Welcome to Gaming at Minicon 47!

Tony and Tony of Level Up Games

Well, 2012 has rolled around and gaming is going to be HOT this year! Not only do I have my usual staff of people coming out to provide fun and entertainment, but I have a special guest that is helping out — Level Up Games.

My staff and I are excited to provide fun and interesting gaming for 2012. We are looking to bring back what you like, while introducing things that we have found over the last year.

For board gaming this year, I am going with a theme – all Sci-Fi games. It wasn't too hard of a challenge to come up with games, but I wanted to find the most interesting and fun ones to provide for our wonderful Minicon folks.

I lightened up the Magic the Gathering events last year and received a lot of feedback to add more, so I did! Now that people get credit even for casual events, I am scheduling everything so people can earn points...and prizes too! Level Up Games has been kind to help sponsors prize support for Magic this year. Oh, and we are doing more fun events this year such as Archenemy, a Legacy Constructed, as well as my own creation Quantum Leap.

However, we will also provide "on demand" sanctioning of events, such as sealed and draft, if you want. Just see me in the gaming area. Oh, and speaking of Level Up Games, they wanted to introduce themselves at Minicon with a blast! They are going to host four "Win the Console" events. We are going to have four different consoles and a competition. Win the competition and you win the console! How cool is that!

Level Up Games is going to help us host our Classic Console Cavalcade. For those of us that grew up in the 8-Bit generation (or even older) we have some great systems to play on. We are going to have available an NES, Nintendo 64, Nintendo Game Cube, as well as a PSOne to play. Here's the cool part, Level Up Games is giving the consoles away as part of the weekend! The official games will be announced at the convention, but the winner of each event will walk away with their own gaming console! I will also be bringing my personal consoles this year.

Finally my library of games is returning. We will have a lot of games for you to use, as well as plenty of space to enjoy them. Please come on down and enjoy some down time between panels.

There will be space available for any member of the convention to run gaming events. Please e-mail me at gaming @ minicon47 . mnstf . org to get into the schedule and to make sure that we can make the space.

Matt "Cyber_Urza" McMillan
Gaming Head

Event Descriptions

Friday

Cosmic Encounter

In Cosmic Encounter, each player is the leader of an alien race. The object of the game is to establish colonies in other players' planetary systems. Players take turns trying to establish colonies. The winner(s) are the first player(s) to have five colonies on any planets outside his or her home system. A player does not need to have colonies in all of the systems, just colonies on five planets outside his or her home system. These colonies may all be in one system or scattered over multiple systems. The players must use force, cunning, and diplomacy to ensure their victory.

This is the 2008 version from Fantasy Flight

Battlestar Galactica (Basic)

After the Cylon attack on the Colonies, the battered remnants of the human race are on the run, constantly searching for the next signpost on the road to Earth. They face the threat of Cylon attack from without, and treachery and crisis from within. Humanity must work together if they are to have any hope of survival…but how can they, when any of them may, in fact, be a Cylon agent?

Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game is an exciting game of mistrust, intrigue, and the struggle for survival. Based on the epic and widely-acclaimed Sci Fi Channel series, Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game puts players in the role of one of ten of their favorite characters from the show. Each playable character has their own abilities and weaknesses, and must all work together in order for humanity to have any hope of survival. However, one or more players in every game secretly side with the Cylons. Players must attempt to expose the traitor while fuel shortages, food contaminations, and political unrest threatens to tear the fleet apart.

This uses the base game plus the Pegasus Expansion

Merchant of Venus

Merchant of Venus uses many elements which come together to form a very interesting game. Players take on the roles of space traders who move their ships through interconnected systems discovering new alien worlds to trade with. As players start to make money delivering commodities in a unique supply-and-demand system, their earnings can be used to purchase better ships and equipment (shields, lasers, engines, etc...) and construct their own spaceports (which speed up trading) and factories (which create better commodities). Variations included in the rulebook allow for interplayer combat. The player who first acquires enough total value ($1000, $2000, $3000, $4000) in cash and port/factory deeds takes the day.

Saturday

Battlestar Galactica (Advanced)

See description for Friday Event.

This adds the Exodus expansion.

Twilight Imperium: “Fall of the Empire” Scenario

Twilight Imperium Third Edition is an epic empire-building game of interstellar conflict, trade, and struggle for power. Players take the roles of ancient galactic civilizations, each seeking to seize the imperial throne via warfare, diplomacy, and technological progression. With geomorphic board tiles, exquisite plastic miniatures, hundreds of cards, and introducing a rich set of strategic dimensions that allows each player to refocus their game-plan, the original designer Christian T. Petersen has seamlessly incorporated the better qualities of other recently popular games to improve on the game-play of the original TI, making it at once perfectly well-rounded and pleasantly familiar to experienced gamers.

