Edmonton Comic and Entertainment Expo 2014 review

Guess who had a great weekend? This guy and the wife. We went to the Edmonton Comic and Entertainment Expo and had so much fun. Our weekend started early because we both took the Friday off of work. Get in early and pack in as much nerdity as possible was our plan. And it worked.

Just read the shirts.

We decided to plan our weekend out beforehand so we checked the event website for programming and events. I clicked on the special event link. Seeing as the costume contest was a given I just scrolled down… to see my wife and I. Turns out we are the face of geek speed dating. This obviously declared us the unofficial Mr. and Mrs. Edmonton Expo, right? Despite the fact that neither of us has speed dated and we met online. Well, for those who attended I hope you find a love story for all Time Lords like ours. How was the speed dating? We didn’t go because we don’t need to, with the pictorial decree of being faces of geek love. Or in the style of Stan Lee: The King and Queen of Curiously Quirky Connections.

Friday was great because we got there super early to trade in our passes. We were able to sit, relax and check the layout of the centre. After getting ourselves oriented we lined up in hall H. This was the designated line up hall as well as a space for some extra food vendors, kids play place and the board gaming tables. I was happy to find out food trucks were available this year as it spaced out the lunch rush and kept the flow between halls clearer. For us Friday was all about the vendor booths. We made sure to say hi to our friends at the Mission fun and Games booth as well as Alan Graham of Exterminatus Now. My wife loves to browse and chat with vendors so checking out all of them took the entirety of the day. My back and feet were killing me.

Saturday was our panel day. We arrived about a half hour late for the show but we already had 3 day passes so we were able to go in an alternate entrance skipping the Saturday only people lineup.

Our first panel was the spotlight on Alice Cooper. He delved into a variety of topics. He talked of issues in the music industry, the difficulties of doing shock rock in the modern world, raising kids, and most importantly to me his time on the Muppets. It was like story time about shock rock. Quite the oddly fantastic indulgence for the day.

Story time from Alice Cooper

I'm attracted to two of three here...

The next panel was on the Whedonverse which included Amy Acker, Summer Glau and J. August Richards. It was interesting to hear the shared experiences as well as the variety of experiences of the actors. The panel moderator wasn’t the greatest but the actors certainly kept it flowing. Summer Glau related how being River was a product of the time as it was her first acting role. The being lost, unsure of how to act and being out of her element was something fuelling the role. The topics bounced around on everything from Firefly, Agents of SHIELD, Dr. Horrible, Much Ado About Nothing, Angel and all the other projects the actors were in. This panel was all about the wife’s and my inner Whedon Geek.

Making fun of our picture taking skills no doubt

The third panel of the day was the Big Bang theory panel with Kunal Nayyar and Simon Helberg. The room was packed. The two complained about the weather a bit even though it ranged from 2.2C (36F) at night up to 20.9C (69.6F) during the day; Normal autumn weather. The panel kept sidetracking with a running joke about child rearing in the city. The panel was funny and kept us both entertained.

We ended the day with the costume contest. My wife and I both love the costumes at the con and someday we will work up the nerve to cosplay. I was really impressed with the costumes this year. My personal favourites were the kid in the Princess Mononoke, the Death Star dress, and Wolverine. On a side note here my wife is super into cosplay and wanted to get as many pictures as possible to work on ideas. The bright side of this is I got to take a lot of pictures of attractive ladies in cosplay. The downside is I took a lot of pictures of attractive ladies in cosplay which kinda made me look like a certain nerd stereotype. Meh it was fun.

Who says I'm not fashionable and sexy?

Sunday was all about finishing what we wanted to do. We ran into some friends who had never been to a comic convention and they aren’t all that geeky. The wife didn’t think she’d enjoy the show but meeting Alice Cooper got her into a high and she bounced around like a kid in a candy store. She squeed with glee “It’s like another Halloween!” I was glad to see at least one new addition to the geek world. She is now one of us. ONE OF US!

We hit up two panels. To start was Grant Imahara. He started by dispelling myths about the departure from Mythbusters. He talked a lot about the show; mostly stories about builds. He also talked about his appearance on the Guild, his old jobs in the industry, and his role in Star Trek continues that I hadn’t heard about but am now eager to watch.

