Consimworld 2023: People Power, Land and Freedom

This year, I was only able to make it for a few days at Consimworld, the annual wargaming convention in Tempe, Arizona. I got sick the week prior (derailing a bunch of other plans), which, of course, left me super bummed, but I made the most of the time there — and got some great gaming in! The convention this year went from Aug. 25-Sep. 1, 2023, at the Tempe Mission Palms, and over 240 people attended. 

Wednesday

I arrived on Wednesday and started with Brass: Birmingham. This sequel to the classic Martin Wallace game Brass has you developing, building and establishing your industries and network, in an effort to exploit low or high market demands. This game differs from the original as it adds the beer market, and there’s a chance to discard cards from your hand in order to take a wild card. In the original game, you would’ve been stuck with what was in your hand until you drew a card you could use. This was my first time playing Brass Birmingham, and I can see how Birmingham is popular with many gamers. Would definitely play again!

I then scoped out the vendor hall and picked up Land and Freedom: The Spanish Revolution and Civil War, a recent release from new designer Alex Knight and Blue Panther Games. This is a three-player wargame where Spain’s three fighting factions — Anarchists, Communists and Moderates — must unite and fight off right-wing army generals aided by Hitler and Mussolini.

This semi-cooperative tug of war is super fun (and not too long at about 90 minutes) and the game is powered by a card-driven mechanism to complete objectives that enable you to seed a draw bag, for which a random chit-pull will give you VPs throughout the game. 

I then had to leave early because I went to a Weezer concert. I had a blast. They were playing in downtown Phoenix, and it’s probably about 10 years since I last saw them in person.

Thursday

Thursday was a full day of gaming! We started with Obsession. I love the theme of this game — think Jane Austen society where parties, gardens and marrying well were your family’s only priority — and it works so well as a resource management, deck-building, worker placement game. Each player plays as a prominent family of the time, and you have a hand of cards that represent different family members.

On your turn, you’re working to invite people to your parties (playing cards from your hand) to a room in your house (in an effort to upgrade the room). These guests sometimes require servants, of which you have a small army of them and can hire more, and in return, most guests can increase your reputation and/or give you money. Unfortunately, some guests are worth negative points — those rich new money Americans (but they give you a lot of money!) or those cads who are just awful at your parties. After your party, that card is exhausted until you refresh your deck, and your servants get to rest a round until they can be used to help your future guests. It’s such a thematic euro!

Next up was People Power, taught to us by the designer himself Kenneth Tee! I had actually met him on Wednesday and got him to sign my game. (If you must know, I was totally fangirling). I think his friends were very amused. 

So on Thursday, we played Obsession with him and he was kind enough to run a 3P game of People Power. You all know I’ve been waiting for this game FOR YEARS, and even did a fun photoshoot on Instagram when the game arrived earlier this summer, but I haven’t had a chance to get it on table yet. 

People Power is the latest COIN (CounterINsurgency) game from GMT Games. This one is special to me because it deals with my motherland, the Philippines. Most wargame and board game conventions I go to, I stick out like a sore thumb, and it’s even rarer to play a historical game where that representation is evident. And now it’s here, and I can’t stop raving about it. 

People Power plays in about 2 hours, which is fairly short for a COIN. And you know what that makes it? Accessible to more people. Seeing people of color as well as not needing a 30-minute video to explain the battle action (I’m looking at you, Pendragon) is one of the very things that would help diversity this very niche area of board gaming. The actions in People Power are streamlined, the player aides are very easy to follow, and, with such a small map, it makes the game tense and fast-moving game to play. And dare I say, this is a COIN that I could actually teach to others? I could not have said that with previous COIN titles. 

We then played a 4P game of Dan Bullock’s prototype: Blood and Treasure, a game about the U.S.-Afghan War and the contractors who would profit from it. Contractors bid for contracts, specialize in industries, and hire workers to complete projects — without getting inspected by the government too much. I enjoy this game the more I play it, but I have to remember it’s not always about completing the most contracts; the name of the game is collecting those government contracts and secretly undercutting your opponents. And with 4P, it’s much more cut-throat.

We then played a quick game of Fit to Print! I just received this game in the mail the previous week, and this was surprisingly a big hit! In Fit to Print, you’re all working at a newspaper trying to design A1 (the front page) with a good mix of various articles, photos and advertising while maintaining a balanced set of sad and positive news — in real time! Game play goes for three days (rounds), and each day begins with the reporting phase where you’re simultaneously flipping over pieces from the center of the table one at a time at your little cardboard desk. You then decide if you want to keep that piece for the layout phase or put it back into the middle of the table. You do this for a limited number of minutes, and by the end of it, you’ll have a stack of tiles on your deck. 

Then comes the layout phase: place those tiles onto your blank newspaper page, following guidelines (which you’ll get penalized for not following) and photos next to stories (of which there are three different types) they like. With each day, starting on Friday to Sunday, the size of the paper gets bigger, so it’s such a challenge to figure out how many tiles you’ll need for each day — and if they’ll be able to fit nicely into your template while the clock winds down! 

That evening was the auction and raffle. I stopped by for the raffle part and won this cool game! If any of you have played this, let me know how it is. 

We ended Thursday night at Fate Brewing Company for some yummy food and even yummier beer. There are three locations in the Valley, and we went to the one in south Scottsdale. Definitely worth checking out if you’re ever in town. 

Friday

We started our last day with our annual game of Maria. We play this every year, but I always kind of feel like I’m coming into this game cold. I’m definitely putting a calendar reminder for next year to brush up on the rules for next year’s convention! I must get better at this game! 

The last game I played at the convention was The North Provenance. I had never heard of this but I was immediately intrigued by the box and card art! It’s a 2P card combo game with multi-use cards where you reprogram Ancients, build Facilities and power up Nodes in an effort to chip away at your opponent’s VPs.

It’s a constant tug of war, and when your engine gets really built out, the action combinations are so satisfying! 

I had a great time at this year’s Consimworld, even though I could only make three of its eight-day run. I hope my plans go much more smoothly next year! And for those interested in next year’s convention — mark your calendars! Consimworld 2024 will be held on July 12-20, 2024. Thanks, Consimworld, for having me!