GAMES CRUISED AT WBC 2010
Gordon Stewart
United States
Bowie
20715
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Maybe this “travelog” of WBC (2010) counterbalances somewhat the
perception that all participants are very competitive sharks.
Many, like me, prefer to try a wide variety of "one-time" games;
(some for the first time or only once a year at WBC).
Of course, you occasionally rub elbows with the “stars” who play
a particular game hundreds of times, have the rulebook memorized,
and are deciding which of their optimal set strategies depending
on their seat location and their opponent’s psychology.
But even these “gaming immortals” can be surprisingly
humble and helpful.
Also, seeing the convention from an electric scooter (due to
my motor-impairment from a vasculitis attack; like a stroke)
provides a different perspective. The scooter was ten times
better than trudging behind a walker last year.
The daily logistics of travel time, rest rooms, fatigue, and food
was a game in itself! Despite careful planning, every other game in 2009
would require LONG walks and navigating steps, elevator, AND the Lampeter lift.
Plus, as a “local” (3 hour drive) I always feel obligated to
bring a copy of games I have; the many “fly-in” gamers don’t have
room for carrying dozens of games.
Although at 1,500+ attendees it is not the world’s biggest board gaming convention*,
every year (for the past 7 years) it always makes my jaw drop to come
across room after cavernous room filled with acres of intent board game players.
(*4-day Gen Con draws more than 25,000 to Indianapolis each year,
Origins - 10,000+ to Columbus, Ohio. In Germany, “Essen” draws 150,000 gamers+;
but WBC emphasizes PLAYING vs. looking/listening/buying)
As more faces (and characters) become familiar each year, it becomes
more like a cozy “old home week”. Also, the locations and schedules do not
change dramatically from year to year; so I can say for instance,
“With Thursday usually my busy day, I’d rather fit it in on Tuesday night.”
Even with the constant tweaks to improve the schedule and minimize conflicts,
there is never enough time to do everything I want; even during my typical
5-night stay.
Like in a worker placement game; you want full time in the tournaments,
no, the demo area, no, the open gaming room, no, Jay’s teaching café, no,
special events and vendors, etc. but there is only one of you!
WBC could be twice a year (better than two consecutive weeks;
the intervening months would provide recovery time).
On to the games I played!
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Gordon Stewart
United States
Bowie
20715
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Some of my selection criteria for choosing events at WBC
(while staying at the Lancaster HOST Hotel):
1. Enjoyable, fun, intriguing, games (of course)
2. Multi-player games that are difficult (to assemble a big group) to play elsewhere.
3. Learning new games in order to play correctly and see if I like them.
4. Reconnect with old buddies, from all over the country (world).
5. Experiencing old games with “experts” for tweaks in rules and strategy.
This is a summary of my week of games:
First digit is the date (3=Tues, 4=Wednesday, etc.)
Tuesday – 3 hour drive+check-in, 2 games, 4 hours
31. 15-17, PanzerBlitz.
32. 18-19, Merchant of Venus demo game.
33. 19-22, Roborally.
Wednesday – 2 games, 7 hours
40. 9, Quick run to open gaming showroom thru kitchens.
41. 11-12, Wooden Ships Demo
42. 12-13, Britannia demo
43. 13-18, Britannia – 4 player.
44. 18-20, Alhambra.
Thursday - 6 games, 10+ hours!
51. 9-13, Ancients x3
52. 13-15, Dominion Prosperity – 4 player.
53. 17-19, Puerto Rico– 4 player.
54. 21-24, Tyranno Ex – 4 player.
Friday – 10 games, 8+ hours.
61. 9-11, Memoir x2
62. 12-13, Low Tanks! a parody of No Thanks! (during lunch)
63. 13-14, Conquest of Paradise demo
64. 14-17, Conquest of Paradise – 4 player.
65. 19-21, Battleline x 3
early to bed
Saturday – 6 games, 8+ hours.
71. Piece o’ Cake – 5 player.
72. 11-13, Ticket to Ride – 4 player.
