Essen 2018 Demo Space

6 years ago, Michael and I attended Essen for the first time. I've been back a few times since (I missed out last year, and maybe one other year since 2012). Over time, TMG has grown and has striven to become a well known publisher, not just in the US, but overseas as well.

In recent Essen outings, we have teamed up and shared space with European partners, affording us a bigger presence, better demo space, and in some cases a small office to share for meetings. This year appears to be TMG's biggest Essen presence yet! This time we're partnering with Game Brewer, with whom we have several co-publications.

Check out these awesome pics of the TMG/Game Brewer space!

This panoramic pic is the demo space, with 15 tables (room for 30 demos, probably). People will be playing TMG and Game Brewer games there non-stop for the next 4 days straight. You can see the giant banners for games like Trade on the Tigris and Ghosts of the Moor (TMG original titles), Gentes (an import we did a deluxe version of), and on the far right you can see a TMG logo suspended above our sales area. On the left you can see giant posters for some of those same games, plus Chimera Station (which I worked on heavily) and other co-publications such as Gugong.

This is the TMG product area being set up, where people will be able to buy our games. I worked heavily on Pioneer Days (in the middle on the bottom 2 shelves), and on Steam Works (upper right shelf, left side, as well as the bottom right shelf, behind that big box). And of course on the right-middle shelf you can see a bunch of my card game, Eminent Domain, and expansions (Escalation, Exotica, and Oblivion).

I can also spot some of our other titles, such as Scoville, Guilds of London, Exodus Fleet, Okey Dokey, Thief's Market, Zooscape, Balloon Pop, Cthulhu Realms, and the Essen release, Ghosts of the Moor.

Dargon sits atop everything, standing guard :)

At Essen, some of the bigger booth areas have little office spaces, for meetings and to store things. TMG has shared an office space in the past with another company. I believe this year we have this one all to ourselves. The giant posters are for some of our games -- Ghosts of the Moor is a brand new title releasing at Essen by some of the most famous designers in Germany. Jungli-La came out earlier this year, by a well known Asian designer that we've worked with before. Both are light, small box, family friendly games.

This is one of the things that Mike and I have been working towards since we first went to Essen 6 years ago, and in a way for the last 9.5 years since we started publishing games. I started this journey 15 years ago when I first dipped my toes into game design. I am sad to miss out on Essen this year, but I hope to be able to go back soon!

Interview With Dale Gifford (SaltCon)

SaltCon has become a regular event for many gamers and game developers, not only along the Wasatch Front, or even the Rocky Mountain area. People are traveling to SaltCon from across the United States and from other countries. They are coming because of the work that has been put into SaltCon, making it one of the top 10 tabletop gaming conventions in the country.

The work the founding members of SaltCon have done since it began in 2008 shows their dedication and love for what they are doing, not only as convention owners, but as enthusiasts for the hobby as players and developers.

Dale Gifford is one of the founding members of SaltCon and I was able to discuss with him the journey SaltCon has taken.

Guild Master Gaming (GMG): What sparked the concept of SaltCon and what was the driving force that got it started?

Dale Gifford (DG): It was in a BGDG (Board Game Designers' Guild) meeting that someone mentioned that the local game day, A Gathering of Strangers (AGoS), was not going to happen. People did not like that idea and so Steve Poelzing said he would run it instead and asked who wanted to help. David Bailey, Phil Kilcrease and myself offered to help. After running the event we decided that we liked the experience and wanted to do it again. The owner of A Gathering of Strangers didn't want to sell so we decided to create our own event and offset from AGoS by about 6 months. The four of us sat in a restaurant late one night and came up with a name, the ion award etc... Thus SaltCON was born.

2015

GMG: When you first started SaltCon what was your vision of where you wanted to take your event?

DG: We just wanted to run an event so that people could play games. The AGoS was the only event back then. After a few years we decided that we wanted to be a destination convention that people from all across the country would attend.

GMG: Over the 11 years what was one of your biggest achievements with SaltCon?

DG: Not quitting. It is a huge amount of work and always stressful. In 2014 we could not find a venue and we almost canceled the show. Another event cancelled and a spot opened at the Davis Conference Center and we have been there ever since.

GMG: Have there been any "left turns" that occurred for better or worse that you didn't have planned for?

