For me, the raison d’être of GenCon is boardgames. Sure, there are role playing games and video games around, but I look forward to several days of gaming at the convention followed by still more days after the convention while I work my way through all the games I picked up during my visit.

Rather than bore you with details of every little game related tidbit, this year I’ll try to give more of an overview of the highlights with room for a few games that may not have been talked about elsewhere. Those who prefer photos can check out my photo essay on GenCon over at Boardgame News.

On Gaming Licenses and Fantasy Flight:
No, not permission to run a blackjack table, but Fantasy Flight Games has become known as the premier designer of boardgame based on popular fantasy and science fiction licenses. In past years, they’ve produced boardgames based around Doom, World of Warcraft, and just last year, Starcraft. This year is no exception, with one of the hottest games of the convention their new cooperative game based on the new Battlestar Galactica franchise. From three to six players play as one of ten different characters on the show. Players attempt to cooperate in order to survive the game, but one or more players may be traitorous Cylons or double agents. Some may not even find out their own treachery until halfway through the game. It is very faithful to the show so will be exceptionally interesting to fans. The game was quickly sold out at the show and the two boards set up in Fantasy Flight’s booth were in constant use. As a fan of cooperative games, I’m hoping to get my hands on a copy sometime soon to give it a full review. The other big name title they were showing was the World of Warcraft Adventure game. This is a somewhat slimmed down and faster playing game than the large, lengthy World of Warcraft boardgame from a couple years ago. In this game, there are no teams so each player is out for themselves. Players move around the board, battling monsters and gaining in power in order to be the first to finish. This game also gives a nod to WoW fans as it contains tongue in cheek items like the Leeroy card and other inside jokes. The final license I noticed was an upcoming Age of Conan boardgame. While it is still in development it looked very pretty and seemed to be in the military conflict genre.

On Family Games:
The hottest family game at the show was probably Duck, Duck, Go! by APE Games, selling out on the second day of the show The game comes with a set of rubber duckies, distributed one to a player. Players then simultaneously choose from a hand of movement cards to try to maneuver their duckies around the board and back to the drain space. Every time a duck tags a buoy space, it gains a minor special power. With great looking components (there are hundreds of different ducks available, and convention goers were able to pick which ones they wanted when purchasing the game.) and a quick but tactically rich game I think this will be a hit for families with tweens.

North Star Games continue to follow up their party game hit, Wits and Wagers, with the new game Say Anything. One player acts as judge and reads a question aloud, such as “What is the worst thing that could happen on a taxi cab ride?”. All other players write down a response. Players then bet on each others’ answers and the judge secretly picks their favorite. Everyone who bets on the judge’s answer wins points and the judge earns points for each player that chooses their answer (so it pays to be somewhat predictable). Finally, the player who wrote the judge’s pick also scores bonus points. The next player in line picks up a new card to read and becomes the judge to continue the game. While not quite as competitive as Wits and Wagers, it encourages more creativity and is a great social game. It can serve as a way for players to get to know each other better or just as a fun social event. North Star Games were also showing off a revamped Cluzzle. It is essentially a combination of Pictionary and MasterMind. Each player creates a sculpture out of clay and then players ask each other questions to try to determine the identity of their sculptures. Players who guess well and those that create a sculpture that is tricky but not impossible to guess will score the most points and do well.

FRED Distribution was showing off the game Ice Flow. Somewhat of a puzzle game, players race to get their explorers across the ice flows of the North Pole from Canada over to Russia. On a turn, players can move their people, change the direction of ice flowing, collect fish and rope to use later, and even maneuver polar bears around the board to bother other players’ explorers. Due to the programmed direction of the ice flows and the need to plan ahead, the game has a strong puzzle like quality but also includes some room for player interaction. The final family game that caught my eye at the show was Thugs. This was a game from a publisher new to me, Tiny Mantis Entertainment. Players basically take turns placing cards to create a maze and then move their piece around the maze in an attempt to escape. Escape cards are somewhat rare and a player can only exit through an exit of the correct color. However, a player’s exit color is kept secret. Players end up fighting each other as well as locations on the board, so can get eliminated if they aren’t careful. Since a player can add cards to the maze in nearly any location, the game is about placing cards to hinder one’s opponents almost as much as it is placing beneficial cards for oneself. There are also special action cards in the deck that mess with the game board and other players in creative ways.