The last panel was the spotlight on Jim Beaver. The crowd cheered when he came out and said hi to all his “Idjits” then he called us “Idjits” for liking being called “idjits” to which the crowd cheered louder. I got the impression he doesn’t understand the total fanboying/fangirling for Supernatural but he certainly tried to. I liked his fanboy moment when he talked about acting on a set from his childhood favourite John Wayne movie. I must say that he is totally mistaken about long beards being not sexy. I’m living proof it’s totally sexy. Just ask my wife.

I'm an uncle I can find this cute.

With that we made sure we said hi to some family and friends at the con (at least the ones we could track down) then we made for the exit. My wife is now geared up to re-watch all the old Angel and Supernatural episodes. I’m planning my Viking costume, and we are both thinking of some other cosplay which we will piece together as funds allow. Speaking of low funds, buying a house made a lean year for the comic expo. About all we bought was a dress for a niece. I would have modelled it but it just didn't come in my size. I'm glad geekiness is becoming more normal. The Edmonton Expo is expected to be the fastest growing Comic Expo and hopefully that means it's going to grow more fantastic every year!

I hope you all came out and see you next year!

Preparing for a Comic Convention

As the wife and I will be at Edmonton Comic and Entertainment Expo this weekend I thought I would post some tips for preparing to attend a convention.

1. Queue prep. You will be lining up all day long. Be prepared to stand for prolonged periods. Wear sensible shoes and make sure you get to your signings, photo-ops or panels well ahead of time. Get in the right mindset to be patient with lineups because that is the convention way of life. Make sure you are in the right line! Ask anyone in it.

2. Check the event schedule. Plan which guests you want to meet, get pics with, and which panels you want to go to. Getting into a con can overwhelm the senses and it’s easy to get distracted. Organizing your time ahead of the con helps you see more.

3. Bring a bag. You will want various items with you and there are all kinds of swag to procure. Have a bag that’s comfortable to lug and not too large to cause problems moving through the crowd.

4. Plan signing items. If you have a lot of items you want signed space them out over the days. Personally I like to focus on item signature on either Friday (it’s usually a short day) or Sunday (not as many attendees.) It sucks lugging around a pile of stuff if you really don’t need to. You also risk damaging your items in a crowd if you over pack. Less time bouncing in your bag = less chance ruining your super-awesome-thing signed by super-awesome-person.

5. Food & water. With so many bodies in one location it gets hot. Bring a water bottle to rehydrate and refill at the drinking fountains. Con food is expensive so budget accordingly or bring food with you. Think of what would be easiest to eat in a crowd and remember that finding a table can be nearly impossible at the lunch rush. Meal bars and sandwiches are good ideas. You won’t find a microwave and anything complicated will end up on the floor.

6. Charge electronics the night before and every night. A dead battery in your phone or camera can make you miss the perfect picture. A dead phone battery can kill organization.

7. Plan purchases. Make a list of wants, and what you already have. That way if you come across something you didn’t expect to find you can remember which editions you have etc. Your impulse buy part of your brain might start firing and you can really blow your budget.

8. Sleep. Cons are crowded, problems arise that can frustrate, lineups are exhausting, and some people who really don’t know how to behave in public will be there. Being tired at a con can really ruin the experience. Get a good nights rest to prep your brain for a long day of excitement and stress.

9. Payments. Cash, credit, debit, ID. Have your payment items ready.

10. Pack everything the night before. That way you can roll out of bed and go to the show with minimal stress. Running around in the morning leads to freaking out and forgetting things, so night before prep can save you time and stress. Start your day off right.

11. DON’T STINK! The last thing you want is to run into someone super-awesome-cool and have them think of you as a stink monkey. Cons are crowded and hot. Shower daily, brush your teeth, wear deodorant, and take some gas reliever. Most people eat terribly at cons, all that fat, sugar and salt fuels the stink factory of your insides. Be kind to your fellow attendees.

12. Have fun. Cons are entertainment take time to stop and check out the booths, meet some new people, take in the cosplay. Enjoy yourself!

