Author Archives: grayle2

Attending REcon

L. Gray

I attended REcon in Armstrong student center at Miami University on February 24th. The League of Geeks on campus sponsored this event. The convention lasted the whole weekend and featured many exciting events. There was a live show by Dice Tower, panels, an escape room, trivia, prizes, crafts, and even more. As a student, it was nice to see people of all ages in Armstrong enjoying the event. REcon was a great mix of special events at certain times along with events that took place throughout the whole weekend. The day we went there were Medieval combat demonstrations and weaving. I was excited to see countless individuals at this event who were so passionate about gaming. They took over Armstrong and made it a true celebration of different kinds of geek culture.

I was very interested in the board game free play that was going on all weekend in the new pavilion. In class, we play numerous games I have never played before, so I wanted to be exposed to the unique types of board games that would be at this event. When looking at the different papers I could write, I also noticed there were several classifications of board games I did not recognize. Deck-building games were one type of game I had not seen before. I learned that a deck-building game is a card game that focuses on the construction of the deck you have in the game. Each player has their own deck and usually the cards are worth some sort of currency. At Recon, we played two different types of deck-builder games.

The first one we played was one of the play-to-win games at REcon called Clank! This game had a traditional board space along with the deck building part of the game. The objective of the game is to sneak into the dragon’s lair and gather artifacts worth victory points without making noise. Each Clank! adds your colored cube to the dragon’s bag. When the dragon attacks, a certain number of cubes are pulled from the bag and placed on you health tracker. So, the more of your colored blocks you have in the bag, the greater chance you have of losing health. As a player travels along, they also use their deck to gather more cards that will help them with their journey. At the end, all cards and loot are counted up for victory points, and the greatest amount wins. I enjoyed this game because it was a good introduction to a deck-builder game. I was able to adapt to this style of play because there was still aspects of the more traditional board games that I have played before REcon.

The next game we played was also a deck-builder game. We were able beat the crowds after the Dice Tower show got out in order to play DC Comics deck-building game. This game was different than Clank! because there were only cards and no actual board in this game. The objective was the same, however, to gain cards worth the most amount of power points. Each player started out as a DC superhero, and each superhero had a different objective that would aid his or her journey in this game. For example, I chose Wonder Woman, so I was able to play an extra card for each round I acquired a villain into my deck of cards. There were extensive expansion packs that went along with this game, however, being new to this game we decided to just play with the original deck. The card combinations that could be created added to the strategy and objectives of the game. The DC game was different from Clank! because of the different card combinations that began to compound on one another as we built our decks. Each turn began to take longer and become more interesting and complex. Super villains were also another component of this game. Super villains could be purchased, but also upon first appearance in the deck they could really switch up the game. For example, one super villain allowed each player to only keep one card in their hand and then required each player to pass their deck to the next person and allowed them to choose a card they wanted. This process was repeated until all the hands drawn during that turn were changed. The game ends when all the super villains are purchased. There are other ways to win, but they rarely occur. After the last turn, all the cards are counted up, and the player with the most power points wins.

I did not win either game that I played at REcon, but this was not my primary objective. Like we talked about in class, everyone has a different goal when playing these games. My goal was to learn more about the different style of play that comes with playing deck-builder games. I think that after being exposed to these unique games, I am better prepared for class and the new games I will play in the upcoming weeks. I learned more about how each turn I took built off another one, and that a decision I made at the beginning of the game could affect my style of play later in the game. Even though these games fostered competition against the other players, I wanted to simply improve my own deck and not try to sabotage other players’ decks. I also wanted to learn more about board games because I quickly realized how much I did not know after attending REcon. When we were playing Clank!, another attendee approached us and cheerfully asked if we have played the other editions of this game. I was unaware that other editions existed and was just beginning to learn how to play this type of game. There were also multiple games on the tables in Armstrong that I had never seen before REcon. I am looking forward to seeing if we play some of these games in class, and I am excited to learn more about the different strategies that are used to be successful in these different types of games. I am thankful to be a part of a class that values each person’s different objective when playing board games. I was also glad to attend REcon where there were many gracious people who were happy to help answer questions that new board game players like me had about the games.

Leadership in Hanabi

The game I played was Hanabi. This is a cooperative card game. The objective is to build a perfect, exciting fireworks display by placing the cards in order by different color. The cards range from 1 to 5 and must be placed in ascending order. Each player holds the cards away from himself or herself, so everyone but the person holding the cards knows what cards are in play.
The hardest part of playing Hanabi was to look at the clues that you gave from our players’ perspectives. In order to achieve the correct sequence of cards, you must provide helpful hints to the other players. There were several times after a hint was given, I could see the next person thinking very hard about the best move they could make. After one round, we seemed to learn each other’s communication style. After this, the next player was often able to finish the hint given by the previous player. We were also able to complete sequences faster and with fewer hints after playing several games.
The leadership themes that we discussed in class included communication and taking charge. Having only one leader in Hanabi would have been extremely difficult because of the nature of the game. I think communication applied a great deal to this style of game. As a leader you must adapt your communication style to what is best for your team. This lesson was seen almost immediately in Hanabi. We had to figure out what hints worked best for each player. We also had to work as a group despite our different communication styles, and I think this is also an important part of leading a team or group.
I think that my mom would enjoy playing this game because of the cooperation and communication it takes. We enjoy playing games like Heads Up around the holidays, which involves teamwork. My family has great memories of working together in games like this, and I know she would like to add this game to the ones we have. I also think that it would appeal to her because it is low conflict and low stress, so we can all relax and enjoy ourselves while we play.

Avalon- First game of the semester!

In week one, We played the game Avalon. This game is based in the mythical and magical times of Merlin, Arthur, and Mordred. This game requires strategy and deceit. The strategy is easy to learn, and I am thankful that this was the first game we were introduced to in the class. The objective of the game, if you are a good character, is to complete three of five quests in order to win. The evil characters attempt to fail the quests by collaborating with other evil characters in order to be the majority sent on the quest. Each player also has a way to stop the mission from taking place by accepting or rejecting the mission based on who is sent to go on the quest. Each move a player makes is critiqued and carefully watched by the other players in order to figure out who is good and who is evil. This proved to be difficult because the game was fast paced and did not allow much time to reflect on the moves of each player. The game can progress to include more difficult aspects once certain characters are added, however, we only played a few rounds of the game including these tougher roles.

The hardest part about it for me was embracing my role as a villain in the game. I usually always want to be the “good guy” in the game, however, in Avalon it seemed the villains had more of an opportunity to play and strategize as a team. I enjoyed this aspect of the game. One villain can convince the players they are trustworthy and then whomever they pick to send on the mission is not scrutinized. The other villains can then follow along when chosen for the mission. I think this ties into leadership because in a leadership role, you have to gain the trust of your teammates, coworkers, etc.

I think my sister would enjoy this game. We both watched the TV series Merlin so seeing this characters again would excite her. She would also jump at the chance to be able to play as a powerful, well-known character like Morgana or Merlin. This game also does not take long to learn, so we could easily teach it to other family members and get them involved, which I think she would like.