GENCON 2012 - Day 2

so I woke up around 9ish to start my 2nd day. A whee bit of headache as I slept late so I made sure I did not sleep as late today. I still have not bought anything from the first day yet as what I really wanted was not available and I was being very selective in what I am getting due to the cabin luggage space.

Lets see the pictures!

3V3 - Light card game where all you need to do is select
3 cards from your hand and arrange them such that 1 card
is your main character and can activate its action, 1 card you
only use the ATTACK points and the last card you only use
the DEFENSE points. Each player then reveal the selected cards
and resolve. The first player to win 10 battles will win the game.
Quite fun especially since you can create your own decks as well.

LINEAR - Preview of a game from Catalyst game labs. Abstract
game that involves trying to form the longest lines as you can.
Easy to play light game. Abstract games are not my cup of
tea though. Playing on the AWESOME game table is really
SWEEEEEETTTT :P

VILLAGERS and VILLANS - Light card game where you are
trying to create a village that scores the most points after a
certain number of rounds. There's a market where you can
buy more cards for your village. Interesting art.

TREASURES & TRAPS - Another light card game from the same company.
All you need to do is to keep the 3 different types of treasures.
Bronze, Silver and Gold and you win. Now its not
that simple as you have cards where you can still your
opponent's treasures.

D6 Generation's Play by mob! We played Geof's Space Cadets and
our ship won! Though our ship was rather quiet most of
the time.

SHEEPLAND - one of the games I was looking out for. Just
arrived at the stall today. Light game that involves trying
to move those sheep into lands that you have a vested
interest in. The other lady at the demo with me mentioned
its just like a stocks game but in a lighter theme which is
true. Not bad and I think with a cut throat group it will be
quite fun.

DUST TACTICS - The models are AWESOME! So nice and detailed.
Will make for good painting projects as well. Gameplay is
light and easy. Just move and see if you can shoot and
roll dice to see if hit. This is the lighter version of DUST
WARFARE using the same models. So in a way, its like
2 games for the price of 1! This will be fun to get
but without terrain and all, it will be only half as fun.

In your face! BOOMZ!

ZOMBICIDE - Intro game. Have heard a lot of this and I
was lucky to get to try this.

ZOMBICIDE - We massacred the zombies but
I am not sure if we played it correctly.

Day 2 I got into the groove of gencon and I went around trying demos and seeing what will interest me and make it to my buy list. There is a LOT of walking involved because you are walking from booth to booth hoping to get a spot for demo. I could have saved myself a lot of effort i guess by purchasing tickets for demo but its USD2 per ticket and some demos cost even more. Still I had a lot of exercising done with the walking and I did not eat a lot so I think I lost some weight :P

GEONCON 2012 - Day 1 Part 2

So many pictures, I had to break it up into 2 posts. Here we go!

Day 1 Part 2

The tables are EXCELLENT. Someone get me this so I can start
to play miniatures :P

GIANT CITY OF HORRORS - I am still looking for that
ultimate zombie game though. Zombicide seems to be almost
there but there is no cut throat element that i would like to
have.

SEASONS - Something I REALLY REALLY wanted to get
but it was sold out so fast! I even approached the publisher
to purchase his demo copy but no can do :( Its a really good
game and I HIGHLY recommend it!

WoW they buy MTG cards here! If I knew
i would have brought my MTG cards and sell
it all here and clear space :)

GIANT TICKET TO RIDE - The train pieces are big and made
of wood!

Tshirt selling at TWO LANTERN GAMES. Their only
game, MORELS, seems to be very fun. I
will be getting the wifey to play this with me
before I fly back.

Freebie Goblin Miniature from Forgeworld.
The detail and quality is amazing. Now I
know why people pay a premium.

Expansion for SUPER DUNGEON EXPLORE. All painted up
and pretty! Wow... I have a LONG ways to go before
I can do something like this!

Close up of the painted pieces.

Unpainted figures which you get. Each box (there are 2 new
expansions) cost USD30 each! So expensive :(

Other miniatures from Soda Pop Miniatures

LEVIATHANS - Not actual size. These are just for display
but if they made them this size, the battles will be so EPIC!

