Matt Carlson: Gen Con 2008 Photo Report

Four years ago, I was hired as a public high school science teacher here in Indiana.  My very first week on the job, I took Friday off.  Why?  Because Gen Con was happening and it was only an hour away.  I’ve returned to Gen Con (taking the first Friday back at school off of course) every year, and this year I’m one of three folks reporting on the convention for Boardgame News.  I’ll write more details in my postings over at GamingWithChildren.com later this week, but to tide you over here is a photo diary of my weekend in Indianapolis.

My first official booth visit was at Academy Games where I met Uwe Eickert displaying his streamlined wargame, Conflict of Heroes. Two to four players are given a set of action points to command their troops, represented by very thick, large cardboard counters (very high quality). Action points can be spent on maneuvering, but other players can react and move their troops by also spending action points. This keeps the game very dynamic. Combat is resolved by referencing numbers on each unit (no tables needed) with modifiers depending on flanking, hard vs soft targets, and the like. The game comes with many, many units and five double-sided game boards for quite a varied selection of scenarios. As the game’s statistics have been very carefully modeled, it is even being eyed for use in Marine officer training. I’m not a heavy wargamer, but the system’s flexibility and what seems to be fairly easy to use rules made me interested in giving the game some serious consideration.

Over at the Days of Wonder booth, there wasn’t much brand new news to be had. They had announced all the juicy bits earlier in the week and future products tend to be kept on the down-low. However, it was nice to see two of the new expansions laid out for play. For Troll and Country, the new Epic paper map with troll figure was getting use as was the new Hedgerow Hell map for Memoir ’44. While some may balk at the idea of simply buying a new paper map when there are boards and pieces for customizing one’s own map, I figure there will always be times when a ready-made map will be a welcome sight so gamers can spend less time setting up (especially the larger maps) and more time playing.

After some more wandering in the dealer hall, I made it over to the Rio Grande room where there was free, open gaming of many Rio Grande games. Not only were the games free – Jay Tummelson had arranged for catering to supply snacks both Friday and Saturday. During the Spiel-a-Thon (where Stephen Conway and David Coleson of The Spiel help run a Friday evening of gaming, prizes and other activities in the Rio Grande room), there was even a make your own sundae bar!

Late Friday afternoon, the room was not yet packed. I managed to worm my way into a game of In the Year of the Dragon with Brian Yu and a few others by volunteering to explain the rules. After that game, I took a short break and returned when the Spiel-a-thon was in full swing. Eying one of the only open games around, I was once again conscripted to teach Race for the Galaxy. Unfortunately, I taught it too well and came in a distant second in our four player game.

Just before my final game of the evening, I encountered Uwe Eickert again and the two of us got a five player game of Khronos started. Unfortunately, none of us knew how to play the game. As this game involves three boards, each a different location in time, with effects in the past sweeping into the present, playing the game cold from the rules is no mean feat. We were rescued by Scott Russell who, despite only playing the game once or twice before, gamely waded through the rules for us and got us started. It was a fun game, and I don’t think we made many rules mistakes. I got off to an early lead in the first scoring round, but Uwe managed to conquer my empire in the Age of Might in the last couple of rounds to drop me back into third place. I should have known better than to challenge a wargame designer in an area entitled “Age of Might”.

Saturday morning, I arose early because I wanted to be sure to attend the Hickman Killer Breakfast. Anyone attending Gen Con should seriously consider getting up early on Saturday to attend this event. While there isn’t any actual breakfast, there is a whole lot of gamer geek fun. For a two dollar ticket, you are treated the spectacle of an endless stream of gamers parading across a stage. Tracy Hickmann (of DragonLance fame) with the aid of his wife, Laura, takes on the role of a role-playing Game Master and attempts to kill off everyone as efficiently as possible. While those unfamiliar with role-playing games may not catch every reference, anyone who is a fan of science fiction/gaming/fantasy should still have fun. I managed to last up on stage for 35 whole seconds until the refrigerator I was traveling in crashed into the ground, causing my demise. A personal high point this year was the sing-a-long. It was an Animated Killer Breakfast (think Disney-esque) and the song: “Super-Killer Level-Stealing XP-Loaded Monsters” was almost too funny to be able to sing. I dearly hope to get the lyrics someday soon.

After the breakfast-less Breakfast, I grabbed lunch and then wandered into the dealer hall for some serious game journalism. First up was a quick overview of Paizo Publishing’s Yetisburg. This is a card-based Civil War game with a monster (Yeti) theme. Each player has five columns of cards, two cards deep. If a unit is killed, it must be replaced from the pile at the rear of the column. When a player can no longer fill a gap in the line, the game ends. Players also use the same cards in their hand to activate cards on the field. Discarding an infantry card activates all the infantry cards on the field, cavalry the cavalry cards, artillery the artillery, and a general card is wild. If a general is discarded, the player can choose which of the three types activate. When shooting, a token is removed from a bag and it reveals what direction the unit shoots (friendly fire is not uncommon). A number on the token also indicates the power or range of the shot, depending on the unit doing the shooting. It looked interesting enough to give it a try, and I’m definitely sold on the theme. Who doesn’t like a nice Yeti battle?

Next was the FRED distribution booth where I was given a rundown on Ice Flow. Players use rope and fish as resources as they try to move their pieces across ice packs from Alaska to Siberia. Icebergs flow around the board using preprinted tracks that indicate how many squares they move. On your turn, you move an iceberg (rotate it, slide it, or add a new one) and then move your piece(s). To complicate matters, polar bears may wander by and can only be fended off with a handy fish. For 2 to 5 players, and with a 45-minute playing time (barring analysis-paralysis tending players) it looks to be a decent game. The bright colors, pieces, and theme makes me think this could be a good strategy game for the slightly younger set.