DG: In 2013 we had two of the four owners move out of state and then we only had two of us left to run everything. At that time the owners were Steven Poelzing, Dave Bailey, Sean MacDonald and myself. We had bought out Phil Kilcrease the year before so that he could focus on his 5th Street Games production company. Sean and I were the only two left standing. It was good and bad. We found Dan Naylor wanted to do more that year and so he became more involved, but the other people who had expressed interest all fell through. Other than that we have not had any huge issues. We try different things and some work and some do not, but it doesn't really affect much.

GMG: Is there something you would like to add to the convention? If so, what?

DG: At this point in time there is nothing I am looking to add or want to add. We are out of space. Now I am looking to see if anything isn't working well and if we should cut it.

GMG: What plans can you share about the future of SaltCon?

DG: We have no plans except to keep things going. We are essentially at our max attendance for the venue, so will shop out all the other venues to see if any make sense. We have added two events and if things go well, we may look at adding another event.

I would like to thank Dale for granting this interview. I would also like to thank him and the rest of the staff and volunteers that make SaltCon a convention I keep going to.

2018

There is a lot going on at SaltCon every year. Now with the additional events taking place, gamers and developers have more time to get together. SaltCon's web page (link) has information about upcoming events and information about how to enter a game to the Ion Awards (direct link to the Ion Awards page).

You can read the review of events I have done about SaltCon, which also show how the convention has gone over the years.

SaltCon 2019 Post Convention Recovery (link)

SaltCon: Tabletop Gaming Convention, 10 Years and Growing (link)

SaltCon 2017, Tabletop Gaming—High Action in a Chair at a Table (link)

SaltCon, Looking Back on Three Days of Gaming (link)

Upcoming SaltCon 2015 (link)

SaltCon 2014, Part 1 (link), part 2 (link), and Part 3 (link)

SaltCon 2013, Looking Back at a Gamer's Weekend (link)

Summary of 2012 (link)

If you have a comment, suggestion, or critique please leave a comment here or send an email to guildmastergaming@gmail.com.

You can also join Guild Master Gaming on Facebookand Twitter(@GuildMstrGmng).

Kolgrima - A Tour Of Trolls

For my first Tour of Trolls post, I decided to go with Kolgrima, our newest warlock.  

When she went through CID I was utterly meh on her and was too focused on all the other changes to the faction during the few playtest games I was able to conduct and report on the forum.  I had no idea how wrong I was about her!

Even when she came out I didn't really dojo with her, all the other changes really commanded my attention until it came time to find a tournament pair for the inevitable Madrak1 list I had cooked up.

I really think I've got a winner with this list, it pairs great with Madrak1 Band of Heroes and it's frankly terrifying in its own right:

War Room Army

Trollblood - A Song of Ice & Fire
Theme: The Power of Dhunia
3 / 3 Free Cards 75 / 75 Army

Kolgrima Stonetruth, Winter Witch - WB: +28
- Trollkin Runebearer - PC: 0
- Dire Troll Mauler - PC: 15 (Battlegroup Points Used: 15)
- Earthborn Dire Troll - PC: 14 (Battlegroup Points Used: 13)
- Earthborn Dire Troll - PC: 14
- Mulg the Ancient - PC: 22
- Troll Axer - PC: 10

Northkin Shaman - PC: 0
Northkin Shaman - PC: 0

Croak Raiders - Leader & 9 Grunts: 16
Krielstone Bearer & Stone Scribes - Leader & 5 Grunts: 9
- Stone Scribe Elder - PC: 3

THEME: The Power of Dhunia

The Theory Behind the List

I wanted something that could answer gunlines, especially Cygnar with Haley3 Grave Diggers coming up as a particularly scary boogeyman in the meta.   I think Kolgrima clearly prefers having a classic Troll Beast Brick given that she gets an incredible amount of use out of the New Mulg™.  This means we're going to be playing Power of Dhunia (PoD), which really limits our infantry choices.

The problem with nearly all Power of Dhunia (PoD) lists is that if your opponent has more than one infantry unit, it's very easy for your opponent to bog down a big beast brick and take you down, and the Runeshapers you can take as your own infantry just don't do very well against a lot of other opposing dudes.

My eureka moment was realizing that the single minions unit we can take with the new theme changes really can change how PoD plays.  Farrow Brigands, Nyss Hunters, and Croak Raiders all seem to be strong choices as a ranged anti-infantry option.  I already owned some Croaks from MK2 and they were both the cheapest option (once you consider the near mandatory Brigand Warlord) and they were recently buffed to POW 11 on their guns and given Pathfinder natively.

What's better is that Kolgrima really turns these guys on as an anti-infantry option with her spell Cursed Fate.  The Croaks become effectively RAT 8 and it doesn't matter what armor your target infantry has, they just take an auto point of damage when hit!   

