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Hello everyone,

I trust you all survived this week's crazy weather.  Hopefully you didn't have any property damage and are getting ready for the Canada Day holiday weekend.  Me?  I'll be working - someone has to make sure that there is gas available for all you travelers.

So this weekend is no doubt busy, busy.  But the two weekends later ... well it's time for July's Strategy Saturday!  If you remember, July has a historical theme and for our Feature Game we're going to reach way back to a game set in feudal Japan called Samurai Swords.  Samurai Swords was originally released as Shogun and has just recently been republished under a third name of Ikusa.  Though there are three names, it is all the same game.  It also has a big brother, a game you've likely heard of - Axis & Allies.  Check out the links for a short history of the two's relationship.

Samurai Swords has 2-5 players seeking to dominate Japan and claim the title of Shogun by directing their generals and their armies.  Intrigue, assassinations, sieges, and epic battles make up the game in which timely and bold gambits will win the day.  If you like Risk, Axis & Allies, or Diplomacy then this should be right up your alley.

Special thanks to Dwayne Wright for being willing to bring his copy - I sold mine to a friend years ago.  Of course if you also have a copy feel free to bring it - maybe we'll have multiple people claiming to be Shogun by evenings end.

We'll be in the basement of Argyle Road Baptist Church (3510 Argyle Rd) from 7pm to midnight.  As usual we'll have our snack counter open so feel free to contribute a drink or something to munch on.  And feel free to bring along friends (and to forward this email).

Hope you'll be there,

Allan
(along with Michael and Barry)


PS - And here's a reminder on what we see the rest of the year looking like as far as our themes for Strategy Saturday's Feature Game segment.  If you have a game that hits one on these themes and you'd be willing to feature it, let me know.  Of course your always welcome to bring your game even if it doesn't neatly fit into a theme (within reason of course):

August 11- Family/Gateway (Intro)
September 8 - Business
October 13 - Retro (20 years or older)
November 10 - Party/Group
December 8 - Open

Hi all,

June is here and that means summer is pretty much here as well.  Yes, there still are some anxious farmers looking to get those last few acres seeded, but for the most part the sky is blue, the land is green, the wind is warm and it is just great to be alive in Saskatchewan.

June has just started but already the second weekend of the month is fast approaching.  For June's Strategy Saturday the Feature Game is focusing on the theme of railroads.  There are lots of good railroad games and hopefully people will bring out the ones in their games collection.  I'll be bringing Railroad Tycoon.  This is a game that captures the early days of trains when entrepreneurs were struggling to be the first to establish links with important communities.  This game has also be more recently been released as Railways of the World.

We'll be in the basement of Argyle Road Baptist Church (3510 Argyle Rd) from 7pm to midnight.  As usual we'll have our snack counter open so feel free to contribute a drink or something to munch on.  And feel free to bring along friends (and to forward this email).

Hope you'll be there,

Allan
(along with Michael and Barry)


PS - And here's a reminder on what we see the rest of the year looking like as far as our themes for Strategy Saturday's Feature Game segment.  If you have a game that hits one on these themes and you'd be willing to feature it, let me know.  Of course your always welcome to bring your game even if it doesn't neatly fit into a theme (within reason of course):

July 14 - Historical
August 11- Family/Gateway (Intro)
September 8 - Business
October 13 - Retro (20 years or older)
November 10 - Party/Group
December 8 - Open

Hi all,

Welcome to May.  It's time for another edition of Strategy Saturday.  Some of you will remember that last month I included an overview of the types of games we're looking to feature for the remainder of the year.  This month the focus is on cooperative games.  If you've never played a cooperative game, then you're in for a real change of pace.  In a cooperative game all the players are working together to beat the game.  Everyone will win together or everyone will lose together.  It's a team effort.

The Feature Game for May will be Flash Point: Fire Rescue.  In this game the players take on the role of firefighters trying to rescue people (& pets) from a burning home.  There aren't a lot of cooperative games on the market and this one has been beautifully put together.  You can check out more on it at Board Game Geek.

We'll be in the basement of Argyle Road Baptist Church (3510 Argyle Rd) from 7pm to midnight.  As usual we'll have our snack counter open so feel free to contribute a drink or something to munch on.  And feel free to bring along friends (and to forward this email).

