Day 1
The plan had been to head off to the expo at a reasonable 6am. However thanks to Dolly waking me up at 3am. At 3:30 unable to get back to sleep and expecting one of the Monster Squad to tag in and wake me up just as I drifted off. I decided to get up and head off to the expo.
It was easy to trick the Monster Squad into going next door to mums.
With the dogs off loaded to mum I quietly got my bags together, got in the car and headed off.
But before I started the journey fully a fuel stop, tire check, and cash machine visit was needed.
Like a well trained formula 1 pit crew I did all this in double quick time.
Then it was onto the A47 heading west.
At Eye I stopped at the McDonalds to get breakfast. But I was 30 mins too early for the breakfast menu. So my breakfast was a large fries, double cheese burger, and a white Americano.
Obviously I was parked before the NEC buses were running. Like the breakfast menu at McDonalds I was half an hour too early for them. So it was the “long” walk to the exhibition halls. Which is kinda traditional for me.
The surprising thing was I wasn’t the first in line for picking up my ticket. I was beaten by a guy who had traveled overnight from the Isle of Wight, and had hardly slept.
The queue for hall 5 was not just for getting tickets but also for dropping off for the bring and buy.
At 8am the doors to hall 5 opened for the rush to get tickets. And it is a rush. However people are funnelled into a zig zagging labyrinth of barriers that they have to wind their way through before reaching the line of show staff issuing tickets.
Ticket in hand it was time to queue outside one of the halls ready for the 9am show opening.
I was going to queue up outside hall 2 however a message from my pal Jamie saw me waiting outside hall 3 with him instead.
As soon as the doors opened I made a be-line to hall 2 and the publisher of Yonder to swap over my damaged copy for a brand new one.
After swapping Yonder it was time to grab a shop and drop box for the day.
The previous evening I had used the expo web app to star stalls I wanted to visit. Guess what the app had lost when I went back into it? Luckily I had my Apple notes list of stuff I was hoping would be at the show.
One pleasant costly surprise for me was the publisher of Cartographers having the map packs for the game on sale. Previous expos had me keeping an eye out for these but they were never on sale. So I was not going to miss this opportunity to pick them up.
Jonathan had asked me to get a copy of Lunar Trick for him, which I did. I also picked up a copy for myself because I thought it looked interesting.
My in a whim, just because purchase was Pugs in Mugs. What the game is like I have no idea. It’s set collection? But this was purely bought on the theme alone.
The small polish publisher of West Story had a tiny stall hidden in hall 2. I missed a couple of times looking for it. Sadly they had no copies of West Story for sale. But they did have a 20% discount code for their web store. So I went online and ordered it with the expansion. The discount code covered the postage. Which was very cool.
I was able to get the two player teaching mat for Netrunner. Something I’d been after for a while.
Lunch was my tortilla wraps. The processed cheese one was ok. I thought the army cheese was slightly too salty. However the shock for me was just how good the peanut butter and jam was. For decades I’ve watched American shows and movies have characters make pb&j sandwiches. And for decades I’ve snared at them for it, and saying to myself jelly? Boy have I been missing out. What a great combo. The saltiness of the peanut butter, the sweetness of the jam compliment each other so well. Wow! I’m a convert.
I headed off back to the car and the journey home about 2:30pm. I had achieved the days aims, I was also starting to feel tired.
Number of Fenland Gamer Poker Chips Handed Out: 0
Purchases:
- Pugs in Mugs
- King of Tokyo Godzilla Edition
- Cartographers Heroes Collectors Edition
- 3 Cartographers map packs
- Heat Legends
- Lunar Trick
- West Story + Expansion
- Fliptoons plus mini expansion
- Kobayakawa
- Tropichaos
- Mill Tag Grey Area Art Set (Netrunner alt art cards)
- Netrunner two player play mat
- The Ultimate Gamers Cookbook: Recipes for an Epic Game Night
Day 2
The three day expo plan had been get all the shopping done on day 1, then spend the remaining days doing demos, and gaming.
However overnight I found out the Exmoor expansion for Forest Shuffle Dartmoor was at the show. So going to the Asmodee stand with the shop was my first priority.
As I was queuing to be served I asked an Asmodee employee to confirm they had copies. I didn’t want to waste my time queuing if there were no copies left. They confirmed there were copies on sale.
New purchase in hand I headed over to the Asmodee demo area to pick up the Dartmoor promo.
It was then time to head over to the Asmodee ccg demo area (yes Asmodee had multiple stands spread out over the halls focussing on different games/things). Like other SWU players not taking part in the tournament, taking part in a demo was the only way to pick up a copy of the Vader promo card. I was playing a new player, and it showed in their play. Especially with them not bringing out their leader when possible. Yes I won comfortably.
