Harvey O'Brien
Ireland
Dublin
...easy ...easy ...eeesay...
-
So, how many Irish BGGers are going to be at Gaelcon this year? (this coming weekend, in fact)
http://www.gaelcon.com
Myself and one other guy from our group are hoping to head along on Sunday. Anyone else got plans? Should we dare to wave at one another? Anyone got a BGG T-shirt? 
-
Don Hoban
Ireland
Dublin
Co Dublin
-
Will be there at least 2 days, coming back from Essen on Saturday to attend!
No t-shirt tho ;-(
-
Harvey O'Brien
Ireland
Dublin
...easy ...easy ...eeesay...
-
Not a lot of replies, I see. Ah well. There might be a couple of us from my group around. We have no distinguishing features, but if you find yourself playing at a table, you could always ask if anyone is on BGG...
-
Harvey O'Brien
Ireland
Dublin
...easy ...easy ...eeesay...
-
Gaelcon 2008 - A Report
Well, I managed to get in for Sunday only, but had a great time. I've never been to Gaelcon before, but I'd definitely go again. The event seems to be pretty well organised overall, with plenty of gaming tables in the main hall for whomever needs one, and special play areas for wargames, RPGs and card games. There were also a couple of LARP folks about, but they seemed to keep to their own areas.
There was a lively, friendly, and inclusive atmosphere for the most part, and it's more of a playing event than a selling one, so the stalls were just retailers, not publishers. As such no one was trying to hard sell anything. There were no significant announcements or launches that I heard about, but Monsterpocalypse sold out of its starter packs very quickly (though there was one buy-in tournament). There was a bring and buy trade stand where I managed to swap Moscow 1941: The Enemy at the Gates for Killer Bunnies and the Quest for the Magic Carrot. Meh, what can you say? I was never going to play the former, really.
My purchases? Munchkin Booty Race for the Galaxy: The Gathering Storm Yetisburg: Titanic Battles in History, Vol. 1.
My plays? Munchkin Booty Race for the Galaxy A Game of Thrones.
Mainly I played with the guys from my little gaming group, but a few friends, well-wishers and one or two strangers drifted in and out of the various games. The Game of Thrones game went on for about five hours.
I stayed around for the Charity Auction at the end of the evening, which was, frankly, insane. People either too drunk or too rich to really moderate seemed prepared to spend an awful lot of money. Okay, charity is charity, fair enough, but I'm not sure two pair of Super Munchkin underpants were worth spending over a hundred euro on, or something like 450 for assorted miniatures in a carry case. Anyway, the only item I was interested in was Risk: Black Ops which went up seemingly without the auctioneer really knowing what he was selling. I really don't think it was a sales pitch that he said 'we don't really know what this is, you'll have to buy it to find out'. Proof of his lack of knowledge was that though he was able to push, cajole, and otherwise encourage people to spend hundreds on small items of negligible value, he let this one go for a mere 125 euro. I was tempted to bid, but didn't in the end. As e-bait, this would have returned quite a profit at that price, but actually, if I'd have bought it, I'd have played it, and at that price, it's too much. The buyer didn't realise it's value either, as he opened it and rifled through the contents with amusement.
Anyway, Gaelcon should be on people's radar just for gaming (gosh) rather than hype or hard sell. See you there next year, Irish BGGers!
-
Don Hoban
Ireland
Dublin
Co Dublin
-
Didn't notice your group on Sunday Harvey - my own was playing a little Wind River followed by In the Year of The Dragon
Monday was taken up by the start of a long Here I Stand game, while others played Antike
The charity Auction was calm by previous years standards. It was Andrew's first year on the mic so he was a bit nervous. Irish conventions are known for generous auctiosns - hence the Diana Jones award: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diana_Jones_Award
-
Harvey O'Brien
Ireland
Dublin
...easy ...easy ...eeesay...
-
We were in the Wargames room most of the time, doing A Game of Thrones. Munchkin Booty and Race for the Galaxy we played in the main hall.
Alas, I had no BGG flag to wave!
Yeah, well we should keep an eye on this for next year and try to generate a bit of buzz before the event to get people coming from all over the country. Should have started the forum earlier, I guess.
-
|
|
