2014 Prezcon - Part 2

Let's see...where was I...oh, that's right...up way too late playing Game of Thrones.  Thursday morning I had to be up by 9:00 for my demo of Lords of Waterdeep.  I had a few people come by - 3 or 4 - not quite as many as showed up for the demo last year.  Waterdeep has been out for a year and a half now, and is quite popular...most euro enthusiasts have probably played it by now.

Picture courtesy of Boardgamegeek.com

After my demo, I headed straight for a heat of Pillars of the Earth, again being GM'd by my buddy Paul Owen.  I was in a 3 player game with Mark Beckman and another gentleman who's name escapes me.  I'm very much a novice at Pillars, and I know that Mark is an excellent euro game player, But I played a very good game...right until the last turn.  Truth be told, I thought the game was coming down to me or Mark, and I had discounted our 3rd player...and so did Mark.  In the penultimate turn, I used a pawn to take the first player for the last turn, setting myself up to hopefully take the glassblower...which would have given me a lot of points.  Unfortunately, the glass blower ended up on the board, vice in the area where he could be bought immediately.  As I drew pawns from the bag, I of course drew Mark's pawn first.  He hemmed and hawed, but ultimately decided to go for the defensive move of paying to get the glassblower (blocking me from getting it).  I drew about half the rest of the pawns before I realized, that as the player drawing the pawns, it had been my right to take one "mulligan" and redraw.  We discussed it at the table, if I could go back, and brought in Paul who ruled (correctly, IMO) that I had forgotten it...so tough luck.  In the end that likely cost me the game...but to my and Mark's surprise our 3rd opponent came out of nowhere to claim the victory.  Which is a lesson in never underestimating anyone.

At noon, I got in a heat of Carcassonne, and managed to win.  For whatever reason, I've been doing well at Carcassonne the last few years at Prezcon - 2nd overall 2 years ago, and 3rd last year.  With my win, I was on my way to the semi-finals again. Directly after that, I played in a heat of Stone Age, where I was promptly trounced by a Stone Age afficianado named Rodney.  I made the mistake of not collecting very many cards - I was in the lead, and then promptly got lapped when the card points were counted.

Picture courtesy of Boardgamegeek.com

Next up, at 3:00 was a heat of Chicago Express.  I'm not a huge fan of stock market type games...and despite it's train theme, that's really what Chicago Express is.  However, I find this game growing on me.  In fact, I like it more and more every time I play.  My heat didn't go so well - we had a 3 player game, one lady was brand new to the game...but the other fellow was clearly a veteran player.  I did learn a hard lesson, as I took 2 of the shares for the red railroad, he took the remaining 1 share, and just as I had the red railroad approaching Chicago, he veered it off in a different direction.  The veteran won by a significant amount.  I would also like to give kudos to Lee Sensabaugh, the GM -


who in my opinion is one of the friendliest GMs - or person, in general - at Prezcon. 

We had time late that afternoon to get our gang (Brian, Tom, myself, Paul and the Senzig clan) together in open gaming and get in a game of Viva Java. We had to cut short due to some pressing tournaments coming up, but I was likely on the way to victory, thanks to playing the "going rogue" card, and investing in other players brews.  Halfway through the game, we did have designer T.C. Petty III show up!

The South Island!

Next up was one of the highlights for me - my old favorite Conquest of Paradise, once again GM'd by designer Kevin McPartland.  This year, Kevin decided to mix it up by adding in almost all the optional rules, plus the expansion random event cards.  I was excited about this, as I was ready for things to be changed up a bit.  In my first game, as Raiatea, I discovered New Zealand early on - which, with the optional rules gave me both the north and south island.  However, the player playing Samoa used the random event of Fijian Raid to completely decimate his Tongan neighbor, paving the way for him to move in for the kill.  He was able to ride that to victory. 

Picture courtesy of Boardgamegeek.com

After Conquest, our "gang" got together for some late night gaming, bringing out Space Cadets: Dice Duel, and following with a favorite from last year, Bang!  Dice Duel was a blast, although I was surprised we didn't go more attention from others in the room.  It was somewhat awkward with uneven players, but we made it work.  With Bang!, I threw in one of the expansions, and that only served to confuse things - some of the cards were odd, and the new characters didn't seem that balanced - Mike Sr. had a guy that could hold 10 cards, for example.  The one drawback to Bang! is that it can drag a little long, and with player elimination, that can be no fun...in the end, we called it quits with Tom's sherriff and Mike Sr.'s outlaw in a virtual standoff.

