[unofficial weekender] con cons

[sundancer 43441xp 2]

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First time visitor to OTT? Then please introduce yourself in the New Member Thread and look around in the Project System. Then come back and read on…

https://www.beastsofwar.com/forums/topic/introduce-yourselves-new-member-thread/

https://www.beastsofwar.com/project/

Read all of this before you start as it will save you any trouble later.

First thing you must do is make your “pledge”. It can be anything gaming related, big or small, and you don’t even have to finish it. No, in here, happiness is the road. Have fun doing whatever it is, but it is not a race. Accompany your work with pictures or we might think you are do something sinister and just using us for cover.

You are also presented with a few questions. It is to get the conversation started. Try and keep your answers ‘conversational’, no text speak, and certainly no “basically”. This is how we all get to know each other better. While you are here feel free to tell us a story, show a picture, joke, tales of love or woe, or just add your own little bit. This is the whole point…in here it is just us.

If you have never taken part before we may bark and bite, but we also like a cuddle! It is all done in the best possible taste and it is character building. feel free to give as good as you get.

A few other things to note: NO RELIGION & NO POLITICS! Glasgow pub rules are in effect. If you need to make a better point then it is fine, but don’t take the piss. And always keep it civil. This includes no philosophy, no home computer culture wars.

Play plenty of music to go with your work. Loud and through proper speakers. Write us a playlist of things we might not have heard before.

Now, after all of that there is only one ‘real’ rule in here and it cannot be broken: NO DICKS! (Exceptions may be made for little fighting men with little plastic/resin/metal wieners)

And don’t forget the highlights of the weekend: The Weekender on Friday and XLBS on Sunday. And the little show that is The Hobby Hangout over at twitch.tv

If you fancy to see some nice WIP pictures go to the WAYPN thread https://www.beastsofwar.com/forums/topic/what-are-you-painting-now

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Question of the week:

• Spiel in Essen. Have you ever been there and what do you think about it?

And now back to the show.

[sundancer 43441xp 2]

Pledge: not dropping dead as a step one. It’s a long weekend but rest is limited as it’s also the dragons mother in law birthday.

Answer: I have been there but that must be something along 15 – 20 years ago and at that point they had 150.000 visitors on a 45.000m² area. And man was that event stuffed and crowded. Last year (2024) they were at 204.000 with 68.528 m². It’s been a 3 – 4 day event since the start so 20 years ago it was 50 people on 45m² (on average) and now we are at 68 people on 68m². So *theoretically* 2025 should have more space per person as the last time I was there but still not much more than 1m² per person.

And no, it’s not just boardgames. Almost 1000 vendors in addition to talks, meet & play with “your favourite creators” and Golden Demon in 2024. But it can be hard to navigate, hence why they also have an app now for some time.

Is it expensive? Regarding entrance fee: no. ~23€ for a day seems fair. But you’ll be temped to buy so many things. Plus travel expenses, parking and maybe hotel if you want to stay overnight.

Would I like to go? Yes but only with my family to be honest. And that would limit us to one day like so many other people. Sunday. And I think that’s going to be the worst day in regards of people attending the con.

Still tempted though.

Music:

[limburger 21954xp 2]

I’d say Essen would be an interesting experience for a once in a lifetime visit.
IIRC they also have an option to mail whatever you’ve bought to your home … not sure about the cost, but that would ‘solve’ one problem of these things : how to get the stuff you buy back home …

I’d be tempted to, but I’m not sure it is as conveniently located as the UK Games Expo appears to be if you have to rely on public transport.

As I said in last weeks’ thread : it would be cool to have the OTT cover (some of) the event in a live blog of sorts.

[zoidpinhead 12567xp 1]

Pledge: Get on with the Spring Clean Challenge.  I need to finish a unit on Sunday and get the next one started.  I’d really like to get this army finished and on the table before the end of the challenge.

Answer:  Never been, but I do think about going to Spiel Essen.  I think there are some big events in the hobby that should be on a gamer’s bucket list.  Essen is definitly one.  I’d include Salute and UKGE in the UK; GenCon, Historicon and Comicon in the USA as the others but ymmv.  My German is only schoolboy standard unless we are discussing horse conformation or dressage (don’t ask). Fortunately my experience is that many Germans have at least a smattering of English and some like our wonderful host here are bilingual which makes the experience beyond the conference hall very manageable.  As it would be an expensive trip with travel and hotels to factor in I’d like to go with either a group of gaming mates or my sons who I have raised to be very enthusiastic gamers too 😀

I hope you are feeling better soon @sundancer

[pagan8thParticipant 12953xp 1]

Pledge of the Week… finish painting my mini for tomorrow nights RPG. I get to be a PC instead of GM. Mostly done. Just need to add some finishing touches.

Question: I’d like to visit Essen. Maybe I’ll look into it again.

[sundancer 43441xp 1]

it would be cool to have the OTT cover (some of) the event in a live blog of sorts.

Agreed!

