In The Campaigners first blog article we talk to Jon Wolf about War Games Con.
Can you tell us a little about War Games Con? What is the event about, where is it held, and what does it hope to achieve? Does it have any features that make it stand out against other conventions or tournaments?
We’re in our fifth year, and our second at the Renaissance. Our goal is to have a great gaming and social weekend for people, run on the principle of competitive fun. We work hard to make sure the events are what players want, and all our events are run by people who are committed to the games they run. One of the things I really like is that we run events in a way that allows social time – most of us only get to a couple of events a year, and we see friends a couple of times a year, so I want people to have time for catching up.
How did the event come about?
We started when GW cancelled their tournament circuit. I was on vacation and pliable, so I got talked into running the tournament. I have experience running events, and had worked with Hank at Adepticon, so how hard could it be, right? Now at year five I’m beginning to see how to get everything working together, and that is the fantastic event organizers who have near autonomy on the events they run. I review the plans to make sure they aren’t going to kill themselves or their participants with too tight of schedules and make allowances for things like Warmachine players, who really do want to try to collapse at the tables during the weekend.
What makes the Renaissance Austin Hotel a good location to hold War Games Con?
Size, location, and fantastic resort quality. I wanted this hotel from year one, it is simply a great venue (we have over 30,000 square feet of primary floor space) and is convenient to tons of great dining. By year four we were big enough to be able to afford the cost of having WGC here, so we took the plunge.
What kind of a turnout are you expecting?
Last year we had right at 500 unique participants. I expect we’ll get over 600 this year, but some things have conspired to make 700 or more a distinct possibility.
What is the main objective of War Games Con?
To provide a great gaming an convention experience for anyone who comes. We’ve added a lot more game demos and vendors this year, and there are more who might come in as well, so we hope that anyone who comes will have a great time and great games.
What game systems are going to be available, and how did you choose them?
Tournament play for Warmachine, Flames of War, Warhammer Fantasy, Warhammer 40K, and Legend of Five Rings CCG are included this year. We choose them because we have passionate event organizers who want to run these game systems and will do a great job. We never choose events without having the quality staff to make the gaming experience top-notch.
Who will be judging the painting competition? What are they going to be looking for?
Not me, that’s for sure. I know enough about painting to know that I’m not a great judge. We have a couple of competition level painters who are part of the judging group. They are looking for things beyond my ken, sorry.
There is quite a rigorous model policy in place. Where did the particulars of this policy come from?
We are very determined that no one will have to deal with unintelligible piles of plastic across the table, because people pay with their money and time to be there, and frankly we would rather deal with one unhappy person who wants to use 3 different types of models to represent the same thing than have to deal with that for all their opponents all weekend. We do allow a lot of latitude in the rule of cool – cool choices that are uniform work out well.
There are definite rules for count-as and proxy models. Can you clear up what both of these phrases means to War Games Con?
Counts as includes things like using Dryads as Daemons in a woodland themed army; Proxy is using the same Dryads in an unthemed army because you don’t have the correct models.
Players can submit any model that is a substitute, scratch built or a conversion for approval to include in play. What process does a model like this go through to either approve or disallow it?
Honestly most of the time you can email me and tell me how it works and we’re good to go. In some cases I want a picture, because I can’t envision how you made that model work. In extreme cases I’ll consult with event judges about the model, but mostly if the answer to the question “Would you think that was a cool model to have on the board across from you?” is honestly ‘Yes’, then you’ll be good to go.
In the conduct pack there is a mention of ‘Eye of the Wolf’. What is this, and why is it to be dreaded?
I may not be the nicest person to have unhappy with you. My job is to make sure everyone is having a good time. If one person’s good (or bad) time is detracting from other people having fun, then I deal with that appropriately. I hope that’s enough detail.
This years War Games Con is to be held at the Renaissance Austin Hotel in Austin, Texas from 6-9 June. You can register for one of the tournaments, or catch up on the latest news, on the War Games Con website.
