Gen Con, recent gaming, general rambling

Over the course of the past few months, increasing amounts of my time have been dedicated to manipulating my little electronic characters in the world of Azeroth... I think it's slowing down a bit, though, and hopefully my real life activities can get some more play (pun intended).

I've joined a couple of weekly boardgaming groups - DR GLASS in Chapel Hill, and DAGGER in Hillsborough. I still make it to a Triangle Games Meetup Group gathering from time to time. These are dedicated designer/Euro groups. Lacking the desire to go back and write full reports at this time, I'll just mention the games I've played: Tikal, Tigris & Euphrates, Notre Dame, Lost Valley, Reef Encounter, Thurn & Taxis, Samurai, Midgard (twice), Santiago, Herocard: Cyberspace, Circus Flohcati, Mara Cash, Acquire, Get to Work!, Condottieri, and at least two more games that I'm forgetting. I'm really enjoying these groups, and I'm looking forward to, hopefully, getting a lot of table time over the next few months.

One thing I'd like to address in a little more detail is the evolution of picking games in these groups. The Meetup Group still has some events where people just show up and put stuff on the table. Mostly, though, the events have moved to a sign-up sort of format, in which the host will state how much space there is (how many tables), and usually what game they want to play. Then, people will volunteer to "host" the other table(s), and people sign up on the table they want to play, until it's full. The other two groups use a rotating pick system - the groups are semi-private, invite-only groups, so picking the game(s) for the night just rotates through the member list. I like both of these systems a lot - they seem very handy as simple methods to correct the sometimes lengthy process of choosing a game for a group. I especially like that the rotating choice system guarantees that the participants will have a chance to definitely get something on the table. This really helps get games that others haven't heard of on the table - everyone is willing to try, as they know they'll get their turn, too. I'd recommend people try systems like this - and I'd like to hear from people who use other systems. I'm curious if there's anything that could be applied to longer game days - like the ones that Chris and Edie run in Iowa City (although things tend to move along pretty quickly there, for some reason).

I made it back to GenCon this year, and had a great time. It was odd to have to sit back and read other peoples' reports of the con last year - but it gave me a bit more perspective on the event - there's so much going on there, it's pretty easy to miss a lot. I've already discovered some stuff I missed this year from reading such a report!

For the last few years, Gen Con, for me, has been mostly about hanging out with old friend. I like to go through the dealer room a couple times - see what's new, what's hot, etc., and then spend the rest of the time with old gaming buddies. This year, I stayed with my old friend EOD, and we spent almost the entire con together. Other than Eric, it was great to run into folks I knew from Chicago, like Azrael, Berrianne, Ray, and Brandon. I saw only a couple QC guys - Dr. Dan and Dave W., and one Wisconsinite - Eric F.. The Iowa City crowd had an impressive delegation there - Nate (who won a suit of storm trooper armor playing SW Pocket Models TCG), Peter, Drew, Tim, and Teagle. Former Iowan Lucas was running events for FFG all weekend. Overall, it was great to see everyone, especially since it's such a rare occurance now that we live out East. I only wish I could have seen more people, including those who were there, and those that couldn't make it.

Eric and I played a lot of games, but mostly together or with the Iowa City guys. I really regret that I didn't get to play Alpha Magic with Ogre or Dave W.. I also wish I could have played demos of some games I want to try, but the demo tables were always SO crowded.

So, quick game rundown -

-Battle Line x2
-Tannhauser x2
-On the Edge CCG x2
-Magic "Special Limited" tournament (one pack of each set legal for Standard) 3 matches (I did not do well)
-Magic 10th Edition draft - 2 matches (Eric beat me in the semis)
-Alpha Magic - I would estimate we played approximately 36 games of this, from 1v1 to 4 player group games
-Other Magic - about 6 games? we 1 on 1 drafted some packs we had laying around a couple times, like all Coldsnap, and Portal/Fifth Dawn/German Rennaissance, and played a few games.

So, most of the gaming was Magic... which is ok by me. Still a game I love, even though I don't like amassing cards any more. I've only played twice since we moved down here, so it was nice to get to play, especially with the Alpha.

Speaking of Alpha, we actually got lucky this year and found a few cards. Here's what I picked up:

Demonic Hordes
Lord of the Pit
Cockatrice
Roc of Kher Ridges
Aspect of Wolf
Dragon Whelp
Icy Manipulator
Copper Tablet

A pretty good haul, really, I think it cost me approximately $78, although I traded a dealer for a pretty good chunk of that. Cockatrice for $4 might have been the best deal. Peter said he got a black vise for $7, which is pretty good, also.

It's pretty clear, after seeing Ogre's deck, that the best thing is to be able to go to events and trade... that guy has a massive pile of lightning bolts, sol rings, chaos orbs, and a couple wheels...

Tannhauser was the only new game I played. It's an FFG "boardgame", themed an an alternate history ww2 time era, that is basically a skirmish level miniatures game in a box. It's an expandible game that will certainly have new boards/characters/items/rules/etc. coming out soon. It plays pretty quickly - under an hour when you've got it down. There are two maps, and ten characters. You can choose to play one figure each, or more. It's a lot like an fps, in that you can play deathmatch, capture the flag, take and hold, or scanarios that you make up. The combat system, which relies on colored circles for range and los, rather than needing to check with a ruler, is quick and easy. Minimum ranges on the weapons make for some tactical decisions on the map - sometimea a hand-to-hand specialist can get holed up in a room where automatic and heavy weapons can't be brought to bear on them - thank goodness for grenades! We liked this pretty well, perhaps because both of us are former miniatures gamers (which is also how we met), who don't seem to have time to paint figs or set up big battles any more. I'm anxious to see the expansions.

Oh, and, I forgot, we also went bowling. We almost didn't go out, but, fortunately, we ran into the enthusiastic Berrianne on Saturday night, who's undeniable energy ensured our participation. Eric and I had a wonderful meal at the Fountain Diner, and then headed to the upstairs duckpin alley, where we were joined by Berri and three of her friends. As ever, we had a great time, and Berri was tops on our team with her amazing Granny-roll technique. If you're interested in future GenCon duck pin expeditions, let me know.

Well, now it's time to adjust back to "normal" life, and look forward to starting my job next week. Hopefully, I'll be able to afford to register for TBGT at some point, and do a bunch of boardgaming...

GG, GL,
JW