Erin and Andy go to GenCon
Today was our one-day visit to GenCon.
We arrived in Indianapolis around 7:45 and got registered quick as a wink. Found a quiet corner to peruse our program books, and watched people.
Indianapolis is very easy to navigate, and the convention center hosting GenCon is frackin' huge.
We found a little table in the center's food court and plopped down, to watch people and wait for the exhibitors' hall to open. Lord have mercy, but people packed in to the area outside.
Spykeetom struck up a conversation with a Warmachine player who had a nicely-painted Khador army.
When the doors opened up, we waited a few minutes for the flood of humanity to thin out, then in we went. The first thing we encounter is Privateer Press's beautiful display of Warmachine figures. Much oohing and ahhing. Moving on, next was Days of Wonder, where we played a game of Cleopatra and the Society of Architects. Days of Wonder impressed me greatly with their Shadows Over Camelot game, and Cleopatra kept the feeling alive. Great game (I lost terribly, and Spykeetom was fed to crocodiles), with the most amazing mechanics and props and components. While we were playing, we met up with the inestimable
fishxxiii, who became our guide for much of the morning.
Roaming around the exhibitors' hall, we linked up with
cybogoblin, who is a decent fellow, as skirt-wearing New Zealanders are measured.
A note about the hall - it's huge. The hucksters' room at DragonCon was my previous benchmark, but for sheer rockitude, GenCon wins easily.
Got to meet Alex Flagg and Scott Gearin of Crafty Games. Good guys - Scott is by turns manic and gracious, and Alex was terrific to talk with.
Then, God help us, it was back to the exhibitors, where we spent us some money. Bought Pizza Box Football, after a quick demonstration. This thing is awesome. It's a fast-playing football game, with some very neat strategic elements. There's an expansion pack available that contains variant rules/playbooks for all 32 NFL teams. This game will be played a lot in the coming weeks.
Bought Damnation Decade from Green Ronin. Happy to throw them some cash - I like this company very much. Got a copy of Spycraft: Conspiracies from Paradigm Concepts, and was told that Combat Missions should be out at the beginning of 2007.
Talked to Jon Bancroft at the AEG booth. Discussed Archon and its future, mostly. I'm getting a bad feeling about this. The con committee wants to permanently move it to an August date, and cut waaaaay back on the gaming side of the con. Much as I hate to say it, that would pretty well knock me out of Archon. I love the other programming available, but, well, with the amount of gaming involved, Archon has everything I want in a con.
Our last stop was the same as our first. Spykeetom got a Protectorate of Menoth shirt and patch from Privateer Press, and I snagged a Cygnar patch. These guys are just the coolest - friendly and passionate about what they do.
Wow. I'm looking forward to going back to GenCon next year, and very probably to DragonCon, too.
We arrived in Indianapolis around 7:45 and got registered quick as a wink. Found a quiet corner to peruse our program books, and watched people.
Indianapolis is very easy to navigate, and the convention center hosting GenCon is frackin' huge.
We found a little table in the center's food court and plopped down, to watch people and wait for the exhibitors' hall to open. Lord have mercy, but people packed in to the area outside.
Spykeetom struck up a conversation with a Warmachine player who had a nicely-painted Khador army.
When the doors opened up, we waited a few minutes for the flood of humanity to thin out, then in we went. The first thing we encounter is Privateer Press's beautiful display of Warmachine figures. Much oohing and ahhing. Moving on, next was Days of Wonder, where we played a game of Cleopatra and the Society of Architects. Days of Wonder impressed me greatly with their Shadows Over Camelot game, and Cleopatra kept the feeling alive. Great game (I lost terribly, and Spykeetom was fed to crocodiles), with the most amazing mechanics and props and components. While we were playing, we met up with the inestimable
fishxxiii, who became our guide for much of the morning.
Roaming around the exhibitors' hall, we linked up with
cybogoblin, who is a decent fellow, as skirt-wearing New Zealanders are measured.
A note about the hall - it's huge. The hucksters' room at DragonCon was my previous benchmark, but for sheer rockitude, GenCon wins easily.
Got to meet Alex Flagg and Scott Gearin of Crafty Games. Good guys - Scott is by turns manic and gracious, and Alex was terrific to talk with.
Then, God help us, it was back to the exhibitors, where we spent us some money. Bought Pizza Box Football, after a quick demonstration. This thing is awesome. It's a fast-playing football game, with some very neat strategic elements. There's an expansion pack available that contains variant rules/playbooks for all 32 NFL teams. This game will be played a lot in the coming weeks.
Bought Damnation Decade from Green Ronin. Happy to throw them some cash - I like this company very much. Got a copy of Spycraft: Conspiracies from Paradigm Concepts, and was told that Combat Missions should be out at the beginning of 2007.
Talked to Jon Bancroft at the AEG booth. Discussed Archon and its future, mostly. I'm getting a bad feeling about this. The con committee wants to permanently move it to an August date, and cut waaaaay back on the gaming side of the con. Much as I hate to say it, that would pretty well knock me out of Archon. I love the other programming available, but, well, with the amount of gaming involved, Archon has everything I want in a con.
Our last stop was the same as our first. Spykeetom got a Protectorate of Menoth shirt and patch from Privateer Press, and I snagged a Cygnar patch. These guys are just the coolest - friendly and passionate about what they do.
Wow. I'm looking forward to going back to GenCon next year, and very probably to DragonCon, too.