Gearing up for Brakke Con

Todd and I aren't just blogmates, we're pretty good friends.

I can't say "great" friends because deep down -- Michigan / Ohio State -- we can only go so far, ya know?

But usually twice a year we meet up for a week or long weekend and hang out with our entire Familial Clans. This Halloween it's our turn to drive over to Indy to spend a weekend at Casa de Brakke for a few days of boardgames, and this year -- trick or treating. Why Halloween?

It's OSU's bye-week.

Priorities, people, priorities.

I like to believe that I was a big reason Todd took the boardgame plunge a few years ago. Once we showed him the big box version of Railroad Tycoon, he was hooked. In the past I've introduced games like Shogun, Mare Nostrum, RA, and Age of Empires III during our game vacations.

But what to bring this year?

I've been heavily into wargames of late. Being a history geek, I'm fascinated by them. Take the Hundred Year's War game Warriors of God. My knowledge of this era of is pretty foggy. I know the basics. But after playing the game several times it got me really curious to dig a bit deeper and I started by reading The Wars of the Roses, which is really at the tail end of the Hundred Year's War. To see these little counters in Warriors of God (although for a wargame the counters are huge) that represent certain nobles and then to read a narrative history about these same men -- it's engrossing stuff.

Problem is, WoG is a 2 player game (England V France).

So, for Todd, although I guess you can read this too..this is what's coming to Brakke Con '08:

Friedrich. A 4-player game covering the Seven Years War. (Prussia against Europe, basically)

For a fantastic review of this game, check out this take on BGG. This one will take a big chunk of the day so we should plan accordingly! But this is a classic.

Rails of Europe -- because even though Todd's played this one, you can never have enough Railroad Tycoon.

Pandemic -- A fast 4-player game where the players play as a team to stop the spread of nasty viruses from destroying mankind.

Star Wars Original Trilogy Risk -- Best. Risk Variant. Ever. We can play this in 60-90 mins and blow up planets with the Death Star.

Nexus Ops -- Another great Sci-Fi game that plays in about 60-90 mins. Plus the creatures are day-glo and look like candy.

Cutthroat Caverns -- Yet another game (great with 5-6 players) that we can get through pretty quickly and will surely leave everyone mad at each other. The idea? "Without teamwork, you will never survive. Without betrayal, you’ll never win." That sums it up. Total backstabbing.

Lastly, Todd -- did you ever play Arkham Horror?

I doubt we get to all of these (no way we will...) plus Todd brought the new Touch of Evil game home from GenCon which MUST hit the table on Halloween weekend.

Should be a good time.