BATTLETECH2020, a Fan Event at GENCON2020

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Prussian Havoc

PDXCON 2019 ~ MechWarrior of the Year
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May 12, 2017
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01MAY UPDATE: Internet Costs proved prohibitive (https://forum.paradoxplaza.com/foru...fan-event-at-gencon2020.1306513/post-26536565). Thus even though I had planned to run this BATTLETECH Multiplayer Event at GENCON2020, this will not now be possible. Also of note, according to yesterday’s announcement from GENCON, this years Event Catalog and Event Registration is delayed. This buys time for GENCON Officials to better assess current moves to reopen States and move toward larger scale Events. Whether such a large Event as GENCON (in past years more than 70,000 participants during the course of the convention had become the norm) is likely to go forward is debatable. Even if it does go forward, ticket holders like my own family will have their own decisions to make and risks to weigh.




ORIGINAL POST: I will be hosting a BATTLETECH Skirmish Event at GENCON2020.

I have hosted BATTLETECH Social Events at GENCON50, but decided that 2020 would be the Year of BATTLETECH for me and that I would take it up a notch for GENCON2020.

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[This photo is of our Social Event at Champps in the Indy Fashion Mall... and no, there were only 10 of us there on this day but I couldn’t very well ask the others to step aside for the photo now could I?! : )]


This BATTLETECH Event will be part Single-Player Skirmish Mode and part Multiplayer Skirmish Mode. So even if you can not attend in person, we can coordinate Date/Time matches so you can participate from your very own exotic location!

GENCON2020 Event Registration opens on 17MAY. I intend to be among the first online to secure a table(s) and will look to this thread to help me determine just what we need.

It will be a Bring-Your-Own-Laptop (BYOL) type of event. I am working on ensuring connectivity now. But we will all be around the same table (group of tables) so it really will spark some of that old tabletop feel but with BATTLETECH this time. And don’t worry, if true CBT is your dish, Catalyst will no doubt be offering its famous and now heavily in demand dozens upon dozens of Events and Opportunities to get your CBT Big and Stompy on. : )


I am planning for the Event to have Physical (and I hope Digital!) Prizes along the line of what I offered and @WilliamVonBillhelmHelmet won during the 2018 Valhalla Tournament of Champions.

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(Both this print and the above framed print on display at Champps are courtesy of our very accomplished and successful Mech Artist @SpOoKy777 :bow: )

As a matter of fact I have supported SpOoKy777’s Patreon Site for years now and will be looking into the feasibility of commissioning a BATTLETECH2020 Work of Mech Art. I’ve got lots of ideas for such a print but artist availability and the feasibility of a such a commission remain to be determined. (More on this in the months to come, regardless of how it turns out.)

Until / if I should commission a Work of Mech Art, let’s use this particular visual from SpOoKy777 entitled aptly enough “Pirate Hunting”, to help anchor this BATTLETECH2020 Event...

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This BATTLETECH2020 Event is currently planned for a single day but can be expanded to a maximum of three days depending on interest and participation.

I hope anyone who is interested in either attending in-person or via BATTLETECH Multiplayer will comment below. I will compile a running list of gamers interested and use this to better plan this year’s Social Event at Champps as well as our BATTLETECH2020 Event.

Especially at this early, early stage, any and all questions, comments and constructive criticisms are welcome.


And as ever, good luck and good BATTLETECH2020 gaming! :bow:
 
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Anyone with experience running GENCON Events, who cares to offer some pointers, please feel free to PM me. :bow:
 
Part of why I am looking to run a BATTLETECH Event at GENCON2020 is because GENCON2020’s Exhibitor Hall has been completely sold out. Neither HBS nor Paradox are listed among its Exhibitors.


But on the off-chance HBS might have rented a booth on its own, I went through the list of Exhibitors...

At first I was very, VERY excited:

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But surprisingly there is more than one “Harebrained” Company around these days!

As I investigated further I found that this “Harebrained” was not OUR “Harebrained!” As it turned out the Schemes of the above GENCON2020 “Harebrained” proved inferior, with not a Big and Stompy nor a Shadowy Runnery to its credit. : (


So with neither HBS nor Paradox as GENCON2020 Exhibitors, I found that I still wanted to see BATTLETECH represented at GENCON2020. Holding a single-day BATTLETECH2020 Event was one way I could do just that. :bow:
 
At this point I’ll go ahead and us this particular post to provide some information on GENCON for the forum goers unfamiliar with the it:

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I’ll threadmark this post for ease of finding it again.

As the weeks and months go by I’ll Edit-In any additional general information products about GENCON, the Indy Convention Center, Downtown Indianapolis Parking and Hotels to this post. :bow:
 
I haven't been to a gencon in over a decade.. it's quite the event still. ALl the pumblishers and a lot of the actual game designers will be there.. great place to learn about nuts and bolts!
 
