famer – and re-located to the correct site. Unfortunately it meant parking on a busy(!) single-track road and a muddy scramble in the rain up the motorway embankment. The ammo can turned out to be ‘TB Hotel – HAASDONK’ and we logged our one and only cache in Belgium.

We then had a choice of either turning round and driving the 2 miles back to the motorway junction or not turning round and driving miles and miles through dull Belgian countryside. We chose the latter.

Time was pressing and we crossed the border into Holland, a place you pass through but where you very rarely stop – an international version of Milton Keynes really. Anyway we headed off to ‘Stop 'N Go - Carpool Geldrop’ and a very quick find under the pine trees. It was supposed to be a Car Pool, but I didn’t spot a single ‘No Petting’ or ‘No Bombing’ sign, so it was all a bit disappointing. Our Audi left in disgust, after the promise of a Dutch aquatic adventure for like-minded Automobiles vanished in the drizzle.

So four countries down and just one to go. We crossed the border at Venlo and just a couple of miles later we were at ‘TB-Hotel D-NL/NL-D an der A40’. Another quick find just off the Autobahn (bahn bahn bahn bb-er Autobahn I hear you all sing in a Kraftwerk accent). By now it was knocking on towards 5pm, or 17.00 as they say on the continent, and we had cached in 5 countries.

Not long after we passed the motorway exit for my favourite German town. A bit juvenile, but it cracks me up every time.

Did we feel elated? No not really … a drive-by cache is a drive-by whether it is in the UK or Germany. However there is now a bit more shading on my profile map and we’ve ticked another virtual task off the list. However next year we’ll do the journey via Luxembourg – why stop at five countries?

Very Short Book Review

All My Friends Are Dead by Avery Monsen

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Inspirational



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Short Review - A Game of Thrones

A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Well I've played the board game, seen the TV series and now finally read the book. I was amazed how close the TV series was to the book. Sean Bean was perfect as Ned Stark, even if he does support Sheffield United. A great book - normally I wouldn't touch a 'fantasy' book, but this is one hell of a read. 800 pages for £4 on Amazon as well - bargain of the decade.

Part 2 now ordered - I can't wait.



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Birth of a new game group

I’ve been playing in a group in Swindon since September 2006. We play every Tuesday at the home of one of the group, although at one stage we played twice a week. The group works well: nobody is up their own a*se (important), we generally like the same sort of games, everyone is open to new games and we all win roughly the same percentage of games. How did I come to join the group? Via Boardgamegeek – I found a Swindon-based gamer and asked him if there was a group in Swindon.

Roll forward, and there are occasional enquiries on BGG about gaming in the area. I must admit that, as a natural miserable git, if I have spotted them, I usually just ignore them. However a forum post this year by James Mullard called ‘Swindon?’ seemed to generate some traction and it appeared a new group in Swindon was a distinct possibility. Several local-ish gamers chipped in and there seemed to be a genuine interest in getting something started. The two drivers of the forum post were Tony (fellonmyhead), long-standing Tuesday night gamer, and Jess (castaway). Somehow I volunteered (not like me!) to check out a couple of potential venues.

I ended up visiting a couple of local hostelries – the Sandgate (my pub of choice back in 1976, aged 16) and the Check Inn at Wroughton. To cut a long story short, the Sandgate is a sh*thole, and the Check Inn is the total opposite. As a Fullers pub, the Check Inn not only boasts a superb range of real ales (London Pride, Eldridge Pope etc), but also does excellent food as well. Tony the landlord lets us use the dining room for free each Monday and seems very happy with the arrangement. The extra food and drink sales on a quiet Monday means that it is a win-win all round.

We held our first meeting on Monday, March 21^st, advertised entirely through the Geek and word of mouth (as it still is today), and 11 people turned up. We have now met 13 times including on 3 bank holiday Mondays. The highest turnout thus far is 14, the lowest 5 (on a bank holiday). We average around 9 a session, most weeks being 8-10. Already a nucleus of attendees has formed who tend to come along each week.

The group tends to play Euros, usually light-medium weight, although we have also played Power Grid and some Wallace titles. Games played recently include Carcassonne, Ticket to Ride, Fresco, Dixit, Keltis, Forbidden Island, Kingsburg, Ingenious, London, Power Grid, Seven Wonders, Braggart and Alien Frontiers, to name just a small selection.

A good feature of the group is that we try to mix it up so we play with different people and everyone seems to enjoy the sessions. The group is very informal which I think works well. There is no ‘leader’ or ‘organiser’ – it’s just a case of turning up and playing. I’m sure the group will continue to thrive – if you’re reading this and fancy joining us, we meet at the Check Inn, Wroughton every Monday from 7pm-ish to around 10.45pm.

