Our October meet-up saw another day packed full of fun, with three tables each settling into different kinds of games to start the day.

One table opened with the original Dune. This is the classic 1979 asymmetric game of treachery on Arrakis, not the more recent Dune: Imperium. Each player takes a faction with its own special rules, from the Fremen to the Spacing Guild, and the game revolves around spice, shifting alliances and betrayals.

Meanwhile, a second table kicked off with some shorter games, starting with a game of Scout, which is always a club favourite.

The third table unpacked a first for the club: Threaded: A Game of Needles and Points, a brand new worker placement game from Osprey Games, designed by British designer Ellie Dix. Players are embroiderers racing to complete tapestry commissions in the bargello style, and the theme comes through the mechanics. Thread cubes go onto your “needle”, which holds only six and can only be added to or removed from at the ends, so you have to plan the order you’ll need them in. Spare thread gets dropped into a cardboard “bargain box” tower, which spits out scraps for whoever sent workers there. The box art is cosy, but the game is about elbowing your friends out of the best thread.

The Scout table followed up with the classic Seven Wonders and then Courtesans, a clever card game about swaying the Queen's favour for and against different factions, while the Threaded crew switched to a lighter gear with Ticket to Ride.

The Threaded table rounded off its day with the cosy tile-laying of Dorf Romantik (I'm yet to play this, but I'm a big fan of the video game it's based on), followed by a second outing of Seven Wonders.

In the afternoon the Dune players moved on to Reiner Knizia’s classic Tigris and Euphrates, a tile-laying game of rival dynasties and conflict between kingdoms, while two of us broke off for Aliens: Another Glorious Day in the Corps, a cooperative game from Gale Force Nine.

Aliens: Another Glorious Day in the Corps puts players in the boots of the characters from James Cameron's Aliens, in the corridors of the Hadley’s Hope colony; the team plays through various scenarios mirroring the plot of the movie. Xenomorphs close in from every direction, motion-tracker cards ratchet up the tension, and dice rolls ensure something is bound to go wrong! My copy has fully painted miniatures, which really add to the atmosphere.

Another great day of gaming! See you next time.

Our next meet-up is on 14th November; feel free to connect with members or arrange a game in advance on our Aftergame page, or see upcoming events on our calendar.