Things like Iron Fang Pikemen, Dawnguard Sentinels, or Houseguard Halberdiers, or Banes under the Wraith Engine Aura that would all normally be a huge problem for a PoD beast brick to deal with suddenly melt away under these guns.  

But wait, there's more! Kolgrima has an insane SP10 POW12 spell that has effectively Signs and Portents for attack and damage. With Mulg as a quasi arc node, you can cast out multiple Cursed Fates on different units and then simply spray them all down.  She even deals with nearly impossible to take down at range troops like Satyxis Raiders since she's using a spell, not a ranged attack.

If this is all that Kolgrima did, she'd already be a strong caster for any PoD list given that she really helps take down infantry that would otherwise give you fits, but there's still more!

Kolgrima can build a cloud wall in trolls, where playing in PoD lets you take Northkin Shaman as free solo options, which can further extend your cloud wall.  On top of that there is Kolgrima's feat, which is effectively a Hard-No on guns: any enemies in her control area when she feats can't make ranged attacks! On top of this they get pushed 2" directly away from her, lose Pathfinder, Eyeless Sight, and Flight.  

She can be a very strong answer to things like Haley 3 Grave Diggers and can really help deliver a full Troll Beast Brick, possibly even giving you the alpha due to the cloud wall.  This was all the theory I had going in, and here's what I realized on the table.

My Results

I've played this list into two Khador lists: Irusk2 with 30 Iron Fang Pikemen + Conquest and an Old Witch 2 list with 7 heavies in Jaws of the Wolf.  I won both games on scenario, despite both lists being wildly different.

Gamer Dad's have to go to extreme measures to get our games in some times!

Against Irusk2 we played Standoff.  Irusk2 can answer the cloud wall with his feat, but I was fortunate enough to be able to go first in our game.  This enabled me to use the Croaks and Mulg's arc node ability to wipe almost 20 Pikemen from the table on my second turn.  All the while I was slowly scoring points, and by turn 3, I was able to deny my opponent from scoring any points at all, letting me get ahead a little.  Once my opponents first 20 pikemen were dead, I was able to send my beasts into his Colossal and get ahead on piece trades while staying up a little on points and eventually his remaining pikemen unit was too busy trying to deal with the beasts in the only zone he could score to stop me from scoring elsewhere to win via 5CP.  I think the matchup is harder for Kolgrima if she can't go first, but it's still doable if you position properly.

Against Old Witch 3 I was facing down 2x Marauders, 2x Juggernauts, 1 Spriggan, and 2 Marshalled Destroyers on the Pit 2 scenario.

I was forced to go second and used my clouds to protect most of my heavies and my Croaks.  My opponent had to either walk into my threat ranges or just toe the zones for his turn 2, he opted to just toe the zones with heavies and some infantry, not realizing she could get into a position to feat him out of all the zones. 

I was able to live the dream in this game and line it up so Kolgrima was in the center of the board and had her feat push every enemy model out of all the zones, with me sending in an Earthborn to kill an objective to get 4 CP's on the bottom of Turn 2!  From here out I would be fighting to come up ahead against 7 heavies to 4 Heavies + 1 Light, but when my opponent went in on Mulg with a Boundless Charged + 3 Focus Spriggan, Mulg was able to Primal Rage and get a very lucky Crit Slam to send the Spriggan away. This swung the game from an attrition race for me to score the last CP's as his heavy advantage came to bear to an easy victory on my part.  I still think I would be able to pull out a win with how the board position was, but it would have been dicey.

Conclusions

Kolgrima feels really, really strong especially as a pair to a troop heavy Madrak1 list that I'm currently running.  She's a quasi-control caster with LOS denial and shooting denial, as well as a feat that can really help you get ahead on scenario.  All the other changes we got in CID helped her list immensely: Arcane Repeater on the Runebearer and the Stone generating its own Fury really help her spend her 7 fury down on her feat turn where you can largely use distance to keep her safe from assassination.  I haven't even really had to make use of her Owl's Wisdom spell denial, but she can do it to herself to prevent any spell assassinations when you feat to deny shooting, and use distance to keep yourself safe from melee threats.

I'm sure Kolgrima can be built to deliver an infantry or balanced Troll list if you wanted, though it certainly seems like right now she's best using Power of Dhunia and a shooting minion unit to support the beast brick.   She's definitely got a lot of power and options for us to explore going forward, and I look forward to experimenting with her more.