The mornings always seem to come early at Prezcon, and Friday was no exception - even though the first thing on my docket was the 10:00 heat of Lords of Waterdeep.   I had about 20ish folks show up for the first heat, and I managed to play this year as well.  I was determined to keep it to 4 player games this year, and in my first heat I think I only had to go to 5 with one game.  I only had one group go long, but they were able to find me over at the 2nd heat of Conquest of Paradise. 

Friday afternoon and evening ended up being a Conquest of Paradise marathon.  In the 2nd heat, I was once again Raiatea.  In an interesting twist, New Zealand was discovered directly between Raiatea and Hiva.  The Hiva player and I decided on a truce - he would take the North Island, I would take the South.  I also made a run for sweet potatoes, though I was unsuccessful.  My memory is failing me here a little...as everything from that day is a bit jumbled together, but I did not win, and then Kevin had to decide on how to run the semis/final game. 

The final was scheduled at 4:00, but Kevin wanted to run 2 semis starting at 3:00, as he had 5 individual heat winners, and would fill in with 3 2nd place finishers - of which I was one.  In one moment that made me ornery, one young player that was a heat winner complained because that would conflict with a heat of Leaping Lemmings.  Kevin was hemming and hawing, especially since
not all the winners showed up.  The young fellow went so far as to get the tournament director, Justin, to come over and arbitrate (at which point Justin said "Kevin is one of our best GM's...whatever he decides goes").  In the end, Kevin ran the two semis, and I made it in. 

Picture courtesy of Boardgamegeek.com

In our semi, I was with Brian, and Steve Bondra, and another fellow.  I had a decent game, but again finished 2nd to Steve.  As it turns out, in the other semi, Steve Cameron ran away with the victory in such a dominating fashion that both I and Brian (our 3rd place finisher) made it to the finals.

The final game started out terribly for me.  I found no islands for the first 3 turns.  That was drawing various remarks of pity from the other players...and they were completely discounting me.  I should mention that I was Hiva, and Brian was playing Raiatea.  At one point he essentially offered me a small island as a way to appease me and stop military aggression.  It sort of worked, as I then went on a tear and found a bunch of islands in a row.  I also successfully discovered sweet potatoes.  I was gearing up to land colonists on 4 islands at once, for an 8 point jump, when Steve Bondra declared victory.  As Samoa, he found a bunch of islands and was able to isolate himself.  One more turn, and I think I would have been able to make a run at it - but isn't that always the way of things?  I was still able to squeak out a 3rd place finish.  In general, I liked playing with the advanced rules, though Malaria never came into play, and Sweet Potatoes are had to get to.  New Zealand factored in several of my games, and the random events change the strategy significantly, in my mind.  The rule is that the player in last place gets to draw and implement the random events - this leads to a tactic of intentionally lagging behind.  In the finals, I was drawing the majority of the time, but I never got any of the "super" cards.  Twice Steve Cameron managed to lag behind me, and he got two cards that would have helped me significantly.  Oh well...lesson learned for WBC....

After almost 8 hours of Conquest of Paradise, it was off to open gaming.  Some other familiar faces were showing up, including Ben Rosset, Nick Ferris and Josh Tempkin.  I got in a game of Coup with Ben, Nick and several other fellows, and managed to pull off the win.  Although I still don't think I caught Ben lying.  After that, Ben, Nick, Josh and Brian were gracious enough to give Santa's Workshop a try.  They only ended up getting through about half a game, but I got quite a bit of good feedback.  I loved Unpub, but with 3 game designers playing, I think I got more valuable feedback during that playtest than during Unpub.  This led to significant changes, which I will detail in an upcoming blog post.  After closing that up, Brian, Tom and I sat down with Ben to playtest his Homebrewers - the "prequel" to Brewcrafters.  I think Ben has another solid idea here, although it's certainly in a more "rough" stage than when I playtested either Brewcrafters or Brewcrafters:The Travel Card Game.  Combining dice rolling, negotiation, and card management, I look forward to playing the next iteration the next time I see Ben. 