UK Games Expo – mixed feelings

I love the concept of the UK Games Expo, but seem to enjoy it less and less each year. I can’t put my finger on exactly why this is the case, but as a boardgamer, I’m increasingly seeing this as an optional visit rather than a destination event. So what are the positives and negatives of the event?

Positives

• A range of games retailers (but I wish there were more)

• A good smattering of small publishers – this to me is probably the most positive thing about the Expo
• A lot of demo tables (even more so for miniatures)
• A good mixture of serious gamers and families/casual gamers
• Er, that’s about it.

Negatives

• The venue is now stretched – the Expo needs to move. Some of the outer areas suffer markedly in footfall terms.
• No significant new boardgames released – without a Treefrog or Ragnars release there was no “must go” reason to attend
• No price competition between the retailers – the prices were all very samey across the board. A bit of competition on hot games like Seven Wonders, Dixit and Dominion would be a start!
• The format is a bit tired – a bit of innovation is required.
• The entry fee - £8 is too high, and must put off casual gamers/families.

So-so’s

• Refreshments – limited and over-priced, but at least Ladypool Road is nearby (we went to Imran’s after the show)

So what changes would I make? In no particular order:

• Change venue (though keep it in Birmingham if possible)
• Tie it into cons to get the regular/serious gamers in (of all persuasions). Talk to the Manorcon and Midcon guys and arrange an “Expo-con” at the same venue.
• Persuade more retailers to come along – maybe tie their costs into a %sales basis to reduce their exposure; encourage discounting and price competition
• Twist the arms of all local publishers to release new games – make this a de facto pre-Essen roll-out for UK publishers. Invite German designers such as Reiner Knizia and Michael Schacht.
• Encourage small publishers – maybe by discounting
• Promote tie-ins with complimentary hobbies – such as comics (a la Essen).

So, despite all the above, did I enjoy the Expo this year? The answer was yes. Find of the day was undoubtedly Totemo from Surprised Stare Games. Yes I know it was there last year, but I only tried it this year. An excellent abstract strategy game that will go down really well with the family.

I also bought Braggart – not my favourite type of card-game,

but I know it will be well received by both gamers and family. Therefore a good buy – the 2 young ladies who demo’ed it also won me over with their enthusiasm for the game. I also purchased KingBrick – a 2-player flicking game. As a Subbuteo addict in my youth, this simple straight-forward game was a no-brainer and, at £10, also a bargain. I’m sure it won’t see much table-time, but I still couldn’t resist it. A couple of other small purchases completed the day.

I hope the Expo continues to grow and thrive, but I feel that it needs a shot in the arm to move forward.

Book Review: Fortress of Spears

Fortress of Spears by Anthony Riches

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is the third outing for Anthony Riches series about a Roman Centurion/Fugitive from Justice based around Hadrian's Wall. Like the previous books this is an excellent romp, with some interesting scenarios and storylines. The book is well worth reading and I'm already looking forward to #4 in the series.

So, why only 4 stars? The fact that I had the book for 3 weeks before picking it up speaks volumes - a Giles Kristian or Sam Barone book would have been started immediately. I would rate these books slightly below those of Cornwell, Scarrow, Kristian or Barone, but not too far behind. The main problem with the book is that the main character is almost a super-hero and is simply not believable. Added to that the dialogue, although improved from the previous books, still does not ring true as being of the correct era. Finally the status of Marcus as a fugitive has been played out to the full - I cannot recall the details of how this came to be, and don't particularly care anymore. I hope that the author will concentrate more on the relationship between Marcus and his colleagues moving forwards.

Having said all the above, this is a very good book and I will definitely pre-order the follow-up.


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Book Review: Odin's Wolves

Odin's Wolves by Giles Kristian

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is the third book in the Raven saga, and a worthy follow-up to the two others, both of which were 5* books. It is over a month since I finished the book, so some of the details are not so clear, but needless to say, I pre-ordered the book and eagerly devoured it as soon as it arrived.

The book describes the Viking band's journey from the French coast to Rome and Miklagard (Constantinople). The book really takes off from about the half-way stage and the sections describing the band's adventures in Rome and Miklagard are riveting and extremely well written. Of course there is a surprise at the end, but I won't be spoiling that here.

One of the best aspects of the first two instalments was the development of the characters. Unfortunately many of these have now been killed off, so more will have to be introduced in the fourth book. The author shouldn't shy away from this, as he did such a good job before.

What sets these books apart from others in the genre is the quality of the dialogue in Giles Kristian's books. You really feel that the characters are real and 100% believable. I think he does this better than any of his contemporaries, including Messrs Cornwell, Scarrow and Iggulden, and that's a mighty fine list of authors!


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