LEVIATHANS - Demo table which is almost ALWAYS full!
I am very tempted to get this but I hope it doesn't flop like
Battleship Galaxies.

ROLLING FREIGHT - Interesting train game
involving unique dice. The components are
fairly good but the cards are awfully small. Even
hobbits will complain that it is small!

All the rubber duckies you can buy for DUCK DUCK GO. So
cute!!!

MICE & MYSTICS - Co-op Adventure game newly
released from Plaid Hat Games. Seems fun with
good components. Not a fan of Co-op games though.

NETRUNNER - FFG's latest release that was snapped
up on the first day. Not sure if I am up for it
though. Lets hope someone else in my
group will get it :)

XWING - FFG's other latest release. Reminds me a lot of Wings
of War. I was a bit hesitant on it but now that the Falcon will
be coming out end of the year, I will definitely get this. Lets
see if I can round up a few Star Wars fans and play this. No
epic space map / Death Star terrain to play on though so sorry!

Ok this game will allow for many cinematic shots. Though
this will require purchasing more "expansion" sets...

Death Star space map. So COOL..
NERDGASM :P

New cover art for CHAOS IN THE OLD WORLD. Very very
good game. If you haven't try it, please go try it!

RELIC - FFG's other other new release which will be out by
end of the year. It is essentially Warhammer 40k retheming of
Talisman. I played the demo and it is really just a retheming.
Probably with better components and dials and all. May not get it
though since I already have Talisman.

UGG-TECT - FFG's remake of Argh!tect which I
already have. Components look the same.
Very fun party game.

This will be a very good playmat. I have not
even played my copy yet! But perhaps this
playmat will help  bring it out to the table.

Ah.... another playmat that should be produced.
I am eager to play this with all the expansions
which I recently purchased.

DUST WARFARE - I have a demo for DUST TACTICS.
Been hearing a lot about this and how its the new
hotness back in Singapore so I've been wanting to
try it just for the heck of it.

AZTLAN - Ares games upcoming release. Its a area control game
which reminds me of Small Worlds. Components are
really nice looking (except for the really small scoring
marker). Otherwise, its a Light-Medium Euro game.

FLASHPOINT FIRE RESCUE - 2nd Edition with
the Fire meeples. Again Co-op game so not
in my buy list.

LEVEL 7 - Supposedly a better version of Panic Station.
My group had a lot of issues with Panic Station so I was
eager to try this out and see. Well I think thematically it
appears to be stronger. Components wise are better as well.
So far I have heard the game is really difficult and its a
maybe for me on the buy list.

MILESTONES - Fun Medium weight EURO game. This copy
was borrowed from Steven from Stronghold games and we
manage to go to the gaming library room to play it with Eric Summerer
as well. Quite a fun game with interesting mechanisms. We each
have individual "rondels" as well to manage and make efficient.

SPACE CADETS - Almost the final production copy. It combines
a lot of mechanics from different games into 1 single game.
Co-op definitely and will require the right group to play.
I find the cards that may arise from getting damage makes the game
quite fun. Perhaps there should be an EVENTS card deck that will
be drawn every turn so as to have some randomness should
the ship be flying too smoothly.

LEGACY - New game released at GENCON. Involves moving through time
to start inventions and then make sure you have
sufficient influence to score the points at the end of each
round. Light-Medium game but one that I will not get.
Scoring is a bit hard to do because you need to track back
and give score to preceding supporting technologies for
players that have majority influence for that.

So that's the end of Day 1. I stayed in the gaming library room way too late (almost 3am) and while walking back to the hotel, there were still scattered groups of people playing werewolf! I had no idea it was SUCH a popular game here! Oh and sleeping at 3am was not a good thing as I had a slight headache the next morning :P

GENCON 2012 - Day 1 Part 1

Here we go, the actual first day of the CON! So exciting as I got to meet many people including Tom Vasel, Eric Summerer and Ryan Metzler from Dicetower network. Although I REALLY wanted to get a copy of Seasons, I was very surprised to have heard that they were sold out within minutes of the doors opening. I had not count on that. Now I am hoping I can order it (supposed to be available 30 Aug) and get it before I fly back to Singapore.

