Blog

St. Ives Tabletop

• Nintysecond session - Charity begins at Home
  27th November 2024

  Sixteen gamers joined us for the last session of the year and charity night. The donations, bake sale and games raffle raised £202 which will go to local charity East Anglian Children’s Hospices (EACH). Thanks to everyone who came and donated and helped us raise funds for local families with special healthcare needs. Between eating all the tasty treats we managed to play nine games, four new to club.

• Ninty First session - Space Bees and Wet Wizards
  13th November 2024

  It was a four table night with 14 gamers trying out three games new to club and four old favourites.

• Nintieth session - Dead Rising
  30th October 2024

  A slightly quieter half term session with a bias towards spooky games in reference to All Hallows’ Eve on the following night.

• Eighty Ninth session - Gyrations and Zombie Invasions
  16th October 2024

  Sixteen gamers made it past the St Ives Michaelmas fair and through the more circuitous route to the games room to enjoy seven different games this session. Games selected covered all the genres, History, Space, Zombies, Nature, Building and Fireworks.

• Eighty Eighth session - Stories, Planets, and Space Mushrooms
  2nd October 2024

  Sixteen gamers convened to play various games from tavern tales, building utopian planets to battling in space, with of course some fruiting mushrooms thrown in for good measure.

• Eighty Seventh session - Organised Forests and Dragon Cities
  18th September 2024

  Thirteen gamers this week tackled a variety of games including a rematch from the previous week, with additional tasty cake treats on account of Richie’s birthday.

• Eighty Sixth session - Just Deserts
  4th September 2024

  Fifteen gamers got straight into the long and medium length games at this session, with two taking place in the deserts of Egypt or Arrakis and the others opting for space conflict or workplace efficiency.

• Eighty Fifth session - Space for Art, Magic and Wine
  21st August 2024

  A very busy night in St Ives with 25 gamers covering six tables with ten different games over the course of the night. A mix of favourites and five new games with a range of themes from the more tranquil wine making and art collecting to magic and space battles.

• Eighty Fourth session - Noble Intentions
  7th August 2024

  It was another table filling night on a warm summer evening in St Ives with sixteen gamers building zoos, recruiting followers in medieval France, being merchants in the Renaissance and mining in the mountains.

• Eighty Third session - Power Struggles
  24th July 2024

  Seventeen gamers arrived this session for a room filling five table session with four new games and four returning games being played.

• Eighty Second session - Abstract Zombie Explorers
  10th July 2024

  Despite having to choose between watching a Euro ball game or playing a Euro board game, eleven gamers turned out for a three table session. They played a few of the club favourites and one new game of exploration.

• Eighty First session - Mars Attacks!
  26th June 2024

  Fifteen gamers turned out on a hot evening to support the clubs charity night. Between the donations, bake sale and games raffle we raised £250 on the night to support the St Ives Corn Exchange which has been our host since the start of the club back in September 2019. So thanks to everyone that supported the event. The club has matched every £2 so we have increased the donation to £375!

• Eightieth session - From Harmonic Butterflies to Cattle Coups
  12th June 2024

  There was a great turnout filling the hall with 5 tables of games, showcasing a few of the goodies brought back from a recent convention but also some classics.

• Seventy ninth session - Portrait of a Space Pirate
  29th May 2024

  A quieter night with twelve gamers joining us for another epic space battling game of Eclipse and some shorter length games of painting, looting, repelling aliens and digging for treasure.

• Seventy eighth session - Gamers wouldn't give a 4X game for anything else
  15th May 2024

  Twenty gamers joined the club for several favourites and quite a few new games, with themes spanning the 4Xs - eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate.

• Seventy seventh session - Forging Links
  1st May 2024

  The first session of May brought an improvement in the weather and a good turnout with 19 gamers and 5 tables worth of games. The games chosen covered a range of destinations from under the sea, to faraway islands, the capital city London, the country of India and the Garden of the Gods.

• Seventy sixth session - Paint your Wagon
  17th April 2024

  15 gamers brought quite a variety of new games to try at this session. There was a bit of an art and train theme going on and more short and medium length games than usual.

