"Who is going to Gen Con?" Topic

Like the title says. Gen Con is this weekend.
I'm not going this year, and depending on their policies and politics might not go again next year. It's 50/50 right now.

Wondering if anyone here is going to make the journey, or knows someone that is.

Is there any substantial historical gaming going on? I went decades ago and didn't see a reason to go back.

Based on what I can see in the Event Guide there is some going on yes. Each time I went there has always been. Not a lot but enough listed.

GMs from HMGS-Midwest will be joining up with the Ottawa Red Shirts. There will be a couple of dozen games between the two groups. Go sign up quickly before they are all sold out. Even if they are be sure to show up with some Generic tickets and they should get you in.

I will be running my "Second Day at Gettysburg" scenario at GenCon, three times on Saturday (10 AM, 1 PM, and 4 PM). The scenario uses the "Battle Cry" boardgame rules, and is the same one featured on Little Wars TV a few months back:

YouTube link

My game will be in the northwest-most corner of the main room of the Convention Center (Hall B: Orange). I'd love to meet and chat with any fellow TMP'ers, so do stop by. My 3 iterations are all sold out, hopefully the players will show up as the game definitely works best with 6 players.

When it was in Milwaukee I went all the time.
But have never had an interest to go once it moved.

Same here Grattan54. I wouldn't mind checking it out in Indy but it just seems like too much of a hassle for what I would do there. Maybe someday . . .

Would have gone, but for the vaccine mandate. Oh well maybe next year.

Not I. I don't want to deal with the hassle of getting a room nearby, and competing with the huge crowds.

The show has gotten too big, IMHO.

I just checked, and they require you to both wear a mask and be fully vaccinated. No thanks.

Vaccine and Mask requirements: Gen Con can go themselves.

It draws a younger crowd which seem to be COVID crazy. You're 20…you'll be fine! I wonder how many participate in the health theater, Don their masks at the convention doors and take them off again when they leave.

Kids these days have no critical thinking skills.

I used to go but the hotel prices and dearth of miniatures games chased me away.

But an Exhibitor Hall with more than 300 dealers is still a draw.

"Kids these days have no critical thinking skills."

They aren't really taught them in school (to discuss why would get political), and many parents don't bother. They are easily led and manipulated by others.

Here's the AAR (no pics, sorry): My GenCon 2022 event "Second Day at Gettysburg" went better than I could have dared to hope. All 3 sessions, with 6 player slots each, were sold out within 2 hours of Event Registration being opened. On the day, I was fortunately placed in the main gaming hall where there were a lot of passersby, and (though I say it who shouldn't) the terrain board and troops got a lot of looks and praise, especially perhaps from folks not all that familiar with historical miniatures.

Better, all three sessions had 6 players each. The first two had no no-shows, and the third had one but we had an amazing stand-in: the game designer Richard Borg himself! He had come by earlier and introduced himself, and then returned at 4:00 and graciously agreed to step in and assume the role of George Meade. It was quite the thrill and honor to have the designer of the Command & Colors system (C&C Ancient, C&C Napoleonics, Memoir 44, etc) play in the session. Several players got selfies with him!

As for the sessions, all were fought to a finish in less than three hours (two sessions in under two), not bad considering only a handful of players had experience with the C&C system. We had two Confederate and one Union victory but each session was close-run and could have gone either way.

Based on the success of my event and the evident enthusiasm of the players and passersby, I have decided to run a similar event at GenCon 2023 – but to change it up I'll probably present Fredericksburg. I would encourage any historical miniatures gamers, particularly those in the Ohio-Indiana-Illinois region, to consider hosting a GenCon event – clearly there is an undertapped demand for visually appealing historical miniatures gaming at this (very) large convention.

And just this week the CDC has quietly revised their COVID guidelines.
1.) They are no longer recommending quarantining after close contact with an infected individual.
2.) They've dropped the six-feet distancing requirement completely.
3.) They no longer recommend daily COVID test screening for schools, etc.
4.) They no longer require a "test to stay" condition on the event of an infection.
5.) They are now recommending that masks only be worn in areas where a high risk of communal transmission is likely, or by those in severe risk of complications wear masks.

The reason? 95% of the people in the US age 16 and older are vaccinated and boosted, and thus are now at very low risk of infection or hospitalization as a result.

link

Show's over, folks. Time to resume your normal lives. Past time, in fact.