This Wednesday I return to Dallas for my fifth BGG.CON, having missed only the 2006 event (too much hangover from Essen that year!) (you might enjoy reading my posts from prior years: BGG.CON 2005 Wrap-up, BGG.CON 2007 Wrap-up, BGG.CON 2008 Wrap-up, BGG.CON 2009 Wrap-up). If you check out my games played report for the past three months you’ll get a sense of how eager I am to get back in the game. I’ve barely been able to stay on top of the new games entering the market, let alone have time to play them. Football season is over (at least for my coaching duties) and I’m looking forward to an opportunity to re-engage.

Jim Ginn and I will be rooming together again this year, and I’ve prioritized the games I’m hoping to play this weekend. Here goes:

Carson City

This was a 2009 release that several different people have recommended to me. It has role selection in a unique setting with what appears to be heavy player interaction. From what I’ve seen the 2nd edition English version is quite nice to look at as well.

Cyclades

Looks like a fun multiplayer wargame with some Euro and American influences. The Greek gods theme would play well at home with the boys and the bits look very nice.

Endeavor

Looks like a relatively simple to learn and play exploration and civ game that could be a nice convention fit (pull from library and learn to play on the spot). Yet another 2009 release that I haven’t seen yet.

Founding Fathers

I love the theme, am a fan of card driven games, and Jason Matthews has yet to let me down. Hopefully Jim, Jeff Deboer, and I can get in a late-night play of this.

Runewars

This is probably wishful thinking for BGG.CON but I’m still eager to play this game set in the same universe as Runebound and Descent. Reviews are very mixed on this game, making it even more important to try before I buy. This is a game I’ll only play this weekend if I can find someone to teach.

Dominant Species

The only game on this list that I own (purchased using the P500 end of year sale from GMT) but would like to play and learn this at the con in hopes of playing with the family this winter. We are taking a family trip to Galapagos so some evolution learnin’ is in order. I’ve got the rules (supposedly up to the high quality benchmark Chad Jensen set with Combat Commander) on my iPad and hopefully will find some willing opponents. I’ve heard Jim is a Darwin fan so I suspect I can talk him into playing.

Castle Ravenloft

Still looking for an immersive dungeon crawl that plays well as a game and can be setup and played in 2 hours or less. Is this it? I can’t make sense of the reviews on BGG so will take the time to try it myself. I think some folks in my game group like it.

7 Wonders

This seems to be on everyone’s 2010 hit list and looks to be right up my alley. My guess is that this will be one of the most played games at this year’s convention.

Troyes

Dice, dice, and more dice. Maybe more Euro than I care for these days but this definitely looks worth trying.

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