SOLD OUT ALL DAYS said the signs. I don’t know what the stats say, but I’d say GenCon was completely back to, if not surpassing, the pre-COVID levels of the convention. GenCon was in full force in 2024, and I love it. It’s still everything it’s cracked up to be, and a bucket list item for any and all serious board gamers. Go to GenCon and find your ultimate game experience.
The Crew
Much smaller than previous years, but expandable when it needed to be. We got a full baker’s dozen together for our delve into the True Dungeon. For the most part, it was the coriest core group: Timmerb (making trip #17), docmogs, xcrudo, little bro Jon Crudo, Dystopia Matt making his third straight trip, and now Lisa joining us for the second straight year. I only jumped in late Friday night and stayed until Sunday afternoon, a maybe 44-hour stay but jam packed as always, and well worth it, of course.
What Was New This Year
It felt like bigger crowds with more people in costume and more games and events than ever before, which is saying something. I’m sure there was some hot new breakthrough item like last year’s Lorcana, but I didn’t catch it this year other than Star Wars Unlimited, which I will discuss later on.
The Dealer Hall
Giving Ludus Magnus some love here, because we love love love Black Rose Wars. Tim has all the expansions and a shitload of extras, so I don’t need to make my own investment, but if your group hasn’t, I recommend diving in.
It seemed like Dune Imperium: Uprising was everywhere this year.
Now where was this game, say, 40 years ago? I would have been into it.
Same with this one. Not a bad effort but 40 years later, no thanks. But I like what Buffalo Games has going, and I bought Oh No, Volcano! to play with my daughters and it’s a fun little game.
Some day, after I’ve bought a mansion, I’ll be able to put one of these fancy items from Board Game Tables into my game room.
Good to see games out for The Witcher.
It’s just called “Moon” (which worked a movie, a good one). I demo’d it and liked it, not enough to buy it, but enough to mention it to those who like the theme or concept. It’s good, just not for me with so many games out there.
Starfarers of Catan has been around since 2019 but this was my first foray, and it included the New Encounters expansion which has only been around since last year. Even though I used to love Catan, I wasn’t super interested in Starfarers, but I have to say I’m very impressed. I just love the little spaceships you use to roll dice, and that outfitting your ship for greater exploration is part of the game. I’ll probably end up adding this one to the collection.
Terraforming Mars Tournament
We sold out all 128 spots in a matter of hours like we always do, and were able to run this as a full fledged, sanctioned tournament of one of my all-time favorite games, Terraforming Mars. (Relatedly, I’d like to see humanity put aside its differences and get busy settling the solar system).
I both enjoy seeing all the returning faces from the past 6 years, as well as meeting people new to GenCon, for whom this tournament was the central experience of their first GenCon venture. I remember when my GenCons centered around particular tournaments like Star Wars Miniatures and Puerto Rico, and am excited to get to provide that kind of experience for others.
The Terraforming Mars tournament lets me take everything I learned from those past tournaments and apply them, and this really is one of the best tournaments I’ve been a part of in over a dozen visits to GenCon. It’s big, it’s brisk, and it’s got great support from Double Exposure and Indie Game Studios and Stronghold Games, allowing us to give out $1000 in prizes. Best of all, the people involved tend to be really nice (which is generally true at GenCon). It sells out quickly, but there’s almost always space available for anyone persistent enough to show up Saturday morning looking for a spot — if you really want to play it, you can play it, as over 120 people did.
We got a new winner this year in Jeff Shireman!
The Gaming Hall
Not far from my own tournament, xcrudo battled in Ark Nova, one of the best games around. Your goal is to build a zoo that conserves animals while generating a profit, all in the most serious, well-researched way. Form partnerships with other countries. Collect species and build housing for them, specialized housing generates more points.
I didn’t play this or even demo it, but I do love seeing this theme in a nice looking board game.
More stuff that caught my eye but didn’t have time to play, some in the game hall, some in the dealer hall:
The Costumes
I’ve seen so many that not much grabs me anymore, but this group did:
The Games
As mentioned, we delved into the True Dungeon. For those who don’t know, it’s essentially a live action RPG with escape room elements. We had a full 13 of us by my count. I wore my 16th century Ottoman costume and it worked well enough for a Dwarf Fighter. We all survived the encounter with the monster in the picture, and ultimately our party triumphed, but I didn’t survive the big boss.
Terraforming Mars the Dice Game was big at GenCon last year, and I’m only catching up to playing a full game of it this year but I really like it. It’s basically Terraforming Mars lite, but there’s space in my set for that, a nice quick easy version of one of my favorite games, but with its own twists in how you use and upgrade the dice. Putting down projects requires dice requirements that are always within your reach if you’re willing to commit enough time and resources to get them, as there are no longer any terraforming (e.g. temperature, oxygen level) requirements to your projects, and it makes all the difference. TM fans should check it out, and even non-TM fans might want to give this shorter, simpler format a shot.
Akropolis is one of the all-time great fillers. It’s quick and fun but oh so strategic. And you get to build a pretty city. Highly recommend.
I’ve already raved about Distilled, but we played again with the Africa & Middle East Expansion, and it’s still one of the best games going, in my opinion, right along with Ark Nova and Black Rose Wars and Unmatched. Those are my games right now.
Now, if was to add another game to a “my games” list, this new Star Wars Unlimited game just might be it. I need another Star Wars game like a hole in my head, so I’ve resisted game after Star Wars game, but this one is probably going to break through.
For those who don’t know Star Wars games, there is probably none better than Star Wars Rebellion, and that includes my beloved Epic Duels. The downside is that Rebellion can take a while to play. Star Wars Unlimited has a great Rebellion feel to it, while playing at a brisk pace, brisk enough to play 2 out of 3, or mix different decks as they get added to the game. I expect a lot more to come here, and I could see myself getting into all of that.
It simply isn’t GenCon without a game of Glory to Rome, so that’s how we closed it out on Sunday afternoon.
See you next year.