Hope you'll be there,

Allan
(along with Michael and Barry)


PS - And here's a reminder on what we see the rest of the year looking like as far as our themes for Strategy Saturday's Feature Game segment.  If you have a game that hits one on these themes and you'd be willing to feature it, let me know.  Of course your always welcome to bring your game even if it doesn't neatly fit into a theme (within reason of course):

June 9 - Railroad
July 14 - Historical
August 11- Family/Gateway (Intro)
September 8 - Business
October 13 - Retro (20 years or older)
November 10 - Party/Group
December 8 - Open

Hi all,

I hope that Easter finds you safe and with your family.  This snow that hit us is something else.  I managed to finish my last delivery this week and get back to Regina just as the storm was rolling in.  It was some sketchy driving.  Oh, I guess some of you wouldn't know this, but I've started a new job.  I'm now driving truck delivering fuel for Federated Co-op.  So far, so good.

As you can see from the subject line we're moving Strategy Saturday back one weekend.  The reason being is that the annual Regina gaming convention FragCon is the weekend of April 13-15.

When we do get together on April 21, Barry is going to be taking charge of the Feature Game.  Barry loves obscure, novel, quick, and cheap games so I'm sure he'll have a few offerings that will be new to you.

We'll be in the basement of Argyle Road Baptist Church (3510 Argyle Rd) from 7pm to midnight.  As usual we'll have our snack counter open so feel free to contribute a drink or something to munch on.  And feel free to bring along friends (and to forward this email).

And here's a heads up on what we see the rest of the year looking like as far as our themes for Strategy Saturday's Feature Game segment.  If you have a game that hits one on these themes and you'd be willing to feature it, let me know.  Of course your always welcome to bring your game even if it doesn't neatly fit into a theme (within reason of course):

March 10 - Military (done - Axis & Allies)
April 21 - Barry's Choice
May 12 - Cooperative
June 9 - Railroad
July 14 - Historical
August 11- Family/Gateway (Intro)
September 8 - Business
October 13 - Retro (20 years or older)
November 10 - Party/Group
December 8 - Open

Hope you'll be there,

Allan
(along with Michael and Barry)

Hi all,

March is here and so we enter the homestretch of winter.  Years ago I was doing a paper for an astronomy class on the planet of Mars and came across the following interesting fact:  March is named for the Roman god of war, Mars.  I know, shocking right!?  Well, maybe not so much.  However, the reason for the month being called March was that this was the month in which winter ended and the Romans could begin anew their favourite pass time - war.  And since they could now march off to war it became the first month in their calendar.  So if March was 1st then that made September 7th (septem=7), October 8th (octo=8), November 9th (novem=9), and explains why February is the shortest month of the year - it was last and got the left overs.

Ok, so back to the real topic at hand.  This weekend will be Strategy Saturday and falling out of the above facts we're going to theme it Military March.  The Feature Game I'm going to run is going to be Axis & Allies (blue box ed.), a classic in war boardgames.  So if you haven't had an A&A fix for a while come out and we'll get down to rewriting history.  Of course, you don't need to play a military game; the theme is just a suggestion.

We'll be in the basement of Argyle Road Baptist Church (3510 Argyle Rd) from 7pm to midnight.  As usual we'll have our snack counter open so feel free to contribute a drink or something to munch on.  And feel free to bring along friends (and to forward this email).

Hope you'll be there,

Allan
(along with Michael and Barry)

Hi all,

February is here and it's starting to look like we may escape this winter without any real nasty weather.  I hope you have appreciated the weather.  I certainly have especially since much of my work is outside.

The three of us did some thinking regarding the coming year and we've decided that we'll be having Feature Games that hit on a theme for our games nights.  For example in March we'll have a military theme so the Feature Game will match.  The actual games for each theme haven't been decided on yet so this means that:

• You'll have a bit more heads up of what you can expect for a particular month
• If you have a game that fits that theme that you want to play you can contact me and maybe we can make it the Feature Game
• Even better you can suggest games here on the Sask Games Forums so everyone can have a chance to comment on what interests them
• Of course people are still encouraged to bring games to play - always feel free to play something that interests you even if it is not on the theme of the evening

Be sure to watch here on the Sask Games Forums for a posting of the upcoming Feature Game themes.

For February's edition of Strategy Saturday, the theme will be 'Family Friendly'; we're going feature either Settlers of Catan or Ticket to Ride (both will be available and the final decision will be made as people show up and indicate their preference).  These two games have proven themselves to be very popular with all ages, with gamers and non-gamers alike.  If you haven't played them be sure to come out and discover these gems.

