EXCERPT
A change of venue and a slight change of format. This year, we’ll be hosting our 8th Retreat at Bagan Lalang, Sepang in a less structured, less competitive format. Still a blend of that latest Essen games and older/popular titles, and you now get to call out what games you wish to play! Mark your dates for this Dec 1 & 2 weekend for an awesome weekend of non-stop gaming. #nosharks #justmerman

IT’S THAT TIME OF THE YEAR AGAIN. BUT THIS TIME, MORE FUN LESS STRESS?

We’re always of the impression one of the pull factors of joining our annual BGC Retreat is the semi-uber competitive mood around the tables as each player fights (or struggles) to stay on top of the rest.

However our slight pivot with our Quasi-Retreat back in Aug 2017, where we host the Retreat in a more family and friendly environment opened our eyes to an alternative approach of running Retreats.

This year, we’ll be hosting our BGC Retreat 2018 in about 2 weeks time (the weekend of 1-2 Dec) and we would like to experiment with a more dial-back approach yet at the same time keeping everything else as samey as possible.

Contrary to local belief, there are no “sharks” in our Retreat except for the cute & harmless  “merman”. Awww…… #whatacatch

WHAT

An offsite retreat over one weekend devoted primarily for like-minded boardgamers like yourself to gather and enjoy each other’s company over two (and a half) days of (semi) intense boardgaming!

We’ve booked a hall that’ll be available to us from 9am on Sat till 5pm Sun. We should have the keys to the Hall so technically it’ll be available late into Sat nite, possibly all-nite-long if you got da stamina. 🙂

In order to prevent hungry gamers from chewing on the cardboards, we’ll provide two tea breaks and one lunch per day (so that’s 6 meals over the two-day event). Dinner on Sat evening is on your own.

We provide full meals so that you won’t be like this fella. He probably forgot his meals and now “hunting” for food. #cardboardisyummy

WHEN

This year’s BGC Quasi-Retreat shall be held on the weekend of 1st & 2nd of December (Sat/Sun).

WHERE

The Retreat has always been hosted at someplace close by – or at least no longer than 1.5 hrs away by car (from Klang Valley) – to minimize travel time and maximize playing time! We’ve done this at Genting (2010), Port Dickson (2011 & 2014), Bukit Tinggi (2013), Kuala Selangor (2015), and Broga (2017×2). For this year’s Retreat, we’ll be at Sepang’s Bagan Lalang.

Hotel Seri Malaysia Bagan Lalang is about 1+ hour drive from KL. There’s a swimming pool but .. but you are not here for the swimming pool, are you? *wink*

WHO

This is where we deviate from our norm. Instead of our usual structured competitive sessions, this will be run similar to a Con/Meetup style where each table host is allowed to decide and schedule what game they wish to run. And non-hosts would simply move from table to table joining whichever table/game session they fancy.

This format would allow newer/casual gamers to participate in this Retreat, experience the hospitality of BGC and the camaradarie of our hosts/facilitators; and hopefully some of them will return for our more competitive BGC Retreat next time.

What games would I get to play?

Whatever you – and most importantly your table host – feels like getting to the table. It can be light medium euros to heavy strategy games, and even 18xx or wargames. Those who have registered would be added to a Facebook group where you can arrange the game sessions with the table hosts.

What will certainly be on the tables are the latest new Essen titles such as Teotihuacan, Blackout Hong Kong, Forum Trajanum, Coimbra, Key Flow, Captain of the Gulf, 7 Wonders Armada, Carson City Card Game, Firenze, Raiatea, Concordia Venus, Root, Gugong, Endeavor Age of Sails, Peak Oil / Spillover, CO2 Second Chance, The Estates, Architects of the West Kingdom, Gizmos, Terraforming Mars Colonies, Megaland,  etc

Hint: If you want to make sure you get to play your choice of games in this year’s Retreat, you can try the Raja of Broga Mind Trick (see above). Ok, it didn’t work for this fella last year but your mileage may vary ma….

Children Friendly

Unlike our usual BGC Retreat where sessions are structured, more competitive and certainly very intense, we want this Retreat to have a more laid-back family vibe and children friendly.