Legendary Encounters Alien Game Review

I could not wait for this egg to hatch

While I do blog about board games I am also a movie nerd. There is one film franchise that shrieked into my teen years, hugged my face and burst my chest with love. I am of course talking about Alien. I seem to have been in cryo-stasis or something because I had not heard about the Legendary Encounters: Alien game until GameALot where I was asked out of the blue if I would like to play. What followed was a round of Aliens themed combat horror that made me want to run home and watch the entire series all over again. (I did just that over the following week.)

I am so glad I went to that event.

Opened the box to craft paper and foam filler.

I want to do nothing but gush about this game so I’m going to start with the negatives; I don’t want to forget about them. First of all upon opening the box I was immediately disappointed in the amount of filler paper in it. I paid almost $70 for craft paper? Either Upper Deck is planning on some serious expansions for this game or they get a special bulk deal on this size of box. I have to warn you, when you buy this game go home into a room where you can swear a lot and seethe with rage at Upper Deck for a couple of hours because what followed was sorting through cards. There are several sealed packs of what seems to be a random assortment of cards which need sorted into a playable order. I'm guessing these were packed by however they were fired off the print press. This is a normal thing for collector cards but when you are designing a non-collectible game it’s a major faux pas to pass such a critical quality control step. It took about an hour and a half to sort the cards into their playing decks and the rules don’t explain these decks very well. Also depending on your point of view you may or may not like that this game is extremely hard to beat. For a fan like me that fits the theme as the Aliens do kill a lot of people, of course I love a challenge.

Cards sorted

The things I loved when opening the box are the high quality of the cards and player mat. The artwork and design are beautiful. The included fabric covered mat works better as it prevents the glossy cards from sliding everywhere as opposed to a glossy board. Physically game play is smoother.

I’m not the biggest fan of the Legendary series nor am I a fan of deck building games in general but for the Aliens theme the concept actually works extremely well. If you aren’t familiar with deck building games they work by each player starting with a small deck of cards. Each turn the player has a hand of 6 cards drawn from their personal deck which they use in any combination to perform actions: buying cards, causing damage, or other special actions. Buying cards from the central deck, called the crew deck in Legendary Encounters: Alien, is very important as these cards increase the power and versatility of your deck. As you build your deck it becomes increasingly important to kill the low value cards. When a card is killed it is removed from your deck permanently. By doing this to low value cards you ensure stronger card combinations come into your hand each turn.

The cooperative team aspect works very well in the game. This is highlighted by the “coordinate” cards. A player may allow another player to borrow these cards in order to complete an action they would otherwise not be able to do. An example is in the Sergeant deck that has 10 of these cards, 2 each of the 5 different power icons. These have a card buy power of 2, so if multiple players coordinate they can buy a player a very strong card. While the Sergeant cards aren’t the best cards as you select them blindly and get random power icons I find they are still extremely valuable throughout the game and each player should buy a couple early on.

This board pic won't upload the right way around!

Combat is what everyone looks for in the game and I find the mechanic really suits the Alien theme. There is an enemy deck that feeds into the facility. Each turn a new face down enemy enters the facility and displaces any it encounters further into the facility. These cards can be turned face up with a combat cost. This cost isn’t applied as damage though, it just lets you know what’s there. Should the facility fill (and it will fast) these cards are moved face up into the combat area. Cards that enter the combat zone are turned face up and effects are immediate. Any Xenomorphs in the combat area that are not killed on a players turn cause a strike on the player. Too many strikes can kill a character, and since this is Aliens people die often. The fact that you know there is an unknown enemy slowly creeping into combat range can be quite stressful and the creepy factor of the atmosphere sells the theme. Also the gamble of revealing enemies is scary because it can be anything, a lowly drone, an event, a hazard, the queen or...

One scary thing is if a facehugger card is turned over it immediately attacks the current player no matter where in the facility it was revealed. If the facehugger is not killed by that player or the next the facehugged player gains a chestburster card into their discard pile. Eventually when the player draws the chestburster card that character dies horribly and painfully… BUT they come back as a Xenomorph! Their goal is now to kill the players with cards drawn from a new deck of Alien cards. It's a cool twist where players killed can come back into the game. Typically this really swerves the power into the favour of the Aliens.  I wish there was another mechanic where players killed otherwise could still participate.

