CONGAMES 08 Gaming Convention in our backyard!

[Will]

Looks like Congames is moving to downtown St. Petersburg to the
beautiful Hilton Hotel overlooking Tampa Bay. The convention is about
a month away, July 19th...Saturday and Sunday. I have been to this
convention and its a nice time. Memories of the beautiful woman in
chainmail armor and not much else is burned in my skull. Also the fat
12 sandwich eating Princess Leia transvestite as well but I prefer to
stick to the chick in chainmail!

However, it looks to me they are needing gamemasters BIG TIME! So, the
River Rat is to the rescue! I will run World at War (while begging for
Greg's Germans and help!) and another game, most likely a boardgame.
I'm thinking Descent but maybe Starcraft (again need Greg!) or
Twilight Imperium. I plan on being there just Saturday.

What this con needs is our help. I know we got two Wizards of the
Coast reps in Eugene and Robert Gunn. I know I would love to see some
Axis and Allies! Hmmm, the A&A Boardgame sounds fun too, perhaps I
could run that again! Perhaps Kevin at Green Dragon Hobbies could run
his awesome Wings at War games! Kevin may want to check into being a
vendor as well. Plus plenty of gamers who have plenty of experience. I
myself, even before I was a rep for Mongoose and Privateer Press would
run games at conventions especially if I didn't see a game I would
like to play that particular session.

Here's the skinny. If you run at least 6 hours in games, you get in
half price. Its also good if you are a game company volunteer as you
get credit for your events. For me, I just enjoy it. The cutoff for GM
registration is June 25th so you have very little time. There is open
table gaming too just in case you don't get registered in time however
this is should be a last resort.

Ok, for more information or to become a gamemaster, go here:
http://www.stonehill.org/congames.htm

They actually have a very intuitive GM registration! I have just
submitted my information and awaiting to be approved. I will let you
know what I will run....well when I do!

[jgun...@tampabay.rr.com]

I'm a member of Stone Hill and yes they can use everyone's help
running games at Congames. This convention has always had trouble
staying alive and normally I would be running games at the con, I ran
games last year.

But this year, they decided to hold it on the weekend of my birthday,
actually it's Friday, so I can't guarantee my time for participating
in the con. If I do show up, I'll probably run a game or two of
Munchkin, but again, I'm not promising that I'm going to run anything
because of when the con is.

Also don't forget, Stone Hill's bigger con, Necronomicon, which is
again in St Pete this year, same hotel and occurs in October.

Skunk

[Andrés Valencia]

I'd love to GM something, but language is still an issue for me :(

[Will]

No worries bud, you can always work on your English playing in one of my
games! Actually, I think your English is pretty good!

Will

[Will]

If its your birthday, I can't think of a better excuse to go gaming! I
considered this past weekend at Rapier a perfect excuse to go since it was
Father's Day weekend! We all hope you change your mind. Hopefully I can make
Necro as well!

----- Original Message -----
From: <jgun...@tampabay.rr.com>
To: "Pinellas County Wargamers" <pinellas-cou...@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2008 9:43 AM
Subject: Re: CONGAMES 08 Gaming Convention in our backyard!

>

[jgun...@tampabay.rr.com]

Yes, normally that would be a perfect excuse, but I played on line one
year the day before my birthday for quite a few hours into the early
morning of my birthday, the reception my wife gave me that day was
enough for me to never plan gaming on my birthday again! :-)

[Will]

You are gonna have to work on that bro! LOL!

Update: I have successfully scheduled Battlefield Evolution: World at
War for 10AM on Saturday. The session runs for 4 hours (10am to 2pm).
I want to schedule another game, in particular a boardgame. I will run
this game at 4PM. Before I schedule the boardgame I wanted to know
what people want me to run. I have Descent, Age of Mythology, Axis and
Allies Boardgame (both editions), Risk 2210. Talisman. and thats about
it. Other games like Twilight Imperium would just take too long and
Memoir 44 is a 2 player game unless you have twin boards. I want to
run this for about 4 hours (4pm to 8pm).

On another note, I recieved this email from one of the organizers,
Jack Faber:

>Greetings!

I'm one of the con organizers and, as you mentioned on your gaming
board,
we are desperately in need of both GM's and players. I appreciate
your
interest in running games for us and in helping to advertise the con
to
others. BTW, I just approived your game submission and added it to
the
schedule. Hopefully, there will be plenty more to follow... I have
also
been speaking with the Orlando Gamers Association and the organizers
of
Rapier for some assistance this year.

See you in July,

Jack

Lets help this guy out and spread the word. This benefits us to keep
the cons in St. Petersburg.