While I was wandering around aimlessly in hall 2 Diego and family spotted me. We chatted briefly before they went off to explore the show. That was the last I’d see them that day.
I went off to hall 1 and the open gaming area to find a table to have lunch.
After lunch I met up with an Ashes player from the Ashes discord server to play some Ashes.
We were using some of the precon Phoenixborn decks. Our first game (Brennen Blackcloud vs Issa Brightmore) was very back and forth, and very close in the end. It was all down to a single phoenixborn health point on the final round. We both needed to hit just one more point to win. My clock had run out I’d lose automatically start of the next round by not being able to draw enough cards to refill my hand. If my dread wraith had taken one more hit that round before I swung in.
Game two was much more one sided, possibly a bad match up (Sembali Grimtongue vs Arren Frostpeak). I had no answer to my opponent and just got out numbered by allies on the other side.
But it was fun playing Ashes again for a couple of hours.
Afterwards I had another wander round hall 2 before deciding to head off back home.
Number of Fenland Gamer Poker Chips Handed Out: 1
Purchases:
- Forest Shuffle Dartmoor: Exmoor expansion
Day 3
Slightly earlier than Day 2, but only by a quarter of an hour, I hit the road.
Like the previous days the journey started off uneventful.
However while on the A14 a police car came zooming along, no flashing lights, but it was easily hitting a tonne if I was to guess a speed. This was much faster than chasing down a speeding drive. It had an urgency to it.
Not long, minutes§. I saw what looked like a police car parked on an over pass doing the usual speed checks. But as I got closer it became clear this was not the case. The officer was out of the car and approaching (or getting as close as allowed) to what I then noticed, an adult male hanging onto the outside of the railing going across the over pass on the opposite side of the road. It was obvious he was in a bad place. This must have been pretty early into the incident because no other cops were there to help or close off the road on the opposite side. I just hope they were able to help this troubled soul.
I started the day off at the expo returning to the Asmodee stand to play another SWU demo game to get a second Vader promo.
I followed this up with learning the Gundam card game on the same stand. I ended up with both promo decks, promo card, and a Gundam Assemble sticker. I actually liked this and might invest in a starter deck or two.
I did get to play a game of Pixies with Diego and his family. Which was fun, probably the highlight of the day. Diego’s daughter Lizzy won. But the important thing is I beat Diego by a point.
Afterwards I returned to the SWU demoes to earn another Vader promo card however the guy didn’t have anyone for me to play, so gave me two to complete the playset. If you are counting that’s four in total I got.
Sadly I was unable to get another game of Ashes.
But I did bump into Marcin and Colin and we had a photo taken with the Catan sheep.
Before heading off I did look to see if there was a chance of picking up another game of Ashes. But it looked like it wasn’t going to happen. So off home it was.
Number of Fenland Gamer Poker Chips Handed Out: 2
Purchases:
- None
Final thoughts
I had a great time at the expo.
The driving back and forth each day wasn’t an issue. It’s about 2 hours each way. Cost wise in fuel, even with the current inflated prices due to world events, I was using about just over 1/4 of a tank a day. I put in about £70 in total. Which is about two nights b&b, or even camping. So it worked out cheaper financially.
The expo had technically 5 halls at the expo, plus the Hilton. However in reality it was 4.5 because hall 4 was only half utilised.
The expo was busy. But it never felt too crowded moving around due to the wider aisles, and being spread out over 3.5 halls.
There was a distinct lack of seating in the halls especially near the food truck in hall 4.
Having the open gaming in hall 1 was a good idea. There were some food trucks near it. So you could use the gaming tables for eating.
The tables did seem less used I think more todo with their location in hall 1. Last year when they were in hall 4 finding space on a table was hard. You had more people competing for them, whether for eating/resting and/or gaming. There were also more food trucks in hall 4 last year.
I’d be curious to know if the hall 1 food trucks took less money than expected or last year.
I think having the unused side of hall 4 as a dedicated food court with plenty of seating would be a great way forward.
It was a bit disappointing not to see Ben or Charlene on the opening day. And not to get a chance to play a game with Ben or have lunch.
However the highlight has to be playing Pixies with Diego and family.
Finally…
The show organisers released the all important numbers for the expo within a couple of hours of it closing its doors.
Once again it was a record setting expo.
In 2025 there were Uniques – 42,000+, and a Total Attendance – 72,000+. Which was also a record breaking expo, just like the one before that, and so on.