Windycon in review (plus some games)
Nov. 13th, 2011 04:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dagibbsWell, I just spent a weekend at Windycon, in metro-Chicago area. I've not been to a Windycon in something around a decade, so knew very few people here -- mostly people I knew from Detroit-area conventions, with a couple from Wiscon. Maybe 10-15 in total.
I had a pretty good time. The party scene is fairly vibrant, and the con still had people up and doing something 7am Saturday morning and 5am Sunday morning. (One of them was me. :) Also, surprise Heather Dale concert on Friday -- though it started late because it was after opening ceremonies which started late and ran later. *sigh* And, if I think my travel schedule is heavy -- theirs: OMFG!
I tasted a variety of quite nice Scotches, and managed to eliminate a few from my purchasing choices. For example, the I prefer the Bowmore 12yo to the 15yo, and the Oban 14yo to the Oban 18yo. Both are moderately intense Scotches, where the extra years seem to mellow and smooth them out too much -- losing some of the roughness, but too much of the character that makes them interesting in the younger ones. (I found the same of the Aberlour 15yo. The 10yo is too young and rough, the 12yo is very nice, the 15yo is little to no improvement on the 12yo -- but likely quite a bit more expensive, so not worth it.)
I also gamed a fair bit. Somehow, I find I tend to enjoy gaming more with the gamers that show up at an SF convention than at an actual gaming convention. I'm not sure why. I played:
Zar - kind of a crazy-8s variant, but with card-matching simultaneous play elements and a scoring method that makes it a lot more fun. A good late-night at con game.
Alien Frontiers - an interesting dice for placement in locations game, where the randomness isn't too great. Played it 2-player, and from that I think it would be more interesting 3 or 4-player. But, it was enough to get a feel for the game, and to determine that I like it. Possible future purchase.
Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer (just "Ascension" most of the time) - Another game jumping on the deck-building bandwagon. A little bit more chaotic than Dominion, playable, but not exciting.
Charon Inc. - an area control/influence to gain resource to build buildings for VPs game. Fun, and fairly quick. I quite enjoyed it, and I picked up a copy.
I had a pretty good time. The party scene is fairly vibrant, and the con still had people up and doing something 7am Saturday morning and 5am Sunday morning. (One of them was me. :) Also, surprise Heather Dale concert on Friday -- though it started late because it was after opening ceremonies which started late and ran later. *sigh* And, if I think my travel schedule is heavy -- theirs: OMFG!
I tasted a variety of quite nice Scotches, and managed to eliminate a few from my purchasing choices. For example, the I prefer the Bowmore 12yo to the 15yo, and the Oban 14yo to the Oban 18yo. Both are moderately intense Scotches, where the extra years seem to mellow and smooth them out too much -- losing some of the roughness, but too much of the character that makes them interesting in the younger ones. (I found the same of the Aberlour 15yo. The 10yo is too young and rough, the 12yo is very nice, the 15yo is little to no improvement on the 12yo -- but likely quite a bit more expensive, so not worth it.)
I also gamed a fair bit. Somehow, I find I tend to enjoy gaming more with the gamers that show up at an SF convention than at an actual gaming convention. I'm not sure why. I played:
Zar - kind of a crazy-8s variant, but with card-matching simultaneous play elements and a scoring method that makes it a lot more fun. A good late-night at con game.
Alien Frontiers - an interesting dice for placement in locations game, where the randomness isn't too great. Played it 2-player, and from that I think it would be more interesting 3 or 4-player. But, it was enough to get a feel for the game, and to determine that I like it. Possible future purchase.
Ascension: Chronicle of the Godslayer (just "Ascension" most of the time) - Another game jumping on the deck-building bandwagon. A little bit more chaotic than Dominion, playable, but not exciting.
Charon Inc. - an area control/influence to gain resource to build buildings for VPs game. Fun, and fairly quick. I quite enjoyed it, and I picked up a copy.
