Games played recently...

So i have been a bit behind in posting recently played games. here goes and enjoy! :)

OUTPOST

Finally manage to get a game of this in. I have been wanting to try this since its supposedly a good old game and reprinted nicely. However the reviews have been very mixed and thus I did not pull the trigger. Finally got a quick game in. What turned out to be an intro game after a long week night evolved into a full blown game of about 2 hours or so. We made several mistakes along the way but still did pretty well i think. However this game really requires a few plays so that you will not make mistakes in the earlier rounds so as to put you so far out of the game it is no longer fun. Unfortunately there is not much of a catch-the-leader mechanism in the game and players will have to pay attention to each other and attempt to block. But by doing so will usually be detrimental to yourself thus the game often is just a "see how efficient you are" game. For me at least I think its only average. Components wise is also average only. It has a bit of the rough feel that Stronghold games seems to have. Just a whee bit not refined I feel.

FARMERAMA

Latest game from Uwe and reminds me of Agricola light. Each turn players will choose and action card from a standard set of 5 cards and then perform that action. The main emphasis are 2 things. The main wheel/rondel in the middle that dictates how many times an action can be done by a player and the second is on the individual rondel/wheel on each player's board which tells a player where to sow goods or place their livestock. During the game though most players are concentrated on themselves and their player boards and only through more play will players start to pay attention to each other so as to be in a better position when choosing actions. Not a bad little filler game from Uwe.

CONEY ISLAND

Worker placement and area control game with awesome looking components. Thick cardboard pieces and stacking the monies together makes you feel very rich! Players compete to score as much points as they can by clever placement of their own stalls and then replacing theirs and other players' stalls into actual rides thus scoring points. Its not a bad game but it seems like an idea that was not yet fully developed into a polished game. Not a bad game still.

LIBERTALIA

I had gotten my copy of Libertalia from GENCON 2012 and gotten the metal coins as a gencon promo. Its a good game for up to 6 and a lot of people have described it to be similar to citadels but more fun. I think the resemblance is due to the character roles that you are choosing but otherwise there is not much that is the same. Gameplay is easy to explain but not that quick to grasp and the scores each round can swing depending on how well you play your roles. All in all, it is a good game and the metal coins only makes it that much more fun to play. Highly recommended.

 NETRUNNER

I got my copy from a shop in NYC after GENCON as I read a few reviews detailing how good this game is.   Initially I did not get what the hype is but since the theme and game play seems rather unique I decided to pull the trigger when I saw it arrive at the store in NYC. Gameplay is rather unique as one player plays the corporation which is to guard all their assets. The other player plays the runner which is trying to "hack" into the corporation assets and either whittle down the draw deck OR steal agendas. Our first game was done using the starting decks and it went on pretty long. Not sure if we read any of the rules long but it seems the runner was having a hard time gathering resources enough to make good runs against me the corporation. Still I really want to get in a few more plays on both sides before determining how I feel about this.

LOST VALLEY

I recently traded my Inca Empire for this game. I wanted to see what the hype is as there is currently a kickstarter to produce a new version of this. Initially upon reading the rules, we were left wondering how to start playing the game as the intersections being spoken of were not that clear to us. Luckily, Tom's video from The Dice Tower really made it easy for us to understand the game and start playing! Players are trying to venture out into this board that is built dynamically to gather resources and retrieve gold from the land. Players try to get 10 gold pieces and return back to base to end the game. Or when the white piece which represents the ice flow reaches the base, the game will end as well. Either case, the player with the most gold will win the game. I liked how the board is built dynamically and how careful placement and exploration is crucial as well because if you manage to draw a triangle piece, it yields more resources than normal diamond shaped pieces. The end game condition can be rather abrupt though but its not a bad game. More plays are needed!

AKABA

A rather old game that was won by my friend during a recent boardgame auction. After some surfing around online, we manage to find the english rules (not included in the game) from the publisher's site. Its a dexterity game where players try to use a blower to blow their flying carpets around the various market places to obtain the loot that are revealed on their cards. While the player is blowing his carpet around, another player rolls 2 dice to try to get the same color rolled so that the player blowing has to stop. Its a light filler and a great way to end a good night of gaming.

