WBC 2012 – A Pictorial Recap
We’ve attended many conventions over the years, but one of our recent favorites has become the World Boardgaming Championships in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. No other convention embodies the thrill of competition and the camaraderie and fellowship of tabletop gaming quite like the WBC. Although Monkey238 and I headed to Lancaster to playtest and promote Dice Hate Me Games, we also wanted to be able to relax and have a little gaming vacation before the madness of GenCon. We were definitely not disappointed, and had a wonderful time with friends, both old and new.
So settle back and take it all in through this picture book look at the WBC!
Our home away from home while in Lancaster – Open Gaming!
First game of the convention for us was a five-player game of Sentinels of the Multiverse. With Legacy, Fanatic, Ra, The Wraith and The Visionary creating an amazing synergy, Baron Blade was crushed handily!
Michael Taylor of Fruitless Pursuits and Jeff Quick of AEG both had very nice mustaches, so a manly arm wrestling match ensued to determine the first player in The Great Heartland Hauling Co.
Jason Crognale of Play Board Games, Michael Taylor, Jeff Quick and “Uncle” Chris played a very vocal and closely-contested game. It was entertaining to watch!
Smash Up! Jeff Quick gave us a demo; I chose the Tricksters and Alien factions to smash up in my deck. The art and design are fantastic!
Despite T.C. Petty III’s amazingly annoying Robots, I really enjoyed Smash Up. It was a little bit reminiscent of a simplified Magic: The Gathering, combined with a few other CCGs from the glory days – except without Mr. Suitcase out to ruin all the fun. I’m looking forward to more plays!
Monkey238 gets ready to do some mountain climbing in T.C. Petty III’s irreverent and irresistible Rockbabies!
More Rockbabies action! Richard Bliss’s poor little blue baby takes a tumble, but he later rallied to win in an exciting finish.
The Great Heartland Hauling Co. in action!
More trucking in The Great Heartland Hauling Co. We got a ton of demos in, and everyone had a great time – well, there was that one guy, but you can’t win ’em all!
Leaping Lemmings! This game was a lot more fun than most of us expected, but we all agreed that it was a bit too much with 6 players. Plus, it being a GMT game meant that the instructions were well-nigh indecipherable – I think the rules were actually taken from a 1967 Kelvinator refrigerator manual.
Paul Owen (top left) gave us a full demo of his newest project, East India Company – a nautical commerce game with pick-up and deliver mechanics, a randomly-generated goods economy and pirates!
A closer look at East India Company. Monkey238 and I both had a really good time playing the game; it was a satisfying and meaty experience. Even though the game isn’t that old, it felt really solid, and we look forward to seeing more of it as Paul continues development!
We’re pretty sure that this game of Sicily was camped out on this table all week. We tried not to sneeze while we were playing games around it. We’re not sure who won, but by the looks of all the dead Axis we hope it was the Allies!
Saturday was filled with an hours-long game of Letters From Whitechapel. Shawn Purtell’s Jack the Ripper went on a four-night rampage through the streets of London, and we only picked up about four clues. We finally settled on my big hunch, tightening the reins on what we thought was his neighborhood and catching him with only a few turns left. It was one of the greatest chases I’d ever experienced in the game!
Saturday night’s six-player game of VivaJava, led by the Brewmaster himself, T.C. Petty III. Everyone involved said it was a great game, and T.C. eventually won. Designer advantage!
Thor from Game Surplus stopped by on Saturday and hooked me up with a copy of Vegas. It was a hit! For all the divisiveness that Spiel des Jahres winner Kingdom Builder generated, I can almost guarantee universal appeal from this SdJ runner-up.
That about wraps it up for this year’s WBC, but we’ll be back next year.
Come on out and play some games with us – I’ll arm wrestle you for first player!
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Looks like an awesome time. I would’ve loved to try Smash Up, Heartland Hauling and Vegas!.
I enjoyed your photo recap of WBC. Your assessment of WBC says it best, “No other convention embodies the thrill of competition and the camaraderie and fellowship of tabletop gaming quite like the WBC.”
This was my 4th WBC and my 2nd year of spending a full week at WBC with my daughters (10 & 12). Now, our family calendar is blocked out immediately for WBC. I appreciate the opportunity to share the WBC experience with my daughters.
I’ve done my share of game conventions for the past 30+ years including Cruise Con and nothing comes close to the WBC experience.
Looks like a good time. Sorry I missed it. Thanks for the retrospective.
VivaJava rocked! Can’t wait to play it at home. I know it wasn’t the final components, but wow! What you had so far was fantastic!!! Loved to artwork, Loved the Humor on some of the blend cards. Loved the bean building mechanic & the semi co-op nature. Next game i need to play a bit more attention to the research track… Thanks to Chris & TC for arranging the demo game. Was great meeting everyone!
I would just like to point out that although it looks like Mike is winning in that arm-wrestling photo, were were actually very evenly matched. Thank you.
Great photos! Thanks for putting them up and playing games with us. I can’t wait til we game again and hope it will be longer. I am also proud I won that vocal game of Heartland Hauling and glad to see see Richard won with my abandoned Rock Baby (since I had to leave). Good times!