morsla: (Default)
morsla ([personal profile] morsla) wrote2008-07-13 05:28 pm
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GenCon Oz 2008

I always seem to lose a week after travelling anywhere. GenCon Oz finished a week ago, and the last week has been full of catching up on work. I've mostly managed to dodge the post-convention cold, but [livejournal.com profile] aeliel wasn't so lucky.

I really enjoyed the trip to Brisbane. We booked a two-bedroom apartment between four people, so we had our own kitchen and a living room for after-con games. I've now become addicted to Arkham Horror after several late-night games... however I managed to resist the urge to buy my own copy at the convention, as my luggage was bulky enough without adding boardgames for the return trip.

Most of my time in the convention centre was spent running demo games at the Privateer Press booth. The con had attracted media coverage on TV, radio and in local papers, and we had a huge number of non-gamers come through to take a look. I ran roughly half my demo games for people who had played other miniatures games (Warhammer etc), and the other half for people with no miniature gaming experience at all. The stall sold ~60 copies of the Warmachine rules, all of them to new players who bought a pile of models. Not bad for a first-run convention, where the retailers were hoping to just break even.

For the last three weeks I've been frantically painting up models for the Warmachine 'Hardcore' tournament - the first official one to run outside the USA. The tournament games were very challenging - strict 7min turns, with five 56min games run back to back. I placed in the top half of the field (three wins, two losses), but I was mainly competing for the Master Craftsman (best painted) medal. After five games my brain was leaking from my ears, but I was very happy when Kel announced that I'd won the prize :)

Overall, a good trip. The convention still has plenty of areas to improve for next year, particularly relating to registration and event tickets, but the organisers seem to be doing a good job of addressing comments and feedback from the people who went. I'll certainly be going back.

[identity profile] virtual-munkee.livejournal.com 2008-07-14 12:52 am (UTC)(link)
sounded busy, but also fun! nice work on the prize :D

[identity profile] morsla.livejournal.com 2008-07-17 03:18 am (UTC)(link)
Thanks :)

How are your thesis revisions going? It sounds as though the last stretch is like pulling teeth.

[identity profile] virtual-munkee.livejournal.com 2008-07-28 05:30 am (UTC)(link)
ooh yeah thesis revisions, i have a pile of corrections to get through! and three more chapters to hand over for review by my supervisors... getting there tho!