Gen Con 2019 Pictorial Recap
Ah, mid-August. That special time of the year between when all the big conventions are over and when school starts back up. It would feel heavenly if I didn’t have so much to do to put Legends of Sleepy Hollow to bed. But I digress from the topic at hand: Gen Con. Every year, Gen Con is our biggest show, and it’s filled with frantic meetings, and frenetic shopping. I took things a bit easier at this year’s convention, but it was still an epic spectacle, packed with hungry gamers wanting to get their fill before the end of summer.
As is tradition here on Dice Hate Me, I took a few photos along the way to document the marvel and madness that is Gen Con. Enjoy!
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- Half the fun of Gen Con every year is the road trip there and back. This year, TC joined me and Dan on the road, and we had a blast.
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- That old familiar Indy skyline.
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- We got in early enough that we could break out a couple of games. Here, we’re trying out Rolled West by Daniel Newman. It’s a great, compact version of Gold West, originally designed by J. Alex Kevern.
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- I think I did ok. I really enjoyed it.
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- Dizzle is a pretty straightforward roll and write that has an interested dice placement puzzle.
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- The Greater Than Games booth during set-up on Wednesday.
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- Our huge banner announcing Medium, set up right outside our demo room in the main hall across from the exhibit hall.
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- The crowd gathers outside the exhibit hall for the annual Running of the Bulls shopping spree on Thursday morning!
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- A few of the things I picked up on Thursday morning. I didn’t intend to buy a fully-functional Captain America shield, but I’m so glad that I did.
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- Hanging out in the Queen Games booth with Jason Matthews and Stefan Feld. Like you do.
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- Dan Patriss with Stefan Feld!
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- We got a chance to attend Portal Games’ 20th anniversary party. Here, Ignacy Trzewiczek shows of his anniversary cake.
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- Dan and I got a chance to try out Unmatched from Restoration Games. It’s a really cool and breezy little 2-player tactical skirmish game that has assymetrical powers handled by a specialized deck of cards.
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- Alice is ready to kick some butt down in Wonderland.
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- Our first skirmish was Alice (me) vs. Medusa (Dan). Alice pulled out the win with her nasty Jabberwock, but Medusa was a royal pain with her discard abilities.
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- Sinister Six is an awesome 3-6 player heist game where you have to work with fellow supervillains to try and pull off heists around New York.
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- You have to be careful not to get nabbed by Spider-Man, Miles Morales, or Spider-Gwen. And there can be only one winner, so cooperation will only go so far.
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- Dan and I got a chance to demo the new Funkoverse Strategy Game with Stephanie Straw and designer Chris Rowlands.
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- Each set comes with two different maps and different scenarios like Capture the Flag and Bases.
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- It’s a light, fun game that will definitely appeal to a wide range of gamers. Plus, getting to actually play with Funko Pop figures is awesome!
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- Guise may be in over his head with his new accessory, even if he is the best.
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- Parks from Keymaster Games is absolutely gorgeous.
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- Gameplay for Parks is pretty straightforward and elegant. It’s very easy to get into. Is the gameplay worth the $52 price tag? Probably not. But the crazy production value helps.
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- Medium was the hit of Gen Con. Everywhere I went tables of gamers were playing it and having a blast. We sold out of it by late Friday morning. I only wish we’d had more.
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- BJ Rozas of Boardgame Gumbo showing off his coveted acorn as champion of the Rolling Dice & Taking Names Strike tournament.
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- Bottom of the 9th is always a big hit in our booth. It’s easily one of the best games to demo at a con.
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- Craig McRoberts being his usual enthusiastic self on Gen Con Sunday (plus an added photobomb by Citizen extraordinaire Xander Orenstein).
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- Homebrewers! We sold out of this awesome game on Friday afternoon.
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- People were loving Homebrewers, and we hope to have it in retail in the next few weeks.
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- Upper Deck’s big release this Gen Con was 007 Legendary. So they put a legendary car in their booth, naturally.
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- The Marvel Crisis Protocol miniatures game was generating huge buzz at Gen Con.
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- Crisis Protocol will allow gamers to build team-ups across the Marvel Universe and duke it out over familiar city terrain.
