Gen Con 2014...

So, went to Gen Con yesterday...  Wound up playing in one of the STAW events.  Pretty well run, all of my opponents were quite fun to play against.  Kind of an odd heat though, 12 players I think and only a handful of Borg at all, NO "super cubes".  Problem for a LOT of the guys was that everyone built to deal with, some making it the focus of their fleets...  Did NOT work all that well against "normal" builds.  I was definitely in the minority playing a completely faction pure build, all Federation.  Not the potential to do the overwhelming damage that my Klingon or even Dominion builds can do, but WAY more survivable.

Gen Con Fed 1

U.S.S Excelsior (26)
Mr. Spock (4)
Adm. James T. Kirk (5)
Dmitri Valtane (3)
Quantum Torpedoes (6)
Ship SP: 44

USS Voyager (30)
Jean-Luc Picard (6)
Montgomery Scott (5)
Miles O'Brien (2)
Hikaru Sulu (3)
Ship SP: 46

Total Build SP: 90

Generated by STAW Builder
http://www.dracossoftware.com/STAWHome.html

Game one I got my ass kicked by a well build Borg Cube (bare bones) and Excelsior loaded out as a Torpedo boat like mine.  Lost because I maneuvered stupidly...  Kept bumping the cube instead of simply moving 6 forward and outrunning the cube...   Was pretty rushed getting there and was not really all there for the first game.  Got wiped because my Voyager was unable to use it's 3 actions/turn at the critical juncture.  DID burn through the shields and almost kill the cube in spite of my errors.

Game 2 was MUCH better, played against a mostly Romulan Fleet built around a Flagship Vo/Donatra supporting a Khazara (D'deridex) loaded out with the Ferengi Missile Launchers and a LOAD of attack cancelling things.  This game I did the "Wolfpack" thing, found the weaker ship and killed it first.  Saw the trick, survived it and focused fire into the 2 Hull ship to kill it despite the huge number of Defense dice.  Just taking 2 failures means I'll not be doing that for my own fleets...  Burned through all of the attack cancellers, took no losses and with the support ship dead, I got the win.  Got some damage through to the bigger ship, but did not kill it in time.

Game 3 was against a good player with a good Fleet...  Built again to deal with Uber Cube fleets, so less successful against a build like mine.  He had the Enterprise D with CPT Khan Singh, ADM Kirk, Scotty, AM Mines, Flagship for Battlestations, Tom Paris, etc...  Supported by another Vo/Donatra combo.  So, same thing here for me...  Kill the little ship quickly then the long dance...  He hit my Voyager hard, taking down the 6 Shields and a single Hull...  But then we flew around and had Scotty repair Shields.  His build was close to 70 points on the Enterprise D, so not as unbalanced as "I killed half of his Ships" might lead you to believe...   So, we basically ran out of time, I am not sure who would eventually have won...  I suspect it would have been him unless I was able to line up the Quantum Torpedoes AND the Voyager at range 1 with 2 Shields to disable to let Scott's action give me more dice...  His CPT skill of 10 though meant he would shoot first...  So, "less likely".  My strategy of "just survive" worked out.

So, 2-1 overall record...  Wound up winning the Doctor Bashir and Odo cards out of the DS9 pack   Overall I was really happy and the guys I played against are I suspect also on Board Gaming Geek's forum as I recognized a few names...

VERY disappointed in the Wizkids convention exclusives, etc...  Seeing the actual Dragons for the D&d game was "neat", but really not too impressive.  The STAW exclusives being sold out so quickly to other exhibitors and speculators rather than the people actual playing the game?  The message that sends is pretty bad I think.  I would have liked to have the cloaked ships, and the cards are pretty neat...  Not even having the OP ships for sale/prizes made the cost of getting there and entering the event pretty high...

Still, Gen Con from a family fun day standpoint was a great success...  My wife and the girls (+1 with one of my daughter's friends joining us) all dressed up and seemed to enjoy the spectacle...  We were only there for the day though, and with me gaming 3 hours, not as much fun...  Parked a LONG way off.  The Colt's pre-season game the same night made traffic a nightmare.  We wound up eating from a food truck in the little "court" they set up...  LOVED that idea.  So, definitely a major plus.  The lack of a "loot" bag made the price of the admission tickets a bit on the expensive side, especially with the kids costing the same as an adult and no gaming of "free stuff" really included.  So, next time, a multi day trip, more time to game for everyone and a more relaxing trip all around...