Wednesday night at the Armory was the night for all of our local GenCon attendees to share their new purchases with those of us who weren't able to make the trip to Indianapolis. Everything I played was fresh from the con, so it was nice to experience a little bit of what I'd been hearing about.
I started my night with a game of 3-player Wonky while we waiting for everyone to arrive. We played 3 player, and I enjoyed it for what it was - a quick, slightly take-that-y dexterity game. I have terrible balance and am really bad at stacking games, but when they're charming and speedy like this, I find that doesn't hamper my enjoyment.
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| Wonky with Adam & Adam |
Next up was something a lot less light and SIGNIFICANTLY less easy/friendly - The Grizzled. This anti-set collection, WWI-themed, co-op card game from CMON (of all people) is brutal but incredibly engrossing. It was the most intriguing game I'd seen in all of the GenCon tweets and videos, and so I was glad to see that multiple copies had found a home with local gamers. We ended up playing four games in succession - initially we had 5 players, but Eric had to leave early, so we were a 4-player group for the last 2 games. We were destroyed incredibly quickly in the first game, only did slightly better during the second, and so it wasn't until the fourth game (and after noticed a missed rule), that we tasted victory. And it was a good thing we did, Adam O & I were so determined to win that could have ended up playing in the parking lot had we not pulled off a win before the store closed for the night.
I really liked the game & love how much it pulls you in and leaves you determined to make it through to Armistice. I did get stuck with the "Mute" Hard Knocks card for multiple rounds which prevented my being able to communicate with the others at the table; this was frustrating when players couldn't understand why I was playing awful cards instead of withdrawing, and I couldn't explain that yet another card was forcing me to! But it was the sort of frustration that spurs you on, and I didn't find that it negatively affected my overall opinion of the game or for my experience. For the moment, I'm content to play other people's copies rather than calling it a must-buy, but the unique implementation of a war-based theme & the gorgeous art mean it's likely I'll find it rather hard to resist once this gem starts showing up on the shelves of my local stores.
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| I've withdrawn from the mission & grabbed a cuppa |
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| I did NOT have good options here. |
We finished off the night by moving to a larger table for a 8-player game of Codenames. Only 3 of us had played before, but this much-enthused about GenCon release shines in the simplicity of set-up & teaching. We all took a turn being spymaster before playing an additional round with Matt & Adam O repeating the roles. This game just lends itself to hilarious moments as you watch your opponents struggle or great triumphs when your team finally gets on your wavelength & perfectly responds to a clue you knew was a stretch. At one point, we were watching Matt appear to be about 10 seconds from an aneurism as he lost all faith in his team's ability to identify a non-neutral space while my team simply prayed they'd keep right on going. For me, however, the round in which I was the Blue Spymaster was my favourite of the game - first when my team successfully guessed my clue of "Ackbar: 2" was pointing to "force" & "octopus" and then, to cap it off, it ended beautifully. Wee had just 1 word left and were practically guaranteed to win unless the Red team guessed their last 2 words before my next clue; so, of course, they immediately guessed OUR last word giving us the round. I have a copy of the game thanks to Adam O grabbing it for me at GenCon & I cannot wait to introduce it to my in-laws to see how it holds up at a family dinner.
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| Right before the Red team gave us the win |
It was a really good night of gaming, and really nice to hear everyone's GenCon stories & see their shiny new treasures. I'm looking forward to playing more of them over the next few weeks, as I determine which of the new releases need to find a home with me.
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