73. 13-16, Memoir Overlord – 8 player.
74. 18-19, Carcassonne – 4 player
75. 19-20, Carcassonne- 2 player.
76. 21-22, Wits and Wagers – 12 teams.
Sunday – 1 game, 1 hour; check-out + quick two-hour drive home.
81. 9-10, OPEN GAMING CLOSED for inventory; RATS!
82. 10-11, Trans America – 5 player
83. 11-12 Lost Cities Final, watched (may have been Saturday).
84. 12-1, VENDORS
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Gordon Stewart
United States
Bowie
20715
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TUESDAY AFTERNOON, 8/3
The Conestoga I room is reliably always humming with friendly,
super-talented, old Grognards playing games like Panzergrupe Guderian,
1776, Russian Campaign, Waterloo, Afrika Korps, and, of course,
the 70’s wargame that I cut my teeth on.
The extremely flexible, accommodating schedule here lets you start
almost whenever you want, so it was great to get in my annual
Panzerblitz game in.
Fortunately, Bill Scott was available to play me in one of the
chosen scenarios, Situation 52; letting me pick sides.
Against Bill, an old friend, PB mentor, and one of the top ten PBlitz
players, I thought that it would be easier to be the attacking Russians.
Trying to give him somewhat of a challenge, I tried to swarm his hill
defense while keeping some reserves loaded on vehicles, both flanks
threatened, and reserve units hidden by slopes and trees.
Bill was playing three different games at once and provided me with a few missing counters.
As I barely managed to destroy his command post, he swears he didn’t let me win;
maybe it was my unconventional, novice, approach; or simply distraction.
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Gordon Stewart
United States
Bowie
20715
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Hearing such high acclaim for Merchant of Venus, I headed up to the “demo
terrace" where hour-long explanations give you great insight into a wide variety
of games. We were talked through the playing of a few turns. Without a real idea
of consequences, my moves demonstrated what you should NOT do.
Though some mechanisms were neat (exploration vs. shipping
phases, red/yellow hazards, supply/demand, etc.) MOV did not
meet my high expectations (not engaging enough
theme, too much the luck-of-the-draw, some small print on
the board) IMHO; so I chose something else instead of
trying the tournament.
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Gordon Stewart
United States
Bowie
20715
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WBC provides the opportunity to play multi-player games like Roborally. Even
though I stink at programming my robot, I still enjoy the experience. I could blame
it on walls that I didn’t see under the flags, or dyslexia, or too tired, or….
Two boards, three flags, and six players make for a fun game.
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Gordon Stewart
United States
Bowie
20715
-
WEDNESDAY MORNING 8/4
Getting to bed by 11 and wake-up calls every day at 7 am. were a
way of “pacing” myself. Having time before Wednesday’s 11:00 demo,
I wanted to see what the upstairs Open Gaming area looked like,
for the FIRST time in all these years.
Other years the room was handicap inaccessible upstairs,
I was too busy anyway. This year the stairs lift was AGAIN broken!
After a long wait at the reception desk, a hotel workman was
able bring me by way of a clunky, out-of-the-way service elevator
to the Open Gaming level.
The scooter was a necessity to navigate through two restaurants,
two kitchens, about 100 yards of back hallways and ramps, many doors,
and finally (to satisfy my curiosity) into this mysterious Open
Gaming room.
Rather than a typical conference room it was a HUGE concentrically-
stepped-floor, dark “nightclub” with long radiating tables on
7-8 levels all brightly-lit and perpendicular to a stage.
Hundreds of people were quietly gaming at every table.
The effect of stumbling upon the bigger-than-expected 13,000 sf
Open Gaming room was like opening a closet door and finding
yourself inside the Superbowl! Welcome to Narnia!
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Gordon Stewart
United States
Bowie
20715
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Tim Hitchings IS WS&IM at WBC (he won 1st) and it is great to
watch him walk us through a 1-on-1 battle during his demo-s.
