I went to Gencon to play C3, and find Heldorado, but I ran into nothing but C3 players playing Alkemy. So I decided to conduct a bit of investigation...

I was lucky to spend quite a bit of time with people at gencon, experiencing this game. I did think that the inital\available models were a bit wooden, but I can see that the company has alot of potential. The next waves are much, much better, and make all the steps in the right direction... seriously. I am not worried about the models, they are on their way.

The game was a bit more simple than I liked. I played two games, so I am not the most qualified to give a real review, but I had no real trouble handling concepts in-depth in the second game. What strikes me most is the sense that I am playing a game that is really about resourse management requiring supreme planing to stay on top. The complexity was seated within the movement\objective considerations rather than out-right fighting and killing, even without using an objective. It felt much more like playing chess than C3\3.5 or any other TTG. If i had to pick a game to compare it to I would give it a shy Anima Tactics, but I don't feel that does the comparison any real justice. It is simple, but the complexity comes from its simpicity.

The game seems to be well suported, with release plans for the next couple of years. I just need to find some damned players in the West...

Its creator Joss, and his sculptors an dpainters are top-knotch guys. The game loooks to be supported by most of the players that made C3 a great thing/comunity. Doug is deeply commited, and totaly hooked, and the game has that slick bastard Gregoire behind it ;)(total shocker to see him pop out and say hello to me at the Alkemy booth). All these are serious plusses.

The verdict... I liked this game! I bought two starters at Gen Con.

PS. Thanks Kain for getting me up here!

excuse the spelling

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then team Davey Jones arms Avalons awesome! So, so damned awesome.

I have to echo most of Owen's comments... I had only heard about this game recently, and had never seen it or looked for it on the net.

But I tried a demo down in the booth (thanks Andrew and Hybrid!) and within 5 minutes was hooked. This game more than any other I've played, 'reminds' me of Confrontation for many reasons.

I think the figs are top-notch. I couldn't believe they are plastic. I was really, really floored. Even though I hate cats, the Khaliman (sp) were pretty freakin' awesome. They were so cool in fact, my wife picked-up the entire starter range deal from them, while I picked-up the Auroks, who remind me a bit of the Confrontation Orc line.

The different color-dice I think is a cool idea. It's like the took the wound-penalties from Confrontation, and instead built them into the dice that you use based on your current wound level. Tied to the same dice, you see how much damage you do - which isn't always a static amount (which I really like).

One obvious difference between Alkemy and Conf, is that you don't place dice in attack/defense. Instead, you have a number of actions (most ranged from 2 - 3 that I saw), which was very reminiscent of another of my all-time favorite games, Warzone/Chronopia.

In the end, the game is a very interesting skirmish game that brings back Confrontation 2/3 memories (for me, at least), which is the common size of game I have come to love the most. If you're into skirmish games, and enjoy the fantasy setting, you should definitely at least give it a shot. :)

Thanks again to the Kraken folks for getting me sucked in to another game! :) It was also great seeing Gregoire actually WORKING in the booth on Sunday! ;)

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"Wheels within wheels in a spiral array, a pattern so grand and complex.
Time after time we lose sight of the way, our causes can't see their effects."

The card of the Special Edition are available on Kraken's website.

Thank you all by the way for this great first Gencon for us. It was really rocking and we can't wait to come back again !

For what it's worth, I had a great time working the booth for the Alkemy guys. They were very easy to work with, and I think we all had a good time.

And to all the people I gave demos to: Your enthusiasm is what keeps us poor volunteers motivated when feet start to get sore and the voice threatens to give out. :)

It's great watching someone "get" certain concepts of the game and seeing them get involved. Awesome.

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You already have as much Chonkey as possible.

I managed to get in a demo which is difficult since I work for Miniature Building Authority and I also sell painted miniatures at Gen-con. Well I am glad I took the time to play a little bit at the Kraken booth. What a great game they have.

The miniatures look real good which is what got me into the booth. I couldn't resist buying the penguin Napolean general figure, but the Alkemy figs I'll get from my distributor War Path. I am very impressed and will try to convert players in my area to Alkemy.