I use GenCon as an opportunity to try games which my usual gaming group would not get around to playing.

I will be at GenCon again this year. I am unlikely to play in this event, but I will gladly stop by to meet fellow mechwarriors if it is not inconvenient.
If I can be of additional assistance, please let me know.
 
I use GenCon as an opportunity to try games which my usual gaming group would not get around to playing.

I will be at GenCon again this year. I am unlikely to play in this event, but I will gladly stop by to meet fellow mechwarriors if it is not inconvenient.
If I can be of additional assistance, please let me know.
Of course you are welcome to stop by. :bow: As a matter of course I do not participate in my own tournaments, so as to better organize and manage the events while maintaining impartiality. So I should have time to meet and greet anyone who stops by.

Plus I hope to hold a Meet and Greet at Champs again. Maybe the timing of that social event will afford you an opportunity to stop by.

I also know what you mean about taking the opportunity to play games you don’t normally have the opportunity to play.

Back in 2017, I spent over 18-hours playing various formats of Axis and Allies. It was a blast and not something I’d had the opportunity to play since College. : )
 
GENCON Event Submission begins 12JAN, tomorrow. I’ve gone through the 34-page Event Policy Manual and outlined a plan. Since this is my first turn as an Event Organizer I’ve chosen a conservative path forward - a 4-hour, 8 on-site gamer Event.

I’ve already begun coordination with GENCON for power and internet access requirements.

I know GENCON charges a base $4 or so for a 4-hour Event. And I do not want to charge anything over what is the absolute minimum required by GENCON. But power and internet costs could very well be a showstopper. Rather than the $500 to power 9-laptops for the duration of the Convention, can I coordinate for only a 4-hour block of that power? Same, same for Internet Access. Like I said, I do not want to pass this cost on to my 8 on-site gamers through the GENCON Ticketing System, so I will be incurring these costs myself. More to follow as GENCON Events gets back in touch with me.

Event Registration will begin 17MAY, so if I do manage to avoid any showstoppers and have my 4-hour, 8-gamer Event Registration approved, powered and granted Internet Access, it’ll be first-come, first-served basis for registration / ticketing starting on 17MAY.


I’ve got to admit this is all quite exciting for me. Sure, it’ll be one of the smallest and shortest duration GENCON Events, but it will be a GENCON BATTLETECH Event, and that is enough for me. Plus it’ll leave me plenty of time to enjoy the Convention, it’s Vendors and some other games.

More to follow, as there is more to share...
 
Oh, please do tell us what HBS are saying is in store further down the line in regards to BT!
Mitch told us just two days ago that BATTLETECH Free Update 1.9 is soon* coming our way.

He told us this on HBS’s weekly BATTLETECH Livestream on Thursday Nights.

Over the next two-weeks Mitch and his Guest Star of the Week will share some of the inside scoop on what will be in Free Update 1.9.

Plus, Mitch alluded to some form of announcement over and above BATTLETECH Free Update 1.9.

We don’t have anything beyond this. But I know for a certainty that I’ll be watching Mitch on his livestream next week to find out more.

If you feel the same, join us all at: twitch.tv/paradoxinteractive
 
It was a rare thrill to submit my first Event Organizer Submission Request to GENCON for review. : )

GENCON Event v2.jpg
 
I’ve gone ahead and commissioned a brand new Work of Mech Art for this event. I’ve got some time to work with SpOoKy777 on it’s Subject and Composition, but am leaning heavily toward capturing a BATTLETECH Campaign, mini-Campaign or FLASHPOINT moment in time...

...though my inner Smoke Jaguar demands a foreground Mad Dog and its MechWarrior as the Battle of Luthien rages in.background.


Decisions, decisions, decisions! : )
 
So many of us have never had the opportunity to visit a gaming convention. GENCON 50 in 2017 was my first and so far only gaming convention. The sheer spectacle of it all was stunning for me. GENCON 50 had Sold Out. Gaming on such a sheer scale and scope (so many Vendors and so much variety of Games) was amazing.

Looking back on GENCON 50 with a few pictures will familiarize some with GENCONs and help set the bar for our GENCON 2020:

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- GENCON is held at the Indianapolis Convention Center and Lucius Oil Stadium. That’s more than 650k square feet of Convention Halls and Breakout Rooms, as well as the entirety of the Lucius Oil Stadium football field.

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- the biggest draw for me and no few other BATTLETECH fans was Mitch, Brian and Chris holding a panel in BATTLETECH. To the best of my knowledge, HBS will unfortunate not be holding a panel this year.