Wish I had time for a game.....
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Gordon Stewart
United States
Bowie
20715
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Really looked forward to trying this EPIC 5-hour game
that lets you experience the ebb and flow of the various
peoples and leaders that shaped Britain from 43 AD to 1066.
Despite reading up on Britannia, a game of this magnitude
is worth attending a demo before trying for the first time.
Then I motored all the way to the FURTHEST part of the convention
at the far end of Lampeter for the game (ramp-elevator-lift, etc.)
Fortunately, the experienced players (w/ the GM) arranged to have
me play the "red" instead of my draw of the "yellows" (these Romans
need a veteran player.)
Having no real idea of what was coming (i.e. on turn #17 five units
and a leader will enter on your left, etc.) I gradually got into the
flow and received very helpful insights but was totally lost as I lost.
In general, I prefer elegant games that do not require voluminous
apriori knowledge to play competently. After reading various British
histories (including fictional "Sarum") I enjoyed seeing how the various
factions played out. Yellow was covering most of the map, then blue, but
in the end, quiet green (Irish/Welch) won.
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Gordon Stewart
United States
Bowie
20715
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On the way to Alhambra, my Sony Cybershot camera fell out of my pocket;
probably in the Lampeter room. Thus, I have no WBC photos this year.
I fully expected it to turn up at lost-and-found. Now I am struggling
with buying and returning broken replacement cameras on ebay: a real pain!
Alhambra is one of my favorite games (and I often win) but
I would prefer 3-player games. The 4-player Alhambra games
at WBC are a bit too chaotic.
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Gordon Stewart
United States
Bowie
20715
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THURSDAY MORNING, 8/5
Not a morning person, plus inability to think due to muscle relaxer meds
for a week-old back injury meant I played my first game of Ancients
missing one whole unit! Needless to say I lost all my 3 games.
But the big moment of awakening was discovering that we had
been playing “battle-back” WRONG at home. A BIG CHANGE!
We had wrongly “imported” the Battlelore rule that only supported
(bold) units could battle-back. Correcting misinterpreted rules and
gathering playing tips are other fantastic reasons for attending
gaming conventions.
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Gordon Stewart
United States
Bowie
20715
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My first impressions of Dominion were bad, due to being
"thrown into the deep end" with a bunch of impatient experts
back when it first came out.
However, here at Cafe Jay, an enthusiastic demonstrator
convinced me to give it another chance.
He taught us a yet-to-be-released expansion called "Prosperity".
Simple to grasp, the gradual deck building is fun (though the constant
deck shuffling is difficult with my disability). Maybe the fact
that I won the 4 player game (by a close 2 points) makes me
inclined to add this to my wishlist (though Dominion still greatly
favors the experienced).
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Gordon Stewart
United States
Bowie
20715
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Thanks to the transporting efforts of my roommate, Matt Morgal,
(son of my weekly gaming buddy and a VERY intelligent gamer) I
was able to use my custom "Puerto Rico Platinum" pimped out
game components. Here are the latest rainbow of "role" blocks
around the framed governor's medal.
Though I have yet to win a game, it is one that deserves MUCH
better bits! Most of mine are have been improved at least three
times (real doubloons, magnetic building tiles, neat ships, etc.)
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Gordon Stewart
United States
Bowie
20715
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After seeing Kaarin Englemann carrying a Tyranno Ex around
a couple years in a row; I knew I had to try this old OOP gem.
You see, Kaarin, is one of the main WBC organizers, flew in from Germany
to help run things, and is an old friend. Somehow, we both like
alot of the same games. She suggested Twilight Struggle before
it became big, now I am addicted to it (PBEM every day!)
TE was easy to learn, had interesting interaction, no fine print,
and was fun with four players. The helpful GM, Tom DeMarco, clearly
explained and clarified the rules. Lively Christine Drozd from
Chicago showed us how (by turning around and rolling a bucket of
dice) she could simultaneously play in the Golf Tournament. We
finished around 1 in the morning.
