Recap of Strategicon: Gamex 2016

Recap of Strategicon: Gamex 2016

Strategicon holds its board-game convention three times a year in LA. I had so much fun the last two times I went (at Gateway and OrcCon) that my friend and I decided to make the trek west again.

Over the span of the 3 days I was there, I played 12 games, one that lasted 11 hours. (We left early Monday but the con continued until late that afternoon). It was a great mix of personal favorites and learning a whole bunch of new ones. Brace yourself, folks, there’s a lot of photos ahead …

Just like Twilight Struggle but much, much shorter, 13 Days: The Cuban Missile Crisis pits U.S. vs. the U.S.S.R. to the brink of nuclear war.
13 Days: The Cuban Missile Crisis pits U.S. vs. the U.S.S.R. to the brink of nuclear war.

The first game I learned and played was 13 Days: The Cuban Missile Crisis. The description said this game is  just like Twilight Struggle but it lasts about one hour, vs. about 3-4 hours. It’s a 2-player card-driven area-control game where the U.S. and U.S.S.R are trying to push the other to the brink of nuclear war, without actually triggering it. It’s a tense game, and I’m totally looking forward to this when it’s released.

Someone described Thurn & Taxis like Ticket to Ride but much better, and I have to agree.
Someone described Thurn & Taxis like Ticket to Ride but much better, and I have to agree.

The next game I learned to play was Thurn and Taxis, which is an older game by board-game standards. Released in 2006, players are trying to connect routes of at least 3 cities to score victory points. When you claim a route, you move onto a larger route adding one more city. Players can also put post offices on the map to score VPs. It’s a step up from Ticket to Ride and I had a great time playing it.

Claiming plots, building buildings and dueling in Carson City.
Claiming plots, building buildings and dueling in Carson City.

Next up was Carson City. It was a little hard for me to grasp this game; I seriously had no idea what I was doing until it was nearly over, and the game ended quickly in four rounds. Each player picks a role for the round (which I thought was a neat element), and you take actions by placing your worker along action spaces that resolves in a certain direction. You are trying to gain victory points for plots of land, pistols and buildings. The other interesting element is that you can duel each other for an action space (it is the Wild West, after all!) and if you lose duels, your players remain with you, and you technically are stronger in future rounds. By the time I realized that I should’ve been cashing in on victory points, it was too late and I didn’t do so well in the game.

Some folks say Eldritch Horror is a streamlined version of Arkham Horror, but I feel like both games play for about the same length. It's an excellent game!
Some folks say Eldritch Horror is a streamlined version of Arkham Horror, but I feel like both games play for about the same length. It is indeed an excellent game!

The last game of Friday was Eldritch Horror. I love all the games in the Lovecraft universe, games such as Arkham Horror. I hardly ever get to play Eldritch since Arkham is the game of choice for one of my gaming groups.

These miniatures for Eldritch Horror and Arkham Horror are so freaking cool!
These miniatures for Eldritch Horror and Arkham Horror are so freaking cool!

Anyway, my head just about exploded as the guy hosting the game had all the character miniatures! So freaking cool! It was a 4-player game, which was optimal since only one gate opened per round. In the Eldritch game a table over, they were playing with 5 players, which opened 2 gates per round. We worked hard to to defeat Shub Niggurath in a little over 4 hours (2 players were new to the game).

The calm before the Mega Civilization storm ... also known as 9 a.m.
The calm before the Mega Civilization storm … also known as 9 a.m. We ended up removing the right-most map as only 10 people played. The game scales well for the number of players.

Saturday was the day I had been looking forward to for months! It was Mega Civilization day! My friend played the game last time and loved it so much that he hunted down a copy from Canada.  I got a primer from him on how to play the game as our game was slated for 14 hours! Only 10 people ended up playing, and the game (with 2 meal breaks) lasted 11 hours. It was amazing!

Here's a summary of play for each round. The first few rounds go very quickly; as more units are on the board, each round slows down.
Here’s a summary of play for each round. The first few rounds go very quickly; as more units are on the board, each round slows down. I played as Saba, represented by orange tiles.

The goal of the game is to expand your population, build cities and gain enough money to purchase technology cards. Sounds simple, right? It technically is, but there’s a lot that can be going on at the same time. You’re battling for space on this giant map, cities can be fought over between players, and calamities can wipe out your forces. One big element of the game is a timed trading round, in which you trade goods with other players in order to collect sets of cards and trade them in for technologies.

I received this major calamity card Epidemic, which forces you to take 15 damage and select 2 other players to take 10 damage as well.
I received Epidemic, which forces you to take 15 damage and select 2 others to take 10 damage.

During this trading, you must trade at least 3 cards, 2 of which you have to be honest about. The third card can be whatever, which is where minor and major calamities come in. There are some awful cards out there that can decimate all the progress you’ve done with your civilization. As you purchase more technology cards, you can mitigate some of these awful effects.

Players advance on the AST. If you don't satisfy the requirements for an era, you can't advance.
Players advance on the AST. If you don’t satisfy the requirements for an era, you can’t advance.

The game ends when a player satisfies all the requirements to move along the Archeological Succession Table (AST). Each time period requires a certain number of cities and/or technology to progress; if you don’t have it, you stay where you’re at on the table.

After 11 hours, turquoise ended up winning 1st, purple in 2nd and beige in 3rd.
This photo was about halfway through the Mega Civilization game. After 11 hours, turquoise ended up winning 1st, purple in 2nd, and beige in 3rd. I kept getting hit by turquoise forces.

