As you know, this month brought us Gen Con Indy, which is touted as “The best four days in gaming.” With the lack of an electronic gaming section on the show floor for the second year running, I would say that it would more appropriately be “the best four days in tabletop gaming.” With that said, Gen Con Indy was, as always, a blast.

This year was the most successful, with a 20% increase in attendance over the last, bringing it to a total of 36,733 people. Thankfully, the team running the show anticipated the growth, and moved the exhibitor hall to a bigger space. This meant there was a bit more room to move about, though with all of the great costumes and people trying to take pictures of them, there would be the occasional backup down an aisle. The only downside was that those who had attended for several years no longer knew the locations of their favorite vendors. Here’s to hoping that they keep it the same for a few years, so we all get the hang of it again.

Between vendors, tournaments, costumes, film screenings and all-night gaming sessions, there was plenty to both see and do at the show. We’ve also been told that Gen Con has renewed their contract, and will be in the same location for the next five years at least. Future show dates are as follows:

• August 16-19, 2012
• August 15-18, 2013
• August 14-17, 2014
• July 30 – August 2, 2015

Also, be sure to check out our coverage of The Resident Evil Deck Building Game, Gears of War Board Game and Leviathans: Monsters in the Sky from the event.

I have been a fan of Resident Evil since the very first title appeared on the Sony Playstation. Capcom has done a great job with creating a world of survival horror filled with characters that mean something to all the game’s fans. When I first heard of the Resident Evil Deck Building game from Bandai, I was a but surprised. I couldn’t imagine the game being converted into any card game, let alone one centered around deck building. Well at GenCon 2011 I got to check out the game up close, and it wasn’t at all what I thought.

Sitting down at the demo table I saw before me a large mat with about twelve different piles of cards on it. These cards ranged from ammo and weapons, to herbs and actions. I had never played a deck building game before, so I was interested to learn how each mechanic worked out. The Bandai rep sat down with me and wasting no time, we got our demo underway.

He explained the basic mechanics of the game, and how deck building games work in general. The aim of this game sounded easy enough: use your deck in the most efficient way possible to eliminate the strongest enemy in the mansion. As you explore the mansion you earn declarations, and the player with the most once the strongest infected is killed wins. Simple, right?

Players would start the game by choosing a character, most of the time selected at random. For the demo, I got Sheva. Each character has special abilities, which can be used once declarations are earned. In order to earn these declarations, you must be able to do enough damage to an infected when exploring the mansion to kill it, earning a certain amount of declarations after. The harder the infected, the more declarations earned.

Players start by shuffling their decks, and drawing five cards. These cards will essentially be your hand. From your hand you can play actions, and do other things based on what cards are drawn.

During each turn, players are allowed to buy cards from the huge pile in the center of the mat. You can buy things like ammo, actions, and weapons to help you build an effective deck. The aim here is to build up your deck with good cards, and thin out the bad ones so that you always stay on top. This means trashing out small ammo counts for upgrades, and low power weapons for bigger ones. Certain cards contribute gold to a pool, which is used to make purchases.

After buying something from the pile (which can only come in one buy per turn, and gold can’t be split up), players can then make actions or explore the mansion. Actions will let players draw cards, trash them (send them back to the pile), take more actions (as players are only allowed one action per turn unless specified otherwise), or increase ammo and weapon damage. It’s a good idea to purchase new actions which will let you do multiple things in one turn. This will let you play more effectively and intelligently to beat the other players out.

Once you’re finished with actions, it’s time to explore. Checking your hand, you can determine whether or not you can survive in the mansion, or whether you’re going in to a trap. The best thing to do is to ensure that you’ve got a good weapon with enough ammo to use it, and cause as much damage as possible. If you’ve got a hand full of ammo, it’s probably best to skip your explore step and wait for a better lot of cards. You don’t want to run in with a small amount of damage, as you’ll be hurt in turn, and dying is not a good thing as with many other games.

If you think you’re ready, you can explore and attempt to earn those sweet declarations. Once you make your announcement, the top card of the mansion deck is revealed. This will either be an infected, or an item. If infected, it will have its own amount of hit points, possibly an ability, and its own attack. If you can deal enough damage to kill it, it will die and earn you declarations. If not, it will damage you in turn, taking points away from your life total. Once your life total reaches zero, you skip a turn and come back with twenty less points of health. If you get to a point where you will come back with zero, or less than zero, you are eliminated from the game.

