3.5 days of gaming at Tacticon 2011 in Denver!
Thursday night: Played Settlers. Yeah, I know.
But this was with the Cities and Knights expansion, and was really pretty fun.
Friday: First up was
Age of Conan. Was really confused the first few turns, but by the end, we'd kind of figured things out. Seemed all-right, though I'd need another play to really know.
Friday night I played a 4-player game of
Through the Ages with two new players. I was cruising along, first in science and technology, but then blundered by buying a wonder which I never finished building. By the game-end, I didn't have enough actions and turns left to complete it and a Age III wonder that would have scored me Culture. Still, the game was a lot of fun.
First up on Saturday, I learned the new
Civilization board game from FFG. It was good fun, and felt quit a bit like the computer game. Due to a fluke, I now own this game, as well as Ravenloft and Earth Reborn, due to a new friend's generosity in giving me a great deal. Though I liked this game, TtA is still my favorite game of this type.
I then played Twilight Struggle, teaching a new player. Going easy on him early( was the Soviets) cost me, as I was losing the Influence game by turn 7. I was forced to leave when my Saturday night
Arkham Horror game began. There were 6 of us, and I drew old reliable Harvey Walters. We played with The King in Yellow, the Dark Pharaoh, and the Dunwich Horror expansions. Things were going well, and then two different players had characters devoured by a monster and an event. Then, one of those players had a second character devoured. We were still doing ok, and had three players in the Other Worlds when an environment came up that said that "Gates cannot be sealed." We plodded along for nearly two hours waiting for the environment to be replaced. Blarg. No fun. I still love the game, though.
First on Sunday, I played a game of Mansions of Madness, with four players, one being the Keeper. We did great at first, but the bored Ashcan Pete player spent too long in the basement fighting Cultists, and we slowly went insane when only two players were trying to complete the objective.
Finally, as the Con wound down, I got to play one of my most desired games:
Dominant Species..what a brain-burner this one is. I really enjoyed it, but resigned myself that the game is so interlocked and dynamic that long-term planning isn't worth the effort. I'd love to play again, but doubt I'd be able to find others ready to invest the time to learn it, and play it.
Overall, an awesome weekend.
They're going to send you back to mother in a cardboard box...
). 
