Go East Old Man
Intro: once upon a time, in a faraway land, somebody said: "Let's have a games convention." Then, after a few years, somebody else said: "Let's have a games convention in Edinburgh." And so it came to pass.
DiceConEast was brought to you by public demand. We had about 50 gamers at a new convention at a new venue which is not too bad at all. The original idea was to differentiate from DiceConWest - which runs the Official Settlers of Catan Tournament - by having a convention with a straight focus on open gaming. It didn't quite turn out like that but for good reasons.
First, John McLintock bravely volunteered to run Up Front. Then Alan Poulter weighed in with Hammer of the Scots. Then Gary Sanderson stepped up to the plate with BattleTech. Then Gordon and Fraser - the fabulous flying Lamont brothers (aka Fragor Games) upped the ante by having a successful new game release at Essen. Quite a crowd. Hopefully I'll get other reports but here's a quick personal view of the day.
I played three games of Up Front and won two. How cool is that? I also managed a game of Alhambra and Struggle of Empires. Not bad for a day which also crammed in some cool chat and the chance to watch and learn. There were plenty of new Essen releases as well as old favourites. I saw, in no particular order, Hammer of the Scots, Viking Fury, Coyote, Settlers of Catan, Attila, Memoir 44, Oltre Mare, Carcassonne, Boomtown, Around the World in 80 days, Ticket to Ride, St Petersburg and others I didn't know.
Stuart Dagger and friend made the trip from Aberdeen. Gery and Sean McLaughlin did sterling service helping us clear up at the end. The McIntosh girls showed us how to play Weykick - the undoubted hit of the day - and we raffled off a copy of the much sought after War of the Ring and the much admired Leapfrog. Tanya Fox and the local [Edinburgh] crew made lots of noise so had to be enjoying themselves.
Personally, the venue was spot on. We covered our costs for a central Edinburgh venue that's easy to find if impossible to park at. [Not for those of us hauling boxes at 8.30 on a Sunday morning, though!] It may not have had any natural light but we had no trouble seeing what we were doing and the fact people stayed on to the bittersweet end was a damn good sign. I didn't get to the bar often but they seemed to be doing ok. And their chips were magic if somewhat slow in being produced. Individually hand crafted chips? Surely not. The tables and chairs were fine and we had enough space to lay out our games library so people could freely pick and choose what they wanted to play. However, that's my rose tinted view. If you have a view on the venue please do let me know.
If I'm short on detail it's because the damn day flew past. I was too busy playing and talking games. I hope to get an Up Front report sorted. But now it's important to record we had a good time and so, I hope, did everyone who turned up. Thanks to all for your support. It's appreciated. And we hope to be back next year.
Ellis Simpson
3 December 2004