Tag: Helcon

  • Renewed

    Hope you like this blog — I just renewed the domain for another five years. It’s ten years next year… I’ve enjoyed the blog myself, every now and then there’s a reason to dig through the archives. I played Hollywood Blockbuster (aka Dream Factory, aka Traumfabrik, aka Fabrik der Träume, aka Hollywood) last Sunday, my…

  • Helcon 2010: The Rest

    The first part covered Eclipse. Now, the rest. This year choosing what to play wasn’t difficult. Oskari had a list of games from my collection he wanted to try, I wanted to play those games as well so that’s what we did. String Railway was the obvious starter. I ended up playing the game twice.…

  • Helcon 2010: Eclipse

    Helcon was good. The new location was nice, bigger than before but not too big, all-in-all a well organised con. Thanks to proper planning, I was able to spend my time fairly efficiently. It did take us almost two hours to get the first game running: waiting for players, handling the three boxes of games…

  • Helcon expectations

    This weekend it’s Helcon time again, the best con in Finland. This year it’ll be something new, as the con has moved from its previous location to a much bigger venue. Before it has filled the house to capacity (~100) without much advertising, I wonder how it’ll turn out this year. There are some publisher…

  • Helcon notes, 2009 edition

    Helcon was last weekend. The event was again great success, with lots of good games available. Running the event just week after Essen proved a bit problematic, as some of the games arrived from Essen on Friday, barely in time. I did a day trip for the first time, driving to Helsinki in the morning…

  • Current notes

    I’m a train gamer, yes. I’ve got two Deep Thought games on order and I’m adding third (I’ve got 1826 and 18MEX, I’m adding 1889) and I’m right now in the process of building two more (recently liberated 18EU and the new and curious Japanese 1886). I can also hear 1844 calling for me from…

  • Helcon 2008 review, part 4

    Continuing from the part 1, part 2 and part 3. Le Havre. I had already decided to pass Le Havre because I felt it was going to be too long for me anyway. Well, Tommy suggested it for my last game in Helcon and I agreed, because I do want to try it. We got…

  • Helcon 2008 review, part 3

    Let’s see what I didn’t cover in part 1 or part 2… see also part 4. GemBlo Pyramid. This dice-pyramid game is apparently good, if played with the expert rules. Well, we couldn’t figure them out, so we tried the basic game. That one isn’t good, since making the pyramids isn’t particularly interesting and the…

  • Helcon 2008 review, part 2: Preußische Ostbahn

    Continuing my Helcon review, see part 1 here, there’s also part 3 and part 4. Preußische Ostbahn. Another Historic Railroads System game from Winsome, fairly closely related to Wabash Cannonball. However, this one’s billed as “German family game”. Indeed, the game is a lot more gentle — yet still quite a challenge. This time the…

  • Helcon 2008 review, part 1

    Helcon came and went. It’s by far my favourite board game event, and once again proved to be excellent. It’s small enough, about hundred people or so, yet offers plenty of good board game action. I travelled to Helsinki with Sami, Olli and Robert and five bags of stuff, mostly games I sold or wanted…