Southern Board Game Fest – Final (3rd) Day Recap

Before I dive into a third day recap, I wanted to thank some of the gamers that made the trek to Southern Board Game Fest. Since the inception of the festival in 2018, it has been our goal to be a strong draw as a Gulf Coast region convention, while also being attractive enough for people to want to make it a destination every once in a while. Year six certainly accomplished both goals. 

(To see our First and Second Day recaps, click here.)

Did you know that we had gamers from Texas attend, from the coast of Texas City (hello Newmans!) and up to Austin? We also had gamers from along the I-10 corridor on the Gulf Coast, and all the way to Tampa (hello Beans & Dice Rob). We had a gamer from New Jersey, although The Jay Bell’s roots are here in Louisiana, but we even had a visitor from all the way up in Nova Scotia. Shreveport, Baton Rouge, CENLA, north Shore, New Orleans were all well represented, too. Thanks again for making the trip.

But let’s talk about day three. For me, it always starts a little late, as I have some family obligations to take care of each year. SneauxBunny went to an early morning Mass and then met up with Matt (our oldest) for brunch at our favorite little breakfast eatery, Parish Biscuits. Oh man, I had the pecan praline pain perdu, and it was fantastique !

Happy and full and charged for the day, I headed over to the Festival to find it already humming. The tables were full of gamers, and I found Andrew Bucholtz walking around with a copy of Luzon Rails, my favorite Cube Rails game. We grabbed Cody, Joe from I Heart Board Games, and the CEO of our beneficiary for the festival, John Newman. Allons! 

Luzon Rails looks like your typical cube rails game, but it isn’t. All stocks are bought at auction, and all actions are taken via card play, either those cards in player’s hands are those that are available in the open tableau (which when it empties, is the timer for the round.) I love, love, love this card mechanic. Do I extend the round to try to squeeze out a few more train connections or a stock price manipulation? Or do I rush the round by taking the tableau cards before someone auctions off one of my favorite stocks? It’s so juicy and so good. I came out third, and would have had second easily had Newman not missed the fact that the last round was about to end. Oh well, c’est la vie. 

I had to scoot over to my guided playthrough next. I signed up to teach Vantage, and had three players waiting. Vantage is an open world game from Jamey Stegmaier and Stonemaier Games that is right up my alley. The goal of the game, which is cooperative, is to try and complete your mission once you crash land on a planet. But that’s just a small part of the game. You can explore as much as you want, and let the storyline drift you around, or focus on the mission or even on destinies and player objectives you might encounter. It’s up to you. The openness turns some people off, so I always hesitate to recommend it, but if you like euro mechanics (manipulating the dice, player boards, and boost cubes is very satisfying) but want an open world game with stories like in Sleeping Gods, you’ve found the right game. 

I had time for only a few more games. After grabbing the best lunch yet — pulled pork French fries with BBQ sauce from our buddy, Cousin Joe’s food truck — we played 12 Rivers with Connor and Sagan and John from Baton Rouge. 12 Rivers made my “To Try” list for Gen Con last year, solely because the name sounded close to the “Two Rivers” area of the Dragon Reborn series. But I heard a few good comments from some reviewers I trusted, and I wanted to check it out. Plus, Mitchell loved it. 

12 Rivers reminded me a bit of Potion Explosion. There’s a cool stand-up board that sends marbles down rivers (a la Magic Mountain from Amigo Games) but this time, instead of witches stopping the will o’ wisps, they are jewels that we are trying to collect while statutes stare at us. I think. The theme was not the highlight for sure, but manipulating the turn order to put your blocking pieces on the river and fulfilling jewel orders for points and special actions and end game scoring — it was hitting all the right buttons for me. It’s got a toy factor, it features quick turns, it’s super easy to teach and the game is essentially simple, recipe fulfillment. If you are into that, you might want to try it. 

I saw Patrick from Shreveport wandering around with French Quarter from 25th Century Games in his arms, so I offered to teach it. (Yes, Dave Dugas, it was just an excuse to show him “BJ’s Gumbo” store on the map.) Everybody else was already in a game, so we played it two players. I mostly played it with multiple players, but it works just fine at two. It had been a few years since I played it, so it took me a minute to refresh the rules, but wow, this is still my favorite of the Fleeples’ loaded roll and write series, with Three Sisters not far behind. The puzzle of moving your visitor around thematically — jumping on street cars or just stumbling around while enjoying Hurricanes — and complying with the dice requirements is so crunchy on multiple levels. It hurts, but as John Cougar said, it hurts so good. 

It was getting close to closing time. I was going to hop on over to The Dungeon area to watch our live playthrough of Hot Streak — complete with Newman in a fish costume! — but I saw someone walk in who I did not recognize from the weekend. I struck up a conversation, and it turns out that this was Luc, the director of the French Immersion program at St. Anne’s University in Nova Scotia. I’ve had tons of friends go through that program, so I was fascinated to hear his story. Turns out he is a huge board gamer and was in town for the week, so he bought a badge to support the charity and check out the festival for the future. 

Of course, I couldn’t let him leave without playing a game, so I grabbed a few players and we taught him Tipperary. This was my third play of Tipperary for the weekend, and as Luc said, this is the perfect cozy game. I was even able to practice my French skills while we played: “C’est ton tour” and “J’ai finis” etc. Great chatting with you, Luc, and I hope you can make it next year. 

After that, I spent the rest of the time helping to clean up and just chatting with people. It gave me time to reflect on some of my favorite experiences. Playing Jay Bell’s new prototype was a highlight, as was visiting with Jason Dinger, the designer of Captains of the Gulf about his new games. I didn’t to get play a game with Rob from Beans & Dice Podcast, but we did see each other a lot during the festival. 

Thanks again to Jesse & Melissa from I Heart Board Games for spreading the word about the festival on their channel. Jesse and I got to interview the designer of Playground Empires, too, and some of the players who had just finished a game. It was like a “live on the street” style interview which is always fun. Hanging out all weekend with Jerod and Andrew again topped the list, too, because neither live in my town so I don’t get to game with that often. Of course, catching up and playing games with Cindy & Patrick Newman is always a highlight of every con. 

I also want to thank the publishers who made the Play To Win section happen. We had 66 games available for players over the three days. That’s a lot of play! (I plan to blog about the results soon). But I also want to thank Burky from GameToppers LLC and the Burky & Badger Board Game Babble podcast who helped us sell out the festival again. His timely donation of gamemats and bags got badge sales going in the new year, and contributed to our awesome raffle where we were able to raise some serious money for New Hope directly. Thanks Burky!

Big props goes to Mitchell and Logan, who brainstormed and cajoled and kept all of us volunteers on track. I know I say this every year, but I mean it. This was my favorite Southern Board Game Fest (even if Rob from the Board Boys and Carla from Weird Giraffe couldn’t make it), and the weekend is one of the highlights of the year from me. Can’t wait to announce the dates and place for SoBo 2027! 

Until next time, or until the next SoBo, laissez les bon temps rouler!
— BJ from Board Game GumboSouthern Board Game Fest – Final (3rd) Day Recap