Convention Report: Gencon 2006

By Rick Thornquist

Here are my reports from Gencon 2006 which took place from August 10-13, 2006 in Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.A.

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Convention Report: Gencon 2006: Wrap-Up

By Rick Thornquist
August 16, 2006

Gencon 2006 is now over and it’s time to look back and the experience.

Posted by Rick Thornquist on August 16, 2006 at 04:48 PM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: Gencon 2006 - Comments (5) - Link

Convention Report: Gencon 2006: August 13, 2006 (Day 4)

By Rick Thornquist
August 13, 2006

Here’s my report from the fourth and last day of Gencon 2006. Lots of good stuff for today, including an overview of Tide of Iron, a survey of games from Mayfair Games, Titanic Games and Playroom Entertainment, as well as playings of Nazca and Desert Bazaar. Along with all that, a nice little story about my trip home.

Posted by Rick Thornquist on August 15, 2006 at 04:47 PM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: Gencon 2006 - Comments (2) - Link

Convention Report: Gencon 2006: August 12, 2006 - Part 2 (Day 3)

By Rick Thornquist
August 12, 2006

Here’s part two of my report on the third day of Gencon 2006. After my game of Marvel Heroes I headed back to the hotel to pound out yesterday’s report, which took quite a while - I didn’t finish it until mid-afternoon. I then headed back to the convention center where I got a chance to visit with some more game companies and play some more games. I visited with 3am Games, Twilight Creations, Asmodée and Rio Grande Games and got to play Easter Island and Iliad. Here we go!

Posted by Rick Thornquist on August 13, 2006 at 07:16 AM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: Gencon 2006 - Comments (0) - Link

Convention Report: Gencon 2006: August 12, 2006 - Part 1 (Day 3)

By Rick Thornquist
August 12, 2006

Here’s part one of my report on the third day of Gencon 2006. Instead of waiting until tomorrow morning, I decided to type up and post impressions of my first game of the day - Marvel Heroes. I thought there was enough interest in this one to get this posted earlier than usual. Here we go!

Posted by Rick Thornquist on August 12, 2006 at 10:24 PM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: Gencon 2006 - Comments (2) - Link

Convention Report: Gencon 2006: August 11, 2006 - Part 2 (Day 2)

By Rick Thornquist
August 11, 2006

Here’s part two of my report on the second day of Gencon 2006. This report is posted a little later than usual - too many things to do and not enough time! Today I talked with some publishers - Fantasy Flight Games, Wizkids and Z-Man Games, plus I got a little tidbit from Days of Wonder. I also played a number of new games. Here we go!

Posted by Rick Thornquist on August 12, 2006 at 12:43 PM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: Gencon 2006 - Comments (3) - Link

Convention Report: Gencon 2006: August 11, 2006 - Part 1 (Day 2)

By Rick Thornquist
August 11, 2006

Here’s part one of my report on the second day of Gencon 2006. I did lots of stuff today - I got to meet with a number of game publishers and play a bunch of games.

I thought instead of making you wait until tomorrow morning for some of the more interesting pictures, I’d post them now. The pictures are of three things - a production sample of Shogun, from Queen Games and Rio Grande Games; a production sample of Marvel Heroes, from Nexus Editrice and Fantasy Flight Games; and a prototype of Axis & Allies: Battle of the Bulge from Avalon Hill. I previously posted pics of A&A: Battle of the Bulge, but today the Avalon Hill people received the miniatures of the game and I was able to get some shots of the game set up with the miniatures.

Posted by Rick Thornquist on August 11, 2006 at 05:44 PM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: Gencon 2006 - Comments (1) - Link

Convention Report: Gencon 2006: August 10, 2006 - Part 3 (Day 1)

By Rick Thornquist
August 10, 2006

After posting part two of today’s report (on Axis & Allies: Battle of the Bulge), it was time to get together all the video I had shot and edit it together. Writing reports and doing pictures is one thing, but doing a video is completely different ballgame - especially when it comes to the time it takes to shoot, edit, narrate, etc, etc (especially when the computer keeps crashing). I finally finished generating the video and then started it uploading (which I knew was going to take a while) before going back to the convention center.

