The Ancients League pages now have the final results for 2009, and an introduction / reminder from Simon to submit your 2010 results.

Some small corrections to other events in the dates for 2010. Also, we have now added a members-only forum to allow discussions, event planning etc.

Sorry for the slow updates of late - the rest of the news for the end of 2009 and the first few weeks of 2010 should be added soon.

The dates for 2010 have been confirmed - please let us know of any events that should be added.

I've added another page of photos, covering a couple of games from the Board Games Day, a large Warhammer 40K game in progress, and two games of DBM.

A joint event between The Sorcon Society, The Chelmsford Games Club and The Essex Warriors, to be held on Sunday 4th October (not a usual club Sunday), 10am to 5pm.

This will be a one day event to play board games. Bring your own, or play what other people have brought, whatever you want. Open to all, though probably most convenient if you're in Essex or nearby.

Any questions, ask the mailing list, the sorcon mailing list, or chris@mnemosyne.demon.co.uk - the sorcon mailing list should be a good place to arrange some games in advance.

We hope this will be an opportunity for Essex gamers (who are at least in Chelmsford, Southend and Colchester) to get together, and have a longer event than Chelmsford's usual Tuesday evening.

Any profits from the event go to the Sorcon Society - and the only thing we can do with the money is run games events and donate to charity.

The Essex Warriors special is that in return for making a hall booking at the Essex Warriors rate, club members are offered free entry. Although a donation to SoRCon's charity of up to the usual entry fee wouldn't be refused.

This is however board (which includes card) games only - it's not a regular Essex Warriors meeting, and we can't offer the space for figure wargames. Board wargames using a single table will be fine though. And advertising flyers to try to get more Essex Warriors will be welcome.

Again, thanks to Simon, we have updated game details and rankings for the 2009 Ancients League covering games played between April and June. Remember, any Ancients or Medieval game that you play counts for your standing in the league, so be sure to let Simon know the results.

Two updates of non-club events for the calendar - SELWG Open Day takes place at Crystal Palace on the 18th October, and Warfare in Reading is confirmed for the 20th and 21st of November.

Some more information from Chris, for those who haven't seen it on the mailing list...

The annual board games day will be at the Essex Warriors on 21st June.

Probably by now everyone know the format, but in case anyone doesn't basically I bring some games - and so does anyone else who wants to - and we play some board games. All welcome to join in, whether you play games regularly, or usually only if it involves lead. If you prefer to play your usual DBM/FOG/whatever game, consider joining us when you are done (but better from the start) - but also check out Waterloo below, and the comment at the end of the next paragraph.

What will I bring? More games than we could possibly play. Some new, some old. If you have any requests, let me know here, whether old games you've played, or games of any age I might have. (I have quite a few, so any request might be successful.) In particular I probably won't bring the lighter (at least in terms of rules - ToI is probably my physically heaviest game, only one other might compare) wargames Memoir'44, Commands and Colors Ancients or Tide of Iron unless I get a request from a couple of you.

As a means of encouragement, here's some material on some of the newer games I definitely plan to bring, in alphabetical order.

AUTOMOBILE - Martin Wallace's latest (first released last weekend at the UK Games Expo in Birmingham) Treefrog game. Build factories, make cars, sell cars, make money, most money wins. Of course there are a few more details than that, managing your obsolete factories, coping with a variable demand, choosing which giant of the industry (from Ford to Chrysler) you will emulate this turn. 3 to 5 players.

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA - A rarity, a board game based on a TV series (the new one) that is worth playing. Actually very worth playing (and as the TV series declined, I think I prefer the game). Play your favourite character, from William Adama to Chief Tyrol (not forgetting Gaius Baltar and Tom Zarek - 10 in total). All pulling together to get to Kobol and beyond without running out of various essentials. That is, unless you happen to be a Cylon ... At its best with exactly 5 players, but other numbers are possible.

CASTLE FOR ALL SEASONS - Probably not quite as good as some of the other games here if you are a die hard gamer, but a bit lighter, and shorter, and works quite well. 2 to 4 players.

DOMINION - The phenomenon of (late) 2008. I never say "you must like this game". But sometimes I say "you must try this game" - and this is one of those. Like a collectable card game (which it is not) each player has his own deck but, unlike any CCG I know of, the players build that deck during the game from treasure, special cards, and victory cards. For replay value (and I know people who've played a thousand times online!) there are 25 special cards, but in each game you only use 10. It's all about making your cards work together - and with most sets its also a short game, so time for another. 2 to 4 players.

LE HAVRE - From the team that last year brought you Agricola. Not the shortest game listed here, and maybe people will want to play more shorter games. But it's a good example of modern "Eurogame" that involves building your income and victory points, and managing lots of resources. 1 (!) to 5 players, probably best with 3.

KELTIS - Reiner Knizia finally won the Spiel des Jahres with this one. Though the US version, Lost Cities the Boardgame stuck with Reiner's original rules, he and the publishers negotiated a change for Keltis. Easy to play either rules with either set - and opinions divide on which is better. 2 to 4 players.

POWERBOATS - Another game people are playing a lot of on the Internet (where it only plays two players - often playing many games at once). A game of planning how to go round the buoys in the right order, managing your dice (a cunning system allowing you to roll or reuse dice). One race is short, you can play more. 2 to 6 players.

RACE FOR THE GALAXY - Really this doesn't belong on this list, as it was the 2007 phenomenon (well, one of them, Agricola being the other). But it had a new expansion (The Gathering Storm) late in 2008 and now plays 1 to 5 players rather than 2 to 4 players.

REVENGE OF THE B-MOVIE - Not really a game (or at least a pretty basic one) but an excuse to create some film names that even the worst director wouldn't make. Must use that voice from the (late) announcer famous for "From the people who brought you ...". 3 to 6 players, or thereabouts.

ROLL THROUGH THE AGES - There was a Czech game called Through the Ages where you built a civilization over many hours. Roll Through the Ages (The Bronze Age) plays in only half an hour and uses dice. But don't let the dice fool you, there's a lot more than just luck to this game. But with a fast play and easy rules, it's been going down well for 1 to 4 players.

STEAM - Martin Wallace again (look, he's a friend, I recently went to his wedding - and I've spared you listing Steel Driver as well) but published by Mayfair, not Warfrog/Treefrog (so I can be unbiased about this one) this is the new revamp of Age of Steam. (Don't buy the new Age of Steam if you want to reward those who deserve rewarding.) But I have a German copy (worth a lot more than I didn't pay for it) and need to get a translation, so it may or may not be available. 3 to 5 players.

WATERLOO - The other recent Treefrog game, can the British led allies hold up the French long enough for Blucher to arrive and turn the tide? The designer hopes its a new take on a familiar theme. Maybe a couple of Grognards would like to try wood instead of lead? (If two people want to book this one in advance, let me know, and I can point you at the rules to read before the day. I could even manage two copies.)

Thanks to Tim Myall, John Davis and Mike Herrington, we have some more photos added of games at the club and a demo game of AT-43 at the Boys' Toys event at Hylands House.

The meeting of the 21st June will be the annual Board Games Day. More details as we have them, or contact Chris Dearlove.

Tim Myall has supplied a number of photos and some accompanying commentary to give us a great look at some past games.

Thanks to book-keeping efforts by Simon Walker, we now have the details on the 2009 Ancients League added to the web site. Remember, any Ancients or Medieval game that you play counts for your standing in the league, so be sure to let Simon know the results.