MAGIC In Northern Ireland

Just got done playing a Magic draft at Serenity Games (46 Botanic Road, Belfast, Northern Ireland). As usual I was by far the oldest guy in the place, and I think was at least twice as old as anyone there, and three times for some.

But, the beauty of gaming is that nobody gave a toss, and I was welcomed into the group. The shop itself is very cool, a smallish room one flight up with two long card tables and a WH40K battle table set up. Available for purchase were (of course) Magic boosters plus sem board games, primarily Euros (not surprisingly) and 40K. I think I surprised some of the patrons by being able to talk 40K at least as well as them ... little do they know!

Its a new shop (3 months old), run by Sean and Connor. They chipped in to open the place to revive the Magic scene in Northern Ireland. Apparently there had been a large community, lots of players, and even a national champion from NI but one thing or another caused it all to dwindle. The lads are bringing it back to life with this cool, vibrant shop, and I was very glad to be able to participate.

In the draft format there were 3 rounds of play, 2 out of 3 wins takes a round. An interesting twist is that there is a 'rare draft' at the end of the nite: all the gold (rare) cards are pulled out of the decks and players get to pick one in turn, highest placing players first then eventually the low-lifes such as myself at the end of the line. But, it generally means everyone gets to go home with at least 3 rare cards in addition to whatever you kept in the draft, and the better cards go to the better players.

Draft is an interesting format: 8 players each open a booster pack, pick a card, and pass to the right. Repeat until all the cards are picked the pop another booster, this time pass to the left, then another to the right. It levels the field a bit (no killer, pre-constructed decks) but there are skills involved in drafting that a good player can use to draft a superior deck. Needless to say, I don't possess any of those skills. But I did my best.

I played twice this week, Tuesday and Thursday, doing better Thursday. Again, gaming is an amazing hobby where strangers become comrades just because we like to play with the same toys. Most of my opponents were much more experienced then me, but were very willing to share their knowledge, give pointers, suggestions and play tips. I asked one fellow if it was weird playing someone as old as his Dad, but he just shrugged smiled, and obliterated my favorite creature with a Lightening Bolt ... we should all appreciate what an inclusive hobby we have.

Interestingly enough I was no the only Yank, and I got paired up with young Trevor both nights. We were known as the "American Table" but since he is from Seattle we preferred the moniker of "East Coast vs West Coast". It was fun all the way.

Sad to say, I must leave Belfast without getting another chance to join my new friends at Serenity Games for the pre-release of Worldwake. However, I will strongly encourage any of our members, should the find themselves in sunny Belfast, to visit and patronize Serenity Games. I'm looking forward to my next trip there that much more.

-Mike Willner

All the King's Men

Few months ago at Fall In I happened to play "All the King's Men" horse and musket period wargame with 54mm miniatures. The American Revolution game was run by the writers of the rules. They also make extensive range of 54mm miniatures for that game. It's an excellent generic "beer and pretzels" toy soldiers game and can be tweaked to fit anything from the early 18th century to American Civil War. 54mm is not the scale I game, but I was impressed with the range of the figures this company makes. I even bought the figure of their British officer and painted it because it kind of looked like Wellington. Check them out and definitely check out their rules: allthekingsmentoysoldiers.com