Well that was enough for that night, and that's enough for this blog entry.  Next up in Part 3, I'll wrap up with Saturday and Sunday, and some overall thoughts about Prezcon 2014.

Unpub 4 - Day 1

Well, as was mentioned in my last post, I spent this past weekend in Delaware at the Unpub 4 convention.  The short version is - what a fantastic event, I loved going, I'll be back next year (more on that in a bit) - but I came out of it with mixed feelings for my game, Santa's Workshop. One big regret is that I brought my camera...and proceeded to take very little pictures.  So, I apologize for the scarcity of pictures in this post.

I drove up with my friend Paul Owen, and after checking into our hotel, we headed over to the local pizza joint for the Unpub "designers dinner".  This was basically a meet and greet and a chance to network with some folks, with a raffle thrown in (idiot that I am, I lost my raffle tickets within 5 minutes of getting them and had to beg for more).  I sat with Nathaniel Levan and his wife Anna and got to know them a little bit (although we didn't figure out until the next day that Nate and I are both Hokies).

After the dinner, we headed back to the hotel, expecting to get in some gaming with various folks.  Although at some point, we heard someone talking about their "sell sheet" - which is basically a 1 page sheet that highlights your game with a basic description and pertinent information (game length, # of players, things like that).  Basically, an ad for your game.  Paul and I looked at each other - neither of us had thought to make up one of those.  So we spent an hour or so in the hotel room furiously throwing something together...and then found that the hotel only had black and white printers.  Oh well, better than nothing, I guess.  After that we did head to the lobby for some gaming, and ran into Ben Rossett, who gave us his Brew Crafters Card Game prototype to try out.  Paul and I played a 2 player game and found the game easy to pick up, and interesting to play.  The gist of it is that you can play each card in one of two ways - as an ingredient in a recipe, or face up in front of you as a piece of equipment or worker that will allow you to brew future recipes more efficiently or for more points.  I ended up playing 10 cards face up in front of me, though in the end Paul beat me by 2 points.  We then played a 3 player game with Ben, and I claimed victory by focusing on brewing Special Reserves.  Inspired by the Dice Hate Me 54 Card Challenge, Ben created this game with only 54 cards, 8 of which were recipe and scoring cards.  My biggest concern in the end was having enough cards to support 4 players.  There may be a few other tweaks, but otherwise I think it's a solid card game.

After not enough sleep, on Saturday morning we headed over to the convention to get set up.  My family has a log cabin advent calendar, which I brought along and decorated with elf meeples in order to try and attract some attention.  That may have been more trouble than it was worth to haul along, but it did get some comments.  In any case, my first actual playtest of Santa's Workshop at Unpub ended up being with my friend Randy, who's a regular at our Tuesday night game nights at Game Parlor.  He had played a few weeks ago when I brought it to GP, and had really liked it.  When he learned about Unpub, he convinced his friends Kurt & Elizabeth to join him there for the day.  We played a 4 player version of SW, and everyone seemed to like it.  I got some feedback on a few minor things like the wording of a few cards.  We talked a bit about the # of players, and how best to restrict the number of spaces in the rooms.  We also only played a 9-turn game, as opposed the 12-turn games I originally envisioned (themed to the "12 Days of Christmas").

I spent some time playing some other designers games (I think I'll detail those in a separate blog post), before getting a group of players together for a 5-player test that afternoon.  I had Anna Rutledge, Andrew, Duane, Rob and Josh (other than lack of pictures, I also really failed on writing everyone's full name down - and getting cards from everyone).  Their 5 player game took about 2 hours, with Duane winning in the end after building and scoring the swing set.  This group used the coal cards the most out of any group that played all weekend.  Everyone seemed to like the game, and I got a lot of good feedback.  Game time was definitely an issue (2 hours, and again we only played a 9 turn game).  There was the interesting suggestion to perhaps have some of the coal cards be used for positive player interaction (instead of just "screw your neighbor" cards).  Anna in particular had a quote that resonated with me later - she said something to the effect of "I wasn't expecting much from this game, but it turned out to be really good."

