GENCON 2017 - Recap!

With the back-to-school rush (and the added bonus of a solar eclipse apocalypse) upon us, it can only signify the end of another GenCon weekend. And I, like Ariel (The Little Mermaid) before me, wanted to be where the people were – playing the new games and rolling dice with the best

of them! But, alas, previous engagements (that makes me sound so adult-y) kept me from partaking – do not worry, I have shaken my fist at them dutifully! But, even though I missed out of the 50th anniversary of the convention, I was not left out of its announcements!

That’s right! Five decades ago war gamers came together to form what is now known as one of – if not the best known events in tabletop gaming: GenCon! Taking over Indianapolis, Indiana for

an entire weekend, there is no shortage of events at GenCon. The list of events is extensive. You like anime? They got it. You want to cosplay? They got you covered. (Dad pun intended) You want to play video games instead? There’s an area for you. You want to war-game and yell obscenities over 28mm models failing their rolls? They got rooms – ROOMS for you to go crazy!

So what’s on the table? (Dad puns, I got’em) I’m glad you asked! As much as I’d like to blurt out everything in no cohesive order, I have to be the adult here (I know). There will be no tangents, or side stories, or fingerwagging– these are a handful of the games announced –I— am looking forward to cracking open:

Dragonfire by Catalyst Game Labs is a Dungeons & Dragons deck-building game for 2 to 6 players. Set in the Forgotten Realms, along The Sword Coast for those of you versed in Faerûn lore, with locales like Baldur’s Gate, Neverwinter, and Waterdeep planned in future expansions. I’m a fan of deck-building games and I’m a (super) fan of D&D [shout out to the #BruncheonsAndDragons podcast!] so this game “should” be fun right out of the box. My concern lies in that the game engine is based off Shadowrun: Crossfire game engine – which I’ve never played. Having played the Shadowrun RPG and hating my experience with it, I approach this game with a modest feeling of trepidation.

Dragonfire scores 7 / 10 for desire to play (DtP).

One of my favorite gaming companies, iello, revealed two entries I’m excited about (for completely different reasons): Bunny Kingdom and Mountains of Madness. With Bunny Kingdom you get a 2 to 4 player game in the vein of Carcassone. You have a 100-square playing field to try and create the greatest fiefdom for your Bunny Lord in honor of the great Bunny King – I’m not making that up. It sounds like a light and family-friendly game, right? Well, buckle up, because Mountains of Madness is a 3 to 5 player game based in the mythos of H. P. Lovecraft. If that doesn’t tingle in your loins, I don’t know if we can be friends. Mountains of Madness looks like one wrong move will spell disaster – but not immediately, it’s one of those deceptive games. And it includes a 30-second sand timer, which means there are going to be snap decisions in this – and if you’ve never played games with a slow player (Hi, Alex!) this is either going to put a fire under their ass or ruin your friendship (Bye, Alex!).

Bunny Kingdom scores 6 / 10 DtP

Mountains of Madness scores 8 / 10 DtP.

IDW Publishing announced their newest foray into the licensed IP offerings with The Legend of

Korra: Pro-Bending Arena. I’m not here to judge the cartoon (because the first 2 seasons were complete garbage) but given that IDW has had success with The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shadows of the Past game. Pro-Bending Arena looks to be a 2-player game with one player taking on the Future Industries Fire Ferrets and the other player taking the Whitefall Wolf Bats into the arena. IDW describes a drafting mechanic to the deck of cards available to each team – not the ideal way to capture the fast-and-furious feel of the arena in the cartoon, but we’ll see when it arrives this fall.

Legend of Korra: Pro-Bending Arena scores 3 /10 DtP.

Steamforged Games and Capcom unveiled their Resident Evil 2: The Board Game this year – and as a fan of the video game, I cannot wait to see this thing! Their Kickstarter is going live some time soon in the fall of 2017, and from the prelim pictures it looks faithful to the feel of the monsters. SFG broke some Kickstarter records with their last video-to-board game adaptation: Dark Souls: The Board Game, so the hype train is pulling out of the station and I am looking for a seat anywhere in it/on it/under it (I don’t care where)!

Resident Evil 2: The Board Game score 8 /10 DtP.

One of the announcements that I’m excited for only because I just played through the entirety of season one was Pandemic Legacy: Season Two. To those of you that have played Pandemic and have wondered what the Legacy game was all about – here’s what it is in a nutshell: It’s getting kicked in the side of the throat. It starts off like a typical game of Pandemic with all the shenanigans you’re used to and then it whispers into your ear “Gotcha!” And that’s when the cage-trap springs up around you and you’re staring at a disease you can’t cure while cities begin rioting and characters you thought you could rely on are ripped up. Pandemic Legacy is not a starter game! Do not go into it expecting to win – period. For a group of seasoned gamers, Pandemic Legacy is a great test of your skills and your friendship.

Pandemic Legacy: Season Two scores 7 / 10 DtP.