Right next to FRED was APE Games showing off Duck Duck Go. (You may have seen the ads at BGN for the past few weeks…) Kevin G Nunn (not the other Kevin Nunn) designed this game that plays a little like a lightweight RoboRally. Players each control a rubber ducky by choosing movement cards from their hand. The goal is to touch each of the three buoys on the hexagonal board and then return to the drain for the win. Touch a buoy and you gain a token granting a one-time special power. Powers may give extra movement, allows passing through other ducks, etc… In a nice touch, the player in last place is given priority while moving, to help them to catch up to the leaders.

Perhaps the best feature of Duck Duck Go are the actual rubber duckies. There are over 100 different ones, with each box having a random assortment of six duckies. Gen Con attendees were given the privilege of selecting their own set of six from the many on display. Unfortunately, the game was a big hit and quickly sold out.

Your Move Games continues to expand its BattleGround line of card-based miniatures (NOT collectible cards, mind you). This fall will see the release of a more historic line with armies based on Rome and Carthage. They were also selling a terrain pack, two large sheets of plastic-coated maps. Just cut out the various sections of water, trees, rocks and bushes to create a library of terrain suitable for any miniatures game or role playing game.

Saturday afternoon was my appointment with Fantasy Flight games. I had a whirlwind tour of its always crowded booth. Perhaps it is best seen in pictures.

During the Fantasy Flight booth tour I managed to briefly talk to the man in charge of the upcoming Cosmic Encounter remake, Kevin Wilson. The prototype on the table had the FFG signature plastic bits and style. At present, the game has an expanded combat card deck and flares.

The hot game was, of course, Battlestar Galactica. Two tables of the game were constantly in play. Three to six players are each assigned one of 10 characters that have various advantages and disadvantages. Twice during the game, there is a chance that one or more of the players will be informed that they are a cylon (or a cylon sympathizer.) Due to the card distribution, games will nearly always have one or two cylons present. FFG are big fans of the show so many of the subtle parts of the game reflect that and should appeal to players who are also fans.

Asmodée had several new games on display, and Senji caught my eye. It looks to be an interesting mix of negotiation, combat, and trading. They have recently announced a new edition of Formula De that will have the same rules, but also have a faster playing game based around street racing. I fully approve of the new player aids to help keep track of all the car and driver statistics.

Saturday evening, I grabbed a nice dinner just a few blocks down the street at J. Gumbo’s restaurant. Afterwards, I finally got to play the upcoming game, Dominion. I thoroughly enjoyed the game, but it may be because I wound up with a pretty solid strategy and won the game with a nice margin. Thanks to Dale, Valerie, Scott and any other Rio Grande workers for explaining how to play games all day Friday and Saturday.

Sunday morning, I headed back to wander the convention’s dealer hall for a final few hours. As I was walking by, I had to purchase a few of these dice from Koplow Games.

They had about a dozen different languages of ten-sided dice and a few different languages on six-sided dice. I plan to use a few as gifts for the language teachers in my school.

Z-Man Games had the somewhat happy problem of its games simply being too popular. Agricola had sold out to distributors, of course, but all copies of the new Shadow Hunters also quickly sold out at Gen Con. As I walked away I heard several people trying to vie for the chance to come back and purchase the remaining demo copy. It looks to be an interesting game for four to eight players. Each player is secretly assigned a role card that is a member of one of three factions: hunter, shadow, or neutral. The hunters generally attempt to thwart the shadows, the shadows do the same to the hunters, and the neutrals have their own objectives. Players move around the board performing actions drawn from one of three decks that roughly correspond to offensive, defensive, and questioning actions. The green deck is interesting in that you may pass the card to another player. If the card applies they must do the action, such as “take one damage if you are a shadow.”

Gen Con has a very heavy trading card game and miniatures game contingent. The biggest splash in the miniatures arena at the convention was a new collectible minis game based off the World of Warcraft franchise. The figures are quite nice and the rules have some potential, but I’m usually just not interested in investing the time and money these style of games require. I did appreciate that the game is set up so that each miniature can use a sort of universal base that keeps track of health and turn order for each piece. The game board uses hexagons, so it can’t be all bad, right?

My final stop before heading out was at Immortal Eyes / Winning Moves booth. I was able to watch a demo of Vineta. Players take on the role of a Norse god set out to flood the town of Vineta due to its insolence. The town contains several concentric areas occupied by color-coded people. Each god is secretly assigned a people color and a section of town to protect. Players earn points for drowning people, more points for drowning their own people, and even more points for saving one’s own people. Finally, if a god is able to prevent their special section of town from drowning they earn extra points with areas on the outside of the circle worth more than interior sections. Players all start the game with equivalent decks of cards and draw a few of them into their hands. They then take turns placing cards onto sections of the city that represent an attempt to drown that section. After three rounds of cards, the area with the highest total value of cards is flooded and the people in that area are assigned out to everyone who placed a card in the area. In addition to numbered flood cards, there are many special cards that move people and placed cards around. It looked intriguing, and the theme is right up my alley, but I need to actually play it a few times to see if I’ll enjoy the final secret scoring bonuses.

My bag full of games to try in the coming months, my camera full of photos, and my tummy empty until I could find some food that is less expensive than convention center food, I took my leave of the convention for another year.

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