TI3 is played by at least three players who belong to ten possible alien races, each with their own advantages and quirks. The 'designer notes' in the rulebook candidly and humbly acknowledge the inspiration for some of the improvements to the original game. The strategic game-play borrows the governing element from 'Puerto Rico' to involve players in an iteratively complex and yet fast-paced game experience with very little downtime. The game map, basic player progress and overall victory are dynamically determined in almost exactly the same way as they are by imaginative players of 'Settlers of Catan', while the "Command" system cleverly improves on the 'oil' logistical mechanism of 'Attack' to both manage turn-based activity and limit the size of armies, uniquely enabling weakened players to bounce back if they play their cards right.

This scenario pits the Lazax Empire against three other players.

Star Munchkin

The Munchkins are back - but now they're in space! Now they're Mutants, Androids, and Cat People... grabbing Lasers, Vibroswords, and Nova Grenades... fighting Fanged Fuzzballs, Bionic Bimbos, and the Brain In A Jar. This is a complete game using the best-selling Munchkin rules (with a few new twists like Sidekicks). Yes, it CAN be combined with Munchkin! And, of course, it features the twisted humor of Steve Jackson (I) and the wacky cartoons of John Kovalic.

Risk 2210 A.D.

Risk 2210 A.D. is yet another entry in the long series of Risk variants. Set in the not-so-distant future, battles are now fought by machines of destruction, known as MODS, for short. Human commanders still lead these mechanized troops, but these commanders each have special powers and abilities. These come into play via the use of Command cards, which add a new dimension to the game. Now, the battle is not just for the continents, but the sea and moon are also battlegrounds.

Although much has been added, the basic flavor of the game is still Risk. One welcome change is the institution of a five-turn game limit, which allows the game to play to completion in about three hours. Further, players must also factor in economics in the form of energy. This energy is used to purchase Command cards, bid for Turn Order, and hire new commanders. There is much more strategy and planning involved in this new version, but it should still appeal to the classic Risk fans.

Star Trek: Expeditions

Star Trek: Expeditions is a board game for up to four players, set in the "New Universe" of Star Trek, as seen in the 2009 movie. It is built upon the cooperative board game model and the players will work together against the game itself.

In the game, players assume the roles of Kirk, Spock, Bones and Uhura. The premise is the Federation has received a petition for membership from a planet and the Enterprise is dispatched to assess their application. When the Enterprise arrives, they discover:

  • A Klingon battle cruiser is in orbit;
  • Civil war is threatening to break out on the planet;
  • And the planet is (coincidentally?) reconsidering its application for UFP membership.

Your mission is threefold; defuse the threat of civil war, deal with the Klingon threat and get the planet to join the UFP. And you only have 30 days (roughly equaling 30 turns) in which to do it. or a Klingon battle fleet will warp in and you will be forced to withdraw (thus failing your mission).

Each objective is tracked on a scoresheet that monitors your progress. Decisions you make in the game as well as how you interact with the other players will affect the outcome of the mission.

The four figures are fully rendered, 3D versions of the four Bridge officers. The four figures and two spaceships are similar to Heroclix figures, with the clicks on the dials at the base of the figure representing damage and corresponding diminished abilities.

Space Empires

Space Empires is a game in the finest tradition of 4X space games - eXplore, eXpand, eXploit, and eXterminate. Make no mistake. All four "X's" are included in this game. This is a wargame where the purpose of building your empire is not to feel good about your achievement, but to destroy your enemies and burn their colonies. 

One difficulty in games of this genre is that they are often either overly simplistic or tediously detailed. Space Empires has been almost 20 years in the making and, during that time, many elegant solutions have been developed to keep the theme rich without a lot of rules. The game includes carriers and fighters, mines, cloaking, a very large technology tree, fifteen ship classes from scout to dreadnaught, merchant shipping, colonization, mining, terraforming, bases, shipyards, black holes, warp points, and non-player aliens, yet the rules are short and intuitive and the game can be finished on one sitting. This is NOT a game that is hard to get into. The playtest rules are only 8 pages long for the basic game and increase to 11 pages in length when the advanced rules are included.

Exploration is easy (well, easy for you, it is actually dangerous for your ships) and fun and reveals different terrain (such as asteroids and nebulas) which affect your movement and your combat. The map is mounted.

