Gaming weekend with pretty pictures!

I spent all weekend at a gaming convention in the area here.   It's an "invitation only" gaming convention, in that, we have to pre-register and the only guaranteed spots are for those who have been before, new peeps have to be invited, but invitations are really easy to get.   I forget the numbers, but it's neither huge, nor terribly small.

This year it was held about a half an hour away, which was a pain, because the fall gaming thing is about 15 minutes away and is easy to take a break from to take care of the dogs.   We just go home right before or after dinner and then drive back (or invite people back to our place).  With it being a further distance, I managed to get a coworker friend to watch Mona and take the other dog for walks.  Huzzah.

and Mona got some quality little dog time

The con started on Thursday, but I got whammied with a migraine, so I just sat around on my day off Thursday.  I had a banquet to attend that night, so I didn't want to push myself too hard and decided to go on Friday.  Unfortunately, due to a bit of snafu-age, I didn't get there til close to 2pm, which was annoying, but oh well.

Here's the run down:

Friday
(my phone died, I forgot my battery pack, so no happy, shiny photos)

• Roll for the Galaxy (1)
  Fun little dice rolling version of Race for the Galaxy.  I liked it rather well.  What I liked was that there was less AP, because you didn't have as many choices as you do in the main game.   I could see owning it, but other-half was concerned about replayability.   This was not my best game of it (we played 3 times), but it was the first learning game.
  
• Imperial Settlers
  I want to say I hated this game.    It's resource management/worker placement/hand management with variable player powers, and I was so miserable through the whole game.  I don't know if it's just the faction I was playing or bad luck with the draw, but nothing would come together.   Someone else, playing it on another table had the same faction and the same utterly miserable playthrough I did, so I'm not sure how to take that.    I don't mind losing games so much as not being able to do anything useful or interesting while just suffering until the game ends.
  
• (Rise of) Augustus
  It's euro-bingo.  I like this game (I own it), it's a fast and easy time killer.
  
• Dread Curse
  Press your luck party game.   I won (accidentally), which was hilarious, because I was holding the non-game winning bits (you cannot win with them) for most of the game.  BOTH OF THEM.  I got out just because I could and I actually won.  Hah.
  
• Las Vegas
  Another fun party game with dice rolling.  Huzzah!
  
• Aquasphere
  This was another new one that we wanted to try out.   I liked it well enough, but not enough to own the game.   It was a area control/worker placement/role selection fun thing, and my favorite part was fishing/collecting octopodes.  Oddly, I was good at that.   I did a couple of really awful moves to other people, but hey, that's what friends are for, right?

Saturday

• Roll for the Galaxy (2)
  Welp, I covered it already, but this is what it looks like:

Blue planets, FTW!

• Five Tribes
  This is probably my favorite new game from the con ("new" to me).   I got to do a bit of assassinating.  I did not win, but I had fun, so hooray!  I could see how people might freeze up thinking about this, so I think my impulsiveness helps out with me not getting stuck.

• Terra Mystica (with Fire & Ice)
  This is one of my favorite games, and we already own it.   However, we decided to play with the Fire & Ice expansion, which we haven't tried before, and even though we were all dealt two races to start, the three of us who could choose a race did choose the new ones.   I liked the expansion races, but I didn't feel like it added enough new flavor or anything unique to the game that I think we need.

Riverwalkers FTW!

• Deus
  This was a fun little hand management game.   There was only one copy of this at the con, and luckily was brought by the guy that taught us.  I really liked it, and I would think about buying it, but I was a little concerned about the quality of the components.   The chits and boards are that layered/compressed cardboard and it didn't seem to be holding together all that well.  I don't know if it was from overwhelming play abuse or something else.
  
  I screwed up a couple of times playing it (as one can do with a new game), so I 'won' but don't totally feel good about it, because I think I made some moves wrong.

• The Builders - Middle Ages
  Set collection, and a lot of people compare it to Splendor (which we have an I like).   Apparently people love/hate Splendor and then are opposite about this game.  I like them both.  And the art is cute.

• 7 Wonders - with Babel expansion
  So, I think I'm one of the last people on the planet that still really likes to play 7 Wonders.  I know it can get a lot of play, but there are a lot of valid ways to win, and I just enjoy it, especially with the Leaders expansion.  I'm still lukewarm on the Cities expansion, but I won't fight playing it if that's what people want.
  
  The new expansion, Babel, has this "tower" you build out of tiles that you can add.    Everyone gets three or four of these tiles and can play a tile in lieu of a card, and the tiles add abilities or consequences.   PLUS, there are goals that everyone can work towards (if the goal is not completed there may be consequences from that as well)
  
  I really, really hate this expansion.   I feel like it's overly punitive, too co-op or screw-you-y and it doesn't bring anything fun to the game.   It's annoying.  I hate it and I wasn't even that adversely effected by it.

Nope

Sunday

Between the brain-burn and getting there a little late and the fact that people are leaving and taking games with them (this particular con is open gaming and has people bring their own games, part of the "invitation only" reasoning, instead of having a set library or schedule), we didn't do much gaming and were a bit limited on what we were willing to try.

• Relic Runners
  This is a family game I didn't really like.  I managed to get utterly stomped, but I think that only 2 players made it bad because there's not enough competition to make some of the explorations or pathways interesting.  

I did like the little pokemon looking blue idol, though

• Roll for the Galaxy (3) - Yep, again.

This time Green planets, FTW!

• Glory to Rome
  This is a card game several friends love and I kinda hate.  I mean, I'll play it if everyone else wants to, but I'd never suggest it, and if there's another table, I'll go play there.   Irony, I won (for the first time ever), because I rushed the end of the game.   Hah.

So that was my weekend, not so much with any of my usual hobbies, just all tabletop gaming all the time.   And maybe making Mona miserable by filing down her nails.   If we're going with wood flooring (carpet right now), I know I need to work on her feet.   If I keep at filing her toes, the quick should retreat allowing me to get her nails shorter and shorter.   Whenever I've lived in a place with tile or wood flooring the constant clicking made me crazy, plus it should help with the wear and tear.