Steampunk!!
Anyway about two weeks ago I decided to go to temple con to help out the guys at Cool Mini Or Not. Found a ride and made my way down there. I am super glad that i did too! This steampunk convention may be kind of small but it certainly packs a punch. I got to do a ton of Super Dungeon Explore Demos for people, as well as some dark age demos too. I in turn participated in a lot of demos as the demoee and hung out with some super cool people.
So Let's start off with the Cool Mini Or Not stuff because that is where i spent most of my time.
We did a TON of awesome demoing. Super Dungeon Explore was a great hit with people (as usual). We managed to sell about 15 copies of the game too. All kinds of people came up to demo, women, men, children, we even had a monkey! My painted 3 player set drew them in by the droves.
While the consul never won the heroes sure had a good time!
There will also be a super cool video going up once the Soda Pop Miniatures website finishes getting revamped. Check in there often because it - is - epic.
I was also given the privilege of doing some Dark Age Demoing. This game has been out for a while, and while it may not have the following of Warmachine, it certainly deserves it's fair share of followers. The game has a solid battle system and rules mechanic that revolves around low D20 rolls. It also has the increasingly popular alternating of unit activations.
Extravagant board designed seemed to be a theme at this convention.
Much to my delight
I learned the rules in about 10 minutes which means it is a good game. The rules are complex enough to be fun but not so much as to be cumbersome. The demos went well with everyone and good times were had by all, except this Bane who was mobbed by the spear slaves...
Don't you hate it when underlings decide to grow a pair?
We also had Relic Knights being demoed there. Aren't you excited? All those beautiful Soda Pop Miniatures are going to get rules and you can beat each other up with them! It is a very unique game in that there is no "round" per se. You can repeatedly activate the same model over and over. There are also no dice, just a custom deck of "elemental" cards. You use these cards to perform actions and press attacks. It is also interesting in that when a model activates it has 2 movement phases, often with different movement values. The game is designed to play on a 3x3 table and promises to attrack a large number of players.
Since I am poor and haven't painted any of these we had to use unpainted models. Boooo.
But no worries the models are still amazing!
Seeing the Relic Knight models up close certainly made me want them. I will undoutably be purchasing a Calico Kate force once some other things get up and running.
The Real Star of this Convention was Warmachine. They basically had warmachine tournements running 24/7. In fact the guys who helped me get down there and let me share their room played in the team tournement.
Sadly my compatriots who I was rooting for (Nate: Kahdor, Allen: Cryx, and Matt: Everblight) Did not do so well in the comp. Though we had an 80s montage and Burger King Crowns which ended their losing streak.
There was also big Warmachine news announced here. While I was not present I heard that they announced "Colossal" jacks. Giant faction specific warjacks ( even one for mercs) that will be between 18-20 points to field. Everyone wet themselves when this was announced. I am just sad I did not get a picture. These are a few of the names for the jacks Kahdor: The Conquest, Cryx: The Kraken, Cygnar: The Galleon, and one called the Hyperion that was probably for Menoth.
While the Trolls were no problem for Nate,
he forgot his wardog's leash in the last game.
All in all though privateer did a great job at the convention. There was always someone playing warmachine, at all hours. They were in the grand ballroom, in the foyay and everywhere else. I even found Dirty Meg there!
There were demos everywhere too. Far and away though the demo I am most glad I did was the Mercs demo. This game is pretty cool. It operates on a small board and only utilizes 5 miniatures for a game. Each faction only has 6 miniatures available to it with a 7th on the way.
I really want to find these GF9 mats, they were great.
The game operates very simply. You use the cards to move your guys so no tape measure required. Each guy gets an initiative roll each round so it's always a different activation order. The game utilizes D10s for the actions and everything else. It is a quick dirty game. Probably the coolest thing about it though is how you use the cards to move. Basically each AP your guy has allows it to move its base to one of the other card grooves.
Fit the card to your mini's base and then
move it to one of the other base grooves.
Anyway it was lots of good fun. These are the guys I got to use for my demo.
Sniper, demo, and assault leader.
The other demo that I participated in was Spoils. This is a CCG that is just awesome. There are 5 factions and it was designed by old magic pros who wanted to take the luck out of magic. And this they did well! It has been around for a while but does not suffer from the glut of expansions that most CCGs do. Currently there are only one or two cards banned in constructed play so you can still use the old cards you bought. Granted there are only about 5 expansions (maybe 4). Anyway I participated in two drafts and a constructed event and got lots of swag from my new friend Dan.
This guy was Great to hang out with. I met a ton of Spoils players and all where stand up gentle men. So if anyone wants to get a game of it in with me I have a couple of decks now as well as some micromagig tokens!
There were tons of other demos around the con too that I didn't get to. Firestorm Armada, warmachine/hordes, some indy games like Apocalypse where among them. All in all there was tons to do.
I also got to meet some great artists there too! While there were a lot of vendors two stood out for me. I met Kristen and Kendra on Saturday and Sunday.
Kendra was actually responsible for Valente's "September's Key" jewlery inspired by The Girl Who Cirumnavigated Fairyland. She had tons of beautiful keys she has made and does other things as well. She is a local artist and is acutally involved with my LGS Pandemonium as well.
Kendra
Three of Kendra's favorite keys.
Kirsten's jewlery is a little bit more classical and multipurpose. She is currently working on the mechanical/natural juxtoposition. Her pieces are subdued and quite nice.
Kirsten
A piece Kirsten did called Evolution.
So here is a shout out to both of them. Kendra's website is here and Kirsten's is here. They will also be at Anime Boston sharing a vendor's booth if anyone wants to go check out there stuff. Personally had I more money I would certainly pick something up by them for me or my wife. Support local artists!
I had a great time at temple con. Giving a big shout out to Kevin and Ross from CMON. I had a great time with those guys and all the other volunteers I worked with. We had a public party in the grand foyer that was quite fun and just generally good hangings out.
Also if you ever get the chance the Holiday Inn I stayed at was first class! I love hotels and this one was great. Temple con was a wonderfully relaxing time that really de-stressed me. If you get the chance go check it out next year. It is super fun.
Until next time all you readers out there in internet land, I am signing off.
-Steve ( filling the boiler of his warjack)
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