Of course there has to be a twist, because it is never simply just killing Xenomorphs in the Alien universe. No each game you play has a facility and a set of three goals which alter the game. The box includes 4 facility cards and 12 goals. These are divided along the four movies. The facilities come into play when hazard cards are drawn. These hazards can be minor or major such as the Nostromo self destruct activating. The goals fit with themes in the movies like "They mostly come out at night... mostly" where your goal is to set up sentry guns. I agree with the recommendation in the rule book of playing with goals and facilities in order according to the movies but you can mix and match as you see fit. If you are a fanboy or fangirl you are going to love this mechanic as you see which of your friends would survive the movies. Set up and take down will take a while as there are so many specific cards that only apply to certain scenarios but I find it makes each play through a very singular experience. The work is well worth the play payoff.

The player deck is also separated into crews and crew members. The rules state you should have a 4 crew member deck. Of course if you are following the movies you don’t have to bother separating the crew members out of their respective crew decks to save yourself some time in set up and take down. Each crew currently has 4 crew members, so this is where expansions can definitely come in to play. Of course if you want you can play with a 4 Ripley crew deck. I find the optional nature of the game really allows you to streamline your play experience. If you don’t like certain films leave those cards in the box and play what you love, or play to how you would have made the movie.

There is a traitor option for the game. It’s like the running theme in the movies about someone having a weird almost love vibe with the Xenomorphs. It’s the whole reason Resurrection happens. At the beginning of the game a good alignment card is randomly selected for each player, then one evil alignment card is added to that deck. The cards are shuffled and one given to each player. Good players play as usual but the Evil player tries to undermine the rest, have them all killed so they can have The Company come claim their Xenomorph prize. When your alignment is revealed it adds a card to your deck. The traitor element doesn’t seem to be designed well for me as the traitor reveals are forced when a Secrets Revealed card appears. It’s too random and anticlimactic. However there is a rule for blind alignment draws where people only learn their role when forced by the Secrets Revealed card.

But lets go back to speaking of expansions; everything about the game has an air of future expansions. The empty space in the box, the limited number of crew members, material from the video games and comics, the Prometheus prequel and Prometheus 2 in the works, and the fact that everyone knows AVP is a huge thing. While I usually am against AVP I think this game is engineered well enough to handle it (and it would probably work better than the traitor option.) Of course the game is compatible with the Marvel Legendary product line. Upper deck also announced that they do have licences for Firefly and Predator. Once these products are out I would like to see an expansion set out for blending Aliens with them. After all there are a host of Aliens Vs crossovers out there. And as fans of the series know Aliens take on characteristics of their hosts, Humans make humanoid Xenomorphs, animals make 4 legged "Runner" Xenomorphs, then there is the Pred-alien. What would a Hulk Alien look like?

I must point out that the game does have a 17+ rating on the box. If you know the franchise you know why the box has it. If the game strayed from the violent swearing gore-fest of the movies it wouldn’t be worth that pile of filler paper in the box. Of course this makes Legendary Encounters Alien less of a family game. Unless you are okay with facehugging and chestbursting children while exposing them to harsh language… then have fun.

To sum up Legendary Encounters Alien is pretty much the gateway game to trying deck building games, I'm actually considering having another go at Marvel Legendary now. I would recommend this game for any teen to adult fan of the franchise who is up for a cooperative game they will rarely ever win. Don’t expect to pick up the game and start playing right away. The cards in the box are packaged so randomly you would think the designers hated people for buying the game. However once you get past the initial frustration the Legendary Encounters Alien is a game designed for a fan and will present so much enjoyment.

Until next time:

GameALot 2014 review

I am so tired, wired and inspired. This past weekend was a whirlwind blur of board game excitement called GameALot. First off I would like to thank the planning committee, as well as John and the crew at Mission Fun and Games for all their hard work at bringing together another successful event. Sorry to everyone that should be mentioned in this post but I really suck at remembering names.

I have to say I really needed a fun weekend. Particularly after the week of suck I had at work that peaked on the Friday of gruelling misery. I got out of work a little late, raced over to pick up the wife from her work and we were off. After aggravating delays on St. Albert Trail out to the event I was just about ready to explode in rage. Needless to say I started off in a little bit of an antisocial mood and had a desire for destruction and chaos.

