Paul Glowacki - 10:45pm Jul 25, 2003 PST (#18260 of 18262) 
Recent: Kasserine (solo), Twilight Struggle (test), Turf Master 
(Origins), Semper Fi (TCS 4.0 test), 1830 (Group), Breakout: 
Normandy (Cyberboard and solo), Blue vs. Gray (ACTS), Shifting 
Sands (test) & a new dice tower I designed and built myself

Just back from a 1-day trip to GenCon. The auction was nice, just like
the old days. Lots of wargames going for reasonable prices. Avalanche
Press and Mark Walker's Lock 'n' Load were about the only wargame
presence in the exhibit area. 

There was a nice large boardgame room in which I saw lots of Columbia
games being played, several Axis and Allies type games (all with world
maps of varying sizes and artworks), lots of Euros, some interesting
Lego miniatures games, Master Europa and the usual Puffing Billy Rail
game guys. Overall this room was better than the similar one at Origins,
although the Warroom at Origins was better than the limited wargames
presence at GenCon. 

I took my kids (11 and 6) and they had a great time at their first con.
My son especially ejoyed the Whizkids booth where he got freebies of
some figures and got to see all the mechs and Heroclix in action. They
had just announced that Whizkids has been purchased by Topps. Kids just
aren't buying baseball cards anymore with all these collectable figures
out there. 

There is an interesting new mini's game called Battle Tags, which
features 5 man squads of WW2 German and US soldiers in various poses.
You collect the figures in starter sets and boosters. You also get dog
tags which can be mixed and matched to provide your squad with added
abilities and weapons. It looked pretty cool, but is not yet available
for purchase. 

We had a good time at our first GenCon. Now I have to figure out how to
convince the wife I should attend a third convention this summer and
head to Homercon. 

PG 

Tim Olson - 06:33am Jul 27, 2003 PST (#18269 of 18269) 
Now Playing:DBA;MechWarrior Clix minis

WEll,FWIW,I did attend Gen Con yesterday. What a mess! I arrived about
1PM and I have to say that I am very impressed with downtown Indy.
Despite only living 1.5 hours away(in Cincinnati) this was my first time
here. I love the old(old looking?) buildings downtown,the red brick
streets and the fountain circle is really cool. Ill make time to explore
the downtown area more in future years. 

As for the con itself....yech!. I parked about 3 blocks away and couldnt
see the convention center(CC) because its right next to the RCA Dome and
I asumed the whole structure was the Dome. I finally asked someone and
they pointed at the line of people coming out of the CC which is located
next to the Dome. The CC itself is huge and pretty impressive. 

I strolled up to the CC and found a long(3hr?) line to wait in for
convention badges. No way. I then went inside to look around and find a
friend. He told me that the line was worse(!) on Thursday. Ridiculous.
This may be a new venue but theres no excuse for this stuff. 

I walked around for a couple of hours kibitzing and checking out games.
I borrowed a badge to see the Exhibiters hall which was pretty
impressive but largely uninteresting to the typical wargamer. I got my
Mechwarrior stuff,a Battle tags promo fig and bolted. 

I walked out of the con at about 4PM and there was still a line winding
around inside the center and outside up the block! I cant imagine why
someone would wait in line for that long to pay $23(!) for a 1 day pass.
Thats right. $23 for this abuse and apparently there were people willing
to pay it to game 1 night. Sheesh. 

My daughter was totally unimpressed so I doubt Ill be bringing her back
next year if I come. 

I suppose that if I were to prereg and come for the HMGSGL(Historical
Miniatures) events that it may be worthwhile but to be honest this
particular Gen Con only made me more likely to come back for Colts or
Pacers games. 


Mike Reed - 09:08pm Jul 27, 2003 PST (#18271 of 18273) 
Advice for Topic Police, from Mike Brady: "You know by tattling on your 
friends, you're really just tattling on yourself. By tattling on your 
friends, you're just telling them that you're a tattletale. Now is that 
the tale you want to tell? "

Well, different strokes for different folks, I guess. I also went to
GenCon yesterday...I live on the western outskirts of Cincy
(Lawrenceburg, IN), and my soon-to-be-11yr old son & I took the day
trip. He's never been to a big convention before (except for a
Strategicon out in LA, but that doesn't count, he was only 6 months
old...). 

We got up there at 10am, and for sure, the line was out the building.
Ahhh, the penalty of not preregistering. Oh well, nothing more fun to do
than wait in line - I had to anyways, I had a bag full of 'Lord of the
Rings' and 'Star Wars' collectible cards I wanted to sell, and unload
before the game got stale - this being also Deciphercon, I figured I
could finance the trip. Fortunately, my son was in a good mood, and we
chatted up some folks in line. About an hour in, we moved by the 'Kids
Track' room - an area set up and monitored by adult volunteers to get
the kids in on the games. Lots of standard kids games there, but also
some stuff of the 'light Euro' variety, and some Game Boy Advance SPs.
The folks let me drop my son in there, and he was set, while I continued
in the line for another hour or so. I think the total wait was about
2-1/2 hours, but I should have known to preregister. Given that there
were about 10,000 people in line (literally), the folks at Gencon did an
admirable job in the throughput. Much quicker in processing than Origins
(though that line was not nearly as long). Even got my son's badge for
free (yes, I told them he was 10, the guy had pity on me). Still, the
moral of that story was to pre-register. 