• Seventy fifth session - Sand Worms and Hidden Monsters
  3rd April 2024

  Seventeen gamers at this post Easter session playing nine different games over four tables, including Dune: Imperium possibly inspired by the recent cinema release.

• Seventy fourth session - If you go down to the woods today...
  20th March 2024

  Just 13 gamers at this pre-Easter session and five different games played, with two of the long games featuring building settlements in a forest.

• Seventy third session - Class warfare
  6th March 2024

  This session had 20 gamers with five different games on the go simultaneously. The various games had people trading with trains, dabbling in class politics, stealing from ghost dragons, engaging in intrigue on Dune and building space megastructures.

• Seventy second session - Tycoons, Theme parks and Wandering Wizards
  21st February 2024

  This session had 23 gamers spread over five tables playing ten different games covering the usual favourite themes of trains, trading and building, but more unusually wizards brewing potions, stained glass, cats on boats and evil theme parks.

• Seventy first session - Truckers, Traders and Raiders
  7th February 2024

  Seventeen gamers arrived this session to get eight different games played over four tables during the night.

• Seventieth session - Water under the Bridge
  24th January 2024

  There were 18 gamers this session playing a wide variety of games, many new to the club.

• Sixty Ninth session - New Year, New Games
  10th January 2024

  There was a good first session of the year turnout of 19 gamers on a cold night in St Ives. We played a mix of four returning favourites and four new games to the club tables.

• Sixty Eighth session - Classical Charity
  29th November 2023

  It was our third annual charity night raising money for two local charities, East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH) and St Ives Food Bank with donations, a bake sale and a raffle. So it was lovely to have a bumper attendance of 25 gamers and a table full of varied tasty donated snacks to keep us going through the session.

• Sixty Seventh session - Root and Branch
  15th November 2023

  Twenty two gamers arrived for a packed session with six tables on the go at once and for the first time we had two copies of the same game played on two tables at once.

• Sixty Sixth session - Power and Cats
  1st November 2023

  Another big turnout with 19 gamers including three new joiners. We played 11 different games but only two completely new to the club this session.

• Sixty Fifth session - Empires and Acquisitions
  18th October 2023

  A big turnout of 18 which led to a lot of different games being played, some old favourites, some returning and some new.

• Sixty Fourth session - Auctions and Inventions
  4th October 2023

  A slightly smaller turnout this session which led to three tables of longer games with quite different themes and mechanics on the go.

• Sixty Third session - Friezing Phones and Flaming Pyramids
  20th September 2023

  Despite the torrential rain at the start of the evening which meant that most attendees arrived somewhat soggy there were 15 gamers and six medium to long games played.

• Sixty Second session - Settling and Seafaring
  6th September 2023

  A slightly quieter night to start September with just three tables on the go. A classic game had been requested beforehand that we were able to accommodate as well as a dungeon crawler and a trading game.

• Sixty First session - London Underground
  23rd August 2023

  Another big session with 18 gamers including 2 more newcomers, word of the club does seem to be spreading, so it was another four table night filling the room with many different types of games.

• Sixtieth session - Ancient History
  9th August 2023

  A new record for attendees with 23 gamers playing 10 different games over the course of the evening. The majority of the games had a historical flavour ranging from farming, through egyptian architecture to roman games and trading.

• Fifty ninth session - Trees, Tribes and a touch of magic
  26th July 2023

  A bumper session with 20 attendees and a new record for most different games (twelve) played on the night, we even had to spread onto a fifth table!

• Fifty eighth session - Life, Lucre and Liquor
  12th July 2023

  We had 15 attendees, including 3 first timers, and played a mix of new and old games mostly with themes about life, money and spirit making.

• Fifty seventh session - Rat Race
  28th June 2023

  After last session with no new games out, this week we had many new games to try, partly because some members were recently back from a games exposition eager to try out their new loot. The games covered trains (of course), building zoos, abstract pattern building, rats making rockets to the moon, growing a forest and horse racing.

