What I played and bought at Gen Con 2009
sean johnson
United States
avon
Indiana
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I know there will be dozens of these types of lists of the next week, and other than my experience I do not have much to add. I am mostly making a list because I am also posting this lists on a personal blog and I will post a link there so my family and friends can look into the games in more detail if they want.
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sean johnson
United States
avon
Indiana
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I arrived to the con on Thursday, and after spending an hour and half parking/waiting in line, I finally got my badge, and I went to the main exhibitor hall first. The first game I played was this one. This game is basically a "my first miniatures" game, with small squads of combat. The game was fun enough, and I liked that it was customizable.
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sean johnson
United States
avon
Indiana
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Speaking of miniatures, I wondered into Arcane Legions. This is a new game that follows the collectible miniatures game model, with an exception of being able to buy common units on their own. It was simple, and kind of fun, but collectible games minitures games are a money pit I can say no to.
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sean johnson
United States
avon
Indiana
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Next, I stopped by the Flying Frog both to check out the new expansion to A Touch of Evil. The game developer lead the demo. I really liked the new board that the expansion added, as well as the new cards and ideas like characters getting possessed. If I played a Touch of Evil a bit more regularly, then the expansion would be a must get.
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sean johnson
United States
avon
Indiana
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So as you will see, really cheap games/good deals are my kryptonite. I am drawn like them like a moth to a flame. I heard several people mention that there were a lot more bargain priced/close out clearance games this year than in previous years. Anyway, Mayfair Games had a whole row of shelves of cheap games. This one was $4, so I figured it would be worth trying.
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5.
Board Game: Arcana
[Average Rating:6.33 Overall Rank:1493]
sean johnson
United States
avon
Indiana
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This is one of the games I knew that I would actively seek out. This game has deck building games like Dominion, but it is much more adversarial because players compete over the cards to add to their decks. After playing several other games, on Friday I would come back to buy this one.
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sean johnson
United States
avon
Indiana
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This is another sale game. There was one game publisher that had everything for $5. So I picked this up. I don't really care about Beowulf but the game is made by Reiner Knizia and my wife likes his games so again I figured it would be worth the risk.
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sean johnson
United States
avon
Indiana
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I left the Exhibit Hall and found myself in the Rio Grande room. While there I played this game (which is my absolute favorite) against the Designer. It was a good game, and in the end he beat me by one point. Even though he won, he still signed my copy of the game. Later in the evening I played this game a second time.
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8.
Board Game: Dominion
[Average Rating:7.96 Overall Rank:10]
sean johnson
United States
avon
Indiana
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While in the Rio Grande room I saw two people who were clearly trying to figure out how to play the game. They let me play and teach them how to play. It was fun. The two people made a common mistake for first time players in that they got so caught up in building a deck that they forgot to buy enough points. This meant that I won by a good amount.
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9.
Board Game: Catan: Seafarers
[Average Rating:7.25 Unranked]
[Average Rating:7.25 Unranked]
sean johnson
United States
avon
Indiana
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This gets to Friday morning, and I got lucky that there was an opening in a Giant Seafarers of Catan game. This meant the board was extra big and three dimensional. I did fairly well. I got to 11 point and stalled, because everyone started picking on me (as tends to happen in Catan). This allowed another player to have a big turn and come back for the win.
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sean johnson
United States
avon
Indiana
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This is another game that I really wanted to play. It is a co-operative car game. It was ok, but my biggest problem with the game is that it clearly has several rules issues. In the demo game I played there were two problems that occurred that the rules did not properly address, and the guy running the game had no clue how to resolve it. Going into the Con, this was the game that I thought I was most likely to walk out with but playing it changed that.
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sean johnson
United States
avon
Indiana
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Next I got to play Battlelore and experience the newest expansion, which addes heroes and an RPG-lite leveling system. The expansion seems kind of cool, but to really get a lot out of it the expansion needs to be played regularly. Sadly, I do not play this game enough to make it worth it, and to me it seemed really expensive at $40.