On “Gamer” Games:
Z-Man Games must win the award for the best games to not be present at the show. Their newest English import is Agricola (pronounced agrick-ola – Latin for Farmer). Currently ranked as the number 1 game in the world (unseating Puerto Rico for the honor), Z-Man has entirely sold out of their copies and it is only available through distributors and your local game store (so get it while it’s available). Players attempt to raise a family and improve their farm in the middle ages. In addition to its solid game system, each player is given two hands of seven cards at the beginning of the game. Since these are randomized from a large deck of cards, the game will never play the same way twice. Good players are always challenged to find the best combinations within the hand of cards they have available. The second sold-out game by Z-Man not at the show (but being demoed of course) is Pandemic. Released last winter, this game is a true cooperative game with players joining forces to try to prevent an outbreak of four different diseases around the world. Each player is given a special ability so the best players will try to find ways to cooperate to use everyone’s’ ability to the fullest. Z-Man had one new game that did make the show, Shadow Hunters, but it (of course) sold out midway through the show. While I was visiting the booth I overheard two different groups trying to bargain to purchase the display copy when the convention ended. In Shadow Hunters, players are on one of three sides, the neutrals, the hunters, or the shadows. Each group has specific goals (with the hunters generally trying to eliminate the shadows and vice versa) but players keep their roles secret. The game is played by maneuvering one’s pawn around the board to choose an action from one of three card decks. Each deck has particular strengths, damaging opponents, improving one’s defense, or gaining intelligence on the other player’s roles. For four to eight players, it plays pretty quickly (about 45 minutes) and had some very nice themed components. This looks like a good game for fans of bluffing and/or puzzle games.

Other gamer games I saw at the convention include Vineta by Immortal Eyes Games. Players take on the role of Norse Gods in an attempt to punish the city of Vineta. Each player has a secret color assigned to them that represents their believers. Players place cards on different areas of the city to determine which section is flooded next. While followers that survive the entire game are worth bonus points, eliminating out ones own followers is still better than letting the other players do the deed for you. In addition to basic cards that help to determine which section is flooded next, players also have special cards available that can maneuver followers around in the city or even adjust cards played by other players. After everyone plays three cards, a section is flooded and followers are “awarded” to everyone that helped with the flood. That section of the city is removed and a new round of flooding begins again, with new shorelines also available for flooding as well. One final game to mention at the convention would be the collectible card game, Magic: the Gathering by Wizards of the Coast. The game is still going strong, but this holiday season there will be a big push to make the game much more accessible to new gamers. Rulebooks will be included in new starter packs, several different beginner options will be available this holiday season, and the introduction products (for the game or for a particular release) will be much stronger than some of the weaker premade decks of cards released in the past. Watch for Duel Decks to be released in November, which will contain cards reprinted from nearly every expansion, even the ones from waaaay back.

On Conflict and Wargames:
While I am not a major military wargame grognard, I did come across a few very conflict-driven games that seemed interesting. Asmodee Editions was showing off Senji, a Japanese themed wargame that has very strong negotiation elements. Players attempt to gain honor through combat, acquiring sets of special cards, or by trading negotiation cards with opponents. Each player has a hand of favor cards they can trade with each other. Some represent family members which can serve as hostages (and killed for a loss of your points if you attack whoever holds them) or scored as bonus points. Other cards represent military aid during combat, while the third type of cards represent favors which are paid back by giving access to some of your special set-collecting cards. While there are the traditional difficulties with a conflict game (such as ganging up on a specific player or even player elimination), the negotiation aspects of the game attract me quite a bit. I plan to playtest this one further before giving final judgement.

Conflict of Heroes by Academy Games was the very first game I had demoed to me, and was my first purchase of the convention. For a fairly realistic wargame, this is a fast playing, streamlined game. Rather than have any lookup tables, all the statistics needed to resolve combat are recorded directly on the unit markers. And the markers and boards are very nice looking, running about 1 inch square each and are extremely thick and finished with a nice linen finish. While the combat looked easy to resolve, it did include plenty of realistic issues such as flanking, hard vs soft targets, and terrain. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this game (played in scenarios set up on up to five different double-sided map boards) is that it is not an I-Go, You-Go style of game. Instead, players spend action points to move and fire their pieces. A player may be moving a unit, and their opponent can instantly interrupt them by spending their own action points to respond with their defensive units. This can go back and forth with units responding to each other until both players are out of action points. The game also allows scenario setups for more than two players. Players may be on the same team, but might have separate objectives. One player might be defending a city, while their teammate attempts to reach the city with reinforcements and supplies. Meanwhile the two opponents are hammering away at both of them as best they can. As I mentioned, it looks fairly straightforward to learn and play, but it is such a solidly realistic game that the Marine Corps are currently looking to use it in their officer training program.

The final wargame I spotted was a humorous take on the civil war entitled Yetisburg. In this card based wargame, each player has a deck of cards representing yeti infantry, cavalry, artillery, and generals. Players have two rows of cards in front of them and if their opponent manages to eliminate one column the game ends. Players take turns playing cards which then activate all units of that type (infantry, for example). In a slightly humorous, but also realistic situation, there are occasional bouts of friendly fire as attacks are resolved. Each card type has specific strengths and weaknesses in terms of range, power, and defense. It looked interesting, and the theme was enough to pique my interest. Hopefully I’ll be able to give it a more thorough examination in the near future.

And that’s all I have to say about boardgames at the convention. I’ll continue to suffer by trying to play a lot more of these games so that I can provide you with more in-depth coverage in the coming months. It’s a tough job, but I’m willing to do it. (Well, I am as long as I can rope together some more opponents!)

Tags: Misc