(This was also posted to The Condemned CCG website, owned by me: https://juelgames.com/a-whole-weekend-of-gaming-2d-con-recap/)

Hello there! I hope you had a fantastic weekend. I had a very busy weekend over at 2D Con. If you’ve never been there, you missed out! Sit down, and listen to the story of the weekend that was.

2D Con was held at the Doubletree in Bloomington, MN, this past weekend. I showed up on Thursday the 22nd, planning on helping other departments set up before the Tabletop Indie Showcase room would open. I wound up meeting the Guys, Games, and Beer podcast crew in Plaza 1, pulling all of their stuff out of the truck and getting things unpacked. I offered to help them out, and we all hit it off super quick! They have the same demented sense of humor that I do, they love games, they love beer, and I wholeheartedly concur on both points!

After helping them set up, I got to working on my own table that evening. I got my badges, set up my table, brought in some product, and then headed home for the night to get some much needed rest before the long weekend.

Friday morning was a good, solid start to the weekend. I met the crew from Upscale Games and tried out their new card game called Scale: Rise of Dragons. They taught me how to play their game, I taught them how to play mine, they bought a couple boosters, I bought a copy of their game, handshakes were shared all around. It was a good morning!

Later that day, June dropped by with her new Poke-Poke deck. We tried a quick game, and it didn’t go so well for her. I took a look, and found she had only 4 Weapons, which simply wasn’t enough for her deck to properly fire off. I dug through my collection and found a playset of Fletcher AG-22 cards for her, and she slipped them into her deck. The results, were, uh…

Well, I think my face says it all! Her deck is BRUTAL. Very, very strong. I’m looking forward to seeing her come to constructed events at Highlander Games and throw down some time soon.

Saturday was significantly more busy than Friday. I played a boatload of games, showing off new Condemned, cards, and what will become the Precons for Chaotic Assault. I even showed off Kris Evangel’s favorite Weapon. Did you see that article last week? You should! People loved Griplash and the other new Condemned. If you missed out on seeing them at 2D Con, you’ll see them soon here.

On Saturday afternoon, I sought help from my old friend Bob, new artist Logan Staeheli, and early Condemned supporter Milo. We tried something a little different:

Four Player Free For All!

We tried a new variant of The Condemned that made use of a few tweaks to the rules to see if it would work. Spoiler alert: It went great. It was a ton of fun, the whole fight was super chaotic, and I got killed first. Yep, that happened. Logan busted my weapon, and left me completely helpless while everyone smelled blood in the water.

So meanwhile, I'm sitting over here like

Yeah, it didn’t go so well. Logan, Milo, and Bob all jumped on the chance to take me out of the running. Bob wasn’t far behind, though, because he had tons of cards that made things difficult for everyone else. So Logan and Milo joined forces temporarily to take him out, leaving the two of them staring each other down. Milo removed Logan’s weapon, pulled out a Ripper with Kona Yuki, and then dropped an Alpha Strike for the fatal blow.

Logan had no response.

Yeah, we all kind of went nuts. But even so, it was well deserved! Milo won the first ever multiplayer Free For All match of The Condemned. Congratulations, Milo!

Throughout the weekend, I made some fantastic connections with other amazing indie devs. We shared notes, I got some useful information from the dev sitting right next to me, and I even got invited to run a draft at the oldest sci-fi convention in the state this coming spring. So that’s pretty neat! Also, the Guys, Games and Beer podcast interviewed me for their YouTube Channel. They’ll have the video up soon, I’ll post it when it finally goes live.

I was a little surprised by one of the comments made by one of my table neighbors. He commented on my energy and enthusiasm while telling others about The Condemned, and how much he loved seeing it. I’ll be honest, I’m not exactly used to hearing that sort of thing. Most of the time, when I’m really passionate about something and share it with others, it’s usually used against me. I’m a very extroverted person and I know it. I like sharing the things I love with others. Especially when it’s something awesome like The Condemned. It was nice to be recognized for my efforts to get this game to market and see people buying it. Thanks Tyler, you’re awesome.

But yeah, that was my weekend. It was busy, long, and so much fun! Thanks to everyone who stopped by the table and tried out the game, thanks to everyone who bought the game, and thanks so much for reading this long diatribe out of me. I’m super stoked to resume league events at Highlander Games, and I want to get this game out to stores in your local area, too. Tell your favorite game store to drop in here, click that “contact” button up above, and get in touch with me. I’ll get them fixed up with cards so you can draft and play your own multiplayer matches. Until next time, check The Condemned Website for more Chaotic Assault spoilers, and I’ll see you in The Arena!