Cancon? Yes.

Not long after that, we descended upon Canberra for Round Two of the epic event known simply as Cancon. This time around was a little bit different than last time, but it was just as excellent. We had a slightly different group of people, and I didn’t participate in any tournaments. On the plus side, this allowed more time for browsing for some good deals, and playing more games.
If you like miniature games, board games, and card games, then I highly suggest you get a group of friends together and try and make Cancon the next time it comes around!

Day One - Thursday #

Once we arrived at our lodging, I accelerated towards the most optimal room to dump my belongings - about five rooms down, on the left. Five rooms down is the closest to the fun and utilities, but also the furthest from the noise. The left… because I was there last time.

The first game this time was Entropy, where you try to piece back your shattered reality. After a few rounds we moved over to something we could really sink our teeth into. A struggle for resources, accomplishments, popularity, and power - Scythe. I got to play one of the new factions, Albion. Then we tried Suddenly Drunk with Thief’s Market which made for some very interesting moments. There was substantially more dice stealing, but because it was funny, not because it was a good play. There was relentless laughing and the root cause analysis determined it was Shayne’s new name, Milkyballs, in conjunction with the ridiculous voice he chose to use. Milkyballs met an untimely end as I became widowed, twice - they were unrelated, I swear.

Day Two - Friday #

At last, Cancon was open. But first, breakfast. After an extremely lengthy discussion as to why we should definitely go to Pancake Parlour for breakfast, we skipped breakfast and went to the Con instead. After a few hours of browsing, buying, and trying to hunt down some Warhammer 40K Conquest cards, it was time for lunch. It was totally Pancake Parlour this time. Pancakes, bacon, egg, banana, and pineapple sounds like a weird combination but it was delicious.

Now for Alchemists, to prove that I am the best Alchemist and that I’m not afear’d to chug some of my own concoctions. Turns out that I’m not actually the best Alchemist, but at least I didn’t poison myself. The same can’t be said for the other alchemists. After all the deducing, we settled in for a nice and easy game of Red7, the birth child of Uno and Fluxx.

Dinner time jumped out of nowhere and it was time for a classic BBQ. After filling our hunger bars it was time for some Codenames, which if you haven’t already played it, go play it. Don’t randomly pick a card in your bonus guess, that’s how you pick the assassin. It was worth it, though. To wrap up the night, it was time to sketch and guess in Telestrations. Even this family friendly game isn’t immune from someone deciding to draw something a little.. unsavoury. Our house rules are to ignore points, and introduce yourself each time you go through your sketch book. Somehow it’s already 1am, time for bed.

Day Three - Saturday #

Rise and shine, but there’s only time for a banana and coffee before we hit up the Con. A vigorous shakedown of the stalls yielded some cheap Warhammer 40K Conquest battle-packs this time around, as well as several items for sleeving and storing my cards. There was only limited time for lunch though, for we had more important matters to attend to…

Battlestar Galactica must be sabotaged. As a loyal Cylon, it was my duty to see the Battlestar and its crew be obliterated. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the memo on how to effectively execute that. In conjunction with extreme luck, the Battlestar and crew made it out just fine. Since the crew made it out, we enjoyed another BBQ dinner. In an alternate Battlestar Galactica reality, the Cylons have planted several bombs on our ship and we need to defuse them. We only have ten minutes, and the Fuze is burning quickly. How anyone pulls off the harder levels in Fuze is beyond me, seriously. Wrapping up the night, was a peaceful and pleasant ocean life tour. We sauntered through the sea in our submarine in a game of Oceanos. My ocean was lacking in coral reef, but my submarine was really cool so I almost snagged the coolest ocean based on my submarine being awesome.

Day Four - Sunday #

Another banana and coffee, another morning. Before we left the lodging for the last time, we had a quick game of Magic. Not drawing into Land is such a pain. After losing quickly, an even quicker game of Star Wars: Destiny took place. The game ended prematurely as check out time was upon us. We arrived at Cancon, one last time, trying to find any valuable remains from the event. A few more card storage pieces were acquired, and it was time to head home.

Cancon 2017 proved itself to be another huge success. One game I didn’t play but noticed, probably because it went for about five hours and was the root of a lot of arguing, was New Angeles. I can only imagine the city was saved (If that was even the goal) because each decision seemed to take twenty terse minutes to decide upon.
My recommendations this time around are Red7 for a game that’s easy to get into and not too complicated, and Scythe for a more complicated and strategic game.

That was my experience of Cancon 2017, and I’d definitely do it again.