CANCON 2013 REPORT
On ‘Australia-Day’ weekend (26 – 28 January 2013.) Jimmi and Chris attended “Cancon” in Canberra, …likely Australia’s biggest gaming event of the year. An awesome event !
Over 700 gaming tables, thousands of attendees and walk-in visitors (free admission !), many games and figure-traders and artisans, it was a great ‘gamer’s weekend !
On day one (Saturday) of Cancon neither Chris or I hardly left our little stand as we had constant attention, visitors, new friends, old friends, and other traders interested for a look and a chat (and the odd sale ! ).
We were very well received and had lots of interest in the return of Flashpoint Miniatures, and some old Flashpoint faithfuls ( Ian, Max, Paul and James) greeted us like long-lost new brothers.
The day passed quickly without a break and we returned to our Motel tired, hungry and inspired for pizza and beer.
Day two (Sunday) slowed down a little as the gaming competitions occupied most of the serious gamers attending, but many more casual visitors had their day out looking for something new…. Again the day was spent constantly talking and sharing, and again meeting many new and old friends.
I got to meet Nick from Eureka Miniatures who is a powerhouse on the Aussie miniatures landscape, and Matthew (aka. ‘Bluewillow’) who is a terrain-making and moulding genius… a short casual chat with him had me keen to try out some new tricks and materials as soon as I can. I also met Matthew from Wartime Miniatures who is the man who produces the awesome 20mm aussie Bushmaster vehicle model that I would one-day like to reproduce in 15mm. I think it was Sunday when I was fortunate enough to meet ‘Trailape’ for an excellent chat and exchange, and met Richard from MOAB. Again, the end of the day came quickly (along with an impressive thunderstorm) and Chris and I retreated back to our Motel, feet and voices worn out,…and keen for something to eat… and a beer.
Day three (Monday) saw things relatively slower at first, ….until just short of lunchtime when the tempo seemed to explode again, with lots of new visitors, re-visitors and conversations taken up where they had been left off before. Chris and I totally missed some of the big-ticket events scheduled for the middle of the day and was about 1:30pm before we noticed what the time was. Things started to slow down from here. We both went for a walk around and socialise, …I found a bargain/rare set of Vietnam rules (“Mekong Vietnam” by GHQ..I had never heard of ..) and bought some board games/dice games for my children…and took a few photos.
By about 3:00 that afternoon we started packing up and by 4:00pm were chatting to and thanking organiser Tim Sleigh of Canberra Games Society about the logistics involved in hosting such a large, successful event.
For those not in Australia, …whilst this was happening ..a significant cyclone had ventured a long way south across our return route up the coastal highway …so our way home was flooding ..or about to flood !
Quick thinking and research by my awesome wife Tamara found us a clear route right up the middle of the state sticking to un-flooded roads in the high country of New South Wales. Armed with… a full tank of diesel, positive attitudes, and our combined weight in coffee, chocolate and junk food we set off on the Tuesday for the 1000km+ journey home along the backroads of NSW, arriving back in soggy Kyogle about 02:00hrs on Wednesday morning. Chris was met by his wonderful waiting wife Ann, and they then completed their last leg back to Brisbane to arrive home past landslides and flooded roads about 05:00hrs Wednesday morning. …Haaaard Core !
Thanks to all the awesome people we met along the way who made us feel so welcome !
Look forward to doing it all again next year !
Great to meet you too Jimmi, glad you made it back safe 🙂 James