• Fifty sixth session - Reef, forest, moon and mars
  14th June 2023

  The 11 players chose games set in a wide variety of locations this week. From the tableau building Ecosystem: Coral Reef, and the competitive forest replanting of Renature, to the filling of a rocket set for the Moon or terraforming the surface of Mars, with a side helping of gods and railways. Also possibly for the first time every game played this session had been played at a previous session, no new games!

• Fifty fifth session - Lost Islands
  31st May 2023

  Another week where the blog title wrote itself with all three long games featuring islands but very different game mechanics. There were 12 gamers exploring and researching, cooperatively placing workers or shipping goods around and influencing market prices in this session.

• Fifty fourth session - Planes, trains and automobiles
  17th May 2023

  There were 11 attendees this session and the longer games selected had a transportation theme this week.

• Fifty Third Session - Tunnelling Below
  3rd May 2023

  There were 15 attendees this session trying more short games than usual, a classic medium-length game, and 2 longer games. A theme for the session was again tunnels (this time for trains), or digging and exploring below the ground.

• Fifty Second Session - Trading, Tunnels, and Treasures
  19th April 2023

  There were 13 attendees this session who enjoyed 3 long games, 2 with a historical far eastern trading theme, and 1 just racing for treasure.

• Fifty First Session - Ghosts and the Galapagos
  5th April 2023

  There were 15 attendees this session making for a 4 table long game split, with 2 new games tested and 2 previously played requests. Everyone was keen to get stuck in to the long games so the shorter filler games came out at the end this time.

• Fiftieth Session - Heal the World
  22nd March 2023

  Little did we know on Wednesday 11th September 2019 that 4 years later, despite a pandemic, the club would be hitting its fiftieth session with a sizeable group of regular attendees and frequent newcomers. In that time 169 different board games have been played with at least 335 individual plays and also 4 different RPGs.

• Forty Ninth Session - Bags of Birds
  8th March 2023

  This was an 19 person session despite the horrible cold and snowy weather, and we had 3 board game tables active playing 7 different games between them, and the D&D story also continued.

• Forty Eighth Session - Adventuring Parties
  22nd February 2023

  This was an 18 person session, including 4 newcomers, and saw the return of role playing with a Dungeons & Dragons one-shot. Also many of the board games had an exploring, mapping, or treasure-seeking theme.

• Forty Seventh Session - Tunnelling Terrors and Historical High Jinks
  8th February 2023

  This was a busy session with 4 lively tables hosting 19 gamers and 10 different games (some multiple times). Many of the games chosen involved exploring tunnels or caves or had some historical inspiration.

• Forty Sixth Session - Industrial Deliveries
  11th January 2023

  This was a slightly quieter session as 9 intrepid souls braved the cold and rain to attend. We had only 1 starter game and then went straight into 2 long games with both tables choosing games with a theme in common, delivering goods by railway.

• Forty Fifth Session - Factories and Containers vs Nature
  11th January 2023

  It was our first session back since an extended holiday season break, but it was well attended with 15 returning players and 4 tables active. There were a few club favourites out, but also some new Christmas present games on the tables.

• Forty Fourth Session - Ra, Romans, and a Raffle
  30th November 2022

  This session was our annual charity night raising money for two local charities, East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices (EACH) and St Ives Food Bank with donations, a bake sale and a raffle. Eighteen gamers turned up to support us and there was the usual varied selection of games running across 3 tables with the long games featuring either Ancient Rome or Egypt.

• Forty Third Session - Space for Growth
  16th November 2022

  This was a 4 table and 15 player session with all the long games played involving space or growing plants or both. There was a nice range of new games to the club, including a quirky new starter game, and some returning favourites too.

• Forty Second Session - Werewolves, Zombies, and a Kidnapping
  2nd November 2022

  This session was shortly after Halloween and so we played a few thematic games. It was also the first time since COVID for an in person role playing game (RPG). Plus there was time for a back-stabbing train game.

