ScrapYard Armory

Saturday is often the longest and most rewarding day of GenCon.  I started bright and early and took in a playtest game in a special area of the con devoted to games that are not yet fully baked.  This was a great idea.  I had a blast playing The Coterie, an in-development dungeon crawler with a rather unique combat dice resolution mechanic.

I managed to play a lot of games today and had a lot of fun.  GenCon never seems to disappoint.

Alpha Strike

Around mid day I took in a game of Alpha Strike.  A Marik and Kurita company faced off to take over a bridge in the center of the battlefield.  For a two hour time slot I felt the game went wonderfully.  The Marik side lost on the last turn by a single point.  From the force balance to the objective based scenario we were able to battle things out to a very satisfying conclusion inside of the two hours we were scheduled.  Kudos to the demo team for a great event.

Tukayyid

In the evening I settled down for a side mission in support of the Tukayyid storyline game.  I played a Clan Wolf star against a reinforced ComStar lance.  I fought bravely but alas, the dice were not with the poor Clans.  Congrats to my opponent Elliot for securing victory and allowing the Inner Sphere forces on the main board to receive a repair action (even though it was too late in the evening to make use of it.).

Expect to see a full After Action Report in the near future once I have some time to catch my breath from the weekend.

Battle the Masters

The Masters were on hand to take on the best and brightest the fan world could muster. I did not stay late enough to see the conclusion but everyone seemed to be having a blast.  Add to that an ample supply of free pizza supplied by Catalyst and you have a recipe for a memorable end to the convention.

All the Rest

I spent a good amount of my time wandering the exhibit hall taking in the sights and demoing new games that caught my eye.  There were lots of neat looking miniature games but I feel I don’t have the time to play what I have to justify bringing in any other minis into the mix.  There is only so much time for BattleTech as it is so I tried to keep my eye out for board games and the like which did not have the same need for hobby time.

There were a lot of new companies and unique games to see.  The one board game that I felt really stood out was Fantasy Flight Games’ Mission to Mars.  It is a secret role selection and worker placement/manipulation game where you are flinging astronauts into space and moving them around to conquer the vital resources on the planet Mars.  Lots of fun and ample opportunity for shenanigans.

Runner up was Nevermore, a fast playing set collection card game where your death may be only the beginning of your opportunities to screw with your buddies.