Canada/Quebec - Events of 2012

[Phoenixio]

So yeah, I realized I should have done a single thread with all my events in them, but oh well, it's too late. It's not like a lot of people came after seeing my posts here anyway, considering I'm in Quebec and all (most prefer French forums).

Anyways, I've been keeping it low-profile for the past months (since December) as it's been pretty difficult to find a good moment for the demo. With other events going on at my usual place, and me being somewhat busy too. Still got the chance to show Dungeon Run and Summoner Wars a lot during this downtime, though in a more private manner. It's a good thing I always carry my SW and DR stuff with me when going to boardgaming nights.

Speaking of which, I got the opportunity to show both games just yesterday. Got a quick game of Summoner Wars featuring his Guild Dwarves against my Shadow Elves. Never had I seen so many Spearmen hit the board simultaneously, which gave the Rangers a couple of clean shots here and there. All that magic allowed Hydrake to come in and say hi to Oldin personally, but even Heroic Feats couldn't stop him. A sad thing as Selundar was playing it risky and had a lot of wounds on him from being locked down by Defenders.

As for Dungeon Run, it was a 5 player game, which isn't super optimal, but still went fine. A player did fall on all the worst rooms he could get, and then this monster that requires assists. He didn't accomplish much being all alone. At the same time, some Vargath tried to steal at least 3 treasures that other players shared blood for. The mighty Dragon boss didn't lass long under the assaults of the Orc, the Elf and the Dwarf, who all were quite equipped, and the following bloodbath was quite impressive. Everybody died but the Dwarf with the stone and that mage that went all alone but that couldn't catch the Dwarf back before he reached the exit. Nice game for everyone but the mage, though we did find that assist only monster and the room with the same effect quite annoying.


As for the next demo, I'm not sure I'll be able to hold one in Trois-Rivieres before April, but I'll be going to that gaming convention on the last weekend of March called the Jeux au Boute. You can find more information there. If all goes well, I should be there from Friday to Sunday with all my Summoner Wars and Dungeon Run stuff, so make sure to come and say hi!

[Phoenixio]

Can't be more last call, but I'll be at the usual place tonight, with my brand new first copy of the Filth and the Mercenary deck. If anyone wants to try them out, feel free to join me!

For those that forgot:

Pavillon Gagnon
1375 de la Terrière (right on the intersection with De Courval hidden between two baseball fields)
Trois-Rivières
Québec
Canada (in case people come from far :P)

I also confirm that I'll be at the Jeux aux Boutes, from Friday untill Sunday. Make sure to come and say hi.

[Phoenixio]

Finally back from the JABs, and I had quite a good time. I did get sick on Saturday morning, after only 2 hours of sleep, so I had to stay put for a couple of hours to rest. Other than that, it was nearly 60 hours of gaming...

I didn't get to play Summoner Wars or Dungeon Run much, since it was more of an open gaming convention, but I did see my games run around some, especially Dungeon Run who is fit for such conventions. I did show the games to a couple of persons, especially that one guy who was from my town and which had never come to my usual SW nights!

The best though was when I saw a guy to whom I had shown the game last year, and he happily showed me, hidden deep in a pile of games, his own Master Set!

A couple of people also came to inquire about the Filth and Mercenaries, and I was quite surprised about that. I didn't expect so many people to know about them before they even hit the shelves in Quebec.

So yeah, it was quite a cool convention, and I'm glad to see the game is having success here even though it's still English only. I'm also glad to see some people I showed the game to really got into it. Good times.

[Phoenixio]

Got the opportunity to demo last week, with no less than 2 new players that learnt and enjoyed the game, and another that checked on us and that will try the game out the next time I bring it.

I think you guys might want to know that I have a tournament planned for this summer. It's not easy to find a proper moment though, with June being already quite packed with conventions and tournaments here in Quebec. It might be possible to get around the normal format of Thursday nights and maybe pull it off during the weekend in a kind of boardgame party with a BBQ and stuff. I wonder if people would be interested by that.

[Phoenixio]

Last minute call: I'll be at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières this afternoon, from 13h00 to 17h00 to demo Summoner Wars and Dungeon Run. There's this small local convention I just heard about and I've decided to spend the afternoon there. So if anybody is interested, come play some games!

