Dexcon 15 July 4-8 in Morristown, New Jersey!

[Forevernyt]

Hell, if I have to sit at a table for two hours, I will.

[Moose]

I bought my weekend membership yesterday, so I am all set to go.  Looking forward to it.

[RushAss]

That's awesome Moose!

The Convention organizer called me yesterday and we had an interesting conversation that sounded bad on the surface but actually made sense to me once he explained his reasoning.  I was told that free form tournaments like the one I intended to run always play havoc with the organizers when it comes to creating an event schedule, so it was decided that the Battleground tournament would not be included in the schedule to avoid confusion.  I was given a few valid reasons for this and I respect their decision.  So if you are looking for it in the schedule, you won't find it.  Don't be alarmed, the event WILL be happening!  We are going to be set up on the bottom floor right outside of the wargaming room, so we won't be hard to find.  I was told to crank out a bunch of fliers so that they can include them in the convention packets and post them at various places in the hotel, so I'm going to get cracking on that.  I'll be there later in the morning on Friday to set up and see if anybody wants a demo.  the "official" start of the tournament is 8:00 pm, but games can realistically start as soon as I get there if that doesn't bother anyone.  I'm easy.

[GoIndy]

I tried getting a room at the Hyatt itself and failed.  Probably saved me $150 in $5 bud lights.  Anyhoo...have a room at Best Western, approx 1 mile away, with the bar Grasshopper in between.  (Can tell what I remember from last time anyway)  If you can't get a spot Rob, you can stay with us, but that will entail you paying your share.  I'll bring my sleeping bag and pad (I'm used to roughing it), but if I'm sleeping on floor, not giving anyone a discount.

[BubblePig]

I have no problem sharing a room and paying my fair share. I do snore unbelievably loud (just ask Marcus) so if that is a problem no hard feelings.

I am looking into mass transit options to get me down there (currently a bit sketched out by my car) and bumming a ride back to Boston with Kevin.

[gull2112]

Stil working this. Whats the closest amtrak station to Morristown here is the itinerary page with the list of NJ stations.
http://tickets.amtrak.com/itd/amtrak
some heads up would be great!

[RushAss]

Of all those I'd go either Iselin or Newark.  It's actually kind of sucky because neither of those are very close.  Like an hour away!  I wonder of there is a differnt train/bus line out there that would have a closer station?

Key townships to search for would be:
Morristown
Parsippany
Mahwah
Wayne

I know Greyhound stops in Mahwah which is 15 minutes from me. 

[gull2112]

I looked at the itinerary for bus travel and there is no way I'd do that, too much crap. even the rail is pushing it. I travel direct flights or not at all, I have decided, and the flights to philly or Newark get me nowhere near where I want to be. I was hoping for a cheap way to get there as I no longer have a job money is at a premium. It will have to be another day another way. Thanks for the help! We tried, man.

BTW - I'm loving Clockwork Angels, especially the fluff behind the lyrics!

[RushAss]

Sorry it's not working out for you Mike 
Don't worry, we'll cross swords again soon.

And yeah, Clockwork Angels is pretty sweet.  The Anarchist and Headlong Flight are some pretty kickin tunes!

[Moose]

Mike, I live near Philly and would be fine with picking you up and driving you to and from the con from the Philly airport.  I was planning on heading up Friday sometime and come back Sunday.  If Newark is less expensive I am also willing to pick you up at newark airport.  Just let me know what works better for you.

[gull2112]

That is an awesome offer moose! Unfortunately, yesterday I had to make the decision to go to NJ or get new tires for my truck. On the bonus side, my ride is dramatically improved. I had no idea that new tires could make that much difference. I will keep your offer in mind for future events. I am also trying to convince my wife that we should visit her sister in Philly.

[Kevin]

Ron, there's a commuter train which goes from NYC to Morristown.  Deb will be going to NYC for the weekend and coming back to Morristown Sunday on it.  So a bus to NYC and you should be all set.

[RushAss]

I'm beginning to get things wrapped up for this.

