Standing Down

Both myself and migratingfishswim are standing down from the committee and the club membership with immediate effect (as of 21/9/09). Our resignation and recindment of committee and club membership has been verbally accepted by Mr Sleep (and will be confirmed in writing).

I will not be posting my reasons down but should any friend, committee member or member (those terms are not mutually exclusive) wish to speak to me about it then I will be happy to discuss. I can me emailed or phoned.

As non-members migratingfishswim and I will continue to attend the club meets and I will, as a non-member/non-affiliate, be unable to continue to update this blog until a time when I feel I can renew my membership.

AMGSC Board-Gaming Session 3 15/8/09

Yesterday was the third AMGSC-linked Board Gaming Session - It was organised....organised crime MWAHAHAHAHA! >_<

It was attended by Martin, Robin, Peter and Tim who turned up at my and Mhairi's house. I managed to take a few photos (not so good ones) and even had a few taken of myself for the first time in ages - bloody hell!

It was a good session; plenty of chatting, joking (not so good ones), eating and drinking.

Here, Piggy, Piggy!

We started with the now traditional (can it be after 3 goes?) round of Pass the Pig; a game of gambling on the bounciness and orientation of two tiny rubber piggies. It gets quite competitive! It was the usual case of many low scores and wipeouts with the infrequent massive score here and there. Tim seems to be getting far too good at this - we'll have to crock him - as he won again with his 'slow but sure' approach.

Why you dirty rat!

Next up was a board game I'd been meaning to try for ages - the fact we had 6 people was just right for this session. Bootleggers is a game set at the height of the 1920's prohibition era where players take on the role of enterprising mob bosses seeking to make a name (and fortune) for themselves in the illegal alcohol trade. Players attempt to control distribution through money and corruption by muscling in on the competition; paying off the local law authorities; controlling speakeasies; manufacturing booze in stills and shipping trucks of "hooch". Negotiation, deceit, lies, double-crosses and alliances of convenience are the norm, and are even positively encouraged!

I had not played the game properly before so it was a learning experience for everyone and the first round (each made up of 6 phases) seemed to take forever - but in a fun way - as we realised the scope of the game and what could be attempted and achieved within each phase. Many of us particularly liked the dealing options and the ability to kipper or protect the other players.

I won't go too much into the game dynamic as it can be quite complicated outside the game but you start by seeing a selection of cards (Men of Action) that can provide advantages to you (and disadvantages to your opponent). The thing is, everyone sees them and covets them... thus starts the tactics of which one of your 12 Muscle cards you play. There are 12 rounds, so one for each round - the order for each round is determined by the highest card down - highest cards chooses first and moves first. Once the card is used it's gone. Players determine when to play their high, medium, and low cards to determine their priority. Some Men of Action cards are highly fought over. There's also the option to purchase trucks that you'll need to ship the moonshine.

The game involves phases where you determine playing order and cards; recruit mobsters, move them to determine influence in speakeasies; produce the booze; ship it to the speakeasies to see how much is sold and whether someone will buy it - if you control a speakeasy you can make money off other player's booze!); and evade the law who can close down your production still. Men of Action cards can be played to ruin any of these phases for a player and lose them money - it can be very tactical and you can even threaten to play a crad, blackmail people not to play it and cut shaky alliances to team up combination of cards on other players. It can all get very Machiavellian.... heh! heh! heh!

As it was our first time together on this we didn't finish a complete game but got pretty close with a lot of moolah around round 9. To be honest, we spent a crazy 5 hours on it but we really didn't notice the time fly but we decided to wrap up at midnight. We'd started the day at 4pm so taking into account two games plus breaks, meals and random chats we'd had a good 8 hours in total. Awesome stuff.

I believe we'd all like to play Bootleggers again and I know it'll be miles faster next time as we all understand the majority of rules and possibilities although I'm still discovering little things in the rules which we'll have to iron out next time.

I also have other games I want to try out with the others like the pirate game Plunder, the marine survival game Reef Encounter and the trading game Puerto Rico. There just aren't enough hours in the day but I'll always try and make time to get everyone around again so we can play as friends as we try to bribe, threaten and assassinate each other on the board ^_^


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AMGSC August Meet - Tonight! :O

Come along to the AMGSC August Meet - all details are on this blog and on the AMGSC Website.

