Kublacon Round-up...Finally

Hello everyone, I trust you are having a good weekend. One week ago I was in the thick of Kublacon—the annual game convention I go to. I wanted to get this post out earlier in the week, but as I’m sure many of you know, you can take a break from work to go on vacation, but the work just piles up while your gone—waiting for you. Alas, I have spent most of the week catching-up on work and sleeping.

Anyhow, I had a blast at this year’s con. Besides hosting my Battletech game that many of you have followed me develop over the year (which I will have a full AAR soon), I played many new and exciting games and a few old favorites. I also especially like to take a moment or two and check out all of the games I just can’t get to. There are so many games, but only three days to play. So I will have photos of those too.

 I arrived at the con at noon and got with some friends from San Diego and my friend Dylan from Sacramento. They are a tight bunch that comes every year and they host games as well. In fact the first two games I played were hosted by them. The first game was run by Rene and it was a post-apocalyptic car vs. car game where each team had six death machines in which to destroy the enemy’s six vehicles. A fast simple game with nicely painted vehicles and a rule set that was easy to learn. It was called Warlands (Also Here).

The second game I played was run by Rich, also one of the San Diego crew, It was called “The Spear Asunder ~ Shame & Glory” It was a very interesting game because of the mechanics of the game that allowed each player (6) to run a British squad as well as the Africans trying to overrun the outpost. The object of the game was to cause other players shame while you collected glory. The player with the most glory minus shame was the winner. One did this by trying to damage the other player’s squads, but not so much that the Africans can over run the outpost. It was a very fun game with nicely painted minis, bad accents, and lots of antics like pointing and stating, “For Shaaaame!”

After that game, Dylan and I went to the Kublacon’s huge flea market. It’s a great opportunity to pick up games and miniatures for rock-bottom prices. Almost so cheap, you can feel a little guilty. I bought five large shoeboxes of Mechwarrior: Dark Age clicker mechs and accessories for $20.00! There was easily $1500.00 worth of mechs in the boxes. I quickly left with those, put them in my room and ran back down to shop some more. Another thing I picked up was an unopened box of Warlands vehicles for $8.00 that retailed for $35.00. It had instructions, two dune buggies, a truck, and even dice. Finally, I bought an original and complete box of Shogun; the 1980s version by Milton Bradley for $45.00. These sell online for a couple of hundred dollars. So for less than $100.00 I had bought several hundreds of dollars worth of games. I was pretty happy.

The next day, Dylan and I signed up for a game called “Starship II”. This game is kind of like a 3D version of Aerotech and Star Fleet Battles with a lot less paperwork and it ran much faster. Thomas of Skull and Crown made everything you see. The ships, astroids, and even the game system were scratch built by him. In fact the game system is one of the best parts because it was easy to learn, logical, and had quick resolution. I really can’t convey to you how much I liked the game. Please check out his AAR of the battle here.

So after we trounced the alien ships in Starship (Our side only lost an outpost and most of our fighters while they lost all of their capital ships except one and most of their mecha) we met with our friend Eric who came down from Sacramento for the day. We thought we would play my new game of Shogun; it played so much faster than I remember. Eric let Dylan and I fight each other to a standstill while he collected enough spaces to win. We should have played another game, but Eric and Dylan played a serious game of Shogun with miniatures which recreated an epic battle of Japan’s feudal past.

While they played it, I played a new (Or at least new to me) squad level game called Songsof our Ancestors. The game revolves around fat lizard people called the Quar who have been fighting each other for over a millennium on what I assume is another world. They don’t have high-tech weaponry like what you might expect, they have technology that is roughly equivalent to that of the armies who fought in the Great War. In the battle I fought, my squad had to eliminate a spy that was taking shelter in a house while an enemy squad had to save the guy. In the end, I was thoroughly routed. My sniper was counter sniped, and the guys that managed to open the house were gunned down as the enemy poured into the house. One my men died so badly that I was required to make morale check which I failed badly causing my last two troops to run off board. Even though I lost, I really liked the mechanics of the game and the Quar aliens grew on me  (The next day, I bought two squads and the rules). They are all put out by Zombie Smith. They have a huge line of miniatures to support the game as well as Sci-fi, zombie, and fantasy miniatures. They even have another rule set for larger Quar battles and 15mm Quar. Check out the Video ad they have too.

After my friends and I completed our miniatures games, we got back together and played a couple games of Neuroshima Hex. It’s a fast-paced game for two to four players where you have to destroy your enemies’ bases. It has a unique layout and the play is pretty solid like chess. Check out a review here.

I’ll have more on my final day at the con as well as an AAR for the Final Skondia Battle. Until then, please check out these photo of other great games from the con that I was unable to play.