Dragondaze Convention!

So Dragondaze has come and gone, and I can honestly say it was a great day! As you may or may not know, myself and Louis from the Gwent Reavers went down to represent the club and also the GCN along with our brother GCN clubs to run demo games and chat about the Gaming Club Network. We ran Gorkamorka, there was also Deadzone, Warmachine, X-Wing, Heroquest, Bushido, Warhammer 40,000, plus a multitude of other games being played and shown off. More on these as we go!

Heres our table, quite simple as we have been so busy with moving and I myself have been getting the business up and running that what I'd like to have done just wasn't anywhere nearly possible enough. I wanted a small representation of Mektown, but we played it simple and used what we had. Still looked cool though if I'm honest and was glad to get my Grots more or less finished.

Heres Andy setting up a massive game of Deadzone! They'd been working hard getting everything painted and it looked great fair play.

A game of Relics was set up for people to enjoy and try out, some really good looking minis for this game.

More of the Deadzone table by Mid-Wales Wargaming, below you can see it almost finished.

Hats off to you lads!

Heres a game of 40k being ready to be played out, Space Marines vs Orks. Kill the Orks and their oppressive ways!

Special mention to this, Across the Dead Earth. Some really nice ideas and terrain features here for a game not yet out, such a lot of promise though!

Love the use of toy cars to add to the rubble strewn streets. The games maker, whose name escapes me (sorry man!) showed me one of the buildings that shows multiple levels for models to explore and fight over.

I'm sure this is how the X15 looks when it takes kids to Crosskeys College every morning. Broken tank too!

Heres the maker himself, handsome bugger too! You can visit his facebook page at Across the Dead Earth so go check it out!

I believe we have a Mayor here!

Winner of the most smartly dressed fella award goes to this chap! I don't remember the name of the game but it involved dragons flying around on a hexagonal based map, and if the game is as good as he is dressed, it was a classic!

Some Warmachine ready to start.

Dreadball ready for kick off.

Heres Tris from the Towy Valley Tyrants, demo-ing Mantics upcoming Mars Attacks game. I don't think Tris had much free time so you can tell he was busy!

View from up on the balcony in the Newport Leisure Centre.

Some of the trade stands.

Our little GCN display stand.

The Bitz Box I believe, another of the busier stands! A wealth of bitz and boxed sets, I know a few people who had some cracking little bargains.

Paul from Gemini Miniatures explaining his game Bloodfued to a potential customer.

There were some great costumes being worn throughout the day, the gentleman in red came up to watch some Gorkamorka later on, seemed like a nice guy!

The Battleboards stand showing off some great additions.

I'm not sure who produced these, but I did chat to some roleplayers who mentioned the models were really good for what they wanted in their games, Andrew from our club purchasing some for himself.

Just one of the many talented people at Dragondaze, Jon Gibbons. Some incredible art fair play!

A huge selection of historical models by Eagle Figures.

Some of the board games on offer looked great fun, King of Tokyo is on my to get list for sure.

The incredibly awesome Dice Bag Lady was a last minute addition to the convention, and it was great to meet her in person. My dice bag is now outdated as it has our old club logo on, so I will be getting my new blog logo ready for a new bag. Get that hand fixed Annie!

More of the costumes at Dragondaze, hug the face not the shoulder!

Another talented artist showing off their work, this time Linda M Jones of She Black Dragon.

Warmachine!

More of the Deadzone.

One group brought Bushido, I love this little board and was well impressed with the trees.

Another view from up above.

There was a lovely couple who had come all the way from Belfast to show off Dust Tactics, nice little display and looks like a great game.

Lord Vader with his personal bodyguard inspecting the destruction of a Z98 Headhunter being flown by Rebel scum.

Gorkamorka in action, both my vehicles were wrecked, Louis crushing the mast on my cutta which proceded to fall and smack 6 grots off tkae them out. Not fair! I did beat his nob to a pulp though in combat.... make of that what you will!

Deadzone in action.

Andrew on his 41st trip to the Bitz Box.

Now this was a delightful find! Counters, The Board Game Cafe had brought an immense collection of games to Dragondaze where people couple pick a game, play, or even be taught by one of the Counters staff how to play the game.

Heres Edmund and Cheryl playing some Sons of Anarchy with one of the lovely staff from Counters. Myself and Louis managed to find a bit of time and so she showed us Forbidden Island, which we nearly completed on the first attempt until the Helicoptor Port was sunk before we could save it!

More games being offered by the Counters for people to play.

The raffle prizes were immense, I myself had managed to contact a gentleman at Games Workshop HQ who donated some Black Library and gaming goodies, which was one by Lee from Mid Wales Wargaming! Didn't know what to say when he proclaimed that 'Your name is on my box!'.

The Forearm of Blockages doing the rounds in Xwing.

Couple of classics ready to be played, Ticket to Ride and Pandemic,

Another couple of great costumes, this time representing the National Roman Legion Museum.

Lee having the shock of his life after being scream at by a sneaky Dalek!

I think the Dalek wanted to try Deadzone.

Andrew getting in on some Gorkamorka, where they both decided to pick on me. Again, my mast was crushed rendering 5 grots knocked down and my Lugga damaged too. Andrews Nob trying to get off a careening buggy, slipping, then dying was hilarious though!

More of the Gorkamorka game.

And thats it from Dragondaze! So much more happened I just didn't have time to get as much coverage as I'd have liked, nor played as many games as I'd have liked! I did purchase the Sons of Anarchy board game however so I'm looking forward to playing that, and Gorkamorka was hilarious, several onlookers enjoying my torrid luck.... swines!

And so its left to give Simon Powell a huge thank you for having us on behalf of all the GCN clubs, and congratulations for running a great day. You've built a great foundation to work from so 2015 Dragondaze will immense! Also huge thanks to our GCN brothers, always great to catch up with you all and bang some ideas around. Also a massive thanks to all the traders, staff and visitors who made the day run so well. I'm already looking forward to next year and hopefully bigger plans for our display board, fingers crossed we'll have more time! 

Hopefully Barnardos Young Carers will receive a welcome boost from the event, not just in terms of money but awareness. All in all a great event, look forward to seeing you there next year!