It’s a good thing our first game was King of Tokyo. Kaiju monster brawling mayhem really lets out the frustration. The guy running this one was really friendly and explained the game well. Being surrounded by jovial people, the slap of cards and the rattle of dice quickly melted away the stress and I just had to get more. I raced over to the Valley of the Kings table while my wife took off for Survive: Escape from Atlantis. I followed up with Citadels then met back up with the wife for Lunch Money and Beer money. We finished the night apart with the wife on Ticket to Ride and me playing Gloom with some very creative story tellers. It was at this point my wife reminded me she had only had a bag of chips and a box of candy to eat all day. We went off in search of late night food then crashed into bed.

Bought two games, picked up three door prizes

Contrary to my usual greeting the day with a groan, I jumped out of bed on Saturday eager to get another day in. The wife… is even less of a morning person than I am but she crawled out and was quickly ready to roll. This year included a “play it to win it” contest for the game Enigma. Being able to play a game for free and getting a chance to win a free copy tickled every cheapskate bone in my body. The wife and I both had to play. The wife took the first play at Enigma while I bought raffle tickets. My first game of the day was Fantasy Frontier. The wife and I met up for Roll through the Ages. We followed up with Legendary Encounters: Alien which we had to buy after playing. We played a short game of Resistance which flowed into the event announcements. We followed up with Pandemic until John walked up and uttered those three words I needed to hear from him: “Walking Dead Risk.” My heart aflutter I raced over to meet up with another Matt, only this one is from the shows Caution: May Contain Nuts and Tiny Plastic Men. I held my own for a little while but the zombies would not leave my prisoner army alone. I had to leave the game for Betrayal at House on the Hill which I had signed up for long ago. I was already doomed in the Risk game as the dice's hatred for me was strong that day. My team was all Carl's and Lori's I think.

I had some issues on Sunday because I hadn’t slept well overnight. I woke up with my neck muscles all kinked. It took a while to get moving but the wife and I headed back out for the final day. My first game of the day was the epic fantasy game Runewars while the wife took off for a day of Princess Bride and Cthulhu Munchkin. After my first game I had a raging tension headache, John was kind enough to get me some painkillers. After spending some time outside in the quiet cool air with a Redbull and the painkillers kicking in I was able to resume playing. I probably shouldn’t have because I still felt pretty blah. I finished the day with A Touch of Evil. I wish I had time to meet up with Roberta Taylor who came out to play and sign copies of her game Octopus Garden, but I was too into the games I was already in at the time. I wanted to talk to her about game design advice as I have some ideas kicking around in my head.

All in all I had a great time. I played quite a few new games and had some fun times with old favourites. I wish we had signed up earlier and taken time to host some games as I really like bringing new people into the hobby. I want to get more involved in the local community. Hold me to it next year readers! I’m told I need to work on my social skills and human interaction, so could you give me a hand? I also missed out on getting into games I wanted to try like the Firefly game, Princess Bride: Storming the Castle, Blood Bowl Team Manager and so many others. Games filled up quickly. Unfortunately we didn’t know for sure if we would be able to go until the week before. Next year we will need to plan ahead.

I have to finish off with what I loved most about this event. Even though I’m socially inept I was able to meet a host of gamers and network into the local game community (although to be honest my wife did a better job of that than I did.) There were some fantastic people who came out with a love of games we were able to share with the larger community. I got to sit in on games I love and discover new strategies from new players. The event introduced me to people I really want to game with again. I am really looking forward to getting into the drop in gaming this year.

Here’s another big thank you for all the fun to everyone who participated in GameAlot. I will definitely see you again next year!

Mille Bornes game review

During my childhood we used to go out to the cabin my grandparents owned. Sometimes it would rain and we would be stuck inside. This was the 80's without cable, wifi or cell phones our choices for diversions were limited, so of course my family turned to games for entertainment. One of the games that stayed out at the cabin was Mille Bornes. I'm a little sad thinking of it now as the old edition went missing when the cabin was sold.

Mille Bornes is a card game with a french racing theme. In France there are distance marker stones for the next town. Each game consists of several races of 1000 miles or kilometers whichever you prefer. I go with kilometers because it makes sense to me. After each race the points are calculated and the deck shuffled. If the draw deck is exhausted and players have played or discarded their entire hand without reaching 1000 km that round ends, points are scored and a new round begins. The discard deck is only ever shuffled at the end of a round. The game ends when a player reaches 5000 points.

