ScrapYard Armory

Day 2 was a furious day of gaming which ran way later than expected but was more fun than expected.  I played fewer demos today due to the Catalyst seminar and my own personel shopping at IWM, but still found a few gems.

Whats Up With BattleTech

The BattleTech seminar was split this year into talking about the tabletop game and the new Mechwarrior Tactics collectible online game.  I was a bit annoyed when Tactics took up the majority of the one hour time slot.  That said, the crowd seemed to enjoy the presentation (and the Beta keys that currently don’t work) and did not mind that there was only 20 min left for Q and A.  Most of the questions still ended up being MWT related anyways.

To be honest I’m not impressed.  It’s still very early in development but collectible nature of the game and the need to purchase in game booster packs makes me squeamish.  Bottom line is that it does not replace MegaMek and it is not a tabletop emulator.  It is its own game that borrows the universe and a few crunchy bits when it is convient.

Enough of computer games and back to BattleTech.  Here is a synopsis of what Herb had to say about the near future of the game.

• The Jihad is finished! (cheers)
• There are a few more Star League books to finish off the year.  Liberation of Terra will cap off the series.
• Interstellar Expeditions will delve into the beginning of the Dark Age and cover questions from the Inner Sphere as they learn where the remains of the WoB went, what happened to the Clans, and the deep deep periphery.
• Hand Book House Kurita is slated for the end of the year.  For real.
• A Time of War Companion is due in PDF form after GenCon.
• Into 2013 we enter the Dark Age which will have some fiction support in the form of the new Blitzkrieg series.  “Don’t worry there won’t be click dials.” -HB
• Interstellar Operation will happen next year.  “If China will leave me alone.” -RB
• At the end of 2013 the Dark Age should wrap up and we begin charting new territory in BattleTech canon.
• Historicals will continue to be produced including another Brush Wars volume and the 3rd Succession Wars.
• Expect more Total Chaos type material due to “positive feedback.”
• TRO 3150 will cover all of the Dark Age Mechs that we currently don’t have stats for.
• Plastics are still in the pipeline with the Clan Box Set.
• Hero Lab is not planned for A Time of War at this time.
• Battle Value is still planned to be killed.

Gaming

I played a round in the Flight School and made a good effort of blowing up opposing planes as we raced across a low altitude map.  This event was a bit disappointing but still a good time.  I wish there had been more preparation for the event.  Perhaps a little better focus to make the event enjoyable and valuable.

The Grinder saved my 8PM slot.  I tried to wander the FFG and AEG tables to try out a new game but was turned away at every attempt.  Nobody seemed to be able to find a spot for me in the vast sea of gaming tables at their disposal.  Thank goodness for Catalyst and the Grinder.  Even with three plus tables going there always seems to be a chair available.  It was fun, fast and provided just the right amount of gaming to fill in my evening.

A group of Super Heavy Omega Mechs made it out for GenCon to punish convention goers.  I’m not sure of the mission or objectives but it looked awesome to see so many new Mechs out and about to stomp players.

Diorama

More pictures cause its awesome.

All the Rest

I played the demo of Decent 2 at the Fantasy Flight booth and liked what I saw.  I only played the original a few times and I liked the new separate objectives.  It certainly would go on my short list of things to pick up in the future but would not knock off some of my top choices.

Also from FFG, I played Rune Wars a deck building game that borrows heavily from Dominion.  The rules were fun and builds off of Dominion’s core.  The theme is high fantasy and includes more resources to manage and objectives to make the game a little bit different depending on the wants of the players.

I liked the combos and it felt fun.  I’m not sure it would replace Dominion in my collection but I can’t say that I would not buy this game if I was able to knock off a few top items from my list.  A fun game with some cool mechanics.

I ended my day with a lengthy game of MageKnight Dungeons.  I had an absolute blast playing.  It is proof that despite the years, this light weight dungeon crawler has legs and I’m looking longingly at my collection again.  Kudos to the game runners who made a massive dungeon seem conquerable while still providing just the right amount of danger to keep everyone honest.  The Heroic Teams were balanced and fun.  The enemy selection was well thought out.  And to boot, the small house rules they implemented really pulled it all together.