LoreCon 3 in Burlington.

So the excellent convention in Burlington known as LoreCon just happened this weekend, and while it wasn't as excellent as Carnage, here's my report.

First thing to report...

You're all a bunch of pansies! :)

Seriously, it was ok doing it myself. I was wary before I got there at 9:30 on Saturday, but 5 people who had never played Puerto Rico were waiting for me to arrive and run my scheduled session, starring... Puerto Rico! It was a big hit, and I saw Chuck Burkins in that group, a fine computer programmer who joined my session of Princes of Florence at Carnage back in November. We got 2 games in, the second including me.

My second session was Tigris & Euphrates. Also a big hit, and also being taught to 4 people who had never played. Chuck was also at that one. Two games played there as well, with me also doing that second game. I didn't win, because a kid played spoiler. :)

Two trips to Quizznos let me use some of my Entertainment books to be nice to fellow con-goers. Saved Chuck's family some dough with a "buy one, get one" coupon, then we all ordered in advance for dinner using a $10 off a catering order. I picked it up at 6:15 so that no one had to stop playing games. :)

I didn't end up doing much in the last session... I left at 6:45 to say hello to my family at the Wyndham hotel, where an honor dinner included my uncle Scudder Parker. I was dressed for a game con, not a fine dinner... so I didn't expect to stay... but my family said no one would care how I was dressed, so I stayed until 8:10 when Scudder finished his speech: he really might be governor next time. People there really adore his honesty, integrity, intelligence and passion.

When I got back to the con, I only had 45 minutes before I'd have to leave, if I was to get back to St. J. by the time I told Michele I'd be back. So I couldn't crack open and play Imperial with Josh from Portland, Maine, who'd been emailing with me for a few months in prep for the con. He was disappointed, but we'll get signed up for T&E online, and since Michele has family in South Portland, we'll meet again. He can even come over here for a summer weekend... give notice.

Other than that, I just started Chuck on a refresher game of Princes of Florence and left both that game and Imperial (with Josh) to be finished and picked up by the con-runners and left for me at Quarterstaff in Burlington.

I saw Neil Carr there, with his wife Annick, but didn't have much time to chat. It was well attended overall, with lots of miniatures & RPGs going on, and a good showing of good board games.

I'm getting the impression that people (Carnage aside) would prefer mini-cons at the homes of friends (i.e. ShawnCon) over actual entry-fee cons a distance away. I wish I could've spurred conversation about that earlier, saved effort on my part, instead of having to infer from silence. But Carnage is so good that let's work on that.

Who's in for Fairlee, VT, November 2-4th? http://www.carnagecon.com/. A lot of notice never hurt anyone...

Amos & Devon Get Snowed In - Film At Eleven!

So last Thursday, what with the snow storm and all (you're a pansy, Dan, heh heh), only I made it to Devon's. We've really got to feed his need sometime for a game night at his house with lots of people - he's jonesin.

I shouldn't have tried getting to Devon's, though. Should've taken Michele's advice and called him, asked him to drive to me. I tried one route to his house... couldn't make it up the first hill to the right of exit 22, then went the opposite way, got stuck on the last hill before his house, and walked half a mile... with War of the Ring & a frozen peanut butter cake in my hands. What fun! :)

We played a game of Memoir '44 while we waited to see if Bryan was coming (so far it feels thin, short & too luck-heavy, relative to BattleLore & C&C: Ancients), and when he didn't, we played three quarters of an excellent game of War of the Ring - with the expansion. Feelings for that game grow every time. Anyone who hasn't gotten over the hump of a steep learning curve is highly encouraged to... get some freakin' cajones! :)

In WotR, the wealth of great strategic options continue to emerge. Tried to really sack the Northeast for five points, with Dale, Erebor & the Woodland Realm. Was on the verge of heading for the Northwest, with the Shire & the Grey Havens.

When we finished Sunday night, it ended up a dead heat. Devon had abandoned the Fellowship, so time was running out, but his last-ditch military effort (killed Free People units CAN'T be re-mustered) netted him the 4 victory points of Dol Guldur & Orthanc in the final turn... enough to win!

But, alas, I captured Pelargir & Dol Amroth in the same turn... netting me my 10 victory points in the same turn. And since the Shadow military victory outranks a Free People's military victory... the one ring returned to the finger of Sauron (a.k.a. - ME!).

My... precious! :)

To paraphrase "The Three Amigos", much Middle Earth killing of women and raping of cattle ensued.

Mwahahaha!

Combat Commander: Europe first impressions

So, this past Friday I made the trek from Lyndon to Williston to play a game of Combat Commander: Europe with Earl. CC:E is from GMT games, an excellent company that has put out, among other great titles, Command & Colors : Ancients. I've really been looking forward to giving the game ago, and despite the long drive I can say that I was NOT dissappointed.

The game is played with Chits on a hex-based (and beautiful) map, and is intended to simulate squad or platoon level combat in WWII. It's an infantry game, so if you're looking to run around with tanks, this game is not for you. The game is also a 'card driven' game, and has many similarities to Battlelore or Command & Colors : Ancients in that respect. However, there appears to be a lot more tactical depth to the game, and each card does a lot more... The basic actions are Move, fire, Assault, and Recover but below that are "events" printed on each card. In addition, the game is diceless, but each card has a pair of dice printed on the lower right-- When a die roll is required, you pull the next card in your pile, and the dice shown represent your roll.... This is pretty unique, but I liked it, and I believe it probably allows for a more even (or bell-curve) disribution of die rolls.

I found the game quick to grasp, and was playing on my own within half an hour... We played the first scenario, which represented a german and Soviet force clashing over a crossroads in the summer of 1941. The soviet troops are poor quality but numerous, fighting the much better but fewer German troops. Each side had a couple machine-guns but that was it. As Earl and I played, I found the game tense and dynamic, and really gave me a 'feel' for the action. As the game developed, the Germans held one objective, and my soviets agressively rolled it up; From there, the action shifted to the second objective, where the Germans were pressing the Soviets hard, but in the end my forces prevailed.... All told, the game took about 3 hours to play out, but two seasoned players could have done it faster. Earl had a good time, too, but was not pleased when I did the 'victory dance' after my sound win.

I am looking forward to playing this with the gang around here.