From: Jens Hoppe Post Danmark <jho.euv@post.dk>
Subject: Danish convention report (Was: Hello?)

>Is it just me, or have there been less than 10 posts to consim-L today
>(10/13/98)?
>This has gotta be some all time record.

OK, to break the silence, let me chime in with a convention report:

This weekend I attended VikingCon, a large (by Danish standards)
con (about 800 people, split about evenly between roleplayers and
boardgamers). For most of the weekend I was busy organizing
boardgame tournaments:

On friday night I hosted an introductory "Euphrat & Tigris" tourney.
This German game, despite simple rules, has a very deep level of
strategy and I heartily recommend it. The tournament was quite
succesful: All the players (15) seemed to enjoy the game.

Saturday morning & early afternoon I was running my "usual"
"Gunslinger" tournament. The tourney had 18 people attending:
3 separate games ("A rough night in Ft. Worth" scenario) were
played, with 2 players from each game qualifying for the finals.
As a twist, the players played as part of a two-man team, and
qualified for the final game _as a team_. In the finals, of course,
it was every man for himself. :)

Saturday afternoon was my "free time", where I actually got to
play something myself! OK, I had participated in my own E&T
tourney, so I had played *something*. I got the chance to play
some German games; 2 games of "Caesar & Cleopatra", and
a 6 player game of "Elfenland". C&C is a simple 2-player
card game, with some pretty nice strategy involved. Elfenland
is great fun; I definitely recommend it as a social family-type
game. Not that the game strategy is shallow: Don't play this
if you feel like a relaxing beer-and-pretzels roll-the-dice type of game!
Working out the best routes using the cards and transport tokens
available is enough to give anyone a headache!

I also got the chance to check out (if not actually play) some
of the other German games being played: "Cities & Knights"
for Settlers of Catan looked fun, and a bit more involved than the
basic game. "Ursuppe" looked fun too.

Saturday night I was running a "Hannibal" tournament: 9 people
attended: The 4 who already knew the game played the "real"
tournament, while the 5 beginners got an explanation of the rules,
and had a chance to play a game. Everyone had a good time:
The beginners' games were especially funny to watch. Of course
they didn't have much of an idea what to do strategically (neither
did I the first time I played), so much time and effort was spent
trying to contest control of Gallia Transalpina and besieging Massilia.
In one of the games, Mago actually succesfully besieged (and took!)
Rome on turn 8! Good fun. :-)

While I was explaining rules for Hannibal, the Gunslinger finals
were being played: I used the "get the horse" scenario from
General 22,#5. In the end I think someone shot the horse
(to make it a simple "last man standing" scenario instead)!

The Hannibal final was played on sunday: It ended quickly
in a crushing Roman victory. In the meantime I got to play
some "Die Siedler card game" (which was OK-ish, but not as
much fun as the boardgame) and a couple of games of Up Front.

I also picked up some good deals from the game shop
stands: "Stonewall's Last Battle" (y'know, the fifth in AH's
GCACW series) for about $25 - which is almost half the usual
price in Denmark. A couple of 3W games; "Give me Liberty"
($7), "Scratch one flat top" ($3.50). COA's "La Bataille de Mont
St. Jean" _expansion_ for Ligny & Quatre Bras for about
$0.75 !! Issue 37 of Command (including the games) for $1.50,
and "War Elephant" for 2nd ed. SPQR for $1.50. Nice prices... :-)

So that's that! I look forward to next year's con.

Cheers,
    Jens Hoppe