• Forty First Session - Thrones and Bones
  19th October 2022

  This was another session with 2 pre-booked long games and another long game chosen on the night. In the end there were 4 tables active with 17 participants (including 1 new), which had either an area expansion or deck building mechanic.

• Fortieth Session - Flora and Fauna
  5th October 2022

  All of the long games played by the 16 participants (including 2 new joiners) had a nature theme this session; from growing plants, creating food webs and dioramas, or building a zoo, to a battle of forest denizens.

• Thirty Ninth Session - Peace, Perennials, and Precipitation
  21st September 2022

  It was a 3 table session this week with 13 gamers trying 7 games over the evening with themes covering biblical events, Roman entertainments, firework festivals, colonial diplomacy in Afghanistan, and competitive gardening.

• Thirty Eighth Session - Imperial Entertainments
  7th September 2022

  It was a slightly smaller session this week with 11 gamers split over 2 tables. The first table went with a quick warm up and then into a long game, while the other table tried a range of short to medium games.

• Thirty Seventh Session - Constructions and Crime Capers
  24th August 2022

  It was another warm summer day when we were grateful for a little air conditioning at the Corn Exchange, with 4 tables on the go serving 18 gamers (4 new) and 10 different games.

• Thirty Sixth Session - Fumbling in the Darkness
  10th August 2022

  The stars aligned… and most of the committee were busy. Thankfully, several people stepped in to teach or run games. We had 16 gamers attending, including 1 new face, and playing 8 games (6 new to the club) over 4 tables.

• Thirty Fifth Session - Kings and Creatures
  27th July 2022

  This was our most popular session since our debut back after lockdown session 13 with 20 gamers attending, including 2 new faces. We had 9 games out over 5 tables, 3 of which were new to the club.

• Thirty Fourth Session - Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Volcanoes
  13th July 2022

  The games this session had 2 definite themes: temples and volcanoes, or stocks and trading. It was a lively session with 12 returning gamers enjoying the aircon at the Corn Exchange on a hot summer day and playing 8 different games.

• Thirty Third Session - Mystical Meadows
  29th June 2022

  We had lots of new games out this session - 3 new quick options for the start or end of the night, and 2 new long games with a development theme. This week we had 13 returning gamers playing 7 games over 3 tables.

• Thirty Second Session - Rooting, Rolling, and Railing
  15th June 2022

  It was a big session with 17 gamers and 4 tables active playing a variety of animal, fantasy, train, trading, and space themed games. The blog title highlights the 3 games newly out on the tables this time, but there were a total of 10 different games played, some with a few plays each.

• Thirty First Session - Pre Jubilee Pandamonium
  1st June 2022

  This was a good session on the eve of the Jubilee holiday with 12 gamers across 3 tables playing 7 different games.

• Thirtieth Session - Big Fish and Brass Dragons
  18th May 2022

  This was a packed session with 17 gamers (1 new), which meant 5 separate tables on the go - we had to reshuffle the room and put a fifth table out partway through the evening. There were 10 different games played, a new club record, 6 of which were new to the club.

• Twenty Ninth Session - May the Fourth be with You
  4th May 2022

  It was a slightly smaller session this week with 9 gamers, 4 taking on the topical challenge of the date with Star Wars: Outer Rim, while the other table messed with trains and Roman diplomacy.

• Twenty Eighth Session - Animals, Boats, and Windows
  20th April 2022

  We had 15 gamers this session, including 3 new joiners! We had 3 long, 2 medium, and 2 shorter games on the tables.

• Twenty Seventh Session - All the Z’s
  6th April 2022

  We had 14 gamers this session, including 1 new joiner, which let us play 2 long games with a Z theme (Zombies and Zimbabwe) and the final table giving Everdell its fifth outing.

• Twenty Sixth Session - Pulsars and Theology
  23rd March 2022

  We had 12 returning gamers attending the session, giving another evening with 3 long games active with 4 players each. Everdell was out again for the fourth session in a row, joined by Pulsar 2849 and Nicaea providing an extensive range of gaming styles and themes.

