Boarded...Again

As I mentioned last time, I was at Fallcon during the last weekend of September. One of the big parts of the convention for me is the game auction. There are a few hundred games up for grabs in the auction every year, and I had looked over the list to see what gems I might be able to pick up. I had a list, but only ended up with one item from my list, that being Doom: The Board Game.

I played a lot of Castle Wolfenstein, Doom and eventually Quake during my teens. I'd heard of the board game and that it was quite good, but had never given it much thought. When I saw there were a few copies of it up for grabs in the auction I decided that if I could get one for less that $40 I would. My copy cost me $35, and the second one went for $28. I know at this point it's unlikely I'll find a copy of the expansion, but maybe someday! The figures are quite nice and there are a lot of them. I'm sure they'd take paint well, although it's unlikely I'll be doing that any time soon.

The other game I was hoping to get was Battlestar Galactica, but they all went for more than I wanted to pay for used copies. Near the end I decided to bid on a card game called Arcana, which I picked up for $16. I'd heard of it by name only. Seems like something I can talk a few of my friends into on occasion. Once I opened the box I was actually pretty impressed with how it looks and am looking forward to giving it a try!

I've been a customer of Starlit Citadel for several years now and this year was their debut at Fallcon. I think it might have been their first time outside of BC to attend a convention. I quite enjoyed chatting with their staff and picked up a few items from their booth on my way out Sunday morning. Here's what I grabbed:

Escape: Quest - The second expansion for one of my new favorites this year!

Love Letter - A very impressive little card game. You'll get some funny looks when you produce the game and ask if anyone wants to play it though...

Summoner Wars: The Filth - Another army pack for Summoner Wars. It's been a while since I played this game, even though I love it every time I do.

Last Night on Earth: Timber Peak - A standalone game / expansion for a great zombie game. With Halloween coming up I couldn't resist adding something thematic in readiness for my favourite time of year.

Of those six items, I've only played one so far...Love Letter. We only played a single two-player game in which I was severely trounced. The game was a lot of fun even in losing, which says to me that it's a good game. I'd like to see how the deduction in the game works out with three or four players.

Last weekend saw me paying a visit to one of the local game shops for a birthday gift. I also ended up with more stuff for myself. Apparently I have no willpower at all...and bought a copy of Escape: Illusions, the first expansion for Escape. I also got a copy of the second promo, so now own all the products released for the game. We tried a two player game of the basic illusions set and it was good fun. Without the curses though, our second game ended quickly with us fleeing the temple during the second phase. I really love this game, but with all the released items to date there is a lot of variety available, about half of which I haven't played with yet so I don't know that I'd need to add any more components to my collection.

Last up was a used copy of Tannhauser for $50. Retail price is around $75, and this copy looks like it's never been played. I added the revised rule book and a set of the equipment cards and ended up paying a total of $70.38. That's essentially a fully-loaded core set for less than retail, or I guess I got the cards for free... I suppose I could have saved even more cash and bought the PDF version revised rules instead, but the book is quite nice.

I was very temped to buy an expansion or two for the game even though I haven't even played it yet. It just looks so cool! However I decided to err on the side of caution and give it a few plays before investing in it any further. I quite like the back story for the setting and think it could provide some really fun scenario-based games. Although it's listed as playable by 2-10 people, the rulebook really says to me that it's a two player game. Time will tell!