VANUATU

I do so love this game and I am surprised its not getting a lot of loving on BGG. I bought this game without really reading the rules but I am so glad I did as it is a challenging euro game that gives my brain a very good workout. The art and components are nice and well done but the main attraction is the action placement mechanism. This mechanism is very similar to Dominant species in that player order and majority are very very important. My first play, I did not comprehend this and we did not understand why being first player can be quite important. Now I do. Because of the heaviness and cut throat nature of the action placement mechanism, the art does seem a bit too light-hearted for it. If you want a challenging and potentially cut throat game, I heartily recommend Vanuatu.

EVIL BABY ORPHANAGE 

My group today wanted to try this game after hearing about it and so I broke it out. We had quite a bit of fun diving into the game play and the whimsical nature. However, like a friend commented afterwards, it became to feel like Munchkin and became draggy and slow. So far my games of this has been the same. Starts off funny and cute but near the 30 minute mark it becomes draggy and people cannot wait to end it to play something else. Still there is a lot of content for this little card game because of the real-life characters. Makes me wish there was a little booklet of fluff on the background of these characters and how they were chosen by the designer.

EMPIRE EXPRESS

At GENCON 2012, after obtaining Mayfair's 50% discount, I decided to purchase Empire Express. I had apprehension initially about this game because of the odd nature of crayons in a boardgame. After trying the demo though, I decided to give it a go as the strangeness also makes this a unique game in my collection. The game play is rather light though in that you are just trying to maximise your delivery system so that you are earning as much money as you can to win the game. The randomness of the card draw though can be quite crippling as you may not be able to deliver much goods and are forced to forgo turns for exchanging cards. I do wish I had purchased the Empire Builder option though as it will offer more options such as different locomotives and thus more variety. Still its not a bad introduction to the system.

HEAP

Bought this after a quick demo at the Privateer Press booth. I think I must have had my GENCON goggles on because bringing it back and playing it does not leave me with a satisfying taste as I thought I had at GENCON. Its a quick game with good art I must admit but the gameplay itself is rather MEH. All a player needs to do is ensure that he upgrades his vehicles the FASTEST and that will most likely ensure his victory at the final race. Disappointed at the game and at myself for falling for the GENCON Goggles which makes bad games seems not that bad.

So all in all, a good few weeks of boardgaming. I have another group coming tomorrow and one of the girls owns Decent 2nd edition! I cannot wait to try this!

Star Wars X-wing Miniatures Game

Now where did I place my droid....
Unless you have been stuck in a Cantina, the latest craze to hit the boardgame scene is Fantasy Flight Game's Star Wars X-wing Miniatures game and boy has the craze hit hard. Everyday there is at least 5-10 people chatting about it in BGG and there are loads of pictures being posted. Given my experience with Wings of War II, I initially did not buy into the hype at GENCON 2012 (much to my detriment) and when I finally manage to see a game being played, I knew I had to get at least the base set to play. The other problem I had was getting anyone back in Singapore to play. Well, all those fears have been put to rest because the game is simple enough to pick up, not prone to analysis paralysis and has all these cool miniatures to look at and play with. Btw, I have since purchased a base set + 1 of each expansion (X-wing, Tie-fighter, Tie-advanced and Y-wing). Coming to me is another Tie-advanced, Tie-fighter and Y-wing.

As you can see from the pictures, the game comes with gorgeous miniatures. Similar to Wings of War quality and better than Leviathans, Battleship Galaxies and Star Trek Fleet Captains (all of which I either have or have seen up close).
Gameplay wise its very straight forward.3 Phases. First you take your little disc that has all the movements and you choose one. After that is the movement + choose action phase where players, in ascending pilot order, reveal their disc and make the movement using the various templates provided. Then, if the pilot is not stressed (due to difficult maneuvers), they can choose an action that is available on their pilot card. Once all pilots have moved, comes the last phase which is combat. This is done is descending pilot order. Hits are determined by rolling dice (defenders get to roll too) and if neither side has a clear victory, the game continues again.

The Good
1) Gameplay is fast. You choose your action from the disc and then you are ready to fly. I have yet to try with more than 4 planes a side but I doubt it will take up too much time.
2) Miniatures are awesome. They look so good and though they aren't super sturdy (don't test the aerodynamics of the xwing!) they should be able to last for quite a good time. Remember to keep all those clear plastic boxes they came in for storage!
3) Customization. There is a lot of room for customization because there are additional cards which you can attach to your ships for example droids like R2-D2 and even torpedoes. That will allow for a lot of replayability and creation of missions.
4) They are small enough to be played on most standard sized tables. The game is also very portable and should make for a good travel companion.

