GeraldA whole lot of dice were rolled at the inaugural Singapore Open Gaming Convention 2015 and judging by the atmosphere at the venue I’d say many folks found new gaming groups for future sessions!
Having arrived in the early afternoon, I found that two hands-on sessions was more than enough for me. Betrayal at the House on the Hill and Field of Fire, an indie game, developed by Sean Suchanya. Both games were pretty heavy stuff and I would count myself absolutely drained after two back to back sessions.
As with any board game, you just had to be there to experience how it feels to be playing a brand new game with strangers. And it was great to see that the Singapore board gaming community coming out in force to take part in the day’s events. It was pretty well organized with participants hanging around each table and hopping in when a space opened up.
Unlike video games, getting into each session was a challenge and if you were lucky, you didn’t have to wait that much.
Playing Betrayal for the first time was a pretty awesome experience. Having an experienced game master on hand to explain the rules certainly helped me and four other random folks at the table. It took us slightly over an hour for a complete game session and that included rule explanation and all. While it was my first time playing, it left a rather good first impression and I’d love another opportunity to give it a go again.
While navigating through the house, we were visited by Darth Vader and 501st. These guys seem to be everywhere!
And on the ground itself, X-Wing took up much space on the convention floor competing with the well established tabletop juggernaut, Warhammer. Setting up Armada is such a challenge the imperials needed to take a break.
The more elegant part about tabletop gaming even had a small little corner for aspiring painters to add a splash of customisation to their very own Space Marine!
As I moved about the floor, there was an empty spot available which housed Field of Fire, which was in the similar vein of other miniature games such as Dust and Warhammer. Designed from the ground up by Sean Suchanya, it features interlocking terrain and buildings that you can use to customise your battlefield. The game is still pretty much in “beta” and features plenty of dice rolling.
When the designer cosplays as a character in his game, you know that he means serious business.
Multitasking was certainly the word of the day here. If you want to get kids into the hobby, get them started young!
Singapore Open Gaming Convention 2015 is a big step in the right direction and it would have been quite daunting for any regular person to wander in. I wished I had more time to check out the rest of the indie scene but I do wish that the con does make a return next year! If you are looking to get into the hobby, the local group at Meetup would be a great place to start!
Gerald currently straddles between his love of video games and board gaming. There’s nothing that interests him more than trying out the newest and fanciest gadget in town as well. He dreams of publishing a board game sometime in the future!
Trinity Sun
Si Jia