Each player has a 6 card hand, on their turn they draw a card then play a card or discard a card. Players cannot start moving until they play a green light card (called roll). Once players achieve a green light they may play various speed cards in an attempt to go the 1000 km.

If a player cannot play a card due to not rolling and not being able to play a hazard card on an opponent then the player must discard a card.

However once a player has started rolling opponents can play various hazard cards to prevent them from moving. These cards include accident, flat tire, out of gas or stop. A corresponding remedy card must be played in order to fix the problem followed by a roll card in order to get moving again. Stop light cards only need the roll card. There is another hazard called speed limit which can be played even if a player isn't moving. This card makes it so players can only play speed cards of 50 or lower. An "end of limit" card removes this hazard.

An interesting addition to the deck are safety cards. Driving ace, puncture proof, extra tank, and right of way. Each of these cards prevent hazards from being played on the owner of the card. For example the "Right of Way" prevents Stop or Speed Limit cards from effecting the player. These safety cards can be played immediately after an opponent plays the corresponding hazard card. This is called "Coup Fourré" and is worth extra points. It also immediately remedies the problem and the player doesn't need to play a roll card. However if a safety is obtained and played as a corrective action (not a "Coup Fourré") a roll card will be needed to resume moving.

Scoring works at the end of a round, every player scores distance travelled-1 point/km, each safety-100points, "Coup Fourré"-300 points (in addition to the safety points) and if all four safeties are played-700 additional points. The player who reaches 1000 km first scores additional points: winner- 400 points, delayed action (winning after draw pile used up)- 300 points, safe trip (no 200 speed cards played)- 300 points, shout out (opponent hasn't played speed cards) -500 points.

Milles Bornes is really a strategy card game based on Rummy. The game has a significant strategy factor. Knowing which cards to play and when is vitally important. Keep track of opponents plays and discards. If a player starts discarding certain remedy cards they likely have the corresponding safety card in hand. By not playing the hazard you prevent them from scoring "Coup Fourré" points. Try to keep one of each remedy. Discard duplicates to make opponents think you have the safety.

This is a game where card counting is a very valuable skill. the most important cards to keep track of are 3 each of the hazards- accident, out of gas, and flat tire. Keep in mind there are 6 each for their remedies and one each of the safeties. Once all three of a hazard are used play the safety for the guaranteed points and discard the extra remedies. Until hazards are played keep your safeties for the "Coup Fourré" especially the right of way as it has a high probability of happening with 5 of the stop cards, 4 speed limit cards and 6 end of limit cards. If it looks like an opponent is getting close to the 1000 km mark start laying down your safeties for the guaranteed points. You may actually score higher than the leader due to these cards.

Another vital card statistic is there are only 14 of the roll cards. Since each player needs one to start and again to resume going after a hazard, of which there are 14, it means there are not enough roll cards to go around. NEVER discard a roll card. Any other player who discards the roll cards is either an idiot or holds the right of way card.

For the remainder of the cards, 10 each of the 25, 50 and 75 speeds, 12 of the 100 speed and 4 of the 200 speed. Out of all of the speed cards the 75 is the least valuable. It is over the 50 speed limit and you don't move as fast as the 100. Always discard the 75 speed card first. Keep track of the 200 speeds played or discarded. Depending on how many are accounted for alters their value. Perhaps you can rocket into the finish position or perhaps they will give you much needed distance points if you are lagging behind and have no hopes of winning the round.

The big downside to the game is you will spend a lot of time just trying to get your car going. It is completely possible to not get a go card and spend a round in frustration. This will be an issue for first time players or those who have a low patience threshold.

To sum up I like Mille Bornes because it has an interesting theme. While it can be enjoyed as a casual game there is a deep strategy element and it was a game that taught me the value of keeping track of the entire game. Knowing not only what was happening with the cards but who was the one doing it. This makes the game enjoyable for a casual gamer and an intensely deep and nerdy gamer like myself. This is a great competitive game for families and friends to play. If you want to view the entire rules check out the hasbro site.