The Bad
1) Potential for a draggy game. While a game turn is quite fast, it is possible for the game to drag down through bad flying (pilots keep missing each other) or bad rolls of the dice (dang that xwing's shields just won't go away!). There may even be several turns where there is no combat at all which can be a whee bit boring.
2) Watch those hands and arms! Sometimes in our eagerness to place the template and move our ships, we may forget just how small and light these miniatures are which can be disastrous if arms were to swipe a Y-wing off the table!
3) There are a LOT of tokens. If they are not sorted out before the game, it can get tedious.
4) Not enough dice. That is why they have a dice expansion and a dice application too! Sneaky FFG, so sneaky....

Suggestions
1) Put a round limit on the game. For example, after 15 rounds, if the Imperials cannot win, then the Rebels win. This will force players to engage each other more often and prevent the game from becoming too draggy.
2) Place the tokens on your pilot card instead of on the playing area. This will prevent too much clutter on the playing area.
3) Have a dice tray available for rolling the dice. Do not roll them into your miniatures!
4) Use compartment boxes (or plano boxes) to store your tokens. This will allow for easy access during the game.
5) Take out a few targeting token pairs at the beginning of the game. This will make the game flow much more smoother.

So all in all, this is a MUST BUY especially if you are a star wars fan. I am so glad I have it and I have even ordered a space-themed felt mat to play on! What is more exciting is that FFG has announced the 2nd batch of expansions for the game which will consists of A-wing, Tie-Interceptor, Slave 1 and my favourite, the Falcon! I cannot wait for the end of 2012 when these babies are available for purchasing. *DROOL*

Have i mentioned that the miniatures are SO COOL ?!?!?! They are so cool in fact I managed to use a free iOS application called MANGA-CAMERA and took a few pictures to stitch together a manga-inspired dog fight scene! Check this out :D

Mayday Mayday, this is Gold 5 requesting assistance!

Gold 5 this is Red 1 stay cool, the Calvary has arrived!

*GRIN*

Urbania! We build this city....

Urbania
I first noticed this while walking past Mayfair's booth at GENCON 2012 and the riot of colors and the theme caught my eye. I have been looking for a city building game for some time and have been MEH with my purchases of Urban Sprawl, Big City and City Tycoon so I am eager for something that will work with me and my gaming groups. I sat down for a demo, thought it was pretty ok game and decided to get a copy.
Now I am back in Singapore, I have played this game about 5 times and have decided to write a small review here to discuss some of the good points and flaws.

Urbania is a game that a few people has said reminded them of Ticket to ride. This is indeed true as there are several mechanisms that are very similar. In a way, you can say this is Mayfair's version of Ticket to ride with a different theme. Which parts are like Ticket to Ride? Well, for one thing, picking up the cards which will give you resources behaves similar. The resources are what you need to be able to refurnish buildings (using helmets) and hiring specialists (using coins). Buildings gives you a one time number of points while hiring specialists will provide you with points at the end of your turn. Urbania also has project cards which behave like Destination tickets although in Urbania you can only commit 3 project cards and the earlier you commit, the less points you are deducted. The game ends when at least 3 specialists have a value of 5 and above OR one district has 2 or less buildings left to refurnish. The player with the most points (after revealing the committed project cards) wins the game. Its a light weight game that will appeal to families and casual gamers. I am going to break the game down further:

The Good
1) Easy to pick up. Since its very similar to Ticket to ride, its easy to learn and play and great for the family.
2) Good components.Good quality and vibrant colors. The board had a slight warping though but its not a big issue.
3) Helpful symbols. There are symbols and building shapes on the cards and the building tiles to help you decipher which cards belong to which buildings. I guess this will be helpful for the color blind.
4) High player interaction. Usually what other players do will either provide you with points or cause you grief when they take over specialists which you have. Rarely is there a turn where you aren't impacted by another player's actions.

