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Keep your eyes on this space for some exciting announcements about contests, SpringiCon, and the best new way to try games.

Jordan and I got our latest start on Saturday. We shuffled into the convention hall in time to catch up with Michelle, Jeff, and Johnathan for a game of Leonardo Da Vinci. I was pretty impressed with it. It felt like something of a cross between the game, Princes of Florence, and the award winning delight, Caylus. Jordan and I did not fare well in the game, but I am looking to play it again, soon.

After Leonardo, 4 other intrepid individials, Kurt, Dwayne, Jim, and Dwayne’s son Jordan joined Jordan and I for a game of Twilight Imperium - 3rd Edition. It was a very enjoyable game. We played in just over 5 hours, which highlights for me one of the things I cherished about BGG Con. The people I played with were very capable of keeping games moving, making sound decisions, and were all so very pleasant. I made the mistake of letting the older Jordan live too long in peace. He was the Ysarril, and by the time the end times rolled around, he had become far too powerful with his hand of action cards for any of us to put a stop to him, although Dwayne as the Jol-Nar certainly did try. The insect race commander Jim, also made a pretty good run for his money with his War Sun, but he ran into a lot of diplomatic red tape. Great game, and I tip my hat once more to Jordan.

We got together with Kurt to order a pizza, and as we waited, and waited, and waited, the time rolled around for the final mighty Boardgamegeek Convention prize giveaway. The prizes that Scott & Derk, the creators of boardgamegeek.com gave away were astounding. I understand that they had much support from the games industry, but it was still marvelous to behold. Crokinole boards, dozens upon dozens of games, and everything bundled so nicely it was impressive and fun. As the prizes began to dwindle, Derk made a somewhat sarcastic comment that he loved how excited everyone was about winning. Two numbers later, I looked down at my ticket and saw that I was now a winner. I charged into the room, screaming victory, and then held up my cell phone to play the Hallelujah chorus. Derk told me to take two prizes. For once in my life, being a total buffoon paid off.
Since our pizza never arrived, we went downstairs and ate at probably the only restaurant still open at the bottom floor of the Westin City Center. It was a cheesesteak diner, and dinner was impressively greasy. I had the smile-inducing opportunity to talk briefly with Simon Hunt, designer of Take Stock, and a very pleasant gentleman. He was there enjoying the con, but also ran many demos for Z-Man games, who had a strong presence at the event. He chuckled to me about his niche notoriety and confessed that he was really nothing more than a computer programmer who enjoyed games.

After dinner, Jordan and I tried On the Underground with our new friend Kurt. It is a game about building subway lines in London, which provide a lazy tourist the opportunity to see the sites. It was as much fun for me as I remember Ticket to Ride being the first time I tried it. I think it should do well in terms of sales, as it is visually appealing, has some simple strategy to it, and just felt like a good kind of fun that would appeal to a wide variety of folks.

We then invited ourselves into a game of Hermagor with the proprieter of Troll & Toad, the online gamestore. He was very nice, and took as through the rules and game at a pretty good pace. I wouldn’t mind playing Hermagor again, as it did have an interesting auction mechanic, and I also thought the changing market rates for goods made for some neat decisions. But, at the end of the game, I didn’t feel compelled to ask for another play.

Our night ended with what was probably Jordan’s favorite time of the entire convention. We went into the vendor room, thinking we might check out another game overnight, only to find Battlelore still setup, mostly unattended, and shimmering with a mystical power. Jordan asked if we could play, and permission was granted. So, we went through 4 adventures, and in so doing, we got to try out a creature (the spider), both a balanced and unbalanced war council, and also we got to see the ravening goblins vs. the stalwart dwarves. Despite the fact that I managed to win every adventure, Jordan still salivates whenever we bring up Battlelore. It really is a great evolution of the system that started I was personally first introduced to with Memoir ‘44. The War Council is my favorite new feature. I really enjoyed when my level 3 cleric caused the hills to quake and brought down a couple of Jordan’s units who had thought they were so safe on the high ground.
Thanks to Battlelore, we were not asleep until well after 4 AM. We probably would have slept through Sunday, if my sweet children hadn’t called for a loose tooth update at about 10 AM. Jordan and I packed up, checked out, and went to the hall for one last game, and a farewell wave. We ended our BGG Con experience with a game of Timbuktu, an fairly interesting deduction game, all though Jordan did say he felt like he was taking a math test the whole time.

Boardgamegeek Convention 2006 was a great time for my brother and I. I hope that we learned some things that will help us improve our local boardgame convention, and also continue to spread the gaming word here in southeast Idaho.