My German is only schoolboy standard unless we are discussing horse conformation or dressage (don’t ask).

Well you’ll be happy to know then that many companies come from various countries so unless you’re going for German run ones the likelihood of having a non-German sitting there is very high 😉

I hope you are feeling better soon

Thank you @zoidpinhead  I’m on my way and tomorrow is a holiday so a additional day to rest 🙂

Now I’m on my way to the mother in law. See you later!

 

[limburger 21954xp 1]

Having to speak the actual language is terrifying at first …

I know, cause the BoW bootcamps were the first time I actually had to use English in real life.
You can do a lot with a few basic sentences though @zoidpinhead
Just pray they don’t speak any of the many dialects 😉

Music …

 

[zoidpinhead 12567xp 2]

Congratulations on being brave enough to go to a Bootcamp if English isn’t your first language.  We don’t really have dialects here.  I live in Devon and some of the old folk still use occasional local dialect words or gramatical forms but there are no living speakers of the original dialect left.  You did well coping with the Northern Ireland accent which some English people can find tricky.

Pledge update:

I got the flag on as well after I took this photo.  Hopefully this afternoon they will be dry enough for a varnish and then I can get the basing done too.  On to the next one now!

[grantinvanman 2596xp 0]

Pledge: finish the Harlequins commission. I’m so close…

 

New Eldar; CW Iybraesil / Harlequins

 

Have I event been to Essen Spiel? No. I have also not been to Trinken Spiel 🤪

I’ve never been to a con. Ever. Weird, but true. I don’t like large crowds, or frankly a lot of people, to the point I would probably implode. Not kidding.

Something from my last vinyl acquisition:

[limburger 21954xp 1]

@zoidpinhead getting the ticket to the bus and train was about the only interactions I had. First time I had to get a cab from the hotel to the airport. That was something I should have better planned ahead of time, but on the second bootcamp I could catch a train back which made things a lot easier.

I’d also say that understanding spoken English and various accents isn’t that hard.  I did ask people to repeat and a bit slower whenever I didn’t understand what they said. I also am fairly good at understanding the various Dutch dialects (like the ones in the music video … ).

It was fun but a lot of stress (and money) too. Not quite as expensive as what I’ve estimated that UK Games Expo would be though.

//

Another experiment with Claude.AI for travel strategy for Essen 🙂
It suggested Bochum which is about 3-4 hours travel by train.
Travel from Bochum to Essen would be a 10 minute journey by S-bahn for 1 Euro That’s stupendously cheap. Over here that barely gets you to the next stop on a regular bus route.

I didn’t realise it’s in October … but the thing told me to book within two weeks. I dislike that kind of stress.

[sundancer 43441xp 1]

I’ve never been to a con. Ever. Weird, but true. I don’t like large crowds, or frankly a lot of people, to the point I would probably implode. Not kidding.

Not weirder than anything else I imagine. People not liking small spaces, weird smells, hights. Nothing wrong with that I feel.

This Monday is like a Sunday. Because it’s a holiday and I still haven’t done anything beyond breakfast and drinking coffee.

[jeffersonpowers 305xp 2]

Pledge: get to work on all the stuff I bought at UKGE.

I’ve never been to Essen Spiel. This year I decided I wanted to go to one of the “big three,” choosing between Essen, UKGE, or Gen Con, none of which I’ve been to before.

Even though it’s the closest to me, Gen Con just seems too big, I feel like fighting the crowds might take some of the fun out of it. I have a friend who works a booth at Essen every year so I had a bit of an inside track there, but I judged that UKGE would have more stuff I’m interested in — non-GW skirmish games and hobby just aren’t nearly as well represented in the US. Plus the chance to meet the OTT team in person (along with a few vendors who I’ve been ordering stuff from for years, like Karl from Crooked Dice) was a deciding factor.

Even with the expense of travel from the US, it was totally worth it. I had a great time, and it’s going to be difficult to avoid trying to go every year…

[sundancer 43441xp 1]

get to work on all the stuff I bought at UKGE.

That will keep you busy for the rest of the year? 😉

[jeffersonpowers 305xp 2]

@sundancer it very well might. Guards of Traitor’s Toll alone is 60 models, all individuals so no assembly line “everyone looks the same” army painting. Plus 3 new games to learn and one second edition to re-learn…

[pagan8thParticipant 12953xp 0]

So @jeffersonpowers you bought Traitors Toll and the expansion too. I’ve assemble all the minis and primed them, but not started painting yet.

What three new games and one second edition did you buy?

I bought mainly minis… Black Scorpion and Crooked Dice provided for me and I finally weakened and bought the Fruit Loops.

Also bought some TT Combat primers as they were a very good deal at the show. 3 rattlecans of primer (500ml, not the usual 400ml) for the price of 2 which means all 3 were £20. And their dropper bottle paints were on offer so a bought 5 for £10 to try them out… picked some colours I didn’t have.

And I bought a river for wargaming. 6 feet long long roll of mousemat material.

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