Scotland’s answer to the UKGE, held in a smaller venue at the Royal Highland Centre near Edinburgh Airport. Tabletop Scotland’s modest size creates distinct benefits that set it apart from its big brother. It lets smaller local designers and artists gain more visibility, and it creates a more relaxed vibe with shorter queues, smaller wait times and reduced general commotion. With that said, let’s dive into some board games that brought a smile to my face over the weekend!
It’s important to note that the games featured here aren't limited to upcoming and new releases; rather, they highlight titles my friends and I found intriguing and entertaining while exploring the convention, which you might not have come across before.
A silly, chaotic and very competitive game in which you and your friends control various Arthurian knights of the Round Table and their vassals, pushing, shoving and gossiping about one another in order to retain high standing in the court and a seat near King Arthur.
The gameplay is straightforward. Each player controls a group of knights of the same colour and uses various cards to move their own or other players’ knights along the board’s branching paths, which portray the bustling court. Each card has a specific action, such as move, banish, gossip, assign vassals, or enlist the help of the capricious Merlin, who can swap the position of two knights. Finally, score cards award points based on the knights’ current standing in the court, which is how players earn points to win. However, everyone scores when a scoring card is played, so the key is to use them at the right time, when your knights are in better standing than others.
We found the game to be extremely enjoyable and intentionally comedic in both its presentation, with ridiculous pun names for the knights and simple, funny artwork, and its gameplay, with players encouraged to use their entire hand of cards, resulting in the state of the court changing dramatically every turn. Overall, it’s a delightful, light-hearted game to spend an hour messing around with your friends.
Personal Demons
The sole upcoming game I had my eyes on was Personal Demons, designed and illustrated by Judson Cowan, the talented creator behind one of my favourite games of last year, Deep Regrets. I wasn’t alone in my excitement; during the weekend, demo sessions were almost fully booked, but thankfully I managed to snag one of the last slots available!
I have been eager to try Tag Team for some time now, being a big fan of two-player head-to-head games. I had heard much praise for the game since its release, and I must say, it didn’t disappoint.
CrokinoleCrokinole
Whenever I attend a board game convention, I always make sure to squeeze in a few rounds of Crokinole. Originating in the 1870s, it is not by any means new, but it remains an endlessly satisfying dexterity game.
At the same stand as Crokinole, I was introduced to a different dexterity game featuring a circular wooden board with a hole in the middle, but this one was much more compact and used dice instead of discs. Quite intriguing…
JamSumo consists of two phases: Jam and Sumo, who would have guessed! In the Jam phase, players aim to flick all their dice into the central hole. Interestingly, the first player to succeed scores nothing, which, like in golf, is good. The other players receive negative points based on their dice values still in play. The Sumo phase reverses this concept, as players once more flick their dice, but this time they aim to keep them on the board while knocking opponents’ dice off. Here, the first player with no dice remaining on the board scores nothing, which, like in most other games, is now bad. The others receive positive points based on, once again, their dice values on the board.
This is a quick and engaging game whose two contrasting phases keep players on their toes. It is easy to mix up which phase is currently happening and inadvertently harm your own chances! Also, a word of caution: when playing with passionate players, be prepared for the dice to go flying off the table, never to be found again.
Finally, I played two games I recognised at the Zatu Games booth, since I had the opportunity to demonstrate them previously at ZatuCon. This familiarity made me feel more acquainted with them, but this time I got to experience them fully as a player.
Thief’s Market, a new edition of the 2016 original, was one of those games. In this game, players assume the roles of thieves who pull off heists off-screen and are now debating how to split their ill-gotten gains. Each round, players roll dice representing the loot and then take turns choosing loot from the middle of the table or from another player until everyone is satisfied with their haul. The acquired loot is then spent in the market on items, investments for future heists, or valuable relics. The goal is to build a card engine that generates the most infamy points by the end of the game.
This game is entertainingly interactive, encouraging players to bicker over loot, backstab each other, and point fingers at one another, with cards that still provide a good level of strategic crunch. After a brief glance at the original, I can confidently say that the design has been streamlined and improved. The iconography on the cards is now clearer and easier to understand, and certain rule changes have made the game faster, sharper, and simpler to grasp.
The second game was Rebirth, Reiner Knizia’s latest title, a tranquil tile-laying and point-scoring experience that unfolds in the naturally beautiful landscapes of Scotland. Players take control of different clans with hopes of rebuilding Scotland after a series of unknown calamities collapsed civilisation, leaving cities, castles and cathedrals in ruins. Every turn, a player draws a random tile and places it on the map. That’s it! The tiles, which come in three types, have some placement restrictions and implications, which gently guide players to strategically place them on the map where they benefit them the most. Cathedrals provide players with objective cards to further steer their tile placement, while castles offer extra points to the player with the most tiles surrounding them.
As Tabletop Scotland wraps up for another year, I would like to extend a huge thank you to all the organisers, designers, demonstrators, and volunteers who make this event possible and contribute to its success and growth. I am looking forward to attending next year!