The Bad
1) Board is very busy. While the colors are vibrant and exciting to look at, the board and the building tiles together make it very busy to look at and hard to visualise. As you can see from the image above it can be tricky to see if the end game condition has been triggered or how many points you are potentially scoring.
2) 2 of the colors are very close. The Bank building and the School building are very similar in color. Even though the symbols are there, players tend to get confused.
3) Moving of the building counter. After every building is built, the associated cube will be moved one space to count how many of that building has been built. This also serves as the score during the game for that related specialist. However this part can be overlooked as players often flip over the building tile and want to score the points for that building.
4) Easy to abuse. The game is meant for casual gamers therefore it seems that it is quite open for abuse. There is no hand limit thus there can be a case where either of the decks run out and players are forced to refurbish buildings. Worse will be the discard deck is reintroduced and the same few cards are being recycled. If the project cards run out, then some players maybe stuck with lousy project cards to commit.
5) The score track is very small. I guess this is designed to make efficient use of space and when you reach 50 or 100, you get a card to help you remember that. Still, given the scores we typically get (150 and above), its odd that the score track covers 50 points only.

Suggestions
Here are some house rules which I think may help the game:
a) Limit project cards a player can have (including those committed) to 5. This will prevent players from abusing the game and monopolizing on project cards they don't intend to implement.
b) At the end game scoring, remove buildings that have not been refurbished. This will help when counting how many buildings have been built for that zone.
c) When the deck runs out, each player needs to discard half of their cards they have in front of them (which they reserved for coins) and then a new deck is formed. This will prevent the same few cards from being recycled or the game being abused.

Conclusion
Don't get me wrong, this is not a bad game if played not so seriously. Game play is fast (usually about 1 hour or so) and you are usually engaged in the game so it feels fun and light. My search for the ultimate city building game continues though and I am hoping to get Suburbia and try it as I have heard quite good things about it! *Cross my fingers*

Weekday Gaming - 11 September 2012

First gaming with my regular gaming group after reaching Singapore. This was a weekday gaming arranged because the usual Friday group cannot convene on friday. I brought along Milestones and Urbania but did not manage to get Urbania played. Here are the games we played:

ON THE UNDERGROUND

I arrived later than the rest and they have just started to play On the underground so I was lucky I could join in.

So this is a pretty old game which in the beginning may remind people of Ticket to Ride. Gameplay wise, during your turn,, you will flip over some cards (1 or 2 depending on the previous turn). If there is a yellow station, then the Passenger pawn (there will only be 1 on the board) will attempt to go to that station first. The passenger pawn will then go to the nearest white station. If there is no yellow station, then the passenger pawn will skip the first step and just proceed to the nearest white station. However the passenger will only move at the end of your turn, thus during your turn, you have 4 actions where you can do either laying of tracks OR obtaining branch tokens. Thus now you know where the passenger pawn is likely to travel, during your turn you want to lay tracks in such a way that the passenger pawn will use your tracks and thus score you points. There are other ways to score points as well while you lay tracks and by far the most lucrative seems to be connecting to certain stations OR creating a loop using your tracks. For a 4 player game, we each had 2 colors of tracks to lay. The game ends when there are no more new station cards to reveal and the player with the most points will win the game. 

It is a easy to teach and learn game with a lot of tactical moves rather than strategic. Quite fun.

MILESTONES

Final scoring was pretty close!

I tried this in GENCON 2012 thanks to Stephen from Stronghold games but have previously ordered it from Germany. As requested, I brought it along and broke it out for a game. It is a Medium weight Euro game with a lot of surprising depth.It is surprisingly easy to teach and get into but there is a certain amount of luck which will ensure replayability. The unique parts of the game I feel are the player's personal rondel as well as the scoring map. Each player will have a player mat where you choose 2 locations during your turn. There will be workers on your player mat and how you place these workers will be important because of 3 things. Firstly, when you collect a resource, if you have not previously passed a worker of the same resource, then you get to collect resource of that worker and all previous workers of the same type which you have not passed. If arranged properly, this will enable you to collect a lot of resources. Secondly, when you arrive at the village location, you will get a coin if your workers are arranged in ascending order. The coin is very useful because 2 coins can be traded in for any good. Finally, at the castle where you have to pay the king tax, you will need to block of 1 of your workers (means he is no longer functioning). Having proper placement will ensure that you cater for this when it comes. The castle location is mandatory so this serves to ensure that you will attempt to buy workers sometimes during your game. At the end of the game, there will be a bonus 5 points for the player with the majority of each worker type. This can be quite a lot and often will determine the winner if its a tight close game.

