This set of posts that I will be writing, with help from my wife and partner in crime, will be about the lead up, the trip, the events, and all of the other things that happened at GENCON.
Last year Ontos and I went to GENCON as the advance RECCE team. A military term fitting with our Army backgrounds. The first day was overwhelming with all the noise, movement, chaos and pure joy of all the excited gamers. This was a total turnstile attendance of 201,852 attendees.
We attacked the Corvus Belli booth to grab the GENCON exclusive stuff and we ran into Tom and Kip of Mayacast. We tried out a few games before Ontos split from me for some of his events. I meandered through the crowded vendor hall and gaming halls to wonder and watch everything. The day ended with a Modern Magic the Gathering tournament. We spent Saturday playing Infinity and then getting drunk with some players after the games.
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| Last Year: GENCON 2016 From L-R: Tom, Ian, Ontos, Steve, and Kip |
This year it's a much bigger affair. We have three vehicles with nine people going to GENCON 50. My car will have my wife and Burns. We're leaving on Tuesday, staying with family before finishing the long 12+ hours drive the next day on Wednesday. Our drive back will be in convoy with Molotov and Forgotten on Sunday after a Two-Headed Giant Event of Magic the Gathering.
Now finding a Hotel is not easy for GENCON. Lucky for us, Molotov is a frequent traveler and was able to find something back in November next to the airport. This gives us access to the shuttles but we'll also be able to get a direct route into the city core if we drive our own vehicles. A few of us are sharing our rooms, Burns will be sharing his room with a friend from Petawawa and Steve (from the pic above) who couldn't find a Hotel room in time. Ontos has two other gents with him while Forgotten and I will be rooming with our partners.
With transport and accommodations sorted the next thing to look at is events. I wanted to repeat my experience with Infinity by playing in the Friday tournament and being present for the Saturday seminar. Also this GENCON is special as it will be the inaugural event launch for Lo5R (Legend of the Five Rings) since Fantasy Flight took over the IP. The new Lo5R LCG (living card game) is being launched as the first product of the IP under new control and so that also came on my hit list. After those two events I was looking at events that I could do with my wife and also make sure I left room for us to explore the halls and get some shopping in.
Last year I jammed too much into my schedule and this year I made sure to pick three things to allow me to move around, look at stuff, and explore the event. This was more important because I had my wife with me this year and I didn't want to abandon her while we were supposed to do things together. I want to share GENCON with her and ditching her to days filled with events and tournaments is not what I wanted. I wanted to jump into the 2-player 400 point Infinity tournament on Saturday but I pulled that out once I saw my schedule would leave me no time for anything else and that wasn't fair to me or my wife.
So with my schedule sorted GENCON was planned out. I had transport, accommodations, and now stuff to do. My mornings will start with, a shower, lots of water, and vitamins and immune boosters. Grabbing a good breakfast to fill me up will be key since Lunch may be missed. My next full meal will probably be Supper. Outside of what I'll need for the day, the pack will be holding a spare t-shirt, snacks, extra water, and a meal bar. Tournaments can go for a long time, keeping hydrated and energized is important. Last year during the Infinity event I ended up giving out all my snack bars and extra water to my opponents who really appreciated the extra boost.
All I need to figure out what I wanted to pick up, how I'd play in my events, and list the people, games, and places I wanted meet, play, and visit.
- Cheers
Dozer
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