Better Late than Never
So I know I’m late to the party. First in getting this post out roughly three weeks as the GenCon was closing down. However, as I’ve mentioned before, I was late into the modern hobby board gaming scene. I’ve really only been following the hobby closely since early 2021. Prior to that GenCon was something I had heard about. I knew it was a HUGE gathering in Indy and was a pretty big deal that some of my friends and acquaintances attended.
It wasn’t until this year that I recognized it was nice that I lived so close to Indy. That said, GenCon was something I had to experience at least once. So this year I decided to take the plunge and check it out.
A few things of note, I really spent my time for a couple days in the exhibition hall. Played a few demos, picked up a few things, but I never took place in any other events. For my first go I really wanted to be a spectator and just wander around to see what everything was all about.
What can I say about it after reflecting:
- HUGE!: I just wasn’t prepared for the sheer size.
- Next Time!: Already want to go back next year, maybe with some better planning for things to check out, play, and possible events
- Take the kids: My two oldest seemed very interested. Perhaps we can make a trip of it!
With that in mind I’ll share some of my highlights that I found during the trip
The Search for Wargames!
GenCon is very large, but definitely catered towards the main omni-gamer. That said you’ll see lots of the major publishers you know: Renegade, Capstone, Asmodee, Ravensburger, etc. That said I wasn’t going to let that dissuade me. I decided to bring a little luck with me and wear my SDHISTCON shirt to bring a little historic gaming to the exhibit hall!
One of my first stops along the way was to track down designer Geoff Englestein (Versailles 1919, The Expanse). He had tweeted out before the hall opened. He mentioned he had copies of his books on game design and he’d be giving them out. Game design is something that always fascinated me and I thought this was a great time to meet Geoff. So I tracked him down grabbed a copy while he had them. Super nice and generous guy, definitely someone to talk to if you have a chance.
It wasn’t too long after that I stumbled upon some nice gaming upgrades from the fine BGG Store peeps: https://boardgamegeekstore.com/collections/bgg-geekup-bit-sets. While browsing the fine selection I found this nice pack of premium Twilight Struggle counters. I snapped a picture and made sure to remember where they were. It should come as no surprise I did end up with a set in my bag for someone in my gaming group before the Con was done
Finding Some Good Wargames
Undaunted Stalingrad
Next stop along my travels was the Osprey booth where none other than THE David Thompson was there. He was sporting an early copy of Undaunted Stalingrad https://ospreypublishing.com/undaunted-stalingrad?___store=osprey_usa. As readers of the blog know, I’m a HUGE fan of David’s work and the Undaunted series is a great one I’ve played with friends and family. My kids really love to play it with me. That said the massive scope of Stalingrad, with a whole “legacy style, but fully resettable” campaign sounded awesome. It was almost hard to know if I was more excited to say hi to David or see the game!
The game itself looks fantastic as ever. Some cool things about it is that you will revisit several areas of the city multiple times. Over the course of the campaign buildings can be damaged and that damage will remain. Similarly your troops might get killed and replaced with volunteers who have less than ideal stats. Its a big leap for the Undaunted system but I’m totally ready to see it all come together this fall!
The Red Burnoose
The next stop I was excited to see was Hit ’em with a Shoe: https://hitemwithashoe.com/. They launched a Kickstarter last year I had my eye on, but didn’t end up backing and it was one I kept thinking of. The game is called The Red Burnoose and covers the Algerian resistance to French Colonialization in 1857.
The art on the game looks fantastic, and the other great thing about this one is it is a cooperative game. Cooperative gaming is something that we could use more of in the wargaming space for sure.
Mechanically the game is a deck builder with the French troops handled by an automa. The player(s) take the role of the freedom fighters in the Kabylia region in the mountains that were hold outs to the French invaders. Players work together defending separate villages in the mountains hoping to last long enough for the French to run out of resources and leave. This happens when the automa deck runs out.
I played a quick demo but immediately bought the game after seeing it in person. You can bet it is on the short list to get some plays and blog treatment in the near future.
When I got home I made sure to snap a few pics of the cards and the historical notes from the rules:
More historical gaming in a different format
What I found was that sometimes its the things you least expect that can get you the most excited. Next up is one of such things. Near the end of one of the aisles was a small booth of passionate folks with a neat little 5E book/system: Nations and Cannons: https://www.nationsandcannons.com/
The system takes 5E and strips out magic and adds in black powder. Its designed for historical RPG’s using modified D&D rules for anything from 1650-1850. Not only did I end up with a copy of the core rules in my bag, but I told everyone I ran into about them as well! Hopefully they got a few more sales due to the word of mouth.