Will

> > Necro as well!- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Will]

Just found out as a GM you have to work 4 hours at registration on top
of running your events? WTF? I hope this is not mandatory. I find it a
ridiculous rule. You guys that know me know I have been running events
for many years at conventions for 2 different game companies and I
have never seen this before! Could this be the reason no one is
volunteering as a GM? I just wanted to point this out as I saw Eugene
sign up as a GM as well. If this is the case, I will not be running
any events there. Sorry, but that ain't gonna fly! I have a feeling
others are feeling the same way. I have sent a email to Jack Faber and
will let you know what he says.

Will

> > - Show quoted text -- Hide quoted text -

[Eugene Harvey]

Will,

A&A boardgame would be great if we can field 5 players. CYA there.

Euge

[Will]

Yep, I am leaning toward that! I haven't played that in awhile and it's one of my favorites! Perhaps the original game with the "Axis Advantage" start up rule.

 

Ok, I got a response back from Jack Faber and he told me that it is not mandatory to work the registration desk at all. He says he much rather have us run games. So, game on!

 

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Eugene Harvey

To: pinellas-cou...@googlegroups.com

Sent: Thursday, June 19, 2008 10:47 PM

Subject: Re: CONGAMES 08 Gaming Convention in our backyard!

[Will]

Update!
Looks like I am just running the one game of WaW. I figured I would
jump into Eugene's and Rob's games afterwards and get my A&A miniature
fix in!

See you guys at the convention!
Will

On Jun 20, 9:24 am, "Will" <rvrr...@tampabay.rr.com> wrote:
> Yep, I am leaning toward that! I haven't played that in awhile and it's one of my favorites! Perhaps the original game with the "Axis Advantage" start up rule.
>
> Ok, I got a response back from Jack Faber and he told me that it is not mandatory to work the registration desk at all. He says he much rather have us run games. So, game on!
>
>
>
>   ----- Original Message -----
>   From: Eugene Harvey
>   To: pinellas-cou...@googlegroups.com
>   Sent: Thursday, June 19, 2008 10:47 PM
>   Subject: Re: CONGAMES 08 Gaming Convention in our backyard!
>
>   Will,
>   A&A boardgame would be great if we can field 5 players. CYA there.
>   Euge
>

[Will]

Andres, are you coming?

[Andrés Valencia]

I don't think so.. I was really excited at the beginning, but after
seeing the schedule >_> ...
On top of that, I have to work on Saturday :(

Are we planning ANYTHING FOR THIS WEEKEND?

[Will]

Too bad to hear! Oh well, maybe next time! Nothing going on this weekend so
hopefully see you and Greg in about 2 weeks.

Will

----- Original Message -----
From: "Andrés Valencia" <adval...@gmail.com>
To: <pinellas-cou...@googlegroups.com>

[Will]

Update:
Ok everyone, we are just a week out. I got an email from Jack Faber
yesterday and apparently some more gaming space has opened up targeted
for Wargamers. I was thinking of running Axis and Allies the boardgame
around 7 PM Saturday. Do any of you guys plan on sticking around this
late? I thought Eugene and Robert may be interested in playing.

Here's the email:

Hi Will,

Just wanted to give you an update on the con for next weekend. We
have
some additional space available for a large scale game on Saturday
from
about 5pm on. The con we are sharing the space with, VidCon, needs
the
room from 2pm - 4pm and anyone who wants to use it afterwards can
start
setting up around 4:30pm. The space can accomodate approx. 10
rectangular
tables. I figured with your group running mostly wargaming that you
could
possibly use the extra space...

The schedule is slowly filling up. I have received word from three
other
people on games that they will be adding in the next day or so...
Unfortuantely, MetroCon is pulling away some of our regulars. I am
hopeful that your group can help make up the slack and bring in a
good
turnout.

Thanx for all your help.

See you next weekend,
Jack

On Jul 11, 9:28 am, "Will" <rvrr...@tampabay.rr.com> wrote:
> Too bad to hear! Oh well, maybe next time! Nothing going on this weekend so
> hopefully see you and Greg in about 2 weeks.
>
> Will
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Andrés Valencia" <advalen...@gmail.com>
> To: <pinellas-cou...@googlegroups.com>
> Sent: Friday, July 11, 2008 9:25 AM
> Subject: Re: CONGAMES 08 Gaming Convention in our backyard!
>
> > I don't think so.. I was really excited at the beginning, but after
> > seeing the schedule >_> ...
> > On top of that, I have to work on Saturday :(
>
> > Are we planning ANYTHING FOR THIS WEEKEND?
>

[Eugene Harvey]

Sounds interesting Will, Rob probably is not interested though. He likes tactical games better.

Euge