Getting through the mansion can be tough, and games can last for hours. If the target infected is revealed and not killed, it shuffles back into the mansion deck. Players continue their turns, until this infected is eliminated. Eventually, you’ll get to where your deck is thinned down just enough so that it can perform just the way you need it to.

After playing the game, even though I lost, I had a great time. Bandai did a great job bringing the Resident Evil titles into card form, and they’ve built a great foundation for a card game that I can see myself playing for a while. With more expansions coming to raise the number of cards in circulation, the game can only go up from here. If you’re a fan of the series, I definitely think you should give the Resident Evil Deck Building game a try. If you’d like to know more, check out the game’s official page. I know I can’t wait to get back into the mansion and hunt down the Nemesis for myself.

This past weekend at GenCon 2011 I got to demo the new Gears of War board game from Fantasy Flight. In a nutshell, I went into the demo thinking, “Okay, this can’t possibly be something that will translate well, but I will give it a shot.” After demoing the game and playing with some lively fellows, I have to say I was very surprised, in a very good way.

Sitting down at the table, I saw before me a bunch of cards, figures, tokens, and panels. The Fantasy Flight demo instructor explained what each piece of the game was, and our demo was underway. The game setup was fairly simple: each player was assigned a Cog – Marcus, Dom, Baird, or Cole – and began the game as such. Each Cog has their own special ability, for instance, Dom’s ability lets him take an extra space of movement once an action moves a player, and he can attack up to three enemies in his line of sight. The abilities are laid out on a Cog character card, which also displays which set of weapons the character is carrying. Once the players are chosen, the board is set.

The board is laid out and determined by location cards. Once a location card is chosen, it depicts how the map is set up. Each location card has a different map layout, and they can change depending on a number of conditions. Once we laid out our map, the mission began. For the mission we were demoing, it went through three phases. The mission cards dictated where we were, what was happening, and what we needed to do in order to complete said mission. For this demo, we needed to make it to the exit and seal an emergence hole with a grenade. Once that was done, we could proceed to phase two.

Now that the board was set and we had our mission objectives, it was up to Marcus to make the first move. On your turn, you’re allowed one action, unless dictated otherwise. Each player has a set number of cards they can have in their hand, which are drawn from a Cog deck. This hand also acts as their character’s health. The lower the amount of cards, the less health the Cog has. For Marcus, he had seven, where everyone else had six. Of these cards, some can dictate movement, others attacks, and some actions. Choosing to move, Marcus made his call.

During this decision, the card had an ability: we could sacrifice one of the cards in our hand with a certain symbol, and follow Marcus into the zone in which he moved. This would allow us to travel as a team, and not leave anyone behind to deal with enemies. Also, we would be that much closer to our mission objective. Each of us  chose to move, and we traveled as a team. Once Marcus’ Cog step was finished (the beginning of your turn is called the ‘Cog Step’), the enemy step began. During this step, a card is drawn from the A.I. deck which dictates what the enemies would do. This means that the game can actually be played solo, though it’s much more fun as a multiplayer game.

For this card, this meant that all Boomers moved in for an attack. By the way, while you’re choosing the location and setup of the board, it will tell you which types of enemies are in play, and how many. For this demo there were three Boomers, and one by one, they moved in for an attack. This is where the game got heated. Cole has a special ability that will let him interrupt enemy movement and toss a grenade. During play, he did this without hesitation. This begun a step of combat in which damage would be calculated.

Cole submitted a grenade token, and looked carefully to where he could toss the grenade. His character card stated that he had two grenades, and he had a card for the grenade itself, dictating the weapon’s range, and damage. The grenade has a range of two spaces, which put it right in the room with the Boomers. For this attack, Cole rolled four attack dice, each with hit markers and blanks on its sides. After the roll, he racked up five points of damage. It was then time for the Boomers to make their defense rolls. This was dictated by the number on their enemy cards, which stated how many defense dice they could roll. The dice weren’t in their favor, and they went down screaming. The battle was quick, though it was intense, and Cole managed to save us all from certain demise.