Sunday

Battletech

The Introductory Box Set is designed as the entry point into the game for new BattleTech players. The quick-start rules, which can be learned in under an hour, will have new players quickly slugging it out in the thirty-foot-tall war machines known as BattleMechs. The longer introductory rules provide more extensive guidelines for 'Mech movement and combat as well as construction rules for building or customizing your own (introductory-level) 'Mechs. Quick-start rules for vehicles and infantry are also included for players interested in combined-arms battles. Also included in the box set is a BattleTech universe book providing an overview of the game world, its history, and its factions. A set of 24 unpainted plastic 'Mechs, ready for play and suitable for painting, are accompanied by prefilled record sheets listing each 'Mech's capabilities. The set also includes maps, a painting and tactics guide, cardstock reference sheets, a universe poster map of the BattleTech universe, and two six-sided dice.

The 2011 "Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Edition" of the box set replaces the 2007 edition's thin paper maps with board game-style mounted maps, adds two "high-quality" plastic minis (a Thor and a Loki (and accompanying record sheets), and includes a brief guide detailing the BattleTech gaming system intended to introduce new players to the various products for the game.

Starfarers of Catan

The foray into space, sometime near the year 2700 A.D. Compete for the prestigious post of Ambassador to the Galactic Council. To attain this lofty position, players must leave Terra and the known planets to explore and colonize the galaxy, while working to establish trade with alien cultures, encounter aliens, and defeat pirates. Glory and victory go to the brave and astute explorer upon whom luck smiles.

The known worlds lie at one end of the game board, where each of the 3 or 4 players begins from known solar systems, each with 3 planets producing raw materials needed for the travels into deep space.

Each player begins with 2 Colonies and a Space Port (all components are made from plastic). The Space Port makes starships to transport your new colonies and trade posts to distant lands. Throughout the game, all the colonies and spaceports enable the production of resources when the dice match the numbers of adjacent planets. Resources are traded for colony ships, trade ships, and fleet upgrades of freight rings, booster rockets, and cannon. Beware as you explore—some planets are covered in ice, and some conceal dangerous pirates.

Magic Events

Archenemy

This format pits three players against an Archenemy who has a special deck of cards to play against his challengers. This format supports any Legacy legal deck.

Quantum Leap

Special design by Minicon 47 gaming head Matt McMillan that combines Vanguard and Planechase Magic variants into one format. This is a "free for all" format.

Legacy

This is a Legacy format tournament, using current rules from Wizards of the Coast.

Schedule

(Subject to change, naturally.)

 

Matt Benno Paul Brad Level Up Games Kevin
Friday
5:00 PM MtG: Archenemy

 

Battlestar Galactica (Basic)

 

 

 

5:30 PM

 

 

 

 

6:00 PM

 

Cosmic Encounters Merchants of Venus Console Event: 1

 

6:30 PM MtG: Quantum Leap

 

7:00 PM

 

7:30 PM

 

8:00 PM

 

8:30 PM

 

9:00 PM

 

9:30 PM

 

 

10:00 PM MtG: Archenemy

 

 

 

 

10:30 PM

 

 

 

 

11:00 PM

 

 

 

 

 

 

11:30 PM

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday
10:00 AM MtG: Archenemy

 

 

 

 

 

10:30 AM

 

 

 

 

 

11:00 AM

 

Battlestar Galactica (Advanced)

 

Star Trek: Expeditions

 

 

11:30 AM

 

 

 

 

12:00 PM MtG: Legacy Constructed Star Munchkin Console Event: 2

 

12:30 PM

 

1:00 PM

 

1:30 PM

 

2:00 PM

 

2:30 PM

 

3:00 PM

 

Blackmoor Memorial Dungeon Crawl - Sherpa Rules
3:30 PM

 

4:00 PM

 

 

 

 

4:30 PM

 

 

 

 

5:00 PM MtG: Archenemy Twilight Imperium: "Fall of the Empire" Scenario Risk: 2210 Space Empires

 

5:30 PM

 

6:00 PM

 

Console Event: 3

 

6:30 PM

 

 

7:00 PM MtG: Quantum Leap

 

7:30 PM

 

8:00 PM

 

8:30 PM

 

9:00 PM

 

9:30 PM

 

10:00 PM

 

 

 

10:30 PM

 

 

 

11:00 PM

 

 

 

 

 

 

11:30 PM

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday
10:00 AM MtG: Archenemy Battletech Starfarers of Catan

 

Console Event: 4

 

10:30 AM

 

 

11:00 AM MtG: Quantum Leap

 

 

11:30 AM

 

 

12:00 PM

 

 

12:30 PM

 

 

1:00 PM

 

 

1:30 PM

 

 

2:00 PM

 

 

 

 

 

 

2:30 PM