"advance the colors" Topic

the show in Springfield Ohio. is it a good show? worth 4.5 hour drive with my service dog? cincycon was a hoot.

I think cincycon is a better show and a better venue in terms of space, lighting and accoustics. It should be the HMGS-GL flagship convention. That said, I go to ATC every year (even though I cannot stay and play every year) just to say "hi" to some folks I don't see very often and to look at toys on the table. Overall it is a pretty laid back group of gamers and I've played some good games there.

I have not had the pleasure of going to Cinycon yet…

I do like advance the colors, it has some great games, but it is worth my 3-4 hour drive because I play DBA and DBM through the entire convention… Lot's of opponents. If you like either or preferably both of these you will find some great games for sure.

Also, there is a huge FOW tournament if that is your cup of tea.

In general the rest of the games going on during the show all seem to be of very high quality.

Shopping is not bad either..

As 79thPA says, Cincycon is as a better show with more variety and a great venue. That said, ATC is a good solid convention. Been going for about 6 straight years now and have consistently had a great time both playing and running games there. Great people, great games.

I'm headed down friday and saturday….

I really enjoy this convention as well. Good group that runs it with plenty of good games to get into. Supposed to be more dealers this year as well. Looking forward to it.

Here is a list of scheduled games and dealers:
link

I enjoy ATC been going for several years. Its not just historical games there are a few types of games. Last year I ran serveral large DUST games. The museum is pretty nice if your into that type of thing. My suggestion would be attend Fri after 1pm and Sat (thats what I do) Sun is usually a pretty light day but saying that there seems to be more ganes scheduled for Sun this year.

Gonna see if I can make it happen.

Anyone from Cincy going?

I hope to get up there, perhaps Friday evening, as The G Dog is hosting an ACW naval event using Smoke on the Water rules. I believe we are going to head up to Urbana airport for lunch (supposed to be a decent little restaurant there) and come back to ATC to game. I live in Hyde Park. I have heard several complaints about ATC from how they give the space-wasting FOW tourney the best lit area and how the other historical gamers suffer from a dark and loud gaming area, but I guess I can be the judge of that myself first hand this year, and hoping Friday evening won't be as noisy. The old ATC location (south side of Dayton) was great, but the hotel there jacked up the price on us, and now that hotel is pretty much a ghost town. The second location near Springfield was another hotel and it was pretty nice, not sure why it moved from there, other than it might have been a money thing.

As to the original question, both are good conventions with a different focus. They are both worth attending, depending on your interests.

Cincycon has some of everything: miniatures, board games, card games and role-playing.

Advance the Colors has miniatures, mostly historical.

Well, I attended my first ATC at the museum location. My thoughts:

Parking lot is close to the main entrance and plenty of parking to go around.

The museum facility is a real treat. Nice building, good restrooms, and a small cafe attached.

The museum displays are nice and worth visiting.

The entrance area where the registration and two games are held is high traffic, but also very well lit and a prime gaming spot.

The main area for gaming is way too dark and far too loud and too small for any growth. I was there Friday evening, so not at the height of attendance, and the noise level was terrible. Also, the black walls do not help. Some great looking games were "lost" in the murkiness of the room. Donate money to the museum to increase the wattage in their ceiling lights and buy more of the noise reducing panels. The money Great Lakes is making by having such a cheap location could be used to help support the museum by doing those two things.

The dealer area is on the first floor, the main gaming on the second floor. A bit of a hassle, but not bad. The dealer room mix was "interesting." For a miniatures convention, little could be found in actual miniatures. I-94 was there in all their glory, so that helped a lot, and if you wanted books or boardgames, you certainly would be happy. I bought two 1/100 scale snap together tanks…that was it for me, but then again I am at the point of my life where I am not buying as much. The dealer selling knitted clothing items had NO place at minis con.

The area slotted for DBM or FOW gaming should have been given to the other gamers and those tourneys should be held upstairs in the main gaming area. They are huge space wasters – the space taken for two players in those aforementioned tourneys could have be used for a six player game. Plus it would put the main gaming closer to the dealers.

I did not receive a convention brochure nor did I see any. Good to have to see what games are being played and what dealers are there.

Gaming slots are a terrible idea. Gamers who arrive at 3pm on Friday would have to wait FOUR HOURS to get into a 7pm game. Yes, it IS more work scheduling games at differing start times, but it also sucks for gamers to have to wait around forever to game if they can't make the 2pm sessions on Friday.

Friday seemed to be decently attended for a Friday at ATC, but there were a lot of faces I expected to see that were not there. If the dealer area is free for dealers (really?), perhaps give anyone who arrives Friday before 4pm a reduced Friday and/or weekend admission. If more gamers are there Friday early, then more dealers are likely to get motivated to get there when the con starts and not have so many empty dealer tables at 6pm on Friday eve.

Overall, a fun time as I got to see some faces I had not seen in years, and the folks who are working the con have got their act together in terms of how smoothly everything runs. But some tweaks could really make the con an improvement over existing circumstances, and encourage more attendance in future years.