Days of Wonder is another game company that should immediately perk interest. And this year they did it with Ticket to Ride: Germany. It brings the traditional 2 to 5 player feel of the original, but the one stand-out is the addition of passenger meeples. Passengers! The European edition of Ticket to Ride has been a great diversion from the original American board (kind of like the Australia/India board of Powergrid).

Ticket to Ride: Germany scores 7 / 10 DtP.

Now we get to Fantasy Flight Games – who have earned themselves quite a track record of producing near-flawless games. And this year was their year. They came out swinging and they hit me with every single announcement they made – right in the wallet (where it hurts the most). Their first offering has the least interest for me, but given the Space Bear’s penchant for gaming I would be remiss if I didn’t start with the Fallout board game. I’ve never played any of the Fallout installments so my excitement for this game is based solely on the 1 to 4-player spread that makes me fee like it is reminiscent of Arkham Horror. And anytime it’s you against the board, the games turn out becoming much more fun; as is the case with games like Shadows Over Camelot.

Fallout scores 5 / 10 DtP.

Following close behind is A Game of Thrones Catan – which should be an interesting twist on a

classic game. The game looks like it will be taking the standard 2 to 4 player design into the lands beyond the great wall. It should makes things much more interesting. The setting is rich enough to produce several expansions to the game, so one can only hope that they didn’t blow their load in the first offering.

A Game of Thrones Catan scores 5 / 10 DtP.

One of the highlights going into GenCon this year was their announcement of Civilization: A New Dawn. The Sid Meier’s classic feels like a natural fit on the shelves of any and every tabletop gamer. It is a 2 to 4-player game of tile placement and resource management – much like Settlers of Catan, but with the staples of the “Civ” games: There are nationalities to choose from like Japan, America, France, and Simeria; there are cards for advancements such as drama & poetry, steam power, astrology, and currency; and landmarks like Big Ben are included to leave your mark on the world.

Civilization: A New Dawn score 8 / 10 DtP.

The second highlight I was salivating for was The Legend of the Five Rings Card Game or L5R as it is lovingly known. L5R has been a part of my life since it was a CCG (collectible card game) under the AEG banner where it shared my attention with the Warlord CCG. The role-playing game is still

one of my top 3 systems of all time for penandpaper games. So when I heard Fantasy Flight was reviving the card game I squee’d my little heart out. I broke out my hidden cache of card boxes and I dusted off my Lion and Unicorn decks so that I could start drumming up excitement for this game. If you like card games and want to try something that isn’t going to be an investment like Magic the Gathering then L5R might be up your alley – as an LCG (living card game) the game relies less on the randomness of packs and offers you all the cards you need in one place: using the Fantasy Flight Star Wars LCG where you’re allowed 2 copies of any set of cards, the most you’ll ever need to buy is 2 packs (if the pack in question only brings 1 set) – thusly if L5R has a 3-card limit per copy of a card, depending on how many the base set or the packs have, you’ll only have to buy 3 at the most. I will be playing this game whenever/wherever the need may strike, so have no fear of trying to get others into the game.

L5R Card Game scores 10 / 10 DtP.

My next announcement wasn’t an actual game, but a reprint (for the 30th anniversary of its publishing) of the West End Games core rulebooks for the Star Wars Roleplaying Game. This was my first foray into the world of penanpaper gaming, and is in my top 3 systems of all time. This announcement came as a surprise to me, since the WEG Star War RPG died while I was still in high school. To see that there are still people (in Fantasy Flight) that have a special place for this game warms me in the cockles of my heart.

Star Wars Roleplaying Game scores 10 / 10 DtP.

The last announcement Fantasy Flight made floored me. Like Illidan boasted when I booted up my copy of The Burning Crusade, “I was not prepared!” Fantasy Flight Games announced their first dive into the world of miniature-wargaming with their title: Star Wars: Legion. Allow me a moment to roll around the floor of my office with excitement like a cat in a drawer full of that delicious ‘nip. Star. Wars. Legion. How does a company NOT win with an announcement like that? Unlike the standard fare of war games out there, which rely on dice for initiative and measuring tapes for movement, Legion is looking to shakes things up. Each player has a command deck they draw from, and every round they each play a card to determine who acts first and what orders they can dole out. Movement is done with a specialty tool that will come in the 2-player starter box. Where it shares its lot with the other war games is in the construction, painting, and troop load-out; so the minis will come un-assembled and un-painted – which gives you the option of building to your specific playstyle.Anything Star Wars related usually gets an automatic must-play desire from me, and Legion is no exception to the rule.

Star Wars: Legion scores 10 / 10 DtP.

Keep an eye out for Crit or Die episodes dedicated to some (if not all) of the games on this list. There are more than a few I’m going to urge they play (with me present, hopefully). Are there any games on the list you’re excited for? Let us know! Until next time, I hope to see you at the gaming table!

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