Another day, another Roll 2d6 podcast. In this episode, we discuss all the games we played at KublaCon 2006. We had a great time and now we can’t wait for next year’s con. Adam took lots of pics throughout the con and they’re all up on the Roll 2d6 flickr account, so check them out!
Games we played:
Formula Dé
Monster Island
Shadows Over Camelot
Thunderin’ Guns
Battlestations
HeroScape
Memoir ‘44
Dune
Federation Space
Merchant of Venus
Ticket To Ride
In college we did Model U.N. at that Hyatt. I spent a week there. I wish I was gaming, but I *know* we had hotter chicks. I enjoyed the photos just for the trip down memory lane.
Formula Dé doesn’t look like any more fun than doing out riding go-carts. However, if the cars had guns . . .
Monster Island . . . throwing boats . . . cool.
Shadows Over Camelot — was this the Sean Connery + Richard Geer version?
Nate blames the dice on Thunderin’ Guns. . . tsk . . . tsk . . . in every Western the bad guys never sucessfully blow up the safe.
I’m dying to play Battlestations.
Memoir ‘44 – Looks way cool. Russians vs. Germans? No one to root for.
Heroscape – very 3-D. The terrain looks a little Lego-pricey.
DUNE – I’ve got to find an English copy.
Federation Space – was it a good combat system?
Merchant of Venus – not enough carnage.
Ticket To Ride – will check it out based on your review.
Great podcast, guys,
Dan
Great podcast guys. I wish I could have been there. That’s awesome that someone recognized you all.
Ticket To Ride is a great game to play with kids. The rules are very easy to learn. Great game to play with families.
Keep up the good work. You’re my favourite gaming podcast.
Comments on your KublaCon show…
1) Gamera never fought Megalon! That was a Godzilla film, o’course…
Yeah, I’m a nitpicker.
2) When chatting about “Shadows Over Camelot,” you said: “…I can’t imagine getting together 6 or 7 people…” I felt so sad for you… Typically, my regular boardgame nights attract 5-8 players, while some of the other local game groups I occasionally visit, draw 8-12 players each week. In other words, you guys need to build yo’self a good gaming group ASAP!
3) Regarding “Thunderin’ Guns”… I SWEAR I saw a notice about the cancellation of this event this year… Was it a mistake? Did they/he cancel Saturday’s game, but not Friday’s game??? Damn! I wanted to play!!!
4) Regarding “Memoir ‘44,” you said, “…you’re not reall trying to simulate any specific battle of World War II…” That’s not true at all… The scenarios that come in the main set, the expansion sets and those that can be found at the Days Of Wonder site are (with the exception of some fan-generated scenarios) ALL based on ACTUAL, historical battles. Each scenario is augmented with historically accurate notes, terrain, towns, etc. Richard Borg has done a terrific job of making an introductory card-driven wargame for the masses. Can you tell I’m a huge fan of the Commands & Colors series???
5) Regarding “DUNE”… The “actual” instructions (those from AH) are awful… Boardgame Geek has several revised editions and reference sheets and these may be what you were using for your game. Trust me, the original rulebook is very messy in the traditional AH way.
6) Fun hearing about “Federation Space”… Have you guys tried the new “Federation Commander” from Task Force? It’s very nice indeed!!!
7) “Ticket To Ride: Märklin” is set in the entire country of Germany (as well as a few bordering cities). Märklin is a popular model railroad company… Anyway, it’s a very nice game, but I would ultimately play the first, U.S.-based game before any of the sequels just because the original is so clean and streamlined. All are good games, though!!!
Thanks for the report and next year, I’ll try to play something with you both!
~Ogma
Re: Gamera vs. Megalon … I hang my head in shame. I’ve only seen the Gamera movies on MST3K, and the one Godzilla movie they did on MST3K was Godzilla vs. Megalon, so I obviously got them mixed up. Still, if you ever wanted to simulate a battle between Gamera and Megalon, you could do it with Monster Island!
Re: needing a larger game group. I couldn’t agree more. I actually do have a few different groups I’ve been playing with lately but the largest one tops out at 7 or 8 when everyone shows up (which isn’t every time). So it’s possible, but I don’t think I could get 6 or 7 people in that group to go for SoC, and to tell the truth, I’m not that interested in it myself.
Re: Thunderin’ Guns cancellation. It wasn’t cancelled, but they did move it at the last minute, and instead of being in the Atrium Overlook it was in the restaurant/bar near the Tree rooms. We thought it was cancelled until we looked around a bit and found it at the last minute. So if you were looking for it in its scheduled location, you could have thought it was cancelled.
Re: Memoir ‘44. Well, if the scenarios are really based on actual battles, it’s news to me. That part wasn’t explained at all during our demo session, and it just looked like a generic WWII map with forests, towns, etc. It seems to me that a “real” wargame would have more unit types and wouldn’t use cards. And most importantly, would be played in the Wargaming room at Kublacon.
To me it played like a WWII-themed strategy game, not a wargame. But that’s really just quibbling over the definition of what a wargame is. Call it a wargame if you like — it’s still fun and I’d play it again. Nate liked it a lot, so I have a feeling more Memoir ‘44 is in my future.
Looking forward to saying hi to you at next year’s Kublacon!
–Adam
Hey guys, another great podcast. I’m gonna be looking for Monster Island now, it sounds awesome.
You should do a show on all the Superhero games out there; Mutants and Masterminds, Marvel FASERIP, Stupor Powers, etc.
