50,000 and Genghis Con XXXIV convention ramble

While I was heads down at Genghis Con XXXIV my blog rolled over the 50,000 mark for hits. Compared to some of the other gaming blogs out there 50,000 is pretty insignificant number. For me I still find it pretty exciting, it means people are coming and finding it worth reading. I'm getting better about staying on target on at least one project and I hope that continues as I push forward with my old west town of Calamity. What I do find interesting is that it took almost exactly 10 months to get the first 25,000 hits but it only took 5 months to get the next 25,000. I'll try to keep everything moving and maybe I can hit 100,000 in 2013.

The main reason I didn't notice rolling over the 50,000 mark was I was curled up in the fetal position while I came off that convention high. I do love going to Genghis Con though and I haven't missed a single one and in fact I have managed over a third of them over the years. I think the first one that I was completely in charge of was Genghis Con IX, we only had a $1,000 left in the bank and the convention was down to about 250-300 attendees and there was a very real chance that this would be the last show. For some reason we hit a chord with the RPG folks and attendance shot up to about 800 or so. I managed all the shows from Genghis Con IX through Genghis Con XXI. We also started the second convention, Tacticon, in 1989 and I ran those from 1989, through about 1999 or so. The peak attendance for Genghis Con while I was running it was 2100 or so (that's unique individuals), I think they are starting to close in on that number again.

These days I'm happy to just run the auction and the painting conference and competition. I'll try and get pictures posted of the painting competition shortly some here but mostly on the CMPA website. The top end was very, very good, but the competition seems to be growing again and I saw a lot of new people take that first step into competition painting. I also got pressed into teaching a blending class this year. I don't normally teach at conventions but everyone seemed to be picking it up and enjoyed the class. I didn't have any entries in the competition itself, nothing was inspiring me on an individual level and the key component I needed for my vignette didn't arrive until the week before the con and there just wasn't enough time to get it done properly. Hopefully, that will be finished for ReaperCon which will be in April this year (18th-21st)

Which brings up some thoughts about the differences between conventions here in the US and those in the UK. I am just amazed at how truly different they are. Genghis Con is a 4 day convention, featuring lots of boardgames, RPGs, and table top miniature games of all kinds. Most of the miniature games are run by individuals rather than clubs. We also have a lot of tournaments as well as one-off games. Of course there is an exhibitors' hall but most of the dealers are catering to the role-players and boardgamers and only to a few of the miniature gamers. Typically if a dealer has miniatures its going to be Flames of War from Battlefront or Games Workshop. The UK shows seem to be opposite in just about everyway. Yes, there are one-off games but most of what I see are demo games setup by clubs to show off stunning scenery and miniatures not necessarily to play. The exhibitors' hall though is just stacked to the gills with different miniature companies hawking their latest releases. I need to go someday just to experience the difference for myself. Oh, and near as I can tell we have a lot more women at Genghis Con than any show in the UK, must be the RPGs!

So thank you to everyone that has stuck with me through this first year and a big welcome to those that have joined up recently. Hopefully there will be more good stuff to come!

A shot from ReaperCon 2012 of the Warlord Tournament in progress. I didn't take my camera to GC XXXIV this year and I just have a couple of poor shots on my phone.