Gen Con after action report

Another Gen Con has come and gone. It was a rather productive and enjoyable day. I was wondering how the Con would be this year, with the economy in the toilet and all that. I have pics but need to download and futz with them a bit. They will be in a later post. Here is a quick rundown of happenings and experiences.........

• Gift Bag....usual useless adverts, copy of Rift (M.M.O. computer game and so many days free trial..might try if really, really bored), starter set of Magic cards (right into the trash since these are a cancer upon humanity and the gaming world), token for Real Dungeon and nothing else of real note.
• Convention floor was in new spot, smaller room than the years past. It did make it look more full, than the last few years in the "big" room.
• No real deals, or hard to find deals. The G.W. stuff wasn't really worth buying, unless you wanted to save like $5. Now some of the used stuff was at a huge discount and sometimes it wasn't. The Lord of the Rings troll I bought was significantly cheaper (duh nobody playing this game). Lew did grab a used Baneblade or $60 on Sunday. So there were deals, but they weren't obvious. The bin o' bits guy had his 1,000's of tubs, but the models and bits were not really priced to sell. I'm glad of that since I don't need any more useless cool bits.
• Malifaux did spark some interest. I grabbed the rulebook after a demo game. I like the model activation, the use of cards instead of dice (think the card game War instead of rolling dice), the models are just creepy and cool, the background and game play is very Mordheim feeling and I likey some Mordheim. So Wyrd got some of my monies....now to learn and find some people to play.
•  A lot of Cosplay this year. It seemed every 2nd or 3rd costume Saturday was anime or Final Fantasy related.
• Dr. Who has become popular with nerd youth. If it wasn't anime it was teen to 20-some Matt Smith Dr Who. This is good as the show is growing in a new era of nerd.
• As always a descent amount of cool miniatures at Privateer, Wyrd, Cool Mini, and a few other booths.
• Steam punk vendors and gas mask vendors? What am I missing?
• Manders found here shirt vendors and was unimpressed by Stylin booth this year.
• Flying Frog's new game, Fortune and Glory, has a Risk-ish feel. I was hoping for some new Last Night or Invasion stuff or tease, but they were busy pimping their new game. Figured, but was hoping.
• Space Marine, the video game, was a riot. Played through the demo or whatever part of the game it was. It wasn't terribly difficult, but it was incredibly brutal. The developers have the details, aesthetics and brutality down. Hopefully it carries throughout the entire game. I was very very pleased with what I played, a God O' War meets Ultramarines! I look forward to this release in September.
• The miniature painting contest was stellar as usual. I did question a few category winners where the 2nd place looked better, well to me it did. Guess that is why I'm not a judge.
• Giant Drzzit statue was nice, too bad it wasn't there 8 years ago, when I would have really been excited about it.
• the "stink" of the convention was less than ever before. Either people have realized it and took precautions (like a bath and antiperspirant) or they simply weren't on the floor near me. Either way we were only hit twice with a wave of human filth stink. That was an all time low and greatly appreciated by me and Manders.

That was a quick rundown of our daytrip. There was more and as I said there will be pics later. That will probably jog my tired nerd frazzled brain. Antoher year and another successful Gen Con Saturday.