Matt Carlson: Gen Con 2021 – A to C

This September, Gen Con was back in Indianapolis after taking a gap-year break.  (I’m not sure if it went to Europe or tried to find itself in Colorado, but it managed to find its way back…)  It was clearly smaller than before – it was starting to take over Lucas Oil Stadium as well, but this year it didn’t completely fill the exhibit hall.  Many of the “big names” took a breather from the convention, but there were still plenty of companies around to slack one’s thirst for information on new games coming down the pike.  I did my best to explore the back alleys to see if there might be something new to you, the reader, but like everyone else I also wanted to see the newest shinies that were getting lots of buzz.  My scribbling skills were put to the test again as I tried my best to take notes and learn how to play 20+ boardgames a day.  Without further ado, here’s the start of some of my explorations.  More to come later as time for writing permits.  As always, any errors on dates, publishers, titles, (and spelling) are mine alone. Don’t go blaming the poor publishers or their overworked booth helpers.

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Matt Carlson: Gen Con 2021 – Digital Game Tables

This giant d20 made of aircraft aluminum is guaranteed to smash any digital table you use it on…

Back in the early Noughties (00’s) videogaming was a large portion of the Gen Con convention.  Several of the “big names” would show up and show off their fare in quite elaborate booths.  The digital size of things has trailed off of late, with the exhibit hall showing off a smattering of computer role playing games and digital tools for use with tabletop role playing games.  This year, nearly everyone stayed home (the only exception I found was Arkenforge – map making software which I’ll cover in my Gen Con RPG report.)  However, starting around 2018, digital gaming hardware started to make an appearance.  Large touch-screen monitors and tables are starting to show up, each with their own pros and cons.  I was able to secure demos of two of them, each with their own approach.

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Lost Ruins of Arnak Wins DSP Award!

The second of the major Game of the Year awards has been announced.  The winner of Germany’s Deutscher Spiele Preis (DSP) is Lost Ruins of ArnakArnak, which lost out to Paleo for the Kennerspiel award, this time bested both it and SdJ winner MicroMacro to take the DSP.  Arnak was designed by the husband and wife team of Min and Elwen (aka Michaela Stachova and Michal Stach).  It was published by Czech Games Edition and, remarkably, is the first DSP winner for that acclaimed publisher.

The DSP has been trending toward lighter titles lately.  Once, it was considered the heavier of Germany’s two major gaming awards (with winners like Terra Mystica, Russian Railroads, and Voyages of Marco Polo).  But these days, it’s been going to games comparable in weight to the Kennerspiel (the three previous winners were Azul, Wingspan, and The Crew), so Arnak fits in very nicely with those other middleweights.

The award for Best Children’s Game went to Dodo, by Marco Teubner and Frank Bebenroth and published by Kosmos.

Here are the top ten vote getters for the DSP, together with their designers.  Congratulations to the creative team behind Arnak, along with all the other nominated games!

  1. Lost Ruins of Arnak  (Michaela Stachova, Michal Stach)
  2. MicroMacro: Crime City  (Johannes Sich)
  3. The Adventures of Robin Hood  (Michael Menzel)
  4. Paleo  (Peter Rustemeyer)
  5. Aeon’s End  (Kevin Riley)
  6. Everdell  (James Wilson)
  7. Fantastic Realms  (Bruce Glassco)
  8. Anno 1800  (Martin Wallace)
  9. Praga Caput Regni  (Vladimir Suchy)
  10. Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion  (Isaac Childres)
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Dale Yu: First Impressions of Stronghold Undead (2021)

Stronghold Undead

  • Designer: Ignacy Trzewiczek
  • Publisher: Portal Games/Stronghold Games
  • Players: 2
  • Age: 14+
  • Time: 90 minutes on the box, about 2-3 hours in real life
  • Played with review copy from Stronghold Games

stronghold undead

From the publisher: Stronghold: Undead is a re-balancing of the original Stronghold: Undead expansion for the second edition of Stronghold that is now a standalone game. It includes a new board with new paths to siege the castle, undead mechanisms, and more ways for both sides to secure their victory!

The Necromancer leads an undead army toward the stronghold walls. A powerful artifact lies within the stronghold. A magical item imbued with immense energy. The Necromancer’s powers are weakening, and his magical essence is fading with each passing moment. He will regain his powers if he manages to take the castle by storm and claim the artifact. Thus, if the undead army succeeds in breaching the stronghold within eight turns, it will capture the artifact and attain victory. If not…well, if not, the Necromancer’s powers will fade completely and the undead army will turn to dust.

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Dale Yu – Review of Hero Hockey

Hero Hockey

  • Designers: Alexander Fuhrer and Mikkel Bertelsen
  • Publisher: Oy Marektoy
  • Players: 2
  • Age: 8+
  • Time: 15 minutes
  • Played with game provided by Asmodee NA (distributing here in US)

hero hockey

Hero Hockey is the newest iteration of Klask, a game I first discovered in 2016.  Since that time, there have been a couple of different forms of the game, but the click-clack of the Klask booth has been a mainstay of my SPIEL trips (well, when I used to go to SPIEL).

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Dale Yu: Review of Cascadia  

Cascadia

  • Designer: Randy Flynn
  • Publisher: AEG/Flatout Games
  • Players: 1-4
  • Time: 30-45 minutes
  • Age: 10+
  • Played with review copy provided by AEG

cascadia

Cascadia is an unofficial designation for the coastal areas of the Pacific Northwest – including parts of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, British Columbia and the Yukon territory… Roughly the land between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean.  This beautifully produced game is set in this region.   The elevator pitch for the game is: a puzzly tile-laying and token-drafting game featuring the habitats & wildlife of the Pacific Northwest.

In this game, players have their own area on the table in front of them where they will build their own piece of the Cascadia landscape. At the start of the game, they only have a single starting piece which is a triangular affair of three hexes stuck together. As the game progresses, more hexes will be added onto this structure, and wooden animal discs will be placed on top of the tiles. Continue reading

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