The game rules are interesting with twists on classic classes. While the game has no magic it incorporates thematic skill hooks called “gambits” that function much like a cantrip. For example they have class called the firebrand that is very much the rabble rouser.
Not only did they have the books, but some FABULOUS canvas maps of early America. It sounds like they are launching their first campaign book on Kickstarter soon as well. I’ll totally be looking for that as well as looking to get a game going as soon as possible.
If you are into RPGs and looking for something to tie into that historic itch you get from wargaming then I’d definitely recommend checking them out.
Switching Gears
Star Wars Villainous
While I do love good historic games, that isn’t all that I’ll play. Another small demo that got me excited was the new Star Wars Villainous: https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/358800/star-wars-villainous-power-dark-side. This one takes the very popular system into the Star Wars universe. Outer Rim was the game that got me into this hobby. Couple that with the fact Jacob and I loved Rebellion, and this one was too good to pass up. I mean look at that little Vader player piece! This is a title I can’t wait to break out with the family during gaming night in the near future. I think the kids will be as excited as I am to dig into it for sure.
Hoplomachus: Victorum
Another game that I backed last year and have been patiently waiting was Chip Theory’s solo campaign: Hoplomachus: Victorum https://chiptheorygames.com/hoplomachus/. I noticed Chip Theory had a demo set up as I walked by. It was so nice, I was stopped in my tracks by freshly shipped early copy that they had set up. I just had to snap a few pics and chat with the rep.
For those that don’t know, this game is a campaign of gladiatorial style combat. You fight across a fictional world to try and save the world from Hades vengeance. I wish my pictures could do justice, but this is probably the nicest looking game I’ve ever seen production wise. The stadium seating for your chips has a very nice marble effect that is very cool. Other cool things of note: all the boards are neoprene mats, and the chips are nice and beefy. If anything seeing the production copy really made me happy I have this one coming for sure.
Eschaton
Another booth that caught my eye was that of Eschaton https://shop.archongames.net/collections/frontpage/products/eschaton-core-game. A deck building, area control game with an art style that really just grabbed my eye. The map is the first thing I noticed. It has a dark fantasy COIN look to it with the cubes I did a quick double take. I was ready to pull the trigger on this one for sure. It felt nice to play and the expansion adds some asymmetry into the game really sounded good. The only thing that stopped me was a quick message back to my local gaming group. I quickly got a response that one of our gang had a copy with the expansion already so no need to grab another copy.
I really want to explore this one some more as it had a very quick playing feel and I’m always a fan of area control games.
Closing
While these were just a few of the highlights I had of the day, there is no way I could ever do justice on this blog for the size and scope of GenCon. If you like tabletop gaming of all kinds: miniature games, board games, TTRPGs it really is the place to check out at least once. I totally wish I would have signed up earlier. After seeing Nations and Cannons and seeing they did short campaigns through the convention I was bummed to not try out a few more things.
When I got home my feet ached but I was super excited about gaming. As I was showing my older kids the pictures they already asked to come with me next year. It’s definitely something I hope to do next year and in the future.
I know this isn’t my normal kind of post but wanted to get this out here. It’s true it isn’t the best convention for wargaming, but if you like other board games or RPGs this is for sure your place.
Some other cool things happened along the way. For instance I saw Cole Wehrle (Root, John Company, Pax Pamir) he noticed the SDHISTCON shirt and stopped me. We had a brief conversation about wargaming was pretty funny and surreal. While mentioned the lack of wargames at GenCon I brought up The Red Burnoose. He was shocked and couldn’t believe physical copies were there. He told me the Kickstarter still hasn’t shipped in the US. I let him take a look at my copy for a bit before moving on and he seemed very enthralled as only a wargamer could be with something new and exciting.
Another funny moment was talking to David Thompson about Nations and Cannons on the second day. By the end of the Con I saw he picked it up during a twitter post and had a chuckle. Only at a place like GenCon can those kind of things happen! I can’t wait until next year! It can get expensive if you aren’t careful and it is a CRAZY amount of people to navigate through. That said it is definitely a thing for you if you love gaming. If you can make it, you should probably check out at least once. I know I’m glad I did.
Very fine selection of games!