River Insects
February 6, 2010 by Robert
Filed under Gaming Blog
Well, today (yesterday, I suppose – it’s two in the morning) a trip along the Thames by boat took me to Greenwich, and a trip into Greenwich Market. Wherever I go these days, it seems that fate intervenes to ensure that some type of board game or other is there to tempt me.
Inside Greenwich Market, it turns out there’s a lovely little games shop called ‘Compendia’. It had a reasonable amount of what I’ll call “modern games” – the Agricolas, the Zoolorettos and such. It also had plenty of classic game odds and ends. All in all, a well-stocked, charming little shop. There was a pleasant gentleman in a nice suit and spectacles behind the counter. No hard rock music or big bearded lads with damp-smelling jackets in this game shop. Nope.
I’d been looking for Hive for quite a while, so I was a happy man to see it on the shelf. Twenty quid, bish-bosh, back up the river with Hive to see what all the fuss was about.
Summoner Wars and Hive both hit the table tonight. Kenny and I matched wits, playing learning games for realsies, like we always do.
Long story short, I got fucked as usual.
I’m on my way back to the river, to throw myself in.




I had the exact same experience, wandering through past the observatory and up into Greenwich village. Stumbling across this nifty place in the market. I was so happy, I bought a copy of Diplomacy.
Hive is grand, I got it as a result of starting to read this website (picked at random as it looked nice) and it’s lots of fun. Very quick, and satisfying heavy chunky pieces. Plus I like that it can claim to have a ‘Mosquito Expansion Pack’.
Wow! I bought a game called Hive at a Con about ten years ago – wonder if it is the same one? Insects and hexagonal pieces, no board?