Down Down to OrcCon town...

So here I am back from my trip to OrcCon 2014 in Los Angeles. Getting there was an adventure in itself. I was trying to avoid the I-405 freeway traffic and found myself smack down the Hollywood area traffic instead. My grand plan of being there early became a mad dash to find parking, which was non-existent, except of course for the valet. So parking became a premium.albeit convenient.

OrcCon moved to a new venue which is the Hilton Hotel in LAX. There were some expected confusion in finding rooms and locations from what we've been used to. But it is obviously more spacious than the previous convention venue which everyone appreciated. I expect the next Memorial event  (aka Gamex)  to run smoother.

All the three meccg events we ran went well. For an out-of-print game it was well attended. There were eight players for the two Saturday events and nine players that mustered for the Sunday event.

A couple of months before the convention, I was thinking that we will have more than 10 players for meccg. But as it got down to less than two weeks I was telling myself to be content with six bodies. We had six players a year ago so that will be just fine. So seeing eight to nine players to our meccg table was really sweet. All nine attendees to the meccg events were also present at last September's Strategicon convention aka Gateway.  

The two Saturday events (challenge decks and constructed) went past our allotted  time by an hour each. Each event had three rounds. We took a break in between for some dinner. We ended the event around 10:30 maybe even closer to 11pm. I was tired but happy. My two teens had a little more energy left and wanted to roam the convention before going to bed.

The next day we all came back  with one more player to add to our ranks. We were doing the Dragon Hoard Scenario. We were excited but the added rules and the previous days happening kinda took its toll. I had to extend the the first round until everyone got used to the scenario. Although the second round was smoother we still took longer than the regular one hour and 20 minutes allotted for each round. By the time we finished the we had already used up more than four hours. We decided to end the event.

After the Dragon Hoard Scenario. Some stayed and played pick up games. Others stayed to discuss the game. We also talked about our excitement and interest to attend the planned MECCG: Worlds in San Francisco this summer! In any case I believe its safe to assume we all had a blast! And everyone was willing to comeback for memorial weekend.

There were some attendees who came by and asked about meccg. There were some who were surprised to see us play meccg. Hopefully we can have them join us next time.We are planning on doing Middle Earth: Arda Rules next convention. Its a variant (multi-player and no more deck building, with a common deck pool) to hopefully help introduce people who are interested but may not have the time to learn the game using challenge decks.

I want to say thanks to August, for bringing food and drinks for all during the Sunday event, so generous. Also, as one who plays meccg would know, the rules are complex, so I was glad that Gene and Larry who came all the way from the SF bay area joined us again and lent their deep knowledge of the game rules to all. They were reminding and clarifying the rules for everyone. I really appreciated them being there. Thanks to all that attended!

I hope to see everyone back and hopefully more. See you all next time!

Strategicon is a group that sponsors three conventions each year in the Los Angeles area: OrcCon for President's day weekend; Gamex for the Memorial weekend; and Gateway for the Labor Day weekend.

OrcCon 2014 MECCG Events

There will be three MECCG events at OrcCon 2014 in Los Angeles, CA. Held over the President's day weekend (February 14-17 2014) near the LAX. The convention just moved to the Hilton which promises to be a bigger venue for the growing convention.

On Saturday February 15, 2014 there's going to be a Challenge deck event from 12nn-4pm. This event will be perfect for players who want to play but feel rusty with meccg. Pre constructed decks eliminate the need for deck building. You may bring your own challenge deck or a deck may be provided for you since we bring extra decks. Proxies are allowed

After that there will be a Constructed deck event from 5pm-9pm. Tune those decks! Wanna try that fallen wizard deck you just built? How bout the minion deck you've always wanted to unleash? This is the event. Proxies allowed. So if you've always wanted to build a deck but didn't have a certain card, don't let that stop you anymore.

Then on Sunday February 16, 2014 we will have a scenario deck called the Dragon Hoard Scenario  from 12nn-4pm for information about the scenario please check http://www.guildcompanion.com/scrolls/1999/may/dragonshoard.html for details.

Special Rules: for all the events:
All sites are considered to be available for all players. We just borrow or reference the sites if you don't physically have it.

Base hand size is increased to nine (nine walkers or riders) instead of eight.

See you at the convention. Email me for questions. Dust off those decks and let's get ready to muster!

There and back again...

Years ago I had a Geocities site where I posted events about Middle Earth CCG that I ran or otherwise attended. I posted on the forums and elaborated the details on the site. I also posted event reports by me and other players. Geocities is now gone along with that site. It's still out there... archived somewhere on the net along with other MECCG sites. 

It's not easy to "muster" a group of people with a "dying" game. When the attendance at the convention I went to kind of went south, I found myself at the convention with just me and two young players I just recently introduced to the game. I saw one familiar face but he was just checking out the con scene himself and was actually attending another convention in town. Ouch!... Reality check... game over? Maybe, at least I thought so. And so I drifted away from MECCG for a time. I did look at my collection of cards from time to time but there were just no events in the states but those lucky people "across the pond" they have their "Lure" that they hold in a "Castle". Sigh. 

Fast forward years later the Hobbit movie comes out. Like one of Tolkien's elves I felt being called to the sea. The sea of course was MECCG and the players that play it. So I started to post in the forums again, emailing, asking for any interest. And you know what? I found out I wasn't alone. 

Over the last year I have driven north and south of my home and met familiar faces and got to play this game. In February I drove to Los Angeles  and there were six of us at OrcCon 2013. A month later I will meet people in Sacramento at ConquestSac. Then in May I drove north for Kublacon in San Francisco and came back in July at a home in San Jose and spent a weekend playing this game. Back in Los Angeles again in September where we had 11 players for Challenge decks and nine for constructed! And that's not counting the two events I missed. I wasn't able to come back to Sacramento for ConquestAvalon nor drive up to Oregon for MECCG weekend at a player's home. It was like that point in Return of the King movie when the fires of Amon Din were lit and beacon after beacon lit up, amazing! 

So with all the goings on lately, it made me think of getting something like this back up again. Just one of the ways of telling others about the MECCG adventures happening around. So I guess it's back, the Red Arrow's Mark is back. "Let's get ready to Muster!"