Somehow I managed to win. Usually I decline to go on to the semi-finals,
preferring a different game. Having an open time slot, however, I wanted
to give T Ex another try. Next day, at noon the semis were in the
Strasburg room; up steps without even a handrail, so I passed.
Glad to have found this old dinosaur of a game.
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Gordon Stewart
United States
Bowie
20715
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FRIDAY MORNING, 8/6
Was all ready with my "compressed" version of Memoir 44; had
only the figures needed for WBC in a plano box and printed the
scenarios on 4-sheet maps to save setup time and avoid carrying
terrain tiles.
Even this did not save me from the morning "muscle relaxer fog".
AGAIN I played the first game missing ONE WHOLE UNIT!
Though I won 1 of the two games, my medal count was lower by one.
This scenario, played to only 5 medals, leaves the defending
Germans mostly static and simply rolling dice. Hope next year
it is not a beach scenario.
On a side note: Good I arrived early. During the climb up
the Food Foyer ramp, my scooter's battery suddenly dropped
from three-quarters full to almost empty. To get to Paradise
I had to "Fred-Flinstone" it with my feet and get some helpful
pushes. Finally found an outlet to recharge during Memoir.
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Gordon Stewart
United States
Bowie
20715
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During one of those quick lunches in the downstairs "Food Foyer -
Cafe Jay" I got to play an old Panzer Blitz friend, Richard Northey,
my parody version of "No Thanks!" called "Low Tanks!" A good game
for those self-labeled "Tread Heads".
(Richard won first place in PBlitz this year!)
Using The Game Crafter I was able to make some "proof-of-concept"
prototypes which I was giving to a few friends. Like baseball cards
the deck features important (and funny) tanks through the ages.
Hoping Z-Man produces the game (waiting to hear back.)
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Gordon Stewart
United States
Bowie
20715
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After designer, Kevin McPartland, gave the demo on the terrace
(I needed a refresher) we raced down to Conestoga 2 for a 4 player
game. I broke out my customized set; complete with "logo" sails to
screen our pieces (Samoa uses the girl scout cookies for example).
Our group was very quiet, however, and didn't realize the importance
of ganging up on the leader by using the turn order to make him go
first. IMHO, our winner had a slight resemblance to the M.E., Ducky,
on NCIS.
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Gordon Stewart
United States
Bowie
20715
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Muscle relaxers strike again, I lose all 3 games as if in a fog.
NO PAIN, NO GAME!
Can't console myself that it is just the luck
of the draw, it was like my game brain was turned off.
Got to show off the custom mats and markers (pictured)
made for me by friend, Bill Morgal. Easier to track
remaining options.
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Gordon Stewart
United States
Bowie
20715
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Didn't realize until I got home
that after Liar's Dice there was
a WBC "prom" Werewolf game.
Too late for us old geezers.
Think it was Friday night;
looked like fun!
WBC is full of surprises!
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Gordon Stewart
United States
Bowie
20715
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SATURDAY MORNING, 8/7
Last year (WBC 2009) there was a palpable buzz in the central hub
that is “Jay’s Café/the Food Foyer/the elevator lobby”.
Everywhere you looked, people were crowded around a game
of Fincus, Wasabi, or Maori. We looked in vain for this year’s
“Fincus” (a great find last year!)
Should we buy the new Fresco game, a S de J nominee?
Its table was always eerily quiet.
Then I stumbled into a fun, five-player filler game.
In no time, the enthusiastic recent convert to “Piece o’ Cake”
explained the simple rules and had us scratching our heads
as to how to “have our cake and eat it too”.
Not just a simple kid’s game. I had found THE
“must buy” game of WBC 2010.
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Gordon Stewart
United States
Bowie
20715
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Ticket to Ride is usually an easy-going, casual game; but my
group was really playing at a higher level, really intensely
paying attention to who drew what card. The winner completed,
like, all seven of his routes w/o having "the longest train."
