Date: Thu, 29 May 1997 14:05:01 -0700 From: "Ted Kim (Random Dude)" Subject: Another GAMEX report Message-Id: <199705292106.XAA11090@listserv.uni-c.dk> Here is my belated GAMEX con report. GAMEX 97 was held on 23-26 May 1997 (Memorial Day weekend) at the LAX airport Wyndham hotel. GAMEX is one of the three annual STRATEGICON Los Angeles conventions. It is smaller than the February ORCCON ones, but I am not sure about it's ranking relative to the September GATEWAY cons. It is also the first STRATEGICON convention in quite sometime not managed by Jeff Albanese, who is apparently a school teacher now. However, things pretty much followed the pattern of previous conventions. Overall, lots of fun and not much sleep. Most of the same vendors and retailers showed up, including: Decision Games, Flying Buffalo, One Small Step, Fat Messiah, Weekend Warrior, John Gafni, Ian Games, but unfortunately no GMT. Of the usual suspects, I saw: Chris Cummins, Joe Miranda, Tony Zalewski, Alan Emrich, Jennifer Schlickbernd, Perry Andrus and John Leggat. I saw (MIH) ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT, (MIH) PIERCING THE REICH, (GMT) OPERATION MERCURY, (VG) CIVIL WAR, (DG) KRIEG!, (AH) SIEGE OF JERUSALEM, and (AH) AGE OF RENAISSANCE being played among others. The Tim Jim guy was there doing a demo of THRONEWORLD, and as always the CONQUEST guy was showing off his game as well. Open gaming was back in the front ballroom. Card games were pushed back into the penthouse hinterlands. I didn't really poke around much outside of of open gaming. There were, of course, various boardgame tournaments on the other side of the floor and the mini guys doing their thing. I bumped into some old pals who play RPGs, but I didn't venture over there to check out the action. Overall attendance seemed to be about what it was last year with the same old overflow garage for hotel parking. My own story at the con was all multi-player games. I didn't get to do any serious wargaming over the weekend. Originally, I hadn't planned to attend on Friday. But, the gaming fever overcame me, and I rushed over after my exams and laundry. I joined in with Al Carpenter, Danny Holte and his friend Mark on a game of ROBO RALLY. However, the real event of the night was LORDS OF THE SIERRA MADRE. As always, Danny seemed to bring out latent arsonist tendencies in others, and one of his ranches was torched. This time Mark burned it all the way down to the foundation. In Mexico, taxation was rampant, and Indians were attacked and enslaved. Lawyers showed up for a proxy fight. North of the border, things were quieter. The biggest news was Al's marriage to a Boston socialite. My joint venture mine with Al proved to be worthless. This game was fairly cash poor with (positive value) mines just coming on line near the end. On Saturday, the same crew plus Bill tackled SAMURAI SWORDS. After consolidating a central position, I found myself beset by Danny, Mark and Al, who was just "visiting" from the southern islands. Danny and I temporarily called a truce. I had to decide whether to go after Mark or Al. I attacked Al (probably the wrong choice in retrospect). While I did do in one of his daimyos, he came after me with a vengeance. I temporarily stalled Al with a Ninja assassination, but Mark attacked and conquered my forces. By the time I was back from the dealer's room, Mark had won the whole game. Next, it was back to the frontier. This time, the LORDS OF THE SIERRA MADRE also included John Spaulding. He proved to be the master of dirty tricks, eventually igniting a Sonoran Red Flag rebellion and taking control of almost everything in Sonora. My own plans were aimed at improving my leadership and then entering politics. However, the game ended before my chance came. For once, Danny's ranch was not burned. Only a railroad bridge was burned by Red Flaggers. This game was rocked by all sorts of events. Diaz was ill, crops failed, flu swept through the slave plantations and Halley's comet arrived. Markets were volatile to say the least. Later in the evening, Al and I played a couple of pickup games of SETTLERS OF CATAN. In the first, I barely squeaked by Tony. In the second, Tony defeated Al, me and Drew. It was time to call it a night. On Sunday, I arrived after church expecting to play EAST FRONT or RING OF FIRE with John Spaulding. However, in the end, DUNE came out on the table. The players were Danny (Emperor), John (Fremen), Robert (Harkonnen), Brandon (Atriedes), myself (Guild) and someone else (forgot his name) playing the BG Witches. Fairly early, a nexus came, and the treacherous Harkonnen and Emperor allied. Immediately, the Witches and Atriedes also allied. The Fremen player and I had little choice at that point, so we too allied. Our first attempt to go for the win hinged on winning two of three from Arakeen, Tabr and Habbanya. (We had Tuek's already.) The Witches played some inscrutable game (prediction?) by locking out unwelcome visitors at Carthag. Habbanya was an easy victory due to the Guild going last and knowing at least Esmar was not a traitor. This prevented the Emperor's team from winning this turn. However, Arakeen proved to be a tough nut to crack with both Witch and Atriedes mind games. The green guys did at least pay the blood necessary to use the Kwisatz Haderach and then some. At Tabr, our plans were foiled when Stilgar proved to be a traitor. It was time for the Harkonnen team to make their move, but Guild intervention (and a Lasegun/Shield combo) left a crater at Tabr and prevented their win. The tanks were getting mighty full, but the Teilaxu Ghola came up giving the Guild a needed leg up on the rebuilding curve. The witches made their move. The BGs hiked out of the polar sink across the Imperial Basin to Carthag while Ornithopers carried the Green guys to Tabr. However, psychic abilities were not enough to deal with the arsenal of the Harkonnen. Spice was getting scarce, and even the Harkonnen called for CHOAM charity. It was time for another foray. The Freman swarmed into Tabr, and Guild troopers reinforced against Imperial attack. This time, a Karama prevented any calls to the Psychic Hotline, and a safe (but lower value) Fremen leader was used. The result was victory for the Fremen/Guild alliance. Such great fun and victory too! In the evening, we played (EON) BORDERLANDS. This time, Jennifer Schlickbernd joined our motley crew of Danny, John and me. I carved out a nice position to the east, but the diplomacy and negotiation went alternately for and against me. In the end, Danny terrorized the waterways, and John raided the south. I contended with Jennifer to get the final city needed, but it looked like her superior skill both on the board and in negotiation would win in the end. As usual, Monday was spent mostly at the auction. Auction volume was light. There were only a few SPI games. However, as usual the auction crew was highly entertaining, except possibly when they were singing. Danny carted away a massive pile. Flea markets were light too, but there were bargains to be had. As usual, I went over budget but picked up some good deals. The final act was a quick game of SETTLERS OF CATAN with me, Al and two others. We played the multiple island variant. Unfortunately, I placed badly and never really was a contender. See you all next time, -ted Ted H. Kim WWW: http://fmg-www.cs.ucla.edu/tek UCLA Computer Science Dept. Phone: (310) 825-7307 Email: tek@ficus.cs.ucla.edu FAX: (310) 825-2273