Meet starts at 7pm at All Saint's Hall, Stewart Street, Crewe, CW2 8LX

We are having the usual activities such as Manga, Anime Screening, & Console Gaming on at the meet. It's nearly a year since the club was set up - how the time has flown! We'll have to do something special for our birthday on the October Meet! :D

This meet; there will be the usual prize draw - this time on offer:
DeathNote Figure - 'Light'

This month's free taster food on offer:
Japanese Rice Crackers / Snow Fungus and Sea Coconut Drink

Console gaming will be Nintendo themed - from retro to modern we 'll have NES, SNES, N64 and Wii - there won't be a GC as the Wii will handle those games.

Voices of a Distant Star (+She & Her Cat) & Haibane Renmei will be the main anime screenings. There may also be time for some mini-screenings (TBC)

Please see my previous two blogs posts for intros to the Screenings.

The forum is always active so feel free to chat to people on there about anime and manga and other related topics. You can find out more about us and the meets we run.

Cosplayers are always welcome - and encouraged! - some of our members will hopefully be partaking this meet. ^_^

If you fancy seeing what the club is like and taking part please pop down - it'd be good to catch up with you all :D

AMGSC August Screening B Preview

The AMGSC August Screening for slot B has been voted for by the club members.

The clear winner was Haibane Renmei (Charcoal Feather Federation) by Yoshitoshi ABe. It's a 13 part anime based on the unfinished Dōjinshi series.

Haibane Renmei

The series centres around Haibane - angel-like people - who live in the walled city of Glie. The city can only be entered and exited through one gate and this is only permitted for a mysterious group called the Toga.


We're not human, are we?

Rakka is a newly hatched Haibane who comes to live at the Old Home with other Haibane. The series looks at her discovering who she is and making friendships in Glie whilst struggling with uncertainties as to her past and how she became a Haibane.

Falling in love

The series starts with a girl falling through the sky with a crow trying to stop her descent but the crow is unable to help. The scene cuts to a cocoon being prepared in the Old House and the other Haibane waiting for it to hatch - out of the cocoon emerges the girl who had been falling in the previous scene. As such the series starts with questions and puzzlement.

I wanna go home!

The girl is Rakka, so named by the other Haibane as Rakka means 'falling' because she tells them of her cocoon dream. She does not know where she is and wants to go home to her family. She is told this is not possible and she would no longer be recognised. Rakka is presented with a halo to wear and undergoes the quite bloody process of growing wings.

This town is my prison. The walls are a symbol of my death.

The Haibane are all teenage girls and young children who live together in a sort of commune in the Old Home. Throughout the series, Rakka learns more about her friends and the walled city of Glie in which they reside. She meets fellow townspeople who are not Haibane and builds relationships and helps out. All Haibane have to help the town by carrying out jobs and are actually restricted by strict rules and harsh punishments. There is far more to the town than meets the eye. The rules are monitored and enforced by the Haibane Renmei (the Charcoal Feather Federation) - Haibane are not allowed to own anything new, use money, or touch the walls of the city for fear of grave punishment.

Look at you... you'll be Rakka to the very end.

The series continues exploring the nature of the town, the people, the relationships and is actually quite dark and serious in places in spite of its initial angel-cuteness.

But no matter what happens, Rakka, I will always be by your side.


Haibane Renmei is a beautiful little series - I must admit to having only seen the first few episodes a few years back but am keen to see it again and get back into it. I really want to see how the rest of the series turns out and what the mystery of the town is and why the Haibane are treated so unfairly by rules yet with such love by the townsfolk. And just who are the Toga?

You're free, and now I'm alone.

AMGSC August Screening A Preview

The AMGSC August Screening for slot A has been voted for by the club members. (I'll run a post in a few days time for slot B)

Although a close battle with Urusei Yatsura Move 1: Only You, Voices of a Distant Star and She and her Cat, have won.

Voices of a Distant Star aka Hoshi no Koe

Created by Makoto Shinkai, Voices is an OAV, telling a beautiful story of the long-distance (they're not joking) relationship between a teenage couple who communicate by messaging via their high-tech phones across interstellar space!

Noboru? I'm going home, okay?

The plot centres around a high-school girl, called Mikako Nagamine, who is recruited by the UN Space Army to fight in a giant mecha - called a Tracer - against an alien race, called the Tarsians.
Mikako's boyfriend - Noboru Terao, who is not selected to fight, is left behind on Earth as Mikako heads off on board the spacecarrier Lysithea. This is a nice touch with the girl heading off to war and the boy being left behind to wait and hope and worry.

I am here

As Mikako travels further into space it takes longer and longer for their texts/emails to reach other until, eventually, the messages start taking years. Mikako fights battle after battle against the mysterious Tarsians, with the anime skipping over time periods and exploring the relationship and the power of hope and love juxtaposed with the futility and brutality of war and death all against the vastness of space and the infinity of time.

