Long post incoming.
My Gen Con haul:
- Ascension
- Ascension Rise of Vigil
- Ascension Realms Unraveled
- Ascension Storm of Souls
- Ascension Return of the Fallen
- Ascension Immortal Heroes
- Ascension: All currently available promo packs (also Locations) and "boosters" (not pictured)
- Mage Knight (came right before Gen Con, but still)
- Zombie Dice 2
- Zombie Dice 3
- Shadows of Brimstone City of the Ancients
- Shadows of Brimstone Swamps of Death
- Shadows of Brimstone Caverns of Cynder
- Shadows of Brimstone - all 11 available enemy expansions
- Shadows of Brimstone - all 6 available card expansions
- Shadows of Brimstone Doorways into Darkness
It wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be to be honest. Shadows of Brimstone was a pretty pricey buy in, but with discounts and $5 off coupons here and there, I saved a good chunk of change at the end of it all (overall saved about $100 on everything after discounts and smooth talking the creator a little bit). Also had the art director and creator sign the covers of the 2 core sets and the expansion. That's pretty fun.
The town variant that will be coming out looks and sounds amazing. That's one thing that Warhammer Quest had that was absolutely hilarious (and infuriating). The addition of the town map + encounters from monsters spilling over into the town is great stuff. Which reminds me...I need to research the HexCrawl stuff. My only complaint with the game is that the models are not really well produced. They are of great quality in terms of the final product, but there are a LOT of gaps I need to fill since I'm going to be painting them all.
Onto Ascension...I played it when it first came out and enjoyed it, but didn't love it. It was probably because I played it with SUPER intense people who weren't very fun to play games with. After demoing the newest expansion, I was in love again. I find the game to be more enjoyable as a 1v1 or even a solo strategy card game with the solo variant (as opposed to 3-4 players). I also don't like mixing expansions as some turns can get INCREDIBLY complex.
The new Locations promo is amazing. My brother and I played the base game with just Locations mixed in, and it seriously changed the way the game played. We had 3 locations stacked at one point, and that was getting out of hand. My brother CRUSHED me that game because of his 8 constructs on the table. That alone may be my only complaint - if someone gets a good head start, it's nearly impossible to catch up. He was able to buy or defeat any of the big shit that turned over because of his construct combos and draw power. But that's how Ascension works!
I should state - I wouldn't have gone balls deep on Ascension if it weren't for the final hour 50% off EVERYTHING sale they did. They did the final raffle ticket prize of the day and dropped that bomb right after. I managed to get Storm of Souls at CSI ding and dent for cheaper, but the rest at half price was just amazing. Go big or go home I guess?
Overall I had a blast. Those who says Gen Con is getting too big or too out of hand are crazy. It's NOT that bad at ALL. I honestly never felt overwhelmed or uncomfortable. Sure, there were a lot of people in some booths, but there was ALWAYS walking and standing room. I can see people who don't like crowds getting overwhelmed because of personal discomfort, but those of us who don't suffer from anxiety like that? Amazing time.
I had 2 "run ins" with weird/anti-social/awkward gamers, but it ended up being fine in the end. You are almost guaranteed to run into the odd type while at a convention of this size. The fabled "gamer stench" wasn't as bad this year as it was a few years back when I went, either. There were a few times when I walked by a booth or two and got a whiff of death, but it really was only 4 or 5 times in the 3 days I was down there.
Oh and I DID demo Portal (but forgot to snap pics). The game seems OK, but the guy giving the demo did a TERRIBLE job explaining it and wasn't very good at interacting with people. He was awkward and stumbled over his words and thoughts a lot. He also kept getting sidetracked by people walking up and asking him questions. I know my friend will end up buying the game, so I'll give the game a second chance then.
And a few other random photos with comments:
I think this is a world record largest balloon octopus?
I just thought this shirt was funny. I found it charmingly dumb.
This was pretty much magic in my mouth - glazed donut with a scoop of birthday cake ice cream in the middle. Only issue? I think I spilled enough glaze on the ground to feed a small ant army.
If you know the show, this is pretty great.
New Runebound 3rd ed stuff. Not gonna lie...I'm only a little excited after seeing it. They didn't bother to put a solo variant in (which sounds silly, but it's SUCH a big part of 2nd ed), the cards are the fucking "buy FFG sleeves" size, and it just didn't grab me from the demo I watched as much as I'd hoped. We'll see.
Deck building games are getting weird.
