This is a belated post-mortem, as Sortilege signed up to host events but then life events made it look like we would have to miss the weekend altogether.
Fate smiled and we were able to make it for parts of two of the days, but the only event we were able to run was a Saturday morning game of John Company, 2nd edition.
Remarkably, three of the five players had never heard of the game and showed up ready for anything. John Company is not a light game, as it explores the different tensions within the state-sponsored monopoly that was the East India Company. Players take roles as Chairman, Director of Shipping, Prime Minister, and various roles within the provinces of India.
Published by Wehrligig Games, Drew and Cole have outdone themselves again with a beautiful improvement on a fascinating historical game that puts the players in the position of English families trying to milk the EIC and the government for as much personal profit as possible, parasites that hopefully do not kill the host.
This mixture of competition and cooperation creates a perverse mix of incentives, exacerbated by the local political situations in India. All told, the game provides a clear-eyed but unsympathetic view of the company, its stakeholders, and the rapacity implicit in them.
Tables at Con of the North are booked for rigid time schedules, so we ended after turn 4 of the 1710 scenario, but all players had a good experience.
If all goes well, next year we'll have three days of events, instead of three hours!
