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GMT West aka The Weekend at the Warehouse is a twice yearly gaming event that takes place at the GMT Games warehouse in Hanford, California. GMT basically let a bunch of rabid gamers take over their warehouse for 4 days, and what a great job the GMT staff do in accommodating us.
The cool thing is 80-100+ gamers take over the warehouse, stare in awe at stacks of impressive games, and then we get to play all sorts of games, not just games published by GMT Games themselves. There are usually a number of game designers in attendance. You get to talk with these game designers, and play their new game designs. Many gamers have aspirations to design a game themselves. It is always enlightening to talk with an actual game designer who have turned that desire into an actual game.
Let us not forget Mike Lam who runs a Down In Flames area, and has been doing so for donkey’s years.
Click on an individual image to see a larger version
Thursday
Games were already in full swing when I arrived in the early afternoon.
This was before the errata was revised.
Eric, Karl, and Greg with another game of T&T
Oerjan came all the way from Sweden. He run a playtest corner for COIN games
On Thursday night some horrible people wound down with Cards Against Humanity
On Thursday night we wound down with a horrible game of Cards Against Humanity. I had to pick this winning answer.
Yup, there is such a thing as too many cards
A good multiplayer game to wind down with.
Otherwise known as Samurai Swords
T&T was a popular game. Sandy (left) came all the way from London.
Every time I looked Terry was playing Twilight Struggle, he was also using the Turn Zero expansion
Pick a card
Jerry has some very creative game ideas.
Battle of Flerus from the Musket and Pike system
The white cards alone filled one table
It was good to see Pyramid Lake so full.
Friday
The weekend was in full swing on Friday. The squeaky ceiling vent was oiled, but the nearby welders added their symphony of noises to replace
More T&T, I think this was the single most played game
Falling Sky
Roger Miller playtesting a new Rinella game
Terry and yet another game of Twilight Struggle
Greg and his game 7YW: Frederick’s Gamble
The new Mark Herman game was a popular game
Wing Leader
Brett showing Terry and Mark his baseball game
Sandy and Jon learning Nappy Wars
Eric, Matt, and Larry playing Unconditional Surrender
Bomber Command
Sword of Rome
1914 Race to the Sea
Fellow Brit’s Jon and Sandy were newcomers to Nappy Wars. They had a fun time playing the game three times on Saturday
Pericles
Greg demoing his game 7YW: Frederick’s Gamble
Greg showing 7YW: Frederick’s Gamble to Mark Simonitch
18Ireland with Steve, Mike, and Morgan
Yet another game of T&T, this time it includes Brett and Steve
Kurt and Mike playing Nightfighter
Kurt showing his game Fields of Despair, to Roger
Hands in the Sea
Saturday
The main day of the Weekend started with doughnuts, was punctuated with copious pizza, and ended with a great game of Battlestar Galactica. So say we all!.
A full game of multiplayer Epic Command and Colors Ancients
It was good to see Command & Colors Napoleonics being played, why didn’t I think to bring the Epic version?
Black Orchestra: Allen was sent to jail and Leggat got him out.
Mark teaching Twilight Struggle
Saturday night was capped with a 6 player game of Battlestar Galactica. The cylons won. No one suspected that Ken was the second cylon
Matt, and Kurt with Pax Rennaissance
Another COIN game being played, Falling Sky
Combat Commander Pacific hitting the table
7YW Frederick’s Gamble: Dave and Eric being shown the game by the designer Greg Ticer
It was good to see Karl and Ken play Thirty Years War
A few games of Churchill were observed
Roger Miller showing off Pacific Fury
Sunday
By Sunday people are beginning to travel home. After the noise and commotion of Saturday, peace descends on the warehouse.
Gene, Chris, Eric, Doug, Dave, and Jerry discuss the new design from Jerry
Once again Mike Lam ran the Down in Flames area
Karl getting Clank!-y
Ken and John with Operation Dynamo from France ’40
Bruce, designer of COIN series Gandhi, with Allen, and Oerjan
Many thanks to the GMT staff for hosting another successful weekend. It was good to see a bunch of regulars, and to meet a bunch of new people.
cheers
Tim
25th April 2017
Link to all the photos in a Flickr Album
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