Preparing for the UK Games Expo

It’s that time of year again, and Chris and I are both getting ready for the UK Games Expo happening in Birmingham from the 2nd to 4th of June. We’ve been picking over the list of exhibitors and it’s another bumper crop of interesting people to talk to and games to scout out.

While we were both impressed with Inside The Box board games last year I'm personally excited to talk to them again for two reasons; firstly to catch up with the development and release schedule of Statecraft (for which ITB offered a really neat expo-exclusive reward) but also because a friend of mine pitched a game of his own design last year at the UK Games Expo's "Wyvern's Lair" event (an opportunity to pitch and get feedback on original game designs from industry experts) and has gone on to work with ITB to launch it via a successful Kickstarter earlier this year.

As Sub Terra is a game of co-operative survival horror and cave exploration is might be a good fit for us at Darker Days Radio and I'd love to delve into some with Chris backing me up.

Steamforged Games are another favourite for Chris and myself, and while the Hunters Guild team I bought last year has yet to take to the pitch due to some unfortunate moving around on my part I’ve been enjoying painting them now they’re out of storage. I’m eager to see what they’re bringing this year, especially after I had the opportunity to play Dark Souls last year which was one of many highlights of the convention.

With so many exhibitors on the list it’s quite a task to dig through them all but I’ve already got a few names I’m interested to check up on:

• Code Orange Games who will be bringin their tabletop wargame Collision, a game where contests are resolved with cards rather than dice.
• Fire Hazard Games run games out and about in the real world and with the growing popularity of escape room challenges I can imagine they’ll be interesting people to talk to.
• I’m also keen to get a look at City of Kings which is a collaborative town builder and adventuring game, they’re currently on a Kickstarter campaign slated to end by April 27th  but the UK Games Expo should be a good place to get some hands-on time and see how it plays.

That being said, there's nothing like turning up and seeing the games and the stands in person, last year was a real pleasure and I can't wait to see what treasures this year turns up.

Chris and I will be there on the Friday and I'll be in my Darker Days t-shirt, if you see us around then wander up and say hello.