Tag Archives: Conventions
Arms & Ambition – Playtest Report
GrogHeads had a chance to check out a pre-release playtest of the new Arms & Ambition boardgame ~
Chris Caran, 15 November 2017
This weekend while attending the MACE convention in Charlotte, I had an opportunity to sit down with Brad Warren and play his new wargame, Arms and Ambition. The game is in development, but very polished so far – a beautiful vinyl mat, 3D printed pieces, and professionally printed cards. Only the rules and documentation are still in developmental mode.
In the game, you play one of eight noble families vying for the throne after the ruling dynasty collapses. Each family has starting territory and “family ambitions” – victory conditions specific to the player. The overall goal is to gain 100 victory points and declare yourself the new king. You have starting units and each territory you own (represented by a card) has an income value.
Convention Report – Spiel 2017
What did you miss in Essen this year? A special report for GrogHeads.com ~
Eddy Sterckx and photos by Ann Therie, 4 November 2017
Spiel is a boardgame convention held every year in Essen, Germany. There are 2 things you need to know about it :
- It’s big – really big – over a thousand new boardgames got premiered there this year
- It’s not a boardgame convention in the US sense of the word : people don’t go there to play games 24/7, they go there to get a demo and buy games – it’s more akin to a very large gamestore with a huge inventory and plenty of staff than anything else.
A tiny subset of the games getting presented there are wargames – or close enough – what follows is an overview of what managed to get my attention.
Phalanx Games
This Polish publisher managed to get the rights for doing the 20th anniversary edition of the famous Hannibal : Rome vs Carthage. It got overwhelming KickStarter support and was supposed to be delivered there, but got a bit delayed – they did have the final production version there though.
Report from LibertyCon 30
It’s a limited-attendance show, which might keep out some of the riff-raff? ~
Avery Abernethy, 17 July 2017
click images to enlarge
LibertyCon is a small SF literary, gaming and whatnot convention. They limit themselves to 750 attendees and have sold out for years. LibertyCon is held in Chattanooga, Tennessee at the last weekend in June. This was year 30.
LibertyCon is different from every other convention I’ve ever attended. It is very small, but has an amazing guest list. This year literary guests included SF (and wargamer favorites) John Ringo, David Drake, David Weber, Charles Gannon, and Michael Z. Williamson. 
Also attending (an incomplete list) were Robert Buettner; Julie Cochrane; John Hartness; Sarah Hoyt; Chris Kennedy; Tom Kratman; Van Allen Plexico and Cherie Priest. I own probably fifty books written by various author attendees. Baen Publishing loves me.
The strong author list is partly due to LibertyCon being the local convention for David Weber (who always brings his wife and three kids) and John Ringo. A huge number of Baen Books authors always attend. Baen’s publisher Toni Weisskopf is from Wake Forest, NC and they do a two hour “what are we up to” talk every year where they also give away books. They have a Baen author dinner and probably do quite a bit of business. They publically give book contracts to authors at the Baen Show.
The Southern Fried Game Expo Experience
Games aplenty in Atlanta ~
Avery Abernethy, 8 July 2017
The Southern Fried Game Expo (SFGE) is an annual Pinball, Arcade, Console and Board Game convention held annually in Atlanta Georgia. I attended the latest Expo the weekend before the start of Origins on June 9-11, 2017. This is an inexpensive, family friendly and fun event.
Arcade Row
Origins Convention Report – Lock ‘n Load Publishing
Catching up with David & the crew at #Origins2017 ~
Michelle Owczarski, 26 June 2017
We’re still working our way through our Origins 2017 reports, even though we’re over a week past the show!
With a staggering release of 30 new or updated titles, Lock ‘n Load Publishing earns this reporter’s “Most Ambitious” prize for Origins 2017.
Due to shipping issues from the printer, David Heath said he had a limited number of each title air shipped to meet expectations for his booth. Even so, response has been strong with approximately 40% of convention stock sold on the first day.
Brand-new to Lock ‘n Load Publishing is the Lock ‘n Load Tactical Solo set, a card-based tactical rules AI, called AEO, or Artificial Enemy Opponent, allowing a player to enjoy any of the Lock ‘n Load titles in solitaire mode.
