Heng’s Gaming Blog

Just cross-posting an event this merdeka day at a game shop in Paramount… Aye, doing my bit to raise awareness of German-style boardgames (eurogames). Those of my readers who are interested can give me a yell and we’ll go there together:

Toybox Teaches Board Games This Merdeka Day!

August 20, 2006: Settlers of Catan? Carcassonne? Railroad Tycoon? Ticket to Ride? If you haven’t heard of these games, then you are missing out on a totally new hobby hitting the local community. Designer board games have been around for ages but are making their presence felt after the first local Gamecon-1 last year.

Still no idea what these games are? Well, drop by Toybox on Merdeka Day(thats August 31) and be treated to a tutorial on the wonderful world of designer board games. It is a FREE session for all of you!

For gamers who want to introduce your friends to these games, grab this opportunity and bring them to Toybox. They get to experience and learn the games, minus the hassle of you teaching it to them.

This is also a good time for parents to introduce your kids to a healthy hobby. We have games that are suitable for kids of all ages.

Some of the games that will be on display will be:

·         Ticket to Ride

·         Settlers of Catan

·         Amazon

·         Hare & Tortoise

·         Gulo Gulo

·         Villa Paletti

·         and many more!

The tutorials will run from 10 am up to 9 pm on August 31, 2006. For more information, please email Nicholas Leong at n.leong@toybox.com.my or give him a call at 012-2675003.

Toybox is the first Malaysian hobby store to offer board games for rent. Located in Paramount Garden, we offer everyone a chance to game at an affordable rate. We also have a healthy community of card gamers in games such as VS System and Pokemon.

We are five minutes walk away from Paramount LRT station. For map and directions, please do not hesitate to email enquiry@toybox.com.my.

What is Caylus? It is the hot game of 2005. It has just arrived in Malaysia and it was good.

Hailed by many as the best game of 2005, I played this last year in Games Circle with someone’s copy, who had bought it at Essen, the boardgaming mecca.

A deeply strategic game, it has players competing to build the castle for the king.

But first, the neighbouring town of Caylus have to be built up with the necessary buildings: blacksmith, clothshop, mason, quarry, etc.

From which the players can get coins, cloth, stone, wood, resources necessary for the undertaking of castle building.

But beware the agents of the King: the provost and the bailiff. The provost may be bribed to stop buildings from producing, and the bailiff will hurryup the castle construction, leaving stragglers behind.

Those who are good master builders, will earn the King’s favor.

At the end of the construction, who shall be the King’s favourite? Who shall be the most prestigious master builder?

Who shall be, the master of Caylus?

Sigh… unfortunately, no Caylus for me. Still need to wait for Teng hock’s Marvel Superheroes to comeout first before making the order together. ETA date? November 2006. Sigh… faster come outlar!

Target Arnhem: Across 6 Bridges. Free game. Wargame. Hex and counter game. World War II game. In my case, my solitaire game.

(picture from boardgamegeek.com)

Wargames are notorious for their 2 player competition and also their historical accuracy. I was watching Band of Brothers and reading up online about operation Market-Garden when I realise I have a wargame simulating the operation - Target Arnhem. Suddenly, my interest in the game piqued and I absolutely have to try out the game, to see if what happened in history is what will happen in my game as well.

What if the 1st paratroopers managed to take Arnhem and held out? What if the 82nd Airborne dropped between Arnhem and Nijmegan to help out in Arnhem and Nijmegan? What if the 101st Airborne dropped right beside Eindhoven and helped the XXX Corps to move rapidly to Nijmegan? What if?

Since no one is here to play with me, so I play solitaire. And playing solitaire with a wargame can be very interesting also! Even a small strategic change at the beginning of the operation can have a very different game ending. Some plans look good on paper but when playing, suddenly there’s a problem in your plans. And so you play, first US forces, then German forces, then back to US forces until one of them win.

Of course, my lone ranger playing must have been one-sided sometimes because it is difficult to think like a US general and a German general at the same time. But is damn fun, man!

Hmmm… now I think of it, maybe I should try dropping the 101st to take Nijmegan first… let’s see what happens…

(btw, please ask me if you are interested in playing against me. I promise not to slaughter innocent first time players… muahahaha)

Subject: 1-Year Later: An Eye-Opening Account of Leaving CCGs Behind: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/120323

Yeah, for those of you guys still addicted to Collectible Card Games, this is your wakeup call. Wakeup and be a Board Game Addict! TM