It will be all right

The really impressive thing about the anime is not just its topic or beauty - it's the fact that Makoto created all this on his Mac. He wrote, directed and produced it and did the voice acting with his fiancée (later redone professionally). The anime looks amazing and it's hard to believe it's the work of one man on one computer when compared to the resources normally used for anime. Makoto truly shows himself to be one very talented artist.


She and Her Cat - Their Standing Points

Is a short 5 minute, independent OAV, by Makoto Shinkai, once again focusing on relationships. This time between a female 'owner' and a male cat; all told from the cat's perspective.

It's an earlier piece of work by him but you can see the talent that would lead up to Voices.

It's a funny little short and definitely one I can enjoy being the 'owner' (yeah yeah) of four beautifully independent cats ^_^

AMGSC Board-Gaming Session 2 18/7/09

Well, yesterday was the second 'organised' board-gaming session at my house. Kyle, Martin, Mhairi, Peter, Robin and Tim attended to play a host of games whilst talking nonsense and trying not to listen to each other's accidental anime spoilers (we get too enthusiastic sometimes...)

Lots of crisp, sandwiches, chocolates, pizzas, kebabs, take-aways and drinking took place - I must admit to enjoying my scrumpy a little too quickly XD

Squeal like a Pig!

First game up was a nice warm-up - Pass the Pig - everyone played this last time at Kyle's. We just played a quick game to 100 (won by Tim) and laughed at the madness of not scoring, or losing all your score in one careless throw...


I Shall Grind You All into the Ground ^_^

Those were the prophetic warnings uttered by Kyle as we dusted off our piscine-themed Oceanopoly game - and quite right he was too. Kyle decimated everyone and took great pleasure in doing so - our fun was had in dealing with each other and dragging the game out as long as possible. This was a good 3 hours spent laughing at the inevitable defeat and how we could annoy as many players as possible with stupid negotiations and trades.


Picture this...

Next up was a "filler" of Pictionary whilst we waited for the food order. This filler stretched on as the All Play rounds kept flipping back and forth with many a dead-heat. Peter, Tim and Robin teamed up versus Martin and Mhairi, with myself and Kyle making the third team. Needless to say Kyle's efficient drawing and my ability to rattle off silly amounts of words in a short time allowed us to triumph. A great game especially given some of the random phrases like 'waiting to catch a bus' and 'cattle groper' that had very little to do with the drawing.

Aces High

After consuming enough food to feed thrice our number one or two us took a breather whilst the rest settled in to a light game of Poker with Kyle guiding the less experienced players through the basics. We just used chips for this one and I seemed to have the lead by the end, if there is such a thing, and Peter was pleased with his stash as well.


A ruddy good SPANCing

Martin opened up his SPANC box ready for the final game of the evening as midnight was approaching fast. SPANC, or Space Pirate Amazon Ninja Catgirls - to give it its full title - is an interesting little game that I must admit to never having played but had seen a few times. Martin guided us through the basics and we gave it a quick whirl. Although we only got time to complete a few capers it was clear to see there was more tactics to this game mid-caper that we could try out. I think Robin, Peter and Kyle were ahead on this by the mid-way stage.


All-in-all there were some good sessions and a few more games to get familiar with next time. I still want to push for Plunder and Bootleggers as that can involve some good teamwork, some devious play and some out-and-out backstabbing that appeals to me, Kyle and Robin, by the competitive look of things. >_<

General AMGSC Update

Bah - I apologise foe the absence of posts since 10 days ago - I blame work and my general typing lassitude.

Just a quick update on things in the AMGSC Universe (it's small but expanding - no jokes, please...)

The last meet went really well and was jam packed even though we had a few regular members off sick. It was good to see Carl and Holly as they became members. If you're interested in Anime , Manga and Gaming then please check out the forum in the links over there >>>>>

So far I've been trying to get back into things:

I'm still posting like a mad eejit on the forum

I'm trying to sort out an agenda for the next AMGSC committee meet for next Tuesday @ my house

Looking forward to AMGSC Board-Gaming & BBQ @ my house this Saturday.

The club is increasing it's membership and expand ever more. We're changing our pricing to take into account the new features of the club as well as looking at new ways to promote ourselves.

It's an exciting time for us and even if it doesn't go exactly to plan there's enough of us still to have a bloody good laugh; which is at the heart of our club, as well as the ridiculous-yet-understandable passion for anime and manga.

Check out the club website and please have a look at my personal blog iamgatcha
I'm also on Twitter iamgatcha