 Field of Games was a resounding success!Tuesday, 5 September 2017 | Russ We got back yesterday from the inaugural 'Field of Games', a 4 day camping & board gaming meet and I have to say, it felt like it was a resounding success!
I was a little nervous at first, I struggle when meeting new people for the first time (and even more-so when there's more than a handful at once) - but I think many of us were also feeling anxious about that - I think I spoke to everyone over the course of the weekend (I certainly tried to) and everybody was extremely friendly, open and welcoming - it felt like a bit family event with long forgotten aunts and uncles all attending, we needn't have felt anxious :)  As for gaming - Wow! One morning when I got up and poked my head out of our awning I saw a game of Tyrants of the Underdark underway - before 9am! Gaming also continued until past 11pm on two evenings I believe. So, as you can imagine, there were a LOT of games played. There were big heavy euros, light filler games, old games, new games and everything in between. One of the gaming highlights for me was discovering 'Secret Hitler', a hidden identity social deduction game (along the lines of One Night Resistance et al), but it was great fun and we played many games of that....there were two games of it running simultaneously at certain points over the weekend. I've now sourced myself a Kickstarter Wooden Box version ;) This was a family friendly event as well, I think there were a dozen or more kids in attendance, mostly 10 or under, who also got to play lots of games. Obviously that does mean some noise and the occasional child-related issue, but on the whole they were well-behaved and had a great time too.
I don't want to waffle on for too long and bore you, so I will just say that I (and everyone I spoke to) cannot wait until the next one for more friends, chat, communal barbecues and of course....Games! Discussions are already under way about next year - there will possibly be multiple events in different locations and dates next year and we have learned quite a lot from this year, so we expect that next year's event(s) will be even better! We are really looking forward to doing it all again.  If you are interested and don't want to miss out next year, be sure to sign up to the Field of Games Newsletter by visiting the website here : http://fieldofgames.co.uk/newsletter/ The amazing aerial photograph is courtesy of Pez Cuckow - pezcuckow.com |
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If you haven't heard of 'Field of Games', it was an informal event where we all booked a camping pitch at the same place and the same time and then played board games for 4 days! It was organised by Ian Hartwell (with a little assistance from a few others of us) who managed to find a site that also had 3 marquees with tables, chairs, lighting, 2 massive barbecues and a fire pit for us to use as well! There were over 20 camping units and approximately 50 people in attendance and LOTS of games played - many of us loaded our car boots with games and then parked them, with the boots open, next to the marquee providing quite an impressive game library.
The campsite was near Silverstone Village in Northamptonshire and was lovely, very rural (with great views) and had all the facilities you could need - showers, toilets, electric hookup, fridge, freezer, washing machine, tumble drier, kettles, hair-dryers. A little rustic perhaps (the facilities were mostly in half of a converted barn) but functional and reasonably priced - we paid 30 per night for our large trailer-tent and awning with electric hookup. It has multiple fields too (some pitched up on another field) - It used to host 1,500 people on Grand Prix weekends!