Thanks for playing.

Looking back now, I am astonished at the number of games we played on Friday at the BGG.Con. We got moving a little slow, and didn’t hit the convention floor until about 9:30. We started the morning off by trying one of the expansions to the Memoir ‘44 game. We opted for the eastern front. The Russian Commisar adds an interesting twist to the game, for sure, forcing the russians to play their order before they see how the field changes on their opponents side. We then stumbled into 3 kind gents who were wiling to teach us La Citta, an out of print game that I have always wondered about, because the idea of building cities that attract your opponents people away from their homes always seemed too dastardly for me not to enjoy. I won’t lie; I got schooled at this game. It is definitely a fun one, and I am going to need to try it again before I actively pursue a pricey copy.

We lightened our fare after La Citta with a few games of the hilarious kid’s game Loopin Louie, and then a quick Carabande race. I can understand why both of these light dexterity games are considered such fun around the world. We also played another game of Crokinole and then walked back to the vendor area to see what was new for the day. We sat down for a game of Mission: Red Planete with two of the nicest people we met at the con: Jason and Kurt. Giles, the demo man, was also a very pleasant individual and did a great job of quickly getting us moving on our steampunk mission to mars. I enjoyed Red Planete, and if you like Citadels, you will probably enjoy it also. It is a nice little area control game with a fun seasoning of luck and chaos to it. Giles then showed us Ave Caeser, which, in a phrase, did not impress Jordan and I.

We didn’t move on from Rome, but we did change games to The End of the Triumvirate, probably one of my favorite games of the convention. It is a finely balanced three player game, where the slightest misstep is sure to turn the fortunes of war to your opponent’s favor. You can win through political acumen, or military might, but regardless of which path you follow, you definitely have to watch your back in this game for conquest of the ancient roman empire. Jordan and Kurt and I enjoyed it enough that after Jordan’s crushing victory in Africa, we opted for a second game, which I also won when Jordan left the African backdoor open. I like to think that the weapon stores I had built also had much to do with that victory.

We got a chance to try two Knizia games back to back. First, a gracious Paul taught us Tower of Babel. I really enjoyed the head games of putting together offers, sometimes hoping that the offer would be rejected just to get a few points. Apparently, I grasped something about the game, because I did manage to win with a decent lead. Then, we tried Traumfabrik, the classic movie-making auction game, and I understand now why it is so hotly pursued. It is a lot of fun, and should even appeal to people who don’t like heavy strategy games. It was great fun to put together the Ten Commandments movie starring Carrie Grant and Marilyn Monroe. I’ve all ready secured a copy of the reprint, Hollywood Blockbuster. Despite it’s spoofy ambience, I am really looking forward to it hitting the table.

Jordan and I then had a the very real pleasure of meeting the crew from Thoughthammer. We played a game of Prophecy with them, which I admit, drug on a little too long. If you are in the mood for a game like Talisman, it will scratch your itch, but it will probably take longer. I then explained Space Dealer to the Thoughthammer gang, thanked them for sharing pizza with us, and then Jordan and I went and played a game of smuggling goods across the border. Hart and Der Grenze would have to played with the right crowd, but it’s irreverent theme and gameplay of suspicion and lies do make for a good time.

We played games until the wee hours of the morning again. We tried the silly kids’ game ‘Dancing Eggs’. Jordan was the uncontested master. We played a second game of Traumfabrik, and then tried a game of Nacht der Magier, the Golden Geekie Kids’ Game of the Year. We played it in the dark, which certainly makes for a unique experience. If you can get it, you will certainly enjoy playing it with your kids.

The final days of my report are upon us, and Saturday was just as much fun as Friday. Stay tuned for the thrilling conclusion.

The first official day of boardgamegeek dawned bright and clear. The organizers of the convention graciously allowed the early birds access to the convention hall hours before the event officially opened. So we spent the morning trying out Iliade and Space Dealer. Space Dealer was probably the most unique experience of the convention for me.The game is a real time game that involves producing goods, and then shipping those goods to other players for big points. When I say real time, I mean that everyone is playing at the same time, and you can only have two actions happening at a time, each of which are controlled by 1 minute sand timers. The feel is one of controlled chaos, as you plan your actions, hurry to get a sand timer on them…and then wait in agony for the grains to fall. Quite an interesting time.