Shortly after that playtest, I was scheduled to give a 10 minute pitch to Game Salute.  Paul had gone in earlier, so I knew a little of what to expect - about 3 minutes to describe the game, 3 minutes or so for questions from them, and then 3 or 4 minutes of feedback.  I brought just the game board, a player tableau, and some sample gift and coal cards.  I was a little nervous, but I think I did a pretty good job in getting through most of the rules and play style of the game in 3 minutes or so.  The rest of the "interview" took me a little by surprise, as they almost exclusively focused on the theme I had chosen.  In a nutshell, their concern is that with such a "light" theme as Santa's Elves building gifts, a family might buy this game expecting something that very young kids could play, and be shocked when they got home and found a more complex game.  That is, if they bought it in the first place, because with all my pieces and such, the game would probably retail in the typical $40-$50 euro game price range.  On the flip side, they thought gamers - who would likely enjoy the complexity - wouldn't pick it from the shelf because they would think it was a light family game.  On the positive side, they did say they liked a couple of the mechanics of the game, and I should perhaps think about re-theming it.

So, I was understandably a little disappointed coming out of the sales pitch.  My first reaction was to think that they were wrong, and there was room for a game that could satisfy both families and gamers.  (I have plans to include rules for more family-friendly play).  But I couldn't help but think that Anna's reaction to the game only backed up their point - she didn't think there would be much to the game, and was pleasantly surprised when it was deeper than she anticipated. 

That was it for playtesting SW for the day.  I played some other games(more on that later), and then
 we headed back to the hotel for some more late night gaming that night.  Paul and I got in a few 2-player games -
Mr. Jack Pocket and 1955:The War of Espionage.  Mr. Jack Pocket has become one of my favorite games to play on my tablet or phone, and I wanted to introduce Paul to it.  I've not played the original Mr. Jack, though Paul has, and he said it had a similar deduction feel, if much different mechanics.  As for 1955, Paul brought it because he don't get a chance to play it at home much.  This is a sort of "tug of war" game as you try to gain influence in various countries.  I thought it was a mildly interesting game, with some interesting card play, but ultimately too long for the type of game it is.  I had picked up Gravwell at the Unpub vendor, after hearing a bunch of rave reviews.  Ben Rossett joined us, and explained the game, as well as a 4th player who's name is escaping me (must. write. down. names.)  It is indeed a very elegant game, with easy to learn rules, and a depth of complexity that has you trying to get in the head of the other players at the table.  For me, I think it may be a victim of it's hype - I very much liked it, but I'm not sure I would rave about it as much as others have.  At the very least, it serves as a good reminder that an excellent game need not be Agricola-like in complexity.  Lastly, we got in a couple of 5-player games of Coup with myself, Paul, Ben, Matthew O'Malley, and Doug (Who's last name I can't find for the life of me).  This was my first time at Coup - I don't know if I like it better than The Resistance, but it is a very fun game.  And I think Ben Rossett is lying when he says he never lies during the game.


Next up- Day 2...a few more playtests of SW, and my overall thoughts on Unpub...

Kickstarter

So, here's my obligatory Kickstarter post.  Like many others, I was pretty hesitant to jump in the Kickstarter waters, because of the usual reasons - should I really trust a brand new designer who's game hasn't been vetted by a proven company, will the quality be up to standards, etc etc.   Well, eventually I caved and jumped into the Kickstarter pool.  I mean...they sure do make it tempting, what with various "stretch goals" and Kickstarter-only swag you can get.

So, what have I "Kickstarted" so far, and why?

Compounded

This game by Darrel Louder was my first foray into Kickstarter.  At WBC 2011, I had met Chris Kirkman (aka Dice Hate Me), his wife Cherilyn (aka Monkey238) and designer TC Petty III.  They were demoing VivaJava, which would eventually be Kickstarted as one of Dice Hate Me Games first published works.  I really enjoyed the game, but I didn't take the Kickstarter plunge (I eventually picked up a copy at Prezcon 2013).  In any case, I started following the DHM gang, on twitter and via the podcast, and when they started talking about Compounded, my interest was piqued.  I'm not a chemist, but I am an engineer who managed to struggle his way through freshman chemistry back in the day.  As we all know, Euro games can take on any theme under the sun, but here was one based in science.  Cool!  The campaign mentioned that Compounded was a veteran of the Unpub process, which my friend Paul Owen had experienced.  When I asked Paul about it, he relayed that he had played Compounded and enjoyed it very much, and I believe he was already a backer at that point.  Well, that was enough for me...I created my Kickstarter account and backed my very first project.  It was amazing to watch Compounded reach stretch goal after stretch goal - I am very much looking forward to opening this up when it arrives in a few months!