We were cheering, and felt especially proud of ourselves. Since the enemies were disposed of, it was up to Baird to make his move. He moved forward, and again, we all followed. This already put us in the room with the emergence hole that we needed to close. After the movement, he decided to lob his one grenade at the hole in hopes to shut it. In order to shut this hole, when Baird rolls for damage, he needs to roll at least one Crimson Omen to get the hole closed. The reason for this is laid out on the grenade’s card in a special text. It simply states that if a Crimson Omen is rolled when calculating damage for the grenade, it immediately closes any emergence hole in the same area. Taking the dice into his hands, Baird tested the waters. As we watched each die roll to a stop, another cheer rang out. A Crimson Omen revealed itself, closing the emergence hole. This completed the phase one objective, sending us into phase two.

Entering phase two, the mission card flipped and gave us some story. Basically, more Locust showed up, and now it was time to wipe them out. We battled, moving about the map and attacking enemies, all while working together as a team. Each weapon card laid out damage, special abilities, and more, never leaving any of us lost. Before I knew it, our demo time was up and it was time to move on.

Having sat down and played the Gears of War board game, I have to say I underestimated it. Fantasy Flight came together with Epic to create a perfect new way to enjoy Gears, and provide a new experience to fans and new players alike. The main selling point for me was that the game actually got people together as a team, right next to each other. Your fellow Cogs were right beside you, fighting, moving, and picking you up when you fall. We battled on, killing Grub after Grub, Drone after Drone. My final verdict was that I need more time with this awesome game. If you are a fan, or if you’re just looking for something new that is great fun, I definitely think the game is worth it. You can find out more about it by visiting the Fantasy Flight official game page. I am here to tell you, this game is real, and it’s something you need to get your hands on.

It’s the year 1910. Just four years ago the United Kingdom launched the first of what would be known as the “super air ships,” which sparked a massive arms race that swept across the world. These Leviathans would rule the skies, fighting the world’s wars above our society below. This is the plot of the new board game, Leviathans: Monsters in the Sky from Catalyst Game Labs.

During GenCon this past weekend I sat in on a demo of this new game, and was very intrigued at what I saw. Catalyst Game Labs has created an alternate history for us all, one filled with destruction in the skies. It’s cool to think that they threw in some steampunk aesthetics to the game, which makes it that much more enjoyable. In a post on the game’s official site, here’s a snippet of its storyline:

In 1878 the Polish genius Rynchowski isolated an electrical fluid with remarkable lifting capabilities. A single, pivotal event that would change the world.

The smartest military minds of the coming generation—Zeppelin, Jellico, Fisher and others—diverted their attention to the glorious new technological revolution and sea-going battleships were abandoned around the world. In their place, armored giants took to the skies.

In 1906, Great Britain launched the HMS Leviathan, the first of the “super air ships”, sparking an arms race around the world. By 1910 the most powerful nations boasted large High Fleets, and the start of small skirmishes left the world uneasy…welcome to Leviathans!

The game’s setup was rather simple: each player would choose a small fleet, whether it’s the United States, Great Britain, or France, and head into battle against one another. Each fleet had ships (for the demo, it was limited to one per player), and they each had their own statistics and capabilities. This information was located on the ship’s card, which explained what type of weapons it carried, its hull integrity, movement speed, and more. On each player’s turn, they could move a certain amount of space (which were laid out on a hexa-grid map that is included with the game), and attack other players. The object of the game is to eliminate each other players’ ships and stay afloat.

Battles became aerial skirmishes in the sky, and carnage tore throughout the clouds. The game becomes very intense, and strategy is key in surviving offensive assaults. During combat, players roll certain dice, which are dictated by their ship cards. Once a hit is confirmed, damage is dealt automatically depending on the type of weapon fired. Once the ship takes too much damage, it plummets to the ground. With no more ships to control, the player is knocked out of the game.

In the short time I spent checking out the game, it definitely made me want to see more. Leviathans is still in development, and Catalyst is pushing for a release later this year. The miniatures are carefully constructed, and very detailed, making the game that much more interesting to play. If you’re a fan of steampunk, or just a gamer who likes strategy games, this is something definitely worth checking out. You can find out more on the game’s official site. We look forward to its release, and we’ll hopefully get to play it more in the near future.

