Trashfest Northeast, Nov 13th - 15th, 2015 - Official Thread

Forbidden Stars with Zavos and Josh Look! How did I miss out hearing about this incredible game ??? Tremendous game!

Albion's Legacy is a cooperative adventuring game of the choose a character, equip it, go explore and fight shit type. It has the usual godawful Kickstarter rulebook, and every single thing we wanted to do in the game required a lot of poring over it trying to figure it out. Even something which should be as simple as exploring to find the next hex in the map was something we weren't sure about. Fighting a monster (because Arthurian legends are all about fighting monsters) required a skill check that we had to expend a lot of effort to make, but we were never fighting just one monster. There were tons of them on the board, and meeting the goals of the game required killing ALL of them, which just would not be possible. The characters are fragile as hell, and although equipment can soak up hits even it won't keep you from dying (you have to fight a critter until one of you dies). I guess in theory you have to retreat to Camelot every now and then to repair your shit and heal up or whatever, but not only did monsters spawn in Camelot, and not only does Camelot, for some reason, have a million rooms set in a maze, but the whole thing is timed anyway and there's no way we could have completed the goal of the game in the time allotted (11 rounds).

It's possible there's something to it, once you figure out what the hell the game intends you do, but there are dozens of games exactly like it that play well right out of the box without having to navigate crappy rulebooks. Honestly, even if the thing had been firing on all cylinders it was a pretty dull and derivative experience.

Uba said that it seemed like the kind of game where the designers had played it among themselves for ages and knew how all this stuff worked so they had no idea their rulebook was so bad. As I say, sadly typical for Kickstatrter.

Sounds like a SyFy channel movie featuring Carrot Top as Mordred.

If you've ever considered attending Trashfest Northeast, and for one reason or another decided not to come, stop what you're doing right now and mark next year's dates on your calendar. Just do it.

Games played and a few highlights...

Catacombs(new Kickstarter edition):
Superior to the old edition in every way. The new powers and new artwork truly make the game better. The only downside is the included barrier meant to keep pieces from flying off the table. It's great in concept, but it evidently takes an advanced degree in structural engineering to assemble. Billy Zavos was the DM and crushed us handily on the final board (and so began his march to flicking supremacy).
Note to self - He's the flicking champion. We were bound to lose.

Scorched Earth:
I got a chance to play Dan's prototype with Al and Billy Z, but I wasn't around to finish it. From what I heard, the game ended with Dan driving around in a monster truck equipped with a plasma cannon laying waste to all opposition.

Codenames:
Played several rounds of this excellent game at the bar on Friday night.

Camp Grizzly:
I really enjoyed this tongue-in-cheek slasher movie simulation in board game form. We lost, but a good time was had by all. Loter played the sluttiest character available.

Pitch Car:
Drunken fun, and with money on the line, Jay was victorious. I would have finished higher in the pack, but I had had a few beers.
Note to self - Drink less when playing flicking games.

Cthulhu Wars:
First, a big thanks to Mike for giving up his spot to let me play this for the first time! I played the Yellow Sign faction and had a nice little desecration engine going at the beginning of the game, but it fell apart. I started worrying too much about defending gates and should have focused more on desecrating more regions on the board. Dan was victorious as Nyarlathotep, but I'm not sure if he could tell you exactly why.

Flick 'Em Up:
We played Pete's copy of the game and tried the scenario where everyone is trying to grab the townsperson from the gallows. I was on the side of the good guys. We lost.
Note to self - I suck at flicking games.

Thunder Road:
Always a good time.

Space Cadets: Away Missions:
We played a full six player game using one of the scenarios from the Kickstarter book. After the board setup and looking at the mission objectives, I thought there was no way in hell we could pull off a win. How were we going to complete six schematics with the added complication of separated starting positions and a guaranteed new Leader every turn? It looked pretty dire at one point, but things started to turn around for us. Unfortunately, a poorly timed power failure ruined our plans. I hope Al posts some of the in-game pictures of the board.

Cosmic Encounter:
Don't let this get around, but this was my first game of Cosmic. I get it now.

Pitch Car (again):
I didn't actually play this time, but I have to mention it because it was the last game on Saturday night. As far as rounds of Pitch Car go, it wasn't pretty, but it definitely wins awards for the best impromptu Beach Boys medley that I've ever witnessed.

I'm regretting that I didn't stick around for any of the festivities on Sunday, especially the coronation of Billy Zavos as flicking champion. In my head, it goes something like this...

After being crowned champion at Trashfest Northeast, a triumphant Billy Zavos returns to his frozen homeland of the north. A chariot drawn by white steeds bears him across the frozen tundra to the awaiting throngs. As he approaches, as if of one voice, the song of his people welcomes him home...

AAAAAAYYYY PAPOIIIIII !!!!

I had a blast.

SCORCHED EARTH with Eric the Lurker (Bookseller), Dan (Dutch) and Billy Zavos (Champion Flicker):

CTHULHU WARS with Dan, Eric, Fralish and Pete (King Put):

ARGENT THE CONSORTIUM with Bernie, Zavos, Shellie (Uba) and Gracie (Spawn of Put):

SPACE CADETS: AWAY MISSIONS with Mike (Egg Shen) and Pete:

A FANTASTIC time was had by all (Mindy):

Even POOPY PANTSED wargammers (Repo):

What a ridiculously great time I had this weekend. From beginning to end undoubtedly the best time I have had at any CON ever! A wonderful group of fun people who enjoy playing and partying together. Thanks so much to EVERYONE!

You're welcome.

Cool pics, thank you.

It's interesting to see how much more table space Argent takes up compared to Cthulhu Wars. Wow.

Hex Sinister wrote: It's interesting to see how much more table space Argent takes up compared to Cthulhu Wars. Wow.

I was thinking the same thing. Amazing that compared to Argent & Scorched Earth, SC:AM seems positively dinky!

Thanks a million, everyone -- but especially Al & Uba -- for an amazing weekend!