Alien Frontiers

So, backing the 4th edition of Alien Frontiers was not particularly a stretch.  This was the original Kickstarter boardgame darling, becoming a runaway hit when first published in 2010.  My friend Brian picked up a copy somewhere along the way, and I enjoy playing it quite a bit.  When I saw them Kickstarting the 4th edition, I knew I wanted to get in on the action.  With the true enthusiasm of a convert, I shelled out for all the extra bling, including the various expansions and "rocket dice". 

VivaJava Dice

 This one was a bit of a no-brainer, as I enjoy VivaJava, and knowing the guys putting this game out, I"m relying on another quality game from DHMG.  Looking forward to rolling the dice on this one.  My only comment on the Kickstarter campaign...they need to lighten up and have some fun...a little too serious in the video ;)

 City Hall

 So this is an interesting one...this is my first Kickstarter project I'm backing with little to no background on the game.  I'm basing my support of City Hall based solely on a number of glowing reviews I've seen from people I respect on web.  I was not completely inspired by the video on the Kickstarter site, but again...I've seen enough people praising the game that I'm taking a chance on it.  Apparently this game had an unsuccessful first run on Kickstarter, but got picked up by Tasty Minstrel Games, who is running this Kickstarter.     Unfortunately, with a little over 24 hours to go, they're slightly less than halfway to their $30K goal.  For some reason, they went with a shortened 9 day Kickstarter run instead of the normal 30 days.  Not sure on the rationale behind that decision.

Brew Crafters

 Well, I haven't actually backed this one yet because the campaign hasn't started...but you can bet I will as soon as it debuts on Kickstarter.  I had a lengthy blog post about this game after I got to try it at Prezcon this year (it was going by the name "Brewmasters" back then).  I'm REALLY looking forward to this one, and think this game by Ben Rossett could quickly become one of my favorites.

Small World 2 (for Android)

I realized as I was about to wrap this blog entry up that there is one more thing I've kickstarted...and it's not a boardgame...technically.  As an Android user, I've been a bit jealous of the sheer amount of board games that have been ported to iOS.  There's been a few on Android (Carcassonne, Settlers), but nothing like the sheer amount on iOS.  So when Days of Wonder announced that they were re-doing their Small World app and would create an Android version if they met a certain goal, I was all in.  Curiously, after all the fanfare of the Small World Kickstarter campaign, Days of Wonder quietly released Ticket to Ride on Android.  Not really sure of the different approaches there...maybe TtR is so much more popular that they knew it would be a hit?

Well, I think that sums up my Kickstartering...I don't expect I will jump willy nilly at every thing that looks remotely interesting.  I'll likely continue to back only projects by people/companies that I'm comfortable with - as it is, the one campaign that I've backed with little to no personal knowledge of seems that it's likely to fail.  And I didn't even mention The Emperor's New Clothes controversy....

More Gladiators...and building Kingdoms

What to do with all those gladiators?

Well, we had our regular Tuesday night "After School Special", and out came Spartacus again.  Brian had yet to play, so we broke it out with Mike R. and Carson.  We played the "standard" game this time, with each house starting at 4 influence.  This made the early game a little slower, as more negotiating needed to be done to play those mid-level intrigue cards.  The others had gone to 6 or 7 influence be the time I got around to gaining some.  I had 2 cards called "Sate Roman Appetites", which gave +1 influence to a Dominus with at least 4 ready gladiators.  I went a on a spending spree, at one point having 5 gladiators.  The stars of my stable were Gannicus and Varro.  Varro never fought a match, but his special ability gave me a gold anytime - during any combat - where 3 hits were scored.  He must have earned me 10-12 gold over the course of the game.

