I attended my first Hexacon convention in Colorado this year. It was fun to attend a local gaming convention again and see all the action. At this convention, I think the largest group of gamers were the boardgamers. There were also plenty of RPG gamers. The miniature area was very sparse, which worked for me. Lots of space and chairs for my 28mm Philippine-American War game on Saturday.
 |
| Boardgame room (click picture for 360° view) |
 |
| Miniature Area (click picture for 360° view) |
This is the second year of the convention with a smaller attendance compared to GenghisCon or Tacticon conventions. This is not a bad thing. Probably easier to manage all the action.
 |
| RPG room |
 |
| Vendor room |
Some positives about this convention:
- Cheaper. Weekend badge comparison: Genghis Con 2019, $52.80 and Hexacon 2019, $25.00.
- I was NOT forced to pay for a weekend badge when I only wanted to attend to run a single game.
- Boardgaming room was humming with activity and had lots of games to choose from the library. RPG areas looked very active.
- Miniature area was in a quiet open area. Lots of visibility for gamers walking by.
 |
| Roborally |
 |
| New boardgame |
Potential negatives:
- The RPG rooms appeared to be pretty tight and potentially loud.
- Almost no vendors with little stock, but maybe that is just me not seeing anything of interest.
- Attendance on a Saturday afternoon appeared to be light based on the space available. I had two players for my game that supported four.
 |
| Ancients miniature game |
Gaming not found at the convention (not necessarily a bad thing):
- Dedicated train game area
- 40k games or tournament
- Video games
- Magic
I think this convention has a lot of potential and I look forward to running games at the convention in the future.
 |
| 1899 Philippines miniature game |
I attended Hexacon last year with the intent of running three Firefly games with varying degrees of difficulty. I paid for one day's admission. I found the experience disappointing and had no intention of returning again this year or ever.
ReplyDeleteMy games were not well attended, and this is a big issue for me. Putting on a game, even a board game like Firefly is something of an undertaking. First, there is the travel from Ft. Morgan, which usually entails getting up very early and making a 90 minute drive. Second the tables were not big enough for the map, so I brought three 4 foot by 2 foot boards to place over the tables. They were heavy, and it took some effort to maneuver them. Fortunately, my car is large enough to accommodate them. To engage in that level of effort to run a game where there was little interest was disappointing to say the least. It's an experience I will not repeat.
I found the organization itself lacking, with organizers not being sure where games were to be run.
Most of the boardgames were of a nature most people in the Colorado Military Historians would find rather unappealing. They tended to be "family" games involving cartoon bunny rabbis and the like. I think that's why you found the dealer's room to be uninteresting. My Firefly game was a gigantic leap from what was being played there.
I would suggest that anyone interested in this convention next year take a good look around before plunking down any money. If you are going to run a game, there really is no advantage to registering that game in advance.
As far as conventions, it is less expensive than Genghis and Tacticon, but more expensive than Recruits in Kansas City. And Recruits is a better convention than any of the Denver conventions.
I am hopeful this convention will grow over time. I used to care if I had a lack of people at my games. Now I just like to show a different hobby (historical miniature gaming). Maybe chat with onlookers about the history, etc. The two guys I had at my table seemed to have a fun time and that is what matters.
Delete