Origins Days 2 & 3
Day 3 of Origins is over for me and with it another day of gaming (obviously)! Today was a day of only two games played and lots of talking with other gamers and publishers. For the record, this is one of the best conventions I have ever been too and I am completely overwhelmed by my sheer amount of gaming options. Definitely a good thing. The thing I enjoy most about conventions like this is the opportunity to play games that I would otherwise probably never get the chance to play. Games like Federation & Empire.
Federation & Empire is a massive game of strategic space combat and economics in the Star Fleet Universe (Star Trek). This makes it an extremely appealing game to me as I am a big fan of Star Trek. I played for four hours this evening and learned basic movement and combat rules. I haven't learned any of the economic rules, but I had a really good time. I would say it does fall into the hyper complex range, though. I probably won't be picking the game up due to the simple fact that I won't be able to get anyone to play it with me. I am interested in playing again before I head home.
The other game that I played today was Merchant of Venus. I have mixed feelings on this one. I have been wanting to play this game for ages, so when I saw that there was going to be a rules taught event at Origins, I signed up immediately. Merchant of Venus is essentially a train game in space. It has pickup and deliver mechanisms that involve exploring different planets to discover the alien races there and the goods they have for trade and what they will accept. You pay a price for each good and then sell them at a higher price to another race. You also have the option of buying numerous upgrades for your ship or purchasing a new ship with different stats. I played a six player game. I think the game would be best at three or four players. If I ever play this game again, I will not be playing it with any more than four players. I want to try the game again, but considering the prices this out of print game goes for, it has moved pretty far down on my purchase list. I did get to play on the redrawn map though, and that was cool. Pictures follow!
Day two saw me play a couple of train games!
The first was Empire Builder. Empire Builder is crayon rail game. This means that you draw track on the board with a crayon. The other part of the game is picking up different goods in cities and delivering them to other cities based on the demand cards that you have. The game is fairly straightforward and easy to play, but can take a while with any more than three or four players (even four players can drag). Empire Builder is played on a map of the USA. The only other game that I have played in the same series is Martian Rails. I learned that Martian Rails is one of the worst games that a new player can play! That explains all the problems we had! I also learned a lot about basic Empire Builder strategy from playing in the tournament. I want to pick this one up sometime.
The second game was my first 18xx game, 18EU. This one follows the development of railways in Europe from the early-mid 1800's to the early 1900's. As I have already mentioned here, 18xx games are the grandaddies of train games. They basically combine all of the big train game mechanics into one awesome game system. I was lucky enough to be taught by three players who all have experience with 18xx games and was able to avoid having to play what would probably be a terribly slow all newbie game. I learned in a tournament and as such we had a four hour time limit. After four hours the game was called and the winner decided. The winner of this game won by $100 dollars on the dot. That winner was me! I was quite surprised and pleased. I am looking forward to trying at least one more game in the series before going home. Oh, and I won against last year's overall Puffing Billy International tournament. Had the game gone on for a few more rounds he certainly would have taken the lead. Still, I will take what I can get! Check out the pictures below.
I have also made a few purchases while I have been at the convention. The first purchase that I made was a set of precision dice by GameScience. I got them in a orange color already inked. Very happy with this purchase! I then purchased some assorted dice at the Chessex booth. After I bought my dice, I walked by the MMP booth (a wargame publisher that I quite like) and bought a little game called Circus Minimus, a neat looking chariot racing game. Hey, you can't go wrong for five bucks! Next, I headed over to the Eagle Games booth and bought the Age of Steam: Mexico and China map expansion and the Age of Steam: Moon and Berlin Wall expansion. The second expansion will come with a box that will hold all of my maps! Woo! I can't wait for this one to reach my doorstep. At the end of the day yesterday I won the expansion for one of my favorite games and one that I have really talked up here (you may have a few guesses already hitting that brain of yours), Chicago Express. The expansion is Chicago Express: Narrow Gauge and Erie Railroad Company. Considering I came to the convention with this on my buy list, I am quite happy that I will be heading home with a free copy!
Today I purchased one game: Lost Worlds. Lost Worlds is a game that pits two players against each other using different books. Each player chooses one character book and takes the character sheet out. The players then trade books and choose pages to attack the other player. When one player is dead, the game is over! It should play in about ten minutes and looks like a really good game to play before everyone arrives to game night. I bout the "Man in Chainmail with Sword and Shield" and "Skeleton with Scimitar and Shield". I love the look of these and can't wait to play the game.
Finally, here are some random pics of games going on throughout the con!
What you see above is Case Blue, a monster wargame from the folks at MMP. Looks cool! Nine maps and thousands of counters. The game takes two full tables. The guys playing this one are playing for the whole convention and won't finish more than half of the campaign, if they can get that far!
