What is BGGCon
It is a celebration of board games, sponsored by boardgamegeek.com. Thousands of gamers meet in Dallas for 5 days and play a ton of games.
Why BGGCon
I used to be big into board games. I still play quite a bit but video games have gotten in the way for the last few years. I have a lot of friends who attend the convention that I only see that time of year, so it's a big social thing.
What Games Did You Play
The library has thousands of games to check out and they get advance copies of games about to be released. My friends like to use the convention to try out new games, and I'm mostly there to hang out so that's what I end up playing.
Mechs Vs. Minions
The is the League of Legends board game. I'm not sure how the publisher is related to Riot but it is part of that world. It is a cooperative game for up to four players stopping the minions from moving to their goal. The $75 cost might seem high to video game players but it's a good price for the quality of components.
This is the game I am most excited to play again. I love coop games and this one delivers. It's not a Pandemic clone (I will review one of those below). It has a great story and good pieces and tense game play. After beating one scenario, one of the player jumped up, whooped, and gave everyone a high-five.
Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective
This is quite an old game, perhaps 35 years old, and another coop. The players are trying to solve a crime in the Sherlock Holmes setting. Clues are gained from reading stories and the players decide where to go and who to interview. There is a lot of flavor and the game has a sizable cult following. This is a little more social than most board games. It also works well if some players just want to kick back and be part of the ride.
Gear and Piston
A game about building cars in the early years of car history. It was a fine game, but nothing special for me. It uses the same skills that hundreds of other games use. I do well at this type of game, but it isn't my favorite genre and with so many to choose from I don't need any more in my life. Perhaps my favorite similar game is Princes of Florence.
Terraforming Mars
This game had some similar complaints as Gear and Piston. I was hoping to see something innovative but nothing really grabbed my attention. It felt like a drawn out game of Race For the Galaxy. Not as elegant but with a few other interesting things going on.
Dreams
Very similar to Spyfall which is not my thing. You are a group of gods and one mortal. The gods must identify the other gods without letting the mortal know who they are. I do enjoy the Mafia/Werewolf genre, but not this one.
Dungeon Rush
Silly quick dungeon crawl type game where you make quick analysis and claim a reward before someone else does. The group I played with didn't like it, but for how quick it goes, I'd give it another shot.
Captain Sonar
This was another winner. It plays like a combination of Battleship and Spaceteam but more fun than either. You are in a submarine trying to find the enemy sub. You move by calling out directions in real-time, but the other team can hear you giving those directions. Eventually you can figure out the location of the other sub and shoot him down. It gets very hectic trying to keep track of everything going on.
Black Orchestra
A cooperative game about assassinating Hitler. This was a bit of a Pandemic clone, but had enough different things going on to be unique. The theme is pretty solid and the balance is good. We lost two of the three games we played on Easy.
Njet
Just a boring card game. Worse, it uses a specialized deck from Mü and More. I love this type of trick taking game. Njet is good because it can support up to five players and because it is different from other similar games, yet anybody who knows how to take tricks can pick it up quickly. It's a bit of a tradition for me to spend one night staying up late and playing this. Sleepiness is a great equalizer when some people count cards better than others.
Summary
Favorite New Game: Mechs Vs. Minions
Favorite New-to-me Game: Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective
Favorite Speed Game: Captain Sonar
