OwlCon 2013

   On Saturday, I decided at the last minute to go into town for OwlCon, the annual gaming convention held at Rice University in downtown Houston. Overall, I had a good time, so I thought I would share my thoughts.

   I played in two games, one in the morning and one in the evening. The morning game was Dystopian Wars. Each player was given a force out of the naval battle group box set. I had a Federated States fleet. I enjoyed the game overall, enough so that afterwards I went shopping for rules and minis (more on that in a minute). We ran out of time, but my fleet had only lost two frigates and my opponent's was down two squadrons, including his cruisers.

   I then had several hours until my next game, so I hit the dealer area. This was pretty disappointing. There were only three booths directly selling games, and two of them were more focused on board games. There were three or four steampunk costumers, and they offered some nice things, but nothing in which I am really interested. The Mechwarrior pods were back, and that's neat. But, overall, I was disappointed in the options. No one had any Dystopian Wars rules or minis, which I would have probably dropped $100-150 on.

   I spent an hour or so at Reaper Miniatures' sponsored Paint N Take. That was fun, and I now have a mouse Indiana Jones mini, which is kind of neat. Had a good conversation with my fellow painters about technique, style, and life.

   Steve Jackson, of Steve Jackson Games, gave a Q&A session, including a demo box of the upcoming OGRE 6E. It is huge, and I can hardly wait for my Kickstarter copy to arrive. That took up an hour, but well spent.

   The food was better than usual. There was a Greek grill that made gyros, shwarma, and falafel. The gyros was okay - the tzatziki was disappointing - but the chicken shwarma was fantastic. The dolmas were tasty, too. Back to gaming...

   My son Dane was dropped off by the memsahib at 8:00, to partake in the game of Gutshot! Mike Mitchell, a friend and one author of the game, was game master, and we have something of a tradition of playing in his OwlCon game. It was a last man standing free for all. Sadly, Dane and I were the first two eliminated. At least this time I put some lead into someone, even if I failed to take them down. When Feelthy Sanchez, bandito and pistolero extraordinaire, bit the dust, we headed out.

   My only purchase at the convention, other than entry fee and food, was a copy of Arkham Horror. I got a slight discount, and have had my eye on it for a while. We are hoping to play sometime this week.

OwlCon Gutshot Photos

The quiet town of Blood Shed, Arizona. The townsfolk have scattered, and only the gunmen remain.

"I have you now!" exclaims gambler Augustus Macrae, as he stealthily approaches his first unsuspecting victim. "Click!" said the shotgun moments later.

A powder monkey in the trees of Blood Shed.

The End of Macrae. Blasted into the next world by his son. In a bowler hat! The indignity of it all!

These photos were fun to take, but even more fun to play. Yup, I died. Again. But still, it was a good time.

OwlCon 2010 Report

Okay, so this is only peripherally related to Warhammer. I did buy some things there for the Empire army that is budding in my game room. More on that in a second.

OwlCon is an annual gaming convention held in downtown Houston, Texas, on the Rice University campus. Rice's mascot is the owl, so... OwlCon. Anyway, it is a nice little con, with a wide variety of gaming going on. Boardgames, RPGs and minis. There is a movie area (I noticed GalaxyQuest when we registered). The dealer room is not real big, and is actually the periphery of a large gaming area.

My sons and I played a game of Gutshot!, one of their favorites. If you are unfamiliar with Gutshot!, it is a Western skirmish game. One of the authors, Mike Mitchell, hails from Houston these days and he runs many a game in the area. He's also a heck of a guy, and one I am proud to call a friend. Him and the boys get on like a house on fire. Anyway, we played in his game Saturday night. As usual, the Dice were Not Friendly to Me. I had managed to get right behind this fellow, with a double barrel sawed-off at absolutely point blank range. Need to roll a 4 or better on 2 dice. Snake eyes. "Click!" went the hammers. "CRAP!" says I. Gunfight erupts, I get half killed, so does the other fellow (did better with my sixgun). Then my youngest son comes around the corner, smiles, and lets me have it. So I am dead first.

Another highlight of the convention for us is the MechForce area. These are four large booths, self-contained Mech cockpits, which are linked together to play MechWarrior. It is really very cool and fun, though the fellows in the uniforms are a bit odd. My favorite was when a gaming buddy's nine year old son whupped the tar out of two grown men who were there in 'uniforms' of their Battlemech company.

Purchasing wise, I bought another copy of the Empire Army book, but this is the original one from back in the 90s. Only $5. I needed it for the War Wagon and Kislevite rules. But the real prize was the bag of 9 Kislevite Horse Archers I got for $15. What a steal! And yes, that included the horses. Miscellaneous other stuff was bought, including the Second Edition box set of Battletech, a Sigmarite Warrior Priest ($8, NIB) so we can field that unit of flagellants, and other minor bits and bobs. Saw a few things that I am gonna want to get my grubbies on, including the GW Fortified Manor Terrain kit. Very cool. eBay, here I come (after payday...)