Comic Con: Board games bring people together
For Musgrave resident, and board game enthusiast, Gavin Westermeyer the intricate world of board games is a facet of the four day fest that is well worth delving into.
WHEN people think of Comic Con, cosplay, gaming and comic art might come to mind. For Musgrave resident, and board game enthusiast, Gavin Westermeyer the intricate world of board games is a facet of the four day fest that is well worth delving into. And if you can’t make it to Comic Con Africa in Johannesburg on September 22–25, why not pop in to Durban North comic store, Kapow, for their weekly board game nights? Get a taste of the the Comic Con culture and meet people from all walks of life.
Westermeyer says board games unite all sorts of people and provide hours of entertainment.
“Sometimes board games tie in with comics. We have a board game based on Spiderman for example. Board games definitely attract the same type of crowd as comic books.
For Westermeyer, the world of board games is complex, a fact that is not easy to explain to a person whose benchmark is Monopoly.
“From Monopoly, I would say your step up would be Ticket-to-Ride and then Catan. From there, a war game like Memoir 44 becomes more complex,” said Westermeyer.
Catan is a board game which takes place on a fictional island. Two to four players can take part, and the objective is to collect resources and build the biggest settlements. In Ticket to Ride, you compete to claim railway routes connecting cities. Players collect and play matching train cards to claim routes. In Memoir 44, players begin by choosing a scenario, representing a battle from World War II. The object of the game is to be the first to win a set number of Victory Medals.
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“My parents bought me board games, and then I received a chess set and learnt to play chess. Then I got into war games – which were big in the 60s,” said Westermeyer.
Memoir 44 is one of Westermeyer’s favourite war games.
“Every game is based on an actual battle that took place during World War II. We run tournaments with this game. At our last tournament, women won first and second place – so it’s not just a men’s game,” he said.
Board game tournaments were largely suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic. Westermeyer is preparing to host a Catan tournament this year after a two-year break from tournaments. He also has a Memoir 44 tournament in the pipeline. These tournaments are played in a round-robin format.
“For 11 years, I ran Catan, Ticket-to-Ride and Memoir 44 tournaments. I would fly up to Johannesburg for these tournaments. Every second year, there is an international tournament (for Catan and Ticket-to-Ride), and we will send our top players to play this year, whether it’s in Berlin or London or wherever the tournament is being hosted that year,” said Westermeyer.
He described the tournament atmosphere as gripping and exciting for local games, becoming a little tense as the competition levels up for the larger tournaments with higher stakes.
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Board game night
Westermeyer said the popular board game night have spanned into the early hours of the morning before, although they are usually cut off at midnight. Doors open at 15:00.
“We have such a mixed bag of people taking part,” he said.
Board games offer a social aspect that gamers do not get from online gaming.
“A family that plays together, stays together. You meet people you never would have met. It doesn’t matter what religion or culture you have, you can get together and have a really good time. That’s what board gaming is all about,” said Westermeyer.
Kapow is located at Kensignton Centre in Durban North.