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sean johnson
United States
avon
Indiana
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I really like Penny Arcade. I read the webcomic every week and I have all of their books. This is a light 2 player card game that simulates a fight between the two comic strip characters. It was really fun, but a tad quick. The humor of the strip comes through in the cards as well. I did not buy it, but this game is going on my wishlist for sure.
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sean johnson
United States
avon
Indiana
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This was another game that I was hoping to play. Adventurers is a competitive game that borrows a lot from Indiana Jones type ruin raiding. The game was an absolute blast to play, but I have serious doubts about the game would hold up after repeated playings.
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sean johnson
United States
avon
Indiana
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Remember, I am drawn to cheap games and this one was a $1 with a coupon. Seriously, how could I pass up a $1. Even if the game is awful, I could probably get a $1 from a yard sale for it.
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sean johnson
United States
avon
Indiana
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I played this game because it was open as I was passing by and they were giving away free decks when people played it. The game is a simplistic and overall not good Collectible card game. Fortunately, the whole game lasted less than 10 minutes.
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sean johnson
United States
avon
Indiana
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I demoed this game, and then instantly bought it because it is going to be PERFECT to use at youth group meetings. It is a debate game where two cards are drawn that determine to random people that will compete in a random category. Each person has to then argue why their person would win. For example in the demo I had to argue why Napoleon would beat Spider Man in hurdles.
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sean johnson
United States
avon
Indiana
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This booth was right next to Who Would Win, so I played it as well. This is a simplistic card combat game where each player needs their own fixed deck. It was simple fun, but the cards were ugly and it was overpriced.
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sean johnson
United States
avon
Indiana
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I played this simple two player numbers game, and I instantly knew my wife would really like it. I ended up buying it on Saturday.
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sean johnson
United States
avon
Indiana
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This game has nothing to do with Zombies and the theme is really forced onto the game. I found out on Saturday that I prefer Hey! That's my fish! much more, as the two games are fairly similar.
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sean johnson
United States
avon
Indiana
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There was a merchant in the exhibit hall who had old UFS decks for $1. UFS is a collectible Card game that is based on fighting video games. Several of the decks were Soul Calibur characters (my favorite fighting game). However, I know from experience that CCG like games do not go over with my wife, so I sought out a demo for this game and played it. Turns out I was right, she would hate it.
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sean johnson
United States
avon
Indiana
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I took the money I did not spend on the decks and got this instead. It was a sale game at the Twilight Creations booth. I had picked it up and looked at it a couple of times on Thursday and Friday before buying it. The game box advertises that is a Customizable, expandable, strategy Tile Game". It had me at Customizable.
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sean johnson
United States
avon
Indiana
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I went to the Days of Wonder booth to seek out a game of Small World, and once again I found three people who did not know how to play so I played and taught them. I had Seafaring Tritons at the beginning, and I held onto them a little to long, and that led to me finishing in third.
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sean johnson
United States
avon
Indiana
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My last game for Friday was Star Wars Podracing. A person to the rules from Circus Maximus and created a podracing variant. It was a lot of fun, and despite having a naturally slower podracer I battled for first and second for most of the race. However, three engine stalls in rapid succession meant that I ended up finishing in 7th out of 8.
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sean johnson
United States
avon
Indiana
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This gets my experience to Saturday I arrived to find someone I know looking for players for this game, so I was up for it I really enjoyed playing this game. Apparently, the night before someone left the game upset because they did not believe there was enough of a military factor in the game. I played this game going all in on military by the end of the game four of my seven buildings were military ones, and I had conquered most of Europe. It worked well for me, because I tied for first.
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sean johnson
United States
avon
Indiana
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Since my wife and parents LOVE Catan, I figured I should try the newest Catan game. . and it is garbage. Technically it is Catan but all of the fun is gone. The board is obviously fixed. On top of that, the starting locations are fixed and terribly unfair. One person started off in much better building position than me. Technically my starting numbers were better, but that would only be true if the dice followed perfect probability. On top of that the places where settlements can be built is also fixed. The monuments add very little. The people I played with felt the same way about the game, and we actually all conspired to let the front runner win to end the misery quicker.
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Indianapolis
Indiana
Thanks for doing it.....