It should be held in the Centre Intégré des Pâtes et Papiers (CIPP), locals 1001, 1100 and 2000. For those willing to go, there should be a couple of other boardgames and players available, and it closes at 23h00, so if you want to do other stuff than SW and DR, you'll be able to!

[Phoenixio]

Alright, it's decided, the next tournament will be held on June 9th! The format will be entirely different as I'm trying something new. First, the event will be held as the opening of a Birthday Boardgame BBQ party which means that, indirectly, all participants for the SW tournament are invited to the party. Second, it means you'll be able to play with us during the whole afternoon and evening to whatever other boardgames you want too! The BBQ will probably include a couple of snacks, some drinks and essentially hamburgers and hot-dogs, but I suggest you bring some food of your own (a snack for the group or something), out of politeness. Places aren't limited so much, but we'd REALLY like it if people could confirm their presence to us by private message in advance, or in this thread, so we prepare enough place and food for the occasion.

As for the tournament, considering the kind of event we'll be in, the best format would be straight elimination. Eliminated players will have the opportunity to play other games, and the tournament is meant as an intro, so only winners should have to spend more time in the game (unlike round-Robin tournaments were everybody plays 3 matches even if they know they won't get anywhere). The party opens up at 13h00, and thus the tournament should start at around 13h30, so make sure to arrive in time! The tournament is sponsored by PHG, so the winner will earn a beautiful new-print starter set, and the second one will be given to a participant at random. As for the boards and factions, you are invited to bring your own, but there'll be place for 16 players (out of my stock) and enough factions for 32 (doubles of everything that I'll gladly lend). Factions will have to be played in their Standard Format, so no Reinforcements or Mercenaries allowed (out of fairness to everyone and so we don't spend too much start for deckbuilding prior to the event).

So yeah, if there are any questions or comments, post them below, as usual! If there are none, see you on June 9th!

[airdroppers]

Not making my way to Quebec, but I would love to know how the format went when the tourney is done.

[Phoenixio]

So yeah, it ended up being an awesome format. The tournament as the opener really mixed people up, and when they got eliminated they really could do other things, though a lot wanted to play again (since more than half had never played before). I was saddened by the fact that there were less "expert" players showing up, or less longtimers, but the timing was horrible for a lot of them (business trips, moving out of town, jobs, and so on).

We still had a great number of participants, no less than 12 me included. I limited the choice of faction to a single copy of each faction, since most people had never played. The results were the following, with the winner named first:

1st Round:

PE vs GD
SG vs SO
CG vs FK
DD vs FL
SE vs TO
JE vs BD

2nd Round:

DD vs PE
SG vs JE
CG vs SE

3rd Round (I opted out as SG since we were an uneven number in this round, so it became the final round):

DD vs CG

Incidentally, the winner had never played the Deep Dwarves before (and only a handful of games in the past tournaments), and it was his birthday party we were at! So it ended up being tons of fun for everyone, and most of the new players really enjoyed the game. The new format really made a change, especially for those who get 1 loss or more in Round Robin format: they keep on playing even though they have no chance to take first place. It is a little more vulnerable to bad matchups, but at least people are freed from the obligation of the tournament once they lose. I also got a little nervous about the third round, in case I didn't make it there, since I would have had to find a way to differentiate the 3 reaching the round, but since I got there too it was the thing to do to opt out, as the representative.

So yeah, good times, and I'll be looking forward to the next tournament, to see if I can pull out the best of the two formats!

[Phoenixio]

I'll be at the usual place tonight, and since few people have had the opportunity to try the Filth and the Mercenaries in the region, I think it'd be a good thing to focus on tonight.

So if anybody is interested, you know where to go.

[Phoenixio]

We ended up playing only late, so there were only 2 players, but the two were new to the game and really enjoyed it! I think they were both arguing about who would be buying the last copy of the Master Set from some guy. It was a nice back-and-forth between the Vanguards and the Mountain Vanguards, and the Vanguards barely managed to win, and played only Raechel! Now some of the community could learn from that... :P