1st Fri 6:00-10:00pm
After an exceptionally hectic and exhausting set up process (4hrs), we had just enough time to get checked in to the hotel room before game time. But, I must say, the set up looked amazing. The new terrine gave us a 4 x 12 playing surface, for even more buildings to destroy. And the new water and Rainbow gas tank really made it look spectacular. So, the scenario I came up with for this con, and probably the next few, was; Two alien races, the Kilaaks, and the aliens from Planet X, are warring over the Earth. Their weapons of choice? Giant monsters and robots!
This was great because it let the players pick any monster/robot they want. We had 16 players, 2 of which were gamers, 3 that new the Godzilla movies, the rest were kids that had no clue but played because they thought it looked cool. During the coarse of the session there was an unexpected exodus of almost half the players in the middle of the game!? Anime Boston is NOT a gaming convention, therefore, there are no specific time slots for events each day. They just have a bunch of stuff going on all the time (movies, contests, shows, guests, ect…) So, since most of these kids didn’t realize the game took 4 hours, had other stuff to do and just up and left. No big deal, we just explained their disappearance by saying those monsters were needed to reinforce a battle somewhere else on the globe, and the aliens just teleported them away.
So the battle went on and was fairly even. A few monsters died on each side, and all but a dozen buildings were destroyed. In the end the Kilaaks won by 17pts, but Space Gayos, a Planet Xian, was crowned the King of the Monsters with 117pts!
2nd Sat 10:00am-2:00pm
Rested and refreshed, we were pumped for our morning session. We had a great crowd of 14. More than half of them knew the movies, and were gamers. Plus everyone knew the deal and was committed for the 4hr window. Glen, a repeat player from the 1st session brought soda, donuts, cheesits, and croissants, for the whole table, thanks Glen! I had a ball in this session.
It was a great crowd, tons of enthusiasm, and some sweet plays. Like, King Caesars; Gaiking came at him with the Counter Cross Attack, but King Caesar rolled a critical and used his Energy Gem to absorb it, and took no damage. Then, on his turn, King Caesar unleashed that attack on Jet Jaguar for a devastating 29pts of damage! This time around it was only a 5pt game! And it was the Planet Xians who came up with the win, and earned their second crown with Anguirus as the K.O.M and 97pts. This time there were only 6 buildings left on the table!
3rd Sat 6:00pm-10:00pm
After a nice break and a really good lunch at Whiskeys’ (Buffalo Quesadilla! Dude!), we were ready for another go. Just after we arrived, we are met by representatives from the Boston Phoenix! Apparently, they were doing a story on the convention, heard about G.M.S., and wanted to do an interview with us. So, camera rolling, they asked us what the game was all about, and how it’s played. I have no idea when or if it’ll even be aired, and it was only about 5 minuets, but it was pretty cool.
With that out of the way, the rubber match began! Again we had 14 players, and again we had a bunch of repeat players from the previous two sessions. This battle was epic! Chaos! Madness! King Kong finally got his revenge by finely destroying the Empire State Building, Ultraman, and Speed Racer futilely tried to stave off the monsters after the hotel hosting the “Anime Convention” they were attending was destroyed, and by the end of the night, not one building was left standing! Another first! This battle was also very even. Offering only a 10pt victory…and the current rulers of the Earth…….The Kilaaks! However The Planet Xians earned a K.O.M. Three peat thanks to Grandizer with 101pts.
All and all it was a very good time. Anime Boston is a cool con with tons of people (10,000), but it’s not a gaming con, and that works against us to some extent. We only sold 2 tee shirts ?. But we did get a ton of requests for other shows, and some of the more avid supporters told me they knew contacts that could possible help us produce a smaller scale version. Who knows? We’ll see.
We also had much fewer tweaks to employ this time. The rules and characters really seem to be solidifying. And, with that being said, we discussed doing a “make it or break it” play test among ourselves to see if the system can hold up against real gamers trying to squeeze as many points out of each turn as they can. We’ll want 10ish serious players. No music, no hoopla, no story, just the game. If you’d like to help out with that, awesome, and I’ll let you know when we do it.
Next stop, Havoc!