Costumes were great at this year’s GenCon. In fact, I’d go so far as to say it was the best year I’ve seen so far for cosplayers. Since we were on the scene we decided we should document the occasion for those unable to attend. Be they worn by booth babes, geeky guys or the elusive hot gaming girl, we found some of the best costumes at the show.

By Chris Scott Barr

GenCon Indy was this past weekend, which meant lots of gaming fun for everyone. The cast members from The Guild were also in attendance, and while partnered with OhGizmo, I was able to sit down and chat with Sandeep Parikh, who played Zaboo. We chatted about his role in the series, and of course about his other successful web series The Legend of Neil. Enjoy!

[ The Guild ] [ The Legend of Neil ]

Gen Con Indy doesn’t generally get the sort of media coverage that other gaming shows such as E3, PAX or Gamescom. The reason being that it focuses on more traditional forms of gaming, such as tabletop RPGs (think Dungeons & Dragons) or collectible card games (such as Magic the Gathering). Over the last three years or so, Gen Con Indy has been allowing electronic games into the show, which is one extra reason I like to go.

This year I was pleased to see that Bioware decided to set up shop to show off Dragon Age: Origins. I’ve been looking forward to this game for some time, so I made my way over to their booth. There I found four stations set up with Xbox 360′s, and four with PCs. I’m planning on getting the game for the PC, so I waited patiently for a slot to open at one of those stations. Unfortunately the people there were enjoying themselves a bit much, so I ended up coming back another day (where I saw a sign stating a new 15-minute time limit for the eager gamers).

Fifteen minutes isn’t a lot of time to really get a great feel for a game as large as this. However, I got to play around with the character creator, and play through the first part of the game. The character creator had a lot of customizable options, though in an effort to jump right in, I didn’t spend much time with them. As soon as I jumped into the action, I was reminded of Baldur’s Gate, which isn’t surprising since Bioware was behind both titles.

I started out as an Elf equipped with a bow and a sword. Combat was fast-paced, and it took just a little bit to get used to switching between weapons. Eventually I was able to get off a couple of shots before getting out my sword to finish off my foe. The graphics were beautiful, especially when it came to the cinematic cutscenes. The videos Bioware has released don’t quite do the game justice when it comes to the graphics.

I quickly used up my time and allowed one of the people behind me to take my place, so as to not disturb the flow of things. Thankfully, the hands-on demo wasn’t the only thing to be found. I chatted with Brian Derksen, Toolsetter for the game, who happened to be showing off the toolset, which will be released along with the PC version of the game.

Every time I saw Brian, he was laying out a new area, building up a new inn or creating a custom character with the toolset. He showed me a few of the different tools that will be available, and explained that these were pretty much the same tools that the team used to create the game. These aren’t the sort of watered-down tools seen in the Neverwinter Nights games. The downside to this is that there will be something of a learning curve when you sit down to create your first piece of content.

With these powerful tools you’ll be able to create buildings, areas, characters and anything else you like. You can even dissect the original game itself and change the progression of the story. Since the tools are so robust, one person might only get good at creating one type of content, which is why Bioware is setting up a community site to connect modders with others with the skills they need. Players will be able to use this to put together teams to work on large projects, or just to find something new to add to their game.

While I was at the booth, I was able to arrange some one-on-one time with David Gaider, Lead Writer for Dragon Age: Origins. David has been working on the story for DA:O for the last six years, which is a rather long time for just a single game. Along the way he’s written two books for the game, one of which is already on the shelves, another will be hitting stores this October. You can listen to my interview with him below.

Dragon Age: Origins is slated for a November 3rd release on the PC (November 6th on Xbox 360 and PS3).

Last weekend was Gen Con Indy, which while it might not be quite as large as some conventions, still has plenty to provide the avid gamer. The show focuses on traditional non-electronic gaming such as tabletop RPGs like Dungeons and Dragons, as well as card games like Magic: The Gathering. Electronic games had a presence as well, which I will cover another time.

As with any gaming convention, there were quite a few people in costume. Most of these were just your average cosplayers, rather than professional booth babes. Well I snapped pictures of some of the ladies with the best costumes, and they are below for your viewing pleasure. If you have a favorite, sound off in the comments!

Yes, this is in fact a female dwarf. Apparently Aragorn was right, they do have beards.