Keep up the great work,
~Daniel
Memoir is a war game, it’s just not a true ConSim. All of the scenarios that come with the game reflect the terrain of a specific battle, the resources afforded to each side (through the amount of minis and cards each side gets) and the cards themselves reflect the “command structure”. The cards are the orders handed down from on high and your decision as to which units are effected by those cards is more of tactical command decision. The somewhat dysfunctional command chain is fairly accurately portrayed here, more so than in Axis and Allies or any other player-omniscience war game.
A lot of tried and true war games have card decks, they are called card-driven war games.
Oh, and Dan,
Between the Russians and the Germans… you could root for the side that gave the most in order for the Allies to win WWII.
Joey,
Thanks for reminding me of the difference between a wargame and a consim, which is what I was thinking of as a “true wargame”. I bow to your true gamerness. We need to have you on the podcast more often.
–Adam
Woot Interactive! Nice cast, nice pics (although a few more of each game woulda been nice
I’ve heard memoir rocks, and the fact its only 2 player makes it all the more appealling.
Damn I wish they had cons like this down under… hmm maybe we do, I should ask around.
Anywho great work keep it up guys!
FLo
Good ‘cast, ya’ll! I have just a few comments …
1. Ticket to Ride: is indeed a fun game, for gamers and non-gamers alike. I personally prefer the TTR Europe version, although most diehard gamers seem to favor Märklin version. You can try them all for free at the Days of Wonder site, and you can also buy a PC/Mac version (which also includes a different board/rules not otherwise available).
2. Shadows Over Camelot: my favorite cooperative game! But I think you got one thing wrong – that guy didn’t win! The heroes, alive OR DEAD, win or lose as a group only if whoever is left manages to win the game. There is never a single winner unless it’s the traitor. Whoever was teaching the game to you should have told you about that card – you don’t want to go down to 1 life until it’s come into play!
3. Memoir ‘44: I actually prefer it in the 8-player version – it’s much more of a hand-management game for the Supreme Commander (vs. the 2er game, where it seems you are VERY subject to the luck of the card draws). The Field Generals, even if they do not receive a card, can try to “take the initiative” – roll a die, and order the type of piece that you rolled (or potentially suffer an injury) – so they should never just be sitting there not doing anything. There are now 3 expansion packs, plus an expansion board – they will soon be selling a case to carry all that stuff! Anyway, if you liked that you should also check out Command and Colors Ancients – same game mechanism but with improved cards and set in ancient times (where the whole fog-of-war thing may make more sense than in WWII).
4. Federation stuff: I’ll second the suggestion of Federation Commander. i used to play Starfleet Battles as a kid, and just got a demo of the new Fed Com at Origins last week – it seems to be a nicely simplified version of the game (although still too complicated for most people, I think).
5. Formule Dé: Check out Formule Dé Mini, a faster, smaller, more streamlined verson that I think is even more fun to play (although not if you really like tracking the details fo your tire condition, etc.).
Again, good job!
Oh! Forgot about Dune – I’ve only played it once but it was amazing! If you’re a fan of the books and a gamer, you have to get a copy! The english version comes up on eBay pretty regularly, for about $40 or so.
Merchant of Venus – I’ve only played twice, without battling. From the reviews/comments at BGG, that’s the way to go; the fighting apparently detracts from the game.
I haven’t gotten a chance to listen to the show yet, but that sounds like a nice line-up of games played. You guys are making me jealous and wanting to go to a con! Are you guys planning on flying out to Dallas for BGG.con?
Also, I hope your Battlestations experience was better than mine.
Let’s see…the maximum value of 2d6X2 is 24 days before the next one….
Geez! I’m having some withdrawl symptoms for my 2d6 podcast! Anything on the horizon guys?
If you look really close at the horizon, with your podcast spyglass, you should be able to see the Roll 2d6 crow’s nest just peeking over. We should be making port Real Soon Now.
Will the next one be the special Roll2d6.com first anniversary show?
I am glad you had fun playing in the “Bot Revolution” Battlestations game, you can add “no shame” to loud, boisterous, and intense. because I really didn’t notice I was begin loud or the dirty looks from the other table………and to be honest didn’t care. we were having fun at our table and that is what is important. thanks for the “honorable mention” as a nice guy……I can quote that right? because my ex-wife says otherwise.
I was the one that put the game in RPG section because I thought I would get a private room. I have been running BS at DunDraCon and if you say that the game you are running is a board game they put you in a hall that is noisy and it’s hard to talk to your players. but if you say your game is a RPG you get your own room. that is what I thought was going to happen at KublaCon.
stay well,
jj
Hey Guys! Great podcast. Do either of you own Dune, because you know I would be SO into playing that? Dibs on the Bene Gesserits.
Earth to Adam and Nate…..
Do you read me….?
We’re still here. Stay tuned.
and with a natural 12 they’ve open ended their 2d6 roll! rolling again and adding!
seriously, your shows are fun to listen to. I’ll wait!
I was starting to wonder where you guys went, glad to hear you’ll be back. Have you guys ever thought about getting your show going on a local NPR or college radio station? (Or is it already?) Keep up the great work!
Wow, Roll 2d6 on actual broadcast radio? That would be something. No, we haven’t made any moves in that direction, but thanks for thinking that we could.
There are a few podcasts that have started out on the Internet and are now being broadcast on radio in a few places (such as one of my favorites, “Stuck in the 80s”), but gaming is such a niche interest that I’m doubtful anyone would want to carry it. If this were a show about video gaming, it’d be a different story.
–Adam
When is the next podcast?
Come on – another show! Where is it?
Episode 13 is now up … enjoy!
Some time before, I really needed to buy a house for my firm but I didn’t earn enough money and could not order something. Thank goodness my colleague suggested to try to get the personal loans from trustworthy bank. Hence, I did that and used to be happy with my auto loan.