Day 3 at GenCon 2003

Sorry for the late report on our last day at GenCon (Saturday). This was an abbreviated day - had to make it back to Shelbyville in time for a birthday celebration with the family. It was a blast nonetheless and I have a few more photos to share.

Jacob examines his order cards in Battle Cry.

We started the day by checking out Battle Cry from Game Base 7. This is a game I've been wanting to try for quite a long time, and I was not disappointed. This is a very light, very tactical war game set during the American Civil War. There's a lot to like about this game: the use of command cards to simulate (in my opinion) the complexity and latency of issuing commands on the field; the use of multiple miniatures in a square to represent force strength; the easy to learn and execute combat system. We taught ourselves the game and played the Bull Run scenario in about 45 minutes. I won fairly easily, but I was playing the confederates and for some reason I think the deck is stacked against the union in this scenario. This is definitely a game we'll add to our collection.

Jacob and I enjoy a game of Elfenland.

Our next game was a scheduled event to play Elfenland. I've played King of the Elves many times with my kids, but this was our first chance playing the board game. We both enjoyed the board game more than the card game. Players attempt to visit as many towns as possible in the space of 4 turns. Player interaction comes in a few interesting ways. Players alternate choosing what mode of transportation will be used to travel from town to town. By leveraging routes laid out by other players, a player can likely visit more towns in a turn. But with that approach comes risk, since a player might subsequently choose an unusable mode of transportation to a town you plan to visit. I didn't catch on soon enough, and my initial path sent me too far away from the other players, limiting my travel each turn. I'll still managed to finish in second place with 17 towns visited to the winner's 18.

Jacob and I had a fab time playing some D&D in this RPGA sessions.

The last event of GenCon for Jacob and me was a 4 hour RPGA-sponsored Dungeons and Dragons adventure - part of the Legacy of the Green Regent campaign. We fell in with a great group and had a fun time, even though we did not manage to complete the adventure. Jacob played a shield dwarf fighter and I played a human rouge - the rest of the party were either elves or half-elves. This was the highlight of the convention for Jacob - he loves role playing and looked forward to this event all week.

That's all for GenCon Indy 2003! We plan to make it back each year given the proximity to family in the Indianapolis area.

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