UniCon ran over the weekend, and seemed to go well from my side of the registration desk. I actually got to play some games on the Saturday, which was a bit of a first... Sunday was a more traditional con-org day, though.
I finished sixth in the first 750 point Warmachine tournament that's run in Victoria, winning the faction medal for Cygnar. We played five rounds on the day, which (with only a couple of exceptions) ran very smoothly. Three wins, one draw, one loss, and my second best-in-faction medal :)
We had plenty of "new" faces throughout the con, too - people attending their first convention, running their first game, or trying a new game for the first time. All good to see, as we dearly need to keep attracting new people to the gaming scene... Many thanks are due to all the people who helped out during the event - especially
aeliel, who used her precognitive organiser-fu to make sure that we'd anticipated any admin problems before the event.
absentia_mentis managed to break tradition by becoming a conorg first, and then playing her first tabletop games at the end of the convention.
The only real hitch came right at the end, when the after-con venue managed to "lose" our booking - despite
altheas confirming it with them on Sunday afternoon. I have no idea where most of the people ended up, but I found a few people eating at Il Gambero. Ended up at the Carlton Yacht Club with
aeliel,
absentia_mentis and
jod999 where we had an end-of-con drink before calling it a night.
This year was also the first that we'd tried making fresh food for the event. The chocolate cookies sold ridiculously well (virtually stalling sales of any other sweet food at the canteen), and the focaccias were fairly popular... although there were enough left to keep me well fed on Monday.
All in all, I think we achieved what we set out to do - we wanted to run a small convention with good quality roleplaying and miniatures games, which was financially viable without being reliant on university clubs. With the advent of VSU, club-sponsored events are no longer possible, requiring a change in planning for events like UniCon. The con brought people together from around the country, and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. The convention should make a small profit (pending final costs from the venue), which goes back to the clubs that helped running it.
It's reached that nice self-assembling stage that ][con reached a few years ago - the event has enough momentum and support from players and writers that it's just a matter of arranging a venue for the games to run in. The hard yards have been run over the last three years, breathing life back into the convention after we dragged it back from its grave. Now, I just hope that the people in I.I. and MURP are interested in keeping it going...
I finished sixth in the first 750 point Warmachine tournament that's run in Victoria, winning the faction medal for Cygnar. We played five rounds on the day, which (with only a couple of exceptions) ran very smoothly. Three wins, one draw, one loss, and my second best-in-faction medal :)
We had plenty of "new" faces throughout the con, too - people attending their first convention, running their first game, or trying a new game for the first time. All good to see, as we dearly need to keep attracting new people to the gaming scene... Many thanks are due to all the people who helped out during the event - especially
The only real hitch came right at the end, when the after-con venue managed to "lose" our booking - despite
This year was also the first that we'd tried making fresh food for the event. The chocolate cookies sold ridiculously well (virtually stalling sales of any other sweet food at the canteen), and the focaccias were fairly popular... although there were enough left to keep me well fed on Monday.
All in all, I think we achieved what we set out to do - we wanted to run a small convention with good quality roleplaying and miniatures games, which was financially viable without being reliant on university clubs. With the advent of VSU, club-sponsored events are no longer possible, requiring a change in planning for events like UniCon. The con brought people together from around the country, and everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves. The convention should make a small profit (pending final costs from the venue), which goes back to the clubs that helped running it.
It's reached that nice self-assembling stage that ][con reached a few years ago - the event has enough momentum and support from players and writers that it's just a matter of arranging a venue for the games to run in. The hard yards have been run over the last three years, breathing life back into the convention after we dragged it back from its grave. Now, I just hope that the people in I.I. and MURP are interested in keeping it going...