When the end of the game is triggered, victory points are added up, and the person with the most wins the game. This game was so epic; I’m totally addicted and want to play again next time. Hopefully, we can set up a game here in Phoenix.

Quadropolis is a great hour-long game where you get VPs based on what you build in your city.
Quadropolis is a great hour-long game where you get VPs based on what you build in your city.

After ending Mega Civilization a few hours early, I was able to game with Ruel Gaviola from islaythedragon.com, who I’ve talked to on Twitter but just met in real life at this convention. We played a quick game of Quadropolis and had a great time chatting about games and our similar backgrounds.

The Lords of Waterdeep: Scoundrels and Skullport is a great expansion to the game. My friend also purchased these dip containers, which kept all the pieces organized during the game.
The Lords of Waterdeep: Scoundrels and Skullport is a great expansion to the game. My friend also purchased these dip containers, which kept all the pieces organized during the game.

Lastly on Saturday, I played Survive: Escape from Atlantis and Lords of Waterdeep: Scoundrels of Skullport with folks I had played with during Mega Civilization. It felt good to play something light and familiar after such a long day of gaming. We all really enjoyed the Waterdeep expansion, playing with the corruption skulls.

Ah, some sunshine! My college roommate picked me up for brunch and a quick walk at Manhattan Beach.
Ah, sunshine! My college roommate picked me up for brunch and a walk at Manhattan Beach.

On Sunday, I slept in and had brunch at the beach with my old college roommate. I got some sun after being cooped up inside for two days straight. But I quickly returned to the hotel to play Manila. I actually purchased this game, in honor of the Motherland, but have yet to get it on table. This game is a riot! There was a lot of yelling and betting. The point of the game is to gain the most pesos.

I had a lot of fun playing Manila. There was a lot of yelling in between the dice rolls.
I had a lot of fun playing Manila. There was a lot of yelling in between the dice rolls.

Players first bet to become harbor master, who then decides which 3 of 4 goods go on a boat. Then payers can bet on which boats will return to Manila and which boats get damaged. Players can also manipulate a boat’s placement or choose to be pirates and plunder a boat. Boat movement is determined by a dice roll; three rolls ends a round. The stock whose boat first makes it to Manila go up in price, and play continues until one stock is worth 30 pesos. Players also have random shares in those stocks. Seriously, so much fun.

I can't say this enough ... I love rolling these giant colorful dice!
I can’t say this enough about Seasons … I really love rolling these giant colorful dice!

I then played a 2-player game of Seasons as I had 90 minutes to kill before my next scheduled game. I’m such a sucker for these large colorful dice! Game play went pretty quickly with two players. I’m still not familiar with all the cards so I didn’t do as well. I seriously need to get this on table more often. I have no excuse really as this game is available at one of my biweekly gaming groups.

The Strategicon Library has these signs to help you pick out a game.
The Strategicon Library has these signs to help you pick out a game.

I returned Seasons to the Strategicon game library. I took some photos of the signs that were hanging up in the room. This is a pretty clever way to help people select a game. Such a great idea!

This library sign made me laugh. There's always somebody in the group who loves dexterity games.
These two library signs made me chuckle. Well done, Strategicon. Well done indeed.

Sunday night I learned to play Bruges, designed by Stefan Feld of Trajan fame. I really enjoyed playing this game! It plays in a little over an hour.

This is a great game! I hope to track it down in one of my gaming groups.
This is a great game! I hope to track it down in one of my gaming groups.

Four people are collecting character cards, from which you can gain workers, gain money, remove a threat, build a house or hire a character. Every card can be used for the same actions, but the color of the card determines what you can do, i.e. to to gain blue workers to build a blue house, you need to play a blue card. There is deck management as well, as you draw up to five cards and play four cards (for the most part) in a round. In the end, you count up victory points from your characters, houses and canals to win the game.

I played a fast-paced 5-player game of Terra Mystica, which is one of my top 9 favorite board games.
I played a fast-paced 5-player game of Terra Mystica, which is one of my top 9 favorite games.

I ended Sunday night with an impromptu game of Terra Mystica, one of my favorite games! I randomly found myself playing another game with two guys I had played Bruges with, and we started the game at 11 p.m. I thought it was going to be a long night, but we went through the game pretty quickly and finished it at a record-breaking page of 2 hours and 15 minutes. I have NEVER played this game with my gamer guys back home this quickly, even with only four players. These guys were on point and knew exactly what to do. So fun to end the convention with a personal favorite.

And that’s a recap of all the gaming I did at Gamex 2016. For those who made it all the way down here, thanks for reading! One big change about this convention was that no outside food was allowed inside gaming areas. This was surprising to me as I’ve been to other gaming conventions and no other hotel had ever had a mandate like that. My friend and I ended up driving back early to Phoenix so we didn’t get any gaming in on Monday. We both had so much fun during the convention and hope to make it back in September!

4 Replies to “Recap of Strategicon: Gamex 2016”

  1. Great write up! I’m normally mostly in the indie RPG area, but I was playing T.I.M.E. Pariah Missouri on the table next to you guys during part of that Civilization game… looked epic!

    1. Thanks so much! Sorry, I just noticed this comment. How did you like Pariah? I’ve only done the first T.I.M.E Stories and haven’t had a chance to do any of the other ones.

    1. Unfortunately, I do not. I see one person selling it Amazon for a steep price, but maybe you’ll have better luck on the marketplace on boardgamegeek.com.

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