JeffCon 2021 Recap

We just arrived back from our annual long weekend of gaming at Lake Kachess.  JeffCon was a four or five night event this year, as we extended our long weekend even more due to missing last year's JeffCon due to COVID.

We once again brought a mix of old classics and new games to try out. Here are some of the new (or newish) games our group (of six attendees) played this year:

• 1812: The Invasion of Canada - Not an 18XX game, but a light wargame by Academy Games that has the British Redcoats, Canadian Militia, and Native Americans fighting the American Regulars and American Militia along the northeast US-Canadian border.  I enjoyed the movement mechanic (using cards).  Like many Academy Games, it uses blocks for forces and custom dice for combat.  We played the two turn introductory scenario, and enjoyed it's straight-forward nature.
  
• Dune - This was the first time playing the Gale Force Nine remake of the forty year old classic, (originally released by Avalon Hill back in 1979).  I was concerned that the game mechanics may show their age, but I was mistaken - playing this was one of the highlights of the weekend.  Each player is a faction working to control the planet Arrakis. The game board is split into a number of territories, five of which are strongholds.  The normal winning condition is to control three of the strongholds alone, (or four held by an alliance of two players).  There are faction-specific victory conditions as well.  It is asymmetric, unbalanced, allows for creativity and treachery - and it all works.  In our game, the Bene Gesserit player won using their unique victory condition, which was a surprise to all of us -- especially that player's ally!  Six is the perfect number of players for this game - I wouldn't want to play it with any less.
• What A Tanker! - We played a 6mm tank battle using the Too Fat Lardies ruleset for the first time with six players - two teams of three tanks.  I finally got to use my 6mm desert scenery.  The dice rolls were fun, random, and many times brutal.
  
• Tzolk'in: The Mayan Calendar -  This worker placement game has a unique game mechanic as players place their workers on giant connected gears.  The gears rotate and take the workers to different action spots.  It requires planning ahead and prudent resource management.  This was our second play, but first time playing with five players.
  
• Aliens: Another Glorious Day in the Corps - We played this Aliens-themed co‑operative survival board game, which to me seemed like a mix of Space Hulk and Star Wars: Imperial Assault.  We played the introductory scenario where we needed to rescue Newt and escape the board.  The game has a card management component that I was not expecting, but helps provide a sense of pressure and constraint.  Our mission was mostly successful and we learned much strategy for future sessions.
• Ethnos - This was our second time playing this game, but it was the first time playing with six players.  This fantasy-themed area control and card matching game scales well with the number of players.  I went with the "Halfling strategy" once again, which put me far head in victory points after the first two rounds.  But in the final round, I pressed my luck and ended up not banking any Halfing armies, and lost to a player using the "Orc strategy".  The game rewards flexibility and taking advantage of the opportunities that arise.
• Pyramid Cards - This now relatively hard-to-find card game was released way back in 1977.  It is a trick-tracking game, with five suites in its 52 card deck, (each deck has 5 suits numbered 2 through 12, along with 2 wild cards). We used two decks and played a modified ruleset where players predicted the number of tricks they would win.
• Road Kill Rally - This risk-management racing game was a blast to play.  Each player takes one car, modifying and customizing it using accessory cards.  Then the death race is on.  Points are awarded for kills, destruction, and finishing the race in the top three positions.  Points are lost for wiping out.  Card management is a key piece of the game, as your hand of cards is used for measuring the fitness of your car.  I really enjoyed the trade-off between speed and safety on turns.  I enjoyed it more than our games of Gaslands, although it is more constrained and lacks the customization of a miniatures game.