08/18/18
CSWEXPO SPLASH

My First ConsimWorld Expo Experience

Who ventures into the desert in summer?  Wargamers! ~

By Christian Snyder, 18 August 2018

A big thanks to Ric Van Dyke who took and provided the photos; he is a much better and more reliable photographer than I!

Even though ConsimWorld and its Expo are a staple of the wargaming hobby, (and have been for almost two decades) I hesitate to write this, as I feel like I am letting out the secret of one of the best Expos in Wargaming. Besides putting these words to paper, I have recounted this information dozens of times to family, friends, peers, anyone who I thought might be interested in knowing what ConsimWorld Expo was like. Additionally, in my first drafts, I tried listing all the designers, developers, and great people that I met. But in doing so, I would undoubtedly leave someone out, and instead, I would prefer to just focus on the ConsimWorld Expo experience. So other than a very few, I am omitting almost all names. First, I will explain what I thought ConsimWorld Expo was all about, then what my excited initial reaction was, and finally, the deep and great appreciation that I have for ConsimWorld Expo after some simple introspection. First and foremost, this was my first ConsimWorld Expo, my first board game expo, and my first true expo/con-anything. So maybe a grain of salt or two is required, but take a read, and see for yourself.

The Grand Ballroom
The Grand Ballroom of the Tempe Palms Hotel packed full of Wargamers

 

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08/13/18

What’s Gus Playing: Dishonored – Death of the Outsider + A Special Bonus

Our stunted steampunker stalks scenery and solves stories ~

Lloyd Sabin, 13 August 2018

On occasion, I think.

And most of the time games take up most of my thoughts. Games, unlike movies, books or other forms of entertainment, are a higher form because they let us, the gamers, decide what the format will look like. Whether we are playing an RPG, an RTS, a strategy game or an FPS, our input drives events, whether it’s a historical battle, an entire sweeping campaign, or a fictional, totally made up story. Games are what we make them and are all the better because of that.

Who knows why, but every summer around August I get in a steampunk mood.

And the best games, regardless of genre, let us both explore and create. Who knows why, but every summer around August I get in a steampunk mood. And I have been blessed with some great steampunk-themed games over the years to satiate that storied, steampunk need.

The Thief games (all of them), Arcanum, Rise of Legends and to an extent the Fallout games (especially Fallout 4, which, to me, is very dieselpunk, even though it takes place in an uncertain future)…they all scratch that steampunk itch, they are all well put together and beloved, and they all let us tell our own stories.

The Dishonored games continue this tradition. I loved the first one, set in the grim city of Dunwall. I enjoyed Dishonored 2, set in Karnaca, another city with a more tropical setting, but still with tons of steampunk flavor. And now I have cracked open Dishonored 2 – Death of the Outsider, in which I play Billie Lurk, who is working to avenge the now elderly Daud, the protagonist from the first game.

At first I thought I would be underwhelmed – Dishonored 2 was good, but didn’t blow me away like the first game did. Then I started to explore the game. Divided in to five large levels, Death of the Outsider is built to explore and make you think. Rushing through each level would be counter-productive and a lot of the great moody detail of the game would be missed. Continue reading →