Titanomachina: Hal-con 2025

Another Hal-con, another year. So far I've been coming to Hal-con to run demo-games for four years. Fewer group demos this year and more duels, with some new players returning for as many as a third game this weekend, which was cool to see. 

I played a number of memorable games including the Extra Life IWK charity game played on Twitch, which demonstrated the amusing chaos of new and veteran crew thrown into four-player mayhem. 

Some returning faces, including the Mario Bros participating in a set-up I affectionately like to call the Phone Box which is a 6x6 board where a 2x2 deployment space is created in a 4x4 square of two-habitat-tall buildings. Wario, in the redoubtable Styxx quaternary, proceed to kick Tethys quaternary in the back. This was because Tethys' player, Luigi, had the extra armour 4 in hand to deal with expected attack, and anticipated by ensuring 6 shield tokens over it. Styxx had a kick from a Digitigrade Leg operated by Styxx's entire  crew pulling together and stacking the cogs for a 10 cog kick through enough habits to cause an additional 4 damage. Having been kicked the through a wall thicker than She was tall when slouching, Tethys was knocked out by Eos, whom Styxx had also put on the ropes. 

A first time player and I managed to flatten a considerable amount of the map in what amounted to something of a mosh pit. I managed to execute a great double-jump body slam putting my opponent's Titan Rhea through a block of buildings. At that point I was behind 12 habitat blocks and raced to equalize, but caught a howitzer shot in Eos's right thrusters, destroying them, and shocking a card out of my hand. That card would have powered Eos's hand while it was operated by an initiate crew, and destroyed one more yellow habitat, for a 3vp swing. The game ended 14 to 9 for my opponent. 

After that, however, I managed to execute the same double-jump against a player that had already played twice, this time using Tethys. I had gritted my teeth during the first round, not spending any systems. I caught a plasma howitzer in the knee before jumping, but caught them up in the corner by the edge of the board. After jumping I managed to smash their Eos into some buildings with the claw, and nearly knock Eos off the board with Tethys's gun battery. Eos pours crew and power into getting those shields back up, constantly raising exactly 4 (the number constantly knocked off Eos' shield diagram. I think I also got Eos' right arm. I believe it was round 7 before I was able to pull off the double jump, and I believe I lost both kneecaps (Extra Armour 1 & 2) before it too, meaning that turned a stalemate into a +5 VP to Tethys. 

Similarly a demonstrator had another committment mid-day on Saturday and I got to sub in. That demonstrator is a good player, and while I was left with what might have appeared to be an uphill slope in terms of position and habitats, I also had a fantastic couple of hands that let me double-jump Tethys free of a possible ring-out situation, then turn around and deliver a knock-out shot with an adherent crew and master crew operating a macro laser that went through a shield, armour, and took off a leg and drilled in to the master crew. 

On Friday I took a turn in the Phone Booth, getting Eos Quaternary dismembered by Rhea Quaternary, as my opponent took up fucking and stepping out of the way.

Saturday I got to take Tethys Secondary against Eurybia Primary crewed by our Board Game Room volunteer and suffered only minor decapitation. Eurybia got that one through habitats. 

There were, I think, fewer 3-4 player games this year than in previous years. While I currently think Titanomachina scales pretty well, I think it's something of a different experience at 2, 3, and 4 players. One-on-one is a dueling experience, while the three-on-all is usually a matter of one player getting beat as two players race for victory. The 4-player game often involves players pairing up, but switching partners as the momentum of the game takes pairs through each other's combats. Team-up games are certainly something else, distinct from the multi-Titan mode I've developed.