"Working on a new mini-con in Wisconsin - RastlCon" Topic

Yes, I took the ego route and named the convention after my online persona.

rastlcon.org

Of course, as of now I don't have a place or a date. I'm hoping that folks here could give me some ideas of conflicting dates for conventions in the general Chicago, IL – Milwaukee, WI – Madison – WI area so I could work around them.

I'm plotting a gaming convention – mini painting, gaming, etc. Nothing too big or fancy, just a gathering of gamers having fun.

Comments, suggestions, dire warnings all welcome.

Well, Little Wars is in February, avoid July 24 (Historicon) and the dates for Rock-Con (late October IIRC) and Fall-In.

Are you looking at sciFi, Fantasy, Hostoricals or "anyting goes"?

Honestly, I'm looking for games people want to play.

I prefer fantasy but that's just me. The convention is geared towards gaming. So if someone wants to run a historical, I'll put it on the schedule and we'll see who signs up.

I'm not fussy. I just want to have a mini-con for the folks who don't get to the big ones.

Try getting in touch with Skip at Legends-In-Time. He runs a one-day mini con a couple times a year in very northern IL (Wauconda). That's about an hour from you. He does one in the Spring, one in the summer and one in the fall. Great one day cons (I've even attended as a vendor).

legends-in-time.com

Skip is a fantastic guy, BTW. I've dealt with him in the past and he is wonder. MArk (Extra Crispy) is also a stand up guy.

IIRC, Little Wars was the last week of March this past year. Adepticon followed 2 weeks later in April.

Go to where the population is. Price of gas, most folks are not going to drive a couple of hundred miles for a one day event as they did in the past.

Getting the word out is the hard part. Check Yahoo groups for the areas (there is a northern IL-WI-MN) one that I belong to.

Dan (Milwaukee).

You might try getting in touch with some of the folks who have been running NAVCON, a small naval gaming convention held in SE Wisconsin.

Last year's website:

home.centurytel.net/NAVCON

Best,
Ed

I would suggest that you stay away from the Fall time, October to November, as there appears to be almost a convention every weekend in the upper midwest – between Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinios and Minnesota. Some are one deay events, like Skips Legends in Time, others are weekend events like RockCon.

Hrm. And September is not enough time to pull this thing together properly. The first RastlCon may end up being in 2009 as December is usually packed with holiday/family related things for many people.

Thanks for all the suggestions and input. I'll contact the suggested folks and see if they're willing to help me.

Little Wars was in early April(4-6) for this year (2008)but for next year (2009) it moves to the first weekend in Feb.
For which I will be looking for people to submit events for in a couple of weeks.

Rastl, since kenosha is not that far from me, I could be convince to help you run the events since I was events manager for Little Wars this year and for next year as well. Let me know if you are interested.

Snowballing a bunch of smaller cons into perhaps a larger con doesn't seem like a bad idea. It might keep costs down for everyone involved and allow for something a little more "Extravagant"

RKE Steve – I will certainly be willing to talk to you about being events manager. I appreciate your willingness to help.

Contact me through the proto-convention website and we can chat off-line.

Add into the mix MMSI Chicago--usually mid October, and I would appreciate not conflicting so some of our IMMPS can come help out/attend! mmsichicago.com It's a painting historicals & everything show, no gaming involved, but we're completely committed there already.

If you're looking for painting/hobby or competition help, let me know!

There's a small con in Milwaukee around August, not sure of the date as I haven't gone to it. It covers rpg, minis, computer games.

Alrighty!

PaintMinion has signed on to head up the painting side of things.

I'm still working out the details, like location and such. Argh.

But folks seem enthusiastic which is a great start!

Thanks to everyone offering advice. I appreciate it and have been following up.

Being on the border should attract a fairly good sized crowd as evidence by Skips Legends series of one day cons.

So what needs to happen now is to find a venue and pick a date and see what the costs are. One thought would be to look into VFW or American Legion halls, and if there is such a thing park district buidings.

And as I pointed out in personal emails, I am willing to do events pending o the date.

You can count me in. Kenosha is actually a pretty good location, as it's an easy drive from Milwaukee or Chicago. There's a nice ACW museum too, that might help attract some historical types.

You definitely need to avoid the weekends of Little Wars, MMSI & Rock-Con. I'd also avoid Origins, GenCon, the Chicago Toy Soldier Show & the HMGS East shows. That leaves, what, June?

Our group, Battlefield Hobbies, runs a full schedule of games at many of the Wisconsin/Chicago conventions. Our upcoming schedule is:
October 11, 2008 – Navcon, South Milwaukee, WI
October 24-26, 2008 – RockCon, Rockford, IL
Feb, 2009 – Little Wars, Lincolnshire, IL

Assuming the dates do not conflict, we will run games at both Legends in the Fall (unknown date) and Legends in the Spring (late April/early May).

We have run games at the Phoenix Rising convention in Milwaukee (late summer) in the past, but do not intend to return.

We are also planning a mini-con next year ourselves for June 6, 2009 to commemorate the 60th aniversary of D-Day. We have a location secured although we are not quite ready to announce details. I can say that there is plenty of room beyond the dozen or so games we already have scheduled.

If you are interested in speaking further about combining mini-cons or having us run games, please contact me through our webiste: link

Our focus is solidly hsitorical, but we have a number of pirate scenarios loosely historical-based, tending toward fantasy. Check out the Queen's Anne scenarios at the Past Conventions link on our website.

Best Regards,
Jeffrey Henn
Battlefield Hobbies

OK – the current TENTATIVE date is…

Saturday, November 15

Sue sent me a whole list of things that need to be considered and I need to work with the venue de jour but I wanted to see if this date was reasonable.

My website has been updated with the shows that were previously listed and this looked like a good fit.

RastlCon.org

Comments?

Yes, this is a shameless bump to keep the post on the main page.

I'm hoping for a go-no go on the location of choice tomorrow. No go means dealing with the less desirable backup locations. But at least I'll know.

Still looking for folks interested in running events. I know, no firm date and no firm location. But you know you wanna…

rastlcon.org

So I guess I will ask – exactly what is Rastl Deeperdown? You said you are naming the con after your online persona so what is it or where is it from?

Yes, that's a character name from a long running campaign. I chose the name when joining forums, etc.

So I'm 'Rastl'.

I went the total ego route in naming the convention RastlCon. That started as a joke with some friends when I was considering a small Hirst Arts gathering and it grew from there. So, RastlCon was born.