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- Yep, that’s Ultron vs. Spidey. The miniatures look fantastic.
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- More rumbling in the park.
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- Rooftop carnage!
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- Crossbones versus Cap!
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- The subway station they built for Crisis Protocol demos was just simply amazing.
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- Arkham Horror: Final Hour! I don’t know anything about this game other than I absolutely want it. Of course.
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- Giant Ticket to Ride: London.
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- Hellscape in the Dwarven Forge booth. Simply stunning.
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- More Hellscape.
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- Even more Hellscape
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- I have no idea what this is, but it looks awesome. Chocobo jockey?
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- Clay Ross, founder of Capstone Games, running a demo of their Gen Con release, Watergate. It was my #1 most-anticipated game of the con.
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- In Watergate, one player takes on the role of the Nixon administration, while the other takes on the role of The Washington Post.
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- The Post player wants to connect sources to Nixon through evidence, while the Nixon administration wants to block The Post while gaining enough momentum to push the story down permanently.
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- It’s a great game of back-and-forth hand management, and it definitely did not disappoint. Such a fantastic game.
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- A huge draw in the Greater Than Games booth were The Brothers Chap, showing off the Trogdor board game (with a huge assistance from Strongbad).
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- Mike Chapman signing autographs.
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- Tentacle Town, coming soon from Monster Fight Club.
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- Look at all those lovely tentacles!
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- Bicycle had a really nice and comfortable booth.
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- Great terrain used for demos of Dystopian Wars.
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- More Dystopian Wars goodness.
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- I have to admit, I know absolutely nothing about Dystopian Wars, but the miniatures and terrain always look fantastic.
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- More awesome Dystopian Wars gangs.
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- Werewolves! Awesome.
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- Batman: Gotham City Chronicles looked pretty sweet on the table.
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- BJ Rozas teaching Reavers of Midgard in the Greyfox Games booth.
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- Designers Ken Franklin and Jay Treat checking out SpyMaster in the Calliope Games booth.
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- Fashion diva (and board game designer) extraordinaire, Chris Leder
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- I caught Julie Ahern of Greenbrier Games a bit unawares during a team photoshoot.
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- News master W. Eric Martin sporting his brand new Boardgamegeek jersey.
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- Wingspan designer Elizabeth Hargrave doing an interview in the Boardgamegeek booth.
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- Turned around in the Boardgamegeek booth and almost got lost in the baby blues of Marty Connell from Rolling Dice & Taking Names podcast
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- Greater Than Games CEO Paul Bender looking like he’s up to no good.
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- The always-joyous Bill Bricker in the Stronghold Games booth.
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- Bill does his best Vanna White to frame Stephen Buonocore’s famous mug in the Stronghold Games booth.
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- Grand Gamers Guild founder Marc Specter, in the booth and showing off the amazing The Artemis Project
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- Helaina Cappel, co-founder of Kids Table Board Gaming.
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- Josh Cappel, the other half of Kids Table Board Gaming.
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- Getting in one last demo of Legends of Sleepy Hollow before the hall closes down.
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- Some more Bottom of the 9th action!
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- James Ernest playing some old school Kill Dr. Lucky in the Greater Than Games demo room.
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- The AEG team taking a quick group pic before the arduous task of tear down.
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- The worst part of Gen Con is the tear down, but thanks to Matt Kroll and our team of Citizens it took us less than 2.5 hours. Unbelievable.
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- All packed up and barely enough room for TC!
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- Our annual pilgrimmage to Nitro, West Virginia was nixed this year on the way up because they removed the Balzout World HQ sign. But then we found out there’s a remnant on the other side of the building. So we made Nitro a stop on our trip once again!
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- A beautiful rainbow near Mt. Airy and Pilot Mountain, NC. A great way to end another epic week at Gen Con. Hope to see you all there next year!
Related posts:
- Gen Con 2018 Pictorial Recap!
- GenCon 2014 Pictorial Recap
- GenCon 2012 – A Pictorial Recap
- Gen Con 2017 Pictorial Recap!
- Origins 2014 Pictorial Recap
