Games Expo – Day 2

Day 2 was massively busier in terms of bodies through the door and the number of companies I got round. There was still a fair about of wandering on my part mostly to make sure I had dug into every nook and cranny of the convention hall. With my hitlist in hand, or at least head, I headed out once more into the throng to find gaming goodness to bring you.  

Gangly Games – I’ve always been a fan of things mobster so headed in the direction of Gangs of Britannia first thing. They were running a little 1 minute demo of their prisoner dilemma mechanic that makes up part of the game, but a longer demo would have been an hour, something I didn’t want to commit to so early in the day. Hope to head back on Sunday and see about getting a short overview of the game.

Warmacre Games –  I wanted to check out Jane Austen’s Matchmaker from this outfit as something I might be able to get to table with my wife. I was accompanied by my learned colleague Gaz for a game but I have to say I wasn’t really sold on it. The mechanics were very light and although there is a bit of interesting risk/reward balancing going on it didn’t really grab me. There are a couple of expansions which might change things up but the core was not strong enough for me to commit.

Republic of 1 – Soft War is a game that had caught my eye as I passed through the hall yesterday, my love of all things acrylic staying with me from Netrunner bling. Turns out the game is actually pretty good as well, and is in fact a cyberpunk themed 2 player strategy game that uses dice as the units. I had a nice short demo that really gave me a feel for the game and I look forward to trying out the full experience when the game launches. 

NSKN – Matt and I had sat down for an explanation of Shadowscape the day before, but I really wanted to try and get a deo in before buying. Again the length of the demo offered was more like a full game so I just picked it up and I’ll give it the full review treatment soon.

Four Elements – I’d initially looked at this game as the acrylic called out to me, and it was a really quick and fun dexterity game. Little out of my price range for this kind of thing I have to say, but the booth has been packed everytime I have walked by and kids especially seem to love it. 

Modiphius – Chris from Modiphius was good enough to give Rich and I an interview regarding the upcoming Fallout Miniatures game  and Star Trek Adventures. They have a lot of really exciting plans for these two lines and I’ll be writing up a full article on what they have in the pipeline. Really excited to try both.  

CGE – While Rich wandered off to Collectormania across the hall, Gaz and I wandered towards Czech Games Edition, ostensibly to get a game of Adrenaline. Unfortuately a 6 player game was ongoing so we sat down instead for a game of Codenames Duet a really strong adaptation of the core game into a two player cooperative experience. You have to find 15 agents between you on the grid but each of you has only some of the information. 

A little earlier in the day I had sat down for a game of That’s a Question a very light question and answer game from Vlaada Chavatil. This game sees you constructing questions to ask one of the other players out of hex cards and a weird trianle thing. Each other player, and the questioner, then guesses what the likely answer is to be out of the two choices. I had a really fun time with this, but i’m not sure if it will have the replayability of something like Codenames.

Cubicle 7 – I chatted briefly with the folks from cubicle about them recently acquiring the Warhammer licence. They have two games coming out, one under the Age of Sigmar timeline and one under the classic. Sounds like both games will have the same underlying bed of mechanics from 1st/2nd edition and that they ahve plans to rework some of the classic adventures into the new systems. I’ll be really interested to see how they seperate the two lines. 

I realised, looking back at my photos, that I had managed to miss a couple of game off my day 1 overview. Here they are.

Lazer Riders:  A totally sweet and radical looking game right down to the distressed cardboard box looking like old VHS boxes. Light race game with a Tron aesthetic that was a blast. 

Design Town – I was kindly given a copy of this by the Pegasus Spiele folks at the press preview and Rich, Matt and I broke it out in the evening. After a slightly abortive first attempt where we got some rules wrong, we settled into our second game and found a neat , light deck builder. I’ll write up a full review soon.

Day 2 was great and I once again came across a couple of games I hadn’t really considered in my initial look at all the exhibitors. It’s the surprise encounters and hidden gems that keep me coming back to expo and I’m looking forward to coming back next year with a few new tricks on the press side.