Another player, Jean-Francois Gagne (his name means winner in French),
said it was his FIFTEENTH WBC, driving 11 hours down from Montreal!
When he mentioned his favorite tournament was Dune, I told him
about my decades-old, un-punched copy of Dune (now worth $250)!
Wished him good luck; he won first in Dune!
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Gordon Stewart
United States
Bowie
20715
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Overlord with four on a side was one of those "only-at-WBC" events
I really looked forward to; and it was probably my favorite of the
week! We ended up playing "Cadets of Samur" and were randomly
assigned sides. As the French left commander, I took orders from
a sharp guy from England, David, our C in Chief. At first I wanted
to retreat, but followed his general direction and blew a bridge
then aggressively halted the Germans advance.
Like three simultaneous linked games, it was great fun!
I think my sector was responsible for at least five of our
medals in a close 12 to 10 victory. (I think.)
The GM was very good at explaining river crossings and
blowing bridges, (an adjacent unit is not necessary,
just a command 3 card, think of demo guys as a small
unit of men.)
He also had simple red, green, white markers to mark
targets and units ordered, etc. A definite next year!
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Gordon Stewart
United States
Bowie
20715
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After a fun four-player game where we had interesting
fights over farm limits, cloisters, and city "intruders"
I stayed for the next round: the two-player version.
It is great to have both multi-player and head-to-head
rounds; they are the same game but very different.
Fortunately I got paired up with our ace WBC photographer,
Debbie Gutermuth and shared a table with a game between my
room-mate, Matt Morgal, and Dan "the Legend" Hoffman.
Having always played Carcassonne multi-player before;
it was fantastic to have a close match with Debbie, who won.
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Gordon Stewart
United States
Bowie
20715
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Scott Buckwalter did a great job hosting this always lively
event. I joined a team in the front row and we were wildly guessing
at most questions. Then came a question about the year of the
king's decree about archery (had a good approximation).
What really boosted us into second place (of 12 teams) was that
I somehow knew how many feet long was the statue of liberty's
right arm: 42!
The Hopewell w/stepped console seating is perfect for this "show"
except it gets HOT and STUFFY!
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Gordon Stewart
United States
Bowie
20715
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SUNDAY MORNING, 8/8
Quick game to learn, more "free-form" than Ticket To Ride,
after my first game; think I like it better. Maybe this is because
I was winning most of the game; though the winner claimed he
won because he got to go first. Subtle interaction, fun!
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Gordon Stewart
United States
Bowie
20715
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Just cruised by Paradise to watch the Lost Cities final game
between Rebecca Hebner and Sean McCullough. Though both looked
like they were doing very well when I left, I found out later
that Sean won first place. (Rebecca's won it twice before.)
Was not able to fit in Lost Cities (most years play in 3 heats)
or Vegas Showdown (wanted to try it) into my schedule.
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Gordon Stewart
United States
Bowie
20715
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Still can't believe Open Gaming is closed for inventory all day Sunday.
When I finally made the escorted trip through the kitchens
and freight elevator, there were a few active tables.
This time I discovered that the gaming library was on the stage
(now blocked off) AND that there are NO restrooms on the
Showroom level (unbelievable!)
With only final games scheduled, I was glad the vendor area was
open at least. There were a few good deals; some not so good.
Kept rationalizing to myself, "You're saving shipping." (though
most on-line buys qualify for free shipping). Though the meanly
co-scheduled Gen-Con stole THE Z-Man from his booth; there were
some good deals there.++EDIT++Heard that Zev was playing a game of
Dungeon Quest with Tom Vasel at GenCon (on Dice Tower podcast).
Our drive home took only two hours. Now to get all those new games
off my "unplayed list"....
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Posted Sun Aug 22, 2010 7:12 am
Maybe it's time somebody sued the Lancaster Host Hotel under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Every time they do any renovations, 20% of the money they spend is supposed to be on improved accessibility. Hotels do renovations all the time, so I don't see why they wouldn't have installed this elevator already. Perhaps they need to be reminded of their responsibilities.