Gannicus vs. Theokeles

Gannicus was my star in the arena...or so I thought.  With stats of 4-4-4, he's the equal to Spartacus himself, and his special ability is that he wins ties as an attacker.  However, when brought to battle, he had to face Theokeles, from Carson's stable.  Theokeles is one of the promo cards I picked up at Prezcon, and has stats of 5-5-2 (but no special ability).  I had armed Gannicus with a net, which allowed  him to automatically win initiative once during the match...but I hardly needed it, rolling 4 dice to Theokeles 2.  However, the dice gods were not kinds to me...I don't think I rolled over a 3 the whole match.  Most bets were placed on me, and I still think Gannicus has the edge, being able to win ties.  But it was not to be, as Theokeles absolutely dominated.  Gannicus was lucky to escape with just an injury, and not be decapitated.  I was able to heal him, and he later triumphed in the arena.

Carson started to pull away, and with the help of Brian and Mike, I was able to knock him down a few pegs with an intrigue card.  However, a turn later, he was able to play 4 cards to shoot from 8 to 12 influence and win the game.  I was able to block one of his cards, but he had yet another.  Brian and I both has other cards that could have likely blocked the win, but we didn't get them out quickly enough.  Note to self...the end game can occur quickly. 

After Spartacus, we tried out Kingdom Builder.  This is an interesting game, in which there's a ton of randomization...including some of the rules!  The board is assembled using several random "sectors".  Several tokens are placed on the board, according to pre-printed images.  The board consists of 5 types of playable terrain (prairie, flowers, forest, crevasse, desert), and 2 impassable types (mountains, water).  On your turn, you draw a card, which will be one of the 5 playable types, and then you have to play 3 houses on that terrain...but you have to play them adjacent to previously played pieces, if possible.

Building Kingdoms

If you ever play next to a token, you get to keep that token and use it's special ability for the rest of the game.  The special abilities are randomized.  In our game, we could add a 4th house, move a house from one location to another, play on the board edge, or add a house to the end of a straight line.  The other thing that is randomized are the scoring rules.  These are randomly drawn cards.  In our game, we scored by having long horizontal rows of houses, a point per grouping of houses, and a point per house in the sector with the least amount of houses. 

I finished 2nd, behind Mike R.  It's an interesting game, a bit of an abstract brain-burner.  My first impression was "meh"...but I have found myself thinking about it somewhat.  It's not on my "must own" list by any stretch...but I'd definitely play again if it came out.

A few odds and ends...

I always pay my debts

On Saturday, I had the opportunity to drop in the Game Parlor when I dropped off the boy at a birthday party across the street in Chantilly.  I found Mike R. and his buddy Paul in there, setting up Triumph of Chaos, themed to the Russian Civil War.  That looked like a meaty game, with a lots of cardboard counters and a rulebook printed in size 8 font.  While he continued to set up, Mike encouraged me to teach Paul Battles of Westeros.  This game is kinda sorta related to the "Command and Color" series of games - Memoir '44, Battle Cry, Battlelore, etc.  However, I maintain that it's a step up in complexity, doing away with the left/center/right system of card play, replacing it with command and order tokens, used to issue cards from your leaders.  I taught Paul using the opening scenario, with Lannisters attacking Starks across a river.  We had to leave it after 3 of 5 rounds, and the outcome was still in dispute.  I don't think I (as the Lannisters) would have been able to achieve victory (capturing 2 specific hexes) in the 2 turns left to me.  In 3 turns, yes, my cavalry would have mowed him down...but 2 turns didn't leave me enough time to cross the river, I don't think.  BoW is yet another game I really really need to play more.  I think all but 1 time I've played, I've played that same opening scenario.

Jumpin to hyperspace ain't like dusting crops, boy!

On Tuesday, a very special package arrived...my wave 2 ships for X-Wing that I had ordered some months ago.  Yes, the Falcon is as sweet as she looks.  I had ordered all the wave 2 ships (Falcon, Slave I, A-Wings and TIE Interceptors)...but when I was at GP on Saturday, I broke down and bought their last remaining Slave I as well.  Hey...the Battlefoam I ordered has space for 2 Slave I's, so I can't do anything less than use those spaces, right?  Of course, now I need more of the small ships to fill all those spaces as well....

Lastly...congratulations to Ben Rosset, who officially announced that Dice Hate Me games will be publishing Brew Crafters, which I reviewed the prototype of in my Prezcon blogs (known then as "BrewMasters".  Also congrats to TC Petty III, who is following Viva Java with a dice version.