• Twenty Fifth Session - Space Race
  9th March 2022

  We had 12 gamers attending this session, 11 returners and 1 new member. The big game of the evening was Gaia Project, with a table of enthusiastic players that had been lined up in advance on Discord. Everdell was out for a third session in a row, and The Quest for El Dorado was a new game for club night, rounding off the longer games with the 3 tables nicely split with 4 gamers each.

• Twenty Fourth Session - Building Crew
  23rd February 2022

  We had 16 returning gamers at this session, meaning we needed to build a 4-table 4-player crew for each long game.

• Twenty Third Session - Wet Woodland Deliveries
  9th February 2022

  Twelve returning gamers attended the session on a typically chilly February evening. We started with a warm up game of Welcome to the Moon for the first 6 to arrive, with 2 players who had experienced the game in session 21 and 4 learners. People picked up the concepts pretty quickly and soon there were rocket sections filling up, system errors triggered, and finally blast off. There was also a quick game of Three of a Crime, a light deduction game, to divert a couple more members until we reached critical mass and could split up for the evenings long games.

• Twenty Second Session - Fire! Fire!
  26th January 2022

  With fewer committee attending we asked for attendees to run more games and basically make this session work. Our youngest committee member was there at the start, but she seemed more interested in climbing the stairs and had to go home for her bedtime. Thankfully our amazing members made a brilliant session. So let’s kick the tires and light the fires¹ on this session report.

• Twenty First Session - Diversity
  12th January 2022

  It was a quiet first session for 2022, but not surprising with high levels of that virus still circulating. However, the 9 gamers attending had a fun evening. The only commonality I could come up with about the games played was their diversity; in topic (space, nature, history) and play mechanics (flip and write, pick, pass and play, or area control, and conspiracy).

• Twentieth Session - Charitable Euphoric Tinners, Collectors, and Penguins
  1st December 2021

  This was a milestone twentieth session in person and a new format with the inaugural charity night.

• Nineteenth Session - Engines, Elections, and Ecology
  17th November 2021

  Some of the regulars were ill and so this session we had 10 players, 9 returners and 1 new joiner, trying some new longer games and a few favourite quick games.

• Eighteenth Session - Post-Apocalyptic Martian Magic on Rails
  3rd November 2021

  We had 13 players this session (11 returners and 2 new joiners) trying 3 new games and 4 repeat performances.

• Seventeenth Session - A Very Mixed Bag of Games
  20th October 2021

  We had 18 players this session, 15 returners and 3 new. With some of the committee adhering to the contain the contagion (cold not corona) advice, a few tables were hosted by normal members demonstrating games they had brought, which we encourage all weeks but was particularly helpful this session. Such a variety of themes for games were played this week that I can’t come up with a clever title for the session, if anyone can link wine growing, Machiavellian city building, peaceful Roman economic development, and power supply please post on Discord!

• Sixteenth Session - Multiple Cities and Mysteries
  6th October 2021

  This was another bumper session with 17 attendees, 12 returners and 5 new members, over 4 tables and playing 9 board games. It is great that word of the club is spreading and people are coming along to see what is on offer.

• Fifteenth Session - Trading Trains, Lost Civilisations, and Dystopian Worlds
  22nd September 2021

  This was another 3 table session with 11 attendees (all returners) playing a varied selection of game themes and mechanisms.

• Fourteenth Session - Clans and Cities
  8th September 2021

  Thirteen people turned out for the second session back post-pandemic, including 5 new members and 8 returners. Only a few different games were played this session, all about building civilisations from clans to cities.

• Thirteenth Session - Back from Lockdown
  25th August 2021

  Live sessions were able to resume on 25th August with a bumper turnout of old faces, new but previously virtual members, and some completely new joiners who had heard about the club and came along to try. The Corn Exchange has changed a little over the last year causing some initial issues with the hot beverage provision, but we managed to get the tea flowing and have some ideas to improve for next session.

