Ruling Britannia was a satirical article written by Ian Taylor for the ST:CCG online magazine Where No One Has Gone Before. It described the lives and events of British ST:CCG players and ex ST:CCG players (often in more detail than they would have liked) as well as the occasional tournament report and stuff like that. You can find all back issues of the column here as well as a brief outline of what is contained in each one. Ian stopped writing the column in November 2002 as he no longer played the game.
All articles are reprinted by the kind permission of Mr Ian Taylor, and are also available at http://www.churchofbrad.com/.
A special one-off epilogue to the classic series.
The tear jerking finale to Ruling Britannia reflects on an entertaining 3 years and gives thanks to those who have made it possible. Contains submissions from column regulars down the years including the A-Z of Ruling Britannia.
All there is to report this month is our house party and GenCon. However given GenCon's tendancy to fill up large quantities of bandwidth in RB (see RB XVI and IV) this was never going to be a problem.
The main event this month was the week we spent in Glasgow for James' stag party. I did have time however to reopen an old feud with Kedanya station and re-evaluate my CCGing existance for not the first time in the last year.
Having settled into our new house, we set about the important task of evaluating all the local pubs. We also have fun trying our luck with the fairer sex and capped our Vitoria Line Challenge by completing the Monopoly Board Challenge.
Big news is that I have just moved house so lots about that. Also covers my trip to Warwick for the British Lord of the Rings territotials and also the return to the Purple Turtle after a few months break.
The 2-year anniversary issue taken up mainly by the annual awards. Catagories include new awards such as the 'I've had a bad year' award and the old favourites such as quote of the year. Also news of an impending house move.
I continue to perpetually suck at Lord of the Rings. Also the much anticipated Victoria Lone Challenge II and the return of Warwick and London legend Martin Allen resulting in a spotters guide to how not to prepare for a date.
I find myself back in the thick of the Star Trek scene as I play a sealed deck in Littlehampton. James suffers several bouts of bad news and Me, Ringo and Colm attempt a nostalgic tour of London tournament venues.
The results of the 'Where Are They Now' survey and a closer look at some of the websites devoted to Star Trek CCG. Also, my Holodeck Adventures collection gets off to a flying start.
Recounts all the drinking sessions over Christmas and ponders the future of RB. Has a feature called 'Whatever Happened To...' which questions the whereabouts of Star Trek CCG's often forgotten heroes of the past.
Lamenting the loss of 2 Arkley Road and wondering how I will ever have fun again. Also a tournament result of my worst tournament ever.
Reflecting on a really shitty month in which I lost my house and a lot of my interest in Trek. Contains the A-Z of Arkley Road.
The big news was the cancellation of D-Con but there was plenty of other stuff going on. The release of 'The Trouble with Trekkies' website and the discovery of the legendary 'School Disco.com' to name just 2.
One of the most eventful RB's ever! The Victoria Line Challenge, The European Champion Championship and the Monstrosity that is UK GenCon all covered in detail. Eventually clocked in at over 6000 words!
The New York Vs New Jersey arguement hots up while I look forward to Big Tournament Season and explain to the world why Snap is a slut.
Settling down into our new house we realise how good house parties are and how bad laundry is. Meanwhile DT hits 2000, I lament the crapness of Decipher playtesting and Snap and Tobes get dumped.
Voyager is released to my less than prophetic prediction that it will slow the game down. Meanwhile I move into a house with Tobes, Snap and Shanny and we discover the Purple Turtle.
The Ruling Britannia annual awards take centre stage with Mike and Tobes both sweating in the audience. Meanwhile I attend quite a lot of tournaments in what may pass for an on-topic article.
A pretty random hotchpotch of stuff. The revelation about Mike's escapade with the Eastern European stripper is combined with anticipation about Voyager and some theories about what the future of the game holds. Also being too tired after training camp to fill up a complete column, I give the world the opportunity to take pot shots at me.
As the game hits a bit of a rough patch, we attempt a Galactic Supremacy tournament and try to get our rankings to the Magic 2000 mark. Meanwhile, the world tries to translate Ringo's drunken text messages.
2 months of general clatter including Christmas piss ups and the sexual attraction of policewomen. Also, I try playing Cardassians in a tournament, Kathy McKracken throws a wobbly and the Littlehampton tournament scene is put under scrutiny.
A year in prose and verse featuring 12 memories and 12 songs, one for each of the 12 months of 2000. Although devoid of any relevant content, one of the most popular RB's ever.
The game 'Don't You Know' gets it's first mention while I get in trouble with Decipher and British Star Wars Players.
The DecipherCon special! Features the buildup and the event itself spanning a total of about 9 days. Includes DT's YJ World Championship winning performance and our victory as World Star Trek Team Champions.
Not a lot to report in this month. DT, Rik and I prepare for DecipherCon while Ringo has mixed fortunes on his holiday in Las Vegas.
A tournament frenzy! Tobes' silly tournament is followed by an experimental multiplayer bash and, of course, GenCon UK. Also, Martin walkes out of hospital one kidney lighter.
The first episode of Ruling Britannia to be devoted mainly to readers mail. Includes Tobes' defence for dating Danielle and a guide to stupid mistakes made in tournaments.
Highlight of the month was the Gema IV regional. Also the first mention in the column of Pages Bar and the tale of how I won a date with a man.
My mission? To go where no Star Trek article had gone before. An experimental introduction to the contraversial mess that we now know and love. Main topics covered were the UK Grand Slam and Nationals.