Day 1

30 minutes before opening! And this happens almost EVERYDAY of the CON! 

Beginning of Cardhalla. This event has been going on for
about 14 years I believe. Every year people will donate
unwanted cards and people can build structures like a growing
card city of sorts. Then attendees get to donate money and
throw coins to bring down these structures. All proceeds are
donated to charity. So cool ya?

FFG's Merchant of Venus demo table. Eric Summerer enjoyed
himself playing the demo version and had good words to
say about the game. I am SO looking forward to getting this.

OMG SO MANY DICE. There are at least 5 booths selling
dice. Its a pity I don't play RPGs else I would find it hard not
to buy different varieties. There are some metal dice that are heavy
enough to become weapons though, if one can throw them
fast enough.

FASTTRACK - Looks like a remake of an older game
now with NHL branding. Its a quick agility
game where you are trying to get rid of all the
discs on your side of the board. I wonder
how long the rubber band will last though.

STRING RAILWAYS - Now in English! I played
this before at a meetup and it is rather light
and unique. I probably won't get it though
unless there are additional changes to it.

SNAKE OIL - Party game where you have 2 cards and you
try to combine them and convince the current player's role
that yours is the best. I am not a big fan of party games though.

TSURO OF THE SEAS - Its like Tsuro version 2. With a hidden
tile element as well as dragon tiles which are like traps for
the unwary ship, it seems to be a bit more interactive than
Tsuro. I probably won't get this.

There are areas where parents with kids can chill out and get
away from all hustle and bustle. GENCON is also fun for the
family!

MONSTEROLOGY - This is a CCG game that interacts with your iPad.
The CCG game can be played by itself OR with a game in iPad.
Quite innovative I feel and it will be interesting to see what
it does for the gaming industry. I wonder how they prevent
piracy and reusing the same cards on different iPads.

Blindside - Abstract game that seems to have quite
a buzz. It has neat looking arrows and components.
Never tried this though so not sure how it goes.

DOTZEE - Fun abstract game. Each player can only take a
dice on the borders and roll it and then place it back into
the grid by shifting it in. If you score a straight/full house
etc, then you will score a point. First to reach 10 points will
win the game. The components are nice, hefty and it is quite
a fun game to play.

SPARTAN - Based on the tv game. Seems to gotten a lot of
hype and sales from attendees. I am not too sure about the game
though. I did not get a demo in but from what I heard
its a lot of negotiations between players and participating
in gladiatorial matches to earn points. Lets hope someone else
in my group gets it ;)

WEYKICK FOOSBALL - Awesome wooden
components where players use magnets to
move their 2 wooden players on the board and
try to score a goal. Looks really fun but will
be a bit tough to bring back to Singapore.

URBANIA - Mayfair's newest game. I had a demo
later on and I got my copy. I've been
looking for a better real estate/property type
of game and I think this is it. Someone in BGG
mentioned this is like Ticket To Ride
reimagined and I guess that is correct but
its a good game nevertheless!

STAR TREK CATAN - Looks like a rethemed Catan. Components
looked good though. Still haven't owned a Catan and this
will be on my wishlist but I don't think I will get it as there
are a lot of other games out there!

GIANT SETTLERS OF AMERICA - Mayfair had a few of these giant sized games.
Very cool to look at :)

GIANT SHEAR PANIC - Awwww.... the sheep... so cute!!

GIANT LORDS OF VEGAS - Love the large dice!

GIANT FALL OF POMPEII - Wish they had dry ice inside the
volcano for added effect.

GIANT ROCKET JOCKEY - I played this once and its
MEH for me.

OH GNOME YOU DON'T - Looks like a light game. Nice Art
and all. I did not get a demo on this though.

GIANT ROBORALLY - I wonder how long this game will
take though. Plus the robots moved really slowly.