Cancon Day Three review

Three more new players - all with fine hats

Phew.  Day 3 and Cancon is over for 2014. Sure, my feet are sore and I have regained my "convention voice" which means I can have a great deep James Earl Jones voice, but it was worth it.
Our plan for the weekend was to bring more young players into wargaming.  I'll do a post shortly listing the benefits of wargaming, but for the moment, seeing the gleam in the young lads eyes as they play the game is a flashback to how I felt when I first started gaming.  And seeing the parent's faces as they see their sons obviously not just enjoying but revelling in this new game is also a delight.

I told you the photo was for the blog.

Over the weekend we had 25 players who participated enough in the game to be given a name badge.  This means they played at least 2 to 3 hours with their parents either backing them up or going away and coming back, wondering how their sons were still involved.  My job was spruiking and catching passers by, but really the boards did most of the hard work.  The Pegasus Bridge, the Church and town, Stone Hotel and Beer factory boards all looked magnificent and we had many people stop to take photos.
This is how I began wargaming - at a games day organised by a local club.  I still remember destroying the other guys tank.  Mum and Dad were very good and drove me to club meetings.  Of course then I was time rich and money poor and I had to make do.  That is why we put in tutorials on this blog so you can make things cost effectively.
The boys that played today already know of friends of theirs that would be interested or were looking into it and now they know how to play after their games this weekend.

"That blue box keeps popping up!" said one young lad.

I was also really impressed with the way my boys guided the games and instructed players in how Bolt Action worked.  Their voices are also a little lower after all the talking!
We also gained experience from seeing all the players in the Bolt Action tournament - 40 players! - and all the great looking boards and armies.
The retailers at the convention told me that Bolt Action was doing really well. They knew what we were doing and were grateful for the support and we were grateful for their support and discounts they provided.
We had a number of Flames of War and Warhammer and Fantasy players curious about all the noise about Bolt Action.

"No! Stop the killer rabbit!" and the cameras kept rolling.

With a quick review of the unique mechanics and watching some games being played they saw this was a great game to get into with the ability to start with a relatively small army and easy rules to grasp.
(The picture with the rabbit is from a fellow that was putting his rabbit on a number of boards and taking photos.  He was amazed at the positive response he had from all the gamers obligingly moving figures and scenery to make room for a stuffed rabbit.)
Thank you to all who stopped by to play, ask questions, give us compliments and introduce themselves.  My sons were surprised how quickly the weekend passed as we were playing games almost non-stop for the 3 days.
Now a rest before we start planning our next demo game.