If you have been looking to bring your children along to a boardgame retreat, this would be a good one to start with. Do let us know if you are bringing your young ones along so that we can plan the appropriate games for them based on their ages.

Rachel has been (ahem) “reading rules” in anticipation of hosting some young children game sessions. #chillandplaygames

HOW MUCH?

Standard fees per person (triple sharing room) is just RM150 which includes all (6) meals, accommodation, and a commemorative door gift direct from Essen (limited to first 24 early bird sign-ups)! Getting yourself to/from the venue would be at your own cost and we suggest you to car-pool if possible. Car park is available for free at the hotel for Retreat participants.

Options for twin-sharing or single room available. Please ask us.

WHAT: BGC Boardgame Quasi-Retreat 2018 (FB Event Page)
WHERE: Hotel Seri Malaysia, Bagan Lalang, Sepang
WHEN: Dec 1 (Sat) 9:00 am – Dec 2 (Sun) 5:00 pm
COST: RM150 per pax including accommodation, meals, and Essen door gift (limited to first 24). Exclude transportation and Sat dinner.

AGENDA (all timings are tentative and will be finalized closer to event date)

Dec 1, Sat
8:45 am – Arrival of gamers & tea break
9:00 am – Retreat Briefing
12:30 pm – Lunch break
3:30 pm – Tea break
6:00 pm – Break for Dinner
7:00 pm – Dinner (on your own)
8:00 pm – Resume gaming till late

Dec 2, Sun
9:00 am – Retreat Day Two starts
10:30 am – Tea break
12:30 pm – Lunch break
3:30 pm – Tea break
5:00 pm – Retreat Day Two ends

What do you get?

• 2.5 days of gaming (Sat: 10am-6pm, 8pm-12mn, Sun: 9am-5pm) #canyounonstop
• Accommodation on triple sharing basis
• Four tea-breaks as scheduled, and two lunches
• One special commemorative door gift (from Essen Spiel 2018); limited to first 24 sign-ups
• Opportunity to play the latest Essen Spiel 2018 new games and even some OOP games (make your request)
• Learn lots of new (and old) games and play with other friendly gamers! No rules reading required.

What’s not included in the package?

• Your travel to / from the location. If you need help with transport, you can ask for car-pool with the other participants.
• Fine Dining on Saturday (tsk).
• Mosquito repellant (yes pls bring your own unless you are not a mosquito magnet)

Just in case you are wondering. “Chairs” are included in your package price but we do not understand why everyone likes to stand. tsk tsk.

BONUS – Play-n-Discount

We will provide an update on this later but we are mulling on the option to provide a sweet discount for all the in-stock games played durnig the Retreat for participants.

AFTER-8 GAMING

Our BGC Retreats are famous for its After-8 Gaming, which is known to be the “real deal” after a full day of gaming! After-8 Gaming is an closed-door gaming session held after dinner where we will bring to the table games that are of longer duration (epic games), out-of-print games and/or those with higher level of complexity. Or just some crazee, fun, party games!

After-8 gaming is self-organized and we’ll leave it to the attendees to decide among themselves what’s going to hit the tables (and who’s going to read the rules). It’s also an optional event as some attendees may prefer to have an early night or spend the time on their own.

After-8 gaming starts 8 pm and last till as late as you want… it’s just like Retreat gaming except you can play all those crazy fun games!

HOW DO I SIGN-UP?

To sign-up for this Retreat, please visit our Facebook Event page (link here). Seats will be reserved on a first-come first-served basis subject to receipt of your full payment to our CIMB acct (details below).

GOT QUESTIONS?

If this is your first participation to our Retreat, do check out the Frequently Asked Questions for our BGC Retreat event.

Sign up now! Looking forward to see you there… Remember to Chill & Play Games!

BGC RETREATS IN THE PAST

BGC Quasi-Retreat 2017 @ Broga Hill (read all about it here)	BGC Retreat 2015 @ The Kabin (read all about it here)
BGC Retreat 2014 @ Port Dickson (read all about it here)	BGC Retreat 2013 @ Kin Tick Orchard Resort (read all about it here)
BGC Retreat 2011 @ Port Dickson (read all about it here)	BGC Retreat 2010 @ Genting Highlands (read all about it here)