As time drew near for the convention to open, Jordan and I took a place in line not too far from the front. The atmosphere in the line was amicable and exciting. As you entered the convention hall in an official capacity, everyone got to draw a ticket from inside an enormous six-sided black die. You might draw a blue ticket or a red ticket, which determined which prize table you got to choose from. Blue prizes were the heavy hitters. Jordan makes the claim that he felt the aura of his ticket. True or not, the boy did draw forth a blue ticket. And the blue prize table was still chock full of gaming goodness. So, Jordan was certainly the luckiest Wheeler for the day. We picked up a copy of Nin-Gonost, and walked into the hall grinning.

We got our hands on one of the new Essen releases early on. It was a game from a new company in the industry called Czech Board Games. The game was Graenaland and felt somewhat like Settlers, but with a bit more backstabbing and some additional twists. I was happy to try it out, and hope to get another chance sometime in the future. We then got to meet Mark Kaufmann from Days of Wonder and try out an adventure of Battlelore. For the Wheeler boys, this game was great. We are all ready fans of the Memoir ‘44 games, and Battlelore just adds additional depth and a setting we are drawn to. Another winner for Days of Wonder.

We had the pleasure of playing another quick game of R-Eco with Rick Thornquist and Scott Alden, one of th great creators of Boardgamegeek. Scott is very gracious, and comes across as quite down to earth even as tired as he was. After a late lunch/early dinner we were drawn into a game of Cities & Knights of Catan on the 3-D board. The thing is definitely gorgeous, and we had quite the fun game with Tim and Hank. I am loathe to admit it, but we did then try a game that Jordan and I did not particularly enjoy. I’ve heard it said that Beowulf is a game that you either love and hate, and while I would not turn down an invitation to try this Knizia game once again, I don’t think Jordan and I would actively seek it out.

We ended our night on a long, but good note. We got to try another Czech Board Game called Through the Ages. It felt very much like playing a multiplayer game of civilization, with no map, though. I was very impressed with how it was implemented, and if I can get my hands on a copy, I will definitely play it again. As we walked out of the hall, a couple nice attendees invited us to try Crokinole, and we began to understand the popularity of this simple dexterity game. That night, we were asleep by 3 AM.

Stay tuned for more updates on gaming madness in Texas.

My brother Jordan and I made the journey to Texas last Wednesday. Why would two small town boys from Idaho brave the blistering heat of the Lone Star State? We did it all for you, my gaming friends. We had to make our way to the second annual Boardgamegeek Convention, held at the Westin Events Center in Dallas, TX. And it was very much worth the effort.

We arrived the day before the Convention, and had the opportunity to share a cab ride to the convention with Ted Alspach, a game designer, and fellow game enthusiast. Ted was then kind enough to share with us two of my favorite games for the week, Imperial and Yspahan. They were admittedly two very different offerings, but both great fun in their own way. Imperial let’s players take control of different European empires, but a player can never get to comfortable with the country he controls, because control of a nation is determined by the amount of money player’s have invested in the country. It makes for a fabulous contest. Imperial was also a lot of fun, because we got to play against one of the world’s premier boardgame journalists, Rick Thornquist.

Rick also taught us a wonderful, light cardgame called R-Eco. The catchphrase is the best, “Let’s Recycle!” After R-Eco and Yspahan, Ted and another wonderful gentleman, Rob, further elucidated Jordan and I in the way of Tichu. All this gaming happened before the convention, and was a wonderful preview. Tune in tomorrow, and hear which Wheeler continues to be the luckiest one on the planet.

Thank you

I want to personally thank everyone who attended the first ever Idaho Convention for Boardgamers in Idaho Falls. You helped make the event just what I hoped it would be, fun.

Thanks also to all the volunteers who helped me manage our enormous library of games, demo the wonderful selection of games that was donated to the convention, and keep me on task throughout the day. The convention would not have been a success without you.

We had 90 attendees this time, and enjoyed ourselves enough that we are all ready planning another event for this coming spring. Pay attention to this space for announcements about future iCon events and gaming in southeast Idaho.

I also want to thank the great local game stores, Excalibur Games and A Street Games for helping promote our event and bringing some of their great customers to the convention. iCon hopes to continue our relationship with these local shops and to continue promoting their events. Please take a look at our calendar for upcoming events at the Idaho Falls’ game stores.
If you missed out on the first ever iCon 2006, we are sorry and hope you can attend future events. This week, yours truly will travel to a large boardgame convention in Texas, the Boardgamegeek Con, and I hope to bring back some great ideas to improve upon the experience for iCon 2007.

Thanks again,

Josh Wheeler