Gen Con 2015: Day 3 - Games, Cosplay, And MOAR Games

Day 3 of Gen Con 2015 is arguably the biggest day with all of the Cosplayers out in full swing for the parade. The demo/vendor hall was bursting at the seams with spectators, shoppers, and gamers eager to demo new games. I actually played the fewest games this day with all of the extra non-gaming things going on but I was able to catch a few games outside of the con from our personal collection that I’ll go over as well.

Confession: I played New York 1901 and Damage Report again because I love the games. So some time was spent re-playing games instead of finding new ones. I regret nothing!

Hoplomachus: I got a bit of a halfsies demo with more explanation on this one but the concept was really neat nonetheless. A deck building dice rolling game, you and your opponents draft your heroes to play on a series of maps that are outlined on a nice game mat. Each map has its own objectives, unique spawn points for your champions, and difficulty level. The game is a strong mix of tactical strategy and hand management as each board will challenge players in different ways all while you try to defeat your opponents.

Tiny Epic Defenders: A co-op area control game where players are charged with defending the lands around the Capitol City from being torched and keep the random monsters at bay. After strategically fending of waves of monsters, an Epic Foe appears and you and all of your allies have to continue to manage the threats to the city as well as defeat the monster. Playable with 1-4 players, this game is pure fun with great portability and I purchased it on the spot. Shoutout to our demo guy, Liam, from Game Salute for helping us out with this one and the sweet six sided bomb dice.

Zombicide: There is a zombie apocalypse (duh) and you and your friends play one of the survivors all with unique abilities to help defeat the zombies and satisfy the various win requirements. Play a multitude of different scenarios on various map configurations all of which include killing zombies, collecting loot, and killing more zombies. Hordes of fun and probably a must-have for zombie fans.

We Didn’t Playtest This At All: This card based party game has actually been out since 2007 but if you haven’t heard of it or played it, you absolutely have to. I would consider it a must-have for a party game as it’s super easy to follow and understand, even for non-gamers. It’s loaded with humor and nonsensical fun and they’ve made several expansions and follow-up games with their most recent release: We Didn’t Playtest This Village At All just this year. Awesome, awesome game.

Betrayal at House on the Hill: Another older release (2004) but was recently very difficult to find as it went out of print. Luckily some friends had gotten their hands on one and I was able to fully experience the awesome that is this game. You and your party members are basically exploring a haunted mansion and it’s every hilarious twist and turn of every horrible horror movie you could think of and then some. You stumble your way through, discovering room after room in the main level, upstairs, and basement areas. As you continue exploring each newly discovered room draws you closer to The Haunt, in which someone becomes a traitor and suddenly your party is tasked with accomplishing some goals to win while also escaping the house. The game offers 50 different scenarios and each game has a completely unique and random game board, so every instance is fresh and the hilarity never ends. Technically, technically speaking Tiny Epic Defenders would have won the Game of the Day award, however Betrayal was just too funny given the circumstances so it will be the game write-up. Betrayal at House on the Hill is now available for purchase at various stores on the Internet, I would highly recommend grabbing a copy for your usual gaming crew if you don’t have it already.