CanCon 2012

posted on: February 1, 2012/by LXG

CanCon report

It had to happen one year. I’ve heard about the first and largest board and miniatures convention in Australia, but have never been. Reports of board game aisles made from board games, and miniatures and accessories previously seen only on obscure websites meant I had to go. This was the year. Time to go to CanCon!

In all we were a party of six, four being LXG members. Of the six, four were playing in the War Machine tournament, with two being there for the shopping. I was one of those two.

The convention is held at EPIC, the Exhibition Parklands in Canberra. The parklands are a short way north of the city, and I booked myself into a B&B not too far away.

Day 1
I arrived at the hall good and early, not long after opening. CanCon is free to enter, which is great for people who just want to come in and nose around the vendor stalls, chat to other people and generally hang out. People like me, in fact!

With the War Machine players in our party needing to arrive early for registration I had some extra time to look around. Within 5 minutes I’d bought my first item, from Mil Sims. This was a rather interesting dice which I thought my three-year-old would like. I took a wander along the aisles made from copies of board games.

I’ve been an LXG member for a few years. I’ve been on the committee for a while. I developed A Game of Games and thought I knew a lot of the board games that were out there. After a walk around, seeing hundred of new board games for the first time, I realised how little I knew. So many good games, and only one lifetime. Oh the humanity!

Mil Sims wasn’t the only vendor there, and this was another great benefit, being able to wander round the stall was like getting ten or twelve websites rolled into one, except I could pay cash and get my items there and then. Which is exactly what I did.

The majority of space in the hall was taken up with the various tournaments of miniatures games. Blood Bowl, Infinity, Malifaux, Warhammer, Warhammer 40,000 and War Machine/Hordes were all being played. In addition to these were several sample board games, participation scenarios, and board games space, similar to the one run by LXG at Auscon, but with fewer games.

Day 2
I had thought the hall was busy on Friday, but on Saturday the general public came charging in to check things out. It got busy fast!

The highlight of this was catching up with some old friends who took me out to lunch. Three of their friends also came along, and soon enough the conversation turned to me and what had brought me to Canberra.

Intrigued, they all decided to come along after lunch to check things out. The free entry was a big draw in this, allowing them to satisfy their idle curiosity. I gave them a tour of the halls, and explained as best I could what was going on in each area. It was especially interesting trying to explain these specialty board games to people who has never come across them before.

I must have done alright though, as they each bought a game before leaving! Dominion, Pandemic, Settlers of Catan, Through the Desert, and Ticket to Ride were all purchased by people who had never heard of them a couple of hours previously. Not only that but they all agreed to catch up periodically to play the games with each other! LXG Canberra perhaps?

I wasn’t finished yet, as I decided to pick up the rules and a box of figures for the Malifaux game. The cost of entry was low and the rulebook looked interesting and the figures for this game look great. That was good enough for me. I showed off my purchase to the others, and one by one they too picked up a box of figures and a rulebook. Look for Malifaux being played at LXG soon!

Day 3
I was able to play in a demonstration of a game called Resilience. This is a new set of rules for ancients wargaming, designed by Zyrus Halverson-Green. The rules provided for a fast, fun-packed game, and my mind was already turning over with possibilities of adapting those rules to almost any other setting. Did I mention the designer is all of 14 years old? A fantastic achievement for Zyrus and more importantly a fun game system.

By lunchtime, the event was still not winding down, though I was after two and a half days solid of games. A final purchase of a Streets of Malifaux terrain pack and I was off to the airport and then back to Brisbane in time for dinner.

A wonderful week-end all round, and I look forward to coming back again next year. With the free entry, I may well bring the family too…

The final haul included:

Update: Read another LXG member’s CanCon experience at Steam to Blood.