There can be quite a bit of Analysis paralysis (yours truly had quite a bit) but if you plan ahead you can pretty much make your move quickly. While there is some strategic planning for sure, I feel a lot has to do with tactical planning because if you are very observant of your other player's mats, you can see what they can potentially do and thus position yourself to take advantage. 

The winner had only 2 workers left at the end of the game (and throughout most of the game) and we did not guard him initially when he could supply to the markets and score points and allowed him to pull ahead quickly. Fun game and all players had good things to say about this. Great buy! 

MONEY

To end off the night, we played MONEY from Reiner Knizia. I had this on my iphone/ipad for sometime but did not really read the rules and was losing more often than not. After 2 games of this now I know how to play it well. It has a silent auction aspect in the beginning and then each player, depending on descending order of the value of the money bid, will get to select a lot from the table. The lot can be from the 2 (that is refilled from the draw stack) or any player's bid (including his/her own). Each round, all players will bid and collect a lot. The game ends when there is no more cards left to refill the center lots. Players then count the sets they have collected. If they have 3 of a kind (usually the $20 and $30 notes), then they add $100 to that currency. If a currency reaches a total of $200, then you add the full value of that currency to your final tally. Otherwise, you deduct $100 from that currency (minimum 0) and add that to your tally. The player with the best score wins the game. There is no exchange rate for the game btw so all currencies are equal :)

I lost horribly in the first game but won by a lot in the 2nd game. Interesting filler game and easy to play. Scoring wise seems a little convoluted but after a few rounds should be easy to pick up.

A great end to a good weekday session of gaming. We may end up doing this a few more times as compared to our friday long sessions. Lets see how it goes! I still have many of my new loot to go through! :D 

Boardgaming in New York City

So in case you don't know, I was in NYC to visit my wife who is currently studying in Columbia. That also allowed me to make a side trip to GENCON 2012 of which I am very grateful to be able to do. While in NYC, I managed to get some boardgaming done as well and meet up with a friend, Gil, who designed Prolix.

AGRICOLA: All Creatures Big and Small

I'm the Rhino btw.. no points for guessing why :P

Agricola:All Creatures Big and Small - I scored
50 points and won! Wife wants a rematch.

I have been wanting to play some games with Wifey for some time now but given that she is now in NYC and I am still in Singapore, that is kinda difficult. Also, I have been shunning from 2 player games mainly because I do prefer more people in my boardgame sessions. After trying out Twilight Struggle, I decided to stop avoiding them and embracing them instead. Thus I went on a 2 player games buying spree and when I visited my wife, I decided to try one of them. We tried Agricola:All Creatures Big and Small. I had Morels as well but did not have a chance to try it. 

Agricola:ACBAS is a light version of Agricola and focusing only on the animals. It is a simple game and plays within 30 mins. It is also relatively easy to explain but I think I fudged this up a little. 

Side note: I MUST find someway to improve how I explain games. During GENCON, I have had the opportunity to see how the volunteers demoing games explain games to people.. The best seems to be able to merge story and theme with the mechanics. In most of my explanations I tend to just go for the nuts and bolts (win by most points, how you win? do this and that) and I hope to improve on this in the future.

I will not go into details of the game because you can read a lot of the reviews online at BGG. It is a fun game and my wife demanded a rematch after our first play. I must say having very cute components is certainly a draw factor to me now when playing games. They could have easily provided cubes to represent the animals as they did in Agricola (without the animals expansion) but I am so glad they went with the horses and sheeps and pigs. Its light, fun and attractive, I highly recommend it for those who are into 2 players or hoping to draw their other halves into the world of board gaming!

GOA

GOA - I have heard so much about this and
finally manage to try it. Interesting Euro which
will definitely reward more plays so that you
get a hang of what is important. I am starting
to realise i suck at Auction games.