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- Team HBS was augmented for GENCON 50 by just about all our forum Moderators. It really was a great thrill to meet HBS VIPs and our marvelous Moderators throughout the entire four days of the convention,

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- @Hatchy was of course the VVIP of the entire shindig! [No. That’s not true. Hatchy could not attend but she did put this outstanding product together afterward though. Biggest regret of the whole convention was not getting a chance to meet Our Lady of BATTLETECH, Hatchy :bow: ...oh, and not getting to meet Mitch because he had to fly off to a Euro-convention was an understandably, and somewhat distant second and last regret, : ) ]

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- Waiting with a few fellow gamers for the doors to Vendor Hall to open up on that first day of the convention was a moment to remember.

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- GENCON 50 was Sold Out from both the Vendor and Attendee side. Even Lucius Oil Stadium was packed with Events. Plus the GENCON Museum was set up on the 30-yardline. So much of my D&D youth was captured among those displays. #TSR :bow:

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- And last but never least, Catalyst Game Labs held more Events than I would have ever thought possible. It seemed that every available hour was chock full of 2, 3, 4 or more Catalyst BattleTech Events as well as all Events covering down on all their other games as well. CGL really put on a helluva show and they do it every year. I am looking forward to making the most of my time at GENCON and that means when I am not running my own Event, I’ll be looking to get in on 3 or 4 separate CGL events. Well done guys, very well done indeed, :bow:



So, that should set the stage and introduce some of you to GENCONs. If anyone has some GENCON photos or stories they want to share, please feel free and go right ahead.

I will be using Threadmarks to highlight my coordination posts so please don’t hesitate to join in and let us know if you’ll be heading to GENCON this year, or if you have something to share with us from GENCONs gone by. : )

And as ever, good luck and good gaming!
 
You, sir, are delightfully insane in the best possible way! :)

I only wish I had the opportunity (being a 12 hour flight plus transfer times), resources (being a family man with responsibilities and expenses) and time (see previous statement about being a family man) to come along, meet you and ideally join in.

I'll raise a cup of tea in salute to your dedication to the cause
o7
 
You, sir, are delightfully insane in the best possible way! :)

I only wish I had the opportunity (being a 12 hour flight plus transfer times), resources (being a family man with responsibilities and expenses) and time (see previous statement about being a family man) to come along, meet you and ideally join in.

I'll raise a cup of tea in salute to your dedication to the cause
o7
o7
My daughters just might agree with you. : )

Time and Resources, huh?
The Summer will be over and both my daughters will be back in TN, one a Senior in College the other a Junior in HS. Luckily I was able to pass my love of gaming on to both of my children. One a WoW Gamer and the other a Sims4 Gamer, they both “get” GENCON. Between that and being retired Military, my Time during the 30JUL through 2AUG timeframe, really will be my own.

As to resources, while in the Military I lived in Indy for a couple years. It is a great city and can be readily affordable with some planning. A GENCON 4-day ticket, while expensive gives back soooo much value, especially if you stick around in the evenings and into the nights as a game spectator or informal game player. some of the best Catalyst Events seem to occur in the Evenings, for example: https://sites.google.com/view/catalystdemoteam/battletech/masters-and-minions In 2017, that meant Jordan and AJ from Team HBS as well as IIRC Blaine Pardoe among others.

Anyhow, actually being a GENCON Event Organizer is kinda a Bucket List item for me and the time may never be better than 2020 to make the most of an opportunity like this.



Thank you for raising that cup of tea, just know I’ll be returning the favor likely with my own cup of tea from the Great State of Indiana. :bow:

And if you care to, I’ll continue posting a running commentary back here to this thread. This will be in the same manner as I did back in 2017 when HBS held their BATTLETECH Panel. Here was the first entry in that particular 2017 GENCON Journal: https://community.battletechgame.com/forums/threads/5007/comments/176098

Anyhow, I intent to make this just as Big and Stompy a forum experience as I can. And as ever, good luck and good gaming!
 
It looks like GENCON 2020 Badges will first be available for purchase on 26JAN. Just a week away!

I’ve run some searches for Indy Hotels over the 29JUL-02AUG timeframe and there are currently some excellent values along Indy’s Beltway. Of course Downtown Hotels are largely Sold Out or have been set aside for one or another qualifying purchaser. Please be advised that with 70,000 Attendees expected at GENCON again this year, area hotel availability takes a heavy hit. Forewarned is forearmed. :bow:

Some very fun developments have occurred through yesterday. My daughters will now be joining me for this year’s GENCON. While this will not change my plans to be a BATTLETECH Event Organizer... it does assure me of at least TWO participants in my Event! : )