A cool city miniature setup.
A huge naval miniatures game setup. Was on like five tables.
Another really nice looking minis table.
I will be back with the day four update tomorrow!
Don't forget to comment.
Until next time, keep playing and keep winning!
Federation & Empire is a massive game of strategic space combat and economics in the Star Fleet Universe (Star Trek). This makes it an extremely appealing game to me as I am a big fan of Star Trek. I played for four hours this evening and learned basic movement and combat rules. I haven't learned any of the economic rules, but I had a really good time. I would say it does fall into the hyper complex range, though. I probably won't be picking the game up due to the simple fact that I won't be able to get anyone to play it with me. I am interested in playing again before I head home.
The other game that I played today was Merchant of Venus. I have mixed feelings on this one. I have been wanting to play this game for ages, so when I saw that there was going to be a rules taught event at Origins, I signed up immediately. Merchant of Venus is essentially a train game in space. It has pickup and deliver mechanisms that involve exploring different planets to discover the alien races there and the goods they have for trade and what they will accept. You pay a price for each good and then sell them at a higher price to another race. You also have the option of buying numerous upgrades for your ship or purchasing a new ship with different stats. I played a six player game. I think the game would be best at three or four players. If I ever play this game again, I will not be playing it with any more than four players. I want to try the game again, but considering the prices this out of print game goes for, it has moved pretty far down on my purchase list. I did get to play on the redrawn map though, and that was cool. Pictures follow!
Day two saw me play a couple of train games!
The first was Empire Builder. Empire Builder is crayon rail game. This means that you draw track on the board with a crayon. The other part of the game is picking up different goods in cities and delivering them to other cities based on the demand cards that you have. The game is fairly straightforward and easy to play, but can take a while with any more than three or four players (even four players can drag). Empire Builder is played on a map of the USA. The only other game that I have played in the same series is Martian Rails. I learned that Martian Rails is one of the worst games that a new player can play! That explains all the problems we had! I also learned a lot about basic Empire Builder strategy from playing in the tournament. I want to pick this one up sometime.
The second game was my first 18xx game, 18EU. This one follows the development of railways in Europe from the early-mid 1800's to the early 1900's. As I have already mentioned here, 18xx games are the grandaddies of train games. They basically combine all of the big train game mechanics into one awesome game system. I was lucky enough to be taught by three players who all have experience with 18xx games and was able to avoid having to play what would probably be a terribly slow all newbie game. I learned in a tournament and as such we had a four hour time limit. After four hours the game was called and the winner decided. The winner of this game won by $100 dollars on the dot. That winner was me! I was quite surprised and pleased. I am looking forward to trying at least one more game in the series before going home. Oh, and I won against last year's overall Puffing Billy International tournament. Had the game gone on for a few more rounds he certainly would have taken the lead. Still, I will take what I can get! Check out the pictures below.
I have also made a few purchases while I have been at the convention. The first purchase that I made was a set of precision dice by GameScience. I got them in a orange color already inked. Very happy with this purchase! I then purchased some assorted dice at the Chessex booth. After I bought my dice, I walked by the MMP booth (a wargame publisher that I quite like) and bought a little game called Circus Minimus, a neat looking chariot racing game. Hey, you can't go wrong for five bucks! Next, I headed over to the Eagle Games booth and bought the Age of Steam: Mexico and China map expansion and the Age of Steam: Moon and Berlin Wall expansion. The second expansion will come with a box that will hold all of my maps! Woo! I can't wait for this one to reach my doorstep. At the end of the day yesterday I won the expansion for one of my favorite games and one that I have really talked up here (you may have a few guesses already hitting that brain of yours), Chicago Express. The expansion is Chicago Express: Narrow Gauge and Erie Railroad Company. Considering I came to the convention with this on my buy list, I am quite happy that I will be heading home with a free copy!
Today I purchased one game: Lost Worlds. Lost Worlds is a game that pits two players against each other using different books. Each player chooses one character book and takes the character sheet out. The players then trade books and choose pages to attack the other player. When one player is dead, the game is over! It should play in about ten minutes and looks like a really good game to play before everyone arrives to game night. I bout the "Man in Chainmail with Sword and Shield" and "Skeleton with Scimitar and Shield". I love the look of these and can't wait to play the game.
Finally, here are some random pics of games going on throughout the con!
What you see above is Case Blue, a monster wargame from the folks at MMP. Looks cool! Nine maps and thousands of counters. The game takes two full tables. The guys playing this one are playing for the whole convention and won't finish more than half of the campaign, if they can get that far!
A cool city miniature setup.
A huge naval miniatures game setup. Was on like five tables.
Another really nice looking minis table.
I will be back with the day four update tomorrow!
Don't forget to comment.
Until next time, keep playing and keep winning!
Comments