GenCon 2017 - Part II (Thursday)

Hall G Entrance about 30 minutes before doors opened. The crowd would get more tightly packed as time drew near. Most of these folks will simply relocate to the Kingdom Death line.

THURSDAY

We arrived onsite very early, parked, and then made our way into the venue.

We originally planned to enter from the Gaming Hall, but after loitering for a few minutes noted that the signs near the door said they wouldn't open until 10:15, so we quickly vacated to the Hall G entrance (nearest the War Store).  This was away from the main crowd that was assembling by the Fantasy Flight and CoolStuffInc entrances.

We had over an hour to wait, but got excellent placement in the herd, and bantered with the gamers around us.  It seemed like most folks around were also there for Kingdom Death: Monster (KDM), and stories from the Kickstarter and past GenCons passed the time happily.

The moment the doors open was a little surreal.  Although the Hall Staff opened the doors and were prepared for us, the last 5 minutes passed more quickly than I expected and when the crowd lurched forward I was caught surprised.  I went straight to the KDM booth and was maybe #20 in line.  Mrs. Zoxe went to Ninja Division to get the KDM crossover chibi figure, and a large bag of other loot.

The Kingdom Death line at about 10:03am Thursday. The KD staff made this as orderly as possible; there's actually an imaginary 'snake' line here in the available space.

Adam Poots, the man behind KDM, working the crowd.

I did well at the KDM booth and scored this years' GenCon figure, last years' figure, and as some of the stuff the web store has been sold out of and/or I didn't feel like paying shipping on (dice sets in particular).  The KDM line quickly took up all available space nearby and then snaked down the hall.  I was glad we strategized correctly.

Oddly enough, the search function in google docs didn't work on my phone, so the big list of KDM content I spent so much time researching before the 'con was mostly wasted effort.  I managed to work from memory, but did re-buy a white box promo that I'll get again from the Kickstarter.  Oh well, I've wasted more money on dumber things.

Adam Poots, the KDM owner/creator was there at the store exit and I got some pictures.  I was standing in the pseudo-line to chat with him but he got ambushed by some youtubers that cut in front of everyone, so I shrugged and went to booth #2.

Dropfleet Commander: Scourge and UCM

Dropfleet Commander: PHR

Dropfleet Commander: UCM

Dropfleet Commander:  Shaltari

Hawk Wargames was next.  Dropfleet Commander is a game that I've eyeballed the past couple of GenCons, and recently have been watching the coverage at Beasts of War/YouTube.  It's basically EVE as a board game and seems to be a more "wargamey" system than Armada.  X-wing is fun, but hyper competitive, and Armada never really scratched the itch I had for "big space battles" (it's essentially "more complicated x-wing" and more of a brawl than a scenario).  So, for the past two months I've been waiting patiently to see what Hawk had at GenCon before I threw my wallet at them.

Hawk's big GenCon release was delayed and was/is still in shipment (they hoped to have Friday, but that's been delayed again).  Dismayed, I lurked around the booth, chatted up a couple of the demo guys, and finally had really nice chat with Dave, the owner/creator.  I'd seen him on youtube in several vids, so I felt like I knew him.  Easy to talk to and glad to hear that I'd been watching Beasts of War.  Hawk offers a few "show only" alternate sculpt models (no unique stats, just a different ship model), so I bought those and then went to stop #3.

Shadows of Brimstone: New items included the Doomsday Device and Generators (resin) for the Derelict Ship expansion.

More Brimstone goodness.

Next was Flying Frog, aka Shadows of Brimstone.  Line here was long (not as long as KD, but still ... long), but Mrs. Zoxe found me while I waited.  FF brought far more new content than I expected, and I could have dropped north of $500 trying to be a completionist.  However, the hoped-for expansion (Blasted Wastes) wasn't there, so I held myself to a) a combo pack of new heroes, saved $$ by buying a 3 pack and b) card packs and limited edition resin items that will be on the web store (their web store shipping costs are horrid).  I thus avoided c) items that will be in retail in the next 3-18 months that I can pick up on Amazon or ask for at Christmas for 30% less.  Spoke briefly with Jason, one of the creators while in line.

During her tour, Mrs. Zoxe met Deke from Ninja Division, and had a nice conversation with their studio painter, Elizabeth.  (We support Miniature Monthly, so it was really great to meet 1/2 of that duo -- and spoilers - we met Aaron on Friday).

With all of my loot in hand, we returned to the KDM booth and I found Poots, chatted a bit about the Kickstarter and got my picture with him.  I also demo'd the Year 1 Lion, and died horribly (but walked away smiling).

I went to the Wyrmwood Studios booth and bought my dice tower set.  Which I love, but you should go read the review so I don't have to type it out again here.

We signed up for a Gloomhaven demo later that afternoon, and thus met Isaac, that creator.  Gloomhaven is currently a hot game on BBG forums, and the 2nd printing went pretty crazy.  I came away with a favorable impression of Gloomhaven, which is good since I'll get my copy from KS this fall.

We kept our promise and ate a non-gut-churning chicken and fresh greens burrito from one of the food trucks.  Beyond that, it was a tour of the far side of the hall, from row 3000 down to row 1800.

So, when the dust settled on Thursday, we had met (and in many cases posed for selfies with):

• Dave, Hawk Wargames
• Jason, Flying Frog
• Poots, Kingdom Death
• Isaac, Gloomhaven
• Deke, Ninja Division
• Elizabeth, Ninja Division / Miniature Monthly
• Demo: Kingdom Death, year 1 Lion
• Demo: Gloomhaven