Guns of August

All and all the convention went off well.

I think registration went off great, especially with the help of Bill Phillips and Erin Finley. They did a fantastic job of registering folks and selling raffle tickets.

Although we did have a problem with one vendor (same one we had at the Muster, who had a problem with the hotel. He will not be asked back), all the vendors seemed to do well. We have Mark Walker from Lock n' Load, a new vendor, who has all ready asked to come to the Muster.

The two new rooms we created for the boardgames and role playing games went off well. Jake DiToro and the guys from TAGS did a great job of running the board game room, which was a hit. The room in the evening was constantly full with folks enjoying many a board game.

Peter Schweighofer was our special guest in the RPG room and I know he ran at least three games, as my son, Timothy, played in all of them. Peter's a great GM. I got the chance to speak with him after the event and he said how much he liked it. As a matter of fact, he helps put together the NOVAG game club magazine and it includes a photo summary of Guns, that is found here http://novag.org/newsletters/TheGamersCloset64.pdf

The game I was going to run failed to start, as I forgot to bring half of my terrain. In some ways, I was glad as I feel I needed to keep an eye on registration at opening. If I run a game at the Muster, I'm going to run it in the evening when the pressure of keeping on top of every thing will be lessened.

Here are some photos.

Guns of August Update

Four more days till the convention and most things have been set.

• Program is finished. The earliest it has ever been finished.
• Early registration is the highest it has ever been. The 2011 Williamsburg Muster had the highest at 47 preregistered participants. The 2011 Guns has surpassed that by 30 with 77 folks preregistered. Looking at the examples for our other conventions, preregistration is general 1:4 to 1:5 attendance. We could be looking at 308 to 385 attendees and that does not include staff or vendors, who also participate in games.
  
• We easily made room nights at the Holiday Inn Patriot, so except for the set up fee of $500 and $1000 for tables, we are set.
• When we get there the staff will get the items for the hospitality suite.
• I'm almost ready for the Blitzkrieg Commander game I am running. I have the OOB's created and all I have to do now is gather my terrain, rules, and figures, then I will be done except for the packing.
• CAN"T WAIT!
  

Historicon and Guns of August Update

At the last minute, I found out I could attend Historicon. I was speaking with Chuck Turnitsa about Guns of August stuff and he asked me if I was attending Historicon. I told him no as I did not have a room. He then invited me to stay with Chris Borucki, Paul Crouch, and himself as Jeremy Crouch could not attend. I asked my wife and she gave me the OK!

We left early Thursday morning and arrived about 1 pm at the convention site at King of Prussia. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express close by the convention site at the Radisson and Scanticon. I was lucky enough to get a free badge from Cotton Jim Russell, in exchange for helping him at his booth.

During the four days at the con, I played no miniature games as they were all full or I was not interested. Most of the time I wondered around the dealer hall speaking with friends and doing PR work for our cons.

My major buys were two Landmark buildings and 15mm trees from BTC, I also bought a satchel bag from Osprey for my Force on Force rules. I also bought a neat game, part miniature, part board game from Lost Battalion Games called Day of Days. Eventually I'll play it but then again I say the about Tide of Iron from Fantasy Flight Games.

One other thing I did was eat at Hooters for the first time. Carl was nice enough to buy me dinner on Friday and Saturday. I owe him big time. The other thing we did, which brought back many memories, was eating at the newly established Gino's Hamburgers. I got a Gino Giant and fries as well as a milk shake. The new Gino's style to both Carl and myself is a mixture of Five Guys and the old Gino's.

As far as Guns of August goes as of this date we have 30 pre-registers and about two weeks ago there were 22 rooms filled. This has begun to pick up since Historicon. So far it seems our vendors are set and registration is picking up. Carl thinks attendance will be better than last years 200. He may be right as we have added roleplaying and this will bring a few more goobers to attend.

Guns of August 2011

For the past four months, I have been working on putting together Guns of August II, with the other members of the staff.

So far we have 14 vendors

• Miniatures of Chesapeake
• Falcon UK
• BV Traders
• Thoroughbred Minis
• Waterloo Minis
• Atlantis Games
• Dragon's Hoard
• Foxhole Terrain
• Osprey
• Groovy Gecko
• Collins Epic Wargames
• Silver Eagle
• ODGW
• Our Game Shop
• Sgt. Major Minis (possible)

As far as early registration goes, we have just passed the 20 mark with more on the way the closer we are to the convention.

Staff includes Carl, Chuck, Paul, Kriegbaum, Scott, Cliff, Dave, Jeremy, and Dent.

Website: http://www.odms-club.com/convention/

Williamsburg Muster 2011

It is now a week after the Williamsburg Muster and I just want to jot down a few comments.

• First, of all our conventions so far this went off the best. It was the least stressful for me and I believe the other members of the staff
• Our staff, Scott Kidd, Jeremy Crouch, Cliff Creech, Dave Dietrich, Bill Phillips, the DeMaris sisters and the ladies of the con suite did an excellent job.
• Scott covered the front desk, assisted the vendors, and ran four games of Shako.
• Jeremy helped the ladies in the con suite by going out and getting supplies.
• Cliff did an excellent job with the program book. Our next con he will do the book run the PEL and who gets what table. This will take some tasks away from Chuck but this will prevent "Chuck time" and every thing will be ready for Guns of August.
• Dave ran his games and although there were no folks for the Warrior tournament, he was nice enough to play a game with one gentleman who had come for the event.
• I had never met Bill Phillips before the weekend as he was Chuck's friend from Marscon. He did an excellent job at the registration table.
• Kudos go to Cotton Jim Russell as he sat on Friday morning and set up the registration table with Scott Kidd

What I did during the Con.

• Thursday: Helped Carl pack the van with Jim Russell, Brian Compton, and Kai Weaver, arrived at the hotel at around noon and began to set up, I set up the registration area, ate at Carraba's with the group, and played Settlers of America with Carl, Krigbaum, and Oscar.
• Friday: Set up and ran my Go for Broke game: Busting the Bocage, assisted anywhere I could, and helped set up Krigbaum's Go for Broke game. Stayed with Snelling in the hotel room.
• Saturday: Helped cover the registration desk with Bill Phillips, covered the Ballroom while Chuck did the other room, played in Tony Exline's Soldat (I don't like the rules) game that took place on Crete, bought two gently used MBA buildings from Steve Mynes of Age of Glory and a set of skirmish rules called Triumph and Tragedy that I'll try soon.
• Sunday: Wrapped up the event, helped the vendor's out that needed it (Byron Collins got sick and Brian and I helped him to pack), the group debriefed at KFC, and then I went to Carl's to help him unload.

All and all a great con!