I headed towards the Exhibit Hall - my goal was to accost some of the publishers and see what they were showing and what they have in store for us. Today I caught up with two publishers: Days of Wonder and Mattel.

Posted by Rick Thornquist on August 11, 2006 at 01:00 AM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: Gencon 2006 - Comments (3) - Link

Convention Report: Gencon 2006: August 10, 2006 (Day 1) - Video

By Rick Thornquist
August 10, 2006

Here’s a video report from the first day of Gencon 2006. In this video I show the main areas of the convention, concentrating on the big Exhibit Hall which holds all the dealer booths. I also got shots of the boardgaming halls.

Note: There is an error in the narration close to the end of the video. When I say that we are looking at the trading card hall, it’s actually the miniatures hall. Also, the audio cuts off a bit abruptly at the end.

The video is available in WMV format and is available in a smaller file that is in a lower resolution.. You can download the video file to your computer by right-clicking on the link and selecting ‘Save As…’. Here it is:

Gencon 2006 August 10, 2006 (Day 1) (WMV Format - 146MB)
Gencon 2006 August 10, 2006 (Day 1) Small (WMV Format - 60.3MB)

Posted by Rick Thornquist on August 10, 2006 at 05:53 PM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: Gencon 2006 - Comments (2) - Link

Convention Report: Gencon 2006: August 10, 2006 - Part 2 (Day 1)

By Rick Thornquist
August 10, 2006

After posting part one of today’s report it was time to head back to the convention center. I ran into a few gaming celebrities and took some of their pictures (to be posted later). One of the celebrities I ran into was Erik Arneson of About Board / Card Games. Erik was pleased as punch that he was able to scoop me on some details he got about the upcoming ‘Bigfoot Game’ from Days of Wonder. Never again, Erik! :)

By the way, for those looking for details about that game… I tried to pry some information out of Mark Kaufmann from Days of Wonder but he wouldn’t budge. I guess we are just going to have to wait a bit longer to find out with the ‘Bigfoot Game’ is all about.

Posted by Rick Thornquist on August 10, 2006 at 12:55 PM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: Gencon 2006 - Comments (8) - Link

Convention Report: Gencon 2006: August 10, 2006 - Part 1 (Day 1)

By Rick Thornquist
August 10, 2006

Today is the first official day of Gencon 2006. I got to the convention center around 8:30am and headed for my first stop - the press room to pick up my badge. On the way I ran into Jay Tummelson of Rio Grande Games. I, of course, had to ask Jay if he had Shogun with him. The good news - he did indeed bring along a copy of the game. Yay! The bad news? He still didn’t have a copy of the rules! D’oh! Oh well, he said he’d show me the game perhaps tomorrow so I can get some pictures of it.

Posted by Rick Thornquist on August 10, 2006 at 10:24 AM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: Gencon 2006 - Comments (1) - Link

Convention Report: Gencon 2006: August 9, 2006 (Travel Day)

By Rick Thornquist
August 9, 2006

I’m here in Indianapolis, Indiana for yet another game convention - this time it’s Gencon 2006, which is taking place from August 10-13, 2006.

Gencon is the biggest game convention in the United States and it incorporates many types of gaming - roleplaying games, trading card games, miniatures, etc. My focus is the boardgaming arena and though boardgaming is not as big as RPGs or TCGs here, there is still a fair sized boardgaming contingent. I hope to be visiting some of the game publishers exhibiting here plus playing as many new games as I can.

Posted by Rick Thornquist on August 10, 2006 at 06:22 AM in Special Features > Convention Reports > Convention Report: Gencon 2006 - Comments (0) - Link

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