My evenings however will now be spoken for, so rather than an Evening BATTLETECH Meet & Greet, I’ll work with Champps just as I did in 2017, but this time to try and pin down a Lunchtime Event. I’ll again have a framed Work of BattleTech Art from @SpOoKy777 to serve as Event Marker and general conversation starter. While great fun was had by all at our Evening BATTLETECH Meet & Greet in 2017, I think it could have been an even bigger success if I had held it on Day 2 or 3 of GENCON and perhaps earlier in the day. Holding the Meet and Greet later during GENCON would have assured that more of us would have had some stories to share of having participated in this or that Catalyst Game Lab Event, the BattleTech Pods or other noteworthy GENCON experience. Earlier in the day, because a number of folks were occupied in the evenings (just as I will now be this year) but had had their Lunch hours free,

If you are planning to attend GENCON this year and might be interested in a BATTLETECH Meet & Greet, please PM me or comment below as to your preferences or thoughts.


Another topic of consideration for GENCON is parking. Parking is always an issue during an Indy Convention. In 2017 I made it a habit of getting to the Convention Center about a half hour before the doors to Exhibit Hall opened for the day. While I did pre-purchase a parking pass with a parking garage just under a mile away from the Indy Convention Center for Day One, for the remainder of the Event I had remarkably good luck parking in the Convention Center or Downtown Mall Parking Garages with no pre-purchase being necessary. These garages are both connected via enclosed overhead walkways to the Convention Center and were much, much more convenient and only a few dollars more expensive than the more distant and inconvenient parking garage I used that first day.

While it does not list Convention Center or Circle City Mall Parking Garages, this map gives an idea as to how many garages are in the downtown area. With the first two day of the convention on a Thursday and Friday, all convention goers will be competing with Indy commuters going to work as well as visitors to the Indy’s Downtown Mall, restaurants and shops. Weekend parking for Days 3 and 4 of the convention is noticeably more available:

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I have put together a pitch for the Work of Mech Art I have commissioned from SpOoKy777. It would show a frozen moment in time of BATTLETECH’s Campaign Finale with the Player, newly dispossessed and watching the fate of the Aurigan Reach be decided by Kamea and Victoria during a particularly brutal phase of that pitched and final Combat Encounter of the Aurigan Restoration. This pitch may or may not work out, as it is the first blush of an idea. If not I will likely lift and shift the idea to a different setting thought the composition is intriguing enough to largely remain intact. More on this later.

My BATTLETECH Event Submission is still waiting in the queue for approval by GENCON.


Oh and one last note - In 2017 as I was driving out to Indy from Pennsylvania, I took the opportunity to stop at Iron Wind Metals in Cincinnati, OH. The Cincinnati Store is also the main production facility for IWM Miniatures. My visit proved to be everything I had heard of and more! Not only was I allowed to roam the warehouse floor and pick and choose my box of minutes from everything on hand but I was able to buy Miniatures BY THE POUND! A Company (+) of Light Armor (Hunters, J Edgar's, Strikers, Packrats and a bevy of Savannah Masters) plas I finally picked up a 3057 Black Lion Battlecruiser. And all for only $20... I was one very happy customer.

But that wasn’t the best part, the best part was when the IWM Worker who was assisting me offered to work up a casting for any of the BattleTech items that they did not have in sufficient on-hand quantities to suit my needs. It would have taken a number of hours to cast and cool the minies and I was in a hurry to get to Indianapolis so I declined the offer... but talk about customer service! I was very impressed by the whole experience and would recommend it to any Miniature Enthusiast.

Keep in mind that this is not some manner of showroom floor. This Cincinnati location is the actual Admin Spaces, Warehouse and Production Facilities. Here is a pic of one section of the warehouse shelving:

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It all had the feel, sight and sounds of a “Behind the Scenes at Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory” for me. But then while my Minatures Kungf Fu has always been on the weak side, the weight and heft of holding a BattleTech or D&D Miniature in my hand during gameplay has from the very beginning back in the 80’s for me, been a special part of both games. An important distinction here is that while The Chocolate Factory is fiction, there really are Golden Tickets available for anyone who cares to call ahead and then stop in to IWM Cincinnati Location. :bow:
 
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I’ve been to every gen con since 1988, and have run roughly 20 events. Ask me anything!
Is True Dungeon as good as they say? Have they added more Events for it or does it still sell out pretty quickly?

Anything better than True Dungeon these days for non-sit down activities?
 
Is True Dungeon as good as they say? Have they added more Events for it or does it still sell out pretty quickly?

Anything better than True Dungeon these days for non-sit down activities?
True dungeon is amazing - my group has been doing every adventure since 2015.

As for sell out speed, it depends how many tickets you want. You usually have several days to get a single ticket. Trying to buy 5 like I do for my group means you’ve only got about 3 hours after event reg opens up.

if your interested, PM me. I’m very active on the TD forums, and I can possibly find you a spot if you can’t get something during event reg.