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Gen Con 2016 Recap & Review

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Gen Con is over.  This year was my 5th year attending the convention.  I had a blast.  My gaming group and I logged about 16 hours worth of role playing games.  We had one session of the Legend of the Five Rings RPG and the remaining 12 hours were spent in a 3 part D&D adventure hosted by Baldman Games.

Saturday I cosplayed as a Fallout Vault girl.  Unfortunately, I didn’t stop to take a decent photo of my costume!

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Wednesday

We arrived in Indy Wednesday afternoon. I had a wonderful view of the convention center from our room. To my surprise the will call line was flowing out the main entrance to the convention center. That was the longest I had ever seen the will call line.

 

Once we were settled in, we made our way to Scotty’s Brewhouse. If you ever eat there, give the peanut butter burger a try!

Thursday

This year I had the goal of demoing a lot of board games. First up, I stopped by Fireside Game’s booth to give Star Trek Panic a try. I had not played any of the previous games of the Castle Panic line so I wasn’t sure what to expect.  I enjoyed the demo of the game so much that I immediately purchased a copy to bring home.

Demoing Star Trek Panic! #gencon2016 #startrekpanic @fireside_games

A photo posted by Ashley Grenon (@cardboardbits) on

I stopped by Gamewright’s booth to take a look at Imagine. After hearing the overview, I decided to purchase a copy.

As I was visiting Renegade Games’ booth a caught of glimpse of Kitty Paw. What an adorable game! I enjoy dexterity and speed games, and I’m a sucker for cute art. It was an instant buy.

Kitty Paw! #gencon2016 #gencon #kittypaw #cutenessoverload

A photo posted by Ashley Grenon (@cardboardbits) on

Now the real reason I wanted to stop by Renegade Games’ booth was to take a look at Brick Party. After a quick demo, I picked up a copy of that game.

Typically, I am the one that research and purchase board games.  So when my husband expressed interest in Cry Havoc, it became an instant buy. We stopped by the Portal Games booth and I ran into Ignancy Trzewiczek and Grant Rodiek.

I then made my way to the Dice Tower’s booth to say hello and purchase a couple of promos.

A photo with @dicetower 🙂 #gencon2016 #gencon #thedicetower

A photo posted by Ashley Grenon (@cardboardbits) on

After spending a good bit in the Exhibitor’s Hall, we played a session of the Legends of the Five Rings RPG.  I love this RPG.  Playing a session of L5R RPG is one of my “must do” things each year I return to Gen Con.

 

We ended the day with a game of D&D, A Scream in the Night.  The game ran until 1 am.

Friday

Friday we played part 2 of our D&D adventure, A Cog in the Wheel.  I ended the evening with AEG’s Big Game Night.

First up I played a game of Smash Up.

I then had the opportunity to play Planes.

I ended Big Game Night with a game of Mystic Vale. I was really eager to give this game a try after hearing a lot of positive buzz about it on Twitter and Instagram.

For a chance to win a lifetime of Smash Up, and snapped of photo with this fellow:

The swag bag for this year’s AEG Big Game night was not as impressive as past years.  Despite that I still had a good time.

I actually had a little energy for a couple of games after my events. We played a game of Brick Party and Imagine.

Late night gaming begins with Imagine 🙂 #gencon2016 #gencon #imagine #gamewright

A photo posted by Ashley Grenon (@cardboardbits) on

Saturday

Saturday I met up with some fellow Huntsvillians and demoed their upcoming game: Super Hack Override.

We spent a good amount of time in the Exhibitor’s Hall trying new games.

A Game of Thrones: Hand of the King from Fantasy Flight Games is an interesting card game and a nice filler.

We sat down and played a brief game Tail Feathers from Plaid Hat Games. We adored it. If we had not exceeded our Gen Con board game budget, this would have been an instant buy.

I played giant version of Junk Art from Z-man Games.

We finished up the day with the final part of our D&D adventure.

Sunday

Sunday, we made one final trip to the Exhibitor’s Hall. We began our journey home around noon.

Until next year, Gen Con.

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