Boardgaming Finland

Helcon 2010 was last weekend and for most of the attendees it was full of games from Friday until Sunday. Unfortunately I was the head organizer of the event which obviously meant that I had to concentrate mainly on other thing than to play games.

As an organizer of the event I was happy because everything more or less worked as planned and every one seemed to enjoy themselves. We had more media coverage than I had been excepting which is definitely good not just for the event itself but also for the Finnish board gaming scene as a whole. Media also brought in a lot of families who otherwise would have not found the event and our efforts to help them made them play more than one game in the event (and hopefully we got plenty of new gamers).

For the serious gamers Essen and Spiel were the main course for the con and I tried to find time to play the games I brought from Essen to Finland. I wasn’t too efficient with my goal but here’s a few words on the games I played.

Nino Delfino was the first game I played during the con. We had it as a demo game and it turned out to be sort of a hit for the con since we had a lot of families attending and Nino Delfino was perfect for them. The game itself is simple roll and move game where die has been replaced with a deck of cards and then there is the dolphin which is a cool gimmick.

Charly was also in Fridays agenda and it turned out to be relatively entertaining family game. Simple game in a small box is something which families tend to need from time to time and Charly is perfect to fulfill these needs. I don’t mind playing it again but probably it doesn’t hit table very often (even though I own a copy of the game).

Tornado Alert was a good way to end Friday since it’s a Finnish design and we had the designer present at the con. The game has had some buzz in the BGG after Scott Nicholson made a video presentation of the game. I also met designer Ilmo Nurminen at the Spiel fair but did not have time to play his game then. Tornado Alert is a interesting mix of ingredients; there’s speed, memory and counting involved in the game. It also felt very unique which for me is a positive remark because nowadays most games remind me of some other games.

Saturday was again full of official responsibilities which left less time for gaming but it was great to see Loch Ness on the table. Gorgeous game describes Loch Ness very well and since there’s also a good game inside the box it’s a solid addition to my kids games section which waits for my daughter to grow up. We also played a round of Sobek which remains a quick and somewhat entertaining French style filler.

After so many light games it was time for something meatier which in this case was Troyes. Troyes was one of the hits of Spiel and it’s definitely a game for gamers. I had played the game once before and explained the rules for others and somewhere in the middle of the explanation I could see that others didn’t quite get it. In some cases I would find it worrisome but with Troyes that is probably the case with all first timers. The game has interesting dice mechanic which is the heart of the game. There are plenty of ways to score points in the game but during the first play I was struggling to find the efficient ways to do it. Second game was definitely easier now that I knew how the game progressed but still I felt I did not find the thread of the game. Fortunately in a table with newbies I didn’t have to score well to win the game.

The beef of the Helcon 2010 for me was my pre planned game of Eclipse. Eclipse is a prototype by Touko Tahkokallio and Sampo Sikiö who I know well and I had already played Eclipse twice before. But there’s something in the game which intrigues me and keeps me wanting more. This time I tried to win the game with Planta (race in the game) which seemed to be challenging since they could only hold three victory chips instead of four and when somebody could drive my ships from my star systems I immediately lost the control for the them.

My strategy was to move quickly and block all others races from my start systems. It was a solid strategy but execution of it was poor – I ended up blocking all but two races but unfortunately both of them were more advanced than me and they smacked me pretty badly. It was a survival game for me but again I enjoyed myself. Planta was not the most interesting race to start a game because it needs to keep out of action for the most of the time and building your empire alone in the outskirts of the galaxy is not the most exiting thing to do for 3+ hours. I do hope that Eclipse finds a publisher and others game enthusiasts get to experience the epic fun it offers.

Helcon had open doors on Sunday and there were a lot of families playing games. I helped around until I got my own family in. Good friend Olli also did a quick visit and we sat down to play Ubongo 3D which remained a too challenging game for me. Sand timer of the game did not work which meant that we had more time to solve the puzzles but still probably half of them were too hard for either of us to solve.

The last game of the con was Fresco which I’ve been trying to get to the table eagerly for the summer; I love arts and Fresco is all about them so the theme of the game is very interesting. As one could except the game was not a disappointment with its solid mechanics and relatively short playing time. We played the basic game and with 4 extensions, that come with the game, there’s more than enough meat in the game even for the game hobbyists.

Helcon 2010 was fun event and hopefully in future it is even more fun as well as larger and more varied.