• Interim Online Sessions - Going virtual
  17th July 2021

  The club had to suspend in person gaming due to the persistent pandemic, and started online sessions fortnightly instead. Some of our regulars have continued joining in this way, and word has spread with quite a few new members also joining us. Sessions start at 7:30pm using voice comms over Discord and we have largely settled on Board Game Arena as the platform for games, although Tabletop Simulator and Boiteajeux have also been used. We tend to first play a few short, simple games while we see who is joining the session, followed by a longer game, and finally, for those with the stamina, another 1 or 2 shorter games. Some are games that club members own and have had outings at the in person sessions (see other blogs/reviews) and some are new games discovered through the online platforms.

• Twelfth Session - Birds, Skye, and Villagers
  11th March 2020

  We had 14 attendees this session despite the spring chill, with two games from last session making a reappearance and some new players learning them. There were a lot of games involving villagers, crafting, building, or topically fighting epidemics.

• Eleventh Session - Athletic Ninja Escapes
  26th February 2020

  We had 19 people this session, making it the new record breaker for both total number of attendees and biggest RPG game! It included competitive birding, civilisation building, ninja training, and a first trial of an escape room in a box.

• Tenth Session - Mars, Mordor, and Menageries
  12th February 2020

  Nine people turned out despite the cold for this session, including one new member, which included settling on Mars, battling evil to defeat Sauron, and building the best zoo.

• Ninth Session - Heroes, Horrors, and Homage
  29th January 2020

  This was a great session, even though only two committee members could attend, with heroes smiting evil, haunted houses and wonderous civilizations. This is a very quick summary of what was played - we’ll be back with a full blog as usual for the next session.

• Eighth Session - Spirits, Ghosts, and Things that Go Bump in the Dungeon
  15th January 2020

  It was a good start to the New Year despite a few members falling victim to the seasonal bugs. We had 11 gamers, all returning members, with games involving an island of spirits, clanking in the dungeon trying to steal a dragons treasure, and a city surrounded by ghosts.

• Seventh Session - An Abundance of Islands
  4th December 2019

  This week was the seventh St. Ives Tabletop session, with 10 attendees in total including 1 new gamer and 3 games tables. The theme of the gaming took us to 3 different islands: 1 cursed, 1 inhabited by spirits, and 1 Scottish.

• Sixth Session - Shipwrecks, Survival and Scuba diving
  20th November 2019

  It was the sixth St. Ives Tabletop session, with 11 attendees in total and 2 new gamers. Some of our avid RPG crew were unable to come so instead 3 board game tables were set up, one with the infamous game Robinson Crusoe as requested.

• Fifth Session - Mars, Wind and Fire
  6th November 2019

  It was the fifth St. Ives Tabletop session and we had another good turnout, despite missing 2 of the committee members, with 11 attendees in total and 1 new gamer. Due to the shortage of committee members, we decided to focus the session on board gaming and not to run a RPG table. That gave us 2 tables over the course of the evening with firefighting, fortune telling, kingdom building and terraforming!

• Fourth Session - Garden Planet
  23rd October 2019

  A record breaking session with the most attendees so far (15), the most different board games played (7), and the most game plays in a night (9 - 2 games played twice). Not forgetting an RPG table trying to bring some modern infrastructure to a fantasy setting!

• Third Session - Excitement and Evolution
  9th October 2019

  Another good turnout with 8 returners and 3 new gamers meaning 3 tables ran over the course of the evening involving investigations, prison breaks, boasting, climate change and evolution!

• Second Session - Time and Wonder
  25th September 2019

  Our second session had good attendance with 9 returning players and 5 new gamers joining, which let the session start with 4 active tables. In fact it was so active that we rearranged the RPG table so they could better interact, while the board gamers explained rules for new players and in one case rolled lots of dice. The RPG table was where John led a lively Cthulhu Dark one-shot session, with 4 adventurers going on a journey through time in the village of Dunwich and resulting in some of the crew descending into insanity.

• First Session - Architecture Great and Small
  11th September 2019

  It was the first session of the St. Ives Tabletop gaming club on the of 11th September and we weren’t sure what to expect. So it was great to be joined by some new keen gamers and after a little deliberation we worked out how to split up based on peoples games preferences and had 3 tables running.