I went out and obtained some more materials for maps, but was unable to locate the felt I had used in the past in my very limited travels.  So I settled for a green flannel instead.  It looks OK, but I have discovered that the damned stuff shrinks a bit after I had cut the maps.  So a couple of the maps are about half an inch to an inch too narrow.  Not to worry, I still have my old maps but there is the possibility that a game or two may have to be played on one of these maps if we have a really good turnout.  I don't see this as being much of an issue.

Terrain or special situations will not be used for the first game anybody plays unless both players agree on it.  I decided to do this to make life easy for any new players.  After the first game I have made up little packets containing a scenario, 3 terrain options, and possibly a special situation.  Players will be assigned one of these randomly per game.  These packets where generated randomly with the exception that 1 of the terrain cards in each packet is open terrain.  In other words, a blank map will ALWAYS be an option for EVERY game.  As with other Battleground tournaments, each player gets to veto 1 terrain card.  Available scenarios are Total Warfare, Ticking Clock, and Breaking Point.  There is no true time limit to games played on Friday or Saturday, but try to keep it reasonable.  Sunday games will have a time limit of 2 hours.  I'm thinking we'll start those at ~10:00 am, for the semi finals and ten have the finals played at 1:00 pm.  Sound good?  

All games will be either at 1500 or 2000 points.  I will let the players decide upon the points total between themselves BEFORE the terrain options or scenario is revealed.  I urge any new players to at least start off with their 1st game of the tournament being 1500 points but they can decide to go for the 2000 if they are really wanting it.

Speaking of Friday... the "official" start of the tournament is 8:00, but I'll be there before noon on Friday so anybody looking for a game is free to play if they want to.  Is everybody cool with this?

Mercenaries will be allowed to join your faction on the battlefield!  However, I would like to limit the amount and type of mercenaries allowed so we don't get some ridiculous builds and we can maintain some sort of faction flavor.  My proposed limitations for Monsters and Mercs are thus:

For 2000 point games
No more than 3 M&M core units
No more than 2 M&M standard (non-core, non-elite) units
No more than 1 M&M elite unit

For 2000 point games
No more than 3 M&M core units
No more than 2 M&M standard (non-core, non-elite) units
No more than 1 M&M elite unit

I will have printed packets of all rules and command cards updates that have been stamped by Chad.  While the vote passed, we still have no word from Chad if the Dwarven command card changes where officially stamped or not.  If no word comes by next week, we'll play with them as is.

Prizes.  Right.  So Kevin sent me some suggestions for medals similar to the ones he used for his championship tournament in February.  I need to either buckle down and get these this week or figure something else out.  Actually, I have an idea already for the top 2 players that I think may be more desirable than medals in that you can actually get some use out of the kind of prize I have in mind.  Please keep in mind that my funds are extremely limited so I am not offering video game consoles or anything like that.  And no, it is not the official Battleground bottle opener...

For those of you who where there last year, we will be located in the same area that we where in last year which is at the bottom of the stairs in the lobby of the boardroom floor level.  This is right by the door to the parking garage and at the entrance to the wargaming room.  I spoke with an organizer last week and he told me there was a chance that we would be moved into the wargaming room itself, which is fine by me.  So if you show up and don't see us outside of the wargaming room, take a stroll inside and find us.

If there is any general unrest about any of the above let me know ahead of time so I can make appropriate changes ahead of time.  I'm looking forward to seeing you guys and I am very touched that many of you are traveling great distances to play.  I'll do my best to make the trip worth your time.

[Kevin]

Looks good overall.  My one suggestion is that 2 hours for finals games is way too short.  If the game start times are 10AM and 1PM, just say 3 hours and those who are still playing at 12:30 can get a friend to bring them some food.

Looking forward to it!  Now I just need to figure out my army...

[RushAss]

I'm flexible with the time limit on finals games.  The 2 hours is just a guideline.  If the game goes over half an hour or so the World won't end if we push the start time back.  As long as somebody doesn't have to catch a train or something.