We'll be in the basement of Argyle Road Baptist Church (3510 Argyle Rd) from 7pm to midnight.  As usual we'll have our snack counter open so feel free to contribute a drink or something to munch on.  And feel free to bring along friends (and to forward this email).

Hope you'll be there,

Allan
(along with Michael and Barry)

Hi all,

Welcome to the New Year.  I trust you all had a good time with friends and family during the holidays.  And I hope that you're all over the blues of returning to the hum-drum of life (ie. work, school).  If you're not, at least there is some solace in the amazing weather we've had up to now.

For January's edition of Strategy Saturday, we going to keep the Feature Game simple.  I got a chance to play an old classic card game during Christmas and thought it would be good to play some more of it.  So the game that will be featured is Rook.  This is a trick taking game and one of my all-time favourites.  It's not a long game, so come prepared to play some other games as well.

We'll be in the basement of Argyle Road Baptist Church (3510 Argyle Rd) from 7pm to midnight.  As usual we'll have our snack counter open so feel free to contribute a drink or something to munch on.  And feel free to bring along friends (and to forward this email).

Hope you'll be there,

Allan
(along with Michael and Barry)

Hello everyone,

The Christmas season is here and like always you know its coming but then suddenly it's here and there is so much to do.  Well, I hope you can spare an evening to come out and enjoy a night together for the December edition of Strategy Saturday.

Our Feature Game will be Merchant & Marauders an new pirate game that was released this past year to a lot of anticipation.  If you like the idea of sailing the high seas in search of fame and glory then you'll want to check out this game.  But don't be late - it plays up to 4 (hopefully though there will be multiple copies).

We'll be in the basement of Argyle Road Baptist Church (3510 Argyle Rd) from 7pm to midnight.  As usual we'll have our snack counter open so feel free to contribute a drink or something to munch on.  And feel free to bring along friends.

Hope you'll be there,

Allan
(along with Michael and Barry)

Hi everyone,

November has arrived and with it ... no snow (yet)!!  I am loving the long fall that we've been blessed with especially since it means good roads for driving on.  Unfortunately I know it won't last.

Last month I gave people a heads up to the fact that for November we're going to theme our games night.  So on November 12th we will have the first Strategy Saturday Retro Night.  We all have games that we grew up playing that sadly just don't see the light of day as much as they used to.  They're still excellent games just ... forgotten.  So this month we're asking that you bring games that are 20 years old or older.  That can be classic games light Monopoly, Risk, or even Sorry!  I plan to bring Scotland Yard and Rook as well as ...

The Feature Game for this night will be Bazaar.  It's an abstract trading game that will be sure to test your logic skills.

We'll be in the basement of Argyle Road Baptist Church (3510 Argyle Rd) from 7pm to midnight.  As usual we'll have our snack counter open so feel free to contribute a drink or something to munch on.  And feel free to bring along friends (and to forward this email).

Hope you'll be there,

Allan
(along with Michael and Barry)

Hey all,

It's October and we're definitely into the fall season now and all the changes that come with it (ie. back to school, one last trip to the cottage, cleaning up the yard).  For me it's been a change at work.  I've been transferred within my company and now I'm hauling fertilizer with a truck and super B trailers.  Days are long but it's a refreshing change with new learning opportunities.

October's second weekend is coming up on us this next weekend.  For this Strategy Saturday we're going to feature the game Railroad Tycoon.  This is an excellent train game from Martin Wallace in which players are seeking to lay track and deliver goods to cities across a map of the eastern USA.  You can check it out at BoardGameGeek.

A heads up for an upcoming Strategy Saturday.  It was suggested that we have a themed night for a change to our Feature Game segment.  The theme would be that we only play games that were originally published 20 years ago or more.  So that would mean games like classic Risk (but not any of its newer variants), Monopoly, Scotland Yard, .... I'm sure that many of us have a game or two that was great in its day but has been collecting dust because it just isn't the latest greatest thing.  So take some time to think what game(s) you'd like to experience again and be prepared to break it out again for an upcoming Retro Night.

We'll be in the basement of Argyle Road Baptist Church (3510 Argyle Rd) from 7pm to midnight.  As usual we'll have our snack counter open so feel free to contribute a drink or something to munch on.  And feel free to bring along friends.

Hope you'll be there,

Allan
(along with Michael and Barry)