GenCon 2019 has come and gone now, and yesterday was a good time, but before we get more into that, just a quick usual weekly recap.
Gaming was pretty decent last week with 3 games of X-Wing played, we are preparing for the NOVA Open Grand Championship at the end of the month, so we are trying different lists until we find one that we like. There will be a lot more X-Wing the rest of the month as I am still undecided on my list. BMG games will have to take a back seat until we get back from NOVA, we may and try to squeeze in one though for the month.
Painting was also really good last week, I was able to complete another 6 models for Batman Miniature Game, though I do not have any more models currently prepped and ready to go so it may be a bit before I post anymore BMG models, which is OK since I have two Guild Ball Rookie models I need to also get completed or NOVA Open and they will be next in my
Queue.
Games Played: 3
Models Completed: 6
So now onto GenCon 2019.
The day started pretty early for my son and I while I had to take care of the dogs before we headed out for our 3 hour drive, but we arrived at the time I was hoping for which was around 9:15 AM. We easily found our Parking Garage (I prepaid with ParkWhiz) and proceeded the 3 blocks to the Convention Center, along the walk you can the city advertising for GenCon.
Luckily this year, I pre-purchased our badges for the day and we did not have to stand in an hour long line like last year, we got inside the Convention Center before the doors to the Vendor Hall were open, so we decided to check out the Gaming Hall. Last year I did not make it to the Gaming Hall as I spent all my time in the Vendor Hall, but I am glad this year I was able to check out the Gaming Hall. The Gaming Hall is so large with a lot of different manufacturers running their tournaments and demo games. By seeing the Gaming Hall, it actually makes me want to sign up for a tournament in future years.
We got through the Gaming Hall around 10:10 AM and it was perfect timing as we did not have to wait for the doors to open for the Vendor Hall, there was access to the Vendor Hall from the Gaming Hall and we started our stroll through the Vendor Hall from the higher number rows and worked our way down, which was nice for us since Miniature Market was in the higher numbers and we could see what miniatures they had with them for BMG.
I saw some models that I wanted to get, but since they still had a lot left, I decided to hold off on my purchase we can just come back before we leave.
We then proceeded to the Steamforged Games booth, nothing new for Guild Ball, but I was already expecting that, but we spent a few minutes there catching up with friends.
As we left the Steamforged Games booth, a vendor caught my eye. I saw some dragon flasks that looked really cool and I had to get one for my Bourbon.
Our next stop was the Knight Models booth, this is the first year that KM was at GenCon, although they had a really nice booth, they had nothing they were selling there and were referring people to Miniature Market, the only item we had wanted was the new DC Universe Rulebook, but I guess we will have to do an online order for that when it comes out. We were able to get a closer look at the upcoming Doom Patrol and Watchmen models.
After Knight Models we came across Red Republic Games (Arena Rex), I knew I did not have much on my shopping list for them this year (seeing how the game slid a bit for us), but they did release a new Beast for GenCon, 'Crassus' a bear, so I had to pick that up along with some Arena Rex dice to use as "Favor Dice".
Seeing how we spent a little over an hour walking up and down 4-5 aisles (and there were 30), we decided to start heading towards the booths that we wanted to see, and then we can backtrack to the other aisles afterwards.
We did hit two more vendors along the way, Chessex (where we picked up a dozen D8's to be used for DCU) and another dice company that some really nice satin dice bags we can use for BMG.
All the talk on the internet for gaming the last few days were about the new Marvel Crisis Protocol Miniature Game from Atomic Mass Games, so our next stop was there booth. As I mentioned the other day, I am iffy about this game, and I am still iffy. The models are really nice, but do I "need" another superhero game (with BMG and DC). Pre-orders for the game just went up and I still need to decide what we are going to do. It looks like the game will be releasing at the end of September, early October. I do have to say, they did a great job on the demo boards.
After visiting Marvel Crisis Protocol and how we were right next to Fantasy Flight Games, it was time to check out some X-Wing minis. I also needed to grab another Scum ship (seeing how Amazon shipped me the wrong ships) and I was impressed on how you purchased items from FFG. They have registers with a catalog book, you order from the catalog, pay and then someone grabs your items from the back and hands them to you. I think it makes it a little quicker than everyone hovering over all the models.
It was getting pretty close to lunch time, but we wanted to do one more stop before we checked out the Food Trucks and this was Privateer Press. Their new game Riot Quest was very tempting along with Mosterpocalypse, but I managed to walk away from the booth with just 8 bottles of paint (6 new colors) that I needed.
Now it was time to head outside to grab some lunch from the food trucks, and they were pretty pricey. We managed to find a BBQ truck and got 2 pulled chicken sandwiches and 2 bottles of water for $20.
Just like the Gaming Hall, last year I was not able to visit the gaming inside Lucas Oil Stadium (home of the Colts), and I thought this would be cool to see. We followed the underground corridor to the Stadium and it was impressive. We actually got to stand on the 50 yard line in the center of the Stadium. It looked this area was setup with a board game library, and a lot of tables just for open gaming. This being on a Sunday there were not too many people, but I can see this being packed on Friday/Saturday. I am not sure if this area is open 24 hours like the rest of the Con.
We then proceeded back to the Vendor Hall to look at any booths we may have missed, and to pick up my models from Miniature Market. We did come across Modiphius Entertainment (makers of the Fallout miniature game) and it looks like they have a new miniature game releasing soon, Eldar Scrolls: Call to Arms. My son seemed very interested and even purchased a limited edition model they had for sale. I may have to take a look at the rules for this game when it is released.
Up next was heading back to the Miniature Market booth when I picked up some needed BMG models, 'Teen Titans', 'Grifter', 'Bronze Tiger', and 'Justice League Dark'.
Of course on the way home we had to stop in South Bend for some dinner at Hooters.
So the question is, will we be back next year? All honestly I really do not know, it would not be just for Vendor Hall shopping, it was $50 for parking and badges which most of the items I could have purchased online. If we attended next year, it would have to be for some gaming events (but we already have a few Cons lined up for next year already).