Checked in with my son (who was busy playing chess (LotR pieces) with
some other kid, talked to the fellow there in charge, and went off to
sell some cards. Came back an hour later and about $600 richer (still,
over the long run I must have spent twice that to collect these damned
things), and was now officially out of the 'collectible card crack'
hobby. :-) Retrieved my boy, had some pizza, and it was off to the
exhibitor's hall. Like a kid in a candy store (my son corrected me to
'kid in a game store'), it was fun to see the look on his face when he
walked in. I agree, not too deep in the 'wargame' area, but plenty of
other stuff. The various clix games, big demo areas for Fantasy Flight,
Wizards of the Coast, Decipher, and Upper Deck, in a room about twice
the size of Origins (which was big in its own right). Microsoft was
demoing Halo for the computer, something that tied my boy up for
awhile...dropped back in to see Mark Walker at the Shrapnel booth. Since
they have a lot of computer games, I could see it being a 'crossover'
con for them. Lots more incidental traffic, I'd say. 

Checked out the majority of the gaming rooms. Lots of differing action
in the boardgame/miniatures game room, my son got to play a demo of some
game (Senjuitsu?) that seemed a mix of Stratego/Chess/Lionheart that he
enjoyed. He also liked the action upstairs in the Games Workshop area
(he's been wanting to get into Warhammer 40K for some time, and liked
seeing the stuff in action). Dropped in on the auction, looked like a
good time/selection. 

Called it a day after the dealer room closed and we got tired of walking
around. My son tried to read the "Stargate SG-1" Roleplaying game book I
bought him in the car, but failing light put that on hold...though he
has had his nose buried in it all day today. 

All in all, a successful outing for us. My boy has Asperger's Syndrome,
which is a neurological condition on the Autism Spectrum. He's very
bright, well-advanced intellectually for his age, but his social skills
& behaviors are well-behind age-appropriate. He is also a mirror of his
surroundings. I went to the con with the full expectation of having to
leave early due to a 'meltdown' from overstimulation, but to my pleasant
surprise, he never did. About the only 'bad' thing was that he got
separated from me in the exhibitor's hall (turned right when I was
looking left), which caused me to spend some time searching - though the
staff was helpful, and a page got him back within a couple minutes of
the call. I did note that in the boardgaming room, and in the demo area,
the folks were more than happy to take the time to explain things to
him, and even forgiving of any social faux-pas. A trait of gamers in
general - they seem to be much more capable of overlooking faults in
others, and are quite accepting of things 'off the norm' when it comes
to social interaction. They (we) may be labeled 'gamer geeks', but for
sure, I'm proud to be numbered with them. 

So, for observations - good & bad, I'd sum up: 

1) Space - the place is HUGE - the convention center plus two hotels.
All reachable without going outside. No 'mazes' (except the ones in the
Live-Action D&D area), unlike Columbus. They could easily grow in this
spot for the next 5 years at 15-20% rate without running out of room. 

2) Exhibitors - while the majority of stuff was aimed at the
card/roleplaying/computer game market, there was still enough variety
that it was fun to walk around & see the wares. As I mentioned, there
was plenty of demo area, something that surely lead to multiple
'impulse' buys. 

3) Family atmosphere - I was surprisingly pleased by this. More kids at
this con with their parents than I had EVER seen. All ages, all types of
games. This, and the 'kids track' room, were things that I was most
thankful for. Heck, I didn't play a single game (let alone sit down for
much more than lunch & a snack), but enjoyed myself nonetheless. I was
letting my boy have all the fun of playing the demos, savoring the
experience of his first con. 

4) The staff - as I mentioned, helpful & courteous. 

5) The food - much better selection than Columbus, to say the least. 

6) Accessibility - easy to go from point A to B, and good maps posted
all over the place. Top notch planning. 

The cons: 

1) The line - yes, it sucked, but I don't know if you should blame
GENCON totally for this. There's been pre-reg up on site for at least 6
months, and given the amount of walk-in traffic, I was pleased to see
that the line was consantly moving. Still, there's got to be a way to
speed things up. Perhaps splitting the line into 'cash' and 'credit
card' lines, as the latter tends to slow things down. Perhaps an
'automated badge' center (like you see at the movie theaters) could be
made. To be fair, I noted that they were making improvements during the
wait. From water stations being added all along the line, to doubling
the amount of processing stations, to passing out the registration forms
down the line - all expedited the process and showed that they were
learning. Aside from lesser numbers of attendees, that's just something
to live with. How are the lines in Essen, for comparison? I'd be
interested to know. 

2) Price - I don't have a beef with $23 for me for a single day, but I'd
like to see some 'Family Pack' rate - perhaps adults at full-price, kids
at half-price? Would make it even more family friendly. Regardless, when
compared to a day at the ballpark, or Kings' Island, it's comparable
(though after waiting 2-1/2 hours, it would have been nice to have a
roller coaster ride at the end). 

3) Individual event tickets - now here, I think there's lots of room for
improvement. This should be incorporated into the admission. I'd gladly
pay 5-10 bucks more if I could get out of having to pay for each event.
I think that Origins was headed on the right track with the 'Ribbons'
for the War Room, Minis, and War College, in this regard. 

In summation, I went with not-too-high expectations, and was pleasantly
surprised. My wife & I have already discussed going back next year, and
bringing my 8-yr-old daughter along as well. I think she was actually
envious that we had a good time. 

Next year, however, I'm DEFINITELY going to pre-register. :-)