Gladiator
Gamestorm is a local gaming convention in the Pacific Northwest held in Vancouver, Washington. It is a small convention with around one thousand attendees that caters to every and all kinds of gamers. If you enjoy some kind of game you can bet you will find it here. The convention hosts traditional board games (the biggest aspect of the convention), miniatures gaming, video gaming, role playing games, LARP (Live Action Role Playing), collectible card games, and also has panels and events at the con.
Here are the games I was able to get in at this year’s Gamestorm.
Dungeon Run
This was our game of the con as we played it quite a few times. The concept of the game has you taking on a character and exploring a dungeon with a team of fellow adventurers. There are wizards, thieves, fighters, and more to choose from and the games cooperative element was fun. Every game can be vastly different as you build the dungeon with tiles that are flipped as you explore the dungeon. The twist of the game comes when you uncover the boss of the dungeon.
After defeating him, he drops a powerful object called the Summoning Stone and the first hero to grab the stone becomes the new boss, whose new goal is to escape the dungeon and steal away with the treasure. Your teammates become your enemies in a battle royale to the finish until one hero is left standing or you escape the dungeon with the treasure. It was a good deal of fun and fit right into our alley of play style.
Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards: Duel at Mt. Skullzfyre
At last year’s Gamestorm we sunk our teeth and money into Dragon Dice. We soon saw that it was not our thing and decided to sell our dice to the highest bidder. With the thirty bucks that we pooled together from our sales we headed to the dealers room and picked up Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards: Duel at Mt. Skullzfyre. This card games harkens back to the old school AD&D wizards’ battles of old that pits you against your fellow mages in a duel to the death.
It is a pretty basic game filled with silly spells and mass carnage each round. We had a good time with it and are glad we have a game we can continue to play unlike our previous purchase. The picture you see above shows my character, “Hogs the House” whom had just cast the spell "Thai Foon’s Meatier Swarm." Good times.
Chances are you have played a game similar to Resistance. In it you play either a member of the resistance trying to succeed in their missions or a saboteur trying to stop the resistance dead in their tracks. It plays very similar to Werewolf or Mafia, other games where you get a card that states whether you are a good guy or a bad guy and have to pretend to be part of the team, all the while trying to usurp the group in their missions and endeavors.
The first round I was a member of the resistance and the second I was a saboteur. My team won both times. The great thing is that it can be played in around twenty minutes for some quick action.
I absolutely love this game. Think Risk combined with Battlestar Gallactica, and throw in technology research, backstabbing, and political intrigue to boot. It is a blast to play but can take upwards of eight hours. We threw in some rules to help the game move quicker and finished the game in about four. I am pleased to say I was able to pull out a win, crushing my opponents through resourcefulness, wit, and a bit of manipulation.
If you haven’t gotten a chance to play Twilight Imperium I highly recommend it. It was one of the highlights of the con for me.
The picture above isn't actually of our game, but rather the game next to us. They had some very cool downloadable content and extras they had purchases to make things run smoother. Notice the border to lock the hex pieces in place and the clear acrylic elevated hex pieces to put your space ships on. I was quite envious and hope to get my own together.
Gamestorm is a local gaming convention in the Pacific Northwest held in Vancouver, Washington. It is a small convention with around one thousand attendees that caters to every and all kinds of gamers. If you enjoy some kind of game you can bet you will find it here. The convention hosts traditional board games (the biggest aspect of the convention), miniatures gaming, video gaming, role playing games, LARP (Live Action Role Playing), collectible card games, and also has panels and events at the con.
Here are the games I was able to get in at this year’s Gamestorm.
Gladiator
Our first foray into games was this classic beast from 1981 called Gladiator. Our host Seth (who gave us the button Seth Must Die), was gracious enough but didn’t plan on the six bodies that sat down before him. Gladiator is an old Avalon Hill game that tried to make things realistic through charts and math. Needless to say we got a bit lost and most of us ended the game early as sharing two master charts between the eight of us didn’t go well. It was a valiant effort but I’m happy to say most of today’s games do not have the cumbersome and tedious feeling that this rule set gave it.Dungeon Run
This was our game of the con as we played it quite a few times. The concept of the game has you taking on a character and exploring a dungeon with a team of fellow adventurers. There are wizards, thieves, fighters, and more to choose from and the games cooperative element was fun. Every game can be vastly different as you build the dungeon with tiles that are flipped as you explore the dungeon. The twist of the game comes when you uncover the boss of the dungeon.
After defeating him, he drops a powerful object called the Summoning Stone and the first hero to grab the stone becomes the new boss, whose new goal is to escape the dungeon and steal away with the treasure. Your teammates become your enemies in a battle royale to the finish until one hero is left standing or you escape the dungeon with the treasure. It was a good deal of fun and fit right into our alley of play style.
Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards: Duel at Mt. Skullzfyre
At last year’s Gamestorm we sunk our teeth and money into Dragon Dice. We soon saw that it was not our thing and decided to sell our dice to the highest bidder. With the thirty bucks that we pooled together from our sales we headed to the dealers room and picked up Epic Spell Wars of the Battle Wizards: Duel at Mt. Skullzfyre. This card games harkens back to the old school AD&D wizards’ battles of old that pits you against your fellow mages in a duel to the death.
It is a pretty basic game filled with silly spells and mass carnage each round. We had a good time with it and are glad we have a game we can continue to play unlike our previous purchase. The picture you see above shows my character, “Hogs the House” whom had just cast the spell "Thai Foon’s Meatier Swarm." Good times.
Chances are you have played a game similar to Resistance. In it you play either a member of the resistance trying to succeed in their missions or a saboteur trying to stop the resistance dead in their tracks. It plays very similar to Werewolf or Mafia, other games where you get a card that states whether you are a good guy or a bad guy and have to pretend to be part of the team, all the while trying to usurp the group in their missions and endeavors.
The first round I was a member of the resistance and the second I was a saboteur. My team won both times. The great thing is that it can be played in around twenty minutes for some quick action.
I absolutely love this game. Think Risk combined with Battlestar Gallactica, and throw in technology research, backstabbing, and political intrigue to boot. It is a blast to play but can take upwards of eight hours. We threw in some rules to help the game move quicker and finished the game in about four. I am pleased to say I was able to pull out a win, crushing my opponents through resourcefulness, wit, and a bit of manipulation.
If you haven’t gotten a chance to play Twilight Imperium I highly recommend it. It was one of the highlights of the con for me.
The picture above isn't actually of our game, but rather the game next to us. They had some very cool downloadable content and extras they had purchases to make things run smoother. Notice the border to lock the hex pieces in place and the clear acrylic elevated hex pieces to put your space ships on. I was quite envious and hope to get my own together.