The last time I was in NYC, I attended a Meetup at the cafe Cosi. I decided to head on down again this trip as well as meetup with Gil who had helped me previously. I saw some familiar faces and when Gil was here, we decided to play his favorite game, Goa. Now I have been hearing about Goa for some time now but never had a chance to play it so I was quite excited to try it. Goa, like a lot of euro games out there, is all about obtaining resources and then using these resources to advance yourself and thus position yourself to score points during the end game. Each player usually have 3 actions per round and each round starts with an auction. The unique part of this auction is the market (center of the board) with which each player will choose a tile for auction during that round. Each player also has a player mat which shows the progress of each sections which will help the player in subsequent rounds and count towards the final score during the end game scoring. During the early part of the game, I thought I was doing quite well as I was proceeding at a steady pace. But nearing the end of the game I realize I was not utilizing the tiles in the market well and lost out in the end. Its a typical EURO game and kinda feels dated to me in a way. Still fun though!

VILLAGE

VILLAGE - One of my favourite games of 2012.
There were 2 tables of this being played and
I won handily as I had majority in 3 of the regions.
I am RED player btw.

After Goa I was looking around for another game to play before meeting my wife for dinner and Gil did break out Village to play. There was another player who wanted to play so I gave up my seat, since I do have a copy at home. Then another group brought out Village as well so I decided to join them. Village is a very fun Euro that is recently released and I was glad I snagged a copy from Germany. It is not too difficult to explain but perhaps needs a few plays to grasp what is important. It is colorful with good components (except when you have to stick the stickers right at the beginning). The unique mechanism is the killing of your own people which itself is a viable strategy and may score you points in the end as well! This also helps to speed the game along too. This game only 1 player concentrated on the customers whereas the rest of us tried the various areas. I was lucky in that I manage to have majority in the travelling section and the book of honors. I even managed to have majority in the Chapel which sealed my victory. A very good game and a good contender for my game of 2012.

All in all, I had a lot of fun while in NYC and I cannot wait to be back. I sure hope to be able to play some more 2 player games with my wife!

New Loot

And in a blink of an eye, my New York trip is coming to an end. The loot that I am bringing back with me from New York and Gencon are:

Cuba - Big discount from GENCON
Agricola: All creatures big and small - This was an order that I made before GENCON
Morels (with the extra pans and sticks) - This was an order that I made before GENCON
Android: Netrunner - This I bought from Compleat Strategist when I it was just being unboxed this week. Expensive though but I could not wait for the online stores to have it delivered to me.
Libertalia - I am a sucker for shiny bits so when Asmodee was offering the free coins with every purchase, I jumped at it even though I have never heard of it or played it.
Infernal Contraption - This was part of the package I bought HEAP with. Haven't tried this yet though. Seems fun from the demo.
Heap - This I demoed with and had fun so I decided to buy the package.
Empire Express - I had a hard time deciding what to buy with the 50% Mayfair voucher that I had gotten, being a Defender of Catan (ribbons!). I had to also contend with limited luggage space. Finally, since I have heard so much of this crayon game and tried the demo, I decided to get this and see how it goes back with my gaming groups.
Urbania - This instantly leaped at me when I saw the demo. Very pretty art and good components. After trying the demo it became a must buy for me.
God Dice - This was the prize for being in the final round of the God Dice Tournament. A filler game and it was fun playing in the tournament with the designer. Lets see how it will hold out back with my gaming groups.

So as you can guess, my luggage is pretty much full of boxes. I wonder how the xray machines at the airport will show all the bits and whether it will confuse the customs officers :P
Now my new loot doesn't just stop there. I had ordered a batch of games from a german site and it has arrived (shipping is way cheap but that is because it is arriving via boat which takes about 1 month).
Stuff I ordered are:

Dominant Species (3rd Edition) - I had a lot of fun the last time I played this but never pulled the trigger because of the game length and my gaming group already had a copy. Since the 3rd edition had better art and all, I decided to get it and would want to intro this to the other gaming groups.
Navegador - I only played this once with my gaming group and it never appeared again. I did have fun and the rondel was cool and wanted to get it out again. So i decided to get my own copy.
Biblios - Very fun light game and I wanted it as a good game to play during the lunch hour in office.
Olympos Expansion - Olympos was quite fun and I wanted to see how the expansion adds to the game.
Strasbourg - New hotness. I do not know much about it but I think it will fit into my gaming groups well.
Kakerlakenpoker - Very very very fun game and I had to have my own copy.
Milestones - After watching the videos and all I knew this game will be fun for the group. I played this at GENCON and yup, it will be a fun game for my groups.
Farmerama - I have heard quite a bit of this from one of the podcasts I listen to so I wanted to give it a go. But i will need to print out the english rules to be able to play the game. Personal Rondels! so cool :P

So that's a lot of new loot for me to go through. That is not counting the 2 must gets for me which is Seasons and X-wing miniatures game. I may get Leviathan but I think I should give my wallet a break for now.
Time to trim down my collection!

