A day at DiceConWest 2004
This is what I did and saw at DiceConWest.
Settlers of Catan
As I was running the tournament my first job was to gather everybody in who wanted to play, explain the rules, draw the table assignments and get play underway. I do not like to play in a tournament I am running. But I had to play in the first round to make up the numbers so everybody was playing at a full table of four. It's fair to say I'm not a good Settlers player so I was not surprised to finish 3rd. At least things seemed to be working well and the arrival of some latecomers meant I could drop out and leave the tournament to the real players.
Coloretto
A Michael Schacht card game that Gordon Lamont persuaded me was worth playing. So, I took my chances against Gordon, David Tittle and Gordon's daughter. I should have stuck to Settlers. Good game. Simple card management: you get to see the cards come out and in each of your turns you must take or place a card. Knowing when to take and how to place are skills you only learn with bitter, bitter experience. In the vernacular, you can shaft your friends all day long playing this. A nice filler.
Powergrid
At a previous DiceCon this was the late night hit. Repackaged and brilliantly tweaked to provide a quicker and equally challenging game, I can see why this was and will be popular. The objective is to be the player who powers most cities at the end of the game. Buy power plants and resources. Build cities. Block your opponents and play merry hell with their plans. This was my first playing and I soon fell behind to the skilful strategist that is Gordon Lamont. Unfortunately for Gordon he, in turn, was being outplayed by Ian Borthwick and at the end it was Ian who glided to victory just ahead of Kenny from Static.
A huge part of the learning process about this game - and, of course, the entertainment - was watching the interaction between the three other players who had played it before. The bluff, counter bluff and running commentaries were all adding to the experience. So much so that I cannot tell you how long this took. It probably wasn't too long. I hope to play this again soon so I can try and put into practice what the masters - they tell me that's their name - showed me. The game looks to have a lot of depth and the board probably needs to be more closely studied than I managed before starting out.
Ivanhoe
This GMT gem is one of our regular games. It's fast, fun and deadly. Just like the people who play it. No, I didn't win this one either. I should have paid more attention but I think Brian Stern and Steven Gladstone ganged up on me. That's my excuse and I am sticking to it!
Lost Cities and Battlelines
I managed a couple of sessions of each of these great Reiner Knizia games while waiting for the Settlers tournament to finish. Both are easy to play and hard to master. That's my excuse for my 50% performance at them and I am sticking to it!
Wings of War
Gordon Lamont and I as the Allies took on Barons Kenny and Ian at this super little game of WW1 dogfights from Nexus/Fantasy Flight. The game mechanics are very simple. You choose your three cards for movement in advance. Then everyone turns one over at a time and resolves it. The clever bit is the card has an arrow at the start and end of the move so you move your plane from beginning to end of the move on the card. So clever and so obvious...I wish I had thought of it. The combat results are drawn from a deck and kept hidden in most cases. (Except when you blow up or the opponent's guns jam.) When the damage points equal or exceed the damage rating it's bye bye pilot.
We played with the basic rules across a couple of tables - there is no map needed - and it went fine. But the advanced rules look enticing. Unfortunately I have to report an enemy win. But that's because my wing man got shot down far too early and left me to brave the rest on my own...
Other Stuff
As well as the Galloping Pigs and Up Front events I saw games of Atlantic Star, Bohnanza, Dos Rios, the amazing BattleTech set from Martin Sweeney and crew, Acquire, Street Soccer, more Settlers and Formula De Mini. And I'm sure there was tons more.
At the end I was tired but satisfied. Everyone who came seemed to have a good time. That helps make it worthwhile. The fact I was able to get in some games and have a good time helps too! If you are reading this and were there, do send in your own impressions.
Ellis Simpson
14 June 2004