I ran a series of Board Games for the last RECON, covering a wide gamut of new games. I was there for all six sessions, and we had a very nice conference room to use for the duration. I organized each of the sessions around general themes, and had several games in each category that I was prepared to teach and play. The sessions included: Abstract Strategy Games, Tile Placement Games, Connection/Pipe Games, a Cheapass Games Demo, a Looney Labs Demo, and finally Race Games. For almost every session we had people playing with us, many of whom hadn't played or even seen some of these games before. We also had many people who circulated through the room, watching what we were doing, and we shared the table with a person who wanted to play Settlers of Cataan, and that end of the table stayed occupied for most of the day Saturday. For the first session, we taught several new players how to play Octi, Terrace, and Torres, all of which were well received. Friday evening Jeff Cornett from the Central Florida Garners Network played Tikal with three of us, which was very entertaining and educational. Saturday morning we taught the people in the room how to play Tayo, Metro, and Linie 1, and later in the day demonstrated some of the Cheapass Games collection, including Starbase Jeff and Falling. After Dinner the traffic really seemed to slow down, but we did some demos of Giant Pyramid games out in the lobby, catering mostly to a very young crowd of boys who played for quite a while. Sunday morning we got in a couple of games of Mississippi Queen, and then a game of Formula De, before packing it in and heading home. I'd like to be involved in the next convention you hold, and will be happy to try and run games like this again. I think I'd like to do a couple of things differently - like arrange some prize support from the gaming companies whose products I'd be demonstrating, and controlling the space a bit better than I did this year. Settlers was a reasonable draw, and all day Saturday there was a non-stop game going on - so perhaps some "open gaming" space, or even some organized Settler's tournaments would probably be a good idea. I know the TBGA would be likely to help out with that - many of the members are avid fans of Settlers. Overall, I'm glad I attended, and I hope my participation was useful and a positive impact on the convention. My games generally kept two or three people occupied besides myself, and I know many people dropped in and showed interest in what we were doing. With a bit more organization, I think I could attract a few people to try out games they haven't tried before, so if you'll let me know, I'll look forward to seeing you again in October. Back to Rebel Yell No. 23 Table of Contents Back to Rebel Yell List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 2003 by HMGS South This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com