Oh i will head down to Compleat Strategist later on to see if there are any new games that may have arrived this week after the Labour day holidays.

GENCON 2012 - Day 4

Last day! Sunday! Sob sob....

HEAP - Fun little game with great art. I bought
the bundle immediately which came with
Infernal Contraption Version 2. I think I
will break this out this coming thursday
for a game night with Wifey's friends :)

GREED - A stock market card game. All done
in cards. I did not get a demo in so not too
sure how it goes.

DR WHO CARD GAME - Seems a rather light card game. I
do not follow the show so not too sure thematically if it clicks
but I am probably not going to get it.

AWESOME Portal gun on sale! USD350! It lights up!!!

Last day sales. Yes its true, there ARE last day
sales at various booths. Not a LOT of booths
do but at least half do have.

GOT EM! Not a bad little abstract game that
plays up to 4 and has 2 different variants of
the game. Can be self produced though.

3012 - Latest deck building game from Cryptozoic. Feels
like a better game than Thunderstone. Plays up to 4. Box has
a lot of space though probably for future expansions. I woud
like to try this again and see how it goes!

REALLY SMALL Metal dice! So cute. There
are really a LOT of dice! So tempted to just
go wild and buy ahhahaha

Big foam dice! 

ROLLING FREIGHT on sale.

Nice metallic and hefty dungeon coins!

Eagle games were having sales too

Wooden staches for sale! Love the pose.

CRUDE - From stronghold games. Lotsa plastic components.

ARTICLE 27 - From stronghold games. Can't
say I like the art though.

Asmodee was having sales as well!

ALCATRAZ THE SCAPEGOAT - Nice art and
components. Sat through the rules explanation
but did not continue the demo. Seems
light-medium to me.

BATTLE BEYOND SPACE - Did not try this
demo but PINK space ships! Cool ahhaha

TOKAIDO - demo that I finally tracked down. Component quality
seems a bit weak. But the artwork looks really nice and light.

For the younger gamers amongst us!

They were selling these which are rubber
dragons that you can wrap around your wrists
as decorative pieces.

Oooo decorated Portal toys!

A lot of Village still in stock! I am surprised
that this was not snapped up fast as its a really
good game!

Catan folding table for USD180. Pity I am not a Catan
fanatic :P

Awesome painting and model!

so at this time, the convention is officially closed as people start to mill out from the halls and head back to the hotels. What i love was that people were still playing at the hotel lobbies and various areas in the hotel! Its like we did not want the convention to end! So I manage to get a few more games in and several pictures.

Some more gaming before our final dinner together!

Lots of zombies were killed by our driving!
Fun game. There might still be a few rules
we had wrong but still very fun to play.

X-WING - After watching this game being
played and looking at the models up close,
this has become a must buy for me. Pity
its not yet available online for me to order
so I will just have to get it back in Singapore.

FLOWERFALL - Guess there's more to this
than meets the eye as they seem to be
having a LOT of fun!

MAGE WARS - Seems like a boardgame version
of the MTG game that involves moving your
creatures around and trying to kill the
other player's character.

A game of Level 7 ongoing. The RPGers that were playing this
were playing boardgames for the first time. It seems rather
hard for the players to escape. Hope someone in our group gets it
soon!

So all in all an awesome experience for me. Its so enlightening and rewarding to be able to just geekout (thanks to the wifey for letting me do so!) and meet so many people you have been hearing in your head for so long now. I certainly encourage boardgamers to try to at least come to GENCON once in their lifetimes. I sure hope I will be able to come back again next year. Next up? I hope to go Essen once and see what the differences are. Then, depending on my possible future arrangements, the other conventions all over in USA.

Thanks to all that have made this an exciting experience for me especially all the podcasters, game designers and video reviewers that I have met.


:)